From the evidence obtained from different sources, and from the results,
it may be properly reasoned that there was a secret and fixed intent on
the part of the cabal at Richmond to weaken the Federal armies by
destroying the prisoners by starvation and exposure.
The open robbery of all the captives, the neglect of the commissariat when
there was no excuse, the refusal to remedy atrocious evils, all betray
malice and design. That intrepid and humane officer, Colonel Chandler,
made complaint of this prison, in his Inspection Report, as early as July
5, 1864, when he uses the following language: "No shelter whatever, nor
materials for constructing any, had been provided by the prison
authorities, and the ground being entirely bare of trees, none is within
reach of the prisoners; nor has it been possible, from the overcrowded
state of the enclosure, to arrange the camp with any system. Each man has
been permitted to protect himself as best he can, by stretching his
blanket, or whatever he may have about him, on such sticks as he can
procure. Of other shelter there has been none. There is no medical
attendance within the stockade. Many (twenty yesterday) are carted out
daily who have died from unknown causes, and whom the medical officers
have never seen. The dead are hauled out by the wagon-load, and buried
without coffins, their hands, in many instances, being first mutilated
with an axe in the removal of any finger-rings they may have. Raw rations
have to be issued to a very large portion, who are entirely unprovided
with proper utensils, and furnished so limited a supply of fuel they are
compelled to dig with their hands in the filthy marsh before mentioned for
roots, &c. No soap or clothing have ever been issued. After inquiry, the
writer is confident that, with slight exertions, green corn and other
anti-scorbutics could readily be obtained. The present hospital
arrangements were only intended for the accommodation of ten thousand men,
and are totally insufficient, both in character and extent, for the
present need,--the number of prisoners being now more than three times as
great. The number of cases requiring medical treatment is in an increased
ratio. It is impossible to state the number of sick, many dying within the
stockade whom the medical officers have never seen or heard of till their
remains are brought out for interment."
Later reports were made by this inspector, and they were forwarded to the
rebel executive, indorsed by the assistant-secretary of war, Campbell,
that this condition was a reproach to the Confederates as a nation. But
not the least notice was taken of these startling and heart-rending
revelations, in which Winder was denounced as a murderer from the
statements made by Winder himself. The wretch and the system of treatment
were denounced by Stephens of South Carolina, by Foote of Tennessee; yet
no response was obtained from the secretary of war, or from the executive,
Davis. When Breckenridge became secretary of war, shortly before the
downfall of the rebellion, the brave Chandler demanded that some notice,
some action, should be taken on the reports he had submitted months
before, or he would resign his commission; for his honor and humanity were
involved.
What action was taken, if any there was, is not known to the writer. The
thanks of the South, the kind wishes of all who honor the warm and
generous impulses of our better nature, are due to the noble Chandler, who
had the courage, the temerity, to expose the suffering condition at
Andersonville, and to denounce the authors again and again at the peril of
his life.
It is known to the writer that Surgeons Bemis and Fluellen, of the rebel
army medical staff, inspected the condition of the prison, and protested
against the cruel management.
One of the chief medical officers of the rebel army of the South informed
the author that the medical men at this prison were without any influence
whatever; and although the prison was within his department for a time, he
had no more voice or influence in its management than the man in the moon;
and that everything relating to the prison was _controlled and devised by
the authorities at Richmond_.
The refusal or the neglect of the rebel authorities, to whom these reports
were submitted, to take notice of or remedy the exposed evils, is a tacit
acknowledgment and approval of the system at work.