Page:The Immortal Six Hundred.djvu/36

 "Sanitary Commission," reported to the Secretary of War at Washington the condition of the hospitals of the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, near Chicago, and Gratiot Street prison, St. Louis. In this report he incorporates the statements of Drs. Hun and Cogswell, of Albany, N. Y., who had been employed by the "Sanitary Commission" to inspect hospitals. And Dr. Van Buren commends these gentlemen as men of high character and eminent fitness for the work to which they had been assigned. It is from the statement of these northern gentlemen that I quote. They caption their report from Albany, April 5, 1863, and say, among other things, as follows:

"In our experience, we have never witnessed so painful a spectacle as that presented by these wretched inmates; without change of clothing, covered with vermin, they lie in cots, without mattresses, or with mattresses furnished by private charity, without sheets or bedding of any kind, except blankets, often in rags; in wards reeking with filth and foul air. The stench is most offensive. We