Sir: I have the honor respectfully to forward by Captain C. C. G. Thornton, 12th Maine volunteers, now acting on my staff, a statement in reply to the communication I had the honor to receive by telegraph.

Captain Thornton was on the Olive Branch, and is subject to examination by the committee.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

G. F. SHEPLEY,
Brigadier General, Commanding.

Hon. D. W. Gooch,
Of Committee on Conduct of the War.

Sir: At my own request having been relieved from duty as military governor of Louisiana, and ordered to report for duty to the commanding general of the army, I left New Orleans, on the evening of the 6th of April, as a passenger in the Olive Branch, a New Orleans and St. Louis passenger steamer not in the service of the government, but loaded with male and female passengers and cargo of private parties. The steamer was unarmed, and had no troops and no muskets for protection against guerillas when landing at wood yards and other places.

The boat stopped at Vicksburg, and I went ashore. When I returned to the boat as she was about leaving, I found that a detachment of a portion of the men of two batteries—one Ohio and one Missouri—belonging to the 17th army corps, with the horses, guns, caissons, wagons, tents, and baggage of the two batteries, had been put on board, with orders, as I afterwards learned on inquiring, to report to General Brayman, at Cairo.

The horses occupied all the available space, fore and aft, on the sides of the boilers and machinery, which were on deck. The guns, caissons, baggage wagons, tents, garrison and camp equipage, were piled up together on the bows, leaving only space for the gang plank.

The men had no small arms, so that when the boat landed, as happened in one instance at a wood yard where guerillas had just passed, the pickets thrown out to prevent surprise were necessarily unarmed.

As the boat was approaching, and before it was in sight of Fort Pillow, some females hailed it from the shore, and said the rebels had attacked Fort Pillow, and captured two boats on the river, and would take us if we went on.

The captain of the Olive Branch said they had probably taken the Mollie Able, which was due there about that time from St. Louis.

He turned his boat, saying he would go back to Memphis.

I objected to going back; stopped the boat below the next point; hailed another smaller steamer without passengers which I saw approaching, and ordered it alongside. I ordered the captain of this boat to cast off the coal barges he had in tow, and take me on board with a section of a battery to go to Fort Pillow.

While he was trying to disencumber his boat of the coal barges, another boat, better for the purpose, (the Cheek,) hove in sight. Finding I could get her ready quicker than the other, I had her brought alongside, and went aboard myself with Captain Thornton, of my staff, and Captain Williams, the ranking officer of the batteries.

Before we could get the guns on board, a steamer with troops hove in sight coming down the river from Fort Pillow.

We could not distinguish at first whether they were Union or rebel soldiers.

I asked Captain Pegram, of the Olive Branch, if the story of the women turned out to be true, and the rebels had the steamer, could his boat sink her. Captain Pegram replied, "Yes, my boat can run right over her." I ordered him to swing out into the stream to be ready for her. When she approached we saw United States infantry soldiers on board that had just passed the fort. She kept on going rapidly down with the current, only hailing the Olive Branch: "All right up there; you can go by. The gunboat is lying off the fort."

This steamer was the Liberty. We then proceeded up the river in the Olive Branch. Near Fort Pillow some stragglers or guerillas fired from the shore with musketry, aiming at the pilot-house.

I was then in the pilot-house, and, as we kept on, I observed that one of the two other boats I have mentioned, which followed us at some distance, was compelled to put back. The Olive Branch kept on to report to the gunboat on the station.

An officer came off from the gunboat, in a small boat, and said he did not want any boat to stop; ordered us to go on to Cairo, and tell captain (name not recollected) to send him immediately four hundred (400) rounds of ammunition. There was no firing at the fort at this time.

The Union flag was flying, and after we had passed the fort we could see a "flag of truce" outside the fortifications.

No signal of any kind was made to the boat from the fort, or from the shore.

No intimation was given us from the gunboat, which had the right to order a steamer of this description, other than the order to proceed to Cairo, to send down the ammunition.

From the fact that the Liberty had just passed down the river from the fort, with troops on board; from her hailing us to go by, and continuing her course down the river without stopping; that no signal was made the Olive Branch from the fort on the shore, and no attack was being made on the fort at the time; that the officer of the gunboat said he did not want any boats to stop, and ordered the captain of the Olive Branch to go on, and have ammunition sent down to him by first boat, I considered, and now consider, that the captain of the Olive Branch was not only justified in going on, but bound to proceed.

The Olive Branch was incapable of rendering any assistance, being entirely defenceless. If any guns could have been placed in position on the boat, they could not have been elevated to reach sharpshooters on the high steep bluff outside the fort.

A very few sharpshooters from the shore near the fort could have prevented any landing, and have taken the boat. We supposed the object of the rebels was rather to seize a boat, to effect a crossing into Arkansas, than to capture the fort. We had no means of knowing or suspecting that so strong a position as Fort Pillow had not been properly garrisoned for defence, when it was in constant communication with General Hurlbut at Memphis.

The Olive Branch had just left Memphis, General Hurlbut's headquarters, where it had been during the previous night. If it had not been for the appearance of the Liberty, I should have attempted a landing at Fort Pillow in the small steamer. If any intimation had been given from the gunboat, or the shore, I should have landed personally from the Olive Branch. The order given to the contrary prevented it.

Coming from New Orleans, and having no knowledge of affairs in that military district, I could not presume that a fort, with uninterrupted water communication above and below, could possibly be without a garrison strong enough to hold it for a few hours.

I write hastily, and omit, from want of time, to state subsequent occurrences at Fort Columbus and Cairo, except to say that, at Fort Columbus, in front of which Buford then was demanding a surrender, I stopped, started to ride out to the lines, met Colonel Lawrence, the commanding officer, coming in from the front to his headquarters. Offered to remain, with the men on board.

Colonel Lawrence said he was in good condition to stand any attack; could communicate with General Brayman; had already taken four hundred (400) infantry and one battery from the L. M. Kennett, which had just preceded us, and left six hundred (600) men, and another, or other batteries, on board, which he did not need. He declined the proffered assistance, as not needed, and immediately on arrival at Cairo I reported all the information in my possession to General Brayman, in command, who was about leaving for Columbus.

Captain Thornton, 12th Maine volunteers, a gallant officer, distinguished for his bravery at Ponchitoula, where he was wounded and left in the hands of the enemy, was on board the Olive Branch, and will take this communication to the committee.

I respectfully ask that he may be thoroughly examined as to all the circumstances.

I am conscious that a full examination will show that I rather exceeded than neglected my duty.

I have the honor to be, with great respect, your obedient servant,

G. F. SHEPLEY,
Brigadier General, Commanding.

Hon. D. W. Gooch,
Of Committee on Conduct of the War.

Captain Charles C. G. Thornton, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. What is your rank and position in the army?

Answer. I am a captain, and aid on General George F. Shepley's staff.

Question. Were you with General Shepley when he passed Fort Pillow, about the time of the capture of that place?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Will you state what occurred there, and the reason, if any, why you did not stop there to aid the garrison?

Answer. We were passengers on the boat Olive Branch, which left New Orleans on the 6th of April, without troops. On arriving at Vicksburg, parts of two batteries—a Missouri and an Ohio battery—were put on board. I do not know the exact number of men, but I should think that perhaps there were 120 men with the two batteries. The men had no small-arms whatever—no arms but the guns of their batteries. We stopped at a place to take in wood, where we were told the guerillas had just passed, and we threw out pickets to keep from being surprised. We were unable to arm those men with anything whatever, and merely stationed them so that we should not be surprised, but have an opportunity of getting on board the boat and leave. Upon arriving within three miles—perhaps two and a half miles—of Fort Pillow, some women on shore hailed us and told us that Fort Pillow was captured with two transports or steamers, and motioned to us to return. The captain of the boat turned about for the purpose of returning to Memphis, but General Shepley stopped it. Colonel Sears, the owner of the boat, who was on board, came to me and asked me to go to General Shepley and tell him the importance of our going back to Memphis; that it was dangerous for us to proceed with so many passengers. The boat was a very large one, loaded with passengers, every state-room being occupied by men, women, and children.

Question. How many passengers, non-combatants, do you suppose you had on board?

Answer. Perhaps one hundred and fifty, but that is a mere guess. When Colonel Sears urged me to ask General Shepley to go back to Memphis, I told him I should do nothing of the kind; that if he wished General Shepley to allow the boat to go back, he might see him about it himself. He did so, but General Shepley positively refused to go. He ordered the captain of the Olive Branch to hail a boat which came in sight, and direct her to come alongside. General Shepley then said, "I will have a section of the battery put on this boat, and will go up and reconnoitre." The boat was called the "Hope," I think. There is a point just below where the rebels, if they had a battery, might bring it to bear on us. General Shepley consented to have the Hope go below that point with the boat we were on, in order to have this section of a battery put on board of her. On our way down we met another boat, the "Cheek," which would answer our purpose better, and she was stopped. General Shepley ordered a section of a battery put on board of her, and directed Captain Williams, commanding the battery, and myself, to accompany him up to Fort Pillow to reconnoitre. I suggested to General Shepley, or was on the point of suggesting to him, that perhaps he had better not go himself, but send Captain Williams and myself. The instant I suggested that, he said "No, I will go myself, and personally ascertain the condition of affairs." He asked the captain how many minutes it would take him to get his guns on board. He said he could probably get a couple of guns on in a few minutes.

Just then a steamer, which afterwards proved to be the steamer "Liberty," hove in sight. We supposed at first that she was the Mollie Able, which the captain of our boat said was due at Fort Pillow just about that time, and that she was one of the boats the rebels had captured, if the story of the women was true. When we saw her coming we noticed that she was loaded with troops, whether Union or rebel troops we could not tell. The general said to our captain, "Can you run that boat down?" He said, "If it is the Mollie Able, I can run right over her." When she hove in sight we saw at once that there was no time to put a battery on board the Cheek; General Shepley then ordered the Cheek to move out of the way, and the captain of our boat to swing out, with the intention of running this other boat down if she should prove to be loaded with rebel soldiers. When the boat got nearer, however, we found she had Union troops on board. As she passed us our captain hailed her, and she replied "All right up there; you can go by. There is a gunboat there." We were then satisfied that everything was all right, as she had been allowed to come down by them with so large a body of troops on board.

We went up, and when within perhaps a mile of the place some rebel soldiers fired upon our boat, probably aiming at the pilot-house. I stood on the after part of the deck at the time. The general was in the pilot-house looking out. The shots did not take effect or amount to anything. We went on up, and found no firing at the fort. We stopped at the gunboat, as all boats are required to do which pass. An officer came on board from the gunboat and said to the captain of our boat, "I want you to proceed immediately to Cairo, and send down 400 or 500 rounds of ammunition; and order all boats back that may be coming down; we want no boats here." We talked the matter over, and came to the conclusion that the object of this Fort Pillow affair was not to capture the fort, but to capture more of our boats, if possible, in order to get across the river. That was merely our supposition, as we knew nothing about the battle. There was no firing at the fort at that time, and our boat went on up the river in obedience to the orders of the gunboat, as it had a right to give that order.

We had proceeded but a little way before we discovered a flag of truce at the fort, as it was reported to me; I did not see it myself, but it undoubtedly was there. We passed on a short distance further, and then noticed that our flag at the fort was down; we had seen it flying as we passed the fort. I went to the stern of our boat, and with a glass looked carefully at the fort. After a time I discovered that the gunboat had steamed up a little ways, as I supposed for the purpose of firing upon the right flank of the rebels. We could see a line of fire or smoke in the woods, which we supposed to be from the musketry of the rebels. We then saw a flag raised up on a pole at the fort, I should think ten or twelve feet high. I supposed that our flag had been shot away, and they were raising it again. The guns from the fort at that time were pretty heavy, while the fire of the enemy, appeared to be from musketry. I have no doubt now that that was the rebel flag that was raised after the fort was taken.

We proceeded on up to Columbus. Before we arrived there we noticed that there was heavy firing there. On our arrival there we saw a great many troops, and they remarked from the shore that there was hot work there. General Shepley told me to accompany him, and went up to Colonel Lawrence's headquarters, but was told he was at the front. General Shepley ordered two horses to be prepared for us to go to the front, to see Colonel Lawrence. Just as the horses were ready, and we were about starting, Colonel Lawrence came over and rode down to his headquarters. He told us that it was all right; that there had been some skirmishing; that Buford had come there and demanded a surrender of the fort, but he had refused to surrender. General Shepley told him that he had portions of two batteries on hand, and asked him if he wanted them; told him how they came there, and that they were ordered to Cairo as a portion of the 17th corps. Colonel Lawrence said that he had taken 400 troops from the Luther M. Kennett, and, I think, one battery. The Luther M. Kennett had just preceded us as we passed by Fort Pillow. Colonel Lawrence said that he did not need the batteries of General Shepley. General Shepley inquired particularly about the condition of affairs, and told Colonel Lawrence what had occurred at Fort Pillow. After ascertaining that there was nothing to be done by us down there we proceeded to Cairo. On our arrival there General Shepley called upon General Brayman and told him the substance of what occurred; the condition of things as we left, the flag coming down, and the fear that the fort had surrendered. We did not know then that the fort had surrendered, though we know now it had.

The caissons and artillery had been hoisted on our boat by means of what they call a derrick, I think, and were piled up, closely packed all round. It would, therefore, have been impossible for us to have removed those cannon for several hours. It took us several hours to land them at Cairo; and it would have been an utter impossibility for us to have taken those cannon up to Fort Pillow, as we had no infantry to cover our landing; and half a dozen sharpshooters could have undoubtedly captured our boat had we attempted it.

Question. If I understand you, General Shepley had no opportunity to relieve Fort Pillow any way?

Answer. He went on board the boat a mere passenger, with no arms. We did not know any troops were coming on board. Those two portions of batteries, with their guns, were ordered to report at Cairo. The gunboat was lying right by the side of us, and its fire was of no account, and, of course, ours would not have been.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. Would it have been possible for you to have used your batteries from the boat with any effect upon the rebels?

Answer. No, sir; it would have been an utter impossibility to have done so. If we had gone in and stopped five minutes there, the rebels could have captured us without the least trouble in the world. The question may be asked why we offered assistance at Columbus and not at Fort Pillow. The fort at Columbus is clear in back from the river, and there were infantry troops there to protect our landing. But Colonel Lawrence said he did not expect the fight to occur for some time, even if there was any fight at all, which he did not expect.

Question. At Columbus you could have landed your batteries under the protection of our forces there?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. And you could not have done that at Fort Pillow?

Answer. No, sir; for at Fort Pillow we should have been right under the fort, and could have been easily reached. This was all stated to General Brayman, and I was quite surprised when I heard of the testimony in regard to the matter.

RETURNED PRISONERS.

SENATE.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

REPORT.

On the 4th instant your committee received a communication of that date from the Secretary of War, enclosing the report of Colonel Hoffman, commissary general of prisoners, dated May 3, calling the attention of the committee to the condition of returned Union prisoners, with the request that the committee would immediately proceed to Annapolis and examine with their own eyes the condition of those who have been returned from rebel captivity. The committee resolved that they would comply with the request of the Secretary of War on the first opportunity. The 5th of May was devoted by the committee to concluding their labors upon the investigation of the Fort Pillow massacre. On the 6th of May, however, the committee proceeded to Annapolis and Baltimore, and examined the condition of our returned soldiers, and took the testimony of several of them, together with the testimony of surgeons and other persons in attendance upon the hospitals. That testimony, with the communication of the Secretary of War, and the report of Colonel Hoffman, is herewith transmitted.

The evidence proves, beyond all manner of doubt, a determination on the part of the rebel authorities, deliberately and persistently practiced for a long time past, to subject those of our soldiers who have been so unfortunate as to fall in their hands to a system of treatment which has resulted in reducing many of those who have survived and been permitted to return to us to a condition, both physically and mentally, which no language we can use can adequately describe. Though nearly all the patients now in the Naval Academy hospital at Annapolis, and in the West hospital, in Baltimore, have been under the kindest and most intelligent treatment for about three weeks past, and many of them for a greater length of time, still they present literally the appearance of living skeletons, many of them being nothing but skin and bone; some of them are maimed for life, having been frozen while exposed to the inclemency of the winter season on Belle Isle, being compelled to lie on the bare ground, without tents or blankets, some of them without overcoats or even coats, with but little fire to mitigate the severity of the winds and storms to which they were exposed.

The testimony shows that the general practice of their captors was to rob them, as soon as they were taken prisoners, of all their money, valuables blankets, and good clothing, for which they received nothing in exchange except, perhaps, some old worn-out rebel clothing hardly better than none at all. Upon their arrival at Richmond they have been confined, without blankets or other covering, in buildings without fire, or upon Belle Isle with, in many cases, no shelter, and in others with nothing but old discarded army tents, so injured by rents and holes as to present but little barrier to the wind and storms; on several occasions, the witnesses say, they have arisen in the morning from their resting-places upon the bare earth, and found several of their comrades frozen to death during the night, and that many others would have met the same fate had they not walked rapidly back and forth, during the hours which should have been devoted to sleep, for the purpose of retaining sufficient warmth to preserve life.

In respect to the food furnished to our men by the rebel authorities, the testimony proves that the ration of each man was totally insufficient in quantity to preserve the health of a child, even had it been of proper quality, which it was not. It consisted usually, at the most, of two small pieces of corn-bread, made in many instances, as the witnesses state, of corn and cobs ground together, and badly prepared and cooked, of, at times, about two ounces of meat, usually of poor quality, and unfit to be eaten, and occasionally a few black worm-eaten beans, or something of that kind. Many of our men were compelled to sell to their guards, and others, for what price they could get, such clothing and blankets as they were permitted to receive of that forwarded for their use by our government, in order to obtain additional food sufficient to sustain life; thus, by endeavoring to avoid one privation, reducing themselves to the same destitute condition in respect to clothing and covering that they were in before they received any from our government. When they became sick and diseased in consequence of this exposure and privation, and were admitted into the hospitals, their treatment was little, if any, improved as to food, though they, doubtless, suffered less from exposure to cold than before. Their food still remained insufficient in quantity and altogether unfit in quality. Their diseases and wounds did not receive the treatment which the commonest dictates of humanity would have prompted. One witness, whom your committee examined, who had lost all the toes of one foot from being frozen while on Belle Isle, states that for days at a time his wounds were not dressed, and that they had not been dressed for four days when he was taken from the hospital and carried on the flag-of-truce boat for Fortress Monroe.

In reference to the condition to which our men were reduced by cold and hunger, your committee would call the attention to the following extracts from the testimony.

One witness testifies:

I had no blankets until our government sent us some.

Question. How did you sleep before you received those blankets?

Answer. We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over.

Another witness testifies:

Question. Were you hungry all the time?

Answer. Hungry! I could eat anything in the world that came before us; some of the boys would get boxes from the north with meat of different kinds in them; and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes and gnaw them over again.

In addition to this insufficient supply of food, clothing, and shelter, our soldiers, while prisoners, have been subjected to the most cruel treatment from those placed over them. They have been abused and shamefully treated on almost every opportunity. Many have been mercilessly shot and killed when they failed to comply with all the demands of their jailers, sometimes for violating rules of which they had not been informed. Crowded in great numbers in buildings, they have been fired at and killed by the sentinels outside when they appeared at the windows for the purpose of obtaining a little fresh air. One man, whose comrade in the service, in battle and in captivity, had been so fortunate as to be among those released from further torments, was shot dead as he was waving with his hand a last adieu to his friend; and other instances of equally unprovoked murder are disclosed by the testimony.

The condition of our returned soldiers as regards personal cleanliness, has been filthy almost beyond description. Their clothes have been so dirty and so covered with vermin, that those who received them have been compelled to destroy their clothing and re-clothe them with new and clean raiment. Their bodies and heads have been so infested with vermin that, in some instances, repeated washings have failed to remove them; and those who have received them in charge have been compelled to cut all the hair from their heads, and make applications to destroy the vermin. Some have been received with no clothing but shirts and drawers and a piece of blanket or other outside covering, entirely destitute of coats, hats, shoes or stockings; and the bodies of those better supplied with clothing have been equally dirty and filthy with the others, many who have been sick and in the hospital having had no opportunity to wash their bodies for weeks and months before they were released from captivity.

Your committee are unable to convey any adequate idea of the sad and deplorable condition of the men they saw in the hospitals they visited; and the testimony they have taken cannot convey to the reader the impressions which your committee there received. The persons we saw, as we were assured by those in charge of them, have greatly improved since they have been received in the hospitals. Yet they are now dying daily, one of them being in the very throes of death as your committee stood by his bed-side and witnessed the sad spectacle there presented. All those whom your committee examined stated that they have been thus reduced and emaciated entirely in consequence of the merciless treatment they received while prisoners from their enemies; and the physicians in charge of them, the men best fitted by their profession and experience to express an opinion upon the subject, all say that they have no doubt that the statements of their patients are entirely correct.

It will be observed from the testimony, that all the witnesses who testify upon that point state that the treatment they received while confined at Columbia, South Carolina, Dalton, Georgia, and other places, was far more humane than that they received at Richmond, where the authorities of the so-called confederacy were congregated, and where the power existed, had the inclination not been wanting, to reform those abuses and secure to the prisoners they held some treatment that would bear a public comparison to that accorded by our authorities to the prisoners in our custody. Your committee, therefore, are constrained to say that they can hardly avoid the conclusion, expressed by so many of our released soldiers, that the inhuman practices herein referred to are the result of a determination on the part of the rebel authorities to reduce our soldiers in their power, by privation of food and clothing, and by exposure, to such a condition that those who may survive shall never recover so as to be able to render any effective service in the field. And your committee accordingly ask that this report, with the accompanying testimony, be printed with the report and testimony in relation to the massacre of Fort Pillow, the one being, in their opinion, no less than the other, the result of a predetermined policy. As regards the assertions of some of the rebel newspapers, that our prisoners have received at their hands the same treatment that their own soldiers in the field have received, they are evidently but the most glaring and unblushing falsehoods. No one can for a moment be deceived by such statements, who will reflect that our soldiers, who, when taken prisoners, have been stout, healthy men, in the prime and vigor of life, yet have died by hundreds under the treatment they have received, although required to perform no duties of the camp or the march; while the rebel soldiers are able to make long and rapid marches, and to offer a stubborn resistance in the field.

Your committee, finding it impossible to describe in words the deplorable condition of these returned prisoners, have caused photographs to be taken of a number of them, and a fair sample to be lithographed and appended to their report, that their exact condition may be known by all who examine it. Some of them have since died.

There is one feature connected with this investigation, to which your committee can refer with pride and satisfaction; and that is the uncomplaining fortitude, the undiminished patriotism exhibited by our brave men under all their privations, even in the hour of death.

Your committee will close their report by quoting the tribute paid these men by the chaplain of the hospital at Annapolis, who has ministered to so many of them in their last moments, who has smoothed their passage to the grave by his kindness and attention, and who has performed the last sad offices over their lifeless remains. He says:

"There is another thing I would wish to state. All the men, without any exception among the thousands that have come to this hospital, have never in a single instance expressed a regret (notwithstanding the privations and sufferings they have endured) that they entered their country's service. They have been the most loyal, devoted and earnest men. Even on the last days of their lives they have said that all they hoped for was just to live and enter the ranks again and meet their foes. It is a most glorious record in reference to the devotion of our men to their country. I do not think their patriotism has ever been equalled in the history of the world."

All of which is respectfully submitted.

B. F. WADE, Chairman.

Sir: I have the honor to submit to you a report made to this department by Colonel Hoffman, commissary general of prisoners, in regard to the condition of Union soldiers who have, until within a few days, been prisoners of war at Richmond, and would respectfully request that your committee immediately proceed to Annapolis to take testimony there, and examine with their own eyes the condition of those who have been returned from rebel captivity. The enormity of the crime committed by the rebels towards our prisoners for the last several months is not known or realized by our people, and cannot but fill with horror the civilized world when the facts are fully revealed. There appears to have been a deliberate system of savage and barbarous treatment and starvation, the result of which will be that few, if any, of the prisoners that have been in their hands during the past winter will ever again be in a condition to render any service, or even to enjoy life.

Your obedient servant,

EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War.

Hon. B. F. Wade,
Chairman of Joint Committee on Conduct of the War.

Sir: I have the honor to report that, pursuant to your instructions of the 2d instant, I proceeded, yesterday morning, to Annapolis, with a view to see that the paroled prisoners about to arrive there from Richmond were properly received and cared for.

The flag-of-truce boat New York, under the charge of Major Mulford, with thirty-two officers, three hundred and sixty-three enlisted men, and one citizen on board, reached the wharf at the Naval School hospital about ten o'clock. On going on board, I found the officers generally in good health, and much cheered by their happy release from the rebel prisons, and by the prospect of again being with their friends.

The enlisted men who had endured so many privations at Belle Isle and other places were, with few exceptions, in a very sad plight, mentally and physically, having for months been exposed to all the changes of the weather, with no other protection than a very insufficient supply of worthless tents, and with an allowance of food scarcely sufficient to prevent starvation, even if of wholesome quality; but as it was made of coarsely-ground corn, including the husks, and probably at times the cobs, if it did not kill by starvation, it was sure to do it by the disease it created. Some of these poor fellows were wasted to mere skeletons, and had scarcely life enough remaining to appreciate that they were now in the hands of their friends, and among them all there were few who had not become too much broken down and dispirited by their many privations to be able to realize the happy prospect of relief from their sufferings which was before them. With rare exception, every face was sad with care and hunger; there was no brightening of the countenance or lighting up of the eye, to indicate a thought of anything beyond a painful sense of prostration of mind and body. Many faces showed that there was scarcely a ray of intelligence left.

Every preparation had been made for their reception in anticipation of the arrival of the steamer, and immediately upon her being made fast to the wharf the paroled men were landed and taken immediately to the hospital, where, after receiving a warm bath, they were furnished with a suitable supply of new clothing, and received all those other attentions which their sad condition demanded. Of the whole number, there are perhaps fifty to one hundred who, in a week or ten days, will be in a convalescent state, but the others will very slowly regain their lost health.

That our soldiers, when in the hands of the rebels, are starved to death, cannot be denied. Every return of the flag-of-truce boat from City Point brings us too many living and dying witnesses to admit of a doubt of this terrible fact. I am informed that the authorities at Richmond admit the fact, but excuse it on the plea that they give the prisoners the same rations they give their own men. But can this be so? Can an army keep the field, and be active and efficient, on the same fare that kills prisoners of war at a frightful per-centage? I think not; no man can believe it; and while a practice so shocking to humanity is persisted in by the rebel authorities, I would very respectfully urge that retaliatory measures be at once instituted by subjecting the officers we now hold as prisoners of war to a similar treatment.

I took advantage of the opportunity which this visit to Annapolis gave me to make a hasty inspection of Camp Parole, and I am happy to report that I found it in every branch in a most commendable condition. The men all seemed to be cheerful and in fine health, and the police inside and out was excellent. Colonel Root, the commanding officer, deserves much credit for the very satisfactory condition to which he has brought his command.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel 3d Infantry, Commissary General of Prisoners.

Hon. E. M. Stanton,
Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.

TESTIMONY.

Howard Leedom, sworn and examined:

By the chairman:

Question. To what company and regiment have you belonged?

Answer. Company G, 52d New York.

Question. How long have you been in the service?

Answer. About seven months.

Question. What is your age?

Answer. Seventeen.

Question. When and where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At a place called Orange Grove, I think, back of Chancellorsville.

Question. How long ago?

Answer. In November last.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. Right to Richmond.

Question. In what prison were you placed?

Answer. I was put on Belle Isle first, and then I got sick and was taken to the hospital.

Question. Describe how you were treated there, and the cause of your sickness.

Answer. They did not treat me very kindly. I froze my feet on the island.

Question. How came they to be frozen?

Answer. When they took me prisoner they got away the good shoes I had on, and gave me an old pair of shoes, all cut and split open; and when I was on the island, I had just an old tent to lie under.

Question. Did you not have some blankets to put over you?

Answer. No, sir. They took away my blanket, and everything else—my shoes—even a pair of buckskin gloves I had.

Question. Did they give you anything in place of them?

Answer. No, sir; only that pair of shoes I said.

Question. You had stockings?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What kind of a tent did you have?

Answer. The tent was not very good; the rain beat right through it.

Question. How badly were your feet frozen?

Answer. Well, my toes are all off one of my feet now. [The surgeon accompanying the committee here took the dressings off the witness's feet, and exhibited them to the committee. The stumps of the toes were just healing.]

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. They gave us corn-bread, and once in a while a little piece of meat.

Question. How often did they give you meat?

Answer. Maybe once a day; maybe once a week—just as they happened to have it.

Question. Did you get enough to eat, such as it was?

Answer. No, sir; I did not even get enough corn-bread.

Question. How long were you on the island?

Answer. I was on the island only a month, and in the hospital three months.

Question. How long is it since you were exchanged?

Answer. I came here on the 24th of March.

Question. There were others there with you on the island?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How did they fare?

Answer. The same as I did; we all fared alike.

Question. Were any others frozen?

Answer. Yes, sir; plenty of them frozen to death.

Question. Frozen to death?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Were their blankets taken away like yours?

Answer. Yes, sir; they had to lie out in the open ditch. They did not have as good over them as I had.

Question. Did not they have a tent to sleep under?

Answer. No, sir; no tent at all. There was an embankment thrown up, so as to keep them inside like, and they had to lie right down in the ditch there.

Question. With nothing over them?

Answer. If some of them had their blanket, they put that over them; but they had no tent, or anything of that kind.

Question. Nothing to keep off the rain and snow?

Answer. No, sir; nothing at all.

Question. Are you certain that any of them froze to death there?

Answer. Yes, sir, I am.

Question. State about the treatment you received after your feet were frozen, when you were in the hospital.

Answer. Sometimes my feet were dressed there every day; sometimes I went three or four days without dressing—just whether their nurses happened to be busy or not. When I was exchanged, I had not been dressed for four or five days.

Question. Were any of the confederate sick in the hospital with you?

Answer. Not that I know of.

Question. Do you know how they treated their own soldiers that were in the hospital?

Answer. I do not. I suppose they treated them better than they did us, though.

Question. Was your food any better in the hospital than on the island?

Answer. It was when we first went there, but when I came away it was no better.

Washington Collins, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Gooch:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company A, 5th Kentucky infantry regiment.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. I was taken prisoner at the battle of Chickamauga.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. From there to Richmond, as straight through as they could get us through.

Question. State how you were treated after you were taken prisoner.

Answer. We were treated very rough. The eatables we got on the way from the battle-field to Richmond were mouldy crackers, such as you would never try to eat, with one or two exceptions, when we got a little light bread.

Question. Where were you confined at Richmond?

Answer. We were put in tobacco factories, and kept there without clothing or blankets, until our government sent us blankets and clothing, and some provisions.

Question. Were the clothing and blankets which you had when taken prisoners taken from you?

Answer. Yes, sir; our blankets were pretty much all taken from us.

Question. Did you suffer from cold?

Answer. Yes, sir, severely.

Question. Was your money taken from you?

Answer. Those of us that had money, had it pretty much all taken away, or scared out of us.

Question. What kind of food had you after you reached Richmond?

Answer. We got, I should judge, about six ounces of light bread, and in the afternoon about two spoonfuls of black beans—worm-eaten beans.

Question. Was that all you had for the day?

Answer. I think we got, once a day, about two ounces of meat.

Question. What was the character of the meat and bread?

Answer. The character of the meat was pretty tolerably rough. I cannot exactly describe it. I never did eat any beef like some of it; and the first dose of medicine I took since I was in the army, was when I was put in the hospital at Danville. About six or seven weeks ago, before that, I was always a hearty, healthy man.

Question. Have you had any disease or sickness except that occasioned by want of proper food and clothing?

Answer. No, sir; I think not. (The surgeon here remarked, "His disease is the result of starvation, privation, and exposure.")

Question. When were you exchanged?

Answer. We left the 1st of May, I think. I have more of a life-like feeling about me now than I had when I left Richmond.

Question. Do you think you are in a better condition now?

Answer. Yes, sir; I know I am. The authorities did not think it safe for me to start; but I told them if I was going to die, I would rather die on the Chesapeake than die there.

Question. After you grew so very sick, was your food improved any?

Answer. Very little. The last food I received was light diet. When I left the hospital to go on board the flag-of-truce boat, I received about a gill of what they call soup, though in fact it was just nothing; I should say it was only a little starch and water; and then I got a little piece of corn-bread, about that large, (measuring on his fingers about two inches square,) and we got a piece of meat, once a day, about the same size.

Question. Were the other men treated as you were, so far as you know?

Answer. Yes, sir. I wish to speak of one thing. After this food was issued out, what was called the ward-master would go round in the evening with a little mush made of meal, and give some of us a table-spoonful of it. Say there were 60 or 80 patients, and there would be 6 or 8, maybe 10, of those patients would get a little spoonful of this mush; and then he would come round a little while afterwards and pour a table-spoonful of molasses over it; and just as likely as not, in a few minutes after that he would come round with some vinegar and pour a spoonful of vinegar over that.

Question. Why did he do that?

Answer. He said that was the way it was issued to him.

Question. Did he give any reason for mixing it altogether in that way?

Answer. No, sir; and there were a great many of our own men who treated us as bad as the secesh, because those there acting as nurses, if there was any little delicacy for the sick; would just gobble it up.

Question. Were all of our men suffering for want of food?

Answer. Yes, sir, all of them. In the winter time these secesh got so they would haul up loads of cabbages, all full of lice, and throw them raw into the room for us to eat.

Charles Gallagher, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. Where are you from?

Answer. From Guernsey county, Ohio.

Question. To what regiment do you belong?

Answer. 40th Ohio.

Question. How long have you been in the service?

Answer. Pretty nearly three years.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Chickamauga.

Question. When?

Answer. On the 22d of last September.

Question. State what happened then to you.

Answer. When they took me prisoner they took me right on to Richmond, kept me there awhile, then sent me to Danville and kept me there awhile. I got sick at Danville and was put in the hospital, and then they sent me back to Richmond and paroled me and sent me here.

Question. How did they treat you while you were a prisoner?

Answer. Pretty bad. They gave us corn-bread, and not very much of it; and we had to lie right down on the floor, without any blankets, until a long while about Christmas. We had just to lie as thick on the floor as we could get.

Question. How were you treated when you were taken sick?

Answer. A little better. We then had a sort of bed to lie on.

Question. Did you have all the food you wanted?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. What kind of food did you get?

Answer. Corn-bread, a little piece of meat, sometimes a little rice-soup, and sometimes a few beans.

Question. How often did you get meat?

Answer. Along through the winter we got a little bit of fresh beef, (perhaps once a day,) and then from about March a little pork.

Question. What was the matter with you when you went to the hospital?

Answer. I got a cough which settled on me, and I had pain in my breast.

Question. Were there any other prisoners at Danville?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did they suffer at all from want?

Answer. They were pretty hungry.

Question. Did you complain to the authorities that you did not get food enough?

Answer. No, sir; it would not have made any difference. They said there that we got every ounce that was allowed to us.

Question. Did you make your wants known to any one?

Answer. Yes, sir; but they would not give us any more. They would come in and give you a half a loaf of bread, and tell you that was your day's rations; you could take that or nothing.

By the chairman:

Question. Did they give you as much as their own soldiers for rations?

Answer. No, sir; their own soldiers got a great deal more.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. What was your treatment aside from your supply of food? Was it kind?

Answer. No, sir. They just came in and shoved us round; finally, they run us all up from one floor to the second floor, and only let one go down at a time. When he got back they let another go down.

Isaiah G. Booker, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Harding:

Question. How old are you?

Answer. Twenty-one on the 13th of this month.

Question. Where did you enlist?

Answer. Bath, Maine.

Question. How long were you in the army before you were taken prisoner?

Answer. I enlisted on the 5th of September, 1861, and was taken prisoner last July.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. On Morris island, Charleston, South Carolina.

Question. Where were you then sent?

Answer. I was sent to Columbia, South Carolina, where we were kept about two months, and then we were sent to Richmond, put on Belle Isle, and staid there the remainder of the time.

Question. How were you treated at Columbia?

Answer. I was treated a great deal better there than I was at Belle Isle. We got meat twice a day, rice once, and Indian bread once. We got very near as much as we wanted to eat.

Question. How were you treated at Richmond?

Answer. I suffered there terribly with hunger. I could eat anything.

Question. Can you tell us what kind of food you got there?

Answer. Dry Indian bread, and, when I first went there, a very little meat.

Question. When were you taken sick?

Answer. I was taken sick—I was sick with the diarrhœa a fortnight before I went to the hospital, and I was in the hospital a little over a week before I was exchanged. I was released on the 7th of March, and got here the 9th.

Question. How were you treated while in the hospital?

Answer. I was treated there worse than on Belle Isle. We did not get any salt of any account—only a little piece of bread that would hardly keep a chicken alive.

Question. Did you get any rice?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Any soup?

Answer. Once in a while of mornings I would get a little.

Question. Did the physician come round to see you every day?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did he give you any medicine?

Answer. He gave me some pills.

Question. What was their manner towards you after you were taken sick and in the hospital? Were they kind, or rough?

Answer. They were neither kind nor rough, but indifferent. The corn-bread I got seemed to burn my very insides. When I would go down to the river of mornings to wash myself, as I put the water to my face it seemed as though I wanted to sup the water, and to sup it, and sup it, and sup it all the time.

Question. Did you make no complaint to the officers on Belle Isle of your food?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. Did you ask them for any more?

Answer. No, sir; I knew there was no use. I do not think I spoke to an officer while I was there.

Question. Did you ever tell those who furnished you with the food you did get, of the insufficiency of it?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. What answer did they give you?

Answer. That was all we were allowed, they said.

Question. Did you have blankets while you were on Belle Isle?

Answer. I had no blanket until our government sent us some.

Question. How did you sleep before you received those blankets?

Answer. We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over.

Question. Did they furnish you any clothing while you were there?

Answer. No, sir; the rebs did not furnish us a bit. It was very warm weather when I was taken prisoner, and I had nothing on me but my pants, shirt, gloves, shoes, stockings, and cap; and I received no more clothing until our government sent us some in December, I think. We had to lie right down on the cold ground.

Question. Did you not have a tent?

Answer. I had none when I first went there. After a while we had one, but it was a very poor affair; the rain would come right through it.

Question. Were you exposed to the dew and rain, and wind and snow?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. And before you got the tent you lay in the open air?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. How did the others there with you fare; the same as you did?

Answer. Many of them had money, with which they bought things of the guard; but I had no money.

Question. Were there others there who had no money?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did they fare the same as you?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. After you went into the hospital, did you receive the same treatment as their own sick received who were in the hospital with you, or did they have any of their sick in there?

Answer. I think none of their sick were in there. I suffered a great deal with hunger when I was on Belle Isle. When I first went there I had no passage of the bowels for eighteen days, and when I did have one it was just as dry as meal.

Question. Did you have any medicine at that time?

Answer. No, sir; I took no medicine until I went to the hospital. About the middle or last of February (somewhere about there) I took a very severe cold. It seemed to settle all over me. I was as stiff in all my joints as I could be.

Question. Did your strength decrease much before you were taken sick in February?

Answer. Yes, sir; I stood it very well until about the 1st of February. After that I commenced to go down pretty fast. I know that one day I undertook to wash my shirt, and got it about half washed, when I was so weak I had to give it up.

Question. Do you think you had any other disease or sickness than what was caused by exposure and starvation at that time?

Answer. No, sir. When I was taken prisoner I weighed about 170 pounds, I think. I had always been a very hearty, stout man—could eat anything, and stand almost anything.

Isaac H. Lewis, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Julien:

Question. To what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. Company K, 1st Vermont cavalry.

Question. When were you taken prisoner?

Answer. I was taken prisoner on the 22d of March, on Kilpatrick's raid.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. They carried me to Richmond, and put me in a tobacco house there.

Question. How did they treat you there?

Answer. Well, they did not treat me as well as they might.

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. They gave me corn-bread.

Question. How much and how often?

Answer. Not but very little. They gave me a little twice a day.

Question. Did they give you any meat?

Answer. Once in a while, a little.

Question. What kind of meat?

Answer. Beef.

Question. Could you eat it?

Answer. No, sir.

[The witness here was evidently so weak and exhausted that the committee suspended his examination.]

Mortimer F. Brown, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where are you from, and to what company and regiment do you belong?

Answer. I am from Steubenville, Ohio; I was in the 2d Ohio; Colonel McCook was our colonel when I was taken prisoner.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Chickamauga.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. From Chickamauga to Richmond.

Question. How did you fare while in Richmond?

Answer. We lived very scantily, and hardly anything to eat. Some of the boys, in order to get enough to live on, had to trade away what clothing they could to the guard for bread, &c.

Question. What did they allow you to eat?

Answer. When we first went to Richmond our rations were bacon and wheat-bread. We did very well at first, but they went on cutting it down.

Question. How was it finally?

Answer. We received corn-bread once or twice a day—I think it was twice. After we went to Danville we fared a great deal better in regard to rations.

Question. Did you have enough to eat, such as it was?

Answer. I did, at Danville.

Question. How was it at Richmond?

Answer. Well, some had plenty to eat, but, as far as I was concerned, I was hungry most all the time. From the time we left Richmond until we drew our meat at Danville—say ten days—we had with us to eat only what they called Graham bread—nothing but bread and water for those ten days. After we got to Danville it was better. They issued us pork and beef sometimes. There, there would be times when we would be without meat for a couple of days.

Question. What was their bearing and treatment towards you, aside from your food?

Answer. We were treated tolerably kindly until we commenced our tunnelling operations; then they treated us very harshly; then they took the prisoners that had occupied three floors and put them all on two floors, and would only allow from three to six to go to the rear at one time.

Question. What is the matter with you now?

Answer. Nothing at all but scurvy. I am getting along very well now since I got here. The treatment at Danville was a palace alongside of that at Richmond.

Franklin Dinsmore, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where did you enlist?

Answer. At Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

Question. To what State do you belong?

Answer. Eastern Tennessee.

Question. How long have you been in the army?

Answer. I enlisted on the 11th or 12th of last July; I do not remember which day.

Question. To what regiment do you belong?

Answer. Eighth Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Who was your colonel?

Answer. Colonel Strickland.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Zollicoffer, near the East Tennessee and Virginia line.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. Right straight on to Richmond. I was taken on the line of the railroad. We were burning bridges there to keep the enemy out.

Question. How did you fare after you got to Richmond?

Answer. They just starved us.

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. For forty-eight hours after we got there they gave us only just what we could breathe; then they gave us a little piece of white bread and just three bites of beef. A man could take it all decently at three bites. That is the way we lived until we went to Danville, and then we had meat enough to make half a dozen bites, with bugs in it.

Question. What brought on your sickness?

Answer. Starvation. I was so starved there that when I was down I could not get up without catching hold of something to pull myself up by.

Question. What did you live in?

Answer. In a brick building, without any fire, or anything to cover us with.

Question. Had you no blankets?

Answer. No, sir; we had not. They even took our coats from us, and part of us had to lie there on the floor in our shirt sleeves.

Question. In the winter?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did any of the men freeze?

Answer. Yes, sir; many a man just fell dead walking around trying to keep himself warm, or, as he was lying on the floor, died during the night; and if you looked out of a window, a sentinel would shoot you. They shot some five or six of our boys who were looking out. Some of our boys would work for the guards to get more to eat, just to keep them from starving. There would be pieces of cobs in our bread, left there by the grinding machine, half as long as my finger, and the bread itself looked just as if you had taken a parcel of dough and let it bake in the sun. It was all full of cracks where it had dried, and the inside was all raw.

Question. Were you hungry all the time?

Answer. Hungry! I could eat anything in the world that came before us. Some of the boys would get boxes from the north with meat of different kinds in them, and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes and gnaw them over again.

Question. Did they have any more to give you?

Answer. They had plenty. They were just doing it for their own gratification. They said Seward had put old Beast Butler in there, and they did not care how they treated us.

Question. Did you complain about not having enough?

Answer. Certainly we complained, but they said we had plenty. They cursed us, and said we had a sight more than their men had who were prisoners in our lines.

Question. Do you feel any better now since you have been here?

Answer. A great deal better; like a new man now. I am gaining flesh now.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. What was your occupation before you went into the army?