Several of the papers of the South openly and unhesitatingly approved of
the methods of their prison depletion, and gloated over the fearful
destitution and mortality.
The Macon "Telegraph and Confederate," only the day before the surrender
of the city to the Federal forces, justified the atrocities at
Andersonville; and the Richmond "Examiner" exclaimed, "Let the Yankee
prisoners be put where the cold weather and scant fare will thin them out
in accordance with the laws of nature." There were, however, noble
exceptions to the general exhibition of ferocity; and several officers of
the rebel army did declare that the condition of affairs at Andersonville
was a "reproach to them as a nation."
The author, who served for five years in the Federal armies of Virginia,
of the South, and the South-west, and whose opportunities for observation
and inquiry were extensive, does not believe General Lee to be implicated
in these outrages. It is true that Lee might have openly and boldly
protested against the barbarities, and gained thereby the admiration and
the blessing of mankind; but he knew full well that the remonstrance would
have fallen upon the cold ear of the implacable executive with no more
effect and weight than when the snow-flake falls upon the Alps.
The Virginian struggled to hold his own against the selfish and jealous
ambition of the remorseless Mississippian.
To have participated in the revolting cabal of cruelty, there was required
the baseness of political intrigue, and to this depth the soldier never
sank.