November 19, 1863, The New York Herald
The treatment of the Union prisoners at Richmond has been the theme of many comments in our columns of late, and the miserable condition to which they were reduced for want of food and other necessaries of life has been repeatedly described by our correspondents and others. An effort was made by our government to relieve them, but with unheard of barbarity the attempt has been refused by the rebel authorities in Richmond.
The steamer Convoy, which left Fortress Monroe last Saturday with provisions and clothing for our soldiers held as prisoners in Richmond, returned yesterday, bringing back the provisions and clothing, Col. Irving, who had charge of the matter, having been refused the privilege of taking the rations to Richmond. Thus our unfortunate soldiers, numbering some twelve thousand, are left to perish of want in the prisons of the rebel capital. If ever there was a time when it became the solemn duty of the government to push its armies on to Richmond surely it is now. We must wait, however, to see whether the War Department appreciates the necessity or not. The prisoners are being removed to Danville, some twenty-five hundred of them having already started for that place. An arrival from Richmond of some released prisoners on parole puts us in possession of the condition of the HERALD correspondents, Messrs. Bulkley, Hendricks and Hart, prisoners in Castle Thunder. They are permitted to purchase outside food enough to keep life going, although the prison fare is reduced to a starvation standard.
The news from the Army of the Potomac is devoid of interest. On Sunday last, after General Kilpatrick’s force had retired from their reconnoissance on the Rapidan, the enemy threw over two regiments on this side of the river, keeping them, however, under cover of their guns. No movements indicating an approaching conflict have been made. Everything is quiet, both in front and rear.
A despatch from Chattanooga of the 17th says that on that morning the enemy brought a battery down to the river side and shelled the camp of the one hundred and twenty-fifth Illinois, guarding the first six miles above there, killing the Rev. Mr. Sanders, chaplain of the regiment. The rebels were forced to retire after half an hour’s practice by the second Minnesota battery. With this exception all was quiet there.
Our naval correspondence off Mobile gives some very interesting accounts of the cruise of the gunboat Gertrude in that vicinity, the capture of the blockade runner Warrior, and the discomfiture of the rebel ram which attempted to damage the Union squadron. A map accompanies the statement, showing the entrance to Mobile Bay, the position of our blockading fleet and the rebel defences of the harbor. A despatch from Mobile on the 12th instant, to the rebel Adjutant General, forwarded by Major General Maury, says that on the day previous his troops dashed in above Bayou Sara, on the plundering party of Yankees, three hundred strong, and drove them to their iron-clads with great slaughter. We brought off, he says, their wagon trains and twenty-five prisoners.
It was stated yesterday in Washington that the latest news from East Tennessee is that the rebel General Longstreet is moving in that direction, and that some skirmishing has already occurred between his advance and General Burnside’s outposts, but at what particular point was not known.