By Mr. Gooch:
Question. From what State are you?
Answer. West Tennessee.
Question. To what regiment do you belong?
Answer. The 3d West Tennessee cavalry.
Question. Where were you taken prisoner?
Answer. In Henry county, West Tennessee.
Question. From there where were you carried?
Answer. From there they marched us on foot, some 350-odd miles, to
Decatur.
Question. What were you given to eat?
Answer. Sometimes for twenty-four or thirty hours we would have a little
piece of beef and some corn-bread.
Question. Were you a well man when you were taken prisoner?
Answer. Yes, sir; a stout man for a little man. I was very stout.
Question. Were you brought to your present condition by want of food?
Answer. Yes, sir; and sleeping in the cold. They took my money and
clothes and everything else away from me, even my pocket-comb and knife,
and my finger-ring that my sister gave me. They were taken away when I
was captured.
[The witness, who was so weak that he could not raise his head, appeared
to be so much exhausted by talking that the committee refrained from
further examination. As they were moving away from his bed, he spoke up
and said: "I am better now than when I came here. I have some strength
now. I hope I shall get better, for I want to see my old father and
mother once more."]
* * * * *
James Sweeney, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. Where did you reside when you enlisted?
Answer. Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?
Answer. Company E, 17th Massachusetts.
Question. When were you taken prisoner?
Answer. First of February.
Question. Where?
Answer. Six miles from Newbern, North Carolina.
Question. Where were you then carried?
Answer. To Richmond.
Question. How were you treated after you were taken prisoner?
Answer. We had no breakfast that day. We started out early in the
morning--the 132d New York was with us--without anything to eat. We had
nothing to eat all that day, and they made us sleep out all that night
without anything to eat. It rained that night; then they marched us the
next day thirty miles, to Kingston, without anything to eat, except it
was, about twelve o'clock, one of the regular captains, who had some
crackers in his haversack, gave us about one each, and some of the boys
managed to get an ear of corn from the wagons, but the rest of them were
pushed back by the guns of the guard; then we were kept in the streets
of Kingston until about nine o'clock, when we had a little pork and
three barrels of crackers for about two hundred of us. I got three or
four crackers. Then they put us in freight cars that they had carried
hogs in, all filthy and dirty, and we were nearly frozen by the time we
got to Goldsborough; and near Weldon they camped us in a field all day
long, like a spectacle for the people to look at, and when we got to
Richmond they put us in a common for a while, and then we were taken to
prison. About eleven o'clock that day they brought us some corn-bread.
They gave me about three-quarters of a small loaf and a dipper of hard,
black beans with worms in them. We were kept there all night. If we went
near the window, bullets were fired at us. Two or three hundred men lay
on the floor. I was kept between three and four weeks on Belle Isle.
Question. How was it for food there?
Answer. That night they gave us a piece of corn-bread about an inch
thick, two or three inches long. Some nights we would have a couple of
spoonfuls, maybe, of raw rice or raw beans; other nights they would not
give us that. A squad of 100 men of us would have about 20 sticks of
wood, and in order to cut that up we would have to pay a man for the use
of an axe by giving him a piece of the stick for splitting up the rest.
We lay right on the ground in the snow. Twenty of us together would lay
with our feet so close to the fire that the soles of our boots would be
all drawn, and we would get up in the morning all shivering, and I could
not eat what little food I did get.
Question. What is the cause of your sickness?
Answer. Just the food we got there and this exposure. Eating this
corn-bread continually gave me the diarrhoea. We would get thirsty and
drink that river water. We had little bits of beef sometimes; generally
it was tough, more like a piece of India-rubber you would rub
pencil-marks out with. What little food we did get was so bad we could
not eat it. At first, for five or six days, we could eat it pretty well,
but afterwards I could not eat it.
Question. Have you been brought to your present condition by your
treatment there?
Answer. Yes, sir; by the want of proper food, and exposure to the cold.
* * * * *
John C. Burcham, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Julian:
Question. Where did you enlist, and in what regiment?
Answer. I enlisted in Indianapolis, in the 75th Indiana regiment,
Colonel Robinson.
Question. When were you taken prisoner, and where?
Answer. I was taken prisoner at Chickamauga, on the 20th of September.
Question. Where were you carried then?
Answer. The next day they took us to Atlanta, and then on to Richmond.
Question. What prison were you put in?
Answer. I was on Belle Isle five or six days and nights, and then they
put me in a prison over in town.
Question. How did they treat you there?
Answer. Rough, rough, rough.
Question. What did they give you to eat?
Answer. A small bit of bread and a little piece of meat; black beans
full of worms. Sometimes meat pretty good, sometimes the meat was so
rotten that you could smell it as soon as you got it in the house. We
were used rough, I can tell you.
Question. Did they leave you your property?
Answer. They took everything we had before ever we got to Richmond; my
hat, blankets, knife. We did not do very well until we got some blankets
from our government; afterwards we did better. Before that we slept
right on the floor, with nothing over us except a little old blanket one
of us had.
Question. What was their manner towards you?
Answer. I call it pretty rough. If a man did not walk just right up to
the mark they were down on him, and not a man of us dared to put his
head out of the window, for he would be shot if he did. Several were
shot just for that.
Question. What is the cause of your sickness?
Answer. Nothing but exposure and the kind of food we had there. I was a
tolerably stout man before I got into their hands; after that I was
starved nearly to death.
* * * * *
Daniel Gentis, sworn and examined.
By the chairman:
Question. What State are you from?
Answer. Indiana.
Question. When did you enlist, and in what company and regiment?
Answer. I enlisted on the 6th of August, 1861, in company I, 2d New York
regiment.
Question. Where were you taken prisoner?
Answer. I was taken prisoner at Stevensville, Virginia; I was there with
Colonel Dahlgren, on Kilpatrick's expedition.
Question. Were you taken prisoner at the same time that Colonel Dahlgren
was killed?
Answer. I was there when he was killed, but I was taken prisoner the
next morning.
Question. What do you know about the manner of his death and the
treatment his body received?
Answer. He was shot within a foot and a half or two feet of me. I got
wounded that same night. The next morning I was taken prisoner, and as
we came along we saw his body, with his clothes all off. He was entirely
naked, and he was put into a hole and covered up.
Question. Buried naked in that way?
Answer. Yes, sir; no coffin at all. Afterwards his body was taken up and
carried to a slue and washed off, and then sent off to Richmond. A
despatch came from Richmond for his body, and it was sent there.
Question. It has been said they cut off his finger?
Answer. Yes, sir; his little finger was cut off, and his ring taken off.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. How do you know there was a ring on his finger?
Answer. I saw the fellow who had it, and who said he took it off. When
they took his body to a slue and washed it off they put on it a shirt
and drawers, and then put it in a box and sent it to Richmond.
Question. How far was that from Richmond?
Answer. It was about 40 miles from Richmond, and about 10 miles from
West Point.
Question. How were you treated yourself?
Answer. I fared first-rate. I staid at the house of a Dr. Walker, of
Virginia, and Dr. Walker told me that a private of the 9th Virginia
cavalry took off Colonel Dahlgren's artificial leg, and that General
Ewell, I think it was, or some general in the southern army who had but
one leg, gave the private $2,000 for it, (confederate currency.) I saw
the private who took it, and saw him have the leg.
By the chairman:
Question. How do you know they received a despatch from Richmond to have
the body sent there?
Answer. All the information I got about the despatch was from Dr.
Walker, who said they were going to take the body to Richmond and bury
it where no one could find it.
Question. Did Colonel Dahlgren make any speech or read any papers to his
command?
Answer. No, sir; not that I ever heard of. They questioned me a great
deal about that. The colonel of the 9th Virginia cavalry questioned me
about it. I told him just all I knew about it. I told him I had heard no
papers read, nor anything else.
Question. Did you ever hear any of your fellow-soldiers say they ever
heard any such thing at all?
Answer. No, sir; and when I started I had no idea where I was going.
Question. Were you in prison at Richmond?
Answer. I was there for four days, but I was at Dr. Walker's pretty
nearly a month and a half.
Question. During the four days you were in prison did you see any of our
other soldiers in prison there?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. How did they fare?
Answer. We all fared pretty rough on corn-bread and beans. Those who
were in my ward are here now sick in bed.
Question. How happened it that you fell into the hands of Dr. Walker
particularly?
Answer. The way it came about was this: In the morning I asked some
officers of the regular regiment for a doctor to dress my wound. One of
the doctors there said he could not do it. I spoke to a lieutenant and
asked him to be kind enough to get some doctor to dress it, and he got
this Dr. Walker. The doctor asked me to go to his house, and stay there
if I would. I told him "certainly I would go." The colonel of the rebel
regiment said that the doctor could take me there, and I staid until
Captain Magruder came up there and told Dr. Walker that I had to be sent
to Richmond.
Question. Where were you wounded?
Answer. In the knee.
[At this point the committee concluded to examine no more of the
patients in the hospital, as most of them were too weak to be examined
without becoming too much exhausted, and because the testimony of all
amounted to about the same thing. They therefore confined the rest of
their investigation to the testimony of the surgeons in charge, and
other persons attending upon the patients.]
* * * * *
Surgeon B. A. Van Derkieft, sworn and examined.
By the chairman:
Question. Are you in the service of the United States; and if so, in
what capacity?
Answer. I am a surgeon of volunteers in the United States service; in
charge of hospital division No. 1, known as the Naval Hospital,
Annapolis, and have been here since the 1st of June, 1863.
Question. State what you know in regard to the condition of our
exchanged or paroled prisoners who have been brought here, and also your
opportunities to know that condition?
Answer. Since I have been here I think that from five to six thousand
paroled prisoners have been treated in this hospital as patients. They
have generally come here in a very destitute and feeble condition; many
of them so low that they die the very day they arrive here.
Question. What is the character of their complaints generally, and what
does that character indicate as to the cause?
Answer. Generally they are suffering from debility and chronic
diarrhoea, the result, I have no doubt, of exposure, privations,
hardship, and ill treatment.
Question. In what respect would hardship and ill treatment superinduce
the complaints most prevalent among these paroled prisoners?
Answer. These men, having been very much exposed, and not having had
nourishment enough to sustain their strength, are consequently
predisposed to be attacked by such diseases as diarrhoea, fever, scurvy,
and all catarrhal affections, which, perhaps, in the beginning are very
slight, but, on account of want of necessary care, produce, after a
while, a very serious disease. For instance, a man exposed to the cold
may have a little bronchitis, or perhaps a little inflammation of the
lungs, which, under good treatment, would be easily cured--would be
considered of no importance whatever; but being continually exposed, and
not having the necessary food, the complaint is transformed, after a
time, into a very severe disease.
Question. Is it your opinion, as a physician, that the complaints of our
returned prisoners are superinduced by want of proper food, or food of
sufficient quantity, and from exposure?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. What is the general character of the statements our prisoners
have made to you in regard to their treatment?
Answer. They complained of want of food, of bad food, and a want of
clothing. Very often, though not always, they are robbed, when taken
prisoners, of all the good clothes they have on. There is no doubt about
that, for men have often arrived here with nothing but their pants and
shirts on; no coat, overcoat, no cap, no shoes or stockings, and some of
them without having had any opportunities to wash themselves for weeks
and months, so that when they arrive here, the scurf on their skin is
one-eighth of an inch thick; and we have had several cases of men who
have been shot for the slightest offence. There is a man now here who at
one time put his hand out of the privy, which was nothing but a window
in the wall, to steady himself and keep himself from falling, and he was
shot, and we have been obliged to amputate his arm since he arrived
here. These men complain that they have had no shelter. We have men here
now who say that for five or six months they have been compelled to lay
on the sand. I have no doubt about the correctness of their statements,
for the condition of their skins shows the statements to be true. Their
joints are calloused, and they have callouses on their backs, and some
have even had the bones break through the skin. There is one instance in
particular that I would mention. One man died in the hospital there one
hour before the transfer of prisoners was made, and as an act of
humanity the surgeon in charge of the hospital allowed the friends of
this man to take him on board the vessel in order to have him buried
among his friends. This man was brought here right from the Richmond
hospital. He was so much covered with vermin and so dirty that we were
not afraid to make the statement that the man had not been washed for
six months. Now, as a material circumstance to prove that these men have
been badly fed, I will state that we must be very careful in feeding
them when they arrive here, for a very light diet is too much for them
at first.
Question. You have accompanied us as we have examined some of the
patients in the hospital to-day. Do their statements to us, under oath,
correspond with the statements which they made when they first arrived
here?
Answer. They are quite the same; there is no difference. Every man makes
the same statement, and we therefore believe it to be true. All say the
same in regard to rations, treatment, exposure and privations. Once in a
while I have found a man who pretended to have been treated very well,
but by examining closely I find that such men are not very good Union
men.
Question. You say that about six thousand paroled prisoners have come
under your supervision and treatment?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. State generally what their condition has been.
Answer. Very bad, indeed. I cannot find terms sufficient to express what
their condition was. I cannot state it properly.
Question. You have already stated that, as a general thing, they have
been destitute of clothing.
Answer. Yes, sir; dirty, filthy, covered with vermin, dying. At one time
we received three hundred and sixty patients in one day, and fourteen
died within twelve hours; and there were six bodies of those who had
died on board the transport that brought them up here.
Question. What appeared to be the complaint of which they died?
Answer. Very extreme debility, the result of starvation and
exposure--the same as the very weak man you saw here, [L. H. Parham.]
Question. We have observed some very emaciated men here, perfect
skeletons, nothing but skin and bone. In your opinion, as a physician,
what has reduced these men to that condition?
Answer. Nothing but starvation and exposure.
Question. Can you tell the proportion of the men who have died to the
number that have lately arrived from Richmond?
Answer. If time is allowed me I can send the statement to the committee.
Question. Do so, if you please.
Answer. I will do so. I will say that some of these men who have stated
they were well treated, I have found out to have been very bad to the
Union men.
Question. Are those men you have just mentioned as having been well
treated an exception to the general rule?
Answer. Yes, sir; a very striking exception.
Question. Have you ever been in charge of confederate prisoners?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. State the course of treatment of our authorities towards them.
Answer. We have never made the slightest difference between our own men
and confederate prisoners when their sick and wounded have been in our
hands.
Question. You have treated both the same?
Answer. Yes, sir. When any one of their men, wounded or sick, has been a
patient in our hands, we have treated him the same as we do our own men.
By Mr. Julian:
Question. Have their sick and wounded been kept separate from ours, or
have they been kept together?
Answer. In Washington they were kept separate, but at Antietam, where an
hospital was established, in order to have the patients treated where
they were injured, the Union and confederate patients were treated
together and alike. At Hagerstown almost everybody is secesh. Well, the
most I can say is, that some of the secesh ladies there came to me and
stated that they were very glad to see that we had treated their men the
same as ours.
Question. It is sometimes said, by the rebel newspapers, at least, that
they have given the same rations to our prisoners that they give to
their own soldiers. Now, I want to ask you, as a medical man, if it is
possible, with the amount of food that our prisoners have had, for men
to retain their health and vigor, and perform active service in the
field?
Answer. I do not believe that the rebels could fight as well, or make
such marches as they have done, upon such small rations as our prisoners
have received.
Question. Can the health of men be preserved upon such rations as they
have given our prisoners?
Answer. No, sir; it cannot, not only on account of quantity, but
quality. I have seen some specimens of their rations brought here by our
paroled prisoners, and I know what they are.
Question. As a general rule, what is the effect of treating men in that
way?
Answer. Just what we hear every day--men dying from starvation and
debility. Many of these men--mostly all the wounded men--are suffering
from hospital gangrene, which is the result of not having their wounds
dressed in time, and having too many crowded in the same apartment. We
have had men here whose wounds have been so long neglected that they
have had maggots in them by the hundred.
* * * * *
Acting Assistant Surgeon J. H. Longenecker, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. What is your position in the United States service?
Answer. Acting assistant surgeon.
Question. How long have you been stationed here?
Answer. Since the 27th of July, 1863.
Question. Will you state what has been the condition of our paroled
prisoners, received here from the rebels, during the time you have been
stationed here?
Answer. As a general thing, they have been very much debilitated,
emaciated, and suffering from disease, such as diarrhoea, scurvy, lung
diseases, &c.
Question. In your opinion, as a physician, by what have these diseases
been produced?
Answer. By exposure and want of proper food, I think.
Question. Are you able to form any opinion, from the condition of these
men, as to the quantity and quality of food which they have received?
Answer. From their appearance and condition, I judge the quality must
have been very bad, and the quantity very small, not sufficient to
preserve the health.
Question. We have seen and examined several patients here this morning,
who are but mere skeletons. They have stated to us, as you are aware,
that their suffering arose wholly from the want of proper food and
clothing. In your opinion as a medical man, are these statements true?
Answer. I believe that these statements are correct. We have had some
men who looked very well. How they managed to preserve their health I am
not able to say; but, as a general thing, the men we receive here are
very much debilitated, apparently from exposure, and want of sufficient
food to keep up life and health.
Question. Are you acquainted with the case of Howard Laedom?
Answer. Yes, sir; I am.
Question. Will you state about that case?
Answer. I did not see the patient until recently, when he was placed in
my charge. I found him with all his toes gone from one foot in
consequence of exposure. He has suffered from pneumonia, also, produced
by exposure, and there have been very many cases of pneumonia here,
produced by the same cause, many of whom have died; and we have held
post mortem examinations upon many of them, and found ulcers upon their
intestines, some of them being ulcerated the whole length of their
bowels.
Question. Have you made many post mortem examinations here?
Answer. We have made quite a number of them. We make them whenever we
have an opportunity; whenever bodies are not called for or are not
likely to be taken away.
Question. Are you enabled, from these post mortem examinations, to
determine whether or not these prisoners have had sufficient quantities
of proper food?
Answer. Not from that. Those examinations merely indicate the condition
in which the prisoners are returned to us.
Question. From all the indications given by the appearance of these men,
are you satisfied that their statements, that they have not had
sufficient food, both in quantity and quality, are true?
Answer. These statements have been repeated to me very often, and from
their condition I believe their statement to be true.
Question. How many paroled prisoners were brought here by the last boat?
Answer. Three hundred and sixty-five, I think.
Question. In your opinion, how many of these men will recover?
Answer. Judging from their present condition, I think that at least one
hundred of them will die.
Question. What, in your opinion, will be the primary cause of the death
of these men?
Answer. Exposure and want of proper food while prisoners.
* * * * *
Assistant Surgeon William S. Ely, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Harding:
Question. What is your position in the service?
Answer. Assistant surgeon of the United States volunteers and executive
officer of hospital division No. 1, or Naval Academy hospital.
Question. Please state the sanitary condition and appearance, &c., of
the paroled prisoners received here, together with their declarations as
to the cause of their sickness, and your opinion as to the truth of
their statements.
Answer. I have been on duty in this hospital since October 3, 1863.
Since that time I have been present on the arrival of the steamer New
York on five or six different occasions, when bringing altogether some
three or four thousand paroled prisoners. I have assisted in unloading
these prisoners from the boat, and assigning them to quarters in the
hospital. I have found them generally very much reduced physically, and
depressed mentally, the direct result, as I think, of the ill-treatment
which they have received from the hands of their enemies--whether
intentional or not I cannot say. I have frequently seen on the boat
bodies of those who have died while being brought here, and I have
frequently known them to die while being conveyed from the boat to the
hospital ward. Their condition is such (their whole constitution being
undermined) that the best of care and medical treatment, and all the
sanitary and hygeian measures that we can introduce appear to be
useless. Their whole assimilative functions appear to be impaired.
Medicines and food appear, in many cases, to have no effect upon them.
We have made post mortem examinations repeatedly of cases here, and on
all occasions we find the system very much reduced, and in many cases
the muscles almost entirely gone--reduced to nothing literally but skin
and bone; the blood vitiated and depraved, and an anoemic condition of
the entire system apparent. The fact that in many cases of post mortems
we had discovered no organic disease, justifies us in the conclusion
that the fatal result is owing principally, if not entirely, to a
deprivation of food and other articles necessary to support life, and to
improper exposure. On all occasions when arriving here, these men have
been found in the most filthy condition, it being almost impossible, in
many cases, to clean them by repeated washings. The functions of the
skin are entirely impaired, and in many cases they are encrusted with
dirt, owing, as they say, to being compelled to lie on the sand at Belle
island; and the normal function of the skin has not been recovered until
the cuticle has been entirely thrown off. Their bodies are covered with
vermin, so that it has been found necessary to throw away all the
clothing which they had on when they arrived here, and provide them
entirely with new clothing. Their hair has been filled with vermin, so
that we have been obliged to cut their hair all off, and make
applications to kill the vermin in their heads. Many of them state that
they have had no opportunity to wash their bodies for six or eight
months, and have not done so.
Question. What have been their statements to you in their conversation
with you?
Answer. Their reply almost invariably has been, that their condition is
the result solely of ill-treatment and starvation; that their rations
have consisted of corn-bread and cobs ground with corn, of a few beans
at times, and now and then a little piece of poor meat. Occasionally one
is heard to say, that in his opinion the rebels are unable to treat them
in any better manner; that they have been treated as well as possible;
and I have found several who stated that their physicians were kind to
them and did all they could, but complained of want of medicines.
Question. Is it your conclusion, as a physician, that the statements of
these paroled prisoners, in regard to the treatment they have received,
are correct, and that such treatment would produce such conditions of
health as you witness among them upon their arrival here?
Answer. Yes, sir; and that in many cases their statements fall short of
the truth, as evinced by the results shown in their physical appearance;
and these men are in such a condition that even if they recover, we
consider them almost entirely unfitted for further active field
service--almost as much so, we frequently say, as if they had been shot
on the field.
* * * * *
Miss Abbie J. Howe, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. From what State are you, and what position do you occupy in
this hospital?
Answer. I am from Massachusetts, and am here acting as nurse.
Question. How long have you been here?
Answer. Since the 15th of September, 1863.
Question. Have you had charge of the sick and paroled prisoners who have
come here during that time?
Answer. Yes, sir; some of them.
Question. How many of them have you had charge of, should you think?
Answer. I should think I have had charge of at least 250 who have come
under my own charge.
Question. Can you describe to us the general condition of those men?
Answer. Almost all of them have had this dreadful cough. I do not think
I ever heard the like before; and they have had chronic diarrhoea, very
persistent indeed. Many of them have a great craving for things which
they ought not to have. One patient who came in here had the scurvy, and
he said: "I can eat anything that a dog can eat. Oh, do give me
something to eat;" and in their delirium they are crying for "bread,
bread," and "mother, mother." One of them called out for "more James
river water to drink."
Question. What has been their general complaint in regard to their
treatment while prisoners?
Answer. Their chief complaint has been want of food and great exposure.
Many of them who had clothes sent them by friends or our government,
were obliged to sell everything until they were left as destitute as at
first, in order to get more food. I have seen some of their rations, and
I would myself rather eat what I have seen given to cattle, than to eat
such food as their specimens brought here. One man had the typhoid
fever, but was in such haste to get away from the hospital in Richmond
in order to get home, that he would not remain there. He had the
ravenous appetite which men with typhus fever have; and other men told
me that they gave him their rations which they could not eat themselves.
This produced a terrible diarrhoea, and he lived but a few days after he
arrived here.
Question. What has been the physical condition of these, emaciated or
otherwise?
Answer. Just skin and bone. I have never imagined anything before like
it.
Question. Have their statements, in relation to their exposure and
deprivation of food, corresponded entirely with each other?
Answer. Yes, sir, entirely so, except those who were able, by work, to
get extra rations; and those extra rations were not anything like what
our men have here, but it gave them as much and as good as their guards
had; and they have not only been treated in this way, but they have been
ill-used in almost every way. They have told me that when one of them
was sitting down, and was told to get up, and was not moving quickly in
consequence of his sickness, he was wounded by the rebels in charge.
They have often told me that they have been kicked and knocked about
when unable to move quickly. I could give a great many instances of
ill-treatment and hardships which have been stated to me, but it would
take a great deal of time to tell them.
* * * * *
Rev. H. C. Henries, sworn and examined.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. What is your position here?
Answer. Chaplain of the hospital.
Question. How long have you been here?
Answer. I have been on duty since December 7, 1861.
Question. You are familiar with the facts connected with the condition
of paroled prisoners arriving here from the south?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. Will you state generally what was their condition?
Answer. I think it would be impossible for me to give any adequate
description, for I think all language fails to fully express their real
condition as they land here. Their appearance is haggard in the extreme;
ragged, destitute even of shoes, and very frequently without pants or
blouses, or any covering except their drawers and shirts, and perhaps a
half a blanket, or something like that; sometimes without hats, and in
the most filthy condition that it is possible to conceive of either
beast or man being reduced to in any circumstances; unable to give
either their names, their residence, regiments, or any facts, in
consequence of their mental depression, so that I believe the surgeons
have found it quite impossible some times to ascertain their relation to
the army. Their statements agree almost universally in regard to their
treatment at the hands of the rebels. There have been a very few
exceptions, indeed, of those who have stated that perhaps their fare was
as good as, under the circumstances, the rebels were able to give them,
but the almost universal testimony of these men has been, that they were
purposely deprived of the comforts and medical care which could have
been afforded them, in order to render them useless to the army in the
future. That has been the impression which a great many of them have
labored under. They have given their testimony in regard to their
condition on Belle Isle. There were three in one room here not long
since, who told me that some eight of their comrades died during one or
two days, and their bodies were thrown out on the banks that enclosed
the ground and left there for eight days unburied, and they were refused
the privilege of burying their comrades, until the hogs and the dogs had
well-nigh eaten up their bodies. Yesterday, one man told me that he was
so starved, and his hunger had become so intolerable, that his eyes
appeared to swim in his head, and at times to be almost lost to all
consciousness. Others have stated that they have offered to buy dogs at
any price for food, of those who came in there; and one actually said
that when a man came in there with a dog, and went out without the dog
noticing it, they caught him and dressed him and roasted him over the
fire, over a gas-light, as best they could, and then ate it; and, as he
expressed it, "it was a precious mite to them." Their testimony in
regard to the cruelty of the guards and others set over them is to the
effect that in one instance two comrades in the army together, who were
taken prisoners together, and remained in the prison together, were
separated when the prisoners were exchanged. One was returned here and
the other left. The one who was left went to the window and waved his
hand in adieu to his comrade, and the guard deliberately shot him
through the temple, and he fell dead. I mentioned this fact to others of
our prisoners here in the hospital, and they said that they knew it to
be so. Some of them were there at the time the man was shot.
Question. Do you keep any record of the deaths here?
Answer. I have not kept a record. I have the official notice of the
deaths; but inasmuch as the records are kept at the office, and we have
had so many other duties crowding upon us--so many deaths here--it has
been almost impossible for us to keep any record. I think it is
impossible for any description to exaggerate the condition of those men.
The condition of those here now is not so bad, as a class, as some we
have received heretofore.
By the chairman:
Question. Has the treatment of our prisoners latterly been worse than
before, from their testimony?
Answer. I think there has been no very material change of late. I think
it has grown worse from the very first; but for a year past, I should
judge it could not be made any worse.
Question. Just the same thing we now see here?
Answer. Yes, sir. I would give just another fact in regard to the
statements made here by large numbers of our returned prisoners. On
Belle Isle, their privies were down from the main camp. From 6 o'clock
in the morning until 6 o'clock in the evening they were permitted to go
to these sinks or privies, but from 6 at night until 6 in the morning
they were refused the privilege of going there, and consequently, so
many suffering with diarrhoea, their filth was deposited all through
their camp. The wells from which they drew their water were sunk in the
sand around through their camp, and you can judge what the effect of
that has been. Some of these prisoners, soon after they were put on
Belle Isle, not knowing the regulations there, and suffering from
chronic diarrhoea, when making the attempt to go down to these privies
after 6 o'clock at night, were shot down in cold blood by the guards,
without any warning whatever. Several such instances have been stated to
me by parties who have arrived here.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. You make these statements from the testimony of prisoners
received here?
Answer. Yes, sir; from testimony that I have the most perfect confidence
in. Men have stated these things to me in the very last hours of their
lives.
By the chairman:
Question. Were they conscious of their condition at the time they made
their statements?
Answer. Yes, sir; I think they were perfectly conscious; yet there is
one thing which is very remarkable, that is, these men retain their hope
of life up to the hour of dying. They do not give up. There is another
thing I would wish to state: all the men, without any exception, among
the thousands that have come to this hospital, have never, in a single
instance, expressed a regret (notwithstanding the privations and
sufferings that they have endured) that they entered their country's
service. They have been the most loyal, devoted, and earnest men. Even
on the last days of their lives they have said that all they hoped for
was just to live and enter the ranks again and meet their foes. It is a
most glorious record in reference to the devotion of our men to their
country. I do not think their patriotism has ever been equalled in the
history of the world.
* * * * *
The committee then proceeded, by steamer, from Annapolis to Baltimore,
and visited the "West Hospital," and saw the patients there. As they
presented the same reduced and debilitated appearance as those they had
already seen at Annapolis, and in conversation gave the same account of
their treatment at the hands of the rebels, the committee concluded
their examination by taking merely the testimony of the surgeon and
chaplain of the hospital.
* * * * *
"WEST HOSPITAL," _Baltimore, Md., May 6, 1864_.
Dr. Wm. G. Knowles, sworn and examined.
By the chairman:
Question. Will you state whether you are in the employment of the
government; and if so, in what capacity?
Answer. I am, and have been for nearly three years, a contract physician
in the "West Hospital," Baltimore.
Question. Have you received any of the returned Union prisoners, from
Richmond, in your hospital?
Answer. We have received those we have here now; no others.
Question. How many have you received?
Answer. We have received 105.
Question. When did you receive them?
Answer. Two weeks ago last Tuesday. On the 19th of April.
Question. Will you state the condition those prisoners were in when they
were received here?
Answer. They were all very emaciated men, as you have seen here to-day,
only more so than they appear to be now. They were very emaciated and
feeble, suffering chiefly from diarrhoea, many of them having, in
connexion with that, bronchial and similar affections. From the
testimony given to me by these men I have no doubt their condition was
the result of exposure and--I was about to say starvation; but it was,
perhaps, hardly starvation, for they had something to eat; but I will
say, a deficient supply of food and of a proper kind of food; and when I
say "exposure," perhaps that would not be sufficiently definite. All
with whom I have conversed have stated that those who were on Belle Isle
were kept there even as late as December with nothing to protect them
but such little clothing as was left them by their captors; with no
blankets, no overcoats, no tents, nothing to cover them, nothing to
protect them; and that their sleeping-place was the ground--the sand.
Question. What would you, as a physician of experience, aside from the
statements of these returned prisoners, say was the cause of their
condition?
Answer. I should judge it was as they have stated. Diarrhoea is a very
common form of disease among them, and from all the circumstances I have
every reason to believe that it is owing to exposure and the want of
proper nourishment. Some of them tell me that they received nothing but
two small pieces of corn-bread a day. Some of them suppose (how true
that may be I do not know) that that bread was made of corn ground with
the cobs. I have not seen any of it to examine it.
Question. How many have died of the number you have received here?
Answer. Already twenty-nine have died, and you have seen one who is now
dying; and five were received here dead, who died on their way from
Fortress Monroe to Baltimore.
Question. How many of them were capable of walking into the hospital?
Answer. Only one; the others were brought here from the boat on
stretchers, put on the dumb-waiter, and lifted right up to their rooms,
and put on their beds. And I would state another thing in regard to
these men: when they were received here they were filthy, dirty, and
lousy in the extreme, and we had considerable trouble to get them clean.
Every man who could possibly stand it we took and placed in a warm bath
and held him up while he was washed, and we threw away all their dirty
clothing, providing them with that which was clean.
Question. What was the condition of their clothing?
Answer. Very poor, indeed. I should say the clothing was very much worn,
although I did not examine it closely, as that was not so much a matter
of investigation with us as was their physical condition. Their heads
were filled with vermin, so much so that we had to cut off their hair
and make applications to destroy the vermin.
Question. What portion of those you have received here do you suppose
are finally curable?
Answer. We shall certainly lose one-third of them; and we have been
inclined to think that, sooner or later, we should lose one-half of
them.
Question. Will the constitutions of those who survive be permanently
injured, or will they entirely recover?
Answer. I think the constitutions of the greater part of them will be
seriously impaired; that they will never become strong and healthy
again.
Question. What account have these men given you as to the comparative
condition of those left behind? Did the rebels send the best or the
poorest of our prisoners?
Answer. I could not tell that; I have never inquired. But I should
presume they must have sent the worst they had.
Question. You have had charge of confederate sick and wounded, have you
not?
Answer. Yes, sir; a large number of them. This was the receiving
hospital for those from Gettysburg.
Question. What was the treatment they received from us?
Answer. We consider that we treated them with the greatest kindness and
humanity; precisely as we treated our own men. That has been our rule of
conduct. We gave them the very best the hospital would afford; and not
only what properly belonged to the hospital, but delicacies and luxuries
of every kind were furnished them by the hospital, and by outside
sympathizers, who were permitted to send delicacies to them.
Question. It has been stated in many of the rebel newspapers that our
prisoners are treated the same and fed with the same rations as their
soldiers in the field. In your judgment, as a physician would it be
possible for their soldiers to retain their health and energy if fed as
our prisoners have been?
Answer. No, sir; it would be impossible; multitudes of them would have
died under such treatment.
Question. I do not know as I desire to question you further. Is there
anything more you desire to state?
Answer. I do not know that there is; it is all in a nut-shell.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. Is not the disease as evinced among those men clearly defined
as resulting from exposure and privations, and want of proper food and
nourishment?
Answer. That is our decided opinion as medical men; the opinion of all
of us who have had anything to do with these men.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. The condition of all these men appears to be about the same.
Is there really any difference in their condition except in degree?
Answer. I think that is all. Some men have naturally stronger
constitutions than others, and can bear more than others. That is the
way I account for the difference.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. Are the minds of any of them affected permanently?
Answer. We have had two or three whose intellect is very feeble; some of
them are almost like children in that respect.
Question. Do you think that grows out of the treatment they have
received?
Answer. I think the same cause produced that as the other.
By the chairman:
Question. Is not that one of the symptoms attendant upon starvation,
that men are likely to become deranged or idiotic?
Answer. Yes, sir; more like derangement than what we call idiocy.
By Mr. Gooch:
Question. Can those men whose arms you bared and held up to us--mere
skeletons, nothing but skin and bone--can those men recover?
Answer. They may; we think that some of them are in an improving
condition. But we have to be extremely cautious how we feed them. If we
give them a little excess of food under these circumstances they would
be almost certain to be seriously and injuriously affected by it.
Question. It is your opinion, you have stated, that these men have been
reduced to this condition by want of food?
Answer. It is; want of food and exposure are the original causes. That
has produced diarrhoea and other diseases as a natural consequence, and
they have aided the original cause and reduced them to their present
condition. I should like the country and the government to know the
facts about these men; I do not think they can realize it until the
facts are made known to them. I think the rebels have determined upon
the policy of starving their prisoners, just as much as the murders at
Fort Pillow were a part of their policy.
* * * * *
Rev. J. T. Van Burkalow, sworn and examined.
By the chairman:
Question. What is your connexion with this hospital?
Answer. I am the chaplain of the hospital.
Question. How long have you been acting in that capacity?
Answer. I have been connected with the hospital in that capacity ever
since the 20th of October, 1862.
Question. What has been your opportunity of knowing the condition of our
returned prisoners?
Answer. I have mingled with them and administered unto them ever since
they have been here, night and day. I have written, I suppose, something
like a hundred letters for them to their relatives and friends, since
they arrived here.
Question. Have you attended them when they were dying?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. And conversed with them about their condition, and the manner
in which they have been brought to that condition?
Answer. Yes, sir; I have.
Question. Please tell us what you have ascertained from them.
Answer. The general story I have gotten from them was to the effect that
when captured, and before they got to Richmond, they would generally be
robbed of their clothing, their good United States uniforms, even to
their shoes and hats taken from them, and if anything was given to them
in place of them, they would receive only old worn-out confederate
clothing. Sometimes they were sent to Belle Isle with nothing on but old
pants and shirts. They generally had their money taken from them, often
with the promise of its return, but that promise was never fulfilled.
They were placed on Belle Isle, as I have said, some with nothing on but
pants and shirts, some with blouses, but they were seldom allowed to
have an overcoat or a blanket. There they remained for weeks, some of
them for six or eight weeks, without any tents or any kind of covering.
Question. What time of the year was this?
Answer. All along from September down to December, as a general thing,
through the latter part of the fall. There they remained for weeks
without any tents, without blankets, and in many instances without
coats, exposed to the rain and snow, and all kinds of inclement weather.
And where some of them had tents, they were old worn-out army tents,
full of holes and rents, so that they are very poor shelters indeed from
the storms. I have been told by several of them that several times, upon
getting up in the morning, they would find six or eight of their number
frozen to death. There are men here now who have had their toes frozen
off there. They have said that they have been compelled to get up during
the night and walk rapidly back and forth to keep from dying from the
cold.
Question. What do they say in regard to the food furnished them?
Answer. They represent that as being very little in quantity, and of the
very poorest quality, being but a small piece of corn-bread, about three
inches square, made of meal ground very coarsely--some of them suppose
made of corn and cobs all ground up together--and that bread was baked
and cut up and sent to them in such a manner that a great deal of it
would be crumbled off and lost. Sometimes they would get a very small
piece of meat, but that meat very poor, and sometimes for days they
would receive no meat at all. And sometimes they would receive a very
small quantity of what they call rice-water--that is, water with a few
grains of rice in it.
Question. You have heard their statements separately?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. Do they all agree in the same general statement as to their
treatment?
Answer. Yes, sir; they do.
Question. How were they clothed when they arrived here?
Answer. They were clothed very poorly indeed, with old worn-out filthy
garments, full of vermin.
Question. What was their condition and appearance as to health when they
arrived here?
Answer. They looked like living skeletons--that is about the best
description I can give of them--very weak and emaciated.
Question. Have you ever seen men at any time or place so emaciated as
these are--so entirely destitute of flesh?
Answer. I think I have a few times, but very rarely; I have known men to
become very emaciated by being for weeks affected with chronic
diarrhoea, or something of that kind. But the chronic diarrhoea, and
liver diseases, and lung affections, which those men now have, I
understand to have been superinduced by the treatment to which they have
been subjected; their cruel and merciless treatment and exposure to
inclement weather without any shelter or sufficient clothing or food,
reducing them literally to a state of starvation.
Question. Could any of them walk when they arrived here?
Answer. I think there was but one who could make out to walk; the rest
we had to carry into the hospitals on stretchers.
By Mr. Odell:
Question. Did these men make these statements in their dying condition?
Answer. Yes, sir.
By the chairman:
Question. Were the persons who made these statements conscious of
approaching dissolution?
Answer. Yes, sir; I know of no particular cases where they spoke of
these things when they were right on the borders of death; but they made
them before, when they were aware of their condition.
Question. So that you have no reason to doubt that they told the exact
truth, or intended to do so?
Answer. None whatever. There has been such a unanimity of testimony on
that point, that I cannot entertain the shadow of a doubt.
Question. And their statements were corroborated by their appearance?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. You have had under your charge and attention confederate sick
and wounded, have you not?
Answer. Yes, sir.
Question. How have they been treated?
Answer. In my judgment they have been treated just as well as any of our
own men ever were treated. In fact, they have got better treatment than
our men did formerly, for the reason that, in addition to what we have
given them--and we have tried to treat them just as we would have them
treat our men--in addition to that, we have allowed the rebel
sympathizers of Baltimore to bring them, everyday, delicacies in
abundance.
Question. Were these rebel sympathizers bountiful to them in that line?
Answer. Yes, sir, very.
Question. What has been the feeling evinced by our returned prisoners,
after having received such treatment, in regard to having entered the
service? Have they ever expressed any regret that they entered our army?
Answer. As a general thing, they have not. In fact, I have heard but one
express a different sentiment. He was a mere youth, not more than 16 or
17 years of age now. His feet were badly frozen. He remarked that he had
regretted, even long before he got to Richmond, that he entered the
service. But I have heard a number of them declare that if they were so
fortunate as to recover their health and strength, they should be glad
to return to the service, and still fight for their country.
Question. They then bear their misfortunes bravely and patriotically?
Answer. Yes, sir, they do.
Question. And without complaining of their government?
Answer. Yes, sir, without complaining of their fate, except so far as to
blame their merciless enemies.
* * * * *