08 AM 34
0220
ADOPTED
Senator Williams of the 19th offered the following amendment:
Senator Williams of the 19th offered the following amendment:
Amend
the committee substitute to SR 1055 (LC 34 1773S) by inserting between lines 1
and 2 on page 13 the
following:
WHEREAS, during the summer of 1864, six hundred Federal officers, prisoners of war, were placed in a residential area of Charleston, South Carolina, which was being shelled by Federal guns, night and day, since August of 1863; and
WHEREAS, during the summer of 1864, six hundred Federal officers, prisoners of war, were placed in a residential area of Charleston, South Carolina, which was being shelled by Federal guns, night and day, since August of 1863; and
WHEREAS,
in retaliation for erroneously alleged abuse of these Federal prisoners by
Confederate authorities, on August 25, 1864, six hundred Confederate prisoners
of war were selected from those confined at Fort Delaware to be used as human
targets; and
WHEREAS,
the six hundred Confederate prisoners were placed in a pine-wood stockade
immediately in front of a military target, Battery Wagner, occupied by Federal
artillery; and
WHEREAS,
after 45 days of exposure to Confederate fire, there being no casualties, the
Federal authorities decided to move the Confederates to Fort Pulaski in Georgia;
and
WHEREAS,
while at Fort Pulaski, the remnant of the six hundred who had been determined to
be physically able to be moved were fed wormy corn meal, pickles, and limited
amounts of water. The men were intentionally starved. Clothing and blankets
were withheld as well as firewood for warmth. It was one of the coldest winters
in Georgia in many years; and
WHEREAS,
the Confederates were consistently promised "fair" treatment if they would sign
the oath of allegiance to the United States. These men had sworn an oath of
allegiance to the Confederate States of America, their country, and the war was
still being waged. They endured abuse that is hard to imagine; and
WHEREAS,
upon completion of the War Between the States and the release of what was left
of the six hundred by July 24, 1865, their story was being told by survivors and
witnesses. They became known as "The Immortal Six Hundred" for their courage,
strength, and fidelity to their country in the face of brutal retaliation for an
alleged abuse that did not exist; and
WHEREAS,
in 1876, the Southern
Historical Society Papers contained the
following statement by Captain George W. Nelson of the Hanover Artillery of
Virginia in honor of The Immortal Six Hundred:
"The
consequence of all this was that the prisoners died like sheep. Whatever the
immediate cause of their death, that cause was induced by starvation, and over
the dead bodies of nine-tenths of those brave, true men there can be given but
one true verdict: 'Death by starvation.'"
PART
XIX
By
inserting after line 27 on page 14 the
following:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of this body memorialize the bravery and loyalty of The Immortal Six Hundred in the face of indescribable deprivation and inhumanity.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of this body memorialize the bravery and loyalty of The Immortal Six Hundred in the face of indescribable deprivation and inhumanity.
BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the portion of the road at the intersection of US 80
and County Road 228 (Fort Pulaski Road) for one-half mile in each direction on
US 80 be dedicated as The Immortal Six Hundred Memorial Highway.