V * Author Title Imprint la— 47372-3 LIBRARY OF^NGRESS 0001361117^' H H H H * m IN DIXIE-^ -oi^- MY PEf^SONAL EXPBRIENSE IN REBEL PRISONS. fit <^locU of iPic oK"atc)^flip.^, '3'tiuation^ cixib Su['['c ^l»ig> o[' i(\,e "eSoip in o'iiCw-e" but lug llie tale ?|Mar^ of t^tz §teC^c-^l'io^v. -B-^- A PRIVATE OF 00, D, lOTH REGIMENT WIS0ONSIN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY. OWATONNA, MINN. THE PEOPLE'S PRESS PRINT. 1889. To rriy Conirades who, like rriyself, were so uiiforturiate as to have suffered the l^orrors of a living death iq the Prisori Pens of tl-ie South, aqd wl"io, tl^rough all t\\e\r l^ardsl^ips, privatioqs, aqd sufferir^gs, remained loyal to our FLAG, and to nriy beloved Wife, wP\o suffered uqtold tortures of nqind begotteq by anxiety on account of tl^e ur\certair|ty of nqy fate, for fifteen long, weary, nqonths, — tfiis work is dedicated iq F, C. & L. by THE AUTHOR. '^.^. -'1 COPYRIGHT, 1889, BY W. W. DAY. PREFACE I have sometimes been in doubt whether a preface was necessary to this work; but have decided to write one, for the reason that in a preface the author is permitted to give the reader a "peep behind the scenes," as he is not permitted to do in the body of the book. Since the commencement of the publication of this story, in a serial form, a few very good people have been so kind as to tell me, that it is "too late in the day" to write upon the sub- ject of Rebel Prisons. My answer is: it is never too late to tell the story of what patriotic men suffered in the defence of Constitutional liberty, and of the Union of States, which union was cemented by the blood of our Revolu- tionary sires. It is never too late to tell the story of, — "Man's unhumanity to man." It is never too late to tell the truth, although the truth may be sharper than a two-edged sword. It is never too late to inspire our young men to love, and venerate, and defend, the Flag of their Country; to tell them how their fathers suffered in support of a principle No, it is not too late to tell this story, and I have no apologies to offer any man, living or dead, for tell- ing it. But, while I have no apologies to offer, I deem an explanation in order. Since I commenced writing this Story I have felt the want of a liberal education as I never felt it before. For, to tell the exact truth, I never en- joyed the advantages of any school of higher grade than the common district school of thirty years ago. Therefore, kind reader, — you who have enjoyed the advantages of better schools, and a more liberal education, — when you find a mistake in this book, one which can not be laid at the door of the printer, kindly, and for "Sweet Charity's Sake," overlook it; for I assure you I would be thus kind to you under similar circumstances. W. W. DAY. Lemond, Minnesota, September, 1889. CONTENTS. age. CHAPTER I. 1 Introduction 2 The Battle of Chickamauga 5 Captured CHAPTER II. 6 The Field Hospital 8 A trip over the battle field 8 The Atlanta Prison Pen 9 - The "Engine Thieves" 10 Onward to Richmond CHAPTER III. 12 Libby Prison 18 Scott's Building 15 "Zult" CHAPTER IV. 16 Danville Prison 17 Bug Soup 18 Patriotic Songs 19 Searched — Small-pox CHAPTER V. 20 The "Very Lord" 21 Escape of Johney Squires 22 Skirmishing CHAPTER VI. 25 - En Route to Andersonville 27 Description of Andersonville 28 "Dugouts" and "Gophers" CHAPTER VII. 29 Winder and Wirz 31 "Poll Parrot" 32 - Georgia Home "Gyaards" CHAPTER VIII. 33 Insufficient and poor quality of rations. 34 Digging Wells 35 Providence Spring 35 Stealing a board from the dead line 36 A break in the stockade 36 - Plymouth Pilgrims Page. CHAPTER IX. 38 ... The Raiders 39 Capture and hanging of the raiders 41 - - - Spanking CHAPTER X. 42 - - Close quarters 43 Joe Hall and "Tip" Hoover 46 The Negro. Catholic Priest CHAPTER XI. 47 Mortality at Andersonville Dr. Jones' report 57 Remarks on Dr. Jones' report CHAPTER XII. 59 - Progress of the war 59 - - Tribute to Logan 60 - - - New quarters 61 Number of deaths in Ander- sonville 62 - . - Jeff Davis CHAPTER XIII. 64 - Good-bye Andersonville 65 - - Arrival at Charleston 66 - - Historic Ground 66 - - - - Florence CHAPTER XIV. 68 Naked and cold and hungry, Sherman 69 Letter to Wisconsin Sanitary Commission. 70 Tribute to the Sanitary Com- mission. 72 - - - - Honey CHAPTER XV. 73 . - - Vale Dixie 74 - Exchange Commenced 75 - - My turn comes 77 - - Homeward bound 77 - - - Conclusion ERRATA. On page 3, 23d line, 1st column, for "right" read regiment. On page 74, 16th line, for "adopt" read adopted. On page 74, 23d line, for "slowing" read slowly. On page 74, 2d column, 2d graph, 10th line, for "regions" designs. para- read FIFTEEN MONTHS 112 DIXIE. i.: prison, and that prison, Libby. Heretofore I had escaped being searched for money and valuables.but one day a rebel came up and ordevt '1 all Chickamauga prisoners down to the second floor. I did not immedi- ately obey his orders and soon there was much speculation among us as to what was wanted. Some were of the opinion that there was to be an ex- change of Chickamauga prisoners. Others thought they were to be re- moved to another prison. To settle the question in my own mind I went down. I had not got half way down the stairs before I found what the order meant, for there standing in two ranks, open order, were the 14 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE Chickamauga boys, a rebel to each rank, searching them. I had but little money. Not enough to make them rich, but the loss of it would make me poor indeed. I im- mediately formed my plan and as quickly acted upon it. Going down the stairs, I passed to the rear of the rear rank, down past the rebel robbers, up in front of the front rank, and so on back upstairs, past the guard. I discovered then and there,that a little "cheek" was a valuable commodity in rebel prisons. We were divided into squads, or messes, of sixteen for the purpose of dividing rations. I was elected Sergeant of the mess to which I belonged, and from that time until my release had charge of a mess. Our rations were brought to us by men from our own prison and divided among the Sergeants of messes, who in turn divided it among their res- pective men. Each man had his number and the bread and meat were cut up into sixteen pieces by the Ser- geant, then one man turned his liack and the Sergeant pointing to a piece, asked "whose is this T' "Number ten." "Whose is this?" '-Number three," and so on until all had been supplied. Our rations, while in Rich- mond, consisted of a lialf pound of very good bread and about two ounces of very poor meat per day. Some- times varied by the issue of rice in the place of meat. Sometimes our meat was so maggoty that it was white with them, but so reduced were we by hunger that we ate it and would have been glad to get enough, even of that kind. To men blessed with an active mind and body, the confinement of prison life is exceeding irksome, even if plenty of food and clothing, with good beds and the luxuries of life, are furnished them, but when their food is cut down to the lowest limit that will sustain life, and of a quality at which a dog, possessed of any self- respect, would turn up his nose in disgust, with a hard floor for a bed, with no books nor papers with which to feed their minds, with brutal men for companions, with no change of clothing, with vermin gnawing their life out day after day, and month after month, it is simply torture. Time hung heavy on our hands. We got but meagre news from tlie front and this came through rebel sources, and was so colored in favor of the rebel army, as to I)e of little or no satisfaction to us. The news that Meade had crossed tlie Rapidan, or had recrossed the Rapidan, had be- come so monotonous as to be a stand- ing joke with us. Our first question to an Army of the Potomac man in the morning would be, -'has Meade crossed the Rapidan yet tliis morn- ing T' This frequently led to a skir- mish in wliich some one usually got a bloody nose. News of exchange came frequently but exchange did not come. Some- body would start the story tliat a cartel had been agreed upon, then would come a long discussion upon the probabilities of the truth of die story. The rebels always told prison- ers that they were going to be ex- changed whenever they moved them from one point to another. This kept the ]>risouers quiet and saved extra guards on the train. While we were at Richmond we had no well concerted plan for killing time for Ave were looking forward hopefully to the time when we should be exchanged, but we learned at last to distrust all rumors of exclmnge and all other promises of good to us for hope was so long deferred that our hearts became sick. We were too much disheartened to joke but occasionally something would occur which would cause us to laugh. It would be a sort of dry laugh, more resembling the crackling of parcliment but it was the best we could a.ft"ord under the circumstances and had to pass muster for a laugh. One day salt was issued to us and nothing but salt. I suppose "Majah" Turner thought we could eat salt and that Avould cause us to drink so much water that it would fill us up. A Ger- man, who could not talk English, was FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 15 not present when the salt was divided. He afterward learned that salt had been issued and went to the Sergeant of his mess and called, "zult, zult." "What?" Said the Sergeant. "Zult. zult." said Dutchy. "0, salt ! The salt is all gone. All been divided. Salt ausgespiel," says the Sergeant. "Zult, zult !" says Duchy. "Go to h — 1" says the Sergeant. "Var ish der hell ?" And then we exploded. I remained in Richmond until Nov- vember 24th, when I, with 699 other piisoners was removed to Danville, Va. We were called out before daylight in the morning. Each man taking with him his possessions. Mine con- sisted of an olil oil-cloth blanket, and a haversack containing a knife and fork and tin plate, also one day's ra- tions. We formed line and marched down 15th street to Carey, and up Carey street a few blocks, then across the wagun bridge to the Danville de- pot. Here we were stowed in box cars at the rate of seventy prisoners and four guards in each car. A little arithmetical calculation will show the reader that each of us had a fraction over three square feet at our disposal. Stock buyers now-a-days allow sixty hogs for a car load, and with larger cars than we had. Don't imagine, however, that I am instituting any comparison between a car load of hogs and a car load of prisoners: — it would be uujust to the hogs, so far as comfort and cleanliness go. Our train pulled out from the depot, up the river, past the Tredegar Iron Works.and on toward Danville. Our "machine" was on old one and leaked steam in every seam and joint. Some- times the track would spread apart, then we would stop and spike it down and go ahead. At other times the old engine would stop from sheer exhaus- tion, then we would get out and walk up the grade, then get on board and away again. Thus we spent twenty- four hours going about one hundred and fifty miles. During the night some of the prisoners jumped from the cars and made their escape, but I saw them two days afterward,bucked and gagged, in the guard-house at Danville. CHAPTER IV. DANVILLE PEISON. "So within the prison cell, We are waiting for the day That shall come to open wide the iron door, And the hollow eye grows bright, And the poor heart almost gay, _ As we think of seeing home and friends once more." We arrived at Danville on the morning of November 25tli, and were directly marched into prison No. 2. There were six ]irison buildings here, all tobacco factories. Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 being on the public square. Nos. 2 and 3 being on the west side. No. 1 on the north side adjoining a canal, and No. 4 on the south side. The other prisons were in other parts of the city. In each prison was confined 700 men. Each building was three stories high with a garret, making four floors in each prison. Thus we had 175 men on each floor. The prisons were, as near as 1 can guess, 30x00 feet so that we had an average of ten and one-third square feet to each man or a little more than a square yard apiece. Our rations at first consisted of a half pound of bread, made from wheat shorts and about a quarter of a pound of pork or beef. The quality was fair. I had for a "chum," or "pard, from the time I arrived at Atlanta until I came to Danville, an orderly Sergeant, of an Lidiana Regiment, by the name of Billings. He was a graduate of an Eastern College and at the time he enlisted left the position of Principal of an Academy in In- diana. He was one of nature's noble- men, intelligent, brave, true-hearted and generous to a fault. I was very much attached to him as he was a gen- ial companion far above the common herd. But after I had been in Dan- ville about a week, I learned that there were a number of the comrades of my company in Prison No. 1. So I applied for, and obtained, permission to move over to No. 1. I parted with Billings with regret. I have never seen him since and know nothing of his fate, but I imagine he fell a vic- tim to the hardships and cruelties of those prisons. I found, when I arrived in No. 1, not only members of my own company but a number of men from Company B of my regiment. We were quar- tered in the south-east corner on the second floor. Nearly opposite where I was located comrade Dexter Lane, then a member of an Ohio regiment, now a citizen of Merton, Steele coun- ty, Minnesota, had his quarters. We were strangers at that time but since then have talked over that prison life until we have located each other's position, and feel that we are old acquaintances. I think I did not feel so lonesome after I joined my comrades of the 10th Wis. There is something pecu- liar about the feelings of old soldiers towards each other. Two years be- fore these men were nothing to me. I had never seen them until I joined the regiment at Milwaukee. But what a change those two years had wrought. We had camped together on the tented field and lain side by side in the bivouac. We had touched elbows on those long, weary marches through Kentucky. Tennessee. Ala- FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. 17 bama and Georgia, had stood shoulder to shoulder in many hard fought bat- tles, and now we are companions in Southern prisons. They were not as' kind-heartea, nor as intelligent as Billings but there was the feeling of comradeship which no persons on earth understand as do old soldiers. The "majah" in charge of Prison No. 1 was a man by the name of Charley Brady, a southern gentleman from Dublin or some other seaport of the "Green Isle,'" and to his credit, I will say, he was a warm hearted Irish gentlemen. I do not call to mind any instance where he was unnecessarily harsh or cruel, but on the other hancl, he was kind and pleasant in his man- ner and in his personal intercourse with us treated us as though we were human beings in marked contrast with the treatment of the prison offi- cials who were genuine Southerners brought up under the influences of that barbarous institution, slavery. Perhaps some of my readers who were confined in Prison No. 1 will not agree with me in my estimate of Charley Brady, Vnit if they will stop a moment and consider, tliey will re- member that our harsh treatment came from the guai'ds who were a separate and distinct institution in prison economy, or was the result of infringement of piison rules. About a week after my arrival in No. 1 some of tlie prisoners on the lower floor were detected in the at- tempt to tunnel out. They had gone into the basement and started a tun- nel with the intention of making their escape. They were driven up and distributed on the other three floors. This gave us about two hun- dred and thirty men to a floor and left us about eight square feet to the person. About this time the cook-house was completed and we had a radical change of diet. There were twelve large kettles, set in arches, in which oar meat and soup were cooked. Be- fore proceeding farther let we say, that the cooking was done here for 3.500 men. Our soup was made by boiling the meat, then putting in cabbages, or "cow peas" or "nigger peas," or stock peas, (just suit yourself as to the name, they were all one and the same) and filling up AD LIBITUM with water. The prisons first served were usually best served for if the supply was like- ly to fall short a few pails full of Dan River water supplied the deficiency. Our allowance was a bucket of soup to sixteen men, enough of it, such as it was, for the devil himself never in- vented a more detestable compound than that same "bug soup." Tlie peas from which this soup was made were filled with small, hard shelled, black bugs, known to us as pea bugs. Their smell was not unlike that of chinch bugs but not nearly as strong. Boil them as long as we might, they were still hard shelled bugs. The first pails full from a kettle contained more bugs, the last ones contained more Dan River water, so that it was Hob- son's choice which end of the supply we got. (I notice tliere is considerable in- quiry in agricultural papers as to these same cow peas whether they are good feed for stock. My experience justifies me in expressijig the opinion that you "don't have" to feed them to stock, let them alone and the luigs will consume them.) Our supply of shorts bread was dis- continued and corn bread substituted. This was baked in large pans, the loaves being about ■ two and a half inches in thickness. This bread was made by mixing meal with water, without shortening or lightening of any kind. It was baked in a very hot oven and the result was a very hard crust on top and bottom of loaf, and raw meal in the center. The water-closets of the four pris- ons, which surrounded the square, were drained into the canal already mentioned, and as the drains dis- charged their filth into the canal up stream from us, we were compelled to drink this terrible compound of water and human excrement, for we procured our drinking and cooking water from this same canal. 18 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE The result of this kind of diet und drinlc was, tluit almost every man was atta(;ked with a very aggravated form of camp diarrliea, whicli in time became chronic. Many poor fellows were carried to their graves, and many more are lingering out a miserable existence to-day as a result of drinking that terrible hell-broth. And there was no excuse for this, for not more than ten rods north of the canal was a large spring just in the edge of Dan River, which would have furnished water for tiie whole city of Danville. The guards simply refused to go so far. Some of the men attempted to make their escape while out to the water- closet at night. One poor fellow dropped down from the side of the cook-house, which formed part of the enclosure, and fell into a large kettle of hot water. This aroused the guard and all were captured on the spot. This occurred before the cook- house had been roofed over. So many attempts were made to escape, that only two were allowed to go out at a time after dark. The effect of this rule can be partly im- agined but decency forbids me to describe it. Suffice it to say that with nearly seven hundred sick men in the building it was awful beyond imagination. We resorted to almost every expe- dient to pass away time. We organ- ized debating clubs and the author displayed his wonderful oratorical powers to the no small amusement of the auditors. Well, I have this satis- faction, it did them no hurt and did me a great deal of good. Two members of my regiment worked in the cook-house during the day, returing to prison at night. They furnished our mess with plenty of beef bones. Of these we manufactured rings, tooth picks and stilettos. We became quite expert at the business, making some very fine articles. Our tools were a common table knife which an engineer turned into a saw, with the aid of a file, a broken bladed pocket knife, a flat piece of iron and some brick-bats. The iron and l)rick were used to grind our bones down to a level surface. We also procured laurel root, of •which we manufactured pipe bowls. Carving them out in fine style. 1 made one which I sold for six dollars to a reb, but I paid the six dollars for six pounds of salt. I hope my readers will remember the saw-knife described above, as it will be again introduced in a little scene which occurred in Anderson- ville. Some one of our mess had the super- annuated remains of a pack of cards, greasy they were and dog-eared, but they served to while away many a weary hour. One evening our old German who war^ted "zult," enter- tained us with a Punch and Judy show. The performance was good, but I failed to appreciate his talk. But what w-e all enjoyed most was the singing. There was an excellent quartette in our room and they car- ried us back to our boyhood days by singing such songs as, "Home, Sweet Home," "Down upon the Swanee River," and "Annie Laurie." When they sang patriotic songs all who could sing joined in the chorus. We made that old rebel prison ring with the strains of "The Star Spangled Banner," "Columbia's the Gem of the Ocean," and the like. The guards never objected to these songs and I have caught the low murmur of a guard's voice as he joined in "-Home, Sweet Home." But when w^e sang the new songs which had come out during the war, such as, "Glory! Glory! Hallelujah !" and the "Battle Cry of Freedom," they were not so well pleasAl. We use to tease them by singing, "We will hang Jeff Davis on a sour apple tree, As we go maching on.'" And — "We are springing to the call fiom • the east and from the west, Shouting the battle cry of freedom. And we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best. Shouting the battle-cry of freedom.'' About that time a guard would call FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 19 out. "Yo', Yanks up dah, yo' stop flat kyind of singing or I'll shoot."" "Shoot and he daiBmed." — "For we'll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love the best, &c," would ling out loud and clear for an answer, and then bang would go the guard's gun, answered by a yell of derision from the prison. We suffered very much from cold that winter at Danville for we had no fire. It is true we had a stove and some green, sour gum wood was fur- nished but it would not burn, and then we made some weak and futile attempts to burn stone coal but it was a failure. The proportions were not riglit, there was not coal enough to heat the stone, and so we went without fire. For bedding. I had an oil-cloth blanket and my "pard" had a woolen blanket. But an oil-cloth blanket spread on a hard floor, does not "lie soft as downy pillows are."" It did seem as though my hips would bore a bole through the floor. One day a rebel officer with two guards came in and ordered all the men down from the third and fourth floors, then stationing a guard at the stairs, he ordered them to come u}), two at a time. I was in no hurry this time to see what was going on, so I awaited fur- ther developements. Soon after the men had commenced going up, a note fluttered down from over head. I picked it up. on it was written, "They are searching us for money, knives, watches and jewelry."' Word was passed around and all who had valua- bles began to secrete them. I had noticed that this class of fellows were expert at finding anything secreted about the clothing, so I tried a plan of my own. Taking my money I rollecl it up in a small wad and stuffed it in my pipe. I then filled my pipe with tobacco, lit it and let it burn long enough to make a few ashes on top, then let it go out. Then I went up stairs with my haversack. The robbers took my knife and fork, but did not find my money. A Sergeant of a Kentucky Regi- ment saved a gold watch by secreting it in a loaf of liread. Lucky fellow, to be the owner of a whole loaf of bread. Small-pox broke out among us shortly after oui- arrival at Danville. Every day some poor fellow was car- ried out, and sent off to the pest house up the river. Al)Out the I7th of December, a Hos- ])ital Steward, one of our men, came in and told us he had come in to vac- cinate allot us who desired it. I had been vaccinated when a small boy, but concluded I would try and see if it would work again. It did. Many of the men were vaccinated as the Steward assured them that the virus was pure. Pure ! Yes, so is strych- nine pure. It was pure small-pox virus, except where it was vitiated by the virus of a disease, the most loathsome and degrading of any known to man, leprosy alone excepted. We were innoculated and not vacci- nated. On the 26th I was very sick, had a high fever and when the sur- geon came around I was taken out to the Hospital. CHAPTER V. "Blow, blow, ye winds, with heavier gust! And freeze thou bitter-biting frost ! Descend, ye chilly, smothering snows ! Not all your rage, as now united shows More hard unkindness, unrelenting. Vengeful malice unrepenting. Than heaven illumined man on brother man bestows!" Burns. After I left the prison, I was marched around to three other pris- ons and waited outside while the Sur- geon went through them to visit the sick. It was a damp, chilly day, and I was so sick and tired and my bones ached so badly that I was compelled to lie down upon the cold, wet, stone sidewalk, while the Surgeon went through the prisons. But ail things earthly have an end, so did that Sur- geon's visits,and 1 was at last marched to the Hospital. Here allow me to describe the Hos- pital buildings. There were four of them; three stood on the hill at the south part of the city, the fourth was on the banks of the river, near the Eichmond Railroad bridge. They were about 40x120 feet and two stories high, with a hall running the whole length, dividing them into wards, each Ijuilding contained four wards. They were erected in 1862 for the use of the wounded in the celebrated Peninsular Campaign. To the rear of the north hospital building was the pest-house, a defunct shoe shop, in which convalescent shoemakers, who were soldiers in the rebel army, worked for the benefit of the C. S. A. To the rear of the cen- ter building was the cook-house and eating room, where convalescents took their meals, and to the rear of the cook-house stood the dead house, where the dead were placed prior to burial. To the rear of the south building was the bakery, where all the bread of the hospital and prisons was baked. This arrangement brought the three hospital buildings in a line, while the bakery, dead house and pest-house were in a line to the rear. A line of guards paced their beats around the whole. I supposed when I was sent to the hospital that I had fever of some kind, but in two days the soreness of my throat and the pustules on my face and hands told the story too plainly, that the innoculation of a few days before was doing its work. I was down with a mild form of small-pox, varioloid, the doctors called it, but a Tennessee soldier pronounced it a case of the "Very Lord." I was taken from the hospital to the pest- house and laid on a straw pallet. My clothes were taken from me and sent to the wash-house and I was given a thin cotton shirt and a thin quilt for a covering. The pest-house was but a slim affair, being built for summer use. It stood upon piles four feet high, was boarded up and down without battens and as the lumber was green when built, the cracks were half an inch in width at this time. January 1st, 1864, was a terribly cold day. The Rebel Steward think- ing we were not getting air enough, opened two windows in the ward I was in and then toasted himself at a good fire in another ward. I was charitably inclined and wished from the bottom of my heart that that Steward might have the benefit of a FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. 21 hot fire, both here and hereafter. I nearly froze to death that day. My limbs were as cold as those of a corpse, but relief came about nine o'clock that night in the shape of a pint of hot crust coffee whicli I placed between my feet until all the heat had passed into my limbs, which, with constant rubbing, thawed me out. Our rations at the hospital consist- ed of a slice of wheat bread and a half pint of thick beef soup, this was given us twice a day. After staying in the pest-house a week a suit of clothes was given me and I was sent to Hospital No. 3, which had been turned into a small- pox hospital. Nearly forty per cent, of the Danville prisoners had small- pox yet the death rate was not high from that disease; diarrhea and scurvy were the deadly foes of the prisoners, and swept them off as with a besom. After I had regained strength I entered into an agreement with lialf a dozen others to attempt an escape. Our plan was to get into a ditch which was west of the dead house, crawl down that past the guard into a ravine, and then strike for the Blue Ridge Mountains, thence following some stream to the Ohio River. But the moon was at the full at the time and we w^ere compelled to Avait for a dark night. There is an old saying that a "watched pot never boils," so it was in our case;i)efore a dark niglit came we were sent back to prison. Exchange rumors were current at this time. We talked over the good times we would have when we got back into "God's country." We swore eternal abstinence from bag soup and corn bread, and promised ourselves a continual feast of roast turkey, oysters, beefsteak, mince pies, warm biscuit and honey, but here came a difference of opinion, some voted for mashed potatoes and butter, others for baked potatoes and gravy. There were many strong advocates of each dish. The mashed potatoe men affirmed that a man had no more taste than an ostrich who did not think that mashed potatoes and butter were ahead of anything else in that line; while the baked potatoe men sneeringly insinuated that the mashed potatoe men's mothers or wives did not know how to bake potatoes just to the proper yellow tint, nor make gravy of just the right consistency and richness. The question was never settled until it was settled by each man selecting his own particular dish after months more of starvation. There was restiveness among the men all tlie time, hunger and naked- ness were telling upon their spirits as well as their health. I lay it dowm as a maxim that if you want to find a contented and good natured man, you must select a well fed and comfortaldy clothed man. Philosophize as much as you will upon the sul)ject of diet but the fact remains that w' e are all more or less slaves: — to appetite. During the month of December a number of the prisoners in No. 3 at- tempted a jail delivery by crawling out through the drain of the water- closet. They were detected however and most of them captured and re- turned to prison. Among those who got away w^as .John Squires, of Co. K. 10th Wis. He had i)art of a rebel uniform and managed to keep clear of the Home guards for a number of days, but was finally captured and returned to prison. But this did not discourage him. He had finished out his uniform while at large and was ready to try it again at the first op- portunity. But Johnny was no Micaw- ber who waited for something to turn up; he made his own opportunities. One day he took his knife and un- screwed the "catch" of the door lock and walked out, as he passed through the door he turned to his fellow pris- oners and remarked "Now look he'ah yo' Yanks, if yo" don't have this flo'ah cleaned when I git back yo'll git no ration to-day." Then turning he saluted the guard, walked down stairs, saluted the outer guard. walked across the square, over the l)ridge, passing two guards, past where a number of rebel soldiers were work- 22 FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. ing on a fort and on to "God's Coun- try" where lie arrived after weeks of wandering and hunger and cold in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the valleys of West Virginia: — another case of "cheek." One day a rebel Chaplain came into our prison and preached to us. He informed us with a great deal of cir- cumlocution that he was Chaplain of a Virginia Regiment, that he was a Baptist minister, and that his name was Chaplain. He then proceeded to hurl at our devoted heads some of the choicest selections of fiery ex- tracts, flavored with brimstone to be found in the Bible. In his his con- cluding prayer he asked the Lord to forgive us for coming into the South to murder and burn and destroy and rob, at the same time intimating that he, himself, could not do it. I sup- pose he felt better after he had scorched us and we felt just as well. He would have had to preach to us a long time before he co.uld have made us believe that there was a worse place than rebel prisons. One source of great discomfort, yea. torture, was body lice, "grey-backs," in army parlance. They swarmed upon us, they penetrated into all the seams of our clothing. They went on exploring expeditions on all parts of our bodies, they sapped the juices from our flesh, they made our days, days of woe, and our nights, nights of bitterness and cursing. We could not get hot water,our unfailing remedy in the army. Our only resource was "skirmishing." This means stripping our clothes and hunting them out: — and crushing them. On warm days it was a common sight to see half of the men in the room with their shirts off, skirmish- ing. One day, a number of Reb. citizens came in to see the Yanks.'' Among them was a large finely built young man. He was dressed in the height of fash- ion and evidently belonged to the F. F. Vs. We were skirmishing when they came in, and young F. F. V. strutted through the room, with his head up, like a Texas steer in a Ne- braska corn field. His nose and lips suggested scorn and disgust. Thinks I, "my fine lad I'll fix ycm.'Must as he passed me I threw a large "Grey-back'' on his coat; many of the prisoners saw the act, and contributed their mite to the general fund, and by the time young F. F. V. had made the circuit of the room, he was well stocked with Grey-Viacks. It is needless to add he never visited us again. Scurvy and diarrhea were doing their deadly work even at Danville. These diseases were due, largely, to causes over which the rebels had con- trol. Dr. Joseph Jones, a bitter rebel, professor of Medical Chemistry, at the Medical College in Augusta, was sent by the Surgeon General of the Confederate army, to investigate and report upon the cause of the extreme mortality in Ahdersonville. He ^at- tributed scurvy to a lack of vegetable diet and acids. Diarrhea and dysen. tery, he said, were caused by the fil- thy conditions by which we were sur- rounded, polluted water, and the fact that the meal from which our bread was made wasnot sejjarated from the husk. There have been many stories told with relation to this meal; let mt* make some things ])lain. and then there will not be the apparent con- tradiction, that there is at present in the public mind. The difference in opinion arises from the different interpretations of the word "husk." A true northern man understands husk to mean; — the outer covering of the ear of corn; while a southerner, or Middle States, m.an calls it a "shuck." The husk referred to by Dr. Jones, would be called by a northerner, the "hull," or bran. His meaning was that it was unsifted. The fetid waters of the canal, the unsifted corn meal made into half baked bread, and a lack of vegetables and acids, together with the rigid prison rules, which resulted in filth, and stench, beyond description, were the prime causes of the great mortal- rirTEE:N' months in dixie 23 ity at Danville. During the five months in which I was confined at Danville, more than 500 of 4,200 pri- soners died, or about one in eight. Our clothing too, was getting old, many of the men had no shoes, others were almost naked. Our government sent supplies of food and clothing to us, but they were subjected to such a heavy toll that none of the food, and but little of the clothing ever reached us, and what little was distributed to our men was soon traded to the guards for bread, or rice, or salt. I never received a mouthful of food, or a stitch of clothing which came through the lines. In February reports came to us that the Confederate government was building a large prison stockade some- where down in Georgia, and that we were to be removed to it; that our government had refused to exchange prisoners, and that we were -'in for it during the war." About the 1st of April 1864 the prisoners in one of the buildings were removed. The prison officials said they had gone to City Point to be exchanged, but one of the guards told us they had gone to Georgia. But we soon found out the truth of the matter for on the 15th we were all taken from No. 1 and put on board the cars. We were stowed in at the rate of sixty jirisoners, and four guards to a car. The lot of my mess fell to a car which had been used last, for the conveyance of cattle. No attempt had lieen made to clean the car and we were compelled to kick the filth out the best we could with our feet. Our train was headed toward Kich- mond and the guards swore upon their "honah" that we were bound for City Point to be exchanged. A LETTER FROM COMRADE DEXTER LANE. Since the foregoing chapter was printed in Thk People's Press, we have received the following endorse- ment of the story from a comrade who knows now it was by a personal experience. Editor. Merton, Minn., March 26, '89. Editor People's Press: I have been much interested in pe- rusing a series of articles published in The People's Press from the pen of Hon. W. W. Day, Lemond, giving rem- iniscences of army life, what he saw and experienced while held a prisoner of war in vario\is prisons in the South during the late Rebellion. I confess an ad- ditional interest, perhaps, in the story above the casual reader from the fact that I, too, was a guest of the south- ern chivalry from Sept. 20th, 1863, until the May following. In company with the boys of the 124th Ohio, I attended that Chickamauga Picnic. There were no girls to cast a modi- fying influence over the Johnnies, or any one else. As early as the morn- ing of the 19tli, something got crooked producing no little confusion and ex- citement, which increased as the hours wore away, up to the afternoon of the following day, when siuldenly it seemed that that whole corner of Georgia was turned into one grand pandemonium. Everything that could be gotten loose was let loose, many a boy got hurt that day badly. Some bare-footed gyrating, thing got onto my head, worked in under the hair, and twitched me down. It brought about a quiescence quicker than any dose of morijhia I ever swallowed, and I have eaten lots of it since that time; I can feel its toes to-day. Time passed, night was approach- ing, when several Johnnies ap- proached, one of whom came up to where I was sitting on the ground, and spoke to inc. The man was a blamed poor talker, but I understood fully what was wanted, and acqui- esced promptly. The outcome of which was, 1 was toddled off to At- lanta; from thence to Richmond and Danville, Va. I make no attempt to write of my own personal adventures, or prison experience. Much of it, with but few exceptions, as well as the experience of thousands of others, may be gleaned from the papers of Comrade Day. For a time I owned and occupied a chalk mark, as my bed, on the same floor witli Comrade Day at Danville, and I wish to say, what he lias written of the rebel management of tliose prisons, both at Richmond and Danville, the general treatment of prisoners, rations, in kind quantity, quality, manner of cooking. &c., &c., are tlie cold facts. Many incidents and happenings which he refers to in his narrative came to my own personal observation, and as related by him accord fully with my recollections of them at the time of their occurrence. In fact I heartily endorse, as being substantially true, every word of tlie Comrade's Prison experiences, exfept. i)erhai)s. liis ref- erence to Belle Isle. I think his state- ment there iniliibes a little of the im- aginary, when he characterizes the place as a literal -'hell on earth." Where did he get his facts'? That's the puzzle. No matter, if he were there — It is a small matter however, and may be true after all. I know something of Belle Isle, but have only this to say, if the emperor of the in- fernal regions, who is said to reign below the great divide, has a hole anywhere in his dominions, filled with souls that are undergoing pains and miseries equaling those to which our boys were subjected on Belle Isle, I pray God I may escape it. Dexter Lane. CHAPTER VI. EN ROUTE TO ANDERSONVILLE. "Tis a weary life this — Vaults overhead and gates and bars around me, And my sad hours spent with as sad com- panions, Whose thoughts are brooding o'er their own mischances, Far, far too deeply to take part in mine." •^ -Scott. As the train pulled out of Danville that morning, our hopes began to rise in proportion to the distance we placed between ourselves and our late prison. We had now been in the Confeder- ate prisons seven months, and we had high hopes that our guards were tell- ing us the truth, for once. I am not prepared to say that the people of the South are not as truth- ful as other people; but I will say, that truth was a commodity, which appeared to be very scarce with our guards. When we left the Danville prison, we took with us, contrary to orders, a wooden bucket belonging to my mess. The way we stole it out of prison was this. One of the men cut a num- ber into each stave, then knocked off the hoops and took it down, dividing hoops, staves and bottom among us, these we rolled up in our blankets and keeping together we entered the same car. After the train had started we unrolled our blankets, took out the fragments of bucket, and set it up again. This was a very fortunate thing for us, as it furnished us a ves- sel in which to procure water on that long and dreary trip. Nothing of note occurred until we reached Burkeville Junction, near the scene of the collapse of the Confederacy. Here we were switched off from the Rich- mond road on to the Petersburg road. Some of us who were least hopeful considered this a bad omen; others argued that it was all right, as we could take cars from Petersburg to City Point. Among the latter class were some men who had been prison- ers before, and were supposed to know more than the rest of us about the modes of exchange. We there- fore said no more and tried hard to believe that all would end well. We arrived at Petersbui-g a little before midnight. We were immed- iately marched across the Appomattox River bridge into Petersburg. As we were marching along I noticed a large building, whicli I recognized as one I had seen the previous November, while we were marching through this place on our way to Richmond. I told the boys we Avere going to the Wel- don Depot, the right direction for the South. The hopeful ones still insisted that it was all right, but 1 could not see it that way But the question was soon settled, for we arrived at the Weldon Depot in a short time. How our hearts sank within us as we came to the low sheds and buildings, which form the Station of the Petersburg and Weldon R. R. Heretofore during the day, "God's Country," and home had seemed very near to us, but now all these hopes were suddenly dashed to the. ground, and dark despair, like a black pall, enshrouded us. I believe that most of us wished that dark, rainy night, that it had l)een our fate to have fallen upon the field of battle, and received a soldier's burial. Those of us who had read Shaks- pere could have exclaimed with Hamlet. — "To be, or not to be, that is the question : "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And, by opposing end them — To die — to sleep. No more ; and by a sleep, to say we end The heartache, and the thousaiid natural shocks That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation Devoutedly to be wished. To die, — to sleep; — To sleep ! perchance to dream, aye there's the rub; FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 26 For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause, there's the respect, That makes calamity of so long a life : For who would bear the whips and scorn of time, The oppressor's wrong, the proud miin's con- tumely, The pangs of misprized love, the laws delay. The insolence of office, and the spurns That patient merit of the unworthy takes. When he himself might his quietus make With a bare bodkin? Who Avould these fardels bear. To grunt and sweat under a weary life : But that the drc-ad of something after death, The undiscovered country, from whose bourn No traveller returns, puzzled the will; And makes us rather bear those ills we have. Than fly to others that we know not of? Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;" The all-wise Being has placed within us all, an instinctive dread of death; had it not been so, I fear many poor, miserable, hopeless, prisoners would have gone out of their misery by the suicide's route. Morning came and we were in North Carolina. We took the same route back as far as Augusta, Ga., that we had taken when on our way to Richmond, the autumn previous. We suffered extremely on the way. We were not allowed to get off the cars for any purpose whatever, except to change cars. The guards brought us water in the bucket we had pur- loined from Danville. They were not particular where they procured it. They supplied us from the hand- iest place whether it was the water tank at a station, or from a stagnant pond or ditch by the side of the R. R. track. The reader can imagine that such water was rank poison. The water in the ditches of the Carolina swamps was loaded with decayed vegetable matter; slimy snakes and filthy water reptiles crawled and swam in it, and taken all together it was not much better than the fetid waters of the Danville canal. Our guards, after leaving Peters- berg told us we were on our way to a new prison which had been made at Andersonville, Ga. They cheered us somewhat, by saying it was a large stockade, and tliat we would have plenty of room, wood and water, and more rations. Anything seemed better than Danville to as, and vis- ions of a camp with tents for shelter, good water, more and better food, and opportunity to exercise, floated through our minds, and we thought that our situation would be more tolerable. From Augusta we went to Macon, thence to Andersonville, where we arrived on the 22d of April 1864. Andersonville is in Sumter county. Georgia, sixty-four miles southwest of Macon, on the Macon & Albany Rail- road. The country through all that region is a sandy barren, interspersed with swamps wiiich were filled with rank growths of timber, vines and semi-tropical shrubbery. They were the home of serpents, and reptiles of all kinds indigenous to that latitude, and of many kinds of wild animals The land was rolling but could not be called hilly. The timber was mostly southern, or pitch pine, with the different var- ieties of gum. In the swamps, cypress abounded, from the branches of which the grey, or Spanish moss hung like the beard of a Brobdignag- ian giant, through which the wind sighed and soughed most dismally. My impression, received at the time I was in prison, was, that it was the most God-forsaken country I ever beheld, with the exception of the rice swamps of South Carolina. South Carolina however, had a history rim- ning back to Revolutionary times, while that portion of Georgia had no history, but has acquired one which will last as long as the history of the Spanish Inquisition. And yet at this time. Southern Georgia is redeemed somewhat, by being the location of Thomasville, the winter resort of some of our citizens. The Prison Pen, or Stockade, was located about three-fourths of a mile east of the station,on the opposing face of two slight hills, with a sluggish swampy, stream running through it from west to east and dividing the prison into two unequal parts, the the northern, being the larger part. FIFTEEN MONTHS iN DIXIE 27 The Stockade was in the form of a parallelogram, being longest from north to south. I estimated that it was fifty rods east and west, by sixty rods north and south and that it con- tained eighteen acres, but from this must be subtracted the land lying between the Deadline and Stockade, and the swamp land lying each side of the little stream, known to us as "Deadrun," leaving, according to my estimate, twelve acres available for the use of the prisoners. The author of "Andersonville" gives the area of the prison as six- teen acres and the amount available for prisoners twelve acres. Dr. Jcmes, in his report, gives the area as seventeen acres, but does not intimate that part of it was not avail- able, so that his estimate of the number of square feet to each pris- oner, is nearly one-third too high. The Stockade was built of hewn timbers, twenty-four feet in length, set in the ground side by side, to a depth of six feet, leaving the walls of the Stockade eighteen feet high. The guards stood upon covered platforms or "pigeon roosts'" outside of, and overlooking the Stockade. Not far from the northwest, and southwest corners, on the west side, were the north and south gates. These were made double, by building a small stockade outside of each gate, which was entered by another gate, so that when prisoners or wagons en- tered the stockade they Avere first ad- mitted to small stockade, then the gate was closed, after which they were admitted to the main stockade. These small stockades were ante- rooms to the main prison, and were for the purpose of preventing a rush by the prisoners. Outside of the main stockade the rebels built another stockade, at a distance of about ten rods. Tliis was for the double purpose of preventing a "break" of the prisoners and to pre- vent tunnelling. This second stockade was built of round timbers set in the ground six feet and stood twelve feet above the around. Outside of this second stockade a third one was started, but was not completed when I left. This was for protection against "Uncle Billy Sher- man's Bummers." Commanding each corner of the stockade was a fort, built a sufficient distance to give the guns a good range. These four forts mounted all told eighteen guns of light artillery, as I was informed, and had a general rush been made, they would have slaughtered us as though we were a flock of pigeons. The cook-house was built on low ground on the border of a small stream which ran through the stock- ade, and west from it. The guards camp was west and southwest, from the southern portion uf the stockade. West from the south gate Gen. AVinder had his head-quarters, also the guard house and Wirz' quarters. About a quarter of a mile north of the stockade was the cemetery, then a sandy l)arren, with occasional jack pine growing. I have now given the reader a gen- eral description of the Prison Pen, or Stockade, of Andersonville, as seen from the outside. I will now attempt to give a view of the inside, as seen during five montlis confinement. Upon our arrival at Andersonville on the 22d of April, we were halted at Gen. AVinder's quarters and regis- tered by name, rank, company, and regiment. I will give the reader the the form as written, in the case of one of my tent mates who died at Cliarleston, S. C. the following Oc- tober. George W. Rouse, Co. D. 10th Wiscon- sin Inf —16-3. Whicli meant that lie was assigned to the 3d company and 16 detachment. Wirz had originated a very clumsy and unmilitary organization of the prisoners. He had organized them into companies of ninety men and as- signed three companies to a detach- inent. At the head of these compan- ies and detacliments was a sergeant. For convenience in dividing rations. 28 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. we subivided these companies into squads, or messes, each mess electing their own sergeant. As at Richmond and Danville I was elected sergeant of my mess at Andersonville. We were marched into the north gate and assigned grounds on the east side of the prison, next to the Dead- line, and near the swamp on the north side. We were not subjected to the searching process at Winder's head- quarters, as most of the prisoners were. I suppose we were not a promising looking crowd. Had we been searched, the rebs would hiive found nothing but rags and gray- backs. Thus we were turned into the Prison Pen of Andersonville, like a herd of swine, with the chance to "root hog or die." No shelter was furnished us; no cooking utensils provided; no wood, nothing but a strip of barren yellow sand, under a hot sun. The situation did not look inviting. Our dream was not realized. Y/e had fresh air it is true, for the air had not become contaminated then. We had room for exercise,for 5,000 men do not look very much crowded on twelve acres,it takes 33,000 men to cover that amount of space in good shape ac- cording to the views of Winder and Wirz; but somehow it did not seem homelike. There was a wonderful paucity of the conveniencies, the necessities, to say nothing of the lux- uries of life. About 4,000 men had been sent here during the months of February and March, from Libby and Belle Isle, and 1,000 from Danville, about two weeks before us. First come, first served, was the rule here. The first settlers who "sqiuitted" in Anderson- ville found plenty of wood and brush and with these had, with true Yankee ingenuity and industry, constructed very fair houses, or hovels rather. But they had used up all the building material, had not left a brush large enough for a riding whip, they had left us nothing but sand and a mis- erable poor article of that. But the gods were propitious, and the next day we had the privilege of going out under guard, and picking up material for a house. Rouse and my- self brought in material enough to fix us up in good shape. We secured a number of green poles aV»out an inch thick, some of these we bent like the hoops of a wagon cover, sticking the ends in the ground. Then we fast- ened other poles transversely on them fastening them with strips of bark. We used a U. S. blanket for a roof or cover. The sides we thatched with branches of the long leaved pitch pine In a few hours we had a very fair shelter. I think the settlers in western Min- nesota and Dakota must be in- debted to Andersonville prisoners for the idea of "dugouts."' When we arrived here, we foimd many of the unfortunate prisoners from Belle Isle who had no "pup tent" or blanket to spare, had provided themselves warm quarters by burrowing into the ground. They had dug holes about the size of the head of a barrel at the surface of the ground and gradually enlarged as they dug down, until they were something the shape of the in- side of a large bell. These dugouts were four or five feet deep and usually had two occupants. These gophers were hard looking specimens of hu- manity. They had built fires in their holes, out of yutch pine; over this they had done their cooking, and over this they had crooned during the cold storms of March; they had had some bacon, but no soap, and the mixture of lamp black from the pine, and grease from the bacon, had disfigured them beyond the recognition of their own mothers. Their hair was long and unkempt, and filled with lamp black until it was so stiff that it stuck out like "quills of the fretful porcu- pine." Their clothes were in rags, yes in tatters. They were shoeless, hat- less, and usually coatless. They looked more like the terrible fancies of Gustave Dore than like human beings. And yet these poor boys were originally fair-haired, fair- skinned, blue-eyed, loyal, brave sons of fathers and mothers who were in FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 20 easy circumstances, and in many for husband and papa, to come home, cases wealthy; who would have shed Alas ! those fathers and mothers, their hearts' last drop of blood, for those wives and children are waiting that poor boy. if it would have been yet, yea and shall wait until the sea, of any avail. Or they were husbands and the graves at Andersonvi lie, give to fair women, and fathers to sweet ^^P their dead, blue-eyed children, who were waiting CHAPTER VIL WINDER AND WIRZ. "Lady Anne. Foul devil, forGod'ssake hence, and trouble us not ; For thou hast made the happy earth thy hell, Filled it with cursing cries, and deep exclaims. If thou delight to view thy heinous deeds. Behold this pattern of thy butcheries." — King Richard, III. Shakspere. The man wlio had charge of the prison at Andersouville. and \v\\o was responsible for the barbarities ])rac- ticed there, more than any other man, was Gen. John H. Winder. I had not the h()ni)r(0 of a personal acquaintance with tliiit tiend in liumau shape, but Comrade John McElroy of tlie 16 Illinois Cavalry, the author of ••Andersonville," gives his readers a description of the man. 1 quote from that work. "There rode in among us, a few days after our arrival, an old man whose collar bore the wreathed stars of a Major (xeneral. Heavy white locks fell from lieneath his slouched hat. nearly to shoulders. Sunken gray eyes too dull and cold to light up, marked a hard, stony face, the salient features of which was a thin lipped, compressed mouth, with corners flrawn down deeply — the mouth which seems the world over to be the index of selfish, cruel, sulky malignance. It is such a mouth as has the school boy — the coward of the play ground, who delights in pulling off the wings of flies. It is such a mouth as we can imagine some remorseless inquisitor to have had — that is, not an inquisi- tor filled with holy zeal for what he mistakenly thought the cause bt Christ demanded, but a spleeny, en- vious, rancorous shaveling, who tor- tured men from hatred of their sup- eriority to him, and sheer love of in- rtictiiig pain. TIk' dder was John H. Winder, Couiuiissary General of Prisoners, Baltimorean renegade and the ma- lign genius to whose account should be charged the deaths of more gallant men than the inquisitois of the world ever slew by the less dreadful rack and wheel. It was he who in Aug- ust could point to three thousand and eighty-one new made graves for that month, and exultingly tell his hearer that he was "doing more for the Confederacy than twenty regiments." His lineage was in accordance with his character. His father was that General William H. Winder, w^hose poltroonery at Bladensburg, in 1814 nullified the resistance of the gallant Commodore Barney, and gave Wash- ington to the British. The father was a coward and in- competent; the son, always cautiously distant from the scene of hostilities, was the tormentor of those whom fortunes of war and the arms of brave men threw into his hands." Of his personal appearance I have no recollection, but the above is a true picture of his character. He filled a place in the Confederacy which no brave officer of equal rank would have accepted. Hill, Longstreet, Early, Polk, Hardee, even Forrest and Mos- by would have spurned with con- 30 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE tempt an offer of assignment to the position occupied by the cowardly John H. Winder. Of Captain Henry Wirz I can write of my own knowledge. In personal appearance he was about five feet nine or ten inches in height, slightly built with stooping shoulders. He had a small peaked head, small twink- ling eyes, grisly, frowsy whiskers, and the general contour of his features and expression of eyes reminded one of a rodent. In character he was pusillanimous, vindictive, mean and irritable to those beneath him, or who had the misfortune to be in his power; while to his superiors he was humble and cringing, an Uriah Heep; a person who would "Crook the pregnant hinges of his knee, that thrift might follow fawning." As a specimen of the contemptible meanness of these two persons, I was told by a prisoner who attempted to escape, but was recaptured and put in the stocks, that while at their head- quarters he saw a large dry-goods box nearly full of letters written by pris- oners to their friends; and by friends to them, which had accumulated, and which they had neglected to f(n-ward or distribute. The paper upon which some of these letters was written, and the envelope in which it was en- closed had cost the prisoner, perhaps, his last cent of money, or mouthful of food. The failure to receive those letters had deprived mauy a mother or wife of the last chance to hear from a loved one, or a prisoner of his last chance to hear from those he loved more than life itself. Wirz was Commandant of the in- ner prison and in this capacity, had charge of calling the roll, organiza- tion of prisoners, issuing rations, the sanitary condition of the prison, the punishment of prisoners; in fact the complete control of the inner prison. Winder had control of all the guards, could control the amount of rations to be issued, make the rules and regula- tions of the prison, and had, in fact, complete control of the whole econo- my of the prison; all men and officers connected therewith being subordin- ate to him. Wirz' favorite punishment for in- fringement of prison rules, was the chain-gang, and stocks. Sometimes twelve or fifteen men were fastened together by shackles attached to a loug chain. These uufortunate men were left to broil in a semi-tropical sun, or left to shiver in the dews and pelting rains, without shelter as long as Wirz' caprice or malignity lasted. The stocks were usually for punish- ment of the more flagrant offenses, or when Wirz was in his worst humor. Just below my tent, two members of a New York regiment put up a little shelter. They always lay in their tent during the day, but at night one might see a few men marching away from their "shack" carrying haversacks full of dirt, and emptying them along the edge of the swamp. One morning the tent was gone, and a hole in the groimd marked the spot, and told the tale of their route, which was underground through a tunnel. About 8 o'clock in the morning Wirz came in accomijanied by a squad of soldiers, and a gang of negroes armed with shovels, who began to dig up the tunnel. I went to Wirz and asked him what was up. He was always ready to "blow" when he thought he could scare anybody, so he replied, "By Cott, tem tamned Yanks has got oudt alrety, but nefer mints, I prings tem pack all derights; I haf sent te ploothounts after dt-m. I tell you vat I does, I gifs any Yank swoluf hours de shtart, undt oaf he gits avay, all deright; put oaf I catches him I gif him hell." Some one offered to take the chances. "Allderights."' said he, "you come to de nort cate in der niornick undt I lets you co." The next day we heard that the blood-hounds had found the trail of the escaped prisoners, but that all but one had been foiled by cayenne pepper, and that one, was found dead with a bullet hole in his head. We never heard from our New York friends and infer that that they got to "God's Country." Many attempts were made to tunnel FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 31 out that summer, but so far as I know that was the only successful one. All sorts of ways were resorted to, the favorite way being to start a well and dig down ten or twelve feet, then start a tunnel in it near the surface of the ground. By this means the fresh dirt would be accounted for, as well digging was within the limits of the prison rules. But before the "gopher- hole," as the tunnels were called by the western boys, was far advanced, a gang of negroes appeared upon the scene and dug it up. We always believed there were spies among us. Some thought the spies were some of our own men who were playing traitor to curry favor with Wirz. Others believed Wirz kept rebel spies among us. I incline to the former opinion. Among those who were suspected was a one-legged soldier named Hub- bard. He hailed from Chicago and was a perfect pest. He was quarrel- some and impudent and would say things that a sound man would have got a broken head for saying. His squawking querulous tones, and hooked nose secured for him the name of "Poll Parrott " He was a sort of privileged character, being allowed to go outside, which caused many to believe he was in league with Wirz, though I believe there was no direct proof of it. One day he came to where I was cooking my grub and wanted me to take him in. He said all his comrades were down on him and called him a spy, and he could not stand it with them. As a further inducement he said he could go out when he had a mind, and get wood and extra rations, which he would divide with me. I consulted my '"pard" and we agreed to take him in. He then asked me to cook him sonie dinner, and gave me his frying- pan and some meat. While I was cooking his dinner he commenced finding fault with me, upon which I suggested that he had better do his own cooking. He then showered upon my devoted head some of the choicest epithets found in the Bil- lingsgate dialect, he raved and swore like a mad-man. I was pretty good natured naturally, and besides I pitied the poor unfortunate fellow, but this presuming on my good nature a little too much, I fired his frying-pan at his head and told him to "get"; and he "got." Two days afterwards he went under the Dead-line and began to abuse the guard, a member of an Alabama reg- iment, who ordered him to go back, or he would shoot him. "Poll" then opened on the guard in about the same style as he had on me, winding up by dariug the guard to fire. This was too much and the guard fired a plunging sliot, the ball striking him in the chin and passing down into his body, killing him instantly. A few days before this, a "fresh fish," or "tender foot," as the cow boys would call him nowadays, started to cross the swamp south of my tent. In one place in the softest part of the swamp the railing which composed the Dead-line was gone, this man stepped over where the line should have been, and the guard fired at him but he fired too high and missed his mark, but the bullet struck an Ohio man who was sitting in front of a tent near mine. He was badly, but uot fatally wounded, but died in a few days from the effects of gangrene in liis wound. The author of "Andersonville" makes a wide distinction between the members of the 29th Alabama and the 55th Georgia regiments, which guarded us. in relation to treat- ment of prisoners, claiming that Al- abama troops were more humane than the Georgia "crackers." This was undoubtedly true in this instance, but I am of the opinion that state lineS' bad nothing to do with the matter. The 29th Alabama was an old reg- iment and had been to the front and seen war, had fired at Yankees, and had been fired at by Yankees in return; they had no need to shoot de- fenseless prisoners in order to estab- lish the enviiablie reputation of having: killed a "damnecl Yank;" while the' 55th Georgia was a i>©w iregdimient. or' at least one which had not faeetcll tte< 32 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. music of bullets and shells on the JBeld of battle, they had a reputation to make yet, and they made one as guards at Andersonville, but the devil himself would not be proud of it, while the 5th Georgia Home Guards, another regiment of guards, was worse than the 55th. In making up the 5th Geo. H. G. the officers had "robbed the cradle and the grave," as one of my com- rades facetiously remarked. Old men with long white locks and beards, with palsied, trembling limbs, vied with boys, who could not look into the muzzles of their guns when they stood on the ground, who were just out of the sugar pap and swad- dling clothes period of their existence, in killing a Yank. It was currently reported that they received a thirty days furlough for every prisoner they shot; besides the di sting uished'honah.' In marked contrast with these two Georgia regiments was the 5th Geor- ia regulars. This regiment guarded us at Charleston, S. C, the following September, and during oiir three weeks stay at that place I have no recollection of the guards firing on us, although we were camped in an open field with nothing to prevent our es- cape but sickness, starvation, and a thin line of guards of the 5th Ga. regulars. But this regiment too had seen service at the front. They had been on the Perryville Campaign, had stood opposed to my regiment at the battle of Perryville and had received the concentrated volleys of Simon- son's battery and the 10th Wisconsin Infantry, and in return had placed 146 of my comrades hors de combat. They had fought at Murfresboro and Chickamauga, at Lookout and Mis- sionary Ridge and had seen grim vis- aged war in front of Sherman's stead- ily advancing columns in the Atlanta campaign. Surely they had secured a record without needlessly shooting helpless prisoners. I believe all ex-prisoners will agree with me, that fighting regiments furnished humane guards. For the purpose of tracking escaped prisoners, an aggregate of seventy blood-hounds were kept at Anderson- ville. They were run in packs of five or six, unless a number of prisoners had escaped, in which case a larger number were used. They were in charge of a genuine "nigger driver" whose delight it was to follow their loud baying, as they tracked fugitive negroes, or escaped Yanks through the forests and swamps of southern Georgia. These blood-hounds were trained to track human beings, and with their keen scent they held to the track as steadily, relentlessly as death itself; and woe betide the fugitive when overtaken, they tore and lacerated him with the blood-thirsty fierceness of a Numidian lion. These willing beasts and more will- ing guards were efficient factors in the hands of Winder and Wirz in keeping in subjection the prisoners entrusted to their care. But these are outside forces. Within the wooden walls of that prison were more subtile and enervating forces at work than Georgia militia or fierce blood-hound. Diarrhea, scurvy and its concomi- tant, gangrene,the result of insufficient and unsuitable food and the crowded and filthy state of the prison, were doing their deadly work, swiftly, surely and relentlessly. CHAPTER VIII. "Ghost. I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word Would harrow up thy soul ; freeze thy young blood ; Make thy two eyes, like stars, start f -om their spheres; Thy knotted and combined locks to part, And each particular hair to stand on end. Like quills upon the fretful porcupine." — Hamlet. The cook-house, which I have al- ready spoken of, had a capacity for cooking rations for 10.000 men. Our rations consisted, during the latter part of April and through May, of about a pound of corn liread, of about the same qualiity as tluit at Danville, a piece of meat about the size of two lingers, and a little salt per day. This was varied by issuing rice or cow- peas in the place of ineat, but meat and rice, or peas, were never issued together. We had no more hug soup, nor soup of any kind from the cook- house. We got our bugs in the peas, so that we were not entirely destitute of meat wlien we liad peas. The rice was filled with weevil, so that that too, was stronger, if not more nutri- tious. But wiien our numl>ers were increased by the prisoners who hiul been captured at Dalton. Resaca, Alatoona.New Hope Church and Ken- esaw. from Sherman's army, and from the Wilderness, from Mead's army, our numbers had far outgrown the capacity of the cook-house and our rations were issued to us raw. Then commenced real, downright misery and suffering. These men were turned into tlie prison after being robbed of everything of value, with- out shelter, without cooking utensils, without wood, except in the most meager quantities, and in most cases without blankets. Raw meal, raw rice and peas, and no dish to cook them in, and no wood to cook them with, and yet there were thousands of acres of timber in sight of the prison, and these men would have been too glad to cut their own wood and bring it into the prison on their shoulders. But this would have been a luxury, and Winder did not furnish prisoners with luxuries. There was an abortive attempt made at cooking more rations, by cooking them less, and the result was, meal simply scalded and called "mush," and rice not half cooked, and burned black wherever it touched the kettle it was boiled in. The effects of this unwholesome, half cooked, and in thousands of cases raw diet, was an increase of diarrhea, and dysentery,aiul scurvy. In thousands of cases of scurvy where scorbutic ulcers had broken out. gan- grene supervened and the poor prison- er soon found sutcease of pain, and misery, and starvation, in the grave. Auiputation of a limb was not a cure for these cases; new scorbutic ulcers appeared, again gangrene supervened, and death was the almost inevitable result. Tiie prison was filled with sick and dying men, indeed well men were the exception, and sick men the rule. The hospital was filled to overflowing; the piison itself, was a vast hospital, with no physicians, and no nurses. Thousands of men had become too sick and weak to go to the sinks to stool, and they voided their excre- ment in little holes dug near their tents. The result of this was, a prison covered with maggots, and the air so polluted witli the foul stench, that it created an artificial atmosphere, which excluded malaiia, and in a country peculiarly adapted to malar- ial diseases, there were no cases of Malarial. Typhus or Typhoid fevers. Your true Yankee is an ingenious 34 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE fellow, and is always trying to better his situation. Many cooking dishes were manufactured by the prisoners out of tin cans, pieces of sheet i "on, or car roofing, which had been picked up on the road to prison, Knives and spoons were made from pieces of hoop iron, and a superannua- ted oyster or fruit can, was a whole cooking establishment, while a tin pail or coffee pot caused its owner to be looked upon as a nabob. Fortunately for myself I was joint owner with six men of my company, of a six quart tin pail. This we loaned attiuies to the more unfortn- nate, thus helping them somewhat in their misery. Besides this mine of wealth, I had an interest in the wooden bucket purloined from the Danville prison, and as Sergeant of the mess, it was in my care. To this bucket I owe, in a great measure, my life; for I used it for a bath tub dur- ing my confinement in Andersonville. Another cause of suiferiug was the extreme scarcity of water. When the Richmond and Belle Isle prisoners arrived in Andersonville in February and March, they had procured their water from Dead-run; but by the time our squad arrived this little stream had become so polluted that it was not fit for the wallowing place of a hog. Our first work after building a shel- ter was to procure water. We first du3 a hole in the edge of the swamp, but this sooQ became too warm and filthy for use, so we started a well in an open space in front of my tent, and close to the Dead-line. We found water at a depth of -six feet, but it was in quicksand and we thought our well was a failure; but again luck was on our side. One of the prison- ers near us, had got hold of a piece of board while marching from the cars to the prison, this he offered to give us in exchange for stock in our well. We completed the bargain, and with our Danville sawknife cut up the board in ^o water-curbing, which we sank into the quicksand, thus completing a well which furnished more water than any well in the whole prison. To the credit of my mess, who owned all the right, title and interest, in and to this well, I will say, we never turned a man away thirsty. After we had supplied ourselves, we gave all the water the well would furnish to the more unfortunate pris- o lers who lived on the hill, and who could procure no water elsewhere. After we had demonstrated the fact that clean water could be procured even in Andersonville, a perfect mania for well digging prevailed in prison; wells were started all over, but the most of them proved failures for different reasons, some were dis- couraged at the great depth, others had no boards for water-curbing, and their wells caved in, and were a fail- lu-e. There were, however, some wells dug on tlie hill, to a depth of thirty or forty feet. They furnished water of a good quality, but the quan- tity was very limited. The digging of these deep wells was proof of the ingenuity and daring of the prisoners. The only digging tool was a half canteen, procured by un- soldering a canteen. The dirt was drawn up in a haversack, or bucket, attached to a roi)e twisted out of r?gs. from the lining of coat sleeves or strips of shelter tents. The well diggers were lowered into, and drawn out of, the wells by means of these slight, rotten ropes, and yet, I never heard of an accident as a result of this work. But the wells were not capable of supplying one-fourth of the men with water. Those who had no interest in a well, and could not beg water from those who had, were compelled to go to Dead-run for a supply. A bridge crossed tliis stream on the west side of the prison, and here the water was not quite so filthy as farther down stream. This bridge was the slaughter pen of the 55th Georgians, and the 5th Georgia Home Guards. Here the prisoners would reach un- der the Dead-line to procure clean water, and the crack of a Geoi'gian's musket, was the prisoner's death knell. During the early part of August FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 35 Providence furnished what Winder and Wirz refused to furnish. After a terrible rain storm, a spring broke out vmder the walls of the stockade about ten or fifteen rods north of this bridge. Boards were furnished, out of which a trough was made which carried the water into the prison. The water was of good quality, and of sufficient quantity to have supplied the prisoners, could it have been saved by means of a tank or reservoir. This was the historical "Providence Spring" known and worshiped by all ex-Andersonville prisoners. The same rain storm which caused Providence Spring to break out, gullied and washed out the ground between our well and the stockade to a depth of four feet, and so saturated the ground tliat the well caved in. We were a sad squad of men, as we gathered around the hole where our hopes of life were buried, for without pure water, we knew we could not survive long in Andersonville. Two days after the accident to our well, we held a legislative session, and resolved ourselves into a com- mittee of the whole, on ways and means to restore our treasure. No one could think of any way to fix up the well, boards were out of the ques- tion, stones there were none, and bar- rels: — we had not seen a barrel since we left "God's Country." As chair- man, ex-offlcio, of the committee, I proposed that we steal a board from the Dead-line. This was voted down by the committee as soon as proposed, the principle was all right, but the risk was too great; death would be the penalty for the act. The committee then rose and the session was ad- journed. After considering the mat- ter for a time, I resolved to steal a board from the Dead-line at any risk. I then proceeded to mature a plan which I soon put into execution. One of my "pards," Eouse, had a good silver watch, I told him to go up to the Dead-line in front of the first guard north of our tent, and show his watch, and talk watch trade with the guard. I sent Ole Gilbert, my other pard, to the first guard south, with the same instructions, but minus a watch. I kept my eyes on the guards and watched results; soon I saw that my plan was working. I picked up a stick of wood and going to a post of the Dead-line, where one end of a board was nailed, I pried off the end of the board, but horror ! how it squealed, it was fastened to a pitch pine post with a twelve penny nail and when I pried it loose, it squeaked like a horse fiddle at a charivari par- ty. I made a sudden dive for my tent, which was about sixteen feet away, and when I had got under cover I looked out to see the result. The guards were peering around to see what was up, their quick ears had caught the sound, but their dull brain could not account for the cause. After waiting until the guards had become again interested in the mer- cantile transaction under considera- tion, I crawled out of my tent and as stealthily as a panther crawled to my board again. This time I caught it at the loose end, and with one mighty effort 1 wrenched it from the remain- ing posts, dropped it on the ground, and again dove into my tent. The guards were aroused, but not soon enough to see what had been done, and I had secured a board twenty feet long by four inches wide, lumber enough to curb our well. Another meeting of the mess was held, the saw-knife was brought out, the board, after great labor, was sawed up, and our well was restored to its usefulness. This same storm, which occurred on the 12th of August, was the cause of a quite an episode in our otherwise dull life in prison. It was one of those terrible rains which occur sometimes in that region, and had the appearance of a cloud-burst. The rain fell in sheets, the ground in the prison was completely washed, and much good was done in the way of purifying this foul hole. The rapid rush of water down the opposing hills, filled the little stream, which I have called Dead-run, to overflowing, and as there was not sufficient outlet through the stockade, for the fast 36 FIFTEEN" MONTHS IN DIXIE accumulating water, the pressure be- came so great that about twenty feet of the stockade toppled and fell over. Thousands of prisoners were out looking at the downfall of our prison walls and when it went over we sent up such a shout and hurrah that we made old Andersonville ring. But the rebel guard had witnessed the break as well as we. The guard near the creek called out, "copeler of the gyaad! post numbah fo'teen! hurry up, the stockade is goin to h— 1." The guards, about 3,000 in number, came hurrying to the scene and formed line of battle to prevent a rush of prisoners, while the cannoni- ers in the forts sprang to their guns. We saw them ram home the charges in their guns, then we gave anotlier shout, when bang went one of the guns from the south-western fort, and we heard a solid shot go shrieking over our heads. It began to look as though the Johnies were going to get the most fun out of this thing after all. Just at this time Wirz came up to the gap and shrieked, "co pack to your quarters, you tanimed Yanks, or I vill open de cuns of de forts on you." I needed no second invitation after that shot went over our heads, and I huriied to my quarters and laid low. I don't think I am naturally more cowardly than tlie average of men, but that shot made me tired. I was sick and weak and had no courage, and knew Winder and Wirz so well that I had i)erfect faith that they would be only too glad of an excuse to carry out the threat. But let us go back to the month of May. Soon after my arrival, there was marched into the prison about two thousand of the flnest dressed soldiers I ever saw. Their uniforms were new and of a better quality than we had ever seen in tlie western army. They wore on their heads cocked hats, with brass and feather accom- paniments. Their feet were shod with the best boots and shoes we had seen since antebellum days, their shirts were of the best "lady's clotli" variety, and the chevrons on the sleeves of the non-commissioned offi- cers coats, were showy enough for members of the Queen's Guards. Poor fellows, how I pitied them. The mingled look of surprise, horror, disgust, and sorrow that was depicted on their faces as they marched be- tween crowds of prisoners who had been unwilling guests of the Confed- eracy for, from four to nine months, told but too plainly how our appear- ance affected them. As they passed along the mass of ragged, ghastly, dirt begrimed prisoners, 1 could hear the remark, "My God ! have I got to come to this ?" "I can't live here a month," "I had rather die, than to live in such a place as this," and sim- ilar expressions. I say that I pitied them, for I knew that the sight of such specimens of humanity as we were, had completely unnerved them, that their blood had been chilled with horror at sight of us, and that they would never recover from the shock; and they never did. Yes they had to couie to this; many of them did not live a month, and not many of tliose two thousand tine look- ing men ever lived to see "God's Country" again. These were the "Plymouth Pil- grims." Thev were a brigade, com- posed of the 85th New York, the 101st and 103d Pennsylvania. 10th Connecti- cut 24th New York Battery, two companies of Massachusetts heavy artillery and a company of the 12th New York cavalry. They were the garrison of a fort at Plymouth, North Carolina, which had been compelled to surrender, on account of the combined attack of land and naval forces, on the 20th dav of May, 1864. Some of the regiments composing this band of Pilgrims had "veteran- ized" and were soon going home on a veteran furlough when the attack was made, but they came to Ander- sonville instead. Their service had been most entire- ly in garrisons, where they had always been well supplied with rations and clothing, and exempt from hard marches and exposures, and as a nat- FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE ural sequence, were not as well fitted to endure the hardships of prison life, as soldiers who had seen more active service. They were turned into the prison without shelter, and they did not seem to think they could, in any way, provide one; without cooking uten- sils, and they thought they must eat their food raw. They began to die off in a few days after their arrival, they seemed never to have recovered from their first shock. Coiiirade McElroy tells in "Ander- sonville," a pathetic story of a Penn- sylvanian who went crazy from tlie effects of confinement. He had a pic- ture of his wife and children and he used to sit hour after hour looking at them, and sometimes imagined he was with them serving them at the home table. He would, in his imagin- ation, pass food to wife and children, calling each by name, and urging them to eat more. He died in a mouth after his entrance. I observed a similar case near my quarters. One of this same hand came to our well for a drink of water which we gave him. He "was well dressed, at first, but seemed to be a simple-minded man. Day after day he came for water, sometimes many times a day. Soon he began to talk incoherently, Chen to mutter something about home and food. One day his hat was gone; the next day his boots were missing, and soon, day after day, until he was perfectly nude, wandering about in the hot sun, by day, and shivering in the cold dews at night, until at last we found him one morning lying in a ditch at the edge of the swamp, — dead. God only knows how many of those poor fellows were chilled in heart and brain, at their first introduction to Andersonville. The coming of the Pilgrims into prison was the beginning of a new era in its history. Before they came, there was no money among the pris- oners, or so little as to amount to nothing; but at the time of their sur- render they had been paid off, and those who had "veteranized" had been paid a veteran bounty, so that they brought a large sum of money into prison. The reader may inquire how it was that they were not searched, and their money and valuables taken from them by Winder and Wirz? It is a natural inquiry, as it was the only instance in the record of Anderson- ville, so far as I ever heard, Avhen such rich plunder escaped those com- missioned robbets. Tlie reason they escaped robbery of all their money, 'clothing, blankets and good boots and shoes, was, they had surrendered with the agreement that they should be allowed to keep all their personal belongings, and in this instance the Confederate authorities had kept their agreement. Thus several thousand dollars were brought into prison, and the old pris- oners were eager to get a share. All sorts of gambling devices were used, tlie favorite being the old army Cliuc-a-luck board. When these men came in, the old prisoners had preem- ted all the vacant land adjoining their quarters, and they sold their right to it, to these tender-feet for large sums, for the purpose of putting up shelters on. This they had no right to do, but the Pilgrims did not know it. As the money liegan to circulate, trade began to flourish. Sutler, and soup stands sprung up all over the prison, where vegetables and soup were sold at rates that would seem exorbitant in any other place than the Confederacy. The result of all tills gambling and trading, together with another cause which I will men- tion, was, that the Pilgrims were soon relieved of all their money, and then began to trade their clothing. Thus these well supplied, well dressed prisoners were soon reduced to a level with the older prisoners; but there was a compensation in this, as well as in nature, for what the former lost the latter gained and they were the better off by that much. The supplies of vegetables and food which were sold by the sutlers and restaurateurs, were procured of the guards at the gate, they purchasing 38 FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. of the "Crackers" in the vicinity, only in prison, but with the surround- causing a lively trade to flourish, not ing country. CHAPTER IX. THE EAIDERS. "There must be government in all society — ' Bees have their Queen, and stag herds have their leader ; Rome had her Consuls, Athens had her Ar- chons, And we, sir, have our Managing Committee." In the southern portion of the prison, bordering the swamp, there was domiciled the worst specimens of humanity I ever knew. An ac- quaintance with them would almost convince any thinking man that there was something in Darwin's theory of the developement of species. If that theory is tenable, then I should argue these men had been developed from hyenas, and not very far, or well de- veloped either. They wore the out- ward semblance of men, but retained the cowardly, blood-thirsty, sneaking, thievish nature of the hyena. These were the Andersouville "Raiders;" and a worse set of men never lived, — in America, at least. These men were from the slums of New York City and Brooklyn. I never knew what their record as sol- diers was, but as prisoners they were the terror of all decent men. They congregated together, were or- ganized into semi-military organiza- tion, had their officers from captains down, and in squads made their raids upon the peaceable prisoners, who were possessed of anything which ex- cited their cupidity. The Plymouth Pilgrims furnished a rich harvest for these miscreants, who spotted them, marking their sleeping places, and in tlie dead hour of the night robbed them of what- ever they possessed; or if any of the Pilgrims ventured into their haunts by day, they were knocked down and robbed by daylight. While the raiders were constantly at war with others, they were not always at peace among themselves. Their favorite weapon with others was a stick; but they settled their difficulties of a domestic character with their fists. Sometimes one of the small fry among these Raiders, would venture out on his own' hook, and pilfer any little article he could find in a sick man's tent. One day a member of my mess caught one of these fellows stealing a tin cup from a sick man; he immediately gave chase and caught him, then we held a drum- head court martial and sentenced him to have his head shaved. Now I do not suppose there was a razor among the thirty-three thous- and men that were in Andersouville at the time; notwithstanding this drawback, the sentence of the court was carried out Avith a pocket knife. It made the fellow scowl some, but the executioner managed to saw his hair off after a fashion. Another of these Raiders got his just punishment while trying to rob a half-breed Indian, a member of the Massachusetts Heavy Artillery. The raider attempted to steal the Indian's boots from under his head, when the descendant of King Phillip plunged a knife into the hoodlum, killing him dead on the spot. A number of murders had been committed by these Raiders, and rob- beries innumerable, when matters were brought to a focus one day in the early part of July, by Lieiitenant Davis, then in command of the Prison vice Wirz who was sick, declaring FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 39 that no more rations would be issued until these men were given up. He had no need to threaten us; — we were willing to give them up; — we had no earthly use for them. Give them up 1 yes; and pay boot, to get rid of them. But it required a man of nerve to lead in the ai'rest of these desperadoes. It was no child's play, as there were between four and five hundred of them, and to arrest the leaders meant '"business." That man was found in the person of Ser- geant Leroy L. Key, of the 16th Illi- nois Cavalry, who was ably seconded by a tall, lithe, young fellow known as "Limber Jim,*" a member of the 67th Illinois. To the efforts of these two men, the prisoners at Andersonville were in- debted, more than any other men, for the comparative peace and security of the prison after the 11th of July. Key was the head, and furnished the bi'ains.of the organization known, at first, as the "Regulators," after- ward as the "Prison Police," Limber Jim was second in command, and first in a fight. These two men organized a force of men in the southwest corner of the stockade, from the best material which could be found. It needed strong brave men for the work in hand; for these Raiders were strong, athletic men, and desperate charac- ters, and the Regulators must need face the lion in his den. On the 3d of July Key at the head of the Regulators, armed with clulis, made a charge on the Raiders, who had been expecting the attack and were prepared. I was standing on the north side of the swamp, and was in good position to see the fight. Key, followed by Limber Jim, led the charge; for a few minutes the spectators could tell nothing of how the Regulators were faring. The air was filled with clubs, which were des- cending on men's heads, shoulders and arms. The fighting mass surged. and swayed, and finally the Raiders broke and ran; and then the specta- tors set up such a shout as must have cheered Key and his brave men. That day and the next, the Regula- tors arrested one hundred and twenty- five of the worst characters among the Raiders. Davis gave Key the use of the small stockade at the north gate, as a prison in which to hold them for trial. He then organized a Court Martial, consisting of thirteen sergeants, se- lected from among the latest arrivals, in order to guard against bias. The trial was conducted as fairly as was possible, considering their ignorance of law. Technicalities counted for naught, facts, well attested, influenced that court. The trial resulted in finding six men guilty of murder; and the sentence was hanging. The names of tli'e six condemned men were, John Sarsfleld, William Collins, alias '-Mosby," Charles Cur- tis, Patrick Delaney, A. Muir and Terrence Sullivan. These men were heavily ironed, and closely guarded, while the re- maining one hundred and nineteen were returned to the prison, and com- pelled to run a gauntlet of men armed with clubs and fists, who belabored them unmercifully, as they were passed through one by one. The sentence of the court martial was executed on these six men on the 11th of July. A gallows was erected in the street leading from the south gate, and the culprits marched in under a Confederate guard, to a hol- low square which surrounded the scaffold, and was formed by Key's brave Regulators, where they were turned over to Limber Jim. These desperadoes were terribly surprised when they found they were to be hung. They imagined the court martial was a farce, intended to scare them. Imagine their disappointment when they were marched to the gal- lows, and turned over to the cool, but resolute and firm Key, and the fiery Limber Jim, whose brother had been murdered by one of the number. They found that it was no farce but real genuine tragedy, in which they were to act an important part. When they realized this, they began 40 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. to beg for mercy, but they had shown no mercy, and now they were to re- ceive no mercy. They then called upon the priest, who attended them, to speak in their behalf; but the pris- oners would have none of it, but called out "hang them." When they found there was no mercy in that crowd of men whom they had maltreated and robbed, and whose comrades and friends they had murdered, they resigned themselves to their fate; all but Curtis who broke from the guard of Regulators and ran through the crowd, over tents, and across Dead-run into the swamp where he was recaptured and taken back. They were then placed upon the platform, their arms pinioned, meal sacks were tied over their heads, the ropes adjusted around their necks, and, at a signal given by Key, the trap was sprung and they were launched into eternity, all but Mosby, who being a heavy man broke his rope. He begged for his life, but it was of no avail. Limber Jim caught him around the waist and passed him up to another man; again the noose was adjusted and he. too, X'eceived his reward for evil doing. The execution of these men whs witnessed by all the prisoners who were able to get out of their tents, and it is needless to add, was ap- proved by them, all except the Raid- ers. Besides the prisoners, all the rebels who were on duty outside, found a position where they could witness the scene. The Confederate officers, apprehensive of a stampede of the prisoners, took the precaution to keep their men under arms, and the guns in the forts were loaded, the fuses inserted in the vents and No. 4 stood with lanyard in hand ready to suppress an outbreak. The hanging of these men had a very salutaiy effect upon the other evil doers in the prison. Heretofore we had had no organiza- tion; we were a mob of thirty-three thousand men, without law,and with- out officers. Each mess had its own laws and each man punished those who had offended him; that is, if he could. But now this band of thugs was broken up and their leaders hanged. The Regulators were turned into a police force, with the gallant Limber Jim as chief, and henceforth order prevailed among the prisoners at Andersonville. The reader will readily see, from reading what I have written in this chapter, that our sufferings did not all proceed from the rebels. Almost twenty-five years have elapsed since those scenes were en- acted, the hot passion engendered by the cruelties of prison life, have measurably cooled, and as I am writ- ing this story, I am determined to "hew to the line let the chips fall where they will," and with a full un- derstauding of what I say, I affirm that many of the prisoners suffered more cruelly, at the hands of their comrades, than they did from the rebels themselves. There was among the Pilgrims, a fiend by the name of McClellan, a member of the 12th New York cav- alry, wlio kicked, and abused, and maltreated the poor weak prisoners who got in his way in a manner which deserved the punishment meted out to the six Raiders. He had charge of delivering the rations inside of the prison, and if some poor starved boy. looking for a crumb got in his way he would lift him clear oft' from the ground with the toe of his huge boot. One day while the bread wagon was unloading, I saw a boy not more than eighteen years old who had become so weak from starvation, and so crip- pled by scurvy that he could not walk, but crawled around on his hands and knees, trying to pick up some crumbs which had fallen from the bread; he happened to get in McCiellan's way. when that brute drew back his foot and gave the poor fellow a kick which sent him several feet, and with a monstrous oath, told him to keep out of his way. This was only one in- stance among thousands of his brutal- ity, yet with all his meanness I never heard him charged with dishonesty. The rebels had a way of punishing FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 41 negroes, which was most exquisite torture. From my quarters in the prison I witnessed the punishment of a negro by this method one day. He was stripped naked and then laid on the ground face downward, his limbs extended to their full length, then his hands and feet were tied to stakes. A burly fellow then took a paddle board full of holes, and applied it to that part of tlie human anatomy in which our mothers used to appear to be so much interested, when they af- fectionately drew us across their knee, and pulled off their slipper. The executioner was an artist in his way, and he applied that paddle with a will born of a determination to ex- cel, and the way that poor darkey howled and yelled was enough to soften a heart of stone. This mode of punishment was adopted by the prison police after- ward, in cases of petty larceny, and I do not think the patient ever needed a second dose of that medicine, for there was a blister left to represent »every separate hole in the paddle, and the patient was obliged for several days,like the Dutchman's hen, to sit standing. I would recommend this treatment to the medical fraternity, as a substi- tute for cupping; as the cupping and scarifying are combined in one opera- tion, and I think there is no patent on it. The battle of Atlanta was fought on the 22d day of July, and we re- ceived the news of the victory in a few days afterward from prisoners who were captured on that day. Our hopes began to revive from this time. We thought we could begin to see the "beginning of the end." Besides this we had a hope that Sherman would send a Corps of Cavalry down to rescue us. The rebels seem to have some such thoughts running through their minds, as the following copy of an order, issued by General Winder, testifies. "Headquarters Military Prison, Andersonville, Ga., July 27, 1864. The officers on duty and in charge of the Battery of Florida Artillery at the time will, upon receiving notice that the enemy has approached with- in seven miles of this post, open upon the stockade with grape shot, without reference to the situation beyond the line of defense. John H. Winder. Brigadier General Commanding." This order was issued at the time Gen. Stoneman with his cavalry was trying to capture Macon. Winder, in his cowardice, supposed he might attempt to rescue the prisoners at Andersonville. This order, when interpreted, means that when the officers in the forts which guarded the prison, should hear that any of the Federal troops were approaching within seven miles of the prison, they were to open on us with grape shot. A simple rumor by some scared native would have precii)itated that catastrophe. Just think of it, twenty-four can- nons loaded with grape shot opened on sick defenseless men. not for any offense they had committed, but be- cause Winder would rather see us slaughtered than rescued. Further, the order says, "without reference to the situation beyond these lines of defense." This simp> means tliat they were .to pay no atten- tion to the attacking party, but to slaughter us. If the records of the Infernal Reg- ions could be procured, I do not be- lieve a more hellish order could be found on file. We heard of Stoneman's raid and hoped, and yet feared, that he would come. We knew that the foregoing order had been issued, and yet we hoped the artillerymen would not find time to carry it out. We would have liked, O so much, to have got hold of Winder and Wirz, and that Georgia Militia, there would have been no need of a stockade to hold them. O, how weary we became of wait- ing. It seemed to us that home, and friends, and the comforts, and neces- sities of life, were getting further, and further away, instead of nearer, that we could not stand this waiting, and sickness, and misery, and living- 42 FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. death much longer.. The more we thought of these things, the more discouraged we be- came, and I believe these sad discour- aging thoughts helped to prostrate many a poor fellow, and unfit him to resist the effects of his situation and surroundings, and hastened, if it was not the immediate cause of death. Chaplain McCabe, who was a pris- oner in Libby Prison, has a lecture entitled -'The l)right side of Prison life." If there was a bright side to Andersonville, I want some particu- ular funny fellow, who was conJined there for five or six months, to come around and tell me where it was, for I never found it, until I found the ovTside of it. We heard of the fall of Atlanta, which occurred on the 2d of Septem- ber, and had we known tlie song then, we would have sang those cheering words written and composed by Lieu- tenant S. H. M. Byers, while confined in a rebel prison at Columbia, Soutli Carolina. I. "Our camp-fire shone bright on the mountains That frowned on the river below. While we stood by our guns in the morning And eagerly watched for the foe : When a rider came out from the darkness. That hung over mountain and tree, And shouted "boys up and be ready, For Sherman will march to the Sea." II. Then cheer upon cheer, for bold Sherman Went up from each valley and glen, And the bugles re-echoed the music That came from the lips of the men ; For we knew that the Stars on our banner More bright in their splendor would be, And that blessings from North-land would greet us When Sherman marched down to the sea. III. Then forward, boys, forward to battle We marched on our wearisome way, And we stormed the wild hills of Resaca God bless those who fell on that day : Then Kenesaw, dark in its glory. Frowned down on the flag of the free ; But the East and the West bore our standards, And Sherman marched on to the sea. IV. Still onward we pressed, till our banner Swept out from Atlanta's grim walls, And the blood of the patriot dampened The soil where the traitor flag falls: But we paused not to weep for the fallen. Who slept by each river and tree. Yet we twined them a wn^ath of the laurel As Sherman marched down to the sea. V. Oh, proud was our army that morning, That stood where the pine proudly towers, When Sherman said, "boys you are weary; This day fair Savannah is' ours !" Then sang we a song for our chieftain. That echoed o'er river and lea. And the stars in our banner grew brighter When Sherman marched down to the sea. CHAPTER X. CLOSE QUAKTERS. "Hamlet. I have of late lost all my mirth, foregone all custom of exercises ; and. indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition, that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory; this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, — this brave o'er hanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation of vapors." Shakspere. The great influx of prisoners dui-- ing the month of May and early part of June, from the armies of Sherman and Meade, increased our numbers to more than thirty thousand prisoners. These were crowded upon the small space of twelve acres, or more than two thousand five hundred men to the acre. This vv'ould allow thirty- one square feet to each man. or a piece of ground five feet by six feet, on which to build his tent and per- form all the acts and offices of life. Indeed we were crowded in so thickly that it was impossible for the prison officials to find room for us to "fall in" for roll call, for more than three weeks. In the latter ])art of .June, liowever, an addition of nine acres was built, which gave us more room, but did not remove the filth and excrements which had accrued in the older part of the prison. The building on of an addition to the prison was a God-send FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 43 in two ways, it gave more room, and the old north line of stockade was cut down for fuel. The new part Avas tinislied one afternoon and a. gap made in the old stockade through which the prisoners passed to their new quarters. After dark a raid was made on the old part, and before morning every timber was down, and men who had been compelled to eat their food, at best half cooked, were now supplied with wood. The old part of the prison had be- come so foul, as a result of the sick- ness and crowded state of the prison- ers, that it surpassed all i)owers of description or of imagination. The whole swan»p bordering upon Dead- run, w;is covered to a depth of several inches with Juuuan excrements, and this was so tilled with nuiggots that it seemed a living moving nuiss of putrifying tilth. The stench was loathsome and sickening to a degree that surpasses description. With the crowded state of tlie prison, the tilthy surroundings, and the terrible atmos- phere which covered the prison like a cloud, it is no wojuler that men sick- ened and died by tlie thousands every month. These terrible surroundings made the prisoners depressed and gloomy in spirits, and made them more sus- ceptible to the attacks of disease. The bodies of tlu)se who died were carried to the soutii gate, with their name, company, and regiment writ- ten on a slip of paper und piinied to their breast. Here they were laid in the Dead-house, outside of the Stock- ade. Prom the Dead-house lliey were carted in wagons to the Cemetery, and buried in trenches four feet in depth. They were thrown into the wagons, like dead dogs, covered with filtii and lice. After tlie wagons had hauled away all the dead liodies, they were loaded with food fen- the prison- ers in the Stockade. This was done without any attempt at. or pretense of cleaning in any way. I shall leave the reader to imagine how palatable that food was after such treatment. Tlie monotony of prison life w^as sometimes relieved by finding among the prisoners an old acquaintance of boyhood days. Many of the western men were born and educated in the East, and it was no uncommon thing for them to find an old chum among the eastern soldiers. One day as I was cooking my ra- tions some one slapped me on the shoulder and exclaimed, "Hello Bill!" Looking up 1 saw standing before me, an old schoolmate from Jamestown, Mew York, by the name of Joe Hall. It was a sad re-union; we had both been in prison more than nine months, lie on Belle Isle, and I in Danville. We had both been vaccinated and had great scorbutic ulcers in our arms, but he, poor fellow, had gangrene whicii soon ate away his life. A few weeks afterwards he went out to the prison hospital, where he died in a few days, and now a marble slalj in the Cemetery at Andersonville with this inscription, Joseph Hall, Company E. 9th N. Y. Gav. marks the last resting place of one of my boyhood friends. Poor Joe. A few days after Joe's visit to me, he introduced me to another James- town boy, a member of the 49th New York Infantry, by the name of Orlan- do Hoover, or "Tip" as he was called. He had re-inlisted during the winter previous and had been home on a veterans furlough, where he had vis- ited some of my old friends. He told me how some ef the old gray haired men had deidared they would enlist for the purpose of releasing the pris- oners, that there was great indigna- tion expressed by many loyal north- ern men, because our government did not take some measures to release us from our long confinement. "Tip" had good health in Ander- sonville, as he did not stay there more than two months, but when we arriv- ed at Florence I went to his detach- ment to see him, and his "pard" told me that he had jumped from the cars, and that the guards had shot him, while on their way up from Charles- ton. A little more than two months afterward, I carried the news to liis widowed mother, and sisters. One of my comrades, Nelson Her- 44 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE rick, of Company B, 10th "Wisconsin, had scratched his leg slightly with his finger nail, this had grown into a scorbutic ulcer, at last gangrene sup- ervened upon it, and one of the best men in the 10th Wisconsin was car- ried to the cemetery. All the terrible surroundings made me sad and gloomy, but did not take from me my determination to live. I knew that if I lost hope, I would lose life, and I was determined that I would not die on rebel soil — not if pure grit would prevent it. But one day in August I ate a small piece of raw onion which gave me a very se- vere attack of cholera morbus, which lasted me two days. I began to think that it was all up with me, but thanks to the kindness of my "pards", Kouse and Ole, I pulled through and from that day began to get better of dysen- tery and scurvy with which I was af- flicted. I was so diseased with scur- vy, that my nether limbs were so contracted that I was obliged to walk on my tiptoes, with the aid of a long cane held in both hands. My limbs were swollen and of a purple color. My gums were swollen and purple and my teeth loose and taken altogether I looked like a man who had got his ticket to the cemetery. None of my comrades believed I could live, so they told me afterward, but I never had a doubt of my final restoration to home and friends, except in those two days in which I suffered with cholera morbus. Of the comrades of my regiment with whom I had been associated in prison, Nelson Herrick, Joseph Par- rott, Ramey Yoht, and Wallace I)ar- row of company B, had died from the effects of diarrhea and scurvy, and Corporal John Doughty of my company had died from the effects of a gunshot wound, received from a guard at Danville, while looking out of a window. Of those names I remember at this date, who were in Andersonville, Joe Eaton of Company A, stood the pris- on life very well, he being one of the few who kept up his courage and ob- served, as well as possible, the laws of health. John Burk of my company, seemed to wear well in this terrible place, on accoimt of a strong constitution and his unflinching grit, which was of a quality like a Quinebaug whetstone. Corporal J. E. Webster, and E. T. Best, Sergeant Ole Gilbert, G. W. Rouse, and myself of my company, and Sergeant Roselle Hull of Compauy B, were alike afflicted with dysentery and scurvy, and each had a large scor- butic ulcer on his arm. Friend Cow- les of Company B. had also succum- ed to the terrible treatment of the rebels, and had been laid to rest. To add to our suffering we were exposed to the terrible heat of that semi-tropical climate. There was not a tree left on the ground, not a bush, nothing for shade, but our little tents and huts. The sun at noon was almost vertical, and he poured down his rays with relentless fury on our unprotected heads. The flies swarm- ed about and on i;s by day and the mosquitoes tormented us by night. There was no rest, no comfort, no en- joyment, and only a tiny ray of hope for us. Amid all this terrible misery and suffering, there were a few who kept their faith in God, and did not curse the authors of their misery. Conspic- uous among these was a band of Union Tennesseans who were quar- tered near me. They held their prayer meetings regularly, and occa- sionally one of their number would de- liver an exhortation. The faith of those men was of the abiding kind. They were modern Pauls and Silases praying for their jailors. I too had a faith, but not of the same quality as theirs. My faith was in a climate where overcoats would not be needed, and that our tormentors would eventually find it. We had no intercourse with the guards, and could get no newspapers, hence all the news we got was from the "tenderfeet" when they arrived. But the news we did get after Sher- man and Grant began the advance, was of a cheering kind, and we had strong hopes of the ultimate success FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 45 of the Union cause. I cannot imagine what the result, so far as we were con- cerned, would have been, had Sher- man and Grant failed in their great undertakings. Without any hope to cheer us, we must have all been sac- rificed in the arms of the Moloch of despair. One day in August a squad of Union Tennessee Cavalry was brought in. We tried in vain to find out what Sherman was doing, and how large an army he had. They only knew that they had been captured while on pick- et duty, and that Sherman had a "powathful lahge ahmy." Your ordinary Southerner of those days, had a profound and an alnding ignorance of numbers. They were to him what pork is to a Jew, an unclean thing. He had no use for them, and would at a venture accept ten thous- and dollars, as a greater sum than a million, for the reason that it took more words to express the former, than the latter sum. In the winter of 1862, while Mit- chell's Division was camped at Bac- on Creek, Ky.,we had a picket post on a plantation owned by a man named Buckner, a cousin of the rebel Gener- al S. B. Buckner, he was, or professed to be, a Union man. He went down to Green River on one occasion to visit Buell's army. On his return I asked him how many soldiers Gener- al Buell had? "I can't just say," he replied, "but theys a powahful lot of em." "Yes but how many thousand?" said I. "Well I wont be right suah, Vuit theys a heap moah than a right smart chance of em," was as near an apiiroach to numbers as I could in- duce him to express. Geogra.i)hy is on the same catalogue with Arithmetic. While marching from Shepardsville to Elizabethtown, in ISOl we camped for the night on Muldraugh's Hill, near the spot where President Lincoln was born. After we had "broke ranks" I went with others to a farm house not far away to procure water. A middle aged man met us, and after granting us permission to get water from his well, he asked me, "what regiment is that?" I told him it was the 10th Wisconsin. "Westconstant, West- constant, let me see is Westconstant in Michigan?" inquired he. After the battle of Chickamauga, while we were at McLaw's Division Hospital, our Surgeon took charge of a rebel soldier lad not more than six- teen years of age, who in addition to a severe wound, was suffering from an attack of fever. One morning the surgeon went to him and asked, "how are you this morning my boy?,^ "Well I feel aheap bettah, but I'm powah- ful weak yet, doctah," was his reply. Notwithstanding tliese people know nothing of numbers, or of Geography, or of Orthography and not much of any ology, or ism, yet they are good rid- ers, good marksmen, good card play- ers, good whiskey drinkers, and bar- ring the troubles which grew out of the "late unpleasantness" and "moon- shining" they are in the main kind- hearted people to the whites. These remarks apply to the poorer class of whites in the time of the war, I understand there has been much improvement since that time, in some respects, there was certainly room for it. But the trusty unfailing friend of the Union soldier, the caterer and guide of the escaped prisoner, the one on whom he could depend under any, and all circumstances was the negro. The poor black man knew that "Massy Lincum's sogers" were solv- ing a problem for them which had re- mained unsolved for more than two hundred years. They knew that the success of the Union arms meant the freedom of the slaves, and they al- ways worshipped a Federal soldier. Any prisoner who escaped from rebel prisons, and succeeded in reaching the Union lines, owes his success to the negroes for without their friendly aid in the way of furnishing food, and pointing out the way, and in most in- stances acting as guide, they could never have succeeded. He was never so poor but that he would furnish food for a fugitive prisoner and the night was never so dark but that he would guide him on his way, usually 46 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. turning him over to a friend who would run him to the next station on the "underground railroad." The negro was, on his part, the in- nocent cause of much trouble, -for speculate and explain as much as you will, he was the cause of the war. On his account the exchange of prisoners was suspended and he was, at once, the cause of nearly all our trouble, and our only friend. I said our only friend, I mean in a general sense, for there was a class of men, though small in numbers, who never forgot the men of their own faith. There was never a prison so dark and filthy but that a Catholic priest would enter it, and there was never a dying prisoner so lousy and besmeared, but that he would admin- ister the consolations of the church to him in the hour of liis extremity. In fact Catholic priests were the only ministers, I ever heard of, who entered the prison at Audersonville to give the consolations of their reli- gion to dying men. I do not wish to be understood as finding fault because this was so, for Rebel ministers would not and Union ministers could not, enter that prison. And, indeed, we did not want the ministrations of those Rebel preachers. What little ex- perience we had had with them had convinced us that they would take advantage of their position to insult us on account of our loyalty to our flag. Not so with the Catholic priest. He knew nothing of race, color, or pol- itics when dying men were consider- ed. In his zeal for his church Rebel and Union were alke to him, and in any place where a Catholic was to be found, there a Catholic priest would find his way, and offer the sacraments of his church to the dying. I can honor them for their zeal and cour- age, although I cannot accept the dogmas of their church. iJr. Jones, in his report, speaks of the inhuman treatment of the nurses to the sick. This may have been true of the nurses in the hospital. They were detailed from among the prisoners in the stockade, not on account of any fitness for the duty, but because of favor. They cared nothing for the sick. They were after the extra rations which were allowed to men who were working outside the stockade, and for the clothing which fell into their hands in one way and another. Inside of the stockade there were no nurses for the sick, except such vol- untary care as one comrade bestowed upon another. In cases where men of the same company or regiment were associated together the sick man so far as I observed, was cared for as well as the circumstances would ad- mit of. But wliat could these men do for each other'?- There was no medicine to be had for love or money. The surgeons prescribed sumac ber- ries for scurvy, and black-berry root for diarrhea and dysentery. Little luxuries, such as fruits, jellies, and farinaceous compounds were unknown in that place. A comrade could only cook the corn meal, and bring a dish of water, and assist his friend to stool and when he died pin a little slip of paper on his breast with his name, company and regiment written on it, and assist in carrying him to the Dead-house, and then hope that some one would do as well by him. Ye who growl, and snarl, and find fault with everything and everybody, when you do not feel well, will do well to stop and think how those poor men suffered and then thank God, and your friends, that your condition is, so much better than theirs was. CHAPTER XI. MORTALITY AT ANDERSONVILLE. "Let's talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust our paper, and with rainy eyes Write sorrow on the bosom of the earth. Let's choose executors, and talk of wills: And yet not so, — for what can we bequeath, Save our deposed bodies to the ground *" King Richard II. The number of prist)ners confined in the Andersonville prison, all told, was forty-five thousand six hundred and thirteen. Of these twelve thous- and nine hundred and twelve died there, or in other words two men out of every seven who were confined in that prison died there, and the aver- age length of time of imprisonment was only four months. That this was largely due to causes within the control of the Confederate authorities I propose to show by the sworn testimony of one of their own men who was in a position to know, and speak authoritatively. On the Gth day of August 1864 Sur- geon Joseph Jones, of the Confederate army, was detailed by the Surgeon General to proceed to Andersonville, and investigate and report, upon the phenomena of the diseases prevailing there. His visit was not for the beue- tit of the prisoners, but for purely scientific puriK)ses. His report, from which I quote, tells a story of such as no prisoner could tell, for, if any were qualified to make such investigation and report, they had no opportunity to do so. These extracts from the above mentioned report are taken from "Andersonville," a book which I wish every civilized person in the world could read. This report was part of the testimony offered and accepted at the trial of Wirz, and is now on file in the office of the Judge Advocate General of the United States, at Washington. "MEDICAL TESTIMONY." (Transcript from the printed testimony at W irz Trial, pages 618 to 639, inclusive) . "Dr. Joseph Jones for the prosecvi- tion. By the Judge Advocate: Question. Where do you reside? Answer. In Augusta, Georgia. Ques. Are you a graduate of any medical college? Ans. Of the University of Penn- sylvania. Ques. How long have you been engaged in the practice of medicine? Ans. Eight years. Ques. Has your experience been as a practitioner, or rather as an in- vestigator of medicine as a science? Ans. Both. Ques. What position do you hold now? Ans. That of Medical Chemist in the Medical College of Georgia, at Augusta. Ques. How long have you held your j)Osition in that college? xVns. Since 1858. Ques. How were you employed during the Rebellion? Ans. 1 served six months in the early part of it as a private in the ranks, and the rest of the time in the medical department. Ques. Under the direction of whom? Ans. Under the direction of Dr. Moore, Surgeon General. Ques. Did you, while ncting under his direction, visit Andersonville, professionally? Ans. Yes Sir. Ques. For the purpose of making investigations there? Ans. For the purpose of prosecut- ing investigations ordered by the Sru'geon General. Ques. You went there in obedience 48 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. to a letter of instructions? Ans. In obedience to orders which I received. Ques. Did you reduce the results of your investigations to the shape of a report? Ans. I was engaged at that work when General Johnston surrendered his army. (A document being handed to witness.) Ques. Have you examined this extract from your report and com- pared it with the original? Ans. Yes sir, I have. Ques. Is it accurate? Ans. So far as my examination, extended it is accurate. The document just examined by witness was offered in evidence, and is as follows: Observations upon the diseases of the Federal prisoners, confined in Gamp Sumter, Andersonville, in Sumter county, Oeorgia,instituted with a view to illustrate chiefly iJie origin and causes of hospital gangrene, t?ie relations of continued and malarial fevers, and the pathology of camp diarrhea and dysentery, by Joseph Jones Surgeon P. A. G. S. Professor of Medical Chemistry in the Medical College of Geor- gia, at Augusta, Georgia. Hearing of the unusual mortality among the Federal prisoners confined at Andersonville, Georgia, in the month of August, 1864, during a visit to Richmond, Va., I expressed to the Surgeon General, S. P. Moore, Confederate States of America, a de- sire to visit Camp Sumter, with the design of instituting a series of in- quiries upon the nature and causes of the prevailing diseases. Small pox had appeared among the prisoners, and I believed that this would prove an admirable field for the establish- ment of its characteristic lesions. The condition of Peyer's glands in this disease was considered as worthy of minute investigation. It was believed that a large body of men from the northern portion of the United States, suddenly transported to a warm Southern climate, and con- fined upon a small portion of land, would iurnish an excellent field for the investigation of the relations of typhus, typhoid and malarial fevers." Then follows a letter of introduc- tion to the Surgeon in charge at An- dersonville, and a letter to Gen. Win- der asking permission to visit the Inner Prison, and an order of Win- der granting permission. The report tlien proceeds. ''Description of the Confederate States Military Prison Hospital at Anderson- ville, Number of prisoners, physical con- dition, food, clothing, habits, moral condi- tion, diseases. The Confederate Military Prison at Andersonville, Ga., consists of a strong Stockade, twenty feet in height, enclosing twenty-seven acres. The Stockade is formed of strong pine logs, firmly planted in the ground. The main Stockade is sur- rounded by two other similar rows of pine logs, the middle stockade being sixteen feet high, and the outer twelve feet. These are intended for offense and defense. If the inner stockade should at any time be forced by the prisoners, the second forms another line of defense; while in case of an attempt to deliver the prisoners by a force operating upon the exter- ior, the outer line forms an ad- mirable protection to the Confederate t loops, and a most formidable obsta- cle to cavalry or infantry. The four angles of the outer line are strengthened by earth-works upon commanding eminences, from which the cannon, in case of an outbreak among the prisoners, may sweep the entire enclosure; and it was designed to connect these works by a line of rifle pits, running zigzag, around the outer stockade; those rifle pits have never been completed. The ground enclosed by the innermost stockade lies in the form of a parallelogram the larger diameter running almost due north and south. This space in- cludes the northern and southern opposing sides of two hills, between which a stream of water runs from west to east. The surface soil of these hills is composed chiefly of sand with varying admixtures of clay and oxide of iron. The clay is suffi- ciently tenacious to give a considera- FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 40 ble degree of consistency to the soil. The internal structure of the hills, as revealed by the deep wells, is similar to that already described. The alter- nate layers of clay and sand, as well as oxide of iron, which form, in its various combinations a cement to the sand, allow of extensive tunneling. The prisoners not only constructed numerous dirt huts with balls of clay and sand, taken from the wells which they have excavated all over those hills, but they have also, in some cases, tuimeled extensively from these wells. The lower portion of these hills, bordering on the stream, are wet and boggy from the constant ooz- ing of water. The stockade was built originally to accommodate only ten thousand prisoners, and included ;it first seventeen acres. Near the close of the month of June the area was enlarged by the addition of ten acres. The ground added was on the north- ern slope of the largest hill. Within the circumscribed area of the stockade the Federal prisoners were compelled to perform all the offices of life — cooking, washing, the calls of nature, exercise and sleeping. During the month of March the prison was less crowded than at any subsequent time, and the average space of ground to each prisoner was only 98.7 feet, or less than seven square yards. The Federal prisone^-s were gathered from all parts of the Confederate States east of the Missis- sippi, and crowded into the confined space, until in the month of June, the average number of square feet of ground to each prisoner was only 33.2 or less than four square yards. These figures represent the condition of the stockade in a better light even than it really was; for a considerable breadth of land along the stream, flowing from west to east between the hills, was low and boggy, and was covered with the excrement of the men, and thus rendered wholly imin- habitable, and in fact useless for every purpose except that of defeca- tion. The pines and other small trees and shrubs, which originally were sattered sparsely over these hills, Avere, in a short time, cut down and consumed by the prisoners for firewood, and no shade tree was left in the entire en- closure of the stockade. With their characteristic industry and ingenuity, the Federals constructed for them- selves small huts and caves, and attempted to shield themselves from the rain and sun and night damps and dew. But few tents were distributed to the prisoners, and those were in most cases torn and rotten. In the loca- tion and arrangement of these tents and huts no order appears to have been followed; in fact, regular streets appear to be out of the question in so crowded an area; especially too, as large bodies of prisoners were from time to time added suddenly without any previous preparations. The irreg- ular arrangement of the huts and im- perfect shelters were very unfavora- ble for the maintenance of a proper system of police. The police and interna] economy of the prison was left almost entirely in the hands of the prisoners them- selves; the duties of the Confederate soldiers acting as guards being lim- ited to the occupation of boxes or lookouts ranged around the stockade at regular intervals, and to the man- ning of the batteries at the angles of the prison. Even judicial matters pertaining to themselves, as the de- tection and punishment of such crimes as theft and murder appear to have been, in a great measure, aban- doned to the prisoners. A striking instance of this occurred in the month of July, when the Fed- eral prisoners within the stockade tried, condemned, and hanged six (6) of their own number, who had been convicted of stealing, and of robbing and murdering their fellow prisoners. They were all hung upon the same day, and thousands of the prisoners gathered around to witness the exe- cution. The Confederate authorities are said not to have interfered with these proceedings. In this collection of men from all parts of the world, every phase of human character was represented; the stronger preyed upon 50 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE the weaker, and even the sick who were nnable to defend themselves were robbed of their scanty supplies of food and clothing. Dark stoiies were afloat, of men, both sick and well, who were murdered at night, strangled to death by comrades for scant supplies of clothing or money. I heard a sick and wounded Federal prisoner accuse his nurse, a fellow prisoner of the United States army, of having stealthily, during his sleep, inoculated his wounded arm with gangrene, that he might destroy his his life and fall heir to his clothing. The large number of men confined in the stockade soon, under a defec- tive system of police, and with imper- fect arrangements, covered the surface of the low grounds with excrements. The sinks over the lower portions of the stream were imperfect in their plan and structure, and the excre- ments were, in large measure, depos- ited so near the border of the stream as not to be washed away, or else ac- cumulated upon the low boggy ground. The volume of water was not suflicient to wash away tlie feces, and they accumulated in such quan- tities in the lower portion of the stream as to form a mass of liquid excrement. Heavy rains caused the water of the stream to rise, and as the arrangements for passage 'of the increased amounts of water out of the stockade were insufficient, the liquid feces overflowed the low grounds and covered them several inches,after subsidence of the waters. The action of the sun upon this putrefying mass of excrements and fragments of bread and meat and bones excited most rapid fermenta- tion and developed a horrible stench. Improvements were projected for the removal of the filth and for the pre- vention of its accumulation, but they were only partially and imperfectly carried out. As the forces of the prisoners were reduced by confine- ment, want of exercise, improper diet, and by scurvy, diarrhea, and dysen- tery, they were unable to evacuate their bowels within the stream or along its banks, and the excrements were deposited at the very doors of their tents. The vast majority ap- peared to lose all repulsion to filth, and both sick and well disregarded all the laws of hygiene and personal cleanliness. The accommodations for the sick were imperfect and insiiffici- ent. From the organization of the prison, February 24th, 1864, to May 22d, the sick were treated within tlie stockade. In the crowded condition of the stockade, and with the tents and huts clustered thickly around the hospital, it was impossible to secure proper ventilation or to maintain the necessary police. The Federal pris- oners also made frequent forays upon the hospital stores and carried off the food and clothing of the sick. The liospital was on the 22d of May re- moved to its present site without the stockade, and five acres of ground covered with oaks aiul pines appro- priated to the use of the sick. The supply of medical officers has been insufficient from the foundation of the prison. The nurses and attendants upon the sick have been most generally Federal prisoners, who in too many cases ap- pear to have been devoid of moral principle, and who not only neglected their duties, but were also engaged in extensive robbing of the sick. From the want of proper police and hygienic regulations alone it is not wonderful that from February 24th to September 21st, 1864, nine thousand four hundred and seventy-nine deaths nearly one third of the entire number of prisoners, should have been re- corded. I found the stockade and hospital in the following condition during my pathological investigations, instituted in the month of September, 1864: Stockade, Confederate States Mili- tary Prison. At the time of my visit to Ander- sonville a large number of Federal prisoners had been removed to Millen, Savannah, Charleston and other parts of the Confederacy, in anticipation of an advance of General Sherman's FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE 51 forces from Atlanta, with the design of liberating their captive brethren: however, about fifteen thousand pris- oners remained confined within the limits of the stockade and Confeder- ate States Military Prison Hospital. In the stockade, with the exception of the damp low lands bordering the small stream, the surface was covered with huts, and small ragged tents and parts of blankets and fragments of oil-cloth, coats, and blankets stretched upon sticks. The tents and huts were not arranged according to any order, and there was in most parts of the enclosure scarcely room for two men to walk abreast between the tents and huts. ******* Each day the dead from the stock- ade were carried out by their fellow prisoners and deposited upon the ground under a bush arbor just out- side the southwestern gate. From thence they were carried in carts to the burying ground, one quarter of a mile northwest of the prison. The dead were buried without cofflus, side by side, in trenches four feet deep. The low grounds bordering the stream were covered with human ex- crements and flltli of all kinds, which in many places appeared to be alive with working maggots. An indes- cribable sickening stench arose from these fermenting masses of human filth. There were near five thousand ser- iously ill Federals in the stockade and Confederate States Military Prison Hospital, and the deaths ex- ceeded one hundred per day, and large numbers of the prisoners who were walking about, and who had not been entered upon the sick reports, were suffering from severe and incurable diarrhea, dysentery and scurvy. The sick were attended almost entirely by their fellow prisoners, appointed as nurses, and as they received but little attention, they were compelled to exert themselves at all times to attend to the calls of nature, and hence, they retained the power of moving about to within a compara- tively short period of the close of life. Owing to the slow progress of the diseases most prevalent, diarrhea and chronic dysentery, the corpses were as a general rule emaciated. I visited two thousand sick within the stockade, lying under some long sheds which had been built at the northern portion for themselves. At this time only one medical officer was in at- tendance, whereas at least twenty medical officers should have been em- ployed. * * * * * # Scurvy, diarrhea, dysentery, and hospital gangrene were the prevailing diseases. I was surprised to find but few cases of malarial fever, and no well marked cases either of typluis or typhoid fever. The absence of the different forms of malarial fever may be accounted for on the supposition that the artificial atmosphere of the stockade, crowded densely with human beings and loaded with animal exhalations, was unfavorable to the existence and action of malarial poison. The absence of typhoid and typhus fevers amongst all the causes which are supposed to generate these diseases, appeared to be due to the fact that the great majority of these prisoners had been in captivity in Virginia, at Belle Island, and in other parts of the Confederacy for months, and even as long as two years, and during this time they had been sub- jected to the same bad influences, and those who had not had these fevers before either had them during their confinement in Confederate prisons or else their systems, from long ex- posure were proof against their action. The effects of scurvy were mani- fested on every hand, and in all its various stages, from the muddy pale complexion, pale gums, feeble, lan- guid muscular motions, lowness of spirits, and fetid breath, to the dusky, dirty leaden complexion, swollen fea- tures, spongy purple, livid, fungoid, bleeding gums, loose teeth, cedema- tous limbs, covered with livid vibices and petechiae spasmodically flexed, painful and hardened extremities, spontaneous hemorrhages from muc- 52 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE ous canals, and large, ill conditioned, spreading ulcers covered with a dark purplish fungus growth. I observed that in some cases of scurvy the par- otid glands were greatly swollen, and in some instances to such an extent as to preclude entirely the power to articulate. In several cases of dropsy of the abdomen and lower extremi- ties supervening upon scurvy, the patients affirmed that previously to the appearance of the dropsy they had suffered with profuse and obsti- nate diarrhea, and that when this was checked by a change of diet, from Indian corn bread baked with the husk, to boiled rice, the dropsy ap- peared. The severe pains and livid patches were frequently associated with swellings in various parts, and especially in the lower extremities, accompanied with stiffness and con- tractions of the knee joints and an- kles, and often with a burning feel of the parts, as if lymph had been effused between the integuments and apeneuroses, preventing the motion of the skin over the swollen parts. Many of the prisoners believed that the survy was contagious, and I saw men guarding their wells and springs, fearing lest some man suffering with scurvy might use the water and thus poison them. I observed also num- erous cases of hospital gangrene and of spreading scorbutic ulcers, which had supervened upon slight injuries. The scorbutic ulcers presented a dark purple fungoid, elevated surface, with livid swollen edges, exuded a thin, fetid sanious fluid, instead of pus. Many ulsers which originated from the sorbutic condition of the system appeared to become truly gangrene- ous, assuming all the characteristics of hospital gangrene. From the crowded condition, filthy habits, bad diet, and dejected de- pressed condition of the prisoners, their systems had become so disor- dered that the smallest abrasion of the skin from the rubbing of a shoe, or from the effects of the sun, or from the prick of a splinter, or from scratching or a mosquito bite, in some cases took on rapid and fright- ful ulceration and gangrene. The long use of salt meat, ofttimes im- perfectly cured, as well as the most total deprivation of vegetables and fruit, appeared to be the chief cause of scurvy. I carefully examined the bakery and the bread furnished the prisoners, and found that they were supplied almost entirely with corn bread from which the husk had not been separated. This husk acted as an irritant to the alimentary canal, without adding any nutriment to the bread. As far as my examination extended no fault could be found with the mode in which the bread was baked; the difficulty lay in the failure to separate the husk from the corn meal. I strongly urged the pre- paration of large quantities of soup made from the cow and calves heads with the brains and tongues to which a liberal supply of sweet potatoes and vegetables might have been advan- tageously added. The material ex- isted in abundance for the prepara- tion of such soup in large quantities with but little additional expense. Such aliment would have been not only highly nutritious, but it would also have acted as an efficient reme- dial agent for the removal of the scorbutic condition. The sick with- in the stockade lay under several long sheds which were orginally built for barracks. These sheds covered two floors which were open on all sides. The sick lay upon the bare boards, or upon such ragged blankets as they possessed, without, as far as I ob- served, any bedding or even straw. * * * * # The haggard, distressed countenan- ces of these miserable, complaining dejected, living skeletons, crying for medical aid and food, and cursing their Government for its refusal to exchange prisoners, and the ghastly corpses with their glazed eyeballs staring up into vacant space, with the flies swarming down their open grin- ning mouths, and over their ragged clothes infested with numerous lice, as they lay amongst the sick and dy- ing formed a picture of helpless,hope- less misery which it would be im- FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 53 possible to portray by words or by the brush. A feeling of disappoint- ment and even resentment on account of the action of the United States Government upon the subject of exchange of prison- ers, appeared to be widespread, and the apparent hopeless, nature of the negotiations for some general ex- change of prisoners appeared to be a cause of universal regret and deep and injurious despondency. I heard some of the prisoners go so far as to exonerate the Confederate Govern- ment from any charge of intention- ally subjecting them to a protracted confinement, with its necessary and unavoidable sufferings in a country cut off from all intercourse with for- eign nations, and sorely pressed on all sides, whilst on the other hand they charged their prolonged cap- tivity upon their own Government, which was attempting to make the negro equal to the white man. Some hundreds or more of the prisoners had been released from confinement in tlie stockade on parole, and filled various offices as clerks, druggists, carpenters, etc., in the various depart- ments. These men were well clothed and presented a stout and healthy appearance,and as a general rule,they presented a much more robust and healthy appearance than the Confed- erate troops guarding the prisoners. # * * » * The entire grounds are surrounded by a frail board fence, and are strictly guarded by Confederate soldiers, and no prisoner, except the paroled at- tendants, is allowed to leave the grounds except V)y a special permit from the commandant of the interior of the prison. The patients and attendants, near two thousand in number, are crowded into this confined space and are but poorly supplied with old and ragged tents. Large numbers of them were without any bunks in the tents, and lay upon the ground, ofttimes with- out even a blanket. No beds or straw appeared to have been furnished. The tents extend to within a few yards of the small stream, the east- ern portion of which, as we have befoie said, is used as a privy and is loaded with excrements; and I ob- served a large pile of corn bread, bones, and filth of all kinds, thirty feet in diameter and several feet in hight, swarming with myriads of flies, in a vacant space near the pots used for cooking. Millions of flies swarmed over everything and covered the faces of the sleeping patients, and crawled down their open mouths and deposited their maggots in the gang- renous wounds of the living and in the mouths of the dead. Mosquitoes in great numbers also in- fested the tents, and many of the patients were so stung by these pesti- ferous insects, that they resembled those suffering from a slight attack of the measles. The police and hygiene of the hos- pital were defective in the extreme; the attendants, who aiipeared in al- most every instance to have been selected from the prisoners, seemed to have, in many cases, but little in- terest in the welfare of their fellow captives. The accusation was made that the nurses, in many cases, robbed the sick of their clothing, money, and rations, and carried on a clandestine trade with the paroled prisoners and confederate guards without the hos- pital enclosure, in the clothing,eflfects of the sick, dying, and dead Federals. They certainly appeared to neglect the comfort and cleanliness of the sick intrusted to their care in a most shameful manner, even after making due allowances for the difficulties of the situation. Many of tlie sick were literally encrusted with dirt and fllth and covered with vermin. When a gangrenous wound needed washing, the limb was thrust out a little from the blanket, or board, or rags upon which the patient was lay- ing, and water poured over it, and all the putrescent matter allowed to soak into the ground floor of the tent. The supply of rags for dressing wounds was said to be very scant, and I saw the most filthy rags which had been applied several times, and imperfectly washed, used in dressing 54 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. wounds. Where hospital gangrene was prevailing, it was impossible for any wound to escape contagion under tliese circumstances. The result of the treatment of wounds in the hos- pital were of the most unsatisfactory character, from this neglect of clean- liness, in the dressings and wounds themselves, as well as from various other causes which will be more fully considered. I saw several gangren- ous wounds filled with maggots, I have frequently seen neglected wounds among Confederate soldiers similarly affected; and as far as my experience extends these worms des- troy only the dead tissues and do not injure specially the well parts. I have even heard surgeons affirm tliat a gangrenous wound which had been thoroughly cleansed by maggots, healed nnn-e rapidly than if it had been left to itself. This want of cleanliness on the part of the nurses appeared to lie the result of careless- ness and inattention, rather than of malignant design, and the whole trouble can be traced to the want of proper police and sanitary regulations and to the absence of intelligent or- ganization and division of labor. The abuses were in large measure due to the almost total absence of system, government, and rigid, but wholesome sanitary regulations. In extenuation of these abuses it was alleged by the medical officers that the Confederate troojis were barely sufficient to guard the prisoners, and that it was impossible to obtain any number of experienced nurses from the Confederate forces. In fact the guard appeared to be too small, even for the regulation of the internal hygiene and police of the hospital. The manner of disposing of the dead was also calculated to depress the already desponding spirits of these men, many of whom liave been confined for months, and even for nearly two years in Richmond and other places, and whose strength had been wasted by bad air, bad food, and neglect of personal cleanliness. The dead-house is merely a frame covered with old tent cloth and a few brusheSjSituated in the south-western corner of the hospital gi'ounds. When a patient dies, he is simply laid in the narrow street in front of his tent, until he is removed by Fed- eral negroes detailed to carry off the dead; if a patient dies during the night he lies there until morning, and during the day, even the dead were frequently allowed to remain for hours in these walks. In the dead-house the corpses lie upon the bare ground, and were in most cases covered with filth and vermin. ***** The cooking arrangements are of the most defective character. Five large iron pots similar to those used lor boiling sugar cane, appeared to be the only cooking utensils furn- ished by the hospital for the cooking of nearly two thousand men; and the patients were dependent in great measure upon their own miserable utensils. Tliey were allowed to cook in the tent dt)ors and in the lanes, and tliis w;is another source of filth, and another favoralde condition for the generation and uiultiplication of flies and other vermin. Tlie air of the tents was foul and disagreeable in the extreme, and in fact the entire grounds emitted a most nauseous and disgusting smell. I entered nearly all the tents and carefully examined all the cases of interest, and especially the cases of gangrene, upon numerous occasions, during the prosecution of my path- ological inquiries at Andersonville. and tlierefore enjoyed every oppor- tunity to judge correctly of the hy- giene and police of the hospital. There appeared to Vje absolute in- difference and neglect on the pait of the patients of personal cleanliness; their persons and clothing, in most instances, and especially of those sui- fering with gangrene and scorbutic ulcers, were filthy in the extreme and covered with vermin. It was too often the ease that patients were re- ceived from the Stockade in a most deplorable condition. I have seen men brought in from the stockade in a dying condition, begrimed from FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 55 head to foot with their own exci-e- ments, and so black from smoke and filth that they resembled negroes rather than white men. That this description of the stockade and hos- pital has not been overdrawn, will appear from the reports of the sur- geons in charge, appended to this report. * * n * * CONCLUSIONS. 1st. The great mortality among the Federal prisoners confined in the military prison at Andersonville was not referable to climatic causes, or to the nature of the soil and waters. 2d. The chief causes of death were scurvy and its results and bowel affections, chronic and acute diarrhea and dysentery. The bowel affections appear to have been due to the diet, the habits of the patients, the de- pressed, dejected state of the nervous system and moral and intellectual powers, and to the effluvia arising from decomposing animal and vegeta- ble tilth. The effects of salt meat, and an unvarying diet of corn meal, with but few vegetables, and imper- fect supplies of vinegar and syruj^, were manifested in the great preval- ence of scurvy. This disease, without doubt, was also influenced to an im- portant extent in its origin Hud course by the foul animal emanations. 3d. From the sameness of the food and form, the action of the pois- sonous gases in the densely crowded and filthy stockade and hospital, the blood was altered in its constitution, even before the manifestation, of actual disease. In both the well and the sick red corpuscles were dimin- ished; and in all diseases uncompli- cated with inflammation, the fibrous element was deficient. In cases of ulceration of the mucous membrane of the intestinal canal the fibrous element of the blood was increased; while in simple diarrhea, uncompli- cated with ulceration, it was either diminished or else remained station- ary. Heart clots were very common, if not universally present, in cases of ulceration of the intestinal mucous membrane, while in the uncompli. cated cases of diarrhea and scurvy, the blood was fluid and did not coag- ulate readily, and the heart clots and fibrous concretions were almost un- iversally absent. From the watery condition of the blood, there resulted various serous effusions into the per- icardium, ventricles of the brain, and into the abdomen. In almost all the cases which I examined after death, even the more emaciated, there, was more or less serous effusion into the abdominal cavity. In cases of hos- pital gangrene of the extremities, and in cases of gangrene of the intes- tines, heart clots and fibrous coagula- tions wfif universally present. The presence ui' those clots in the cases of hospital gangrene, while they were absent in the cases in which there was no inflamatory symptoms, sus- tains the conclusion that hospital gangrene is a species of inflammation, imperfect and irregular though it may be in its progress, in which the fibrous element and coagulation of the blood are iucreasetl, even in those who are suffering from sucli a condition of the blood, and from such diseases as are naturally accompanied with a decrease in tlie fil)rous constituent. 4th. The fact that hospital gan- grene appeared in the stockade first; and oi'iginated spontaneously with- out any previous contagion, and oc- curred sporadically all over the stock- ade and jnnson hospital, was proof positive tliat this disease will arise whenever the conditions of crowding, filth, foul air and bad diet are present. The exiialations from the hospital and stockade appeared to exert their effects to a considerable distance out- s'de of these localities. The origin of hospital gangrene among these prisoners appeared clearly to depend in great measure upon the state of the general system induced by diet, ard various external noxious influ- ences. The rapidity of the appear- ance and action of the gangrene de- pended upon the powers and state of the constitution, as well as upon the intensity of the poison in the atmos- phere, or upon the direct application of poisonous matter to the wounded 56 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. surface. This was further illustrated by the important fact that hospital gangrene, or a disease resembling it in all essential respects, attacked the intestinal canal of patients laboring under ulceration of the bowels, al- though there was no local manifesta- tions of gangrene upon the surface of the body. This mode of termination in cases of dysentery was quite com- mon in the foul atmosphere of the Confederate States Military Hospital in the depressed, depraved condition of the system of these Federal prisoners. 5th. A scorbutic condition of the system appeared to favor the origin of foul ulcers which frequently took on true hospital gangrene. Scurvy and hospital gangrene frequently ex- isted in the same individual. In such cases, vegetable diet, with vegetable acids, would remove the scorbutic condition without curing the hospital gangrene. From the results of the existing war for the establishment of the independence of the Confederate States, as well as from the published observations of Dr. Trotter, Sir Gil- bert Blane, and others of the English navy and army, it is evident that the scorbutic condition of the system, es- pecially in crowded ships an I camps, is the most favorable to the oiigin and spread of foul ulcers and hospital gangrene. As in the present case of Andersonville, so also in past times when medical hygiene was almost en- tirely neglected, those two diseases were almost universally associated in crowded ships. In many cases is was very difficult to decide at first whether the ulcer was a simple result of scurvy or of the action of the prison or hospital gangrene, for there was great similarity in the appear- ance of the ulcers in the two diseases, so commonly have these two diseases been combined in their origin and action, that the description of scor- butic ulcers, by many authors evi- dently includes also many of the prominent characteristics of hospital gangrene. This will be rendered evident by an examination of the ob- servations of Dr. Lind and Sir Gilbert Blane upon scorbutic ulcers. 6th. Gangrenous spots followed by rapid destruction of tissue appeared in some cases where there had been no known wound. Without such well established facts, it might be assumed that the disease was propa- gated from one patient to another. In such a filthy and crowded hospital as that of the Confederate States Military Prison at Andersonville, it was impossible to isolate the wounded from the sources of actual contact of the gangrenous matter. The flies swarming over the wounds and over filth of every kind. The filthy, im- perfectly washed and scanty supplies of rags, and the limited supply of washing utensils, the same wash-bowl serving for scores of patients, were sources of such constant circulation of the gangrenous nlatter that the disease might rapidly spread from a single gangrenous wound. The fact already stated, that a form of moist gangrene, resembling hospital gang- rene, was quite common in this foul atmosphere, in cases of dysentry, both with and without the existence of the disease upon the entire surface not only demonstrates the dependence of the disease upon the state of the constitution, but proves in the clear- est manner that neither the contact of the poisonous matter of gangrene, nor the direct action of the poisonous atmosphere upon the ulcerated sur- face is necessary to the developement of the disease. 7th. In this foul atmosphere am- putation did not arrest hospital gang- rene, the disease almost invariably returned. Almost every amputation was followed finally by death, either from the effects of gangrene or from the prevailing diarrhea or dysentry. Nitric acid and escharotics generally in this crowded atmosphere, loaded with noxious effluvia, exerted only tempoiary effects; after their applica- tion to the diseased surfaces, the gangrene would frequently return with redoubled energy; and even after the gangrene had been com- pletely removed by local and consti- tutional treatment, it would fre- FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 57 quently return and destroy the pa- tient. As far as my observation er- tended, very few of the cases of am- putation for gangrene recovered. The progress of these cases was fre- quently very deceptive. I have ob- served after death the most extensive disorganization of the structures of the stump, when during life there was but little swelling of the part, and the patient was apparently doing well. I endeavored to impress upon the medical officers the view that in this disease treatment was almost useless, without an abundant supply of pure, fresh air, nutritious food, and tonics and stimulants. Such changes, however, as would allow of the isolation of the cases of hospital gangrene appeared to be out of the power of the medical officers. 8th. The gangrenous mass was with- out true pus, and consisted chiefly of broken-down, disorganized structures. The reaction of the gangrenous mat- ter in certain stages was alkaline. 9th. The best, and in truth the only means of i)rotecting large armies and navies, as well as prisoners, from the ravages of hospital gangrene, is to furnish liberal supplies of well cured meat, together with fresh beef and vegetables, and to enforce a rigid system of hygiene. 10th. Finally, this gigantic mass of human misery calls loudly fen* re- lief, not only for the sake of suffering humanity, but also on account of our own brave soldiers now captives in the hands of the Federal Government. Strict justice to tlie gallant men of the Confederate Armies, who have been or who may l»e, so unfortunate as to be compelled to surrender in battle, demands that the Confederate Government should adopt that course which will best secure their health and comfort in captivity; or at least, leave their enemies without a shadow of an excuse for any violation of the rules of civilized warfare in the treat- ment of prisoners." (End of witnesses' testimony.) This was the testimony of a scien- tific medical officer, who was so thoroughly a rebel that he served as a private for six months in the Con- federate army, and yet so humane as to condemn the barbarous treatment imposed on helpless men by such fiends as Winder and "VVirz. Let me call the readers particular attention to a few points in the test- imony of Dr. Jones. First. As to his charge of filthiness. He states the truth, as any ex-Ander- sonville prisoner too well knows, but he does not inform his Government as to the cause. He does not say that these men were turned, like so many swine, into the stockade, after being robbed of everything of value. That no cooking utensils were furnished, that not an ounce of soap was issued to the prisoners after May 1st, 1864. But he does tell us that water was scarce, and filthy beyond the power of description, he does tell how these men became dispirited by long con- finement, by bad diet and worse drink, and by their filthy surround- ings, and by the constant presence of death. What Avonder that men un- der all these discouraging cii'cum- stances soon fell to the level of brutes ? And yet all were not so filthy; all did not lose their instincts of manhood, but through all these discouraging surroundings, observed, as well as possible under the circum- stances, the laws of health. Were it not so this story would never have been written. Second. He speaks of hearing some of the prisoners exonerate the Con- federate Government, and lay all the blame of their conLinued imprison- ment on the Federal Government. There is too much truth in this state- ment to be pleasant to us as patriots, but let us see if these men were wholly to blame in this matter. We had heard all sorts of discour- aging rumors for the last ten months. The rebels had told us that Lincoln would not exchange prisoners unless the negroes were put upon the same basis as whites. That was just and honorable in the Government, but it was death to us. The fact is that of all the forty-five thousand prisoners 58 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. that I saw in Andersonville there were not to exceed a half dozen negroes, and they were officers' wait- ers. The rebels did not take negroes prisoners who were captured in arms, they killed them on the spot, and we knew it, but perhaps our Government did not. For my own part I never exoner- ated Confederates for the part they took in cases where they might have done better. It is true that they could not furnish us such a quality of food as our Government furnished Confederate prisoners, but the excuse that they liad not enough for their own soldiers is too tiimsy as shown by the supplies that Sherman's men found in Georgia on that famous "March to the Sea" after we had been removed from Andei'sonville. And even if they were short of food, they had enough pure air and water, and enough land so that we need not have been compelled to drink our own filth, nor breathe the foul effluvia aris- ing from the putrefaction of our ex- crements, nor be crowded at the rate of thirty-three thousand men on twelve acres of ground, as we were at Andersonville. There was wood enough so that men need not have been compelled to eat corn meal raw. There was no valid excuse for rob- bing men of their little all and then turning them into those prisons, to live or die, as best they could. When we come to the part our Government took in this matter it is simply this; General Grant was of the opinion that we could perform our duty as soldiers better in those pris- ons than we could if exchanged. Ex- change meant giving a fat rebel sol- dier, ready to take the field, for a yankee skeleton ready for the hospital or the grave. Considered as a mili- tary measure I admit it was right; but considered from a humanitarian point, it was simply hellish. Do you wonder that we thought our Government had forgotton, or did not care for us ? And yet when the crucial test came, when life and liberty, food and clothing, were of- fered us at the price of our loyalty to our Government, our reply was "no. we will let the lice carry us out through the cracks, before we will take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, we will accept deatli but not dishonor." Don't blame us if we were discour- aged and disheartened, if we did gi-owl at, and find fault with, a gov- ernment which we imagined had deserted us in the hour of our great- est need; we were true and loyal after all, and if you had been placed in the same condition you would have done just the same. Third. Dr. Jones in speaking of those prisoners who were paroled and were at work on the outside of the stockade says: "These men were well clothed, and presented a stout and healthy appearance, and as a gen- eral rule they presented a much more robust appearance than the Confeder- ate troops guarding them." Why not ? they had plenty of ex- ercise, good water, fresh air, and enough food so that they could pur- chase their good clothes with the sur- plus which accrued after their own wants had been satisfied. They were naturally more robust men than those Home Guards, and their situation had enabled them to keep in a normal condition. Had the prisoners in the stockade received the same treat- ment as the paroled men who were at work outside of the stockade, they would have presented the same robust appearance, but that stockade and those guards could not have held us and the rebels kncAV it. I have introduced the report of Dr. Jones for the benefit of a class of persons who are inclined to doubt the statements of ex-prisoners, and I sub- mit that he tells a more terrible story than any of us can tell. CHAPTER XII. PROGRESS OF THE WAR. "The news has flown frae mouth to mouth, The North for ance has bang'd the South" ; Scott. Wliile we were waiting, and hoping, and starving,and dying at Anderson- ville our armies were fast solving thc^ problem of the Rebellion. Jeff Davis had tired of the policy of General ,Josev)h E. .Johnson, who Avas in com- mand of the army wliich confronted Sherman, and about the middle of July relieved him of his command and appointed Hood to his place. Johnson's policy during the Atlanta campaign had been tliat of defense. Davis was in favor of aggressive wai-- fare. He believed in driving the in- vaders from the sacred soil of the South. A grand idea surely, but then, the invaders had a word to say in that matter; they had come to stay, and Jeff Davis' manifestoes had no terri- fying effect upon them. Hood im- mediately assumed the aggressive and on the 21st of July came out from behind his entrenchments and at- tacked Sherman. On the 22d the battle of Atlanta was fought, in which General Mc- Pherson was killed. The command of the army of the Tennessee then fell upon General John A.Logan for a few days, when he was superseded by General O. 0. Howard. There has been much criticism upon this act of General Sherman. Logan had as- sumed command of the army of the Tennessee upon the death of McPher- son, during a hotly contested battle, and he had fought the battle to a suc- cessful termination. He had fought his way from colonel of a regiment, to Major General commanding an Army Corps, and temporarily com- manding an army. He had shown the highest type of military ability shown by any volunteer officer, and yet he was compelled to give place to a transplanted officer from the army of the Potomac. Logan and his friends felt this deeply, but with true patriotic in- stincts he, and they, continued to fight for the cause of Liberty and Union. No satisfactory reason has ever been given for this act of in- justice on the part of General Sher- man, but it is hinted that it was be- cause Logan was not a graduate of West Point. The action of General Sherman in this matter is all the more inexplicable when we compare tlie stupendous failure of Howard at Chancellorsville, but little more than a year before, with the signal success of Logan at Atlanta on the 22d of July. But time brings its revenge. Howard lias passed into comparative obscurity. We hear of him occasion- ally as a lecturer before a Chautau- qua Society in some small town or city, "only tiiis and nothing more," while John A. I^ogan went down to his grave, loved and revered, as the highest representative of the Ameri- can Volunteer soldier. His name is inscribed on the imperishable roll of fame by the side of the names of Sheridan, Thomas, and Hancock. But the victory of the Federals at the battle of Atlanta did not include the surrender of the city. Sherman sent a cavalry corps under General Stoneman to capture Macon, Ga. In this he failed, but he destroyed con- siderable property, including railroad, rolling stock, bridges and supplies and seriously threatened Macon, giving Winder, at Andersonville, a terrible scare, which resulted in the General Order which I have copied in a previous chapter. Sherman find- ing that Atlanta was not to be cap- tured without a fight more serious than he cared to risk, moved by the 60 riFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. flank to Jonesboru south of Atlanta, thus cutting ofl: the supplies for At- lanta. On the 1st of September he moved his army up to within twenty miles of Atlanta, and on tlie 2d Gen- eral Slocum moved his forces into that city. Great was the rejoicing all over the North when the news was flashed over the wires that Sherman had captured the"Gate City'"of the South, and a cor- responding feeling of gloom settled down upon the Southern people when they found that Hood, with the as- sistance of the counsels of Beaure- gard, could not cope with "Uncle Billy" and his veterans. In the meantime the army under General Grant had not been idle. On May 3d and 4th the army of the Poto- mac moved from its camp on the north of the Rapidan and commenced a campaign which was destined to result in the downfall of the capital of the Confederacy, and ultimately of the Confederacy itself. In the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North Anna and Cold Harbor, our forces showed the aggressive spirit inspired by their great leader, ably seconded by Meade, Hancock, the lamented Sedgwick, Warren, Wright and Burnside. While the Confeder- ate forces under their favorite leader Lee, witli his Lieutenants, Anderson. Early and Hill, resisted the inroads of the Federal forces with a bravery born of a determination to die in the visionary "last ditch." But superior numbers, coupled with equal bravery and ability, are bound to win in the end. and on the 15th of June 1864 Grant's army was before Petersburg with a determina- tion to pound the Rebels into sub- mission. If the battle of Atlanta caused fear and trembling among the rebs at Andersonville, the fall of that city caused a perfect panic among them. On the 3d of September a train load of one thousand men was shipped away from the prison, and each day after that saw the exodus of a like number, until all who were able to walk to the station had been shipped to more secure points. Some were sent to Millen and Savannah, Ga., and some to Charleston, and Columbia, South Carolina. During the latter part of August long sheds with an upper and lower floor, and open at the sides, had been built in the northern portion of the stockade. The carpenters who per- formed the labor of building these sheds or barracks,as they were called, were of our own numbers. They received as compensation for their labor an extra ration of food, aiid they thought themselves lucky to get a chance to work for their board, as indeed, they were. On the 5th Ole Gilbert, Rouse, and myself left our quarters near the swamp, and moved into the sheds. We gave up our well with regret, as it had proved to be a great blessing tt) us, but September had come, and soon the storms of the autumnal equinox would be upon us, and our little tent, made of a ragged blanket and pine boughs, would but poorly shelter us from the storm. We took up our qnarteis on the upper floor, with no straw for bed- ding, nothing between our skeleton like bodies and the floor but a piece of ragged blanket. We suffered ter- ribly for the lack of bedding, our pro- truding hip bones could not possibly reconcile themselves to the hard floor and we were rolling about continually trying to find some part of our anatomy that would fit a pine board, but we never found it. But we did find a little purer air than we found down by the excrement burdened swamp, the foul gases arising from decomposing human excrements fer- menting in a hot sun were not quite so strong and nauseous and besides we had a little more room. Day by day the thinning process went on, there being two strong powers at work to accomplish the task, death and the trains of cars. I have never been quite satisfied with the tables of mortality pub- lished with reference to Anderson- ville. Dr. Jones in his report, gives the number who died between Feb. FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 61 24th anrl September 21st, 1804, as nine thousand four hundred and seventy- nine. McElroy gives twelve thous- and nine hundred and twelve as the whole number that died during the time Andersonville was used as a prison. I think both statements are far be- low the truth although I have only parole testimony to prove my position. While on the way from Andersonville to Charleston, I overlieard a private conversation between two prisoners upon the subject of tlie number of deaths at Andersonville. One of them claimed to be the Hospital Steward who kept the records at that place, and he told his companion that he had a copy of the death record and that twelve thousand six hundred and twenty odd had died up to the date of leaving the prison, which was Sept. 11th. and that he intended to carry the copy through the lines with him when he was exchanged. One of the prisoners who was paroled in December following did have a copy of the register and showed it at the office of the War Department in Washington, it was not returned to him and he afterward stole it from the office, was arrested and imprison- ed for the theft and was finally liber- ated through the intercession of Miss Clara Barton, "the soldiers' friend." The man was a member of a Con- necticut regiment, whose name I cannot recall, but I think was Inger- soll, though I would not pretend to be positive. I think the official records show a total of nearly fourteen thous- and deaths in Andersonville. All the evidence attainable both from Fedei-- al and Confederate sources prove that abo'ut one third of all the men who entered the gates of Andersonville died there, and when we come to add to that number those who died in other prisons, and on the way home, and whose death is directly traceable to that prison, we will find that fully one-half of the forty-five thousand Andersonville prisoners never reached home. If the king of Denmark could ex- claim, "0, my offense is rank, it smells to heaven," what shall we say of the men who are guilty of the bar- barities of Andersonville ? How far will their offense smell ? By a fair computation more than twenty thousand men were, — "Cut ofE even in the blossom of their sins, Unhouseled, disappointed, unanel'd; No reckoning made, but sent to their account With all their imperfections on their heads : O, horrible ! O, horrible ! most horrible !" Rest comrades, rest in your graves on the sandy hillside of Anderson- ville. The dank and tlie mould have consumed your bodies and they have returned to the dust from whence they came; but a day of reckoning win surely come. When the last trump shall somid and the dead shall come forth from their graves, and stand before tlie Great White Throne, where will your murderers be foimd ? Surely they will call upon the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them them from the face of Him who sitteth upon the Throne and judgeth thi^ Earth in righteous- ness. It is impossible for any person endowed with the common feelings and instincts of humanity to under- stand, much less to explain, the char- acter of Windei- and Wirz. How any persoTi in this enlightened age could 1)6 guilty of the cruelties and barbar- ities practiced by those two ghouls surpass; all attempts at explanatiDU. I am of the opinion that the majority of the people of the South were igno- rant of the full extent of the horrors of the Southern Military Prisons. I am led to this conclusion by the fact, that, except upon the questions of slavery and war, they were a kind and generous hearted people, generally speaking, as much so,at least, as any Community of people of like extent. And for the further reason that not many of them had access to the inside of those prisons, and they would naturally believe the report of inter- ested Confederates, sooner than the reports of interested Federals, partic- ularly, as they had no intercourse with iirisoners themselves, except in isolated cases. And still further, all escaped prisoners, who were re- 62 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. captured and returned to prison spoke highly of the kind treatment of the middle and upper classes, only com- plaining of the treatment of the low- er classes or "Clay Eaters." But somebody knew of these barbarities and cruelties and somebody was re- sponsible foi- Winder and Wirz hold- ing their positions, and that after a full investigation and report upon the subject by competent men. That SOMEBODY was Jeff Davis and his cabinet. The members of tlie Confederate Congress were aware of the treat- ment of Federal prisoners and some of the members of that congress cried out against it. in their places. But Jeff Davis ruled the South with a rod of iron. He was the head and front, the great rei)it'sentative uf the doctrine of States Iliglits, which, in- terpreted by Soutiiein Statesmen, meant the right of a state tu separate itself from tiie Gener;il Government, peaceably if possible, '-y force of arms if need be. And yet wiien Governor Brown, of Georgia, carried this doc- trine to its logical conclusion by withdrawing the Georgia troops from the Confederate armies, to repel the invasion of Sherman and harvest a crop for the use of his army, Davis, in public speeches, intimated that Governor Brown was a traitor. President Davis and liis cabinet knew of the atrocities of Winder and Wirz, and their ilk, and connived at them by keeping the i)erpetrators in place and power. Winder was a ren- egade Baltimorean who had received a military education at the expense of the United States government, but being too cowardly to accept a posi- tion in the field where his precious carcass would be exposed to danger, he accepted from his intimate friend, Jeff Davis, the office of Provost Mar- shal General, in which position he was a, scourge and a curse to the rebels themselves. Becoming too obnoxious to the people of Rich- mond, Davis, at last, appointed him Commissary General of prisoners, in wliich capacity he had charge of all the Federal prisoners east of the Mississippi river. The antecedents of Wirz are not known. McElroy, who has investi- gated the subject of Southern Prisons deeper than any man of my knowl- edge, has arrived at the conclusion that he was probably a clerk in a store before the war of the Rebellion. He arrives at his conclusion logically, for he asserts that Wirz could count more than one hundred. That Davis and his cabinet knew of the terrible treatment bestowed upon the Federal prisoners at Anderson- ville, we have abundant pntof. The following extract from the report of Colonel D. T. Chandler, of the Rebel War Department, who was sent to inspect Anderson ville, was copied from "Andersonville." The report is of date August 5th, 1864. and is as follows: "My duty requires me re- spectfully to recommend a change in the officer in command of the post, Brigadier General John H. Winder, and the substitution in his place of some one who unites both energy and good judgment with some feelings of humanity and consideration for the welfare and comfort as far as is con- sistent with their safe keeping of the vast numl)er of unfortunates placed under his control; some one who, at least,will not advocate deliberate- ly, and in cold Idood, the propriety of leaving them in their present condi- tion until their number is sufficiently reduced by death to make the pres- ent arrangements suffice for their accomodation, and who will not con- sider it a matter of self laudation and boasting that he has never been in- side of the stockade — a place the horrors oi which it is difficult to describe, and which is a disgrace TO CIVILIZATION — the condition of which he might l)y the exercise of a little energy and judgment, even with the limited means at his com- mand, have considerably improved." In his examination touching this report. Colonel Chandler says: "I noticed that General Winder seemed very indifferent to the wel- fare of the prisoners, indisposed to do anything, or to do as much as I I FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 63 thought he ought to do, to alleviate their sufEeriugs. I remonstrated with him as well as I could, and he used that language which I reported to the Department with reference to it — the language stated in the report. When I spoke of the mortality exist- ing among the prisoners, and pointed out to him tlaat the sic]\ly season was coming on, and that it must neces- sarily increase unless something was done for their relief — the swamp, for instance, drained, proper food fur- nished, and in better quality, and other sanitary suggestions which I made to him — he replied to me that he thought it was better to see half of them die than to take care of the men." This report proves two points. First that we had been living in Anderson- ville during the healthy season, God save the mark, and second that Jeff Davis knew of the situation through his War Minister. But Davis was in favor of having the prisoners receive the terrible treatment to which they were subjected. He had, through his Commissary General of Prisoners, made demands upon the Federal Government in the matter of the ex- change of prisoners, which no govern- ment possessing any self respect could entertain. He demanded an exchange of prisoners in bulk, that is, the Federal Government to give all the Confederate prisoners it held in exchange for all the Federal prison- ers the Confederate Government held. The unfairness of such a propo- sition w^ill be readily seen when the reader is informed that at that time the Federals held al)out twice as many prisoners as did the Confed- erates. The Federal proposition was to exchange man for man and rank for rank. To this the Davis Government would not accede. Then followed the terrors of Andersonville and Florence of which hell itself in its palmiest days could not furnish a duplicate. I am well aware that I have not expressed tlie same opinion as other authors, ex-prisoners, upon the subject of the complicity of the whole people of the South in these prison horrors, but the most of these authors wrote a short time subsequent to the close of the war, and while their blood was still hot upon the subject; and I con- fess that it has taken nearly a quar- ter of a century for my blood to cool sufficiently to arrive at the conclu- sions I have expressed in this chapter and which I candidly believe are correct. To my comrades who were prison- ers let me say, our present motto is: "FIAT JUSTITIA, UVAT COELITM." CHAPTER XIII. GOOD BYE ANDERSONVILLE. As related in the preceding chapter the fall of Atlanta, and the fear of rescue had obliged the Confederates to remove the prisoners from Ander- son ville to a safer place. On the 11th of September the detachment to which I belonged was ordered out. We gladly left the pen and saw the ponderous gates close behind us. No matter to us where we went, we believed we had nothing to lose and much to gain. If we were to be exchanged, which we doubted, then good bye to all these terrible scenes of want and suffering. If another prison pen was our destina- tion, then we hoped it would not be so foul and disease laden as the one we left, and in any case we had left Winder and Wirz and we knew that though we were to rake the infernal regions with a fine comb, we could not find worse jailors. AVith thoughts like these running. through our minds we dragged our weak cind spiritless bodies to the station, where we got into a train of freight cars as best we could. Our train was headed toward Macon and there was much specula- tion as to our destination. Somehow a rumor had got into circulation that a cartel of exchange had been agreed upon by the commissioners of the two governments and that Savannah was to be the point of exchange. But we had been deceived so many times that we had taken a deep and -solemn vow to not believe anything in ex- change until we were safely trans- ferred to our own lines; and this vow we kept inviolate. Soon after passing Macon we en- tered the territory over which Stone- man's Cavalry had raided a few weeks before. Burned railroad trains and depots marked the line of his march. At one place where our train stopped for wood and water one of the guards was kind enough to allowed some of the men to get off the train and secure a lot of tin sheets which had covered freight cars prior to Stone- man's visit. These sheets of tin were afterward made into pails and square pans by a tinner who was a member of an Illinois regiment, with no other tools than a railroad spike and a block of wood. Two brothers, members of an Indi- ana regiment, and coopers by trade, made a large number of wooden buckets, or"piggins" while in Ander- sonville, and their kit of tools con- sisted of a broken pocket knife and a table knife, supplemented by bor- rowing our saw knife. With a table knife or a railroad spike and a billet of wood, we would work up the toughest sour gum, or knottiest pitch pine stick of wood which could be procured in the Confederacy. Time was of no consequence, we had an overstocked market in that commod- ity and anything that would serve to help rid ourselves of the surplus was a blessing. Time solved the question of our destination. We went to Augusta again so that Savannah was out of the question. Then we crossed over into South Carolina, after which the point was raised whether it was to be Columbia or Charleston. Many of us were of the opinion that Charles- ton was the point and that we were to be placed under fire of our own guns, as many prisoners had been heretofore, the rebels hoping thereby to deter our forces from firing into the city. Time passed and we arrived at Branchville. Here is the FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 65 junction of the Columbia road with the Augusta and Charleston road, we took the Charles- ton track and arrived in Charleston about eleven o'clock p. m having been two days on the road. After leaving the cars we were formed in line, and, as we were marching away from the depot, a huge shell from one of Gilmore's guns exploded in an adjoining block. We were getting close to "God's coun- try," only a shell's flight lying between us and the land of the Stars and Stripes. We were marched just out of the city and camped on the old Charleston race track. In the morning we were allowed to go for water, accompanied by guards. Before night all the wells in the vicinity were exhausted, and we were obliged to resort to well digging for a supply. Fortunately we fouud water at a depth of only four feet. The water was slightly brackish, but as we had been kept on short rations of salt it was rather agreeable tliaii otherwise. Before dark there were more tlian fifty wells dug in camp and we had water in abundance. Day after day brought train load after train load of prisoners from Andersonville until there were about seven thousand prisoners in camp at this place. There was no stockade, no fence, nothing but a living wall of guards around us, and that living wall of infantrymen aided and abet- ted by a healthy, full gntwn battery of artillery, that was all. Our rations here were of fair qual- ity 'out small in quantity, consisting of a pint of corn meal, a little sorghum syrup and a tea spoonful of salt once in two days. Meat of any kind was not issued, from tliis time on it was re- legated to the historic past. The weath- er was pleasant, the days not too hot and the nights not too cool. About nine o'clock a sea breeze would spring up whicli felt to us, after having lived in the furnace-like atmosphere of Andersonville, like a breeze from the garden of the Gods. About nine o'clock in the evening a land breeze would set in and would blow until sunrise then die away to give place to the sea breeze. I used to sit up till midnight drinking in the delightful air and watching the track of the great shells thrown by the "Swamp Angel" battery. Gilmore gave Charleston no rest day nor niglit. The "Hot bed of Secession" got a most unmerciful pounding. The whole of tlie lower part of the city was a mass of ruins, the upper part was then i-eceiving tlie attention of our batteries on James Island. It was a grand sight at night to watch the little streak of fire from the fuse of those three hundred pound shells as it rose higher and higher to- ward the zenith and having reached the highest point of the arc, to watch it as it sped onward and downward until suddenly a loud explosion told that its time was expired and the sharp fragments were hurled with an increased velocity down into the de- voted city. Sometimes a shell would not explode until it had made its full journey and landed among the build- ings or in the streets and theii havoc and destructicui ensued. The most of the people lived in bombproois. which protected them from the fragments of the shells which exploded in the air. but were not proof against those which exploded after striking. A little epis(Kle occurred one day that created quite a panic among both prisoners and guards Suddenly and without warning, a large solid shot came rolling and tum>iling througli camp, from the north; this was fol- lowed by another, and then another. This was getting serious. What the Dickens was the matter '? Where did these shots come from ? were ques- tions tliat any and all of us, could and did ask, but none could answer. But. in this case, the rebel suard and offi- cers, were in danger as well as Yanks, and a courier was dispatched in hot haste to inquire into the why and wherefore. It turned out that a rel)el gunboat, on the Cooper River, was practicing at a target and we were getting the benefit of it. Here at Charleston we were on his- toric ground. Just a few miles to the FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. e;i.st of us Colonel Moultrie defended a palmetto fort manned by five hund- red brave and loyal South Carolinans, against the combined land and naval forces of Sir Henry Clinton, and Sir Peter Parker, on the 28th of June 1776, and with his twenty-six cannons compelled the fleet to retire. There upon the palmetto bastion of old Fort Moultrie, the brave yo uig Ser- geant Jasper supported the Stars and Stripes under a terrible fire, and earned for himself an undying fame. Here and in this vicinity. Moultrie, Pickens, Piiickney, Lee, Green, Lin- coln and Marion earned a reputation which will last as long as American history shall enduie. Hut. alas, here too, is material for a history which does not reflect much credit on the descendants of those brave and loyal men. South Carolina was the first State to adopt an ordinance of Seces- sion, Nov 20th, I860. Here in Charleston Harbor, on the 9th of January 1861, the descendants of those revolution.! ly lieroes. from the embrazures of fort Moultrie, and Castle Pinckney. fired upon the Star of the West, a United States vessel sent with supplies for the brave An- derson, who was cooped up within the walls of Fort Sumter. From these same forts, on tlie I2th of April, was fired the guns which compelled the surrender of Fort Sumter, and was the beginning of liostilities in the War of the Rebellion. And all this trouble had grown out of a political doctrine promulgated by an eminent South Carolinan, John C. Calhoun. But with all their bad reputation as Secessionists, the South Carolinans treated us with more kindness than did the citizens of any other States. I never heard a tantalizing or insult- ing word given by a South Carolina citizen or soldier to a prisoner. In the matter of low meanness, the Georgia Crackers and Clay Eaters earned the blue ribbon. On the 1st of October the detach- ment to which I belonged, was march- ed to the cars, and we were sent to Florence, one hundred miles north of Charleston on the road to Columbia. On our route, we had passed over ground made sacred by Revolutionary struggles. At Monk's Corners, the 14th of April 1780, a British force defeat- ed an American force. In the swamps of the Santee and Pedee Rivers Gen- eral Francis Marion hid his men, and from them he made his fierce raids upon tories and British. Marion is called a "partisan leader," in the old histories, but I suspect that in this year of grace, he would be called a "Bushwacker,"or"Guerrilla" leader. It makes a good deal of diff- erence which side men are fighting on, about the name they are called. We arrived at the Florence Stockade in the afternoon and were marched in and assigned our position in the north- east corner, the entrance being on the west side. The Florence Stockade was about two or three miles below Florence, and half or three-quarters of a mile east of the railroad. It was built up- on two sides of a small stream which ran through it from north to south, was nearly square in shape, and con- tained ten or twelve acres of land. It was built of rough logs set in the ground and was sixteen or eighteen feet higl>. There was no such dead line as at Andersonsville, a shallow ditch marking the limits. The great- est number of prisoners confined here duriug the time of my imprisonment, was eleven thousand. In some res- pects our situation was better than at Andersonville. We had new ground upon which to live. We were rid of the terrible filth and stench, we were not so badly crowded, and we had more wood with which to cook our food. The Post Commandant, Lieuten- ant Colonel Iverson, of the 5th Geor- gia, was an easy going, but not alto- gether bad man, except that he was possessed of an ungovernable temper, and w^hen irritated, would commit acts of which he was, no doubt, as- hamed when his pulse assumed a nor- mal condition. Lieutenant Barrett, Adjutant of the 5th Georgia, was to Florence what Wirz was to Ander- sonville. He was a red headed fiery FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 67 tempered, cruel, and vindictive speci- men of the better educated class of Southerners. It seemed to be his de- light to to torture and maltreat the prisoners. If there was a single re- deeming trait in his character, tlie un- fortunate men who were under his care, never by any chance stumbled onto it. His favorite punishment was to tie the offender up by the thumbs so tightly that his toes barely touched the ground, and have him in this con- dition for an hour or two at a time. The tortures of such a punishment were in lescribable. The victim would suffer the tortures of the damned, and when letdown would have to he car- ried to his quarters by his comrades. The i)risoiiers were organized into squads of twenty, these into compan- ies of a hundred, and these into de- tachments of a thousand. As stated Vjefore my detachment was assigned a position in the northeast corner of the Stockade. When we arrived there was plenty of wood, snail })oles. and brush in the Stockade, and our tirst work after selecting our ground, was to secure an abundant supply. My old "pard" Rouse, had died at Charleston, Ole Gilbert belonged to another detachment and did not come in the saaie train load with uie. so I joined Joe Eaton, Wash. Hays and Roselle Hull, of uiy regiment, in con- structing' a slielter, or house, if you please. We first set crotches in the ground and Liid a strong pole on them, then we leaned other poles on each side against this pole in the form of a letter A. This was the frame work of our house, which, as will be seen, consisted entirely of roof. On this frame work we placed brush, cover- ing the brush witli leaves, and the whole with a heavy layer of dirt. This was an exceedingly laborious job on account of the lack of suitable tools. Our poles were cut with a very dull hatchet and our digging done witii tin plates. After we had constructed a shelter, our next work was to wall up the gables. This was done with clay made up into adobes. We could not build more than a foot in a day as we were obliged to wait for our walls to dry sufficiently to bear their own weight. We had taken great pains to make a warm rain proof hut, as we had arrived at the conclusion that we were destined to remain in prison until the close of the war. Those prisoners who arrived later were not so fortunate in the matter of wood. The early settleis had taken possession of all of that com- modity leaving others to look out for themselves. But the later arrivals made haste to secure poles for the purpose of erecting their tents and huts, that is, those who had blankets to spare for roofs; but many were compelled to dig diminutive caves in the banks whicli marked the boundary of tlie narrow valley through which ran the little stream of water. Wood was procured from the im- mense pine forests in the vicinity. Details of our own numbers, chopped the wood, and others carried it on their shoulders a distance of half to three quarters of a mile, receiving as compensation an extra ration of food. In the matter of wood Iverson was more humane tlian was Winder, but in the matter of rations it was the same old story, just enough to keep soul and body together, provided a pint of corn meal, two spoonfuls of sorgham syrup and a half teaspoonful of salt daily would furnish sufficient adhesive power to accomplish that result. There was rather better hospital ac- comniodations here for the sick, than at Andersonvillcbut at the best it was miserably poor and insufficient. The worst cases had been left behind, but the stockade was soon full of men so sick as to be unable to care for them- selves. The terrible treatment atAn- dersonville was telling on the men af- ;,er they had changed to a more healthy location, and into less filthy surround- ings. Soon the fall rains set in and the cold winds, which penetrated to our very marrow tlirough the rags with wiiich we were but partly covered, warned us that winter was approach- ing. We tried hard to keep up our courage amidst all these discourag- FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. ing circumstances, but it was a sick- ly, weakly sort of courage. Cheer- ful, we could not be, even the most religiously inclined were sad and despondent. I am convinced that cheerfulness depends and must de- pend on outward circumstances as well as on an inward state of mind. Why not? We were men not angels, mater- ial beings, not spirits; we were sub- ject to the same appetites and pas- sions to which we, and others are subject, under better circumstances. Starvation, privation, misery and tor- ture had not purged from us the long- ings, the hungerings and thirstings after the necessaries, the convenien- ces, yes, the luxuries of life, but on the contrary, had increased them ten fold. How was this to terminate? Would our Government set aside the military policy of the Commander of the army, and take a more humane view of the question? Would the Confederates, already driven to ex- tremes to furnish supplies for their own men, at length yield and give us up, to save expense? or, must we still remain to satisfy the insatiate greed of the Moloch of war? were questions we could and did ask our- selves and each other, but there was found no man so wise as to be able to answer them. Time, swift-footed and fleeting, to the fortunate, but laggard, and slow, to us, could alone solve these questions, and after hours of discussion, to Time we referred them. CHAPTER XIV. NAKED AND COLD AND HUN- GRY.— SHERMA^Q . " 'Sherman's dashing Yankee boys will never reach the coast!' So the saucy rebels said, and t'was a handsome boast, Had they not forgot alas ! to reckon with the host, While we were marching through Georgia. So we made a thoroughfare for Freedom and her train, Sixty nales in latitude three hundred to the main; Treason fled before us, for resistance was In vain, While we were marching through Georgia." During the Summer, and up to the last of October, the condition of our clothing had been more a matter of indecency than of actual sufferings. But when the fall rains set in and the cold winds began to blow, then we felt the need of good clothing. About this time a very limited supply of clothing was issued to the more destitute. This was some of the clothing which the United States Gov- ern ment furnished for the benefit of the prisoners, but which was of more benefit to the rebels than to us. It is very clear that our Government was a victim of misplaced confidence in sending supplies of food and cloth- ing through the rebel lines for our benefit. These supplies were mostly used by the rebels for their own benefit, and our Government aided the rebellion by that much. My clothing was old when I was taken prisoner, having been worn through the Chickamauga campaign, and while I was in the hospital at Danville some one had, without my consent, traded me worse clothing, so that by this time I was a spectacle for men perhaps, but hardly for angels and women. Shirt, I had none, my coat was out at the elbows and was minus buttons, my pants were worn to shreds, fore and aft, and looked like bifurcated dish rags. My drawers had been burned at Ander- FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. sonville with their rich burden of lice, while my shoes looked like the breaking up of a hard winter, and yet I was too much of a dude to get clothes from Barrett. Bow the cold winds did play hide and seek through my rags; how my skeleton frame did shiver, and my scurvy loosened teeth rattle and clatter, as "gust followed gust more furiously" through the tat- tered remains of what was once a splendid uniform. Evidently 'some- thing had got to be done or I should, like a ship in a storm, be scudding around with bare poles. My first remedy was patching. With all my varied and useful accomplishments, 1 had become quite expert with a needle, (a small sized darning needle) and I felt perfectly conpetent to fix u]) my unmentionables, provided I could find patches and thread. I was in the condition of the Irishman who wanted to '-borry tobaccy and a pipe, I have a matcli of me own,sorr," but those to whom I applied for patches and thread, were like an Irish- man of my company by the name of Mike Callahan. I went to him one day as he sat suioking liis "dhudeen." t?aid I, "Mike, can you give me a chew of tobacco?" "I cannot sorr," puff-pulf"I don't use it myself. ""Well have you got any smoking tobacco?" said I. "I have sorr," puff-puff-pufl- joost phat will do nieself," was his reply. After looking around for a time, I found an old oil clolh knap- sack which I cut up into appropriate patches. Ole Gilbert had a piece of home-made cotton cloth, this we raveled and used for thread with which to patch my pants. This shift answered to keep out the wind, but when I sat down. Oh my ! it seemed like sitting on an iceberg and holding the North Pole in my lap. After the prisoners had all arrived at Florence, I changed my quarters to those of five comrades of my own company, Gilbert, Berk, Gaffney, Webster and Best. We had very fair quarters and were provided with two blankets for the six. One day as we were talking over the subject of exchange, we all came to the conclusion that we were in for it during the war, and I was instruct- ed to write to the Wisconsin Sanitary Commission for clothing and other supplies. The letter was duly re- ceived and was published in the Milwaukee Sentinel. The following is a copy of the letter: "Florence, S. C.,Oct. 8th,1864. Secretary of Wis. State Sanitary Commission. Sir: — There are six members of the 10th Wis. Infantry here together, who were captured at the battle of Chicka- mauga. We are destitute of clothing, and as defenders of our country, we apply to you for aid, hoping you will be prompt in relieving, in a measure, our necessities. Please send us a box containing blankets, underclothing, shirts and socks in particular, and we stand very much in need of shoes; but I don't know as they are in your line of business. "We would also like stationery, combs, knives, forks, spoons, tin cups, plates and a small sized camp kettle, as our rations are issued to us raw; also thread and needles. We all have the scurvy more or less and I think dried fruit would help us very much by the acid it contains, — you cannot send us medicine as that is contra- band. We would like some tobacco and reading matter. If there is any- thing more that you can send, it will be very acceptable. "We should not apply to you were we not compelled, and did we not know that you are the destitute soldiers' friend. You will please receive this in the same spirit in which it is sent, and answer accor- dingly, and you will have the satis- faction of feeling that you have done something to relieve the wants of those who went out at the commence- ment of the war, to vindicate the rights of our country. Direct to Wm. W. Day and Joseph Eaton, prisoners of war, Florence, S. C, via. Flag of Truce, Hilton Head. Yours, &c., Wm. W. Day. P. S. I foi-got to mention soap — a 70 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. very essential article." At the same time I wrote to my wife in Wisconsin and to my brother in New York, for a box but instruct- ed them that if there was any pros- pect of an immediate exchange, they were not to send them. I believe some of the other boys sent home for boxes also. We knew that the chances were very much against our ever seeing the boxes if sent, as we knew that many boxes sent to Anderson- ville were kept and their contents used by the rebel guards, yet I hoped that out of the three I might possibly get one. When the letters sent to my wife and brother reached their des- tination, they commenced the pre- paration of boxes, but before they were complete news of exchange reached them and the boxes were not sent. But during the spring of 1865, after I had settled in Minnesota, and after the capture of Richmond. I received a letter from the General in command of our forces, at that place, informing me that there was a box there directed to me and asking for instructions as to its disposal. I replied to him that it was a box sent to me by the Wisconsin Sanitary Commission, and was intended for me as a soldier, that I was now a civilian, and had no claim on it, and directed him to turn it over to the hospital. Right here I wish to express my appreciation of the Sanitary Commis- sion. In all the loyal States they did a grand work of mercy and charity, ably seconding the efforts of the Government in caring for sick and destitute soldiers. In fact they per- formed a work which the Government could not perform. They furnished lint and bandages, canned and dried fruits, vegetables and luxuries of all descriptions for the wounded and sick soldiers, thus giving them to feel that in all their hardships and sufferings they were not forgotton by the kind loyal women of the North, God bless them. It was the ladies of the Sani- tary Commission of Milwaukee who established the first Soldiers' Home, on West Water street, and which has grown into the National Soldiers' Home near that city. They were ably seconded by the Christian Com- mission, which sent not only sui)plies but men and women to the field of war, to distribute supplies and act in the capacity of nurses in the hospi- tals. The wife of the Hon. John F. Potter, of the 1st Congressional Dis- trict, of Wisconsin, worked in the hospitals at Washington until she contracted a fever and died, as much a martyr for her country as any soldier upon the field of battle. Governor Harvey, of Wisconsin, lost his life at Pittsburg Landing, where he had gone to aid the wounded soldiers. His wife took uxi the work, thus rude- ly broken by her husband's death, and carried it on until peace came like a benison ui)on the land. All over the North, loyal men and women gave of their time and money for the relief of their Nation's de- fenders, and to-day deserve, and receive, the thanks of the "boys who wore the blue." Sometime in the month of Novem- ber, a rumor was circulated that an exchange had been agreed upon, be- tween the two Governments, and that Savannah was the point agreed upon for the exchange. But while we were hopeful that this might be true, we were doubtful. That story had been told so many times that it had become thin and gauzy from wear. In a few days, however, a lot of prisoners came in who reported that an ex- change of sick had actually been in progress, but that the near approach of Sherman's army had discontinued it, until another point could be agreed upon. Here was news with a vengeance. We had been told that Sherman woidd l)e annihilated, that he could never reach the coast, and here came the news that his army was not only all right, but was almost to the coast. And further that our Government was still making efforts for our relief. "Hope springs eternal in the haman breast," and here for the first time, we had reasonable grounds for hope. On the 25th of September General FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 71 Hood had got into General Sherman's rear and started north. But Sherman had anticipated just such a move and had provided for it by sending one division to Chattanooga, and anotlier division to Home, Ga. On the 2ytli Sherman sent Thomas bacli to Chat- tanooga and afterward to Nasliville. General Sherman then divided his army into two wings. The riglit wing in command of General O. O.Howard, and the left wing in command of General Slocum. Hood had started out to return a Roland for an Oliver. Forrest was operating in Tennesee and Kentucky, and menacing the States north of the Ohio river. Hood's plan was to join him and while Sherman was living upon short com- mons in Georgia, his army would be reveling in the rich spoils of North- ern States. The idea was a good one, the point was to carry it out. On the fifth of October Hood destroyed a considerable length of railroad north of Atlanta. Sherman, from a high point, saw the railroad burning for miles. At Alatoona Gen- eral Corse had a small force, among his troops was the 4th Minnesota, which earned a record, in the defense of that mountain pass which will go down to the ages yet to come, in the history of the war. From the heights of Keui'saw, Sherman's signal officer read a dispatch, signaled from a hole in the block-house at Alatoona; "I am short a cheek bone and part of an ear, but we can whip all hell yet. Corse, Com'd'g." Tradition says that Sherman sig- naled "liold the fort, I am coming," but I believe Sherman denies this. At any rate, the fact that Corse did hold the fort, and that he knew from the signal corps on Kenesaw that Sherman was coming to his aid, gave rise to the thoughts tliat inspired the writer of the little poem, "Hold the fort, for I am coming." Sherma)! strengthened Thomas by sending Stanley with the 4th corps and ordering Schofield with the Army of the Ohio to report to him. On the 2d of November General Grant approved Sherman's plan of the campaign to the sea, and on the 10th he started back to Atlanta. The real march to the sea commenced on the 15th. Howard with the right wing and cavalry, went to Jonesboro and Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia. Slocum with the left wing went to Stone Mountain to threaten Augusta. The people of the South became frantic when they found Sherman had cut loose. They could not divine his movements. He threatened one point and when the enemy had been drawn thither for its protection, he threatened another point. Frantic appeals were made for the people to turn out and drive the invadec from the soil. They took the cadets from the Militar>- College and added them to the ranks of the Militia. They went so far as to liberate the convicts from the State Prison, on promise that they would join the army. But Sherman moved along leisurely, at the rate of fifteen miles a day, burning railroad bridges and destroying miles upon miles of track. The Southern pnpers, from which we had received the news at Florence, pictured the army as in a most de- plorable condition. Saying the army was all broken up and disorganized, and was each man for himself, mak- ing his way to the sea coast to seek the protection of the navy. Some of these papers reached the North and the news was copied into the Northern papers and spread like wild- fire, creating a great deal of uneasi- ness in the minds of those who had friends in that army. General Grant, in his Memoirs, speaking of this matter, says: "Mr. Lincoln seeing these accounts, had a letter written asking me if I could give him anything that he could say to the loyal people that would comfort them. I told him there was not the slightest occasion for alarm; that with 00,000 such men as Sherman had with him, such a commanding officer as he, could not be cut oft in the open country. He might possibly be prevented from reaching the point 72 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. he had started out to reacli, hut he would get through somewhere and would finally get to his cliosen des- tination; and even if worst came to worst he could return north. I heard afterwards of Mr. Lincoln's saying to those who would inquire of him as to M'hat he thought about the safety of Sherman's army, that Sherman was all right; 'Grant says they are safe ' with such a General, and that if they cannot get out where they want to they can crawl back by the hole they went in at.' " The right and left wings were to meet at Millen with the hope of lib- erating the prisoners at that place, but they failed, the prisoners having been previously removed, but Wheel- er's Rebel cavalry had a pretty severe engagement with the Union cavalry at that place which resulted in Wheeler's being driven toward Augusta, thus convincing the people that Augusta was the objective point. The army reached Savannah on the 9th of December, and on the 10th the siege of that place commenced. On the night of the 21st the rebels evacuated the city and it fell into Sherman's hands. The whole march had been a pleas- ure excursion, when compared with the Atlanta campaign. The rebels could never muster a sufficient force of a quality to retard the march of the army. All their boasting of annihilation was simply wind. The fact was they were completely nonplussed, they did not know where he intended to go until he was within striking distance of Savannah. Every morning a squad of men from each command started out under command of an officer, and at night returned with wagons loaded with the best in the land. Hams, hogs, l)eeves, turkeys and chickens, sweet potatoes. corn meal and flour, rice and honey were gathered for food, and the bummers usually captured teams to haul the provisons in with. My friend 0. S. Crandall, of the 4th Minnesota, who was on this march, tells a joke on himself which I will repeat. A brother bummer by the nauie of Ben Sayers, had made a discovery of some honey while the two were on a picket post. Sayers told Crandall that if he would stand guard in his place he would fill his canteen with honey. To this Crandall agreed and when the relief came around told the officer of the guard that he would stand Sayers' relief. Sayers filled his canteen full of honey as agreed and all was lovely; honey on hard-tack, honey on dough gods, honey on flapjacks, wjis in Oscar's dreams that night as he lay peaceful- ly sleeping beneath the bright moon in southern Georgia. But the next day the sun came out hot and the honey granulated and would not come out. Oscar had evidently got a white elephant on his hands; that honey could not be persuaded to come out, and he was choking with thirst. Seeing a comrade with a canteen he thus accosted him: "Say pard, give me a drink." Tother Feller.— "Why don't you drink out of your own canteen?" Oscar. — "I can't, I've got it full of honey and it's candied." T. F. — "Why, you poor, miserable, innocent, blankety blanked fool, if you don't know any better than that you may go thirsty. I wont give you any water." Oscar. — "Say pard, how will you trade canteens?" T. F.— "Even." Oscar. — "It's a whack." And Oscar never got his canteen filled with honey again during the remainder of the war. CHAPTER XV. VALE DIXIE. "Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ! Whose heart hath ne*er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned. From wandering on a foreign strand ! If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no Minstrel rapture swell ; High though his titles, proud his name. Boundless his wealth as wish can claim ; Despite those titles, power and pelf, The wretch, concentrated all in self. Living, shall forfeit all renown. And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung. Unwept, unhonored and unsung." The Lay of the last Minstrel. Scott. During the time of our stay at Charleston, tlie rebel offlers had made great efforts to induce the prisoners to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, promising good treat- ment, good pay, good clothing, a large bounty and service in a bomb proof position in return. If men had stopped to think, these promises carried with them abundant proof of their own fjilsity. Where was the evidence of good treatment, judging of the future by the past I What did good pay and large bounties amount to wli en it took two hundred dollars of that good pay and large bounty to buy a pair of boots? And the good clothing, yes they could clothe tliem with the uniforms stripped from their dead comrades upon the battlefield or stolen from the supplies sent to the prisoners. But, lured by these specious prom- ises, about a liundred and twenty-five prisoners went out one day and, as we supposed, took the oath. They were marched away cityward in the morning, but before night they returned. We saluted them on their return with groans and hisses and curses. They reported that they were to be sent to James Island to throw up earth-works in front of the rebel lines. This they refused to do, and they were returned to prison. At Florence another effort was made to recruit men. The rebels wanted foreigners for the army, and artisans of all kinds particularly black- smiths, shoemakers, carpenters and machinists for their shops. Many of our artisans went out thinking tliey they would get a chance to work for food and clothing by simply giving their parole of honor they would not attempt to escape. But the rebs insisted that they must take the oath of allegiance. A few took the required oath, but most of the boys returned to prison, and most heartily anathematized the men who had the impudence and presumption to sup- pose that they would be guilty of taking the oath of allegiance to such a rotten, hell-born thing as the South- ern Confederacy. There was a great deal of discussion among the prisoners at the time about the question of the moral right of a man to take the oath of allegi- ance to save his life. It was argued on one side that onr government had left us to rot like dogs, to shift for ourselves and that as winter was coming on and there was no pros- pect of exchange, a man had a per- fect right to take the oath and save his life. On the other side it was argued that we had taken a solemn oath to support the government of the United States and not to give aid or comfort to any of its enemies; that war was hard at best, and that when we took the oath we knew' that im- prisonment was a probability just as much as a battle was a probability; that we had just as much right to refuse to fight and to turn traitor 74 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. upon the battle field as we had in prison. For my own part life was dear to me but it was dear on account of my friends; and supposing I should take the oath and save my life; the war would soon be over and when peace came and all my comrades had returned to their homes, where would my place be? Could I ever return to my friends with the brand of traitor upon me? Never. I would die, if die I must; but die true to the flag I loved and honored, and for which I had suffered so long. Right here we adopt the prisoners' motto, "Death, but not dishonor." Soon af ler changing ray quarters I succeeded in securing a position on the police force. Another of my tent mates was equally fortunate, so we had a little extra food in our tent. My health had been slowing improv- ing ever since I left Andersonville,and with returning health came a grow- ing appetite. We resorted to all sorts of expedients to increase the supplies of our commissariat. Ole Gilbert was a natural mechanic and he made spoons from some of the tin Avhich he had procured near Macon; these were traded for food or sold for cash, and food purchased with the money. One day he traded three spoons for a pocket knife with an ivory faced handle. The ivory had been broken but I fished the remains of an old ivory fine comb out of my pockets and he repaired the handle of the knife with it. We sent it outside by one of the boys who had a job of grave digging, and who sold it for ten dollars. Confederate money. With this money we bought a bushel of sweet potatoes of the sutler at the gate, and then we resolved to fill up once more before we died. We baked each of us two large corn "flap jacks" eight inches across and half an inch thick. We then boiled a six quart pail full of sweet potatoes and after that made the pail full of coffee out of the bran sifted from our meal, and then scorched. This was equal to three quarts of food and drink to each one of us, but it only stopped the chinks. I then proposed to double the dose which we did, eating and drinking six quarts each within two hours. Of course it did not buist us but it start- ed the hoops pretty badly, and yet we were hungry after that. It seemed impossible to liold enough to satisfy our hunger; every nerve, and fiber and tissue in our whole system from head to foot, was crying out for food, and our stomachs would not hold enough to supply the demand, and it took montlis of time and untold quan- tities of food to get our systems back to normal condition. There are many ex-prisoners who claim that Florence was a worse prison than Andersonville. I did not think so at the time I was there, but those who remained there during the winter no doubt suffered more than they did at Andersonville, on account of the cold weather; but at the best it was a terrible place, worthy to be credited to the hellish regions of Jeff Davis and Winder, aided by the fiend Barrett. At one time Barrett, with some recruiting oflicers, came into prison accompanied by a little dog. Some of the prisoners, it is supposed, beguiled the dog away and killed him; for this act Barrett deprived the whole of the prisoners of tlieir rations for two days and a half. About the 4th of December some surgeons came in and selected a thousand men from the worst cases which were not in the hospital. It was said thev were to be sent through our lines on parole. Then commenced an earnest discussion upon the situa- tion. My comi'ades and I thought we were getting too strong to pass muster. How we wished we had not improved so much since leaving Andersonville. We were getting so fat we would actually make a shad- ow, that is if we kept our clothes buttoned up. After considering the question pro and con we came to the conclusion that we had better not build up any hopes at present. If we were so lucky as to get away, all right. If not we would have no shattered hopes to mourn over. FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. 75 On the 6th another thousand was selected and sent away. This looked like business; this was no camp ninior started by nobody knew who, but here were surgeons actually selecting feeble men and sending them through tlie gates, and they did not return. The 8th came and in the afternoon the 9th thousand was called up for inspection. I went out to the dead line where the inspection was going on to see what my chances probably were. The surgeons were sending out about every tliird or fourth man. The 9th and 10th thousand were in- spected and then came the 11th, to which I belonged. I went to my tent and told the boys I was going to try my chmices, "but," I added, "keep supper waiting." I took my haver- sack with me, leaving my blanket, which had fallen to me as heir of Rouse, and went to the dead line and fell in with my hundred,the 8th. After waiting imi)atiently for a while I told Harry J^owell, the Sergeant of my lumdred, that I was going down the line to see what our cliances were. It was getting almost dark, the sur- geons were getting in a hurry to complete their task and were taking every other man. I went back and told Harry I was going out, I felt it in my bones. Tliis was the first time I had entertained a good healthy, well developed hope, since I arrived in Richmond, more tlian a year previous. The 6th hundred was called, then the 7th and at last the 8th. We marched down to our allotted position with limbs trembling with excite- ment. That surgeon standing there so unconcernedly, held my fate in his liands. He was soon to say the word that M^ould restore me to "God's Country," to home and friends, or send me back to weary months of imprisonment. My turn came. "What ails you?" the surgeon asked. "1 have had diarrhea and scurvy for eight months," was my reply, and • I pulled up the legs of my pants to show him my limbs, whicli were almost as black as a stove. He passed his hands over the emaciated remains of what had once been my arms and asked, "When is your time of service out?" "It was out the 10th of last October," said I. "You can go out." That surgeon was a stranger to me. I never saw him before that day nor have I seen him since, but upon the tablet of my memory I have written him down as friend. I did not wait for a second per- mission but started for the gate. Jiist as I was going out some of my comrades saw me and shouted, "Bully for you Bill; you're a lucky boy!" and I believed I was. After passing outside I went to a tent where two or three clerks were busy upon rolls and signed the parole. Before I left Harry Lowell joined me and together we went into camp where rations of flour were issued to us. After dark Harry and I stole past the guard and went down to the grave diggers' quar- ters where we weie provided with a supper of rice, sweet potatoes and biscuits. I have no doubt that to-day I should tui'u up my nose at the cooking of that dish, for the sweet potatoes and rice were stewed and baked together, but I did, not then. After supper John Burk baked our flour into biscuits, using cob ashes in the place of soda; after which we stole back into camp. Not a wink of sleep did we get that night. AVe had eaten too much sup- per for one thing, and besides our prison day seemed to be almost ended. We were marched to the railroad next morning, but the wind was blowing so hard that we were not sent away, as the vessels could not run in the harbor at Charleston. .Just before night a ration of corn meal was issued to us and I have that ration yet. About ten o'clock that night we were ordered on board the cars and away we went to Charleston, where we arrived soon after daylight. We debarked from the cars and were marched into a vacant warehouse on the dock, where we remained until two o'clock p. m. when we were marched on board a ferry boat. The 76 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. bells jingled, the wheels began to revolve and churn up the water and we are speeding down the harbor. All seems lovely as a June morning, when lo, we are ordered to heave to and tie up to the dock. We were marched off from the boat and up a street. It looked as though the Charleston jail was our destination, instead of that long wished for God's Country. It seemed that the last train load had not been delivered on account of the high winds, and that we were to wait our turn. But we were soon countermarched to the boat and this time we left Charleston for good and all. My thoughts were busy as our boat was steadily plowing her way down the harbor to the New York, our exchange commissioner's Flag Ship, which lay at anchor about a mile outside of Fort Sumter. To my left and rear Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinkney stood in grim silence. Away to the front and left, upon that low, sandy beach, are some innocent looking mounds, but those mounds are the celebrated "Battery Bee'' on Sullivans Island, To my right are the ruins of the lower part of Charles- ton. Away out to the front and right stands Fort Sumter in "dim and lone magnificence." To the right of Fort Sumter is Morris Island and still farther out to sea is James Island. What a scene to one who has had a deep interest in the history of his country from the time of its organi- zation up to and including the war of the rebellion. Here the revolution- ary fathers stood by their guns to maintain the independence of the Colonies, Here their descendants had fired the first gun in a rebellion inaugurated to destroy the Union established by the valor, and sealed with the blood of their sires. Mis- guided, traitorous sons of brave, loyal fathers. Such thoughts as these passed through my mind as we steamed down the harbor to the New York, but it never occurred to me that the waters through which our boat was picking her way, was filled with deadly torpedoes, and that the least deviation from the right course would bring her in contact with one of these devilish engines and we would be blown out of water. But look! what is that which is floating so proudly in the breeze at the peak of that vessel? " 'Tis the Star Spangled Banner, oh! long may it wave. O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." Yes it is the old Stars and Stripes, and just underneath them on the deck of that vessel is "God's Country," that we have dreamed of and wished for so many long weary months. My friends, do you wonder that the tears ran unbidden down our wan and ghastly cheeks? That with our weak lungs and feeble voices we tried to send a welcome of cheers and a tiger to tliat dear old flag? It was not a loud, strong cheer, such as strong men send up in the hour of victory and triumph; no the rebels had done their work too well for that, but it was from away down in the bottom of our hearts, and from the same depths came an unuttered thanks- giving to the Great Being who had preserved our lives to behold this glorious sight. Our vessel steamed up along side the New York and made fast. A gang plank was laid to connect the two vessels, and at 4 o'clock, Decem- ber 10th, 1864, I stepped under the protection of our flag and bade a long and glad farewell to Dixie. After we had been delivered on board the New York we were regis- tered by name, company and regi- ment, and then a new uniform was given us and then — can it be possible, a whole plate full of pork and hard- tack, and a quart cup of coffee. And all this luxury for one man! Surely our stomach will be surprised at such princely treatment. After receiving our supper and clothing we were sent on board another vessel, a receiving ship, which was lashed to the New York. Here we sat down on our bundle of clothes and ate our supper. FIFTEEN MONTHS IX DIXIE. 77 If I was to undertake to tell how good that greasy boiled pork and that dry hard-tack and that muddy black coffee tasted, I am afraid my readers would laugh, but try it yourself and see where the laugh comes in. After supper we exchanged our dirty, lousy rags for the new, clean, soft uniform donated to us by Uncle Sam. This was Saturday night. Monday morning we are on the good ship United States as she turns her prow out of Charleston harbor. We pass out over the bars and we are upon the broad Atlantic. Wednesday morning about 4 o'clock we heave to under the guns of the Kip Raps, at the entrance of Chespeake Bay, and reported to the commandant. The vessel is pronounced all right, and away we go up the bay. We reach Annapolis at 10 p.m. and are marched to Cottage Grove Barracks. Here we get a good bath, well rubbed in by a muscular fellow, detailed for the pur- pose. I began to think he would take the grim and dirt off from me if he liad to take the cuticle with it. We exchanged clothing here and were then marched to Camp Parole, four miles from Annapolis. Here we were paid one month's pay together with the commutation money for clothing and rations which we had not drawn during the period of our imprisonment. On the 24th I received a furlough and started for the home of my brother in western New York, where I arrived on the 26th, and here ends my story. CONCLUSION. Of all the men who had charge of of prisoners and who are responsible for their barbarous treatment, only one was ever brought to punishment. "Majah" Ross was burned in a hotel at Lynchburg, Va., in the spring of 1866. General Winder dropped dead while entering his tent at Florence, S. C, on the 1st of January, 1865. "Majah" Dick Turner, Lieutenant Colonel Iverson and Lieutenant Bar- ret have passed into obscurity, while Wirz was hanged for his crimes. That Wirz richly deserved his fate, no man who knows the full extent of his barbarities, has any doubt, and yet it seems hard that the vengeance of our Government should have been visited upon him alone. The quality of his guilt was not much different from that of many of prison commandants but the fact that he had a greater number of men under his charge brought him more into notice. Why should Wirz, the tool, be punished more severely than Jeff Davis and Howell Cobb? They were responsi- ble, and yet Wirz hung while they went scot free. I have frequently noticed that if a man wanted to escape punishment for murder he must needs be a whole- sale murderer, your retail felloM's fare hard when they get into the clutches of the law. If a man steals a sack of flour to keep his family from star- vation, he goes to jail; but if he robs a bank of thousands of dollars in money and spends it in riotous living, or in an aggressive war against what is known as the "Tiger," whether that Tiger reclines upon the green cloth, or roams at will among the members of Boards of Trade or Stock Exchange.or is denominated a "Bull" or a "Bear" in the wheat ring, why 78 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. he simply goes to Canada. Surely Justice is appropriately rep- resented as being blindfolded, and I would suggest that she be represent- ed as carrying an ear trumpet, for if she is not both blind and deaf she must be extremely partial. Keader, if I have succeeded in amusing or instructing you, I have partly accomplished my purpose in writing this story. Partly I say, for I have still another object in view. The description I have given of the prisons in which I was confined is but a poor picture of the actual con- dition of things. It is impossible for the most talented writer to give an adequate description. But I have told the truth as best I could. I defy any man to disprove one material statement, and I fall back upon the testimony of the rebels themselves, to prove that 1 have not exaggerated. These men suffered in those prisons through no fault of their own. The fortunes of war threw them into the hands of their enemies, and they were treated as no civilized nation ever treated prisoners before. They were left by their Government to suffer because that Government believed they would best subserve its interests by remaining there, rather than to agree to such terms as the enemy insisted upon. General Grant said that one of us was keeping two fat rebels out of the field. Now if this is true why are not the ex-prisoners recognized by proper legislation? All other classes of men who went to the war and many men and women who did not go, are recognized and I believe that justice demands the recognition of the ex-prisoners. I make no special plea in my own behalf. I suffered no more than any other of the thous- ands who were with me, and not as much as some, but I make the plea in behalf of my comrades who I know suffered untold miseries for the cause of the Union, and yet who amidst all this suffering and privation, spurned with contempt the offers made by the enemy of food, clothing and life itself almost, at the cost of loyalty. Their motto then was, "Death but not dishonor." But their motto now is, "Fiat iusticia,ruat coelum." Let justice be done though the heavens fall. Since writing a description of the prison life in Andersonville, I came across the following account of a late visit to the old pen, by a member of the 2d Ohio, of my i3rigade. It is copied from the National Tribune, and I take the liberty to use it to show the readers of these articles how much the place has changed in twenty-five years. The Author. ANDERSONVILLE, GA. The Celebrated Prison and Cemetery Revisited. Editor National Tribune: Having recently made a trip to Andersonville, Ga.. I thought a brief discription of the old prison and cem- etery might be of interest to the readers of your paper. I left the land of ice, sleet and snow March 26, 1888, taking Pullman car over Monon route via Louisville and Nashville, arriv- ing at Bowling Green, Ky., 100 miles south of Louisville, at noon on Marcli 27. Peach trees were in bloom and wild flowers were to be seen along the route. Nearing Nashville we passed through the National Cemetery. The grounds are laid out nicely and neatly kept and looked quite beautiful as we passed swiftly by. Leaving Nash- ville, I called a halt, took a brief look over the once bloody battlefield of Stone River. I then passed through Murfreesboro and Tullahoma. At Cowen's Station I stopped for supper. This is the place where the dog leg- of mutton soup was dished up in 1863. At Chattanooga I visited Lookout Mountain; then went to the graves of my comrades, the Mitchel raiders, that captured the locomotive and were hanged at Atlanta. The graves are in a circle in the National Cemetery. For the information of their friends I will give the number of their graves as marked on headstones: J. J. Andrews. 12992. Citizen of Kentuckv. William Campbell. 11,180. Citizen FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. 79 of Kentucky. Samuel Slaven. 1117(5. Co. G, 33d Ohio. S. Eobinson. 11177. Co. G, 33d Ohio. G. D. Wilson. 11178. Co. B, 2d Ohio. Marion Ross. 11179. Co. A, 2d Ohio. Perry G. Shadrack. 11181. Co. K, 2d Ohio. John Scott. 11182. Co. K, 21st Ohio. Leaving here, I passed over a con- tinuous battle field to Atlanta. Offi- cial records show that from Chatta- nooga to Atlanta, inclusive, more than 85,000 men wei'e killed and wounded and more than 30,000 captured from Sept. 15, 1863, to Sept. 15, 1864. Ar- riving at Andersonville, I found the same depot agent in charge that was here in war times. His name is M. P. Suber; he is 76 years old, and has been agent here 31 years. Geo. Dish- er, wlio was a conductor, and handled the prisoners to and from the stock- ade, is still connected with the road. I arrived at 2 o'clock, and after eat- ing my first square meal in this place (although I had been a boarder here 12 months), 1 started out to hunt up my old stamping-ground. The stock- ade is about half a mile east of depot. Here it was the 40,000 Northern sol- diers were confined like cattle in a pen. This prison was used from Feb- uary, 1864, to April 1865—14 months. Tlie stockade was formed of strong pine logs, firmly planted in the ground anda1)out20 feet high. The main stockade was surrounded by two other rows of logs, the middle one 16 feet higli, the outer one 12 feet. It was so arranged that if the inner stockade was forced by the prisoners, the second would form another line of defense, inclosing 27 acres. The great stockade has almost entirely disappeared. It is only here and there that a post or little group of posts are to be seen. These have not all rotted away, but have been split into rails to fence the grounds. The ground is owned by G. W. Kennedy, a colored man. Only a small portion of the ground can be farmed. The swamp, in which a man would sink to his waist, still occupies considerable space. In crossing the little brackish stream I knelt down and took a drink, without skimming off the graybacks, as of old. Passing on, not far from the north gate I came to Providence Spring, that broke forth on the 12th or 13th of August, 1864. The spring is sui rounded by a neat wood curb- ing, with a small opening on the low- er side, through which the water constantly flows. Not the slightest trace is left of the dead-line. The holes which the prisoners dug with spoons and tin cups for water and to shelter from sun and rain are still to be seen, almost as perfect as when dug. Also the tunnels that were made with a view to escape are plain to be seen. Relics of prison life are still being found — bits of pots, kettles, spoons, canteen-covers, and the like. 1 had no trouble in locating my headquarters on the north slope. You can imagine my feelings as I walked this ground ovej again after 24 years, thinking of the suffering and sorrow of those dark days. Visions of those living skeletons would come up before me with their haggard, dis- tressed countenances, and will fol- low me through life. A lialf mile from the prison-pen is the cemetery. Here are buried the 13,714 that died a wretched death from starvation and disease. .The ap- pearance of the cemetery has been entirely changed since war days. Then it was an old field. The trench- es for the dead were dug about seven feet wide and 100 yards long. No coffins were used. The twisted, emaciated forms of the dead prisoners were laid side by side, at the head of each was driven a little stake on which was marked a number corres- ponding with the number of the body on the death register. The register was kept by one of the prisoners, and 12,793 mames are registered, with State, regiment, company, rank, date of death and number of grave. Only 921 graves lack identification. I found 35 of my regiment numbered, and quite a number whom I knew had died there lie with the unknown. 80 FIFTEEN MONTHS IN DIXIE. The head boards have been taken away, and substantial white marble slabs have been erected in their places. The stones are of two kinds. For the identified soldiers the stones are flat, polished slabs, three feet long, (one-half being under ground), four inches thick and 12 inches wide. On the stone is a raised shield, and on this is recorded the name, rank; state and number. For the unknown the stone is four inches square and pro- jects only five inches above the ground. The rows of graves are about 10 or 12 feet apart. There are a few stones that have been furnished by the family or friends of the dead. Aside from the few, so many stones alike are symbolic of a similar cause and an equal fate. The cemetery covers 25 acres, inclosed by a brick wall five feet high. The main en- trance is in the center of the west side. In the center of a diamond- shaped plot rises a flagstaff, where the Stars and Stripes are floating from sunrise to sunset. The cemetery presents a beautiful appearance. The grounds are nicely laid out and neatly kept, under the supervision of J. M. Bryant, who lives in a nice brick cottage inside the grounds. I will close by quoting one inscrip- tion from a stone erected by a sister to the memory of a brother. "They shall hunger no more, neither thrist any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. "For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living foun- tains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." —Rev., VII: 16, 17. The writer of the above article was a prisoner of war over 19 months, was captured at the battle of Chicka- mauga Sept. 20, 1803; delivered to the Union lines April, 1865, and was aboard the ill-fated steamer Sultana. Would like to know if any comrade living was imprisoned this long. — A. C. Bkown, Co. I, 2d Ohio, Albert Lea, Minn. mm' i ms^^ &