Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War Part 69

Question. It is sometimes said, by the rebel newspapers, at least, that they have given the same rations to our prisoners that they give to their own soldiers. Now, I want to ask you, as a medical man, if it is possible, with the amount of food that our prisoners have had, for men to retain their health and vigor, and perform active service in the field?

Answer. I do not believe that the rebels could fight as well, or make such marches as they have done, upon such small rations as our prisoners have received.

Question. Can the health of men be preserved upon such rations as they have given our prisoners?

Answer. No, sir; it cannot, not only on account of quant.i.ty, but quality. I have seen some specimens of their rations brought here by our paroled prisoners, and I know what they are.

Question. As a general rule, what is the effect of treating men in that way?

Answer. Just what we hear every day--men dying from starvation and debility. Many of these men--mostly all the wounded men--are suffering from hospital gangrene, which is the result of not having their wounds dressed in time, and having too many crowded in the same apartment. We have had men here whose wounds have been so long neglected that they have had maggots in them by the hundred.

Acting a.s.sistant Surgeon J. H. Longenecker, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. What is your position in the United States service?

Answer. Acting a.s.sistant surgeon.

Question. How long have you been stationed here?

Answer. Since the 27th of July, 1863.

Question. Will you state what has been the condition of our paroled prisoners, received here from the rebels, during the time you have been stationed here?

Answer. As a general thing, they have been very much debilitated, emaciated, and suffering from disease, such as diarrhoea, scurvy, lung diseases, &c.

Question. In your opinion, as a physician, by what have these diseases been produced?

Answer. By exposure and want of proper food, I think.

Question. Are you able to form any opinion, from the condition of these men, as to the quant.i.ty and quality of food which they have received?

Answer. From their appearance and condition, I judge the quality must have been very bad, and the quant.i.ty very small, not sufficient to preserve the health.

Question. We have seen and examined several patients here this morning, who are but mere skeletons. They have stated to us, as you are aware, that their suffering arose wholly from the want of proper food and clothing. In your opinion as a medical man, are these statements true?

Answer. I believe that these statements are correct. We have had some men who looked very well. How they managed to preserve their health I am not able to say; but, as a general thing, the men we receive here are very much debilitated, apparently from exposure, and want of sufficient food to keep up life and health.

Question. Are you acquainted with the case of Howard Laedom?

Answer. Yes, sir; I am.

Question. Will you state about that case?

Answer. I did not see the patient until recently, when he was placed in my charge. I found him with all his toes gone from one foot in consequence of exposure. He has suffered from pneumonia, also, produced by exposure, and there have been very many cases of pneumonia here, produced by the same cause, many of whom have died; and we have held post mortem examinations upon many of them, and found ulcers upon their intestines, some of them being ulcerated the whole length of their bowels.

Question. Have you made many post mortem examinations here?

Answer. We have made quite a number of them. We make them whenever we have an opportunity; whenever bodies are not called for or are not likely to be taken away.

Question. Are you enabled, from these post mortem examinations, to determine whether or not these prisoners have had sufficient quant.i.ties of proper food?

Answer. Not from that. Those examinations merely indicate the condition in which the prisoners are returned to us.

Question. From all the indications given by the appearance of these men, are you satisfied that their statements, that they have not had sufficient food, both in quant.i.ty and quality, are true?

Answer. These statements have been repeated to me very often, and from their condition I believe their statement to be true.

Question. How many paroled prisoners were brought here by the last boat?

Answer. Three hundred and sixty-five, I think.

Question. In your opinion, how many of these men will recover?

Answer. Judging from their present condition, I think that at least one hundred of them will die.

Question. What, in your opinion, will be the primary cause of the death of these men?

Answer. Exposure and want of proper food while prisoners.

a.s.sistant Surgeon William S. Ely, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Harding:

Question. What is your position in the service?

Answer. a.s.sistant surgeon of the United States volunteers and executive officer of hospital division No. 1, or Naval Academy hospital.

Question. Please state the sanitary condition and appearance, &c., of the paroled prisoners received here, together with their declarations as to the cause of their sickness, and your opinion as to the truth of their statements.

Answer. I have been on duty in this hospital since October 3, 1863.

Since that time I have been present on the arrival of the steamer New York on five or six different occasions, when bringing altogether some three or four thousand paroled prisoners. I have a.s.sisted in unloading these prisoners from the boat, and a.s.signing them to quarters in the hospital. I have found them generally very much reduced physically, and depressed mentally, the direct result, as I think, of the ill-treatment which they have received from the hands of their enemies--whether intentional or not I cannot say. I have frequently seen on the boat bodies of those who have died while being brought here, and I have frequently known them to die while being conveyed from the boat to the hospital ward. Their condition is such (their whole const.i.tution being undermined) that the best of care and medical treatment, and all the sanitary and hygeian measures that we can introduce appear to be useless. Their whole a.s.similative functions appear to be impaired.

Medicines and food appear, in many cases, to have no effect upon them.

We have made post mortem examinations repeatedly of cases here, and on all occasions we find the system very much reduced, and in many cases the muscles almost entirely gone--reduced to nothing literally but skin and bone; the blood vitiated and depraved, and an anoemic condition of the entire system apparent. The fact that in many cases of post mortems we had discovered no organic disease, justifies us in the conclusion that the fatal result is owing princ.i.p.ally, if not entirely, to a deprivation of food and other articles necessary to support life, and to improper exposure. On all occasions when arriving here, these men have been found in the most filthy condition, it being almost impossible, in many cases, to clean them by repeated washings. The functions of the skin are entirely impaired, and in many cases they are encrusted with dirt, owing, as they say, to being compelled to lie on the sand at Belle island; and the normal function of the skin has not been recovered until the cuticle has been entirely thrown off. Their bodies are covered with vermin, so that it has been found necessary to throw away all the clothing which they had on when they arrived here, and provide them entirely with new clothing. Their hair has been filled with vermin, so that we have been obliged to cut their hair all off, and make applications to kill the vermin in their heads. Many of them state that they have had no opportunity to wash their bodies for six or eight months, and have not done so.

Question. What have been their statements to you in their conversation with you?

Answer. Their reply almost invariably has been, that their condition is the result solely of ill-treatment and starvation; that their rations have consisted of corn-bread and cobs ground with corn, of a few beans at times, and now and then a little piece of poor meat. Occasionally one is heard to say, that in his opinion the rebels are unable to treat them in any better manner; that they have been treated as well as possible; and I have found several who stated that their physicians were kind to them and did all they could, but complained of want of medicines.

Question. Is it your conclusion, as a physician, that the statements of these paroled prisoners, in regard to the treatment they have received, are correct, and that such treatment would produce such conditions of health as you witness among them upon their arrival here?