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pital, Annapolis, and have been here since the first 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 ?

ter. We have men here now who say that for five or six months they have been compelled to lie 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. 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 dis- Answer. They are quite they same; there is ease. For instance, a man exposed to the cold no difference. Every man makes the same statemay have a little bronchitis, or perhaps a little ment, and we therefore believe it to be true. All inflammation of the lungs, which, under good say the same in regard to rations, treatment, extreatment, would be easily cured—would be con-posure, and privations. Once in a while I have sidered 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 shel

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. În 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 toward 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?

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Answer. As a general thing, they have been very much debilitated, emaciated, and suffering from disease, such as diarrhoea, scurvy, lung diseases, etc.

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 re

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.

Answer. In Washington they were kept sepa-ceived? rate, 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 every body 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 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?

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 look 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 Leedom?

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 Answer. No, sir; it cannot, not only on ac-him with all his toes gone from one foot in consecount 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

quence 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 ulcer. ated the whole length of their bowels.

Question. Have you made many post-mortem examinations here?

mined) that the best of care and medical treatment, and all the sanitary and hygeian measures Answer. We have made quite a number of that we can introduce appear to be useless. Their them. We make them whenever we have an whole assimilative functions appear to be imopportunity; whenever bodies are not called for paired. Medicines and food appear, in many or are not likely to be taken away. cases, to have no effect upon them. We have Question. Are you enabled, from these post-made post-mortem examinations repeatedly of 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.

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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 ancemic 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 incrusted 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

Assistant Surgeon William S. Ely, sworn and off, and make applications to kill the vermin in 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 Number One, or Naval Academy hospital.

Question. Please state the sanitary condition and appearance, etc., 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 third, 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 under

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 servicealmost 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 fifteenth 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 two hundred and fifty 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 any thing 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 every thing 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 any thing 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 any thing 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 illtreatment 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 seventh, 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 sometimes 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 inclosed 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 six o'clock in the morning until six o'clock in the evening they were permitted to go to these sinks or privies, but from six at night until six 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 six 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.

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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. William 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 one hundred and

five.

Question. When did you receive them? Answer. Two weeks ago last Tuesday. On the nineteenth 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,

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