Narrative of Privations and Sufferings of United States Officers and Soldiers While Prisoners of War
| Preis: | 12.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
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| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Author, Unknown) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Narrative of Privations and Sufferings of United States Officers and Soldiers While Prisoners of War: In the Hands of the Rebel Authorities; Being the Report of a Commission of Inquiry, Appointed by the United States Sanitary Commission; With an Appendix, Containing the Testimony Ever since-the outbreak of the war, the country has been full of painful rumors concerning the treatment of prisoners of war by the rebel authorities. Every returned prisoner has brought his tale of suffering, astonishing his neighborhood with an account of cruelty and barbarity on the part of the enemy. Innumerable narratives have also been published and widely circulated. The public have been made very uneasy by these reports. One class have accepted them as true; another have felt them to be exaggerated; still another have pronounced them wholly false, - fictions purposely made and scattered abroad to inflame the people against their enemies, and doing great injustice to the South. On the other hand, rumors have crossed the border, of an outraged public sentiment in the South, precisely on the same account: reports abounding there of cruelty and barbarity to the rebel soldiers in our hands. It has been repeatedly announced that whatever restrictions or privations have been suffered by Northern men in Southern prisons, were in retaliation for these. In the beginning of such a prodigious contest, as this has proved to be, breaking out in the midst of a people unaccustomed to war, and quite removed from extensive military traditions and examples, it was natural that many irregularities should have occurred, and many usages of warfare been disregarded on both sides; and that in the matter of prisoners especially, where either region was suddenly inundated by many thousands, great abuses should have taken place, until accommodations could be provided, and arrangements perfected. But these early days of ill-preparation have long passed away. The war has lasted more than three years. Both sections have become accustomed to it, and are familiarized with the ideas, habits, and laws of military life. The passionate fury of one side and the patriotic indignation of the other, have had time to settle down, at least so far as to accept this condition, and make every civilized provision known in modern warfare, for the mitigation of its horrors and inhumanity. And yet the painful rumors, so rife at the outbreak of the war, instead of subsiding with its early tumult, have lately increased to an extent which has seriously alarmed and aroused the public. The tales of cruelty and suffering have become even more heart-rending. Months ago we heard reports that our men were starving and freezing in the Southern prisons. In the late temporary resumption of the cartel, boat-loads of half naked living skeletons, foul with filth, and covered with vermin, were said to have been landed at Annapolis and Baltimore. Men, diseased and dying, or physically ruined for life, unfit for further military service, had been received in the stead of soldiers of the enemy returned in good condition, and who had been well fed, well clothed, and well sheltered by our Government during their captivity. But many reasons were circulated to account for such a difference. It was alleged that these emaciated men were the victims of camp dysentery, or similar distempers, and of food, which, however good in quality, and sufficient in quantity, was averse to the Northern constitution. Again it was alleged that the rebel army was, itself, suffering for want of food and clothing, and that the very guards to these prisoners had fared no better. There were many among us who were willing to credit any statement which would mitigate or excuse the infamy of permitting such a condition of things. For the sake of humanity and the American name, t
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