bels," and by circulating
the most heartrending stories of "Rebel barbarity" to prisoners. If
either of the above points has not been made clear to any sincere seeker
after the truth, we would be most happy to produce further testimony.
And we hold ourselves prepared to maintain against all comers, the
_truth of every proposition we have laid down in this discussion_. Let
the calm verdict of history decide between the Confederate Government
and its calumniators."

These extracts are inserted with the hope that the fair minded reader
may be induced to read the evidence upon the Confederate side.

"Truth crushed to Earth will rise again;
The Eternal years of God are hers;
But Error, wounded, writhes in pain;
And dies amid her worshipers."

It is not to be denied that the sufferings in Confederate prisons were
fearful; but they were caused by the destitute condition of the country
ravaged by war, and the scarcity of medicines which were not to be
obtained.

We were growing very tired of the monotony of prison life, scarcely
varied except by the daily game of football and the semi-weekly reports
of the capture of Richmond, when a rumor began to circulate of a speedy
exchange of prisoners. It was about the time when General McClellan
"changed his base" from the lines around Richmond to Harrison's Landing,
on James River. Early in August a large number of us, military and naval
officers, were sent on board a transport bound to James River, where we
arrived in due time, and thence, after taking on board a number of
Confederates forwarded from other prisons, we proceeded up the river to
Aiken's Landing. There was fighting near Malvern Hill as we passed by
there, and the United States gunboats had been shelling the Confederate
troops. The crew of one of them was at quarters, the men in their snow
white "frocks" and trowsers, the beautifully polished eight inch guns
cast loose and ready for action. The captain of one of the guns, a
handsome man-of-war's man, looked at our party with a smile of bravado
as we passed by, at the same time tapping his gun with his hand. Garrick
or Kean could not have conveyed more meaning by a gesture. That handsome
fellow's confidence in his pet was not misplaced; for history records
how frequently during the war the tide of battle was turned by that
gallant Navy to which it is an honor ever to have belonged. We, who so
reluctantly severed our connection with it, still fe