USA > New York > Records of the 24th Independent Battery, N. Y. Light Artillery, U. S. V. > Part 19
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APPENDIX.
the sick are directed to be brought out by sergeants of squads daily at "sick call," to the medical officers who attend at the gate. The crowd at these times is so great that only the strongest can get access to the doctors, the weaker ones being unable to force their way through the press ; and the hospital accommodations are so limited, that though the beds (so called) have all or nearly all two occupants each, large numbers who would otherwise be received are necessarily sent back to the stockade. Many-twenty yesterday-are carted out daily, who have died from unknown causes, and whom the medical officers have never seen. The dead are hauled out daily by the wagon load, and buried without coffins, their hands in many instances being first mutilated with an axe in the removal of any finger rings they may have. The sanitary condition of the prisoners is as wretched as can be, the principal causes of mortality being scurvy and chronic diarrhea, the percentage of the former being disproportionately large among those brought from Belle Isle. Nothing seems to have been done, and but little if any effort made to arrest it by procuring proper food. The ration is one-third of a pound of bacon, and a pound and a quarter of unbolted corn meal, with fresh beef at rare intervals, and occasionally rice. When to be obtained -- very seldom-a small quantity of molasses is substituted for the meat ration. A little weak vinegar, unfit for use has sometimes been issued. The arrangements for cook- ing and baking have been wholly inadequate, and though additions are now being completed, it will still be impossible to cook for the whole number of prisoners. Raw rations have to be issued to a very large proportion, who are entirely unprovided with proper utensils, and furnished so limited a supply of fuel they are compelled to dig with their hands in the filthy marsh before mentioned for roots, &c. No soap or clothing has ever been issued. After inquiring, I am confident that by slight exertions green corn and other anti-scorbutics could readily be obtained. I herewith hand two reports of Chief Surgeon White, to which I would respectfully call your attention. The pres- ent hospital arrangements were only intended for the accommodation of the sick of 10,000 men, and are totally insufficient, both in charac- ter and extent, for the present needs, the number of prisoners being now more than three times as great, the number of cases requiring medical treatment is in an increased ratio. It is impossible to state the number of sick, many dying within the stockade whom the medical
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officers never see or hear of until their remains are brought out for in- terment. The rate of death has been steadily increased from 374-10 per mil. during the month of March last, to 62 7-10 per mil. in July. Of the medical officers, but ten hold commissions ; nearly all of the others are detailed from the militia, and have accepted the position to avoid serving in the ranks, and will relinquish their contracts as soon as the present emergency is passed and the militia is disbanded. But little injury would result from this, however, as they are generally very inefficient. Not residing at the post, only visiting it once a day at sick call, they bestow but little attention to those under their care. The small pox hospital is under the charge of Dr. E. Sheppard, P. A. C. S. More than half the cases in it have terminated fatally. The management and police of the general hospital grounds seem to be as good as the limited means will allow, but there is pressing necessity for at least three times the number of tents and amount of bedding now on hand. The supply of medicines is wholly inadequate, and frequently there is none, owing to the great delays experienced in fill- ing the requisitions.
In conclusion, I beg leave to recommend that no more prisoners be sent to this already overcrowded prison, and that at the two additional localities selected by General Winder under instructions from General Bragg, the one near Millen, Georgia, the other some point in Alabama south of Cahawba, arrangements be at once made for the excess over 15,000 at this post, and such others as may be captured. Since my in- spection was made, over 1,300 prisoners have been added to the num- ber specified in the reports herewith. With a view of relieving to some extent this point as soon as possible, I respectfully suggest that 2,000 of those who most need the change, especially the Belle Isle prisoners, be at once sent to Macon, to occupy the quarters vacated by the Federal officers, that being the greatest number that can be prop- erly accommodated with shelter at that point.
I am, Colonel, your obedient servant,
D. T. CHANDLER, Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.
Colonel R. H. CHILTON,
Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General.
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APPENDIX.
DOCUMENT No. 2.
SURGEON ISAIAH WHITE'S REPORT TO COLONEL CHANDLER.
CHIEF SURGEON'S OFFICE, August 2, 1864.
COLONEL: I have the honor to submit the following report of the sanitary condition of the Confederate States military prison :
The number of sick on morning report is one thousand three hun- dred and five (1,305) in hospital, and five thousand and ten (5,010) in quarters.
The total number of deaths from the organization of the prison (February 24, 1864) up to date, is 4,585.
The following table exhibits the ratio per one thousand (1,000) of mean strength during the different months :
Month.
Mean Strength.
Deaths.
Ratio per 1,000 of Mean Strength.
March
7,500
283
37.4
April
10,000
576
57.6
May
15,000
708
47.2
June.
22,291
1,201
53.87
July
29,030
1,817
62.7
Owing to insufficient hospital accommodation, many are treated in quarters who should be in hospital. The present capacity of the hos- pital is for 1,400 sick. The hospital is situated in an oak grove, affording good shade. Through the hospital passes a stream, furnishing an am- ple supply of water for cleanliness; drinking water is obtained, of good quality, from wells and springs on the banks of the stream.
The tents are insufficient in number, and not of proper size for the treatment of sick ; most of them are the small fly tent and tent flies. There should be at least two hundred hospital or five hundred wall tents to properly accommodate the sick. It has been impossible up to this time to obtain straw for bedding, this not being a grain-growing district ; small crops of wheat have been grown this year, and efforts are being made to collect a sufficient quantity as soon as the present crop is thrashed ; but there is a lack of transportation at the post, and farmers are unwilling to hire their own teams for the purpose. The attendants are paroled prisoners, who, as a rule, are faithful to the per-
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APPENDIX.
formance of their duty, being actuated by the improvement of their own condition on removal from the stockade, and a fear of a return if negligent in the performance of duty, apart from a desire to serve their own sick comrades. The number of medical officers, until the recent call of militia by the Governor of Georgia, was utterly inade- quate ; since that time a number of physicians have been employed by contract, and others have been detailed by the Governor to serve in the medical department. These have been recently assigned, and it is impossible to decide on their proficiency. The other medical offi- cers, with a few exceptions, are capable and attentive. The physicians who have been recently employed will no doubt cancel their contracts as soon as the militia is disbanded, and the services of the detailed ·physicians will also be lost. With this view I would suggest that a sufficient number of competent medical officers be assigned.
There is a deficiency of medical supplies issued by the medical pur- veyor. Supplies of medicines have occasionally been entirely ex- hausted, and we have been left several days at a time without any whatever. This has arisen from the delay experienced in sending requisitions to medical director at Atlanta for approval.
The hospital ration is commuted as for other general hospitals, and supplies for the subsistence and comfort of sick are purchased with hospital fund. Heretofore we have been able to supply sick with vegetables : but during the entire month of July the commissary has been without funds, and difficulty has been experienced in purchasing on time.
The ration issued to the prisoners is the same as that issued to the Confederate soldiers in the field, viz .: one-third of a pound of pork, and a pound and a quarter of meal, with an occasional issue of beans, rice, and molasses.
The meal is issued unbolted, and when baked is coarse and un- wholesome.
Amongst the old prisoners, scurvy prevails to a great extent, which is usually accompanied by diseases of the digestive organs. This, in connection with the mental depression produced by long imprison- ment, is the chief cause of mortality. There is nothing in the topogra- phy of the country that can be said to influence the health of the prison.
"The land is high and well drained, the soil light and sandy, with
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no marshes or other source of malaria in the vicinity, except the small stream within the stockade. The densely crowded condition of the prisoners, with the innumerable little shelters irregularly arranged, precludes the enforcement of proper police, and prevents free circula- tion of air.
The lack of barrack accommodation exposes the men to the heat of the sun during the day and to the dew at night, and is a prolific source of disease.
The margins of the stream passing through the stockade are low and boggy, and having been recently drained, have exposed a large surface covered with vegetable mould to the rays of the sun, a condi- tion favorable to the development of malarious diseases. It is the de- sign of the commandant of the prison to cover the surface with dry sand, but the work has been unavoidably retarded.
The absence of proper sinks (and the filthy habits of the men) have caused a deposit of fecal matter over almost the entire surface of this bottom land.
The point of exit of the stream through the walls of the stockade is not sufficiently bold to permit a free passage of ordure.
When the stream is swollen by rains the lower portion of this bot- tom land is overflowed by a solution of excrement, which, subsiding, and the surface exposed to the sun, produces a horrible stench.
Captain Wirz; the commandant of the prison, has doubtless ex- plained to you the difficulties which have prevented these, with other projected improvements, in the way of bathing and other arrange- ments for cleanliness.
Respectfully submitted :
ISAIAH H. WHITE, Chief Surgeon Post.
Colonel CHANDLER.
DOCUMENT No. 3.
FROM THE TESTIMONY OF FATHER HAMILTON.
The priests who went there after me, while administering the sacra- ment to the dying, had to use an umbrella, the heat was so intense. Some of them broke down in consequence of their services there., In
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APPENDIX.
the month of August, I think, we had three priests there constantly. We had a priest from Mobile, who spoke three or four languages, in- asmuch as you could find every nationality inside the stockade, and two from Savannah, and we had one from Augusta at another time. One of the priests from Savannah came to Macon, where I reside, com- pletely prostrated, and was sick at my house for several days.
As I said before, when I went there, I was kept so busily engaged in giving the sacrament to the dying men, that I could .not observe much ; but of course I could not keep my eyes closed as to what I saw there. I saw a great many men perfectly naked, walking about through the stockade perfectly nude ; they seemed to have lost all .regard for delicacy, shame, morality or anything else. I would fre- quently have to creep on my hands and knees into the holes that the men had burrowed in the ground and stretch myself out alongside of them to hear their confessions. I found them almost living in vermin in those holes ; they could not be in any other condition than a filthy one, because they got no soap and no change of clothing, and were there all huddled up together.
I never at any time counted the number of dead bodies being taken out of the stockade in the morning. I have never seen any dead car- ried out of the stockade. I have seen dead bodies in the hospital in the morning. In the case of the man in the hospital of whom I was speaking a while ago, after I had heard his confession, and be- fore I gave him the last rites of the church sacrament in "extreme unction," as we call it, I saw them placing the night guards in the hospital, and knew that I would not be able to get out after that. I told him that I would return in the morning and give him the other rites of the church, if he still lived. I was in there early the next morning, and in going down one of the avenues I counted from forty to sixty dead bodies of those who had died during the night in the hospital. I had never seen any dead bodies in the stockade. I have seen a person in the hospital in a nude condition, perfectly naked. They were not only covered with the ordinary vermin, but with mag- gots. They had involuntary evacuations, and there were no persons to look after them. The, nurses did not seem to pay any attention whatever, and in consequence of being allowed to lie in their own filth for some hours, vermin of every description had got on them, which they were unable to keep off them. This was in the latter part
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of May. I never noticed in the stockade the men digging in the ground, and standing in the sand to protect themselves from the sun. I did not see any instance of that kind. I have seen them making little places from a foot to a foot and a half deep, and stretching their blankets right over them. I have crawled into such places frequently to hear the confessions of the dying. They would hold from one to two; sometimes a prisoner would share his blanket with another, and allow him to get under shelter.
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DOCUMENT No. 4.
REPORT OF SURGEON JONES, C. S. A.
The Confederate military prison at Andersonville, Georgia, consists of a strong stockade, twenty feet in height, enclosing twenty-seven acres. The stockade is formed of strong pine logs, firmly planted in the ground. The main stockade is surrounded by two other similar rows of pine logs, the middle stockade being sixteen feet high, and the outer twelve feet. These are intended for offence and defence. If the inner stockade should at any time be forced by the prisoners, the second forms another line of defence ; while in case of an attempt to deliver the prisoners by a force operating upon the exterior, the outer line forms an admirable protection to the Confederate troops, and a most formidable obstacle to cavalry or infantry. The four angles of the outer line are strengthened by earthworks upon commanding eminences, from which the cannon, in case of an outbreak among the prisoners, may sweep the entire enclosure; and it was designed to connect these works by a line of rifle pits, running zigzag around the outer stockade ; those rifle pits have never been completed. The ground enclosed by the innermost stockade lies in the form of a paral- lelogram, the larger diameter running almost due north and south.
The stockade was built originally to accommodate only 10,000 pris- · oners, and included at first seventeen acres. Near the close of the month of June, the area was enlarged by the addition of ten acres. The ground added was situated on the northern slope of the largest hill.
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APPENDIX.
Within the circumscribed area of the stockade, the Federal prison- ers were compelled to perform all the offices of life-cooking, washing, urinating, defecation, exercise and sleeping. During the month of March the prison was less crowded than at any subsequent time, and then the average space of ground to each prisoner was only 98.7 feet, or less than seven square yards. The Federal prisoners were gath- ered from all parts of the Confederate States east of the Mississippi, and crowded into the confined space, until in the month of June the average number of square feet of ground to each prisoner was only 33.2, or less than four square yards. These figures represent the con- dition of the stockade in a better light even than it really was ; for 'a considerable breadth of land along the stream, flowing from west to east, between the hills, was low and boggy, and was covered with the excrement of the men, and thus rendered wholly uninhabitable, and, in fact, useless for every purpose except that of defecation. The pines and other small trees and shrubs, which originally were scat- tered sparsely over these hills, were in a short time cut down and con- sumed by the prisoners for firewood, and no shade tree was left in the entire enclosure of the stockade. With their characteristic industry and ingenuity, the Federals constructed for themselves small huts and caves, and attempted to shield themselves from the rain and sun and night damps and dew. But few tents were distributed to the pris- oners, and those were in most cases torn and rotten.
THE HOSPITAL.
The entire grounds are surrounded by a frail board fence, and are strictly guarded by Confederate soldiers, and no prisoner except the paroled attendants is allowed to leave the grounds except by a special permit from the commandant of the interior of the prison.
The patients and attendants, near two thousand in number, are crowded into this confined space and are but poorly supplied with old and ragged tents. Large numbers of them were without any bunks in the tents, and lay upon the ground, oftentimes without even a blanket. ' No beds or straw appeared to have been furnished. The tents extend to within a few yards of the small stream, the eastern portion of which, as we have before said, is used as a privy and is loaded with excrements; and I observed a large pile of corn bread, bones and filth of all kinds, thirty feet in diameter and several feet in
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APPENDIX.
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height, swarming with myriads of flies, in a vacant space near the pots used for cooking. Millions of flies swarmed over everything and covered the faces of the sleeping patients, and crawled down their open mouths, and deposited their maggots in the gangrenous wounds of the living and in the mouths of the dead. Mosquitos in great numbers also infested the tents, and many of the patients were so stung by these pestiferous insects, that they resembled those suffering with a slight attack of the measles.
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The manner of disposing of the dead was also calculated to depress the already desponding spirits of these men, many of whom have been confined for months, and even for near two years in Richmond and other places, and whose strength has been wasted by bad air, bad food, and neglect of personal cleanliness. The dead house is merely a frame covered with old tent cloth and a few bushes, situated in the southwestern corner of the hospital grounds. When a patient dies he is simply laid in the narrow street in front of his tent, until he is removed by Federal negroes detailed to carry off the dead; if a pa- tient dies during the night, he lies there until the morning, and dur- ing the day, even, the dead were frequently allowed to remain for hours in these walks. In the dead house the corpses lie upon the bare ground, and were in most cases covered with filth and vermin.
There appeared to be almost absolute indifference and neglect on the part of the patients of personal cleanliness; their persons and clothing in most instances, and especially of those suffering with gan- grene and scorbutic ulcers, were filthy in the extreme and covered with vermin. It was too often the case that patients were received from the stockade in a most deplorable condition. I have seen men brought in from the stockade in a dying condition, begrimed from head to foot with their own excrements, and so black from smoke and filth that they resembled negroes rather than white men. That this description of the stockade and hospital has not been overdrawn, will appear from the reports of the surgeons in charge, appended to this report.
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APPENDIX.
DOCUMENT No. 5. DR. PELOT'S REPORT.
FIRST DIVISION, C. S. M. P.) HOSPITAL, September 5, 1864. 5
SIR : As officer of the day for the past twenty-four hours, I have in- spected the hospital and found it in as good condition as the nature of the circumstances will allow. A majority of the bunks are still un- supplied with bedding, while in a portion of the division the tents are entirely destitute of either bunks, bedding or straw, the patients being compelled to lie upon the bare ground. I would earnestly call atten- tion to the article of diet. The corn bread received from the bakery being made up without sifting, is wholly unfit for the use of the sick ; and often (in the last twenty-four hours) upon examination the inner portion is found to be perfectly raw. The meat (beef) received by the patients does not amount to over two ounces a day, and for the past three or four days no flour has been issued. The corn bread cannot be eaten by many, for to do so would be to increase the diseases of the bowels, from which a large majority are suffering, and it is therefore thrown away. All their rations received by way of sustenance is two ounces of boiled beef and half pint of rice soup per day. Under these circumstances, all the skill that can be brought to bear upon their cases by the medical officer will avail nothing. Another point to which I feel it my duty to call your attention, is the deficiency of med- icines. We have but little more than indigenous barks and roots with which to treat the numerous forms of disease to which our atten- tion is daily called. For the treatment of wounds, ulcers, &c., we have literally nothing except water.
Our wards-some of them-were filled with gangrene, and we are compelled to fold our arms and look quietly upon its ravages, not even having stimulants to support the system under its depressing influ- ences, this article being so limited in supply that it can only be issued for cases under the knife. I would respectfully call your earnest at- tention to the above facts, in the hope that something may be done to alleviate the sufferings of the sick.
I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
J. CREWS PELOT,
Assistant Surgeon C. S. and Officer of the Day.
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APPENDIX.
DOCUMENT No. 6.
CONSOLIDATED RETURN FOR CONFEDERATE STATES MILITARY PRISON, CAMP SUMTER, ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA, FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST, 1864.
Prisoners on hand 1st of August, 1864:
In camp.
29,985
In hospital.
1,693
31,678
Received from various places during August.
3,078
Recaptured
4
3,082
Carried out
34,760
Died during the month of August.
2,993
Sent to other parts.
23
Exchanged
21
Escaped.
30 3,067
3,061
Total on hand.
31,693
Of which there are on the 31st of August -
In camp.
29,473
In hospital
2,220
31,693
DOCUMENT No. 7.
DR. HOPKINS' REPORT.
ANDERSONVILLE, GEORGIA, August 1, 1864.
GENERAL : In obedience to your order of July 28, requiring us to make a careful examination of the Federal prison and hospital at this place, and to ascertain and report to you the cause of disease and mor- tality among the prisoners, and the means necessary to prevent the same, this has been complied with, and we respectfully submit the following :
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CAUSE OF DISEASE AND MORTALITY.
1. The large number of prisoners crowded together.
2. The entire absence of all vegetables as diet, so necessary as a preventive of scurvy.
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APPENDIX.
3. The want of barracks to shelter the prisoners from sun and rain.
4. The inadequate supply of wood and good water.
5. Badly cooked food.
6. The filthy condition of prisoners and prison generally.
7. The morbific emanations from the branch or ravine passing through the prison, the condition of which cannot be better explained than by naming it a morass of human excrement and mud.
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PREVENTIVE MEASURES.
1. The removal immediately from the prison of not less than 15,000 prisoners.
2. Detail on parole a sufficient number of prisoners to cultivate the necessary supply of vegetables, and until this can be carried into practical operation, the appointment of agents along the different lines of railroads to purchase and forward a supply.
3. The immediate erection of barracks to shelter the prisoners.
4. To furnish the necessary quantity of wood, and have wells dug to supply the deficiency of water.
5. Divide the prisoners into squads, place each squad under the charge of a sergeant, furnish the necessary quantity of soap, and hold these sergeants responsible for the personal cleanliness of his squad ; furnish the prisoners with clothing at the expense of the Con- federate government, and if that government be unable to do so, can- didly admit our inability and call upon the Federal government to furnish them.
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