SENATE, March 3, 1865.— Ordered to be printed. 
 [By Mr. Watson.] 
 
 REPORT 
 
 Of the Joint Select Committee appointed to investigate the Condition and 
 (Treatment of Prisonerpof War. 
 
 The duties assigned to the committee under the several resolutions 
 of Congress designating them, are "to investigate and report upon 
 the condition and treatment of the prisoners of war respectively held 
 by the Confederate and United States governments; upon the causes 
 of their detention, and the refusal to exchange; and also upon the 
 violtitions by the enemy of the rules of civilized warfare in the con- 
 duct of the war." These subjects are broad in extent and impor- 
 tance; and in order fully to investigate and present them, the com- 
 mittee propose to continue their labors in obtaining evidence, and 
 deducing from it a truthful report of facts illustrative of the spirit in 
 which the war has been conducted. 
 
 Northern Publications. 
 
 But we deem it proper at this time to make a preliminary report, 
 founded upon evidence recently taken, relating to the treatment of 
 prisoners of war by both belligerents. This report is rendered spe- 
 cially important, by reason of persistent etlbrts lately made by the 
 Government of the United States, and by associations and individuals 
 connected or co-operating with it, to asperse the honor of the Con- 
 federate auth(jrities, and to cliaiiie them with deliberate and willful 
 cruelty to prisoners of war. Two publications have been issued at 
 the North within the past year, and have been circulated not only in 
 the United States, luit m some |»art8 of the South, and in Europe. 
 One of these is tln' rep(»rt «)1 the joint select committee of the 
 Northern Congress hm the coiidnct of the war, known as "Report 
 No. 'w." The otlin- jiurpoits to be a "Narrative of the privations 
 and siitferings oi' I'l led Stat* s otlicers and soldiers while pris(Hn rs of 
 war," and is issued as a report of a commission of enquiry appointed 
 by "The United States sanitarv connnission." 
 
 This body is alle -ed t(. consist ot Valentine ]\[ott, M. D., Edward 
 Delalield, i\I. D.. Ooiiv niiur Monis Wilkins. Fs(|nire. Ellerslir AVal- 
 lacr. M. D., Hon. .1 .1. Ch.rke Hare, and Kev. Treadwell Waldea 
 
Although these persons are not of sufficient public importance and 
 weight to give authority to their publication, yet your committee 
 have deemed it proper to notice it in connection with the "Keport 
 No. 67," before mentioned, because the sanitary commission has been 
 understood to have acted to a great extent under the control and by 
 the authority of the United States government, and because their 
 report claims to be founded on evidence taken in solemn form. 
 
 Their Spirit and Intent. 
 
 A candid reader of these publications will not fail to discover that, 
 whether the statements they mak»' be true or not, their spirit is not 
 adaptt'd to promote a better feeling between the hostile powers. 
 They are not intended for the hunume purpose of ameliorating the 
 condition of the unhappy prisoners held in captivity. They are de- 
 signed to inflame the evil passions of the North; to keep up the war 
 spirit among their own people; to repn's«;nt the South as acting un- 
 der the dominion of a spirit of cruelty, inhumanity and iut»Mested 
 malice, and thus to vilify her people in the eyes of all on whom 
 these publications can work. They are justly characterized by the 
 Hon. James M. Mason as belonging to that class of literature called 
 the "sensational," — a style of writing prevalent for many years at 
 the North, and which, beginning with the writers of newspa[)i'r nar- 
 ratives and cheap liction, has gradually extended itself, ujitil it is now 
 the favored mode ado[>ted by medical professors, judges of courts and 
 reverend clergynum, and is even chosen as the proper style for a 
 report by a committee of their Congress. 
 
 Photogra2)hs. 
 
 Nothing can better illustrate the truth of this view than the "Re- 
 port No. 07," and its ap[)endages. It is accoun)anied by eight pic- 
 tures, or photosrupfis, alleged to represent UnittMl States j)risoiiers of 
 war, returned from Richmond, in a sad state of emaciation and suf- 
 fering. Concerning these cases, your committcii will have other 
 remarks, to be piesently submitted. They are only alluded to now 
 to show that this report does really belong to the "sensational" class 
 of literature, and that, "prima facie," it is open to the same criticism 
 to which the yellow covered novels, the "narratives of noted high- 
 waymen," and the "awful beacons" ot the Noitliern book stalls 
 should be subjected. 
 
 The, intent and sj)irit of this report may be gathered from the 
 following extract: "The evidence proves, beyond all maimer of 
 doubt, a determination on the [>art of the rebel authorities, delibe- 
 rately and persistently [)racticed for a long time past, to subject those 
 of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as lo fall in their hands, 
 to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing many of 
 those who have survived and been permitted to return to us, to a 
 condition both physically and mentally, which no language we can 
 
use can adequately describe." — Report, p. i . And they give also a 
 letter from Edwin M. Stanton, the Northern Secretary of War, from 
 which the following is an extract: "The enormity of the ciime 
 committed by the Rebels towards our prisoners for the last several 
 months, is not known or realized by our people, and cannot but fill 
 with horror the civilized world, when the facts are fully revealed. 
 There appears to have been a deliberate system of savage and bar- 
 barous treatment and starvation, the result of which will be that few 
 (if any) of the prisoners that have been in their hands during the 
 past winter, will ever again be in a condition to render any service, 
 or even to enjoy life." — Report, p. 4. And the sanitary commission, 
 in their pamphlet, after picturing many scenes of privation and 
 suffering, and bringing mnny charges of cruelty against the Confede- 
 rate authorities, declare as follows: "The conclusion is unavoidable, 
 therefore, that these privations and sufferings have been designedly 
 inflicted by the military and other authorities of the Rebel govern- 
 ment, and could not have been due to causes which such authorities 
 could not control." — P. 95. 
 
 Truth to be sought. 
 
 After examining these publications, your committee approached 
 the subject with an earnest desire to ascertain the trvth. If their 
 investigation should result in ascertaining that these charges (or any 
 of them) were true, the committee desired, as far as might be in their 
 power, and as far as they could influence the Congress, to remove 
 the evils complained of, and to conform to the most humane spirit of 
 civilization : and if these charges were unfounded and false, they 
 deemed it a sacred duty, without delay, to present to the Confederate 
 Congress and people, and to the public eye of the enlightened world, 
 a vindication of their country, and to relieve her authorities fVom the 
 injurious slanders brought against her by her enemies. With these 
 views, we have taken a considerable amount of testimony bearing on 
 the subject. We have sought to obtain witnesses whose position or 
 duties made them familiar with the facts testified to, and whose 
 chara<-ters entitled them to full credit. We have not hesitated to 
 examine Northern prisoners of war upon points and experience 
 specially within their knowledge. We now present the testimony 
 taken by us, and submit u report of fncts and inferences fairly de- 
 ducible fVom the evidence, from the admissions of our enemies, and 
 from public records of undoubted authority. 
 
 Facts as to Sick and Wounded Prisoners. 
 
 First in order, your committee will notice the charge contained 
 both in "Report No. 07," and in the "sanitary" publication, founded 
 on tht" appearance and (^(Uidition of the sick prisoners sent from Rich- 
 nioiid to Annapolis and Baltimore about the last of April 18G4:. 
 These are the men, some of whom form the subjects of the photo- 
 
graphs with which the United States congressional committee have 
 adorned their report. The disingenuous attempt is made in both 
 these publications to produce the impression that these sick, and 
 emaciated men were fair representatives of the general state of the 
 prisoners held by the South, and that all their prisoners were being 
 rapidly reduced to the same state, by starvation and cruelty, and by 
 neglect, ill treatment and denial of proper food, stimulants and medi- 
 cines, in the Confederate hospitals. Your committee take pleasure 
 in saying that not only is this charge proved to be wholly false, but 
 the evidence ascertains facts as to the Confederate hospitals, in which 
 Northern prisoners of war are treated, highly creditable to the au- 
 thorities which established them, and to the surgeons and their aids 
 who have so humanely conducted them. The facts are sim[)ly these: 
 The Federal authorities, in violation of the cartel, having for a long 
 time refused exchange of prisoners, finally consented to a partial ex- 
 change of the sick and wonnd(^d on both sides. Accordingly, a num- 
 ber of such prisoners were sent from the hospitals in Richmond. 
 General directions liad been given that none should be sent except 
 those who might be expected to endiu-e the removal and passage 
 with safety to their lives; bat in some cases the surgeons were in- 
 duced to depart from this rule, by the entreaties of some officers and 
 men in the last stages of emaciation, sulfering not only with excessive 
 debility, but with "nostalgia," or home sickness, whose cases were 
 regarded as desperate, and who could not live if they remained, and 
 might possibly improve if carried home. Thus it happened that 
 some very sick and emaciated men were carried to Annapolis, but 
 their illness was not the result of ill treatment or neglect. Such 
 cases might be found in any large hospital, Noith or South. They 
 might even be found in private families, where the sufferer would be 
 surrounded by every comfort that love could bestow. Yet these are 
 the cases which, with hideous violation of decency, the Northern 
 committee have ))araded in pictures and pliotographs. They have 
 taken their own sick and enfeebled soldiers; have stripped them 
 naked; have exposed theni before a daguerreian apparatus; have pic- 
 tured every shrunken limb and muscle — and all for the purpose, not 
 of relieving tlieir sufferings, but of bringing a false and slanderous 
 charge against the South. 
 
 Confederate Sick and Wounded — their Conditio?i when returned. 
 
 The evidence is overwhelming that the illness of these prisoners 
 was not the result of ill treatment or negh'ct. The testimony of 
 Surgeons Semple and Spence; of Assistant Surgeons Tinsley, Mar- 
 riott and Miller, and of the Federal prisoners, E. P. Dalrymple, Geo. 
 Henry Brown and Freeman B. T(*ague, ascertains this to the satis- 
 faction of every candid mind. But in refuting this charge, your com- 
 mittee are compelled by the evidence to bring a counter charge 
 against the Northern authorities, which they fear will not be so easily 
 refuted. In exchange, a number of Confederate sick and wounded 
 prisoners have been at various times delivered at Richmond and at 
 
Savannah. The mortality among these on the passage and their 
 condition when delivered were so deplorable as to justify the charge 
 that they had been treated with inhuman neglect by the Northern 
 authorities. 
 
 Assistant Surg. Tinsley testifies: "I have seen many of our pri- 
 soners returned from the North, who were nothing but skin and 
 bones. They were as emaciated as a man could be to retain life, and 
 the photographs (appended to ' Report No. 67,') would not be exag- 
 gerated represcMitations of our returned prisoners to whom I tiius 
 allude. I saw 250 of our sick brought in on litters from the steamer 
 at Rocketts. Thirteen dead bodies were brought off the steanu'r 
 the same night. At least thirty died in one night after tht^y were 
 received." 
 
 Surg. Spence testifies: "I was at Savannah, and saw rather over 
 three thousand prisoners received. The list showed that a huge 
 number had died on the passage from Baltimore to Savannah. The 
 number sent from the Federal }»risons was .3,500, and out of that 
 number they delivered only 3, OSS, to the best of my recollection. 
 Ca[)t. Hatch can give you the exact number. Thus, about J 72 died 
 on the passage. I was told that 67 dead bodies had been taken 
 from one train of cars between Palmira and J'>altimort'. After beinff 
 received at Savannah, they had the best attention ))i»ssible, yet many 
 died in a few days." — "In carrying^ out the exchange of disabled, 
 sick and wounded men, we delivered at Savannah and Charleston 
 about 11,000 Federal prisoners, and their physical condition com- 
 pared most favorably with those we received in exchange, although 
 of course the worst cases among the Confederates had been removed 
 by death during the })assage." 
 
 Richard H. Dibrell, a merchant of Richmond, and a member of 
 the "ambulance committee," whose labors in mitigating the sulfer- 
 ings of the wounded have been acknowledged both by Confederate 
 and Northern men, thus testifies concerning our sick and wounded 
 soldiers at Savannah, returned from Northern prisons and hospitals: 
 " I have never seen a set of men in worse condition. They were so 
 enfeebhxl and emaciated that we lifted them like little children. 
 jMany of them were like living skeletons. Indeed, then" was one 
 poor boy about 17 years old, who presented the most distressing and 
 deplorable appearance I ever saw. He was nothing but skin and 
 bone, and besides this, he was literally eaten up with vermin. He 
 died in the hospital in a few days after being removed thither, not* 
 withstanding the kindest treatment and the use of the most judicious 
 nourishment. Our men were in so reduced a condition, that on 
 more than one trip up on the short passage of ten miles from the 
 transports to the city, as many as five died. The clothing of the 
 privates was in a wretched stat(> of tatters and filth." — "The mortality 
 on th.e passage from IMaryland was very great as well as that on the 
 passage from the prisons to the port from which they started. I can- 
 not state the exact number, but I think I heard that 3,-')00 were 
 started, and we only received about 3,027." — " I have looked at the 
 photographs appended to ' Repoit No. 67' of the committee of the 
 
4 
 
 Federal Congress, and do not hesitate to declare that several of oiir 
 men were WDrse cases of einaciation and sickness than any repre- 
 sented in these photographs." 
 
 The testimony of Mr. Dibrell is confirmed by that of Andrew John- 
 ston, also a merchant of Richmond, and a member of the " ambulance 
 committee." 
 
 Thus it appears that the sick and wounded Federal prisoners at 
 Annapolis, whose condition has been made a subject of outcry and 
 of wide spread comjdaint by the Northern Congress, were not in a 
 worse state than were the Confederate prisoners returned from North- 
 ern hospitals and prisons, of which the humanity and superior man- 
 agen)ent are made subjects of special boasting by the United States 
 sanitary commission ! 
 
 Confederate Hospitals for Prisoners. 
 
 In connection with this subject, your committee take pleasure in 
 reporting the facts ascertained by their investigations concerning the 
 Confederate hospitals for sick and wounded Federal prisoners. They 
 have made personal examination, and liave taken evidence s[»ecially 
 in rehition to " Hospital No. 21," in Richmond, because this has been 
 made the subject of distinct charge in the publication last mentioned. 
 It has been shown not only by Jhe evidence of the surgeons and their 
 assistants, but by that of Federal prisoners, that the treatment of the 
 Nortliern prisoners in these hospitals has been every thing that human- 
 ity could dictate; that their wards have been well ventilated and 
 clean ; their food the best that could be procured for them — and in 
 fact, that no distinction has been made between their treatment and 
 that of our own sick and wounded men. Moreover, it is proved that 
 it has been the constant practice to su[)ply to the patients, o7it of the 
 hospital funds, such articles as milk, butter, eggs, tea and other deli- 
 cacies, when they were required by the condition of the patient. 
 This is proved by the testimony of E. P. Dairy mple of New York, 
 George Henry Brown of Pennsylvania, and Freeman B. Teague of 
 New Hampshire, whose depositions accompany this report. 
 
 Co7Urast. 
 
 This humane and considerate usage was not adopted in the United 
 States hospital on Johnson's Island, where Confederate sick and 
 wounded officers were treated. Col. J. H. Holman thus testifies: 
 "The Federal authorities did not furnish to the sick prisoners the 
 nutriment and other articles which were prescribed by their own sur- 
 geons. All they would do was to permit the prisoners to buy the 
 nutriment or stimulants needed ; and if they had no money, they 
 could not get them. I know this, for I was in the hospital sick 
 myself, and I had to buy, myself, such articles as eggs, milk, flour, 
 chickens and butter, after their doctors had prescribed them. And I 
 know this was generally the case, for we had to get up a fund among 
 
ourselves for this purpose, to aid those who were not well supplied 
 with money." This statement is confirmed by the testimonv of 
 acting assistant surgeon John J. IMiller, who was at Johnson's Island 
 for more than eight months. When it is remembered that sueli arti- 
 cles as eggs, milk and butter were very scarce and high priced in 
 Richmond, and plentiful and cheap at the North, the contrast thus 
 presented may well put to shame the "sanitary commission," and 
 dissipate the self-complacency with which they have boasted of the 
 superior humanity in the Northern prisons and hospitals. 
 
 Charge of Robbing Prisoners. 
 
 Your committee now proceed to notice other charges in these pub- 
 lications. It is said that their prisoners were habitually stripped of 
 blankets and other proi)erty, on being captured. What pillage may 
 have been committed on the battle field, after the excitement of com- 
 bat, your committee cannot know. P)Ut they feel well assured that 
 such pillage was never encouraged by the Confederate generals, and 
 bore no comparison to the wholesale robbery and destitution to which 
 the Federal armies have abandoned themselves, in possessing parts 
 of our territory. It is certain that after the prisoners were brought 
 to the Libby, and other prisons in Richmond, no such pillage was 
 permitted. Only articles which came properly under the lu3ad of 
 munitions of war, were taken from them. 
 
 Shooting Prisoners. 
 
 The next charge noticed is, that the guards around the Libby pri- 
 son were in the habit of recklessly and inhumanly shooting at the 
 prisoners, upon the most frivolous pretexts, and that the Confederate 
 officers, so far from forbidding this, rather encouraged it, and made it 
 a subject of sportive remark. This charge is wholly false and base- 
 less. The "Rules and Regulations" appended to the deposition of 
 Maj. Thomas P. Turner, ex[)ressly provide, "Nor shall any prisoner 
 be fired u[)on by a sentinel or other person, except in case of revolt 
 or attempted escape." Five or six cases have occurred, in which 
 prisoners have been fired on and killed or hurt: but every case has 
 been made the subject of careful investigation and report, as will ap- 
 pear by the <n'idence. As a proper comment on this charge, your 
 committee report that the practice of firing on our prisoners by the 
 guards in tln' Northern prisons, appears to have bc^en indulged in to 
 a most brutal and atrocious extent. See the depositions of C. C. 
 Herrington, Wui. F. Gordon, Jr., J. B. McCreary, Dr. Thomas P. 
 Hollovvay, and John P. Fennell. At Fort Delaware, a cruel regula- 
 tion as to the use of the "sinks," was made the pretext for firing on 
 and murdering several of our men and officers — among them, Lieut. 
 Col. Jones, who was lame, and was shot down by the sentinel while 
 helpless and feeble, and while seeking to explain his condition. Yet 
 this sentinel was not only not punished, but was promoted for his 
 
act. At Camp Douglas, as many as eighteen of our men are re- 
 ported to have been shot in a single month. These facts may well 
 produce a conviction in the candid observer, that it is the North and 
 not the South that is open to the charge of deliberately and v^illfully 
 destroying the lives of the prisoners held by her. 
 
 Meaiis for securing Cleanliness. 
 
 The next charge is, that the Libby and Belle Isle prisoners were 
 habitually kept in a filthy condition, and that the officers and men 
 confined there were prevented from keeping themselves sufficiently 
 clean to avoid vermin and similar discomforts. The evidence clearly 
 contradicts this charge. It is proved by the depositions of Maj. 
 Turner, Lieut. Bossieux, Rev. Dr. McCabe, and others, that the pri- 
 sons were kept constantly and systematically policed and cleansed; 
 that in the Libby there was an ample supply of water conducted to 
 each floor by the city pipes, and that the prisoners were not only not 
 restricted in its use, but urged to keep themselves clean. At Belle 
 Isle, for a brief season (about three weeks), in consequence of a sud- 
 den increase in the number of prisoners, the police was interrupted, 
 but it was soon restored, and ample means for washing both them- 
 selves and their clothes, were at all times furnished to the prisoners. 
 It is doubtless true, that nothwithstanding these facilities, many of 
 the prisoners were lousy and filthy; but it was the result of their 
 own habits, and not of neglect in the discipline or arrangements of 
 the prison. Many of the prisoners were captured and brought in 
 while in this condition. The Federal General Neal Dow well ex- 
 pressed their character and habits. When he came to distribute 
 clothing among them, he was met by profane abuse, and he said to 
 the Confederate officer in charge, "You have here the scrapinyrs and 
 raJcingrs of Europe.^'' That such men should be filthy in their habits, 
 might be expected. 
 
 Charge of withholding and pillaging Boxes. 
 
 We next notice the charge that the boxes of provisions and cloth- 
 ing sent to the prisoners from the North, were not delivered to them, 
 and were habitually robbed and plundered, by permission of the Con- 
 federate authorities. The evidence satisfies your committee that 
 this charge is, in all substantial points, untrue. For a period of 
 about one month there was a stoi)p!ige in tlie delivery of boxes, 
 caused by a report that the Federal authorities were forbidding the 
 delivery of similar supplies to our prisoneis. But the boxes were 
 put in a warehouse, and were afterwards delivered. For some time 
 no search was made of boxes froui tlie "sanitary committee," in- 
 tended for the prisoners' hospitals. But a letter was intercepted, 
 advising that money should be sent in these boxes, "as they were 
 never searched;" which money was to be used in bribing the giuirds, 
 and thus releasing the prisoners. After this, it was deemed neces- 
 
sary to search every box, which necessarily produced some delay. 
 Your committee are satisfied that if these boxes or their contents 
 were robbed, the prison officials are not responsible therefor. Be- 
 yond doubt, robberies were often committed by prisoners themselves, 
 to whom the contents were delivered for distribution to their owners. 
 Notwithstanding all this alleged pillage, the supplies secni to have 
 been sufficient to keep the ((uarters ot the [irisoneis so well fiiinished 
 that they frequently presented, in the language of a witness, "the 
 appearance of a large grocery store." 
 
 The Federal Colonel Sandcrso?i' s Testimotiy. 
 
 In connection with this point, your committee refer to the testi- 
 mony of a Federal officer, Colonel James M. Sanderson, whose letter ^ 
 il annexed to tln> deposition of Miijor Turner. He testifies to the full" 
 delivery of the clothing and suppli(>s from the North, and to the hu- 
 manity and kindness of the Confederate officers — specially mention- 
 ing Lieut. Bossieux, commanding on Belle Isle. His letter was ad- 
 dressed to the president of the United States snnitarv eonniiission, and 
 was be^'^ond doubt received by them, having been forwarded l)y the 
 regular H;ig of truce. Y(>t the S('ruj)ulous and honest gentlemen com- 
 posing thai connnission, have not found it convenient for their pur- 
 poses to insert this letter in their publication ! Had they been really 
 searching for the trufh, this letter would have aided them in finding-it. 
 
 Mine under the L'lbbrj Fruon. * 
 
 Your committee proceed next to notice the allegation that the 
 Confederate authorities had prepared a mine under the Libby prison, 
 and placed in it a quantity of gun|towder for the purpose of blowing 
 up the buildings, with their inmates, in case of an attempt to rescue 
 them. After ascertaining nil tht' fiicts benring on this subject, vour 
 committee believe that what was done under the circumstances, will 
 meet a verdict of appmival from all whose prejudices do not blind 
 them to the truth. The state of things was unprecedented in his- 
 tory, and must be judged of according to the motives at work, and 
 the result aceomplislu'd. A Inrge body of Northern raiders, undcT 
 one Col. Dalilgren, wns approaching h'ichhiond. It was ascertained, 
 by the reports of prisoners captured from them, and oth.-r evidence, 
 that their design was to enter the city, to set fire to the i'uildings, 
 public and private, for which purpose turpentine balls in great num- 
 ber had been prepared; to murder the President of the Confederate - 
 States, and other prominent men ; to release the prisoners of war, 
 then numbering five or six thousand ; to put arms into their hands, 
 and to turn over the city to indiscriminate pillage, rape and slaugh- 
 ter. At the same time a plot was discovered among the y)risoner8 to 
 co-operate in this scheme, and a large nund)er ol knives and slung- 
 shot (made by putting stones into woolen stockiniis) vv(M-e deflected 
 in places of concealment about their quarters. To defeat a plan so 
 2 • 
 
w 
 
 diabolic.il, assuredly the sternest means were justified. If it would 
 have been right to put to death any one prisoner attempting to es- 
 cape under such circumstances, it seems logically certain that it 
 would have been equally right to put to death any number making 
 such attempt. But in truth the means adopted were those of" hu- 
 manity and prevmti.nn, rather than of execution. The Confederate 
 authorities felt able to meet and repulse Dahlgren and his raiders, if 
 they could prevent the escape of the prisoners. 
 
 The real object was to save their lives as well as those of our citi- 
 zens. The guard force at the prisons was small, and all the local troops 
 in and around Richmond were needed to meet the threatened attack. 
 Had the prisoners escaped, the women and children of the city, as 
 well as their homes, would have been at the mercy of five thousand 
 outlaws. Humanity required that the most summary measures should 
 be used to i/cter them from any attempt at escape. • 
 
 A mine was prepared under the Libby prison ; a sufficient quan- 
 tity of gunpowder was put into it, and pains were taken to inform the 
 prisoners that any attempt at escape made by them would be eftectu- 
 ally defeated. The plan succeeded perfectly. The prisoners were 
 awed and kept quiet. Dahlgren and his party were defeated and 
 scattered. The danger jmssed away, and in a few weeks the gun- 
 powder was removed. Such are the facts. Your committee do not 
 hesitate to make tpem known, feeling assured that the conscience of 
 the enlightened world and the great law of self-preservation will jus- 
 tify all that was done by our country and her officers. 
 
 Charge of Infenfional Starvation and Cr7/.elty. 
 
 We now proceed to notice, under one head, the last and gravest 
 charge made in these publications. They assert that the Northern 
 prisoners in tlie hands of the Confederate authorities have been 
 starved, trozen, inhianaiily punished, often confined in foul and loath- 
 some quarters, deprived of fresh aii' and exercise, and neglected and 
 maltreated in sickness — and that all this was done u})on a deliberate, 
 willful and long conceived plan of the Confederatn government and 
 officers, for the [turpose i' desti'oying the lives of these prisoners, or 
 of rendering theui forever incapable of military vervice. This charge 
 accuses the Southern government of a crime so horrible and unna- 
 tural, that it could never have been made except by those ready to 
 blacken with slander men whom they have long injured and hated. 
 Your committee fi'el bound to reply to it calmly but emphatically. 
 Tliey pronounce it false in fact and ii\ design; lalse in the basis on 
 which it assumes to rest, and false in its estimate of the motives 
 which have controlled the Southern authorities. 
 
 Hvmane Polici/ <f the Confederate Government. 
 
 At an early period in the present contest the Confederate govern- 
 ment recognized their obligation to treat prisoners of war with hu- 
 
 % 
 
11 
 
 manity and consideration. Before any laws were passed ton the sub- 
 ject, the Executive "Department provided such prisoners as fell into 
 their hands, with proper quarters and barracks to shelter them, and 
 with rations the same in quantity and quaJit}^ as those furnished to 
 the Confederate sohliers who guarded these prisoners. They also 
 showed an earnest wish to mitigate the sad conditi(Ui of prisoners of 
 war, by a system of fair and prompt exchange — ;ind the Confederate 
 Congress co-operated in these humane views. By their act, approved 
 on the 21st day of May ISGi, they provided that "all prisoners of 
 war taken, whether on land or at sea, during the pending hostilities 
 with the United States, sJiall be transferred by the captors from time 
 to time, and as often as convenient to the Department of War; and 
 it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, with the approval of 
 the President, to issue such instructions to the Quartermaster General 
 and his subordinates, as shall provide for the safe custody and suste- 
 nance of prisoners of wnr; onH the rations furnished prisoners of W'-r 
 fha/l be the same in (juantitij and qvaliiy as those f.ruish(d. to eviisted men 
 in the army of the Coffideracy''^ Such were the declared pur[)ose and 
 policy of the Confederate government towards prisoners of war — 
 and amid all the privations and losses to which their enemies have 
 subjected them, they have sought to carry them into effect. 
 
 Rations and General Treatment. 
 
 Our investigations for this preliminary report have been confined 
 chiefly to the rations and treatment of the prisoners of war at the 
 Libby and other prisons in Richmond and on Belle Isle. This we 
 have done, because the publications to which we have alhided refer 
 chiefly to them, and because the "Rep«»rt No. (i?" of the "Northern 
 Congress plaiidy intimates the belief that the treatment in and around 
 Richmond was worse than it was farther South. That report savs: 
 "It will be observed from the testimony, that all the witnesses who 
 testify u[»on thnt point stnte that the treatmiMit they received while 
 confined at Columbia, South Carolina, I);ilton, (leoigia, and other 
 places, tf^/s /</?■ moie humirne than that they received at Richmond, 
 where the authorities of the so-called Conliederacy were congregated." 
 Report, p. 3. 
 
 The evidence proves that the rations furnished to prisoners of war 
 in Richmond and on Belle Isle, have bet'n veier less than those fur- 
 nished to the Confederate soldiers who guarded them, and have at 
 some seasons been larger in ((uantity and better in quality than those 
 furnished to Confederate troops in the field. This has been because 
 until Febnuiry 1^04 the Qnartrrmaster's Department furnished the 
 })risoner8, and oiten had provisions or funds, when the Commissary 
 Department was not so well juovided. Once and only once, tor a 
 few weeks, the prisoners were without n)eat ; but a larger quantity 
 of bread and vegetable food was in consequence supplied to them. 
 How often the gallant men cc^inposing the Confederate army have been 
 witliout meat, for even longer inlervals, your conmiitteedo not deem 
 it necessary to say. Not less than sixteen ounces ol bread and tour 
 
12 
 
 ounces of bacon, or six ounces of beef, together with beans and soup, 
 have been furnished per day to the prisoners. During most of tiae 
 time the quantity of meat furnished to them has been greater than 
 these amounts; and even in times of the gieatest scarcity, they have 
 received as much as the Southern soldiers who guarded them. The 
 scarcity of meat and of bread stuffs in the South, in certain places, 
 has been the result of the savage policy of our enemies in burning 
 baius filled with wheat or corn, destroying agricultural implements, 
 and driving off or wantonly butchering hogs and cattle. Yet amid 
 all these privations, we have given to their prisoners the rations above 
 mentioned. It is well known that this quantity of food is sufficient 
 to keep in health a man who does not labor hard. Ail the learned 
 disquisitions of Dr. EUerslie Wallace ou the subject of starvation, 
 might have been spared, for they are all founded on a fals<^ basis. It 
 will be observed that few (if any) of the witnesses examined by the 
 "sanitary commission" speak with any accuracy of the quantity (in 
 weight) of the food actually furnished to them. Tlieii- statements 
 are merely conjectural and comparative, and cannot weigii against 
 the positive testimony of those who superintended the delivt-ry of 
 large quantities of food, cooked and distributed according to a tixed 
 ratio, for the number of men to be fed. 
 
 Falsehoods published as to Prisoners Frtezing on Belle Isle. 
 
 The statements of the " sanitary commission" as to prisoners freezing 
 to death on Belle Isle, are absurdly false. According to that state- 
 ment, it w^as common, during a cold spell in winter, to see several 
 prisoners frozen to death every morning in the places in which they 
 had slept. This picture, if correct, might well excite our horror; 
 but unhappily for its sensational power, it is but a clumsy daub, 
 founded on tlie fancy of the painter. The facts are, that tents were 
 furnished sufficient to shelter all the prisoners ; that the Confederate 
 Commandant and soldiers on the Island were lodged in siniilar tents; 
 that a fire was furnished in each of them; that the prisoncMs fared as 
 well as their guards ; and that only one of them was ever frozen to 
 death, and he was frozen hy the cruelly of his owi /e/low-jrisoiiem, who 
 thrust him out of the tent in a freezing night, because he was infested 
 with vermin. The proof as to the healthiness of the prisoners on 
 Belle Isle, and the small amount of mortality, is remarkable, and 
 presents a fit comment on the lugubrious pictures drawn by the 
 "sanitary commission," either irom their own fancies, or from the 
 fictions put forth by their false witnesses. Lieut. Bossieux proves, 
 that from the establishment of the prison camp on Belle Isle in June 
 18(32, to the 10th of February 1865, mote than twenty thousand 
 prisoners had been at various times thei-e received, and yet that the 
 whole number of deaths during this time, was only one hundred and 
 sixty-four. And this is confirmed by the Federal Colonel Sanderson, 
 who states that the average number of deaths per month on Belle 
 Isle, was "from two to five; more frequently the lesser number." 
 The sick were promptly removed from the Island to the hospitals in 
 the city. 
 
13 
 
 Character of the Northern Witnesses, 
 
 Doubtless the "sanitary commission" have been to some extent 
 led astray by their own witnesses, whose character has been por- 
 trayed by Gen. Neal Dow, and also b}?^ the Editor of the New York 
 Times, who, in his issue of January 6th, 1S65, describes the material 
 for recruiting the Federal armies as "wn-etched vagabonds, of de- 
 praved morals, decrepit in body, without courage, self-respect or con- 
 science. They are dirty, disorderly, thievish and incapable." 
 
 Cruelty to Confederate Prisoncs at the North 
 
 In reviewing the charges of cruelty, harshness and starvation to 
 prisoners, made by the North, your committee have taken testimony 
 as to the treatment of our own officers and soldiers in the hands of 
 tin; enemy. It gives us no ple;isiire to be compeHed to speak of 
 suH'cring inHictod upon our g;illant nx'u; but the self-laudntory style 
 in which the "sanitary con)mis!sion" have spoken of their prisons, 
 mak«^s it proper that the truth should be presented. Your committee 
 gladly acknowledge that in many cases our prisoners experienced 
 kind and considerate treatment; but we are e(jually assured that in 
 nenrly all the prison stations of the North — at Point Lookout, Fort 
 Mcllenry, Fort Delaware, Johnson's Island, Elmira, Camp Chase, 
 Camp Douglas, Alton, Camp Morton, the Ohio Penitentiary, and the 
 prisons of St. Louis, Missouri, our men have suffered from insuf- 
 ficient food, and have been subjected to ignominious, cruel and 
 barbarous practices, of which tliere is no parallel in any thing 
 tiiat has occurred in the South. The witnesses who were at 
 Point Lookout, Fort Delaware, Camp Morton and Camp Douglas, 
 testify that they have often seen our men picking up the scraps 
 and refuse thrown out from the kitchens, with which to appease 
 tkeir iumger. Dr. Herrington proves that at Fort Delaware un- 
 wholesome bread and water produced diarrluea in numberless cases 
 among our prisoners, and that "their suffeiings were greatly aggra- 
 vated by the regulation of the camp which forbade more than twenty 
 men at a time at night to go to The sinks. I iiave seen as many as 
 five hundred men in a row waiting their time. The consequence 
 was that they were obliged to use the places where they were. 
 This produced great want of cleanliness, and aggravated the disease." 
 Our men were compelled to labor in unloading Federal vessels and 
 in putting up buildmgs for Federal officers, and if they refused, were 
 driven to the work wiih clubs. 
 
 The treatment of J^rig. Gen. J. H. Morgan and his officers was 
 brutal and ignominious in the extreme. It will be foimd stated in 
 the depositions of Caj)t. M. I). Logan, Lieut. W. P. Crow, Lieut. Col. 
 James B. McCreary and Capt. h. A. Tracy, that tliey were put in 
 the Ohio Penitentiary, and comjxdled to submit to the treatment of 
 felons. Their beards were «haved, and their hair was cut close to 
 the head. They were confined in convicts' cells, and forbidden to 
 
speak to each other. For attempts to escape, and for other offences 
 of a ver}"^ light character, they were subjected to the horrible pun- 
 ishment of the dungeon. In midwinter, with the atmosphere many 
 degrees below zero, without blanket or overcoat, they were conlin(?d 
 in a cell without fire or light, with a ftietid and poisonous air to 
 breathe — and here they were kept until life was nearly extinct. 
 Their condition on coming out was so deplorable as to draw tears 
 from thi'ir comrades. The blood was oozing from their hands and 
 faces. The treatment in the St. Louis prison was equally barbarous. 
 Capt. Wm. H. Sebring testifies: "Two of us, A. C. Grimes and my- 
 self, were carried out into the open air in the prison yard, on the 25th 
 of December 1863, and handcuffed to a post. Here we were kept 
 all night in sleet, snow and cold. We were relieved in the da}'^ time, 
 but again brought to the post and handcuffed to it in the evening — 
 and thus we were kept all night until the 2d of January 1SG4. I 
 was badly frost-bitten, and my health was much impaired. This 
 cruel infliction was done by order of Capt. Byrnes, Commandant of 
 Prisons in St. Louis. He was barbarous and insulting to the last 
 degree." 
 
 Our Prisoners put into Camps infected with Small-pox. 
 
 But even a greater inhumanity than any we have mentioned, was 
 perpetrated upon our prisoners at Camp Douglas and Camp Chase. 
 It is proved by the testimony of Thomas P. Holloway, John P. Fen- 
 nell, H. H. Barlow, H. C. Barton, C. D. Bracken and J. S. Barlow, 
 that our prisoners in large numbers were put into " condemned camps," 
 where small-pox was prevailing, and speedily contracted this loath- 
 some disease, and that as many as 40 new cases often appeared daily 
 among them. Even the Federal officers who guar- led them to the 
 camp, protested against this unnatural atrocity ; yet it was done. 
 The men who contracted the disease were removed to a hospital 
 about a mile off, but the plague was already introduced, and continu#d 
 to prevail. For a period of more than twelve months the disease was 
 constantly in the camp; yet our prisoners during all this time were 
 continually brought to it, and subjected to certain infection. Neither 
 do we find evidences of amendment on the part of our enemies, not- 
 withstanding the boasts of the " sanitary commission." At Nashville, 
 prisoners recently captured from Gen. Hood's army, even when sick 
 and wounded, have been cruelly deprived of all nourishment suited to 
 their condition ; and other prisoners from the same army have been 
 carried into the infected Camps Douglas and Chase. 
 
 Many of the soldiers of Gen. Hood's army were frost-bitten by 
 being kept day and night in an exposed condition before they were 
 put into Camp Douglas. Their sufferings are truthfully depicted in 
 the evidence. At Alton and Camp Morton the same inhuman prac- 
 tice of putting our prisoners into camps infected by small-pox, pre- 
 vailed. It was equivalent to murdering many of them by the torture 
 of a contagious disease. The insuthcient rations at Camp Morton 
 forced our men to appease their hunger by pounding up and boiling 
 
15 
 
 bones, picking up scraps of meat and cabbage from the hospital slop 
 tubs, and even eating rats and dogs. The depositions of William 
 Ayres and J. Chambers Brent prove these privations. 
 
 Barbarous Punishments. 
 
 The punishments often inflicted on our men for slight offences, 
 have been shameful and barbarous. They have been compelled to 
 ride a plank only four inches- wide, called "Morgan's horse;" to sit 
 down with their naked bodies in the snow for ten or fifteen minutes, 
 and have been subjected to the ignominy of stripes from the belts of 
 their guards. The pretext has been used, that many of their acts 
 of cruelty have been by way of retaliation. But no evidence has 
 been found to prove such acts on the part of the ConfediM-ate autho- 
 rities. It is remarkable that in the cast; of Col. Streight and his otli- 
 cers, they yfcve subjected only to the ordinary confinement of prison- 
 ers of war. No special punishment was used except for specific 
 offences; and then the greatest infliction was to confine Col. Streight 
 for a few weeks in a basement room of the Libby prison, with a 
 window, a plank floor, a stove, a fire, and plenty o(" fuel. 
 
 We do not deem it necessary to dwell further on these subjects. 
 Enough has been [)roved to show that great privations and sufferings 
 have been boine by the prisoners on both sides. 
 
 Why have not Prisoners of War been Exchanged, 
 
 But the question forces itself upon us why have these sufferings 
 been so long continued? Why have not the prisoners of war been 
 exchanged, and thus some of the darkest pages of history spared to 
 the world? In the answer to this question must be found the test of 
 responsibility for all tht; sufferings, sickness and heart-broken sorrow 
 that have visited more than eighty thousand prisoneis within the 
 past two years. On this question, your conunittee can only say that 
 the Confederate authorities have always desired a pronjpt and fair 
 exchange of prisoners. Even before the establishment of a cartel 
 they urged such exchange, but could never effect it by agreement 
 until the large preponderance of j)risoners in our hands made it the 
 interest of the Federal authoritit'S to consent to the cartel of July 
 2iJ(l, 18G3. The 9th article of that agreement expressly provided, 
 that in case any misunderstanding should arise, it should not interrupt 
 the rchiise of jirisoucrs on jiarolc, but should be made the subject of 
 friendly explanaiion. Soon alter this cartel was established, the 
 poliey of the eueniy in seducing negro slaves from their masters, 
 arniingthem and |>uttingwiiiteorticers over them to lead them against 
 us, g.ive rise to a few cases in which questions of crime under the 
 internal laws ot the Southern States appeared. Whether men who 
 enc(»uraged insurrection ai d murder could be held entitled to the 
 privileges of })risoners of war under tlie cartel, was a grave question. 
 But tliese cases were few in number, and ought never to have inter- 
 
16 
 
 rupted the general exchange. We were always ready and anxious to 
 carrj'^ out the cartel in its true meaning, and it is certain that the 9th 
 article required that the prisoners on both sides should be released, 
 and that the few cases as to which misunderstanding occurred should 
 be left for final decision. Doubtless if the preponderance of prisoners 
 had continued with us, exchanges would have continued. But the 
 fortunes of war threw the larger number into the hands of our ene- 
 mies. Then they refused further exchanges — and for twenty-two 
 months this policy has continued. Our Commissioner of Exchange 
 has made constant efforts to renew them. In August 1864 he con- 
 sented to a proposition which had been repeatedly made, to exchange 
 officer for officer and man for man, leaving the surplus in captivity. 
 Though this was a departure from the cartel, our anxiety for the ex- 
 change induced us to consent. Yet, the Federal authorities repu- 
 diated their previous offi^'r, and refused even this partial coiiipliance 
 with the cartel. Secretary Stanton, who has unjustly charged the 
 Confederate authorities with inhumanity, is open to the charge of 
 having done all in his power to prevent a fair exchange, and thus to 
 prolong the suflerings of which he speaks : and very recently, in a 
 letter over his signature, Benjamin F. Butler has declared that in 
 April 1864, the Federal Lieut. General Grant forbade him " to deliver 
 to the Rebels a single able-bodied man :" and moreover. Gen. Butler 
 acknowledges that in answer to Col. Quid's letter consenting to the 
 exchange, officer for officer and man for man, he wrote a reply, " not 
 diplomatically but obtrusively and demonstratively, 7iot for the jmr- 
 pose of furthering exchange of prisoners, but for the purpose of pre- 
 venting and stopping the exchange, and furnishing a ground on which 
 we could fairly stnndy 
 
 These facts abundantly show that the responsibility of refusing to 
 exchange prisoners of war rests with the Government of the United 
 States, and the people who have sustained that government ; and 
 every sigh of captivity, every groan of suffering, every heart broken 
 by hope deferred among these eighty thousand prisoners, will accuse 
 them in the judgment of the just. 
 
 With regard to the prison stations at Andersonville, Salisbury and 
 other places south of Richmond, your committee have not made 
 extended examination, for reasons which have ali'eady been stated. 
 We are satisfied that privation, suflering and mortality, to an extent 
 much to be regretted, did prevail among the pi'isoners there, but 
 they were not the result of neglect, still less of design on the part 
 of the Confederate government. Haste in preparation ; crowded 
 quarters, prepared only for a smaller number; want of transporta- 
 tion and scarcity of food, have all resulted from the pressure of the 
 war, and the barbarous manner in which it has been conducted by 
 our enemies. Upon these subjects your committee propose to take 
 further evidence, and to report more fully hereafter. 
 
 But even now enough is known to vindicate the South, and to fur- 
 nish an overwhelming answer to all complaints on the part of the 
 United States government or people, that their prisoners were stinted 
 in food or supplies. Their own savage warfare has wrought all the 
 
17 
 
 evil. They have blockaded our porta; have excluded from us food, 
 clothing and medicines; have even declared medicines contraband of 
 war, and have repeatedly destroyed the contents of drug stores and 
 the supplies of private physicians in the country ; have ravaged our 
 country ; burned our houses, and destroyed growing crops and farm- 
 ing implements. One of their officers (General Sheridan) has boasted 
 in his official report, that in the Shenandoah valley alone he burned 
 two thousand barns filled with wheat and corn; that he burned all 
 the mills in the whole tract of country; destroyed all the factories 
 of cloth, and killed or drove off every animal, even to the poultry, 
 that could contribute to human sustenance. These desolations have 
 been repeattid jiguin and again in different parts of the South. Thou- 
 sands of our families have been driven from thtnr homes, as helpless 
 and destitute refuge(>s. Our enemies have destroyed the rail roads 
 and other means of transportation, by which food could be supplied 
 from abundant districts to those without it. While thus desolatinjj 
 our country, in violation of the usages of civilized warfare, they have 
 refused to exchange prisoners; have forced us to keep fifty thousand 
 of their men in captivity — and yet have attempted to attribute to us 
 the siiffeiings and privations caused by their own acts. We cannot 
 doubt that in the view of civilization we shall stand acquitted, while 
 they must be condemned. 
 
 In concluding this preliminary report, we will notice the strange 
 perversily of interpretation which has induced the "sanitary com- 
 mission" to affix as a motto to their pamphlet, the words of the com- 
 passionate Redeemer of mankind : 
 
 " For I was an hungered and )'^e gav(» me no meat : I was thirsty 
 and ye gave me no diink : I was a stranger and' ye took me not in : 
 naked and ye clothed me not: sick and in prison and ye visited me not." 
 
 We have yet to learn on what principle the Federal mercenaries, 
 sent with arms in their hands to destroy the lives of our people; to 
 waste our land, burn our houses and barns, and drive us from our 
 homes, can be regarded by us as the followers of the meek and lowly 
 Redeemer, so as to claim the benefit of his words. Yet even these 
 merc(Miaries, when taken captive by us, have been treated with pro- 
 per humanity. The cruelties inflicted on our prisoners at the North 
 may well justify us in ii])|)lying to the "sanitary commission" the 
 stern words of the Divine Teacher: " Thou hypocrite, first cast out 
 the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to 
 cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." 
 
 We believe that there are many thousands of just, honorable and 
 humane peo})le in the United States, upon whom this subject, thus 
 presented, will not be lost; that they wdl do all they can to mitigate 
 the horrors of war ; to complete the exchange of prisoners, now 
 haj)pily in progress, and to prevent the recurrence of such sufferinga 
 as have been narrated. And we repeat the words of the Confederate 
 Congress, in their Manifesto of the 14th of June 1804: 
 
 "We conunit our cause to the enlightened judgment of the world; 
 to the sober reflections of our adversaries themselves, and to the 
 solemn and righteous arbitrament of Heaven." 
 3