‘
[431]
them as soldiers there was to be no quarter in field, camp, or prison; that their rights as prisoners-of-war were to be denied and ignored, and they, if captured, sacrificed to the fell spirit of slavery. . . . That this policy was carried out to the bitter end is very evident from the fact that only 79 died while prisoners-of-war, 236 were exchanged, 77 escaped, and 384 were recaptured by our forces; not one enlisted in the service of the enemy, or deserted the flag of the country.
The balance of the colored troops captured in battle were inhumanly murdered according to the Confederate orders, or sold into slavery under a revival of the barbarous rules of war now unknown and unrecognized by civilized nations.’
Statistics of Fifty-Fourth prisoners.
(
Compiled from individual records in appendix.)
The table on page 392 of this history gives a total of 106 enlisted men as missing or captured.
Accepting the figures of the above table, accounting for 56 men, we have the balance of 50 men missing, of whom 49 were lost at
Fort Wagner and one at
Olustee.
The changes in this table from the one on page 392 are, the transfer of three
Olustee and three
Wagner missing to