Testimony taken at Annapolis, Maryland, United States Army General Hospital, Division No.1 and Division No. 2, May 31 and June 1, A.D. 1864
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT:—Dr. Valentine Mott, Dr. Edward Delafield, Gouverneur M. Wilkins, Esq., Dr. Ellerslie Wallace, Hon. J. I. Clarke Hare, Dr. Treadwell Walden.
Captain A. R. CALHOUN, sworn and examined:—
I am from Kentucky; was not mustered in at the time of capture: was captured at North Eastern Georgia; was taken to Libby Prison; captured in October, 1863, and reached Libby in November.
We were taken from Atlanta in open box cars, without shelter; we lay on the floor, wounded men and all; men with the diarrhœa had no accommodations, and had to perform the operations of nature in the cars; all packed closely; there was about fifty wounded; some amputations.
Just before we left Atlanta, one of our men with diarrhœa went to the back house, which was beyond the line our prisoners were allowed to go; there was a bunch of dried leaves at the corner of the back house; they could not have been a foot beyond the line, and when the man went to pick them up, the guard fired and killed him.
On entering Libby it was thirty-six hours before we had any rations given us, and would have suffered, if the officers already there had not shared with us; I mean our officers.
We were packed in a room of one hundred and forty feet long by forty-five feet wide, and already occupied by nearly three hundred men.
We had no clothing or bedding given to us; there were eleven men of us; what we had was taken from us by our captors; it was very cold; the windows were broken at each end of the room; our comrades also shared their blankets and continued to do so until we .were supplied by blankets from the Sanitary Committee; even then they would not average over a blanket to a man, in my room.
It was so filthy that. our clothing and blankets soon became covered with vermin; the floors of the prison were washed late in the afternoon nearly every day, so that when we came to lie down it was very damp; we had nothing but our clothing and blanket to lie on; the result was that nearly every man had a cough.
We were wormed and dove-tailed together like fish in a basket; in this room was the sink and privy; we did our washing and dried our clothes in the same room; two stoves in the room, one at each end, and two or three armfuls of wood for each per day.
We were not allowed to go within three feet of the windows to look out; but men could not help this, and were repeatedly fired upon; in this firing they wounded four officers; there was hardly a day passed without firing; any one who hung clothes near or on the windows, had the clothes confiscated and were put in the cells.
Twice each day the men were crowded into two rooms for roll call; in this room were the sick and weak who could hardly stand; the crowd was immense; our men were counted out one by one; the officers— there were one thousand officers; any one not attending this roll call was compelled to stand in ranks four hours on the floor.
When I first entered Libby in November, we received a small loaf of corn bread, about two ounces of poor beef and a little boiled rice each day; the loaf was about an inch and a half longer, thicker and heavier than this. The crust was very thick; we used to call it iron-clad, and grate it and make mush out of it, as the most palatable way; we could not grate the crusts.
After November we received about two ounces of beef once in four weeks .on an average; from the 25th of March till the 6th of May, not a bit of meat was issued in officers’ quarters.
For the three months of February, March, and April, there was a pint of black peas issued to each man every week, and a little vinegar; these peas were full of bugs, nearly every ration; they called them bugs, but they were little white maggots in a chrysalis state; we pounded the peas so as to mash them, and let the bugs flow to the surface; there was about an ounce of soap and a little salt given each man.
This was inadequate to satisfy hunger, and for two months I have had a burning sensation, when in prison, in my intestines. I used to dream of food, and foolishly would blame myself for not having eaten more when at home; the subject of food engrossed my entire thoughts; not all suffered as I did; the majority did; some were fortunate enough to receive boxes from home.
We were allowed to write letters once each week, not to exceed six lines.
Boxes sent us from the North were stored in a warehouse near the prison, we could see them in the windows; the contents of the boxes were being stolen or ruined by keeping, and when issued I think would have been eaten by none but starving men; every package and can was broken open, and the contents were poured promiscuously into a blanket, so that everything ran in together; they stole a great many of our boxes: one of the guards told me that they saw our men escaping through the tunnel, and that they did not prevent them, supposing it was their own men stealing our boxes; the Sanitary supply sent us, we received but little of; we were allowed to send out and buy at extravagant prices; they sold us the Sanitary hams, butter, and stationery. Marks of the Sanitary Commission were on the cases and on the paper.
For trivial offences, officers were sent to the cells; there had been about eighty-five men in; many of those men were innocent that were placed there as hostages; they said the cells were damp, walls green, no stoves; they were about twelve feet by twenty; at one time there were sixteen men in those cells; some had to stand all night; I believe this fully. I was in the hospital with pneumonia.
Just before I left, Capt. Stevens received a small box from home, sat down and ate to excess, as any man would under the circumstances, and died a few hours afterwards.
The surgeon was very kind to us. The hospital food was just like the quarter food, with the exception of a little rye coffee and sugar; not quite so much bread.
I had a burning sensation on the inside, with a general failing in strength. A man had a. piece of ham which I looked at for hours.
When I came away on the 16th of May, and saw the pale faces of the men through the bars, I cried. They begged me for God’s sake to appeal to the Government and write to the papers—to do anything in the world to get them relieved. I am confident that if they remain long in that situation, they will never be fit for anything. The men never blame our Government for their suffering.
I know the Rebels have plenty, for we went down into the cellar, and brought up corn meal, flour, potatoes and turnips, which we divided with our fellows; the flour was excellent; I ate about a quart of it. I am a communicant in the church, and was studying for the ministry when the war broke out. I am a member of the Reformed Church.
A. H. CALHOUN.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
June 1st, 1864.
D. P. BROWN, JR.,
United States Commissioner.
I certify that the foregoing testimony was taken and reduced to writing in the presence of the respective witnesses, and by them sworn to in my presence, at the times, places, and in the manner set forth.
D. P. BROWN, JR.,
United States
Commissioner.
Testimony, by letter, of Lieut.-Col. Farnsworth, 1st Conn. Cavalry.
Norwich, June 29th, 1864.
GENTLEMEN :-—In reply to a letter from one of your Committee, I have the honor to make the following statement of what I saw, heard and felt of the treatment of prisoners of war by the Confederate authorities, at Richmond, Virginia:
I entered service October, 1861; was captured on the 14th of July, 1863, in a cavalry skirmish near Halltown, Va.; was conveyed td Richmond, and confined in Libby prison; was paroled and sent North on the 14th of March, 1864.
My treatment by my immediate captors was gentlemanly in the extreme; even going so far as to assist me in concealing money, so as to prevent the Richmond authorities from robbing me.
Upon reaching the Libby, we were rigidly searched, and all moneys and attractive jack-knives, nice overcoats and meerschaum pipes were kindly appropriated by the prison authorities; rubber blankets, canteens, spurs and haversacks were taken from us. Lieut. Moran, for complaining of this treatment, was knocked down by Richard Turner, inspector of the prison clothing.
There was never an issue of clothing or blankets made by the Confederate authorities during the time I was there confined. We did receive one hundred (100) each of tin plates, cups, knives, forks, (mostly damaged by bayonet-thrusts, they having been picked up from battle-fields), for the use of one thousand (1000) officers.
ACCOMMODATIONS—In six (6) rooms, one hundred by forty, there were confined as many as twelve hundred (1200) officers of all ranks, from Brigadier-General to Second Lieutenant. This space was all that was allowed us in which to cook, eat, wash, sleep and exercise. You can see that soldierly muscle must fast deteriorate when confined to twenty (20) superficial feet of plank; we were not allowed benches, chairs or stools, nor even to fold our blankets and sit upon them; but were forced to sit like so many slaves upon the middle passage.
This continued until the appointment of General Butler, Commissioner of Exchange, after which time we were allowed chairs and stools, which we made from the boxes and barrels sent us from the North. There was plenty of water allowed us, and a tank for bathing in four (4) of the rooms.
There were seventy-six (76) windows in the six (6) rooms, from which in winter there was no protection.
SUBSISTENCE.—Our rations consisted of one-quarter (¼) of a pound of beef, nine (9) ounces of bread of variable quality, generally of wheat flour, though sometimes of weat flour and corn meal, a gill of rice, and a modicum of salt and vinegar per day. This continued until the 11th of November, which was the first day that meat was not issued, and bread made entirely of corn meal was substituted for wheat bread; this meal was composed of cob and grain ground together, and when mixed with cold water, without salt or any raising, made the bread. Meat was next issued on the 14th, and the issue suspended on the 21st. On the 26th we received salt pork, sent to the prisoners by the United States Government; from this time out, meat was like angels’ visits; sometimes it was issued at intervals of ten days, and sometimes not in thirty (30); the longest interval was thirty-four (34) days.
The amount of rations first issued will undoubtedly sustain life; but their long continuance without exercise will produce disease of a scorbutic nature.
The rations issued after the 11th of November will not sustain life, and without the aid sent to us from the North the mortality would have been great. Nine ounces of such corn bread and a cup of water per day, are poorer rations than those issued to the vilest criminal in the meanest States prison in the Union; yet this was considered fit treatment by the hospitable chivalry of the South to be extended to men taken in honorable warfare, any one of them the peer of the arch traitor, Jeff. Davis.
BOXES.—We began to receive boxes in October. These came in good order, were inspected in our presence, and delivered to us entire; they came regularly, and were delivered in good order up to about the first of January; after this time boxes were sent regularly from the North, and were received by Col. Ould, Commissioner of Exchange, but they were not issued to us; they were stored in a building within sight of the prison, and at the time of my leaving, three thousand (3000) had been received there and not delivered to us; what was the cause of this non-delivery of boxes we were never informed. They keep up a semblance of delivery, however, by the issue of five (5) or six (6) a week, they receiving from the North about three hundred (300) a week.
The contents of these boxes were, undoubtedly, appropriated to the private use of the officials in and about Richmond. Here is simply one instance: Lieut. Maginnis, of the 18th Reg., Conn., since killed in battle, recognized a suit of citizen’s clothes which had been sent to him from the North, on the person of one of the prison officials, and accused him of the theft, and showed his name on the watch pocket of the pants. Such cases were numerous.
BELLE ISLE.—Upon the 26th day of January, 1864, I visited Belle Island, as an assistant in the distribution of clothing sent by the Government, and by the Sanitary Commissions of the North; this was my first time outside of the prison walls in six months. The island is situated just opposite the Tredegar Iron Works in the James river. The space occupied by prisoners is about six acres, enclosed by an earthwork three (3) feet in height; within this space were confined as many as ten thousand (10,000) prisoners. The part occupied by the prisoners is a low, sandy, barren waste, exposed in summer to a burning sun, without the shadow of a single tree; and in winter, to the damp and cold winds up the river, with a few miserable tents, in which, perhaps, one-half (½) the number were protected from the night fogs of a malarious region; the others lay upon the ground in the open air. One of them said to me: “We lay in rows, like hogs in winter, and take turns who has the outside of the row.”
In the morning the row of the previous night was plainly marked by the bodies of those who were sleeping on in their last sleep.
Fed upon corn bread and water, scantily clothed, with but few blankets, our patriotic soldiers here suffered the severest misfortunes of this war. Here, by hundreds, they offered up their lives in their country’s cause, victims of disease, starvation and exposure,— sufferings a thousand times more dreadful than the wounds of the battle-field. As many as fourteen (14) have been known to freeze to death in one night. This I have from men of my own regiment, and it is perfectly reliable.
The hospitals upon the island are Sibley tents, without floors, the ground covered with straw, and logs of wood placed around for pillows, to which, when about to die, he men were carried; and here, with logs for their pillows, the hard, cold ground for their bed, death came to their relief; and the grave closed over the victims of rebel barbarity.
The officer in charge of the island was well spoken of by the men. He deprecated the condition they were in, but said he could do no more, for the authorities gave him no more to do with; and yet it is a fact that the men were stimulated to work at their trades, as blacksmiths, etc., for the benefit of the Confederate Government, by the offer of double the quantity of rations they were then receiving; thus acting out, in their treatment of Northern soldiers, the great principle of Slavery and of the South, that the lives of the poor and helpless are in their eyes of no more value than the amount of interest they will produce on capital.
The facilities for washing were good, a sandy beach all around the island, and the whole number of prisoners could have washed in the course of the day; but, under the management of the authorities, only a limited number (say 75 men per day) were able to wash, being conducted under guard to the water, in squads of five (5) or six (6).
The sickness caused by the above treatment was of the respiratory organs, pneumonia, &c., and chronic diarrhœa.
Men were without medical treatment on the island until disease was so far advanced that when taken away in ambulances to the hospital, in squads of twenty (20), one-half (½) of them have died within five (5) hours —some of them while their names were being taken at the hospital.
Men were returned from the hospital to the island when so weak that they have been obliged to crawl upon their hands and knees a part of the way.
On the 20th of November, 1863, a squad were passing the prison (Libby) in this condition, going from the hospital to the island; among them was George Ward, a schoolmate of mine and of Col. Ely, of the 18th Conn. Vols. Col. Ely threw a ham to him from the window. As the poor fellow crawled to get it, the rebel guard charged bayonets on him, called him a damned Yankee, and appropriated the ham.
The bodies of the dead were placed in the cellar of the prison, to which there was free access for animals from the street. I have known of bodies being partially devoured by dogs, and hogs and rats, during the night. Every morning the bodies were placed in rude coffins and taken away for burial. Officers have marked the coffins thus taken away, and have seen them returned twenty (20) times for bodies. You may draw your own inference as to the rites of burial extended to a Yankee prisoner in the Capital of the Southern Confederacy.
Officers dying, their brother officers procured metallic coffins and a vault, in which they were placed until they could be removed North. An Officer, (Major Morris, of the 6th Pennsylvania Cavalry, I think,) who had in the hands of the Confederate authorities several hundred dollars, taken from him when he entered the prison, died in the hospital, and the authorities refused to use his money for a decent burial, and we raised it in the prison.
LIBBY MINED. — Upon the approach of Kilpatrick on his grand raid on Richmond, about the 1st March, the greatest consternation was produced among the inhabitants. The authorities felt sure of his ability to enter the city and free the prisoners.
We were informed one morning by the negroes who labor around the prison, that during the night they had been engaged in excavating a large hole under the centre of the building, and that a quantity of powder had been placed therein. Upon inquiring of certain of the guards, we found it the general impression among them that the prison was mined.
Richard Turner, inspector of the prison, told officers there confined, that “should Kilpatrick succeed in entering Richmond, it would not help us, as the prison authorities would blow up the prison and all its inmates.”
The adjutant of the prison, Lieutenant Latouche, was heard by an officer (Lieutenant Jones, 55th Ohio) to use the following words to a rebel officer with whom he had entered and examined the cellar where the powder was reported as placed: “There is enough there to send every damned Yankee to hell.”
Major Turner said in my presence the day we were paroled, in answer to the question, “Was the prison mined?” “Yes, and I would have blown you all to Hades before I would have suffered you to be rescued.”
Bishop Johns said in the prison, when asked if he thought it was a Christian mode of warfare to blow up defenceless prisoners: “He supposed the authorities were satisfied on that point, though he did not mean to justify it.”
I am very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
CHAS. FARNSWORTH,
Late Lieutenant-Colonel 1st Connecticut Cavalry.
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NORWICH, June 30th, 1864. |
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| STATE OF CONNECTICUT | } | |
| County of New London, | ||
Personally appeared CHARLES FARNSWORTH, signer of the foregoing instrument and statement, and made solemn oath that the facts slated therein are true, before me. |
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DAVID YOUNG,
Justice of the Peace.
Additional Testimony by Letter of Lieutenant-Colonel Farnsworth
NORWICH, CONN., July 16, 1864
REV. TREADWELL WALDEN, Philadelphia:
Sir:¾ Your favor of the 14th inst. Received. In answer to your request for a written statement of facts, related to yon by myself in conversation, in regard to the conduct of the guards at Richmond, Virginia, and the provision made for the sick upon Belle Isle, I submit the following:
In what is known as the “Pemberton buildings," nearly opposite the "Libby," there were confined a large number of enlisted men. Hardly a day went by that the guards did not fire upon the prisoners. I have known as many as fourteen shots to be fired in one day. They were thus subject to death if they merely came near the window to obtain fresh air. It was a very common occurrence to hear the report of a musket and then see the sergeant of the guard bring out a wounded or dead soldier.
The guards would watch for an opportunity to fire upon their prisoners, and, without warning the prisoner to leave the vicinity of the window, fire.
Lieutenant Hammond, of the Ringgold cavalry, (better known to Libbians as "Old Imboden,") was at the sink, which is constructed upon the outside of the building. From the upper part of the sides, boards are removed for the purpose of light or ventilation. The guard below caught sight of Lieutenant Hammond's hat, through this opening, and fired. The ball entered the side, far below the opening, showing that the guard was intent upon sinking his man; but a nail gave the bullet an upward turn and it passed through Hammond's ear and hat-brim. From the position he was in, there is little doubt that but for the ball striking the nail he would have been struck in die breast
The attention of Major Turner was called to it, but he only laughed and said, "The boys were in want of practice." The guard, when spoken to about it, said "He had made a bet that he would kill a damned Yankee before he came off guard." There was not the least attention paid by the commander of the Libby prison to this deliberate attempt at murder.
Lieutenant Thomas Huggins, of a New York regiment, was standing at least eight feet from a window on the second floor; the guard could just see the top of his hat. To be sure of his man, the guard left his beat and stepped into the street. Being seen, a warning cry was uttered, and Huggins stooped and the bullet buried itself in the beams above. This was the same guard that fired at Hammond.
Richard, or as usually called, Dick Turner was the inspector of the prison, and acted under the orders of the commander. There was nothing too mean for him to do. He searched you when you entered, knocked you down if you grumbled, took your blanket from you if found lying upon it after morning roll-call, never spoke of you except as damned Yankees—told you "you were better treated than you deserved."
This “high-toned Southron" was employed as the negro-whipper of the prison.
Colonel Powell, 2d Virginia cavalry, (Union,) Colonel Streight and Captain Reed, 51st Indiana, and others who had been confined in the cells, used to witness the whippings, (the cells were at one end of the cellar where the whipping-block was,) and they could hear,—even if they shut their eyes to the horrid exhibition.
Colonels Powell and Streight told me of as many as six negro women having been stripped and whipped, at one time, for having passed bread to our soldiers as they marched through the street.
The flogging of the negroes that worked at the Libby was an every-day occurrence.
These blacks were free negroes from the North, who were employed as servants, but fell into the hands of the enemy. He flogged one of them so severely that he was unable to move for two weeks, and walked lame months after. His offence was resisting a white negro-driver.
The hospital tents on Belle Tale were old Sibleys. These were not temporary hospitals, for many died in them each day; but when they could not contain all the sick some sick were removed to Richmond hospitals. These tents were awful places for human beings to be placed in —without floors, a heap of straw for a bed, logs of wood for pillows — men died with less attention than many a man pays to a favorite dog. The hospitals in Richmond were much better, being in buildings, and were furnished with bunks and straw beds—some of them with sheets. But though treated with kindness, compared with Belle Island, the want of proper medicines was visible, and many died for the want of the most simple remedies.
Upon the 25th of October, 1863, two officers, (Major Hewsten, 132d New York, and a Lieutenant 4th New York Cavalry,) escaped from the hospital. Immediately, upon its being known, all the sick who were well enough to sit up or stand, were removed from the room and placed in an empty room under our prison. Here they were kept for twenty-four hours, without food or blankets, as a punishment, it was said, for not reporting the contemplated escape of the officers named. From this treatment, Surgeon Pierce of the 5th Maryland died.
The officers in the room above, removed a portion of the floor and furnished the sick with food and drink, and shared their blankets with them. This coming to the knowledge of Major Turner, we were deprived of rations for one day — October 29th, 1863.
This was not the action of the surgeons of the Libby, for, with one exception, they were kind and attentive, and did all in their power for our comfort, but of the commander of the department, Brigadier-General Winder, and of Major Turner, commander of the prison, who, I am informed, was dismissed from West Point, by orders from the Secretary of War, having been convicted of forgery.
I was informed by men whom I knew — Ward and Winship of the 18th Connecticut and Ferris and Stone of the 1st Connecticut — that the enclosure in Belle Isle was a mass of filth every morning, from the inability of the men to proceed to the sinks after evening.
Many of the guards would fire upon the prisoners for the least violation of the rules. The men were in a miserable condition and looked sickly, worn out—starvation and exposure was expressed upon their features.
Trusting that the above will assist you in your report,
I am respectfully yours,
CHARLES FARNSWORTH,
Sworn to and subscribed before me, this
18th day, of July, A. D. 1864,
DAVID YOUNG,
Justice of the Peace.
Testimony taken at Washington, D. C., June 2d, 1864
COMMISSIONERS PRESENT.—Mr. Wilkins, Dr. Wallace, Mr. Walden
Surgeon Nelson D. Ferguson, sworn and examined:—
Surgeon 8th New York Cavalry; residence, Jefferson county, N. Y.; captured 12th May, 1863; taken to Libby Prison same day remained there twelve days; found Union officers there; my treatment same as officers received; daily rations, when first entered, were four inches by four inches by two of unbolted bread, which was coarse and sour about half the time; a ration of beans, worm-eaten, once a day; about seven quarts to fifty-three or fifty-four men, or a gill to each man was served; no other food was furnished by the Confederates; what other they had was bought with their own money.
(The ration of light bread of a common soldier in the United States Army is twenty-two ounces, and twelve ounces of pork or twenty of beef; besides that, our soldiers have thirty pound of potatoes for one hundred rations, or nearly a third of a pound per day to each man, besides coffee and sugar, &c., &c.)
The food furnished us was insufficient for healthful support of life.
When I reached the Libby Prison there were say twenty-five Union officers, no more, in the prison, recently captured; all the former occupants had been removed, as I am informed (and believe) by the rebels, to the number of seven hundred or over; when I left the prison on the 28th, there were sixty-nine Union officers there.
I spent four days in Hospital No. 21, where wounded Union prisoners (very few sick) were under treatment; I was there partly as a visitor, and also did partial duty as a surgeon in the ward; I was too ill to do full duty ; I had better rations in the hospital than in prison, for I had rye coffee and a little meat, say two ounces daily, very poor bacon; the wounded men had the same ration of bread, no beans, two ounces of meat, rye coffee, occasionally a little sugar, and one gallon milk and one gallon whiskey, divided among two hundred and sixty men, or about a tablespoonful of whiskey and milk per man; they had no other nutriment or stimulation.
I consider the nourishment and stimulation they received entirely insufficient to give them a proper chance for recovery. I am surprised that more do not die. There were many bad cases among them that must inevitably sink under this treatment after a few days, and therefore I cannot state the true proportion of deaths. The condition of these men was such that any medical observer would impute it to insufficient stimulation and nutrition. The condition of the wounds generally was very unhealthy, not tending to heal, pale and flabby, and the tissues lax — just such a condition as we expect to see where the patient is improperly nourished by deficient nutrition. These wounded have all been brought there since the battle of Spottsylvania Court House.
When I was captured, I was brought into a rebel fort. It was raining. I had on a rubber blanket; the blanket was taken from my shoulders by a lieutenant, by the authority and consent of the commanding officer. I remonstrated against his taking my private property, and appealed to the commanding officer for protection, and to protect my rights. He replied, "Damn you, you have no rights." It was not possible for him to have been ignorant of the fact that I was a medical officer. Some two or three hours afterwards, when I was about to leave the fort for Libby Prison, the lieutenant remarked to me, "I hope I have treated you kindly.” I replied, “I have always treated your men and officers with kindness and consideration, but you have treated me harshly." I don't think he made any reply. The Provost-Marshal took away my sabre. I told him it; was my private property, and that he ought not to take it away, and his answer was, "It don’t make any difference, I have a friend to whom I intend to give it.”
I have had wounded rebels under my hand for treatment on various occasions. The course I have always adopted is, to take care of my own men first, then the rebels, giving them equal care and attention of every kind. I have taken my own private rations and given them repeatedly to wounded rebels. All other medical officers of our army have done likewise, as far as my observation has extended.
I have been in the service two years and eight months and I have been in all the cavalry fights of the Army of the Potomac since I entered the service.
The buildings in Richmond occupied for hospital purposes are well suited for such purposes, being large, convenient, and well ventilated. The wards are well supplied with water, and tolerably cleanly. The prison (Libby) had just been thoroughly cleaned and was well white-washed. In the prison, we had one blanket as bed, and one as cover.
No one can appreciate, without experience, the condition of the officers in the prison during the twelve days of my stay. Their faces were pinched with hunger. I have seen an officer, standing by the window, gnawing a hone like a dog. I asked him “what do you do it for?” His reply was, “It will help fill up.” They were constantly complaining of hunger. There was a sad and insatiable expression of the face impossible to describe.
The bedding in Hospital No. 21, where the privates were confined by wounds, was very dirty. The covering was entirely old dirty quilts. The beds were offensive from the discharges from wounds and secretion of the body, and were utterly unfit to place a sick or wounded man on. On the faces of the wounded, there was an anxious, haggard expression of countenance, such as I have never seen before. I attribute it to want of care, want of nourishment and encouragement. There is a deficiency of medical supplies, such as bandages, lint, sticking-plaster, and medicines generally in this hospital, whether from actual want of these articles, or from unwillingness to supply them, I do not know.
N. D. FURGUSON,
Surgeon 8th N. Y. Cavalry.
Sworn and subscribed before me, at
Washington D. C., this 3d day of
June, A. D. 1864.
M. H. KENDIG,
Notary Public.
D. W. Richards, M. D., sworn and examined: —
Residence, Northampton County, Pa.; employment, Assistant Surgeon in 145th Pennsylvania Volunteers; taken prisoner May 10th, 1863; taken near Spottsylvania Court house, and conveyed to Prison Hospital No. 21, in Richmond, on the 20th of May, and left there 28th May.
I have heard Dr. Furguson’s deposition, as made before this Committee. I corroborate that testimony as relating to the condition and treatment of wounded prisoners. I know nothing further in regard to this matter.
D. W. RICHARDS,
Assistant Surgeon 145th P. V.
Sworn and subscribed before me, at
Washington D. C., this 3d day of
June, A. D. 1864.
M. H. KENDIG,
Notary Public.