OR Series 2, Vol. 8, Page 255

OR, Series 2, Vol. 8, Page 255

Salisbury, N. C.

February 17, 1865

General S. Cooper

Adjutant and Inspector General C. S. Army

General,

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt at Charlotte on the 14th instant of letter of instructions of February 10, from Col. R. H. Chilton, inclosing a communication from His Excellency the Governor of North Carolina to the Honorable Secretary of War, in regard to the suffering condition of the Federal prisoners at this post, and directing me to make an immediate inspection of the prison and full report of the subject. I have the honor to state that acting under my previous general instructions of December 5, 1864, and January 19, 1865, I included the condition of the military prison and treatment of the prisoners of war there confined in the general inspection of the post, in which I was engaged from the 1st to the 10th of February, and the results of my observations would have been immediately forwarded to the Department but for the fact that the post commander, Brig. Gen. Bradley T. Johnson, happened to be absent from the post during the whole time of my inspection, and I deemed it not less in accordance with the spirit of my instructions than the dictates of military propriety to withhold my report until I should have an opportunity of conferring with him upon the subject and of ascertaining how far it might be in his power to remedy the evils found to exist. Pending his return I was engaged in an inspection of the post of Charlotte, but immediately upon the receipt of Colonel Chilton's letter returned to this place, and on the 16th instant made a second inspection of the prison in company with General Johnson. The results of my two visits of inspection are respectfully submitted as follows:

I made three visits of inspection to the prison--January 31, in company with Maj. Mason Morfit, prison quartermaster; February 1, in company with Maj. J. H. Gee, prison commandant, and the medical officer of the prison, and again, as already stated, on the 16th of February, with General B. T. Johnson. On the two occasions first named the weather was particularly pleasant and I saw the prison under the most favorable circumstances. On the 16th of February, immediately after a fall of snow and sleet, I saw it again, probably in its worst aspect. In my report I have endeavored carefully to distinguish between those causes of suffering which are unavoidable, and for the existence of which, therefore, the Government and its officers cannot be held responsible, and such abuses as, in my opinion, are justly chargeable to the neglect or inefficiency of the prison management.

I. Location and plan of the prison. The location of the prison I regard as an unfortunate one, though I presume this with the Government at the time was a matter not of choice but of necessity. That it was already used as a prison for civilians and military convicts should have been an argument against its selection, not in its favor, unless it had been at the same time determined to remove the former classes of prisoners. The general plan of the prison may be seen from the diagram accompanying this report. The area inclosed and constituting the main prison yard is about eleven acres. I do not think, especially with the present number of prisoners (5,476 of all classes), that there can be any reasonable ground of complaint on the score of want of room. Water is obtained from nine wells within the inclosure and from the creek, one mile and a half distant, to which the prisoners are allowed to go, a certain number at a time, under guard, with buckets and barrels. The supply obtained from all these sources, however, is not more than sufficient for cooking and drinking purposes. The want of a running stream within the prison inclosure, for the purposes of washing and general sewerage, is therefore a serious objection. The proximity of the prison to the railroad affords every necessary facility for obtaining an adequate supply of fuel, which can be deposited in any quantity needed within less than 100 yards of the prison, and unloaded and transported by the labor of the prisoners themselves. A memorandum statement of Major Morfit, prison quartermaster, accompanying this report, shows the amount of fuel received, issued, and due the prisoners from January 1 to February 15, 1865. That they have not received the full amount due them during a season of more than ordinary inclemency I think is chargeable more probably to want of energy on the part of the post quartermaster, Capt. J. M. Goodman, than to any other cause. Both Major Gee and Major Morfit profess to consider the actual supply sufficient, but in this I think they are mistaken. The fact cited by Major Gee that the prison sutler buys all his fuel from the prisoners proves nothing, no more than their willingness to part with their newly-received supplies of clothing, a practice to check which General Johnson has been obliged to publish a stringent order forbidding citizens or soldiers from purchasing, proves that they are not in want of clothes.

The most serious objection to this choice of a site for a prison is, however, the character of the soil, which is a stiff, tenacious red clay, difficult of drainage and which remains wet for a long time, and after a rain or snow becomes a perfect bog. The system of drainage contemplates the double object of carrying off the surface water and cleansing the sinks, but cannot be said to be particularly successful in either point of view. In warm weather or in a season of drought the sinks would not fail to prove a source of great annoyance, and possibly of pestilence, not only in the prison, but in the town of Salisbury.

II. The prison commissariat. Among the papers accompanying this report will be found a statement of the number of rations issued from February 1 to February 15, 1865, showing the component parts of the ration and the quantity of each. Compared in quantity and kind with the rations issued to our own troops in the field, it will be seen that on this score the prisoners have no cause to complain. The rations are cooked before they are issued, and pains have been taken by General Johnson to see that no frauds are committed in this department to the injury of the prisoners. Bread and meat (or sorghum in lieu of meat) are issued every morning, rice or pea soup in the afternoon. The bread which I inspected in the bakery was of average quality and of the average weight of five pounds to the double loaf. A half loaf, therefore, the daily allowance of each prisoner, will average twenty ounces of bread, the equivalent of sixteen ounces of flour.

III. Clothing. More than from any other cause the prisoners have suffered this winter from the want of sufficient and suitable clothing, being generally destitute of blankets and having only such clothes as they wore when captured, which, in the case of many of them, was during warm weather. Recently 3,000 blankets and 1,000 pair of pants have been received from the United States and are now being distributed under the supervision of three Federal officers sent here from Danville for the purpose. Additional supplies are expected, and it is probable that one principal cause of suffering will therefore soon be removed, one for which, however, the Confederate Government is under no circumstances chargeable, but which is ascribable solely to the neglect of their own Government. As already stated, General Johnson has taken every necessary step to prevent speculation upon the necessities of the prisoners by prohibiting all purchases from them of articles of clothing by soldiers or citizens.

IV. Prison quarters. Three hundred tents and flies of mixed sizes and patterns were issued for the use of the prisoners of war in October by Major Morfit, prison quartermaster, and constitute the only shelter provided during the winter for a number of prisoners, amounting on the 7th of November to 8,740, and the 15th of February to 5,070. Major Morfit showed me the frame of a large barrack, of which he told me he had contemplated erecting five for the accommodation of the prisoners, but was stopped by an order two months ago from the Commissary-General of Prisoners, intimating the possibility of a speedy removal of the prisoners, and ordering all work of the kind to be suspended. The prisoners were not removed, and in my judgment if General Winder's order had never been issued Major Morfit's plan would have been found, in its conception, to involve great and unnecessary expense to the Government, probably not less than $75,000 or $100,000, and in its execution would probably have consumed the entire winter, and therefore have resulted in little practical benefit to the prisoners. A better plan would have been, failing to obtain a sufficient supply of tents, to have constructed cabins of pine logs and shingles, for which the material was at hand in abundance, and labor could have been furnished by the troops, or, if necessary, by details of the prisoners themselves, working under guard. In this way the garrison who guard the prisoners have been made comfortable; so might have been the prisoners. I cannot consider it, therefore, a matter of choice on their own part, that at the time of my inspection I found one-third of the latter burrowing like animals in holes under ground or under the buildings in the inclosure.

V. Prison hospitals. One of the most painful features connected with the prison is the absence of adequate provision or accommodation for the sick. There is no separate hospital inclosure, but with a few exceptions, as will be seen from the diagram, all the buildings in the prison yard are used as hospitals. The number sick in hospital February 15 was 546. There was an entire absence of hospital comforts -bedding, necessary utensils, &c. The reason assigned on the occasion of my first visit (February 1) was, that it was useless to supply these articles as no guard was kept inside of the prison yard and they would be inevitably stolen. Surg. John Wilson, jr., the medical officer at present in charge, is endeavoring to supply these deficiencies, and in the short interval of two weeks between my first and second visits had succeeded in effecting several improvements. Still much remains to be done. There are bunks for not more than one-half of the sick, the rest lie upon the floor or ground, with nothing under them but a little straw, which on February 16 had not been changed for four weeks. For a period of nearly one month in December and January the hospitals, I was told, were without straw. For this there is no excuse. I am satisfied that straw could have been obtained in abundance at any time, the county (Rowan) being one of the largest wheat-growing counties in the State, and I am assured by Captain Crockford, inspector of field transportation in this department, that the field transportation at this post has been in excess heretofore of the requirements of the post; that in January, when no straw was furnished, he found thirty animals standing idle in Captain Goodman's stable, and consequently ordered them to be turned over. The excessive rate of mortality among the prisoners, as shown by the prison returns herewith forwarded, merits attention. Out of 10,321 prisoners of war received since October 5, 1864, according to the surgeon's report, 2,918 have died. According to the burial report, since the 21st of October, 1864, a less period by sixteen days, 3,479 have been buried. The discrepancy is explained by the fact that in addition to the deaths in hospital, six or eight die daily in their quarters without the knowledge of the surgeons, and of course without receiving attention from them. This discrepancy, which in December amounted to 223, and in January to 192, in the first two weeks of February had diminished to 21. The actual number of deaths, however, outside of hospital during that period would show probably little falling off, if any, from the number in previous months. Pneumonia and diseases of the bowels are the prevalent diseases. The prisoners appear to die, however, more from exposure and exhaustion than from actual disease.

VI. Prison discipline. Inside of the prison there appears to be no proper system of discipline or police. The prisoners are divided into ten divisions, each division into as many squads, the divisions in charge of a sergeant-major of their own number, the squads under a sergeant. Two roll-calls are nominally observed, the one in the morning being usually neglected. In the afternoon the prisoners are mustered by squads and counted by the prison clerk and his assistants. No details are made for the purpose of policing the grounds, except one of a sergeant and twelve men, who report to the surgeon. All sorts of filth are allowed to be deposited and to remain anywhere and everywhere around the quarters, unsightly to the eye and generating offensive odors and in time, doubtless, disease. Since the outbreak of November 25 no guard is kept inside the inclosure, except at the gates. Robberies and murders even are said to be of not unfrequent occurrence among the prisoners, usually charged to an association of the worst characters among them, known as "Muggers." But a few days before my first visit a negro prisoner in one of the hospital wards was murdered by one of these ruffians, and such is the state of terrorism inspired that none of the patients or attendants in the ward who saw the deed would lodge information against the murderer, who was at last only discovered and arrested through the agency of a detective. The use of detectives and a counter association among the prisoners are the only dependence of the commandant for enforcing any kind of order, discipline, or police in the prison. The excuse given by Major Gee for not having the prison grounds properly policed was the want of tools and the danger of trusting picks, &c., in the hands of the prisoners. The excuse cannot be considered sufficient; wooden scrapers and hickory brooms, with wheelbarrows or boxes with rope handles, all of which can readily be furnished by the prison quartermaster, would answer every purpose. I subsequently brought the matter to the attention of General Johnson, who promised to issue the necessary orders upon the subject and see that they are enforced. Major Gee, the prison commandant, as an officer, is deficient in administrative ability, but in point of vigilance, fidelity, and in everything that concerns the security of the prison and the safe keeping of the prisoners, leaves nothing to be desired. As respects the general question of the condition of the prisoners I am of the opinion that so far as their sufferings have resulted from causes within the control of the Government or its officers they are chargeable (1) to the unfortunate location of the prison, which is wholly unsuitable for the purpose; (2) to the want of administrative capacity, proper energy and effort on the part of the officers of the Quartermaster's Department, charged with the duty of supplying the prison.

To attempt an exact apportionment of the blame in this respect between Maj. Mason Morfit, the prison quartermaster, and Capt. James M. Goodman, the post quartermaster, would probably be irrelevant to the purpose of the present report. Having had occasion in a general inspection of the post of Salisbury to examine the affairs of both of these officers, I cannot say that I consider either of them as efficient in his present position.

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

T. W. Hall

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General

[First indorsement.]

Adjutant and Inspector General's Office

February 23, 1865

Respectfully submitted to Honorable Secretary of War.

This is a "report of inspection of prison at Salisbury, N. C.," made in compliance with instructions from this office and based on complaints made by Governor Vance, of North Carolina. His Excellency the Governor only mentions in general terms that complaints of a distressing character had reached him of the destitute and suffering condition of the prisoners. The inspector reports that he made three visits to the prison; that on the first two visits the weather was pleasant, and that he saw the prison then in its most favorable aspect, but on the last the weather was bad, and that he saw it then in its worst aspect. He endeavors to distinguish between unavoidable causes of suffering and those justly chargeable to the neglect or inefficiency of the prison management, and furnishes a diagram of the plan and location of the prison, and reports that there can be no reasonable grounds of complaint for want of room, as the area is eleven acres, but that the water, supplied by wells and brought in buckets, &c., from a stream only half a mile from the prison, is only sufficient for drinking and cooking purposes, and that the want of a running stream within the prison is a serious objection; that the proximity of the prison to the railroad affords every facility for obtaining an adequate supply of fuel, and incloses a statement of Major Morfit, quartermaster, of issue of fuel and amount due from January I to February 15, 1865, and charges the want of a full supply during the inclement weather to want of energy on the part of Captain Goodman, post quartermaster; that the fact cited by Major Gee that the prison sutler buys all of his fuel from the prisoners proves nothing, no more than their willingness to part with their newly received supply of clothing, a practice to check which General Johnson has issued an order forbidding citizens or soldiers to purchase, proves that they are not in want of clothes. He reports that the most serious objection to the prison is the character of the soil, a stiff, tenacious red clay, difficult of drainage, remaining wet for a long time after a rain or snow, and becoming a perfect bog; that the system of drainage neither carries off the surface water nor cleanses the sinks, and in a season of drought the sinks would prove a source of annoyance and probably a pestilence. He reports in reference to the commissariat that, compared with the rations that are issued to our troops in the field, it will be seen from the inclosed statement of rations issued from February 1 to 15, instant, 1865, that the prisoners have no cause to complain, and in reference to clothing, that the prisoners have suffered from the want of suitable clothing and blankets, but that recently 3,000 blankets and 1,000 pants from United States were issued, and, respecting the prison quarters, that 300 tents and flies of mixed sizes and patterns were issued in October, 1864, and constitute the only shelter that was provided during the winter for a number of prisoners, amounting in November to 8,740, and in February, 1865, to 5,070; that Major Morfit, quartermaster, exhibited the frame of a large barrack, which he had contemplated building, but which was fortunately stopped by the Commissary-General of Prisoners; that a better plan would have been to have constructed cabins of logs and shingles, for which the material was at hand in abundance, and they could have been erected by the prisoners, and that in this way the prisoners would, like the guard, have been made comfortable, and would not have been forced to burrow in the ground like animals. That respecting the prison hospitals, one of the most painful features connected with the prison is the absence of adequate provisions and accommodations for the sick; that there is no separate hospital inclosure, but with a few exceptions (see diagram) all the buildings in the prison yard are used as hospitals; that there were no hospital comforts--bedding, necessary utensils, &c.; that the reason assigned to him on his first visit was that it was useless to supply these articles, as no guard was kept inside of the prison yard, and that they would be stolen.

Surgeon John Wilson, jr., the medical officer at present in charge, is endeavoring to supply these deficiencies, and has succeeded in effecting several improvements; yet much remains to be done.

He reports that there are only enough bunks for one-half of the sick, and that the rest have to lie on the floor or ground, with nothing under them but a little straw, which, on February 16, instant, had not been changed for four weeks. He reports that for a period of nearly one month (December and January) the hospital was without straw, and that there is no excuse, for straw could have been procured in abundance at any time, and that he was assured by Captain Crockford, inspector of field transportation, that the transportation of the post had been in excess of the requirements of the post; that in January, 1865, when no straw was furnished, he found thirty animals standing idle in Captain Goodman's stable, and consequently ordered them to be turned over. He reports that the excessive rate of mortality (see reports herewith) merits attention; that out of 10,321 prisoners that were received since October 5, 1864, according to surgeon's report, 2,918 have died, but according to the burial report, that since October 21, 1864, a less period by sixteen days, 3,479 have died and been buried; that this discrepancy is explained by the fact that six or eight die daily in their quarters without the knowledge of the surgeons; that pneumonia and diseases of the bowels are prevalent, but that the prisoners appear to die more from exposure and exhaustion than from actual disease.

The inspector reports that there is no proper system of discipline and police of the prison; that all sorts of filth are allowed to be deposited and to remain anywhere and everywhere around the quarters, unsightly to the eye and generating offensive odors; that robberies and murders are said to be of frequent occurrence, and that the excuse for not having the grounds properly policed is the want of tools and the danger of trusting picks, &c., in the hands of the prisoners, but it is not good, for wooden scrapers and hickory brushes could have been furnished by the prison quartermaster, but that General Johnson has promised to have them provided.

In reference to the prison commandant, Major Gee, the inspector reports that he is deficient in administrative ability, though vigilant and faithful, and expresses the opinion that so far as the causes of their sufferings have been the result of want of attention on the part of the officers, they are chargeable (1) to the unfortunate location of the prison, which is wholly unsuited for the purpose; (2) to the want of administration, capacity, energy and proper efforts on the part of the officers of the Quartermaster's Department, who were charged with the duty of supplying the prison; and states that he does not consider either Major Morfit, the prison quartermaster, or Captain Goodman, post quartermaster, as efficient in their present positions.

R. H. Chilton

Assistant Adjutant and Inspector General

[Second indorsement]

War Department

March 6, 1865

Respectfully referred to the Quartermaster-General.

This report reflects upon the prison and post quartermasters at Salisbury, N. C., in such manner as to call for further action. If the report be correct they should at least be removed to positions of less responsibility.

By command Secretary of War:

Saml. W. Melton

Assistant Adjutant-General

[Third indorsement]

Quartermaster-General's Office

March 13, 1865

Respectfully returned to the Adjutant and Inspector General.

The prisoners formerly at Salisbury having been exchanged and Captain Goodman having been relieved from duty as post quartermaster at that point, no further action by this office seems to be necessary.

A. R. Lawton

Quartermaster-General

[Inclosure No. 1]

[Inclosure No. 2]

February 16, 1865

Memorandum of wood received, issued, and due the prisoners at post at Salisbury, N. C.; during the month of January and to the 15th of February, 1865:

January.--Entitled to thirty-five cords per day; received thirty-one and eleven-thirtieths cords per day. February 1 to 16.--Entitled to thirty-one and a half cords per day; received twenty-two cords per day.

Mason Morfit

Major and Quartermaster of Prison

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