Late Northern News.
the wounded prisoners recently released from
Richmond — their Treachery, lies, and ingratitude.
The Baltimore
American, of the 9th, contains the following extensive account of the return of the wounded prisoners sent from this city about ten days ago to
Fortress Monroe.
It will be remembered that they were released unconditionally, after several months of the kindest attention in a comfortable hospital.--When they left they were unanimous in their praises of the attention they had received.
Their insincerity, as evidenced in this account, seems almost fabulous, and furnishes us with an unmistakable proof of the utter want of honor that exists in the breasts of even those of our enemies to whose good opinions we are best entitled:
--The steamer Express this morning, by agreement, the Confederate steamer
Northumberland, with a flag of truce, twelve miles above Newport News, and brought down fifty-seven wounded prisoners, released yesterday at
Richmond.--They were made prisoners at the
battle of Manassas.
They report that there are about 5,000 troops in
Richmond, and that the Confederate army on the
Potomac is supposed to number over 150,000 men. Apprehensions of an attack by the Federal fleet on the seaboard cause the greatest anxiety.
Powerful batteries have been erected along the
James river, in anticipation of an advance of the
Federal army in that direction.
The armament has been recovered from the steamer
Jamestown.
The prisoners did not see the much-talked-of steamer
Yorktown, having probably passed her during the night.
The troops at
Richmond are composed of North Carolinians and Georgians.
Owing to the apprehensions of an attack on the coast,
Gov. Brown, of
Georgia, has recalled five of the
Georgia regiments from the Confederate army to defend the
State.
The Confederate troops were suffering greatly from want of medicines, clothing, and certain kinds of food.
Articles cut off by the blockade were bringing fabulous prices.
The prisoners say they were released for the reason that their wants could not be supplied.
They have been obliged to sleep on the floor during their imprisonment.
General Beauregard was at
Manassas, and
Jefferson Davis returned to
Richmond on Saturday last, in feeble health.
Speculation was rife as to his successor.
Seventeen of the released prisoners, who are unable to go home, have been sent to the hospital at
Old Point.
The others go North to-night.
Mr. Ely has been declared a prisoner of war by the Confederate Congress, and is still confined in
Richmond.
Col. De Villiers, of the Seventh Ohio regiment, whose escape has already been stated, made his escape from his imprisonment at
Richmond by stratagem, and was nearly six weeks in making his way to
Norfolk.
Commodore Goldsborough is expected to return to-morrow from his visit to
Washington.
Brig.-General Williams arrived at
Old Point this morning, and will proceed to Hatteras Inlet by the first boat, to assume command there.
Their arrival at Baltimore — interesting intelligence from Richmond.
By the steamer
Louisiana,
Capt. Solomon Pearson, of the
Bay Line, which entered this port shortly after six o'clock yesterday morning, we have received several items of considerable interest in relation to affairs throughout
Virginia, which will command an attentive perusal.
The
Louisiana, which left here on Sunday evening, brought up thirty-three wounded prisoners of Federal regiments who were captured at the
battle of Manassas, on the 21st of July. Some have lost a leg, some an arm, and others are otherwise disabled.
The reason why they received their discharge is supposed to be owing to the large number of Confederate sick and wounded, and the recent order for the removal of all the sick and wounded from
Manassas Junction to
Richmond.
Discharge of Federal prisoners.
On the 21st of July, the day after the
battle of Manassas, the wounded were conveyed in long trains of wagons and ambulances to the railroad depot and thence to
Richmond, where they were imprisoned in one large three-story tobacco warehouse, and confined therein until the day of their discharge, which was on Sunday, when
Surgeon General Gibson, who had been very attentive to them, appeared and read a list of the parties whom he said were unconditionally discharged.
He also told them that they would be carried near
Fortress Monroe in a steamer by way of
James river, and soon peach their homes, which account was received with applause.
A short time afterwards a number of wagons drew up in front of the prison, when the roll was called, the wagons occupied, and after a short time reached the wharf of the steamer
Northumberland, upon which they embarked.
What they saw on the route.
The steamer soon got under way, and after steaming all night, reached her destination, a few miles above Newport News, and there blew off steam and awaited the arrival of the steamer Express, which, according to an arrangement with
General Wool, was to appear at that point.
The Express soon arrived, when the party were carefully removed upon mattresses to the main deck, anxious once more to behold the flag of their country.
The steamer soon departed, and the sick and wounded cheered in the most enthusiastic manner, delighted with the idea of soon reaching their homes and receiving the affectionate attention of their relatives and friends.
Although but few hours of the trip were made in daylight, yet the party state that they saw at least a half dozen strong and effective breastworks thrown up on the banks of the river, whilst in the background were hundreds of tents and many regiments of soldiers.
Both the large steamships
Yorktown and
Jamestown were seen, the former stripped of her heavy armament, but well filled with men. The steamer stopped several times on the route, and at all the points there were regiments of soldiers, all of whom expressed the fiercest spirit of enmity to the
North, and declared that they would not lay down their arms until
Lincoln and his Cabinet should let the
South choose its own terms of separation.
They were well armed, but poorly dressed.
Many of the private soldiers wore pantaloons made of blankets, linsey woolsey, and even of the commonest carpeting.
Arrival at Newport News.
The Express reached the encampment of Newport News in an hour's steaming, and as soon as the arrival of the wounded was made known, the boat was surrounded by the military, who evinced their sympathy by the contribution of one hundred dollars for the purpose of helping them on their way home, a sum which was increased by the free offerings of several commissioned officers at
Fortress Monroe.
After a short detention at Newport News, the
Express, according to orders, left for
Old Point, where
Surgeon Cuyler, of the regular army, and his
Assistant Surgeons, investigated the various cases, and concluded to send twenty-four of them to the
Army Hospital, at the
Old Point Comfort Hotel, as they were too much debilitated to proceed further, at least for the present.
Of the funds contributed by the Tenth New York regiment, at Newport News, were distributed to the soldiers who reached here — the sum of two dollars each — as follows:
‘
Shaler, McKensie,
J. Malone,
C. Dunn,
Sergeant Donett,
Wm. Hanlon,
J. Butler,
R. M. Pratt,
W. A. Woodbury,
McHenry,
A. Whitehouse,
Fagen,
N. Brown, Feinald, Woolenwoom, Mout, Kliner,
Swift,
Rowe, Mclutosh,
Shurtliff,
Shepard,
Briggs, Maine, Mould, Bolly, Silby,
Lieut. Harvey Rockafellar,
Lieutenant commanding.
When the boat left Newport News, the Tenth gave many cheers for the sick and wounded, and for the success of the Stars and Stripes.
’
Treatment of prisoners.
All the wounded who reached here, agree in the statement that they were treated more like caged beasts than human beings, and the first salutation in the morning, as well as the sentinel's cry at night, was ‘"Death to the — Yankees."’ The only kindness they received was from the surgeons of the Confederate army, who, in connection with their own surgeons, already named, were daily in attendance.
The hospital or jail in which they were confined, was a three-story tobacco warehouse, measuring about 40 by 120 feet. In the second story were confined seventy-six commissioned officers, and in the room above, five hundred non- commissioned officers and privates.
The windows were all iron-barred, and the guards very strict and severe upon the prisoners.
Mention has already been made of the shooting by the guard of a Federal prisoner, and the following are the facts of the case: The deceased was
corporal Wm. C. Burke, of the Seventy-ninth New York regiment, and he was shot whilst shaking his blanket from his prison window, as was required of the prisoners as soon as they arose from sleep.
The guard, a young Mississippian, called to him to stand back, and the order was complied with, when he was pierced in the breast by a musket ball.
He reeled, fell to the ground, and expired without uttering a single word.
He was buried the same day, and the guard acquitted.
He afterwards stated that he had determined to kill a Yankee, and was therefore satisfied.
The rations were regularly served to them, such as they were, consisting of salt bacon, a loaf of bread, and water twice a day. The commissioned officers were served with water three times per day, but none of the prisoners ever received tea or coffee, nor were they supplied with mattresses, bedding, or blankets of any kind; excepting those which they succeeded in purchasing.
That the wounded were greatly neglected in this respect, is evident from their condition at the present time.
Those who are left behind — and they are nearly five hundred in number — will suffer severely from cold if they are not provided with such necessaries.
The most intelligent of the prisoners, from whom these facts were obtained, declared that many falsehoods have been published in relation to
Hon. Mr. Ely, of New York.
Instead of being dejected and sad, he was decidedly the merriest man amongst them, and was active not only in comforting the wounded and cheering the hopeless, but foremost in such amusements as the prison discipline allowed.
One day he received a remittance of $50 from his friends, and he spent the whole sum in the purchase of provisions for the party.--On one occasion, when the roll was called, one of the men was asleep, when the sentry rushed up and dealt him a violent blow upon the head with the butt of his musket.
The main cause of
Colonel Corcoran's removal South was his resentment upon all occasions of insults offered him or his companions.
One Sunday a minister, whilst preaching, departed from his subject and denounced the
North, which elicited repeated remarks from the
Colonel, who, soon as the discourse was over, was heavily ironed, and a few days after sent South.
One of the prisoners declares that a remittance of $50, sent him by his mother, was seized by those who had charge of the prison and appropriated to their own use.
Of the officers who came up in the
Louisiana were
Surgeons Swalm and
Thomaston, and
Lieutenant Harry Rockafellar, of the Seventy-First regiment.
The latter was in the thickest of the fight at
Manassas; had his left arm carried away by a cannon ball, and his mouth and left jaw fractured by a musket shot.
The Surgeons were released on the ground that they were non- combatants, and could have left
Richmond more than a month ago but for the fact that they were determined to remain with the wounded until the
Secretary of War granted them an unconditional discharge.
As for the
Lieutenant, he succeeded in escaping by stratagem.
When the roll of the discharged parties was first made out his name was placed thereon, but subsequently removed for reasons unexplained, and when about to leave the jail at
Richmond he was ordered back.
He soon cut off his shoulder straps, and, pretending to be lamed in the leg, limped his way to an ambulance, crawled into the lower part, and thus regained his liberty.
Provisions were excessively high in
Richmond, notwithstanding nearly all the army had left there, the whole force at that place not exceeding six regiments of a thousand men each.
The following were the prices which the prisoners paid when they wanted anything extra: Pound of Young Hyson tea, $2.50; common Rio coffee, 45 cents; sugar, brown, 22 cents; sweet potatoes, per
quart, 6 cents; Irish potatoes, per
quart, 8 cents; coarse salt, per part, 20 cents; butter of good quality 50 cents; beans, per quart, 25 and 28 cents.
There was no doubt that a considerable division of the army had left for the vicinity of
Yorktown by the
James river, as well as railroad route.
The parties saw several regiments on their way to that place.
Before leaving
Richmond they heard several times that
Jeff. Davis was so indisposed as to be unable to leave his room, whilst
Gen. Beauregard was constantly moving from
Manassas to
Richmond and back, superintending the army movements, &c.
Col. Todd (a connection of
President Lincoln) had charge of the prisoners, and he treated them at times in the most outrageous manner, being more severe than any of the rest.
Some of the prisoners before leaving obtained several Richmond papers, with the intention of bringing them along, but they were searched, and every copy taken from them.
One of them wrapped up a pair of old spurs in a copy of the
Enquirer and stuffed them in his bosom, but he was discovered in the act, and both paper and spurs confiscated, the officers declaring that the -- Yankees should not carry away a single paper of any kind.
