Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 36.djvu/21

Rh The following from the official statistics of prisoners on both sides is of particular interest:

Whole number of Federals in Confederate prisons. . . . . 270,000 Number of Confederates in Northern prisons. . . . . . . . . . 220,000 Excess of Federal prisoners. . . . . . . . . . . . 50,000

Confederates died in Northern prisons. . . . . . 26,436 Federals died in Southern prisons. . . . . . . . . . .22,570 Excess of Confederate deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3,866

Thus the death rate of Confederates in Northern prisons was over 12 per cent., while that of Federal prisoners in Southern prisons was under 9 per cent.

The Northern official record with regard to the treatment and exchange of prisoners in the war of 1861-65 was shameful, and the murder of Captain Wirz to divert public attention from the real authors of the sufferings of the prisoners on both sides was one of the greatest atrocities of modern times.

Mr. Page's book is published by the Neale Publishing Company, New York and Washington.