To understand fully the determined character, the steadfast loyalty, of
these brave and unfortunate men, we must consider at length the details of
this enclosure, with its hungry, emaciate, filthy mass of humanity, whence
arose a stench of death so powerful as to be perceived at the distance of
a league--the burning sky, the array of instruments of torture, the
manifest design of cruelty.
The suffering wretch had only to pronounce the magic words, "Allegiance to
the Rebel cause," and his sufferings and misery were at an end. The huge
gates flew open, and with grim smiles, the enfeebled and tottering
apostate was welcomed as an accession to the southern ranks.
But the republic was safe here, and the sacred fire of its altars burned
steadily through all the horrors and noxious vapors of this hell on
earth.
Strange to relate, that out of the seventeen thousand registered sick,
there is record of only about _twenty-five_ who accepted the offers to
save their lives, and took the oath of the rebels. Is it not wonderful
that this great number of men should thus, in silence, brave the horrors
by which they were surrounded, and remain firm in their convictions of
right and wrong? An entire army perished, rather than deny the country
which gave them birth! They would no more surrender their principles, than
their homes and altars, as ransoms for their lives.
Has the world's history a parallel to this devotion?
"But these are deeds which should not pass away,
And names that must not wither, though the earth
Forgets her empires with a just decay."