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"The Released prisoners of war are now coming up from the southern prisons. I have seen a number of them. The sight is worse than any sight of battle-fields, or any collection of wounded, even the bloodiest. There was, (as a sample,) one large boat load, of several hundreds, brought about the 25th, to Annapolis; and out of the whole number only three individuals were able to walk from the boat. The rest were carried ashore and laid down in one place or another. Can those be men—those little livid brown, ash-streak’d, monkey-looking dwarfs?—are they really not mummied, dwindled corpses? They lay there, most of them, quite still, but with a horrible look in their eyes and skinny lips (often with not enough flesh on the lips to cover their teeth.) Probably no more appalling sight was ever seen on this earth. (There are deeds, crimes, that may be forgiven; but this is not among them. It steeps its perpetrators in blackest, escapeless, endless damnation. Over 50,000 have been compell’d to die the death of starvation—reader, did you ever try to realize what starvation actually is?—in those prisons—and in a land of plenty.) An indescribable meanness, tyranny, aggravating course of insults, almost incredible—was evidently the rule of treatment through all the southern military prisons. The dead there are not to be pitied as much as some of the living that come from there—if they can be call’d living—many of them are mentally imbecile, and will never recuperate." -Walt Whitman

Hey RB, let's not make excuses for these war-time atrocities by blaming politicians on either side. These men were still under the care of the Reb army, regardless. -btw I'd say the same thing regarding the notorious Union prison camps that Chief Leaky Sphincter is bound to bring up.

Hey, mac. Good to hear from you.

Both sides had serious problems with prisoners.

As I remember, on the occasion that you are talking about the North had asked to be sent Northern prisoners that were in the worst shape. The South was glad to comply. The North then took pictures of the worst of the prisoners at Annapolis, e.g., those that had dysentery and were completely emaciated as a result. The pictures were then used by the North as being representative of how the South was treating prisoners. Pure PR.

Judge Robert Ould, Southern Agent of Exchange, noted that the Federals had specifically requested the very worst sick prisoners on two occasions.

"Accordingly, the hospitals were searched for the worst cases, and after they were delivered they were taken to Annapolis and there photographed as specimen prisoners. The photographs at Annapolis were terrible indeed; but the misery they portrayed was surpassed at Savannah."

Here Ould is talking about some Confederate soldiers sent to Savannah by the North in return for thirteen thousand Federal soldiers, the majority of them well, that Ould was giving up without requiring exchange. The North sent thirty five hundred prisoners to Savannah. Five hundred of them apparently died on the trip south. Ould called them a cargo of living death.

you know the more i hear from you the better i like slugs, spiders & snakes.

the FACTS are that NOT EVEN ONE intentional atrocity happened at Camp Sumpter, not even ONE. (source: the records of the OFFICIAL US ARMY Prisoner of War Center at Andersonville.) there WAS a lot of illness & deaths from poor hygiene, but those deaths were caused by nothing to feed the POWs & MOSTLY a misunderstanding of the causes of diseases in that era.

otoh, TENS of THOUSANDS of helpless POWs were INTENTIONALLY tortured/assaulted/denied medical care/denied clothing/denied food and, all too frequently, MURDERED in cold-blood by the DY fiends that ran those HELLHOLES. those are the FACTS, whether you wish to know them or not!

the INESCAPABLE conclusion is that lincoln, the TYRANT, & his coven of thugs were WAR CRIMINALS, pure & simple. they deserved hanging.

free dixie,sw