Richmond Dispatch, 7/25/1862

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From the Richmond Dispatch, 7/25/1862, p. 1, c. 6

Prison Guards. – For several months past, owing to the demand for men elsewhere, the officers having in charge the different Confederate prisons in this city have been compelled to put up with mere apologies for soldiers in the way of guards. Many of them, it is safe to say, never knew their duty, and took no pains to make themselves acquainted with it. Under such a state of affairs, it is no wonder that cute prisoners have escaped a vigilance that did not exist and a sense of duty that was equally baseless. Judging from the conduct of some of the men put on guard at Castle Godwin and other points of importance, a prisoner has only to dress himself up in the presumed apparel of an officer or gentleman, assume an authoritative air, and his exit is assured. It would pay to presume all prison guards green and instruct them as to the nature of their duty. Some of them are lamentably deficient in the requisite knowledge.

 

 

 

 

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