| We have received a paper from Mr.
John A. Bateson, of Pioche, Nevada, one of the Federal guard
at Rock Island, which is a strong confirmation of the above
statement of Mr. Wright.
Mr. Bateson is vouched for by a
district judge and a prominent lawyer of Pioche as a
gentleman of "perfect truthfulness and reliability"; and he
refers to a number of leading Republicans in the Northwest,
with whom he has always been politically associated, "for an
endorsement of his character as a staunch Republican and
honorable man."
His, therefore, is not "Rebel"
testimony, but that of a Union soldier, and "a truly loyal
Republican," whom Mr. Blaine cannot dismiss with the cry of
"traitor."
TESTIMONY OF A FEDERAL SOLDIER.
PIOCHE, February 19, 1876.
During a period of ten months I was a member of the
garrison of the Rock Island Military
Prison. There were confined there about ten thousand
men. Those men were retained in a famishing condition by
order of Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary
of War. That order was approved
by Abraham Lincoln. It was read before the inside garrison
of the prison sometime in January, 1864. It was read
at assembly for duty on the 2d, in front of the prison. It
went into effect on the following day. It continued in force
until the expiration of my term of service, and, I have
understood, until the close of the war.
When it was read, Colonel Shaffner,
of the Eighth Veteran Reserves, was acting Provost
Marshal of Prisoners. I think that it was
Captain Robinson who read the
order. It reduced the daily allowance of the captives to
about ten ounces of bread and four ounces of meat per man.
Some time in January a batch of prisoners arrived. They
were captured at Knoxville. Sixty of them were consigned to
barracks under my charge. They were received by me at about
3 in the afternoon. One of the prisoners inquired of me when
they would draw rations. I told him not until the following
day. He said that in that case some of his comrades must
dies, as they had eaten nothing since their capture several
days before - the exact period I cannot state. That evening
at roll call one of the prisoners exhibited symptoms of
delirium. He moved from the ranks, and seemed to grasp for
something, which I understood to be a table loaded with
delicacies. I returned him to the ranks, where he remained
until roll-call was over, when I left. On the following
morning he and two others were dead.
The mortality report among the new Rebs was
extraordinarily large. I think it amounted to about ten per
cent. of the entire number. It created an interest among the
company commandant, and was the subject of many expressions.
From the rebel orderlies I learned that the symptoms in each
case were the same. There was no complaint; no manifestation
of illness. Some dropped while standing on the floor; others
fell from a sitting posture. All swooned and died without a
struggle.
Some of the prisoners had money sent them. It was
deposited with the Provost Marshal, and their orders on the
sutler were at first honored, but supplies from this
direction were soon prohibited; the sutler's wagon was
excluded from the prison. Supplies from relatives of
prisoners, consisting of clothes, food and stationery came
for some. The parcels containing them were distributed from
"Barrack Thirty." The boxes were examined, everything in the
shape of subsistence was removed, and the box and its
contents delivered to the prisoner; the food it contained
was destroyed before the face of the tantalized captive.
Small tufts of a weed, called parsley, grew under the
sides of the prison. It was over the dead-line, where
prisoners dare not go. At their earnest entreaty I have
sometimes plucked and handed it to some of them. They told
me it was a feast. Squads of prisoners under guard were sent
to work in different parts of the Island. They sometimes
purchased raw potatoes and onions for their comrades
suffering with scurvy. They were searched at the prison
gate, and those articles taken from them.
I am ready to swear that in my opinion the
Knoxville prisoners were starved to
death.
As to the torture endured by the scurvy patients, the
shooting of prisoners by the guards on the parapets, the
smashing of their skulls with revolvers by officers of the
prison, such misfortunes are incident to prison life, and
neither the Government nor the Republican party can be held
responsible for them.
The weather on January 1st was the most intensely cold I
ever experienced; and from all parts of the prison came
intelligence of prisoners frozen to death. One died in one
of my companies. He was reported to me, and I placed my hand
on the corpse; it was frozen. This is the first time I have
mentioned it. I cannot say that he froze to death.
JOHN A. BATESON,
115th E. V. R. C., Second Battalion. |