Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 30.djvu/88

 80 Southern Historical Society Papers.

lishment of these prisons, and the sufferings therein, as heretofore charged by our enemies, and that the Federal Goverment, through Edwin M. Stanton, H. W. Halleck and U. S. Grant as its repre- sentative actors, was directly and solely responsible for the establish- ment of these places, and consequently for all the sufferings and death ivhich occured therein.

The reports and correspondence relative to the exchange and treatment of prisoners fill four of the large volumes of the " Rebel- lion Records," and whilst we have striven to tell the full story, or rather to omit nothing essential to the truth, it is simply impossible, within the limits of this report, to do more than call attention to some of the most important and salient features of the correspond- ence, etc., and only to an extent necessary to disclose the real con- ditions at 'the several dates referred to. This is all that we have attempted to do, but we have tried to do this faithfully.

THE POLICY OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT AS SHOWN BY ACTS OF CONGRESS, ETC.

To show the declared purpose and policy of the Confederate Gov- ernment towards the prisoners of war from the beginning: As early as May 2ist, 1861, two months before the first battle of Manassas, the Confederate Congress passed an act providing that

"All prisoners of war taken, whether on land or at sea, during the pending hostilities with the United States, shall be transferred by the captors from time to time, and as often as convenient, to the Department of War; and it shall be the duty of the Secretary of War, with the approval of the President, to issue such instructions to the Quartermaster-General, and his subordinates, as shall provide for the safe custody and sustenance of prisoners of war; and that rations furnished prisoners of war shall be the same in quantity and quality as those furnished to enlisted men in the Army of the Confed- eracy. ' '

By an Act of February, 1864, the Quartermaster-General was relieved of this duty, and the Commissary-General of Subsistence was ordered to provide for the sustenance of prisoners of war, and according to General Orders No. 159, Adjutant Inspector General's Office, it was provided that <( Hospitals for prisoners of 'war are placed on the same footing as other Confederate States Hospitals in all re- spects, and will be managed accordingly."