There is one striking fact in regard to the conduct of the war on the part of the rebel officials—the apparent disregard of the loss of life or property of the masses of the people—recklessness is apparent in all their actions. But the faithlessness of their conduct toward their rank and file in the army we have noticed on many occasions. Mr. Raymond, of the New York Times, paid a visit to Williamsburg, after the battle at that place, and gives a description of the cruel manner in which their own wounded were treated by the rebels—when the surgeons did make their appearance a long time after the battle, they seemed to pay little regard to the privates. Mr. Raymond gives the substance of a conversation with one of these poor fellows :
“One of the Mississippi men, with whom I talked, spoke in the highest terms of the kindness he had experienced at the hands of the Union surgeons, and said it was very different from what they had been taught to expect.
“I asked him if any of their own surgeons had been to see him. He said one had walked in the day before and looked at him, hut ho bad done nothing for him ; indeed, they said, they were only looking for Southern officers. Of the men they took very little notice, leaving them to the care of the Northern surgeons, who made, I was glad to see, no such distinction. Wherever I went and talked with the rebel wounded, I heard only one opinion expressed on this subject. They all spoke in the most emphatic and unequivocal praise of the conduct of all our men, soldiers and surgeons, towards them, dwelling particularly upon the fact that they had been taught to expect very different treatment at our hands.”
Civilian & Telegraph, Cumberland, MD