The west shore., July 01, 1888, Page 354, Image 8

THE WEST SHORE.
icg? I thick not Have those who canned the death
of over twelve tbouMnd Union prisoners at Ander
onrille, and who made cruelty a study that they
might dr-vie new methods of paniahment for those in
their keeping, ever been paniihed for their deeds?
No. True, Commander Werz, who had charge at
Andersonrille, was tried and hang for the part he
l in the murder of this vaat number of helpless
men, but was there no punishment for others higher
in authority, of whom this man, as he stated under
oath, received orders for what he did? No. Why?
Was it because of the great forbearance and magna
nimity of those in authority, or was it for fear of
those who then, as now, flaunt their treason in the
fares of the men who fought on the field of battle and
tarved in rebel prisons that we might have a coun
try? Was the gain worth the blood and treasure it
coat? Of what good is any kind of government to a
dead man? Theso are hard questions, and must be
answered by the reader according to the light in
which ho sees them.
To this loathsome and deatb-breodine crison Den.
situated in the state of Georgia, on a hot, sandy plain,
urroundM with a high stockade, with no covering
but the broad canopy of heaven, Captain Norwood
anI bis unfortunate companions were taken, after
I heir capture at Chickamauga. It was indeed a sore
trial to the young officer, as day after day, with parch
rd lij and aching heart, he and his fellow prisoners
were marched, cloaely guarded, to Andersonville,
where they arrived on September 23th, following the
battle.
What a sight met the eyes of theso men on reach
ing the entrance to this modern Golgotha, where few
who entered camo out alivo I Some of the prisoners,
uw holding the awful scenes within the stockade
refused to enter, and were forced through the gate as'
a bullock is driven to the slaughter pen. Their jail-
CM,ih CDlranM 10 como them, which he
dd with kirk, and curses. This wretch in the sem
b ance of a man, seemed to have embodied within
him the eh ment. of forty devil, incarnate, and exult-
. raro over the evidence, of the pain and
It was morning when they reached the prison, and
the cJe cf the n,ght Wforo W not yet lien remov.
Lyng around the prison in row. lib .tick, of
wrd wood, were tho nude h'ut ..u
J.'4 cut to convey them ouUUe. It wu, right f7w
C.t.Uin XorwooJ, .be ho UMi heM ,
(bud, cor, eWl bi. ojc, to ,bn, oat the bo
the bodies lying there cold in death were once like
himself, full of life and ambition, and that they, too,
had marched oyer the same place where he now stood
that they, too, had seen other bodies lying where
their lifeless forms now lay, awaiting the dead cart
to be conveyed outside the stockade and dumped hie
so much rubbish into a long trench dug for the pur.
pose.
The new arrivals were marched to the south side
of the prison, where their future quarters were to be
passing thousands of men, or rather what had once
been 6uch, but were now only breathing and walking
skeletons, their eyes sunk far back into their sock,
ets, and their bones, in many cases, sticking through
the skin, giving to them the appearance of an army
of spirits who had despoiled some grave yard of its
bones, and had come to mock them. These unfor.
tunate beings begged piteously for something to eat,
and many, when told there was nothing for them,
cried like children.
" This, then, is the ending of all the hopes and
dreams of the future I had pictured out for myself,"
thought the ambitious young officer. " Oh, merciful
God 1 " he cried aloud, " will I be able to endure it ?
Is there no way to escape this awful and cruel fate,
this living death, which will surely overtake me
here ? " Casting his eyes toward the high stockade,
he saw the guards marching back and forth on an el
evated walk, and then at the artillery trained on the
prison, and moaned, "None, none, none; this is the
ending."
Days, weeks and months passed away, and still
Captain Norwood remained in Andersonville, Did
his mother know where he was? And Am v. too. did
she know that his life was fast wasting away in a
a southern prison? These were his thoughts day and
night, and as he looked upon his comrades, who, un
able longer to battle against the irrim monster, one
by one were carried out, cold in death, he Draved to
God for strength and courage to bear up under his
terrible sufferings. While he was still able he con-
eluded to write to his mother, who, he knew, must be
heart broken at his, to her, uncertain fate, but he was
informed by some of the older inmates that his letter
would reach no furthei than the jailer's office. He
wrote, however, trustincr to some cmmmatAnca where
by he could get the letter to her, &nd some time after
an opportunity occurred which enabled him to get his
letter on its way to the north. Tho an ex
change of prisoners, and to one of the fortunate ones
the letter was entrusted, with instructions to mail it
at the first post office he reached inside the Federal
lines.
Remain yet a little while, poor, heartsick prison
cr, and battle with the pangs of hunger and the great-