JOHN R. KING 
 
MY EXPERIENCE 
 In The Confederate Army 
 
 and in 
 
 Northern Prisons 
 
 WRITTEN FROM MEMORY 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN R. KING 
 
 STONEWELL JACKSON CHAPTER 
 No. 1333 
 UNITED DAUGHTERS OF CONFEDERACY 
 CLARKSBURG, W. VA. 
 
 Copyrighted 1917 
 

 K 
 
 vC) 01.^-^704135 
 
 JUL 25 1917 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I want to explain why I am writing this little 
 sketch. In the first place I have never seen anything 
 written about life in Northern Prisons and have al 
 ways had a great desire that the world be better in- 
 formed regarding the treatment of prisoners during 
 the war. No doubt many of my comrades in prison 
 could have written about our prison life much better 
 than I, but it seems none of them have ever made the 
 attempt. My own children and grandchildren have 
 often expressed a desire that I write my experience, 
 and last but not least, I can say the real cause of my 
 undertaking such a thing is that my cousin, Mrs. 
 George C. Stone, of Clarksburg, President of the 
 Stonewall Jackson Chapter, United Daughters of 
 the Confederacy, has desired me to write something 
 of this nature for their chapter; this I have done to 
 the best of my ability and will cheerfully give it into 
 the hands of their Historian, hoping that it may have 
 something in it worthy of publication. 
 
 Being a carpenter by trade I can use a saw 
 and square much better than I can a pen, but in writ- 
 ing this there is one particular thing which has help- 
 ed me more than anything else, and that is, I have 
 an excellent memory. This is a blessing to me. I could 
 have written a great deal more from memory, but 
 have written only some of the most important hap- 
 penings. Many things happened every day in the 
 army and in the prisons of which I might have spok- 
 en and which would be new to the younger people. 
 I could have told how we built breastworks, how 
 we fortified and picketed along the Rapidan, how 
 pickets were captured on post and how, while we 
 were building breastworks at Germania Fort, there 
 was a religious revival goinc: on behind us in the pine 
 woods, I could have told about our camping on the 
 
Chancellorsville Battlefield, walking over the 
 ground where our beloved Stonewall Jackson fell 
 and how we saw human skulls and human bones 
 bleaching on top of the ground. I might have told of 
 many painful sights on battlefields in the midst of 
 shot and shell and mangled human beings, of death 
 bed scenes in prison, meetings and partings on bat- 
 tlefields, of messages to loved ones at home and many 
 other minor happenings, but it was too much of an 
 undertaking for my awkard pen and so I ended with 
 my return home. If all who were in the war and in 
 the various prisoners were to write their experiences, 
 there would be much work for the publishers. 
 
 There have been all sorts or reports abroad ever 
 since the Civil War in regard to the feeding and 
 general treatment of Southern prisoners in Northern 
 Prisons and I will say here, as I said before, I was one 
 of these prisoners for more than a year and what I 
 have stated in this little sketch is all from actual ex- 
 perience and from my own observation; it is abso- 
 lutely true. 
 
 I could have made our sufferings and many other 
 things which I mentioned a great deal blacker and 
 more bitter, but my aim has been to give everyone 
 all the credit they deserve, for I feel a number of our 
 officers in charge of the prisons had the welfare of 
 the prisoners at heart; however, they were in a posi- 
 tion where they could not prevent our suffering. I 
 have often looked back over the period just after the 
 close of the war when the poor confederate soldiers 
 were sent home to face the world without money, of- 
 ten without credit and with but few clothes. They 
 were not allowed to vote, had to pay taxes, could ex- 
 pect no pension, often cri})pled. It was a gloomy out- 
 look, but I have lived to see the confederate veterans 
 honored everywhere, thousands of them have fine 
 homes of their own, they are surrounded with the 
 comforts of life, our dear old southland has come to 
 the front and has prospered beyond what the fondest 
 heart ever expected to see. I have had a great desire 
 ever since the close of the Civil War that people in 
 
general and my own children in particular might be 
 better informed regarding the South and the South- 
 ern side of the Civil War. In this little sketch I have en- 
 deavored to uphold our Southern side and to create 
 a respect for the South and for Southern people as I 
 do at all times. None have ever done more in uplift- 
 ing the South and creating a universal respect for her 
 people than the noble Southern women. In all ages 
 women have been heroic in war and in suffering 
 and I can say in truth that our own dear Southern 
 women bore their share of privations and suffering 
 with a heroism born in the South and it does my 
 heart good to speak of our dear children, the Daugh- 
 ters of the Confederacy, who have pledged the best 
 of their lives and have banded together for the good 
 work of uplifting and aiding the South, caring for 
 our old veterans, their widows and orphans. Surely 
 God will reward them for their unselfish work and I 
 will pray that God may protect everyone of them 
 and bless them in all their efforts. 
 
 Finally, to my honored cousin Mrs. George C. 
 Stone, I respectfully present this little sketch and 
 sincerely hope that she may find something in this 
 that may be suitable for publication. 
 
 John R. King, 
 Roanoke, W. Va., 
 February, 1916. 
 
MY EXPERIENCE IN THE CONFEDERATE 
 ARMY AND IN NORTHERN PRISONS 
 
 WRITTEN FROM MEMORY 
 
 I was not lucky in having an education, but will 
 try to the best of my ability to write of some exper- 
 iences in the Civil War. 
 
 To begin with I was born in Marion Co., Virgin- 
 ia, on the 8th day of April, 1842. Brother Cyinis was 
 born in the same County on the 5th day of December, 
 1838. My father moved from Marion to Upsher Co., 
 Va., in April, 1861. We were Democrats, but my fath- 
 er was a Union man until Virginia seceded. Being a 
 loyal son of the Old Dominion State he then became 
 one of the South, and there-by suffered for his loyal- 
 ty to the good old Mother State. The majority of the 
 people of Upsher County were loyal to the North. 
 Sometimes we were looked on with suspicion and of- 
 ten insulted. Once my brother Cyrus was mobbed at 
 the church door; also stoned and in July, 1862, my 
 father, brother Cyrus and myself were hoeing cane 
 at home when we saw one of our neighbors and a 
 few Yankee Soldiers coming towards us. They sur- 
 rounded us, took us with some others to Buckhannon 
 before Gen. Rosecrans, and compelled us to take the 
 oath of allegiance to the United States ; one can eas- 
 ily see that we were never safe at home. 
 
 Early in May, 1863, Cyrus and I started for Dix- 
 ie. It was hard for us to leave kind parents, good bro- 
 thers and sisters. We went by way of Beverly, W. 
 Va., and others joined us making in all ten bound 
 for Dixie. One big fellow was a Confederate Soldier 
 and carried a Belgian rifle. A short distance from 
 Beverly we met a Yankee cavalryman. One of our 
 
10 
 
 boys whom we had sent a little distance in advance 
 said a few words to the man, then came back to in- 
 form us that we were in danger. We hastened to the 
 mountains and a few minutes later we saw about 175 
 horse-men come thundering down out of Beverly. 
 We hurried up the hill and the Yankees were not far 
 behind us. Fortunately the top of the hill had been 
 fortified, they had cut down the bushes and thrown 
 all the brush across a deep sharp ravine making a 
 fine, heavy covering for it. Upon seeing this secluded 
 spot we all crept in and were completely hidden from 
 view. Many of the soldiers came very close to where 
 we lay, but we were quiet in our narrow quarters. 
 They soon disappeared and then we went a few miles 
 into the woods, came down the pike and stayed all 
 night at Mr. Crawford's. The next day we went to 
 Mr. White's who lived on the top of Cheat Mountain ; 
 then we went to Yeager's on the top of the Allegheny 
 mountains, the next day to Monterey, Highland Co., 
 Va., and stayed there about a week. We heard our 
 regiment was coming back from the Imboden Raid 
 and would be at White Sulphur Springs on a certain 
 day, so we left Monterey and spent the next day go- 
 ing down Jackson River. On the morning of the sec- 
 ond day we met the regiment at Warm Springs, Va. 
 We volunteered in Co. B. 25" Va. Infantry. That reg- 
 iment and the 31" Va. regiment had been taken from 
 R. E. Lee's Army and sent with Imboden's army to 
 W. Va. 
 
 Our captain was W. H. Fitchett; Colonel John 
 C. Higginbotham who was the first captain of our 
 company; Brigade Commander, J. M. Jones; Divis- 
 ion Commander, Edward Johnson; Corps Com- 
 mander, General Ewell, the same division and Corps 
 that Stonewall Jackson formerly commanded. We 
 were all under our beloved R. E. Lee, called the Ar- 
 my of Northern Virginia. Our company was called 
 the Upsher Grays. After taking a fine bath in the 
 warm springs we moved on by way of Bath Alum 
 Springs to Buffalo Gap, W. Va. We stopped there a 
 few days and held an election in the army. We elect- 
 
11 
 
 ed Extra Billy Smith for Governor of Virginia to suc- 
 ceed Gov. Letcher. Extra Billy was a Brigadier Gen- 
 eral and commanded the Brigade that our 25" reg- 
 iment was in during part of the war. We also elected 
 our Lieut. Colonel Robinson to represent some of our 
 W. Va. Counties in the Virginia legislature. When 
 this was completed we went to Staunton, Va., and 
 took the train for Hanover Junction and then went to 
 Fredericksburg ; there we found R. E. Lee's main ar- 
 my. They had just fought the battle of Chancellors- 
 ville and we all know what happened there. A day 
 or two before we moved from this place Extra Bill 
 Smith left us and before leaving he made a little 
 speech. He said : ''Boys, I am sorry to part with you. 
 You are good soldiers. I like to have good brave fel- 
 lows around me like you. It makes me feel so darn'd 
 strong." That is all he said. We all cheered him for 
 he was a good fighter. Then the army started on a 
 long march across the Blue Ridge, the beginning of 
 that memorable campaign into Pennsylvania and to 
 Gettysburg. After several days marching we arrived 
 at Winchester, Va., and found General Milroy hold- 
 ing the town. Our corps was the only one that cross- 
 ed the mountains in that direction. Longstreet's and 
 Hill s corps went to the Potomac river in another dir- 
 ection, so we had to attack Milroy with Ewell's corps. 
 This was in June. On the evening of the first day we 
 began fighting and we continued that night, the next 
 day and the next night, then very early in the morn- 
 ing of the third day the big flag on Milroy' s Fort was 
 taken down. We took many prisoners and a quanity 
 of army stores. This was my first taste of battle and 
 I wish you could have seen me dodge the first shell. 
 If a hole had been near I would have disappeared. 
 I would like to impress on your minds that I had a 
 fine brave heart,and a pair of legs that had a wonder- 
 ful inclination towards carrying my body out of dan- 
 ger, but I succeeded in coaxing them to stay with the 
 crowd. 
 
 Here I will tell you of some things that happen- 
 ed during the battle. On the second day our regiment 
 
12 
 
 was deployed on a long line on a low ridge some dis- 
 tance east of Winchester, near the Front Royal Road. 
 We were Sharpshooters. Our company was in front 
 of a large farmhouse and near the noon hour a mid- 
 dle aged woman came out on the firing line and with 
 her there came a beautiful young southern girl 17 or 
 18 years of age. About a mile to our left a long skir- 
 mish line moved slowly down the slopes of the same 
 hill on which we were stationed. We looked across 
 a beautiful little valley and saw a fine body of Yan- 
 kee Cavalry coming to meet the thin line of skirmish- 
 ers. The beautiful young girl looked too and began 
 to lament, saying: ''Oh, dear, dear, all our poor men 
 will be killed." Then some one told her to look out 
 on the crest of the hill. She looked and saw Stuart's 
 North Carolina Brigade coming out of the woods, a 
 gray line a mile long; on they came closer and clos- 
 er, then the little line of skirmishers fired a volley 
 and fell back to the main line, on came the Cavaliy, 
 on came the low, gray line ; suddenly we saw the in- 
 fantry halt and we heard one mighty volley from their 
 guns. The Cavalry reeled and fled with several emp- 
 ty saddles ; then our southern girl became wild with 
 joy, she said: ''Do let me hollo." Some one said, 
 "Well, hollo all you want to." She certainly did hollo 
 and clap her hands. The other lady was her aunt. 
 She said to the girl : "Why Annie, ain't you asham- 
 ed?" The next morning we went quickly into Win- 
 chester. We saw a large old lady on a porch bouncing 
 from one end to the other, clapping her hands and 
 shouting: "Thank the Lord, Milroy is gone." We 
 stayed around Winchester for a few days caring for 
 the wounded, burying the dead, gathering guns and 
 other stuff off the battlefield. 
 
 We moved on down the valley to Shepherds- 
 town and here we met a Company belonging to some 
 of our regiments that had secured a leave of absence 
 and were staying at their own homes in the town. We 
 saw a dear mother, sister or wife, come out and meet 
 them and it was good to see the joy of their meet- 
 ing; but then, perhaps, at the very next house, some 
 
13 
 
 one would go to a dear old mother and speak gently, 
 she would clasp her hands and lift her eyes to heav- 
 en, touched with grief, for she knew the ground had 
 closed over her sunny haired southern boy forever. 
 After pasing through that town we waded the Poto- 
 mac and camped for a day or so on the Antietam 
 Battlefield, then went on through Hagerstown and 
 Greencastle where we saw a pretty young girl stand- 
 ing on a portico holding a small United States flag 
 in her hand. She taunted us with it and some were 
 not courtous to her. We went ahead to Chambers- 
 burg and our regiment patrolled the town for a day 
 and a night. It was necessary to guard the place to 
 keep order. I remember I did a fine job guarding a 
 bed of onions just long enough to pull all I wanted 
 for my own use, and I gave some to others who were 
 not so skillful in climbing palings as I was. We went 
 from that town to Shippensburg, and on to Carlisle, 
 Pa., then turned to the right and went to Gettysburg. 
 General Lee gave us orders not to destroy or molest 
 private property. Any farmer could have a guard for 
 his house if he asked for one. I know this to be true 
 for I did that kind of guarding myself. We reached 
 Gettysburg on the evening of the 1st of July. There 
 had been hard fighting before we arrived. We saw 
 some gruesome sights in the railroad cut near where 
 Gen. Reynolds was killed. Men's heads were torn 
 from the bodies, legs and arms torn asunder and 
 horses lying around mutilated. It took courage to 
 face these things. We passed through Gettysburg 
 that same evening and lay in line of battle under the 
 guns on Cemetery Ridge ; the next day our division 
 stormed Gulp's Hill, and that evening late moved in- 
 to the Valley of Death, then on the third day while 
 Pickett was making his terrible charge and the bat- 
 tle was raging everywhere, we were holding our po- 
 sition among the rocks under tTie muraerous Tire 
 from Little Round Top. My brother Cyrus was badly 
 wounded in his right arm, so I removed him from the 
 battlefield under the fire of the cannons, musketry 
 and bursting of shells. It is due to the hand of a Di- 
 
14 
 
 vine Providence that we were not both killed for the 
 cannon balls bored into the ground so close we 
 thought sometimes we would be covered. I left my 
 brother on the top of the hill and went back to the 
 line of battle. Again it fell on me to take another one 
 of our company off the battlefield, but fortunately 
 I was never hurt. About midnight on the 3rd of July, 
 Gen. Lee began to fall back. We lay all day, the 4th, 
 just a little west of the battlefield when we finally 
 fell back to Virginia. All the wounded had to be left 
 in Pennsylvania and brother Cyrus was one of them ; 
 he was taken to Bedloe's Island and David's Island 
 here he stayed until the spring of 1864, when he was 
 exchanged and put on the retired list; until the close 
 of the war he was on farms in Pennsylvania Co., and 
 Rockingham Co. Va., arriving home in June, 1865, a 
 few days before my return. 
 
 Some of the Northern people had peculiar ideas 
 concerning us; while we were patrolling Cham- 
 bersburg, we conversed with people at different 
 places. Some would say : ''Why, we didn't think there 
 were so many people in the South." And only a small 
 part of Lee's army went to Chambersburg. At anoth- 
 er house while conversing one of them looked close- 
 ly at us and said : ''Why, I didn't know the Southern 
 people looked like our people. You fellows look just 
 like us." Then Bill Lawhorne, a rough fellow and one 
 of our own company said : "What did you think we 
 looked like? Did you imagine we all had horns and 
 tails like wild beasts?" It seemed strange that any- 
 one could know so little about the South. 
 
 Now, I will speak of our march back from Get- 
 tysburg to Virginia. On the morning of the fifth of 
 July we were called in line and were standing by the 
 roadside when Gen. Lee and most of the higher of- 
 ficers of the army of Northern Va. rode up and stood 
 in a group near us. Gen. Lee said to Gen. Ewell :"You 
 will march in the rear and if the enemy comes up, 
 give him battle and I will go ahead and open the 
 way." We marched in the rear all the way back to 
 Virginia; the enemy in small bodies would attack 
 
15 
 
 our rear every day, but they did us little harm. A 
 laughable thing happened one evening. A big negro 
 rode up on one of the officer's horses to a pump by 
 the roadside where a great many of the soldiers pro- 
 cured water. He was feeling his importance and 
 making himself conspicious when a shot from one of 
 the enemy's cannons very gracefully knocked the 
 pumpstick off. It was a beautiful sight to see that 
 Mr. Nigger taking his leave ; about all we could see 
 was a black streak vanishing in the distance. We 
 went ahead for several days with about the same 
 discouragements and finally stopped at Hagerstown, 
 and skirmished with the enemy for several days. 
 
 Finally, one evening several of our regiment 
 were detailed to go to Williamsport and bake a quan- 
 tity of bread, so Bill Lawhorne and myself from Co. 
 "B" went. We found a shed in a lumber yard in the 
 edge of the town where some barrels of flour had 
 been left. We didn't have any vessels for cookmg, 
 but we knew a few things about shifting for oursel- 
 ves, so we went to work with a determination. Bill 
 Lawthorne spread an oil cloth which we used in rainy 
 weather on the ground, piled flour out of the bar- 
 rel on it, put salt and soda in it and mixed it while I 
 prepared the fire. I gathered pieces of barrel heads 
 and scraps of boards, these I placed on the ground. 
 Bill spread the dough out on them and set the boards 
 in front of the fire. When one side was cooked I 
 would then turn my cake over and bake the other side 
 We soon had a fine lot of bread. It certainly tasted 
 good to us for we weren't troubled with gout on ac- 
 count of luxurious living. While I was baking Gen. 
 A. P. Hill's Corps passed along the road by the fire, 
 so we had to watch the bread continually. We could- 
 n't afford to give them any, our own hungry fellows 
 needing it too badly. One fellow finally slipped one 
 of my best cakes. I tried to forgive him for I knew 
 that he was hungry. That night was very dark and 
 rainy. Toward morning some one told us our regi- 
 ment was passing through the town. We packed the 
 bread so we could carry it conveniently and waded in 
 
16 
 
 the mud and through the darkness until we found 
 our regiment. On reaching the upper end of the town 
 we could see a long line of men wading in the Poto- 
 mac River. It was just break of day and it was terri- 
 ble to see the men in the big river with only their 
 heads above water, but we joined them and contin- 
 ued our march. Orders had been given that the am- 
 munition be kept dry. I placed the cartridge box up- 
 on my shoulder and held my load of bread as high a- 
 bove the water as possible. The boys cried out: ''For 
 God's sake King, take care of the breaci." It was not 
 surprising that they wo'e uneasy about the bread as 
 the water came to the level of my shoulders. How ev- 
 er, we crossed safely, many of the boys prayed and 
 some of them used Sunday School words in the 
 wrong place. On leaving home my father gave me a 
 pocket Bible which I carried on my side breast pock- 
 et. After reading it I enclosed it in a tight oilcloth 
 case, and though the water submerged my pocket, 
 the outside leaves only were damaged. I number it 
 among my treasures today. Ewell's Corps was the on- 
 ly one that waded the Potomac river. Longstreet's and 
 Hill's Corps with the artilery and wagons crossed on 
 Pontoons below us at Falling Water. The Potomac 
 was rising rapidly when we waded but the water 
 was warm. We rejoiced to be again on Virginia's 
 soil. 
 
 We stayed in Martinsburg two weeks during 
 which time we destroyed much of the Baltimore and 
 Ohio railroad. After the close of the war I came 
 home over that road, and at Martinsburg I recogniz- 
 ed the same rails replaced; they were still I'ed and 
 rusty from being in the fire which we made by piling 
 crossties, laying the rails on top of them and setting 
 the ties on fire ; when the rails were red hot the ends 
 would fall to the ground. I almost felt ashamed of 
 myself when I saw them straightened out and I was 
 riding home over them, but such is war. 
 
 Gen. Bradly T. Johnson was in command of 
 our Brigade for several months after the battle of 
 Gettysburg, Gen. J. M. Jones being disabled. From 
 
17 
 
 Martinsburg we went by Bunker Hill to Winchester 
 and then from there to Front Royal where we had a 
 little brush with the Yankees. We then went on up 
 the river to near Luray, crossed the Blue Ridge into 
 Madison County, Va., thence to Montpelier Place, 
 President Madison's old home near Orange Court 
 House, where we remained in camp three months. 
 Our camping ground was well located near the or- 
 chard which constantly caused us to hunger for ap- 
 ples, when they were sufficiently ripe and roasting 
 ears and beans v/ere ready to tempt us, the officers 
 sent men to patrol the country, and if one of us was 
 caught prowling around without a pass from Brad- 
 ley T. Johnson, we were arrested, taken before the 
 officers and punished by having to ride a wooden 
 horse several hours each day or some other punish- 
 m.ent as disagreeable. I had been running around 
 much before the patrol was started, so one day Henry 
 Hoover, one of my company, said he would write me 
 a pass if I would get some apples. He imitated Gen. 
 Johnson's handwriting:, and with my bogus pass I 
 started toward Gordensville. Seeing a big orchard 
 in front of me, I hastened to it and just as I was 
 walking through a big arched gateway the patrol 
 seized me. Knov/ing each man for they were of our 
 own regiment I was afraid to show my pass, so I sat 
 down on a log and wondered what I could do. Finally 
 taking it from my pocket I handed it to Lieut. Yancy 
 and said, ^'Here is some kind of a paper I received 
 this morning. I cannot read very well and I thought 
 I would show it to you. After reading the pass he 
 smiled and said, ''Why, you dam'd fool, this is a pass 
 from Gen. Johnson. You get back to camp and don't 
 let me catch you out here again." I returned in a 
 round about way, got a few apples and roasting ears 
 and did not go in that direction any more, but across 
 the pike from our camp was a big cornfield with a 
 large quantity of tempting roasting ears and beans, 
 guards were placed in the field and orders read to 
 the regiment while on dress parade. I being on guard 
 dutv did not hear the orders read, but had been told 
 
18 
 
 jf them; nevertheless, I went one day armed wit>- 
 naver sack and a good ajDpetite with the intention of 
 getting a fine mess of corn and beans and perhaps, 
 some apples. I was getting along nicely when a guard 
 approached from the 50'' Va. regiment. Danger sur- 
 rounded me, but the guard was a good fellow and 
 lucky for me, his own captain was oflficer of the day 
 in our Brigade that day. I was taken before the cap- 
 tain and he asked me to what regiment I belonged 
 I told him to the 25". He said, ''Didn't you hear the 
 orders read to keep out of the cornfield?" I said, "I 
 didn't. His reply was. ''Your Colonel is too good an 
 officer not to have had such orders read to the regi- 
 ment." "I must have been on guard somewhere at the 
 time," I said, which was true. Then the Captain said, 
 "What did you go into the cornfield for anyhow?" I 
 said, "Because I wanted some roasting ears to eat." 
 He said, "Did you get any?" I said, "yes, a few." 
 I showed them to him, he laughed and said, "Oh, 
 you're too honest, go back to your regiment and keep 
 your com." That was my last thieving trip. We stay- 
 ed in our camp until October and got well rested, but 
 didn't fatten very much. I suppose indigestion kept 
 us thin. 
 
 The family burial ground of President Madison 
 was near our camp. I often walked through the en- 
 closure. The monument erected to his memoiy is a 
 plain base of granite, something like S feet square 
 with a 4 foot square tapered shaft 20 feet high, with 
 James Madison, his birth and death only engraved 
 upon it. A beautiful white slab marks the burial place 
 of his wife. 
 
 In October we broke camp and marched to 
 Bristow Station near Manasses on the Orange and 
 Alexanderia R. R. For several days part of our army 
 watched the Yankees while others destroyed much 
 of the Orange and Alex?inderia R. R. When the bars 
 were red hot they were bent around telegraph poles. 
 Later we cam})ed for a week or two at Brandy Sta- 
 tion near the same railroad. Some of our cavalry had 
 a little skirmish with the enemy before we arrived in 
 
19 
 
 which a few men had been killed. We had been get- 
 ting our drinking water at a little run and were order- 
 ed to stop using that water for they found a dead 
 Yankee lying in the run in the woods a short distance 
 above where we procured drinking water. This 
 caused much discomfort. While in camp Wat Kirk, 
 Bill Jarvis, and myself were ordered to guard the 
 Gen. Jones headquarters. Jarvis was a sergeant. We 
 went on post at evening, knowing we ought to guard 
 the rail fence near, we didn't burn any rails. It was a 
 cool drizzly night, the guard before us had made fire, 
 so we kept a small fire by adding pieces of rails and 
 stumps. Captain Cleary was on the General Staff, he 
 was a tall egotistic fellow and none of us liked him. 
 In the morning he had the three of us put under ar- 
 rest and sent to the guard house, where we were 
 prisoners for a few days. We were then tried before 
 the Military Court. The judge advocate was our own 
 Captain Fitchett, a fine fellow. Captain Cleary en- 
 tered the courtroom with a pompous air and read his 
 charge accusing us of burning rails while on guard. 
 Then Capt. Fitchett said to us, "You are privileged 
 to ask questions ! The others were silent. Spunking up 
 to Capt. Cleary I asked, "Have you seen us burning 
 rails or disobeying other orders while on post.?" 
 He said, he had not, but he thought we had been. I 
 looked at our judge and he smiled. We were honor- 
 ably discharged and went back to our companies. 
 
 After that we went in camp a short distance be- 
 low Orange Court House. By this time the weather 
 was beginning to grow cold, and we had nothing so 
 far but small shelter tents, dog tents we called them. 
 We crawled into the tents and spread down an old 
 blanket or oilcloth on the frozen ground, but owing 
 to the hard bed and cold we slept but little. There 
 were three in our tent, one of us, Joe Paugh by name 
 was a big boyish fellow who slept in the middle. I 
 think he had the longest, hardest back and legs of any 
 man with whom I ever slept. In the morning we left 
 our prints in the mud where we had thawed the froz- 
 en ground. The latter part of November we went to 
 
20 
 
 Mine Run, and quarreled with some Yankees who 
 had crossed the Rappanhannock River, chai'ging 
 the enem}^ in the woods near Payne's farm. We soon 
 found their line concealed in some thick red brush, 
 they sprang up within 20 feet of us and fired. My, but 
 the bullets passed affectionately over our heads. A 
 big fellow by the name of Hoy Reger, in front of me 
 saw a gun leveled at him, he cried sharply, "Look out, 
 King," at the same time ducking his head under his 
 cap, the crown of which was stuffed with cotton and 
 stuck out like a rabbit's tail. I dodged quickly behind 
 a tree and had Reger not yelled sharply at me I 
 would have been killed. The next day we made 
 breast works on the hills along Mine Run and the Re- 
 bels and Yankee cannonaded one another after the 
 work was completed. That night was very cold and 
 our company stood picket down below the works 
 among the pines. We kept a fire by lOurning pine 
 knots, and the next morning w^e were so black from 
 the smoke that we hardly recognized one another. 
 After much cannonading, the Yankees recrossed the 
 rivei", and a number were killed during the fighting. 
 Then we returned to Orange Court House, and went 
 into camp near the one we left. 
 
 Before going further I will tell you about one of 
 the greatest charges I ever experienced, which took 
 place when we were returning from our trouble with 
 the enemy at Bi'istow Station. After marching all 
 day with nothing to eat except a few roasting ears 
 which we nabbed while going along, we went into 
 camp in the evening in a bad humor, we were hungry 
 and cold and had to lieep our fires by i)iling on limbs 
 and brush. I was unlucky in having the back of my 
 jacket burnt up to my collar. The next morning we 
 were very hungry and there was a seven acre coi-n- 
 field near our camn. which was guarded at nicrht, 
 when in line ready to march we were ordered to 
 stack cirms, then we were commanded, "Right face, 
 Forward. March, Break" and we soon knew what 
 was up. No General ever saw a finer charge for every 
 one of us made for that cornfield. Myself and another 
 
21 
 
 longlegged fellow sailed through the field to the far 
 side and came back pulling ears. We got a fine lot of 
 corn. The charge was soon over, the cornfield com- 
 pletely subdued and no one was hurt. My exertion 
 was useless for the officers made all divide equally. 
 Then we went back to the fire to cook it. We had no 
 cooKing utensils near, so we set the ears on end in the 
 fire and built a little pen of sticks around them. When 
 we marched away we could have been tracked for 
 miles by the cobs. Our Brigade of six regiments only 
 was in charge in the cornfield. 
 
 The first of December we began to prepare for 
 winter quarters and Gen. Lee located his camp near 
 a large brick church a short distance below Orange 
 Court House. The church was called Pisgah church, 
 therefore, our winter camp was called Camp Pisgah 
 We suffered intensely with the cold it being near 
 Christmas before our shanties were completed. We 
 were along the Rapidan River eight miles away do- 
 ing guard duty, drilling, cleaning our guns, attending 
 dress parade and many other things necessary to a 
 winter camp ; frequently lady relatives made us glad 
 by the presence of their gentle faces. The winter pas- 
 sed slowly and we were glad when the spring of 
 1864 came with its usual smiles. Our army moved in 
 the direction of Mine Run early in May and rested 
 near where the first battle of the wilderness began. 
 This brings to my memory a neighbor in Upshur 
 county who went with us to Dixie, and a kinder more 
 faithful comrade no one ever had. On the evening of 
 the 4th our rations did not arrive until late in the 
 night and it was necessary to cook them before re- 
 tiring. Three of us messed together, myself, Jerry 
 Paugh, and Sam Lynch; Sam told Jerry and me to 
 lie down and sleep until midnight. When we woke he 
 had finished the cooking for all. We reproved him for 
 not calling us and he said we were sleeping too 
 soundly to be disturbed. It was a pleasure to come in 
 contact with a man so kind and affectionate. 
 
 The next day was the memorable 5th of May, 
 1864, the beginning of the bloody battles in the Wil- 
 
22 
 
 derness. We were called in line early in the day and 
 met Grant's araiy on the old stone road leading from 
 Orange Court House to Fredericksburg, there wc 
 had a severe battle. Our regiment was always deploy- 
 ed in front of our lines of battle as skirmishers and 
 sharpshooters. A skirmish line is made by a regiment 
 deploying, that is a regiment forms a thin line with 
 each man 5 spaces apart. Our business was to watch 
 the enemy and keep their skirmish line back as long 
 as possible consequently we faced the enemy. If we 
 succeeded in holding them back we were to fall be- 
 hind the line of the battle and forai our regiment, 
 then take our place in line with the others. Soon af- 
 ter we deployed the skirmishers advanced on us. We 
 met them with vim and they fell back, on they came 
 the second time with a double skirmish line. We sent 
 them back again. Just then General Battles Alabani- 
 ous threw forward a skirmish line to assist us. In a 
 few minutes the foe appeared with a double line of 
 skirmishers and a line of battle. We poured into 
 them with our two skirmishers and they fell back 
 again leaving a few dead. Phill Crites, a big robust 
 fellow in our company, seeing two dead Yankees in 
 front of us, concluded he would examine their knap- 
 sacks. It was a mean trick and the officers warned 
 him, but he did not listen and as he was stooping over 
 the dead man he was shot and fell badly wounded. 
 At once four of our Company went to him, Sam 
 Lynch, my dear classmate, also went, not belonging 
 to the ambulence corps it was unnecessaiy for him 
 to go. I said, "Sam, don't go, but he set his gun 
 against a tree and went and as the four were ready to 
 remove Crites, bullets came from sharpshooters on 
 the other side, and Lynch fell desperatelv wounded. 
 I loved my comrade so well that I was strongly 
 tempted to try and carry him off, but I knew it meant 
 death. One of our ambulance corps saw the poor boy 
 die where he lay a few hours afterwards, and his 
 death hurt me worse than any other in the war. Soon 
 aftei- Lynch fell, the other enemy came upon us with 
 a double skirmish line and a double line of battle 
 
23 
 
 and our men scattered. We were ordered to fall back 
 in the rear of our line of battle and from our regiment 
 as we usually did, but while we were still stretched 
 out in our long thin line and the enemy was right on 
 us, our Brigade rallied ; another line of battle came 
 up to assist us, and the Yankees were badly defeated. 
 Our Colonel was so badly hurt over the way the rest 
 of the Brigade left us on the skirmish line that he re- 
 fused to stay with the Brigade, so Gen. Ewell told 
 him to take what was left of the regiment and go to 
 Hay's Louisana Brigade. The Company of Zouaves, 
 called the Louisana Tigers, were in one of the red- 
 ments in that Brigade and we were with them a few 
 days during which some hard fighting took place. 
 One day two of our Regiments were taken near Ger- 
 mania Ford, along the Rapidan River, by Gen. Long, 
 an artillery General, to do some scouting in the woods 
 and find out, whether or not, the enemy might be in 
 the thicket near our rear. We shelled the woods to 
 some extent and fired a few shots at single horsemen 
 to see them run ; then we deployed and tried to pen- 
 etrate the dense thickets, but we were not successful 
 and returned to the line of battle in the evening. The 
 Wilderness is the place where so many soldiers met 
 the "Unseen Death," as it is called in history. It was 
 rightly named for there was such a wilderness of un- 
 dergrowth and vines in which the soldiers could 
 hide, that a bullet would often strike a poor fellow 
 and no one could tell from whence it came. 
 
 Lee held his position all along the line so that 
 our Army kept moving on the right parallel to 
 Grant's Army as far as Spottsylvania Court House, 
 where we took a position and made breastworks. The 
 part of the breastworks called in history, "The 
 Bloody Angle," was in the shape of a horseshoe and 
 our Brigade occupied the toe. On the evening of the 
 10th of May a Brigade from Georgia gave way in the 
 wing of the works and those on the left were ordered 
 to assist them in taking their position which we ac- 
 complished in a short time. Our Colonel was killed in 
 the battle. When we returned to our place in the An- 
 
24 
 
 gle, some one had left a flat cake while resting a- 
 gainst the breastworks where I had stood. We never 
 were overloaded with eatables, so by hard work I 
 stuffed Mr. Flatcake into my knapsack. Some of 
 them laughed at me thinking it might be dirty. I will 
 tell you more of Mr. Cake later. Being in the right 
 side of the toe of the horseshoe, we were in constant 
 danger of being injured by the enemy's fire. On our 
 left every few minutes a shot of some kind endanger- 
 ed us, so we made a row of breastworks behind us 
 and some crosswise which added to our safety. Pick- 
 eting with the enemy continued until the 12" of May, 
 a misty morning, w^hen just a little after the break 
 of day the enemy attacked us with an ovei^whelming 
 force. One line came in front which we annihilated 
 another line came and broke over the breastworks 
 at the center of the horseshoe while we were pouring 
 it to the line in front. Standing on the big breast- 
 works in the rear was a long line of Yankee soldiers 
 with bayonets pointing at us, saying : "Boys, Surren- 
 der!" They never fired again, but stood looking at 
 us good naturedly. Of course we had to throw down 
 our guns. Our men had run a battery of Artillery in 
 front of the breastworks and before they could un- 
 limber, the Yankees were upon them. The greater 
 number made their escape through a gap in the 
 breastworks, but one small Artillery man coming up 
 the .crap without hat and coat, started through the 
 head of the flanking column unarmed and said: ''I 
 surrender, Don't kill me." Suddenly a big sturdy fel- 
 low by the name of Woodsides belonging to Comp- 
 any ''A", of our regiment brought his gun to his 
 shoulder and shot the Yankee. The other Yankee 
 never troubled him for this and that little Artillery 
 m.in was le^o glad his life had been saved, he clung to 
 Woodsides' arm like a child. While this was happen- 
 ing a young giant by the ntime of John Keener, be- 
 longing to Company '*A", also refused to surrender. 
 I yelled at him to surrender or he would be killed, 
 then some one fired and we saw him throw his amis 
 across his breast and fall on his face. We all thought 
 
25 
 
 he was killed but two weeks later when on a steamer 
 going to Point Lookout,! saw a man lying on blankets 
 on the deck. It was John Keener. I said : ''I thought 
 you were killed at Spottsylvania."He said :''I thought 
 so too at first." His girl's picture in his side pocket 
 had miraculously saved him. It was in a case and the 
 bullet that might have penetrated his heart, glanced 
 on the picture and ploughed through the flesh on his 
 breast. What noble creatures the young girls are. 
 Isn't it marvelous how their pretty faces can save a 
 man's life? God bless them. They are precious every- 
 where. 
 
 We were fortunate in not loosing a man in our 
 regiment. That same day one of our men, John Gait- 
 rel by name, a big strong fellow, saw the flanking 
 column coming and made his escape to the rear. The 
 rest of us threw down our guns and were hurried over 
 the breastworks, there in front of our lines we saw 
 dead men, two and three in a pile. Oh, what a pitiful 
 sight. It became necessary to jump over many of 
 them as we hurried along in advance of our captors. 
 They paid a fearful price for us. A short distance 
 from our breastworks I passed a fine manly looking 
 soldier who belonged in the storming column. He 
 was looking at the lock of his gun, when suddenly he 
 staggered and fell at my feet to raise no more. Im- 
 mediately after we were taken from our breastworks 
 another Confederate line came up and drove out the 
 Yankees. The fight continued all day, but our breast- 
 works were not removed, as we were being taken 
 through the Yankee lines we passed through at least 
 two more lines of battle which had been kept 
 in reserve in order to support the two lines that had 
 attacked us. Those near were disorderly. It seemed as 
 if every fellow thought he should assist in taking the 
 prisoners, 3000 of us to the rear. Myself and others 
 of our Company enraged because we were taken 
 did rash things. With a big sharp knife in hand I cut 
 and slashed around in a disorderly way, until a very 
 young Yankee boy appeared who looked up into my 
 face so kindly and lovingly and spoke so gentle to me 
 
26 
 
 that my foolish anger vanished. He was as pretty as a 
 girl and we became good friends.Dear boy,I wish I 
 knew if he were living today. He said the Jonies were 
 brave and courageous and that the Yankees had left 
 a man on the battlefield for every prisoner they had 
 taken. 
 
 I was told that where the flanking column broke 
 through our breastworks, men were piled as many as 
 seven deep, all dead. It was part of our Brigade that 
 occupied that place. We were conducted into an old 
 field where we remained during the night. Here we 
 found the greater number of our Regiment who had 
 been made prisoners on the 5th of May in the wild- 
 erness. They were very hungry having had little to 
 eat for four or five days and here is where Mr. Flat 
 Cake came in advantageously. I divided it among old 
 comrades and it appeased their hunger to some ex- 
 tent. We started for Fredericksburg in the morning 
 and on the way we passed through a Brigade of im- 
 pudent negroes officered by white men who were 
 going to the front. They boasted that they expected 
 to capture the rest of us. Our boys informed them 
 they would find the rest of us waiting which they 
 did to their sorrow, for those same negroes were 
 shoved into the most dangerous places and the Rebels 
 killed them by hundreds without mercy. We reach- 
 ed Fredericksburg, crossed the Rappanhannock 
 river on pantoons and went through King George 
 Co., to Belle Plains, on the Potomac river; here we 
 remained a few days, then by boat were taken to 
 Point Lookout Prison in St. Mary's Co., Maryland. 
 The 20th of May 1864, we marched through the big 
 gate marked in large letters, ''Prisoners' Camp." 
 Now our campaigns were ended and for more than a 
 year we were to fight hunger, disease, exposure and 
 cruelty, a gloomy prospect indeed, for thousands 
 passed through that gate who never passed out alive 
 again. I will try to give you some idea of the prisons, 
 the government, food, clothing, guarding, etc. The 
 prison at Point Lookout was located on a narrow 
 piece of ground about one quarter of a mile wide at 
 
27 
 
 the mouth of the Potomac River. Here the river is 
 ten miles in width, the Chesapeak Bay on the other 
 side of the prison more than thirty miles. Our part of 
 this prison embraced 30 or 40 acres of ground sur- 
 rounded by a ten foot wall which was a strong 
 frame work spiked with two inch plank on 
 the inside, framed in with the wall on the outside, 
 three feet from the top was a parapet or walk for the 
 use of the sentinels. At certain distances on the para- 
 pet small shelter houses were erected for the guards. 
 The inside was laid off in streets 20 feet wide run- 
 ning in the direction of the River, they were ditcheed 
 on both sides, and rows of round or sibley tents were 
 placed back on either side of the street. Ten rows of 
 tents each holding eighteen persons were in our 
 camp. A large section was laid off for hospital 
 grounds and for various other purposes. Another sec- 
 tion which we called the officers' Bull Pen, the one 
 in which we were placed, was vacant. Officers had 
 been confined there, but were separated from the 
 privates and kept in another Prison during our stay. 
 Captains, Lieutenants and all high officers were 
 called commissioned officers, all others from ser- 
 geants down were called noncommissioned officers, 
 and were left with the Privates. The prison was lo- 
 cated by the Bay with several gates leading to it, 
 large open works were constructed over the water 
 30 or 40 feet for closets, and narrow passages were 
 provided leading to them. At night all gates were 
 closed. The ground was not much above the water 
 level and on account of the winter tides the cook- 
 houses, seven in all were built with the enclosures on 
 foundations 3 or 4 feet from the ground, at the side 
 farthest from the bay ten rows of tents, each row 
 called a division, made a wide approach in front of 
 each cookhouse. I was in the tenth division which 
 was nearest the hospital ground. Several pumps af- 
 forded an abundance of clear water, but it had an 
 offensive odor and left a coating on tinware. A dead 
 line two or three hundred yards out in the water was 
 made by driving small logs in the mud with a pile 
 
26 
 
 driver, their ends showing above water at low tide. 
 It was very dangerous to swim beyond this dead line. 
 Many had been shot and not a few killed for very 
 trifling offenses. Two days out of every three we were 
 guarded by a gang of ignorant and cruelsome neg- 
 roes. 
 
 Please do not think that I dislike the negroes as 
 a race. Many of them are my friends, but the negroes 
 who guarded us were not accustomed to having 
 authority over the white people and the defenceless 
 prisoners suffered at their hands. Numbers of scars 
 were left on the frame work of the closets made by 
 negroes firing at the prisoners. The negro guard was 
 very insolent and delighted in tantalizing the prison- 
 ers, for some trifle affair, we were often accused of 
 disobedience and they would say, 'Xook out, white 
 man, the bottom rail is on top now, so you had bet- 
 ter be careful for my gun has been wanting to smoke 
 at you all day!" Often their threats came true. Many 
 times during the night, when they quarreled with 
 some poor fellow who had displeased them, we in 
 our tent hugged the ground veiy closely expecting to 
 hear a bullet sing at any moment. They meddled with 
 many things that did not concern them, always giv- 
 ing their orders in the most insolent manner. 
 
 A tragedy took place at the cookhouse near our 
 tent one day. A negro stood near the gate leading to 
 headquarters and one of our prison comrades smug- 
 gled a watch into the prison which he tried to sell to 
 this negro. He said to him : "Don't you want to buy 
 a watch?" The negro replied, 'Tes, let me see it." 
 Handing the watch to him, the negro leveled his 
 gun, saying : 'If you don't get away from here I will 
 shoot you." The man ran and reported to the white 
 officers, a few days later the oflicers compelled him 
 to return the watch. This made the negro very angry 
 and on guard a few days later he saw the owner of 
 the watch going into the cookhouse with a hundred 
 or more prisoners marching four ranks deep, so he 
 fired at the man. Missing the rank he was in, he fired 
 at eveiy man in the rank next to him, two were shot 
 
29 
 
 through the body, one in the arm and one in 
 the hand. The two who were shot through 
 the body died, the other two lived. One was Joe 
 Bridge of our Regiment who was cared for in a hos- 
 pital tent near us. A few of the negroes who number- 
 ed more than a thousand knew their place and our 
 white guards were well liked. During the summer the 
 Rebels were troublesome in Virginia and many of 
 those neg'roes were taken across the Potomac to 
 fight. When the news came that numbers were killed 
 the negro women in their tents wailed and mourned, 
 after this they treated us with more respect. 
 
 Now I will endeavor to tell you about our food 
 and the manner in which it was served. We were fed 
 by the contractors, who were paid a certain price for 
 each man per day, so it can easily be seen there was 
 room for speculation. These contractors bought 
 damaged rations such as pickled pork, beef, etc., 
 from the government at a low price and they gave 
 us barely enough to keep soul and body together. 
 The food was a little more satisfactory at Point Look- 
 out than at Elmira, New York. It was prepared in the 
 different cookhouses and placed on long tables ready 
 to be carried to the quarters. The meals were served 
 twice a day, at 8 o'clock a. m., and at 3 p. m. A piece 
 of light bread and a little beef or pork, salt or fresh 
 whichever was convenient was served in the morn- 
 ing and evening, bread and soup in messpans. The 
 bread for either meal weighed when baked 3 ounces, 
 the pork weighed about 2 ounces and the beef three 
 ounces, it was often bone and very little meat. Hun- 
 ger necessitated our eating this tainted food as we 
 had nothing else and the odor was very offensive. 
 The pickled beef was often tainted also, our soup 
 was made either of potatoes, beans, onions or a com- 
 pound of cabbage, carrots, and other green garden 
 vegetables cooked and pressed into large squares 
 for convenient handling. If the soup was made of po- 
 tatoes, beans and onions, the potatoes were not peel- 
 ed and the onions were not sorted and frequently 
 they were spoiled, when the blocks of pressed vege- 
 
30 
 
 tables were thrown in after the meat being cooked it 
 was good, but the quantity allotted to each only 
 sharpened our appetites. Bathing in the bay was a 
 source of pleasure granted us and we certainly took 
 advantage of it. It was thick with bathers every day 
 and it was a great relief to stand on the beach and 
 watch the ships and small craft pass, some with a 
 line and net waded in the water waist deep and 
 caught the big crabs. I sometimes went to the bottom 
 where the water was ten feet deep and found a few 
 oysters to eat, but they were poor and tough in the 
 summer time. When the tide was coming in the 
 water was delightful, at the dead line we sat on the 
 post until the waves were highest, then we rode them 
 to the shore. We enjoyed the bathing until the middle 
 of July, when curious looking things called ''Sea Net- 
 tles" appeared, they must have had animal life in 
 them for they grew from the size of a penny to that 
 of a breakfast plate, and they looked somewhat like 
 clear jelly, the edge resembled a white scalloped 
 squash, the center being like that of a shallow bowl, 
 appendages nearly two feet long were on the edges 
 and on the extremity of these were small spots cluster 
 ed together. It was amusing to watch the bathers 
 swim under one of these, the sting resembling that of 
 a nettle. They are said to be of the jelly fish family. 
 Many times I attempted to examine them, but upon 
 being lifted out of the water they separate into tiny 
 particles. After a windy night the beach at the edge 
 of the water was slimy where the queer things had 
 been left by the receding tide. 
 
 We had a memorable Fourth of July of which I 
 must speak. In the rear of the hospital tents there 
 were several rough wooden buildings which were 
 used as a kind of headquarters for the sergeants and 
 in these buildings all things sent to the prisoners 
 were stored. One of our prisoners, a big jolly fellow, 
 by the name of Wells, was in charge of the things re- 
 ceived including clothing, cakes, cookies and various 
 other nice things and many times the prisoners died 
 before receiving them. This 4th of July, while the 
 
31 
 
 men of war vessels in the Bay and the Yankees were 
 celebrating the Fourth, a young comrade by the 
 name of Munt said quietly to me, "Be still about it 
 but come with me this afternoon and we will have a 
 4th of July treat." We went and fifty or sixty others 
 detected our plan, we fell in line in front of the build- 
 ing where Wells was stationed and as we passed he 
 gave each of us a handful of good cakes. After Munt 
 and myself had received our treat he said, ''King, 
 lets go back behind and come up and get another 
 treat." I said, "I am afraid Wells will recognize us." 
 Munt insisted and we went. When we appeared 
 Wells looked at us sharply, seized us and took us in- 
 to the house. He said, "I will punish you later." We 
 were somewhat frightened, but said nothing and lat- 
 er he came with a large wooden bucket nearly filled 
 with apples and two bottles, but we did not know 
 what the bottles contained then he roared 
 out in a terrible voice : "If you two do not eat every 
 apple in that bucket, I will compel you to drink the 
 contents of these bottles and it will kill you sure." 
 We began eating the apples which were not very at- 
 tractive but were mellow. We ate and ate and Wells 
 looked at us ocasionally with a terrible expression on 
 his face. Showing the bottles he would say: "Eat 
 them or die." The floor in the room had large open- 
 ings in it, so we ate a small piece of an apple while 
 Wells was not looking and then dropped the rest 
 of the apple through the floor. A Yankee guard came 
 in and assisted us in disposing of a few, so at last we 
 finished our task, then with a savage look he present- 
 ed the bottle, saying: "I am going to kill you any- 
 how." He roared out, "Drink it, I tell you." The 
 guard smiling looked at us. This gave us courage to 
 drink it and it was a bottle of fine pop. He gave an- 
 other fellow, who had done the flanking like we did, 
 a suit of clothes, so that was our 4th of July celebra- 
 tion and it is one that I will never forget. 
 
 Near the middle of July officers came through 
 the prison taking the names of all who would apply 
 for the oath of allegiance to the United States, prom- 
 
32 
 
 ising that those who would apply would be released. 
 Well, about 300 made application, but I am happy 
 to say that your humble servant was not included. A 
 short time after this the 300 marched through the 
 big gate rejoicing. They taunted us because we were 
 left behind, but I will tell you more of the 300 later. 
 On the 27th of July we boarded a little steamer call- 
 ed "Favorite" which took us out in the mouth of the 
 Potomac. There we were put on the big ocean steam- 
 er ''Continental." Sometime during the night we 
 went through Hampton Roads into the old Atlantic 
 and turned our faces towards New York. We had not 
 been on the ocean long until one after another be- 
 came sick and we numbered thousands. The ship 
 had three decks above the hold. Sitting on the lower 
 deck dangling my feet down in the hatch way where 
 it was very hot, I was sweating furiously when they 
 lowered over me a large canvass ventilator. I pulled 
 off my cap, opened my shirt bosom and enjoyed the 
 cool air, but contracted a cold that night which came 
 very near costing me my life; strange to say I had 
 taken cold on the measles when about fourteen 
 which effected one lung and left me with a rather 
 weak squeaky voice. Now this cold I caught on the 
 salt water gave me a strong course voice and splen- 
 did lungs which I still have. We reached New York 
 harbor and lay at anchor in the mouth of the Hudson 
 River, for nearly half a day from our big trip. We 
 had a good view of the city where all was hurry and 
 bustle, then in the evening we started on the Erie 
 R. R. for Elmira which is 300 miles from Jersey City. 
 The next evening we arrived at Elmira prison, and 
 were assigned respective places. Here the prison was 
 laid off in wards instead of divisions like Point Look- 
 out, and our squads were in Ward 39. The first to 
 meet us were the grinning 300, who had marched to 
 freedom through the big gate at Point Lookout. We 
 certainly did laugh at them; they were there safe 
 and secure with no more freedom then the rest of us. 
 It was all right to take the oath of allegiance to the 
 United States as we did after we had no Southern 
 
33 
 
 Confederacy. The Yankees in general had no re- 
 spect for a turncoat and those who took the oath were 
 always spoken of with contempt. I am proud to say 
 that I never even thought of taking an oath of that 
 kind until Lee had surrendered and the war was end- 
 ed. Then it was necessaiy to take the oath to get 
 home. 
 
 The prison at Elmira consisted of thirty-six ac- 
 res enclosed by a wall constructed in the same way 
 as Point Lookout Prison. It was located a short dis- 
 tance from the Chemung River in Chemung County, 
 New York. The river made a bend in front of the pri- 
 son, but everything indicated that perhaps a hun- 
 dred or more years before the prison was there the 
 river had run straight, and later a beaver dam had 
 changed its course. In our pen there was a body of 
 water within banks very much like a river which oc- 
 casionally became high. The North side of this body 
 of water had a much higher bank than the South 
 side. Next to the river it became stagnated in the 
 warm season and was not healthful. Elmira was lo- 
 cated on the west and near the prison ; there were hills 
 on the east which kept our minds on the beautiful 
 and majesty of nature. The Elmira prison looked 
 much cleaner and healthier than Point Lookout, and 
 the water was good. It was a pleasant summer pri- 
 son for the southern soldiers, but an excellent place 
 for them to find their graves in the winter. The plan 
 was different from the prison at Point Lookout. All 
 our quarters were built on the north side of the wat- 
 er, it being higher than the south side which was 
 a blue grass sod and used for small pox hospitals. 
 
 We arrived on Aug. 1st, crossing the water by 
 means of bridges. Our camp was situated in the north 
 east quarter of the pen. The regular prison hospital 
 was in the northeast quarter, the big entrance gate on 
 the north side. Baking and cooking was done in a 
 large cookhouse near the water. The mside head- 
 quarters were near the entrance of the big gate, a 
 cross street leading to the cookhouse; all other of 
 the streets ran east and west. They were ditched and 
 
34 
 
 thrown up in the center. The hospital grounds con- 
 tained frame buildings of medium size, tents and 
 smaller buildings for carpenter shops where coffins 
 were made and other houses for the use of the ser- 
 geants, and those who were compelled to be in the 
 prison for various purposes. An undesirable building 
 was erected in the middle of the camp for a guard. 
 We lived in low tents for the first three months, 
 there being no houses and we often suffered with 
 cold. The manager arranged the building of the hous- 
 es two months after our arrival and they were com- 
 pleted near Christmas. They were 100 feet long by 
 25 feet wide ; material rough lumber, sawed blocks 
 were set on end and on these sills and lower joists 
 were placed, then a double floor of rough planks 
 was made sided up with ten foot siding, they were 
 stripped roughly and a few binders used, the roof 
 was very flat made by sheeting the rafters with plank 
 this was prepared and covered with pitch gravel. 
 There was no ceiling over head, a large door was ar- 
 ranged at each end and two windows in the sides, 
 three rows of bunks, one above the other, were built 
 on the sides of the building, they were 6x4 feet with 
 bottom made of rough plank and six inch boards 
 were railed on the outside, to prevent our rolling out, 
 shavings or bedding of any kind was not permitted 
 as the authorities said they produced vermin, but it 
 mattered little to us for we were already well suppli- 
 ed. Two ventilators were placed in each roof which 
 provided for two stoves. At first we had wooden 
 stoves, but they were not satisfactory and were re- 
 placed by Burnside Coal stoves. The management 
 was somewhat like that at Point Lookout. The head 
 man inside was a major called Provost Marshall, two 
 captains, assistant Provost Marshall, Lieutenants and 
 Sergeants, assisted him. Our first Provost Marshall 
 was Major Colt, his assistants were Captain Mungery 
 and C.iptain Peck, they were good men and treated 
 us Vv'ell,but those officers had nothing to do with feed- 
 ing, clothing and housing us. This was done by con- 
 tractors, whose ambition was to make money, they 
 
35 
 
 were cruel and caused much suffering. In the tent one ' 
 night three of us, myself and two boys froni Ala- 
 bama, Burd Messer and Jerry Dingier were sitting on 
 our blankets talking, and suddenly some one in front 
 called out sharply, "Halt" two shots followed tearing 
 through our tent just above my head. The three of us 
 threw ourselves on our backs instantly, and the next 
 morning revealed that the man who fired the shots 
 was an over bearing Lieutenant whom we disliked. 
 At another time Jerry Paugh, one of our companions 
 discovered that some of the boys in our ward planned 
 to escape. Our row of tents was the nearest to the wall 
 and these fellows dug a hole in the bottom of the tent 
 extending to the outside of the prison, a distance of 
 25 or 30 feet, by means of haversacks they emptied 
 the dirt in the water without being detected. When 
 all was in readiness a few whistles served as a signal 
 for those who desired to exit. Five escaped, two of 
 these later were caught. Others would have ventured 
 the following night, had not the officers been inform- 
 ed. 
 
 Our rations were better after we arrived at El- 
 mira, but they soon decreased. We entered the cook- 
 house by wards, being 42 in all. Soup was placed on 
 long tables in mess pans. Bread and meat was served 
 in the morning, bread and soup in the evening. Mar- 
 ching to the tables two ranks deep, the head of one 
 column stopped at the first place, then the column 
 separated half of them going on each side of the tab- 
 le, each man stopping at the next place and so on 
 down the line. By the time the last man reached his 
 place the first one was leaving, each man was oblig- 
 ed to furnish a vessel in which to carry his soup it 
 being hot and we were given no time to let it cool. 
 Those who could not cany it with them did without 
 soup. Many kinds of vessels were used some had can- 
 teens with the neck broken off, others had old tin 
 cans, coffee pots, tin buckets or often a very small 
 wooden bucket which a prisoner by the name of Mor- 
 gan made to sell and frequently some shiftless fellow 
 had nothing so punished himself trying to swallow 
 
36 
 
 the hot soup. In winter on very cold mornings what 
 a sight we were starting to the cook house for our 
 food ; Each ward had a head man called a war ser- 
 seant, he went to the cook house morning and even- 
 ing to learn when to bring his ward, usually about 
 200 or 240 men. After securing the information he 
 called out, 'Tall in 39 and get your rations." We 
 went in a trot, canteens, buckets, tin cans, coffee pots, 
 rattling, old rags and strings and long unkept hair, 
 dirt and grey backs, cheek bones projecting for 
 there was very little of us except skin and bones. Our 
 legs were spindling and weak. Here we went over 
 the frozen ground and in crossing ditches some poor 
 fellow frequently fell. We were obliged to leave him 
 struggling to gain his position as our time was limit- 
 ed. This is only a few of the facts. It has often been 
 said that the northern people treated and fed their 
 prisoners well. I wish it were true, but during my im- 
 prisonment which was more than a year, I never saw 
 any of the good treatment, except from the old veter- 
 ans, the men who had been to the front and had seen 
 service in the army were kind. 
 
 Tainted meat appeared more frequently and our 
 pieces of bread was perceptibly smaller. The size and 
 weight of our rations, as told heretofore is exactly 
 correct, for many times I measured my piece of bread 
 both in width and thickness. It was very uniform in 
 size, exactly as thick as the distance from the end of 
 middle fmger to the first joint inside and just as wide 
 both ways as the length of a table knife blade, this 
 being 5i/j inches wide and V/j inches thick. Our 
 meat ration was very little smaller and often we 
 could see through the soup to the bottom of the pan. 
 At times the officers discovered some dirt or misbe- 
 havior near one of our wards, then all the ward was 
 given small rations as a ininishment for what one or 
 two had done. We called these morsels of bread de- 
 tailed rations because men, who were put on detail 
 at cleaning streets or something of the kind, were 
 give small pieces of bread and this was all they had 
 to eat while working. While they were being punish- 
 
37 
 
 ed we nearly starved. In the later part of the winter 
 crackers were used in place of soft bread, we enjoy- 
 ed them but for some reason they were not health- 
 ful, causing a stubborn diarrhoea and many deaths 
 resulted. I was in the hospital myself a month with 
 the disease. Weakness and starvation had caused me 
 to lose my sight, consequently often times when 
 wandering some distance from our ward spots ap- 
 peared before my eyes and I was dependent upon 
 some kind comrade to lead me home. The blindness 
 left me as I grew stronger. Others suffered the same 
 way. Many times a poor fellow staggered along un- 
 til his old shaky legs failed to support him, then he 
 staggered until he was on his feet again with a ghast- 
 ly smile trying to bear it bravely. It was touching to 
 see the poor, ragged gaunt, half famished, much 
 abused, noble fellows trying to be cheerful through it 
 all. Dear old comrades in misery, how often do I rem- 
 ember you and our friendship. Had all been con- 
 ducted as well as the government of the prisons, we 
 -could have had no cause to complain. The best 
 treatment came from the citizens, those at home and 
 the contractors. In addition to the other officers 
 there were ward sergeants, who were our prisoners. 
 One of their duties was to examine all letters coming 
 to or going from the prison ; also every cent of mon- 
 ey sent to the prisoners was credited in a big book, 
 and should we find by reading our letters that money 
 had been sent we secured a written order for every- 
 thing we intended to buy. We never saw any money 
 but there was a Sutler store inside the pen where we 
 made our purchases. First, we ascertained how much 
 was to our credit by examining the big book, then a 
 clerk filled out an order blank something like this: 
 "This was the Stutler's name." Demorest, let J. R. 
 King have 15 cts in apples, 10 cts cabbage, 20c on- 
 ions, 10 cts flour, and so on. After receiving the ar- 
 ticles we balanced the account to see how much was 
 left to our credit. We had but little money and prices 
 were high ; flour five cents per pound, meal the same, 
 onions 15 cents a pound, cabbage 10 cents, small ap- 
 
38 
 
 pies one cent each, tobacco 15 cents for a small thin 
 plug, and the man charged to suit himself. Money 
 letters were cried in a public place and it was neces- 
 sary to answer several questions before it was con- 
 sidered safe to deliver the letter. The people at home 
 never knew how we suffered in prison. If we attemp- 
 ted to tell it in our letters, the Censor saw that they 
 were not mailed. The assistant Provost Marshalls, 
 Captain Hunger and Captain Peck, and several un- 
 der officers looked after the inside of the prison. 
 They were responsible for the sanitary condition and 
 the management of the hospitals, cookhouse, the 
 wards, the dead house, hurrying the dead and other 
 things. The ward sergeant's duties were to conduct 
 his men to their meals, call the roll, give reports to 
 headquarters concerning his ward, make out requi- 
 sitions for clothing, coal, etc. There were nearly 1,- 
 000 prisoners at Elmira one time ; sometimes less 
 and sometimes more. During the winter those who 
 came from the South felt the cold exceedingly and 
 died from pneumonia. Our clothes were poor. The 
 pants I had when arriving at Elmira were in such a 
 bad condition that for a long time I wore nothing 
 but my underwear. However, when the cold weather 
 appeared I was glad to welcome old pants again and 
 after much patching they were a great comfort. In the 
 late winter, out-of-date government coats were pre- 
 sented to us for overcoats : for some reason unknown 
 to us the tails had been cut unevenly,one side being a 
 foot long and others extending only a few inches 
 below the waist line. They helped to keep us warm, 
 but should we have been out in the world in such cos- 
 tume, one might have mistaken us for scarecrows 
 eloping from the neighboring cornfield. Oilcloth and 
 two blankets was the covering in our bunks, with a 
 big snow outside and the bitter wind raging around 
 the plank building and whistling in at the cracks. We 
 didn't dream of comforts and many of us had very 
 poor shoes. Mine were ready to be cast aside and I 
 did not get a new pair until the last day of February. 
 While in the house I wrapped my feet in old rags 
 
39 
 
 which kept them warm, but in the late winter we 
 were compelled to stand in the snow eveiy morning 
 for roll call, consequently my feet and shins were 
 badly frozen. In the spring they had the appearance 
 of a gobbler's legs and it was many years after I re- 
 turned home before they were entirely cured. Many 
 besides myself had frozen feet. The man who looked 
 after the fires made only two fires in 24 hours. Each 
 ward had two stoves. The first fire was made at 8 
 o'clock in the morning, the other at 8 P. M. Near noon 
 and midnight we were comfortable, but during the 
 twelve hours between fires when the temperature of 
 the stoves lowered we often suffered with the cold. 
 A dead line nailed to the floor three feet in circilm- 
 ference surrounded the stoves. Of course we could 
 not cross the dead lines and often a petty officer en- 
 tering on a cold evening found some of the ragged 
 shivering men standing too near the fast cooling 
 stove, would become enraged and would run curs- 
 ing, striking right and left through the crowd, little 
 caring who received the blows or what he did. One 
 day a poor fellow was standing near the stove with 
 an old blanket thrown about his shoulders, held at 
 the throat by an enormous safety pin made from a 
 piece of large wire. The long sharp point of a pin ex- 
 tended through the hook which held it in place. The 
 man of authority struck a swinging blow at the poor 
 fellow when his hand came in contact with the point 
 of that big pin which tore his fingers unmercifully. 
 But it cured him of his fighting propensities. Pun- 
 ishment often resulted from trifling offences and of 
 course we dared not defend ourselves. Some of the 
 men in our ward were powerful men. One was a very 
 tail sergeant who lived in Elmira. His duties kept 
 him inside the prison continually and we called him 
 Long Tom. It gives me pleasure to speak of him for he 
 had a kind heart and was a favorite of every one. He 
 was called our coal sergeant, often when the weather 
 was intensely cold and our fires were low upon re- 
 quest our big friend would get us coal if possible. 
 Much sickness prevailed among the prisoners. In the 
 
40 
 
 latter part of the winter many came from nearMobile 
 Bay and brought with them small pox. There were 
 more than forty cases in our ward, and many died. 
 When seven years of age I was vaccinated and al- 
 though surrounded with it I escaped, there were also 
 many cases of pneumonia, measles and thousands of 
 us were afflicted with the stubborn diarrhoea. The 
 poor fellows died rapidly, despondent, homesick, 
 hungiy and wretched, I have stood day after day 
 watching the wagons carry the dead outside to be 
 buried and each day for several weeks 16 dead men 
 were taken through the gate. While the prison was 
 occupied by us which was about one year it was esti- 
 mated that 3000 men died. The physicians were very 
 good but it was impossible to save all. At one time 
 scurvy was among us. There were not many deaths, 
 but it caused much suffering. I was among the vic- 
 tims. It frequently attacked the mouth and gums, 
 become so spongy and sore that portions could be 
 removed with the fingers. Others were afflicted in 
 their limbs, the flesh became spotted and the pains 
 were almost unbearable. The remedy was raw vege- 
 tables and a medicine called chalk mixture. Our dead 
 were buried outside by a detail of 16 or 17 prisoners. 
 The name of the company and Regiment of the dead 
 were written on a piece of paper and put in a tightly 
 corked bottle and burried with the corpse, all were 
 buried in that way. Their caskets were made in the 
 pen by prisoners detailed for that purpose. During 
 the early spring the 40th, 41st and 42nd wards were 
 converted into hospitals. We all decided beds made 
 of shavings would be a luxury, so every fellow that 
 was able procured a sharp knife and a pine board 
 and I doubt if the world ever saw such a universal 
 whitling in so short a time. All tried to possess a com- 
 fortable bed, but in a few days the Provost Marshall 
 inspected our quarters and ordered every shaving 
 burned. They advocating that the shavings would 
 breed veimin, but we had already been made very 
 uncomfortable by their presence. Near the cook- 
 house there were vessels for heating water, but few 
 
41 
 
 of us could get soap and consequently the few clothes 
 we had never were washed. The prisoners passed the 
 time making trinkets. Capt. Munger and Capt. Peck, 
 secured the material and after the articles were com- 
 pleted they sold them in the city for the best price 
 possible, always remitting the money. In passing 
 through the prison one would see a boisterous lot 
 playing cards or some other game, numbers making 
 rings out of Gutta-percha buttons and riveting sets 
 on to them of real silver which the captains had pur- 
 chased, others were making pretty trinkets out of 
 bone, such as tooth picks and seals for watch chains, 
 with birds, squirrels and other figures designed on 
 them. Some made watch chains out of horsehair with 
 single links, with two links interlocked and others 
 with three links interlocked making a round chain. 
 This was done with horsehairs and two common 
 needles. We took a board 18 inches long and 4 or 5 
 inches wide, near one end a small hole was made into 
 which a flat post a foot in length with a little pole 
 near the top was placed, in that hole was a little 
 round tapered stick running almost to a point. The 
 stick was as large around as we desired the links of 
 the chain inside, after taking the coarse hair from 
 the horses' tails, we placed a small board on a chair 
 and sat on it with the post between our knees, the lit- 
 tle stick pointing to us, threaded the needles on both 
 ends of the horse hairs, then make the little links 
 around the stick, slide the needles each way under 
 the link across the hair, and worked the bottom hole 
 stitch around the center of the link, and then inter- 
 locked as many links as we wanted. With little prac- 
 tice very prety chains could be made. Others in our 
 pen made fans out of white pine wood, the board was 
 cut in the shape of a paddle with a fancy handle, 
 then the part which formed the paddle was notched 
 and cut into thin slices with a very sharp knife. The 
 wood was softened with warm water and then the 
 slices bended like a fan, different colored ribbons 
 were worked through the notches and the ends tied 
 in a bow around the handle. They were very pretty, 
 
42 
 
 but frail. One man made a small parasol on the same 
 plan. I saw Capt. Peck, carrying it around one day. 
 I suppose he found a purchaser for it. Another man 
 made a rude engine. One day I gave him a cracker to 
 see it iTin, that was the admittance. Many wore green 
 shades over their eyes on account of the blazing sun 
 on the sand, tents and water, some of the managers 
 sowed patches of oats which was restful to the eyes. 
 
 I will tell you something of the many punish- 
 ments inflicted on the soldiers; one was wearing the 
 barrel shirt, the big pork barrel with wooden hoops 
 was used, one end was out, a round hole was cut in 
 the other end large enough for a man's head to pass 
 through. The barrel was put over the body by two 
 men leaving the head sticking out through the hole in 
 the end. This he would have to wear two hours be- 
 fore noon and two hours afternoon with a guard be- 
 hind to keep him in action. Then crosses were nailed 
 on the sides of the barrel on which the man's offense 
 was painted in big black letters. Sometimes it was a 
 lie; othertimes theft, so here promenaded the man, 
 the barrel, the crosses and the guard ; one cross said : 
 ''I am a liar." Another said : "I am a thief." This con- 
 tinued day after day. Capt. Whiton, the boss of the 
 cookhouse, had a fat dog which was very friendly 
 and one day was missing. So the Captain found upon 
 investigation that two hungry fellows had killed 
 his dog. Enraged with anger he had the two men ta- 
 ken to headquarters, barrel shirt put on them and 
 dog eater painted on the cross. The prisoners ate 
 every rat they could find and it is well for the rat 
 I didn't find any. They smelt very good while fiying. 
 Sometimes men were bucked and gagged or tied up 
 by the thumb for punishment, which was the most 
 cruel of all punishments. I would not punish a dog 
 in that way. 
 
 Some enterprising fellow built a large frame 
 work outside near the big gate and not more than 
 fifty feet from the wall. The building had three 
 floors besides the ground floor and was called the ob- 
 servatoiy. There was no roof and it was built for the 
 
43 
 
 sole purpose of observation. One on the upper floor 
 had a fine view of our prison and prices were regu- 
 lated according to the floor on which they 
 stood. The building was forty feet in height. When 
 the weather was pleasant a great many went to the 
 top to look at us. On a beautiful late spring day there 
 was a number of nicely dressed ladies and gentlemen 
 on the top floor. Our provost marshall was sitting on 
 the floor below when presently there came a big ne- 
 gro among the ladies. He shoved them aside and 
 squared himself to get a good look at us. He was 
 finely dressed and apparently thought himself a very 
 important character. We did not like his attitude so 
 a number of the men groaned at him, hissed, hooted 
 making all sorts of expressions about his impudence 
 but he stood reared back and paid little attention to 
 them. Then the Major got up immediately, went up 
 stairs, took the negro by the shoulders, drew his 
 sword, turned him around and marched him down 
 and out. The negro wanted to argue with the Major 
 but it was useless. Of course we gave the Major a big 
 cheer which seemed to please him. I never saw but 
 one negro guard while at Elmira. He was a fine look- 
 ing negro who stood guard sometimes in our pen. He 
 behaved like a gentleman. 
 
 After warm weather came we had many visi- 
 tors, often ladies. Some of them spoke pleasantly 
 and were well behaved, while others were impudent 
 and insulting. I remember one day Colonel Moore's 
 son came in our pen with a few young girls, (Colonel 
 Moore was commander of the post), his son was a 
 foppish young fellow and one of the girls overdress- 
 ed and attracted him. While passing through our 
 ward, with her dainty fingers she tipped up her rust- 
 ling silken skirts and passed along with an effected 
 air and a disdainful look on her countenance, saying, 
 "Oh, the nasty, dirty, ignorant, beastly Rebels, how 
 filthy they are," and on she continued with a pecu- 
 liar air, while some of the girls gave us kindly words 
 and looks and were embarassed by her rudeness ; but 
 she was punished for being so unlady like. One of 
 
44 
 
 our number, Bish Fletcher, a daredevil, took the op- 
 portunity as the girl passed by him to present her 
 with some body lice, 'Grey Backs", we called them. 
 Two sisters of charity visited the prison leaving each 
 a religious tract published by the American Tract 
 Society, and as they passed they treated us with a 
 smile and a kind word. They were real ladies. 
 
 I do not want to leave the impression that every 
 prisoner was sick, poor, ragged and weak like the 
 majority of us, for there were many who escaped 
 sickness and numbers who were kept at detail work. 
 Those who worked were fed much better, but of 
 course the majority of us had to work. We had a ray 
 of sunshine occasionally; in the latter part of the 
 winter my good sister, Elizabeth, and my kind par- 
 ents sent me a box containing biscuits, butter, a 
 piece of bacon, dried apples and a cake. It was all 
 veiy nice, but unfortunately just before the box ar- 
 rived I was sick and had no appetite. I ate very lit- 
 tle of the contents of my box which was a curiosity 
 to the prisoners. When it came they gathered in a 
 great circle about my bunk and Mr. Breen, a rich 
 iron merchant from Georgia, made a speech to the 
 crowd regarding my dear sister's hands which had 
 prepared it and how my dear parents had remember- 
 ed their boy in the far away prison. Jaco L. Hale, a 
 large robust man, a Virginian, and one of the ''Gray 
 Devils", a company belonging to one of the regi- 
 ments in the Stonewall Brigade, used the bunk un- 
 der mine. He was kind to me and was always hungry. 
 I said to Mr. Hale : "Don't you want some butter and 
 bread?" "Yes, sirree," the big fellow answered, and 
 it did me good to watch him sit on the edge of my 
 bunk and eat biscuits and butter. He was a big bony 
 man and a biscuit soon disappeared between those 
 massive jaws. I gave him much of my precious box. 
 He was always my powerful protector and was the 
 last man to whom I spoke in the prison before leav- 
 ing. Dear old fellow, he had a wife and children at 
 home and was ever the protector of the weak. Pris- 
 oners whose homes were within the Yankee lines 
 
45 
 
 could receive money at different times and I always 
 got credit in the big book at the headquarters. Every- 
 thing was so high at the Sutler store we could not get 
 much but it helped to keep the wolf from the door. 
 Some of the prisoners bought and made much for 
 sale so for five cents one could be satisfied for a 
 while. A market place was located near one end of 
 the cookhouse where the prisoners congregated on 
 certain days and tried to sell numberless things to 
 one and another. They sold rings, watch charms and 
 many other trinkts made by the prisoners and besid- 
 es these men would cry their articles on the market. 
 Some tried to sell eatables. We called a piece of the 
 loaf, cut off the crust end, a "Keno-ration", by reas- 
 on of a game of chance some of the men played call- 
 ed "Keno". In the game when a certain number was 
 called out the lucky one would cry out: ''Keno-o-o". 
 So at the cookhouse when one got a heel ration he 
 called in a loud voice: ''Keno-oo.". In the market 
 some would cry : "Here is your keno ration with five 
 chews of tobacco on it for five cents." Still another, 
 "Here's your two rations of meat and ten chews of 
 tobacco on it all for ten cents," and so on. It was a 
 strange medley of things in progress that could nev- 
 er have been seen elsewhere, but little buying was 
 done. Many traded rations. Money was to scarce with 
 which to make purchases. Hunger often caused peo- 
 ple to do desperate things. I myself often watched for 
 the bones, after the meat had been eaten off. I got up 
 many times in my bunk with a bone and after knaw- 
 ing the soft ends, sucked at the bone for hours at a 
 time. I wasn't the only one. No bones went to waste 
 as long as there was any substance left on them. One 
 morning while we were eating our beef ration, Dan 
 Singleton, who occupied one of the top bunks, cried 
 out while holding a small rib in his hand, " Look here 
 boys, here's a fine piece of mule meat." The ribs we 
 were eating were all alike, being round and smaller 
 than the ribs of cattle ; the cow's ribs are flat as ev- 
 ery one knows. The meat was good and we could 
 have relished several more mules had the opportun- 
 
46 
 
 ity been presented. A few of the under officers were 
 quartered in a little house on a steep bank of a creek. 
 They cooked and ate in front of the house, and here 
 the cook emptied his dishwater which sometimes con- 
 tained a little meat and bread and I often saw two 
 men on either side of the greasy place scrambling for 
 the crumbs as the dishwater rushed down the bank. 
 It was pitiful. Many men, once strong, would cry for 
 something to eat. I know from experience. A few 
 more of us could have worked in the carpenter shop 
 had we agreed to take the oath of allegiance to the 
 United States, but we refused. Our wages would 
 have been 5 and 10 cents per day according to our 
 capabilities; this didn't tempt me. A day or two af- 
 ter the lamentable death of our President, Abraham 
 Lincoln, the inside officers approached us with a pa- 
 per telling us that all who would say they were sorry 
 for the President's death would be released first. Not 
 many said they were sorry and those who did stayed 
 there as long as anybody else. I did not say I was sor- 
 ry and when I came out I left thousands in ; yet of 
 course the whole nation was grieved over his death, 
 but we did not care to express our sorrow in that way. 
 However, it was sad to hear the bells tolling in the 
 city when the news came that the President was 
 dead. When Gen. McClellan and Abraham Lincoln 
 ran for president, the majority of the prisoners fav- 
 ored McClellan. They cheered for Little Mac, and 
 one fellow drew the picture of Abraham Lincoln 
 mauling rails and McClellan marching to the White 
 House. Little Mac was very popular in New York. 
 
 Then a flood came in the Chemung, or Gioga 
 River as some called it. There had been much snow 
 during the winter and early in March the thaw caus- 
 ed high water. The snow melted rapidly and soon the 
 little Chemung was raging. The water came into our 
 prison higher and higher, and in a short time the 
 small pox hospital across the creek had to be aban- 
 doned. The water increased and in a few hours it 
 reached nearly every house in the prison. The lower 
 bunks were submerged and the second row wa»j 
 
47 
 
 threatened. We were surrounded by a wilderness of 
 water. A great part of the prison wall was gone and 
 we could see about half of the cookhouse extending 
 above the water. In every direction men could be 
 seen hustling around in boats trying to save things. 
 The hospitals were flooded and all the sick had to be 
 taken into the city. The dead house was on a little 
 higher ground therefore the dead were not washed 
 away. We were confined in the higher bunks for a 
 day or two with nothing to eat or drink but the dirty 
 river water. After the water receeded men came into 
 our wards through the doors in row boats, passing 
 near where we were ^'roosting". They gave us some- 
 thing to eat. My, but it tasted good ! In transferring 
 the sick from the hospitals to the boat, often they fell 
 into the cold water. A poor fellow came out of the 
 hospital next to our ward. He tried to walk a short 
 plank which had been placed from the hospital to 
 the boat, carrying his blanket and some old ragged 
 clothes which belonged to him. Trembling and tot- 
 tering with weakness, as he stepped on the plank, the 
 boat vacillated and the poor fellow staggered, threw 
 up his arms and went headlong into the water. I fear- 
 ed he would drown, but he was rescued and shivver- 
 ing was taken away in the boat. I have no doubt it 
 caused the man's death. As soon as we could with 
 safety we waded out to the highest pump in the pri- 
 son, which was near the deadhouse, to get some wa- 
 ter. On my way to the pump I noticed several old 
 blankets near my feet. Looking closer I discovered 
 a number of dead men concealed under them. The 
 high water had prevented the people from taking 
 them to the graveyard. The walls were rebuilt and 
 in a week or so our old prison was in its natural con- 
 dition. After the overflow I noticed several extreme- 
 ly large ells lying dead in the water. One day while 
 the cleaning was in progress a petty officer of some 
 sort had four or five men under him working at a 
 crossing. Just as the little platform or little crossing 
 had been nearly placed I happened along and this 
 petty officer was bossing, puffing and swearing at 
 
48 
 
 the men. He issued a mighty order to the prison that 
 no man should cross the platform until it was comple- 
 ted. Ignoring the order I crossed and as I was landing 
 on the other side this great man caught me by the 
 shoulders, shoved me roughly towards a Yankee 
 guard who happened to be near and said: "Here, 
 take this man to the guard house and put a barrel 
 shirt on him." The guard asked no questions but con- 
 ducted me to the guard house and in the afternoon 
 I was wearing the barrel shirt. The Yankee guard at 
 headquarters said in a low voice to me "If I were you 
 I would saw wood for the cookhouse and you will not 
 have to wear the barrel longer." Next morning I told 
 them that I wanted to saw wood, so the old measly 
 pork barrel and I parted company forever. I sawed 
 wood a few hours every day for nearly a week. Maj- 
 or Beall came to the guard house to take the place of 
 Major Colts as Provost Marshall. When I was 
 brought before him he said: "What are you here 
 for?" I said: "For nothing at all." He turned to the 
 jailor and said : "What are the charges against this 
 man?" The jailor after looking at his book said : "No 
 charges." Looking at him sternly the Major said: 
 "Let this man out. What is he here for?" I made my 
 departure never to return. 
 
 As the spring passed the number in our wards de- 
 creased. At roll call there was no answer to nearly a 
 third of the names. Many had died but early in the 
 spring about 300 of the sick had been sent south to be 
 exchanged. I think the government had intended to 
 send the most of us back to Dixie in the spring had 
 the war not closed, but when Gen. Lee surrendered 
 we then knew that those who lived would return to 
 Dixie. There was great rejoicing and ringing bells at 
 Elmira when the news came that Lee had surrender- 
 ed. After that we received better treatment from the 
 Yankees and were not guarded so closely. Of course 
 we felt badly when we heard that our beloved Gen. 
 Lee had surrendered, for we knew our noble Army of 
 Northern Virginia would hereafter be only a memory. 
 I am proud to say that I once belonged to the Army of 
 
49 
 
 Northern Virginia and marched and fought under 
 the illustrious Robert E. Lee, who, when he had to 
 go down, went down bravely. We started out for 
 what we thought was right and stayed with it faith- 
 fully to the bitter end, 
 
 I want to speak of some of the characters in our 
 prison who were very interesting. One fellow whom 
 we called Shocky,seemed to have a mysterious influ- 
 ence over the Yankees. He was always well dressed 
 and apparently loyal to the South, but it was always a 
 mystery to us how he could go over the wall at a cer- 
 tain place at anytime he desired and always be re- 
 spected by the guards. We thought it possible that 
 some free masonry was connected with it. Five of the 
 young Virginians also seemed to be more favored 
 than the rest of us. Among them was Bill McGruder, 
 Bill Hale and a Georgian called Nick Carnochan ; the 
 latter pronounced his name Conahan. These young 
 fellows enjoyed many privileges denied the others. 
 Then there was ''Old Buttons", a man who sewed 
 buttons on promiscously to show every battle or skir- 
 mish in which he had been. I saw the old fellow die 
 while he and I were in the hospital. We had "Old 
 Blue Ridge" too, a man of gigantic size who wore a 
 home-made blue coat trimmed in various places with 
 fringes, who with all his eccentricties was very kind. 
 Old Pickett, the Florida fisherman, watched from 
 morning till night for the chews of tobacco others 
 had thrown away. He threw them into his mouth as 
 though his life depended upon it. There were many 
 remarkable men with us, of whom I would like to 
 speak but time will not permit. As the summer drew 
 near we all became restless and were longing for 
 home. Parnell from South Carolina had been em- 
 ployed around headquarters as a messenger boy. As 
 I sat in my bunk despondent and hungry one evening 
 early in June, Parnell appeared, saying in a low 
 voice : "King, you are going out on the next load. I 
 heard your name called today at headquarters. Be 
 still and do not tell anybody but get ready." I asked 
 who else was going from our ward. He said only 
 
50 
 
 four: myself, Hoy Reger, Andrew Winster Reger, 
 who was one of my own company in Dixie, and him- 
 self. Elated over the news I commenced to get ready. 
 My pants were ragged and dirty. I had an old U. S. 
 blanket and ten cents in money. I went to Bill Goans, 
 who was handy with the needle, and asked him if he 
 would make me a pair of pants out of the blanket. He 
 wanted 25 cents for the job, but I told him I had but 
 10 cents in the world and that I was to start home on 
 the next load. He hesitated, then said : ''All right. I 
 will do it, as you are going home." They were better 
 than the ones I wore but I believe Wanamaker 
 would have made a better fit. All our comrades were 
 soon informed that we were going home and we did 
 not try to keep it a secret. As soon as Mr. Hale, a 
 friend of mine, knew we were going he said: ''Come 
 and sit down. I want to give you a shave before you 
 leave. He fixed me up the best he could. Then in a 
 day or two we were taken out, measured and our 
 complexion taken down on paper. The next morning 
 300 of us were taken to the cookhouse and while stan- 
 ding together with our right hands raised the oath of 
 allegiance to the U. S. was administered. Then we 
 were given two days rations, our paroles handed to 
 us and we were ready for the journey. I will never for- 
 get the march from the cookhouse to the big gate. 
 All the prisoners who were left behind congregated 
 near the street as we went out. No battle scarred vet- 
 erans ever marched to victory prouder than that rag- 
 ged, poorly fed, miserable 300 which passed through 
 the big gate never to return. Many of the poor fel- 
 lows left behind waved us farewells, for but few 
 ever met again. The last familiar face I remember as 
 I went out was that of Mr. Hale, my best friend. He 
 waved his hand and said: "Goodbye, King" This 
 was the tenderest goodbye for me of all. As I write 
 today the memories of that ])rison, our suffering, 
 many old comrades I knew well, all rush to my mem- 
 ory so vividly that I seem to live it all over again. It 
 brings a sadness to my heart that I can hardly shake 
 off at times. 
 
51 
 
 We waited in the city until afternoon before tak- 
 ing the train for Baltimore and while there I sold an 
 old blanket I had left for 40 cents and that was all 
 the money with which I had to buy anything to eat 
 on the journey. My two days rations I drew before 
 leaving the prison were so small that I ate all before 
 I passed through the gate, so after getting 40 cents 
 for the blanket I spent 20 cents of it for bread and 
 cheese and ate the most of that before taking the 
 train. The U. S. government gave us free transporta- 
 tion home as far as we could travel by rail or water. 
 In the evening we started for Baltimore on the Penn- 
 sylvania North Central R. R. We went through Wil- 
 liamsport, Sunburg, Harrisburg and several other 
 towns and passed long trains of Yankee soldiers go- 
 ing to New York to be discharged. They cheered us 
 as they passed and our train stopped outside of Bal- 
 timore for a few minutes. Above us were some wom- 
 en in a garden which had fine onions in it and upon 
 asking for some a negro girl threw us a few. They 
 were what we called clove onions and were fearfully 
 hot. We ate one or two of them and kept the others. 
 In Baltimore while waiting at the Band Depot all 
 day before getting through to WestVirginia,! was sit- 
 ting in the Camden Street station eating one of my 
 hot onions when I noticed some ladies looking at me. 
 I thought probably they were admiring the fit of my 
 new pants, but later one said kindly: 'Toor fellow, 
 he looks pitiful." Then I discovered that they thought 
 I was crying and were sympathizing with me. I con- 
 cluded I would eat more onions, as it was comforting 
 for some one to look at me kindly. I ate my supper 
 that evening at the Soldier's home near the station 
 and I can assure you that I did not leave that table 
 hungry. We took the train in the evening for Graf- 
 ton, W. Va., and reached there the next day. I spent 
 that night with my Uncle, my Father's brother, John 
 M. King. The next day I went to Clarksburg and 
 from Clarksburg home. I walked 36 miles that night, 
 Hoy Reger and myself. Being timid to approach the 
 house, we slept in a pasture field. The next day we 
 
52 
 
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 001 034 616 2 
 
 went by way of Buckhannon and parted at the 
 mouth of Turkey Run. I crossed the river at Hyer's 
 Mill and arrived home in the evening, finding all a- 
 live and well. I will not try to tell about our happy 
 reunion. There will never be another so happy un- 
 til we shall meet up there where God will never let 
 us part. 
 
 Brother Cyrus is sitting in front of me as I 
 write. I have a beautiful home, children and grand- 
 children who are tall big men. In a few weeks I will 
 be seventy-four and am hale and hearty and I thank 
 our good master for it all. 
 
 In conclusion I will say the war is over. We 
 have peace and prosperity. The North and South are 
 united, but the South is our South. I love it. My 
 heart is with the South and nobler women never liv- 
 ed than our women of the South and there never 
 was in any country nobler women banded together 
 than the Daughters of the Confederacy for the work 
 which they have undertaken. Dear Children of the 
 South, U. D. C.'s, may the kind hand that led me 
 through battles and prisons safely lead everyone 
 securely through the battle of life to a happy old 
 age. To you all I send a greeting. This imperfect 
 sketch was written near Roanoke, W. Va., Feb. 23, 
 1916. 
 
 John R. King