Camp, field and prison life; containing sketches of service in the South, and the experience, incidents and observations connected with almost two year's imprisonment at Johnson's Island, Ohio ...

Front matter

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Preface

Perhaps there are those who will conclude that the contents of this book are intended as an offset to the alleged inhumanity to Federal soldiers in Southern prisons. Not so; it deals as little as possible with the cruelties of war. Were I so disposed, I might now go back and drag up a thousand northern prison horrors to place beside the most revolting pen pictures of Andersonville; but who would profit or be made happier thereby ? Indeed, would it not be calculated rather to open afresh wounds now partially healed, and to revive unpleasant memories that we would fain obliterate.

No doubt some will be deceived as to the anticipated contents of the book, for thej^ will expect to see their own prison exploits jotted down, especially if they were somewhat notorious. Such will please remember that it would be utterly impossible to give more than a tithe of what actually occured, in a single volume like this. Besides, my notes of prison life were not originally taken with a view to publication. I expected some abler pen than mine would portray to the world our life during captivity, but as no other has seen fit to write our prison history, I have thought that my meagre sketches might be acceptable to my comrades and the friends

TV PREFACE.

who so earnestly sj-mpathized with us while shut up on that little island.

Had I intended to publish my manuscript, I would have taken much fuller notes and preserved manj'- items and facts which would have added greatly to the interest of the book. But the opi^ortunity is now lost forever, since, in the great flow of events then daily transpiring, it was impossible to keep them all in the mind. What I have written will serve as an outline, to be filled up by each particular individual according to his experience.

The introductory of Gen. Lewis will be recognized and eagerly perused by many hundreds who were on Johnson's Island, for the tone and style are characteristic, and perhaps no one in prison was better known. The hearts of some will swell with continued gratitude as they think again of him who ministered to their spiritual welfare, and persuaded them to forsake their evil ways; and many a masonic brother will go back in memory and bless him for his zealous labors in their behalf, when sick and destitute in an enemy's prison.

A careful reading of what he has written will greatly assist the reader in correctly appreciating the book. Though I am quite sure that some Southerners will condemn the spirit of the work as being too nearly loyal, I hope it will meet the approbation of the mass, and I feel that it will be calculated, in many cases, to form bonds of friendship where hearts are now callous. If so, I have added a mite to the welfare and happiness of mankind, and am satisfied. AUTHOE.

St. Louis, March, 1870.

Introduction

Having read the manuscript of this volume, and having been an eye-witness of the scenes whicli the author relates, I take great pleasure in commending it to the public generally, but particularly to those who were unfortunate participants in the horrors of the long imprisonment at Johnson's Island.

Time can never ei-ase from the memory of any one of the latter class the prominent scenes of prison life in which he may have participated; yet, to many, the minor details, the humorous, the painful, the cruel, the oppressive experiences must have been lost in the immemorial past through the friction of every day life if the diligent hand of Capt. Wash had not embalmed them as they transpired.

To those who witnessed what is here related this volume will prove a source of great satisfaction and amusement. The materials from which this book has been collated were jotted down just as the scenes transpired, for the daily journal of the author recalls almost the entire period from June, 1863, to the close of the war.

VI INTEODUCTION.

To an outsider, who never had the misfortune to be locked up for safe keej)ing in modern bastiles, or to be guarded, not by angels, but by relentless brutes, who, .afraid of the battle field, volunteered to guard prisoners, because all the shooting could be on one side, a peep inside is furnished and a slight glimpse of what we experienced. To us, the former prisoners, the old, gloomy past will be re-enacted, and faces, long since grown dim on the canvass of memory, will be retouched into their former freshness. We will stand again within those plank walls, see familiar forms, hear the laugh of the merr}" and the complaint of the sad-hearted — in fact, live over again the strangely mingled life of which it is a sketch. Who can not even yet recall the varied emotions experienced by the incarcerated patriot as'he listened to the tale of defeat, greedily related and largely embellished ? Who can fail to remember how keen the anguish realized as we heard of the want, suffering and ruin of the land we loved better than life?

Who can know, save those who were there, how the heart sunk when grim despair, like the head of Medusa, chilled the soul into stone at the contemplation of our home and loved ones given to merciless aliens and strangers, and we iinable to raise a-n arm to save those precious treasures?

Prison life as seen from the author's stand-point and from mine were vastly different. His was exceptional, mine was the common lot of a vast majority of the three thousand Confederate officerson Johnson's Island.

He was more fortunate than many in being so close to family and dear fi-iends who had influence with those

INTEODUCTION. VII

in authority. To him came many a box laden with turkeys, chickens, hams and sweetmeats, obtained through an arrangement with the man Scovill, who is mentioned in these pages as prison provost. But to thousands, who were total strangers in an enemy's country, far removed from the sunny land of their birth, who were unskilled in wire-working, and dependent solely on the rations issued by their keepers, there was but little fun and less poetry in those sad years. The class to which the author belonged could hear almost daily from home and friends, thus affording relief from the fears which long months of silence begat in the minds of many who were less fortunate. There were hundreds of our miserable associates, who, captured in midsummer, with the light and insufficient clothing furnished by a hard pressed and closely blockaded government, suffered untold misery amidst the rigors of the winter of '63 and '64.

No one of all the vast number confined there at that time can have forgotten the intense cold of that inclement island, located in the open plane of Lake Erie and bordering on the shores of Canada. Insufficient clothing, shelter, food and medicine sent scores of victims to the grave. As success crowned the armies of the North their severity toward the prisoners increased, and, as the prospect lessened, to many, of getting a chance at rebels on the open and honestly contested field of battle, an itching desire grew to kill the unarmed and defenseless.

The avaricious officer who issued rations shared with

VIII INTEODUCTION.

the contractor and grew rich upon the bread and beef denied to starving rebels.

For a short time we were guarded by soldiers who had earned the name of veterans — the buck-tails of Pennsylvania and others — who, under the gallant leadership of such men as Long, Sedgwick, Hancock, Meade and others, grappled, in dreadful carnage, with the grand old army of Northern Yirginia, led by such men • as Lee, Jackson, Johnston, Longstreet, Hill, Early, &c,, names forever immortal in the memory of man. These knew how to treat the brave, whose misfortune it was to be prisoners. Those gallant and chivalrous men did their duty as guards, but showed to us, and that too in broad contrast to the Hoffman Battalion, how the brave can be generous. On both sides, doubtless, the stay at homes and the shirks, who were prison guards, knew how to be cruel to a degree that curses them forever. It is to be hoped that their names are not remembered, so that no recoi-d shall stand in time against them.

This book will furnish valuable material to the future historian, who will pen the more complete accounts of those "stirring times." It will be but the beginning of a series which will show up the hitherto silent side of " Prison Life during the "War."

If we would have a just verdict from the grand juries of coming generations, to whom will be submitted the conduct of both parties to the late war, it is necessary that, not only a cursory view of Johnson's Island prison be had, but that a minute detail of it, as also of those miserable pens, Alton Penitentiary, Camp Douglas,

INTEODUCTIOK. IX

Camp Chase, Eock Island and Elmira, be placed by the side of the exaggerations about Libby, Belle Isle, Tyler and Andersonville.

The resources of each section must be fully canvassed and a dispassionate portrayal be given of the spirit that characterized both governments in their dealings with the unarmed and defenseless. -If the North has nothing to lose by such an investigation, certainly the South has everything to gain.

The style of the author of this volume is purposely homely and peculiar, intended fully to revive the fading memories of which it is a description. If fastidious taste shall be disposed to term it "vulgar" and out of place, let it be known that the writer intended not only to recount the transactions and experiences of army and prison life, but to carry the reader back to the very times themselves by using the peculiar patois, if I may so call it, of the soldier.

Captain Wash has rendered, to his old associates at least, a service which must be highly appreciated by them. It will serve not only to give pleasure and instruction, but to recall to the minds of many readers much which they had otherwise finally forgotten, thus securing, if each will take pains to note down his reminiscences, a full and complete account of our imprisonment.

I most heartily commend this book to those who have a personal interest in its narrations. Many a one will delight to con its pages, from the relative connection they sustained to the sufferers.

X INTKODUOTIOISr.

To some it will bring many a merry laugh, to others the tears of yet iinconsoled sorrow for the dear dead ones who still sleep on that inhospitable coast.

May God bless the survivors and grant to the bereaved that consolation which comes alone from the God of all comfort. L. M. LEAVIS.

Arcadia, Mo., March, 1870.

Chapter I

At Vicksburg, in April, 1S63 — March to the Front; Clothina; and Papers Lost: Thrilling^ incidents; Country, Climate, Seasons and People of Mississippi; Out among the Farmers; Army Movements Brisk; Conflict with Ironclails; Almost an Execution ; Enemy's Intentions Evident ; Fiddle&Fun; More Iron-clads ;■ May Campnij^n Opens ; Bowen at Port Hudson; Outpost Duty; Musquitos t)^?-j;i5 Rebels; Steal a March on the Boys; Gunboats versus Water Batteries; Dinner with a Contraband; Stonewall Jackson Dead, &c,

CHAPTER n.

Reflections; Pleasant Jaunt; Commissary Supplies; Preparing- to Evacuate; Biar Black Bridge; Edward's Depot; Battle of Baker's Creek; All important Document too Late; Fight at Big Black; Surrender; Dinner with a Federal Officer; Why Defeated; Blue Coats and Gray Commingle; Vandalism; A Fancy Shoulder Strapper and 1; Edward's Depot again; Patent Cooking; Confiscation; Big Black once more; Noble Women ; "Chickasaw" Battle Field; Yazoo Landing; Young's Point, La.; The Contrabands; Northward Bound ; Scenery on the Mississippi ; Napoleon, Ark.; Elliott's Marine Brigade; Dead Prisoner Consigned to the Waves, &c.

CHAPTER in.

Memphis; Gov. and Adj't. Gen. of Iowa; Pleasant Meeting; Fort Pillow; Island No. 10; Monotonous Scenery; All about Cairo; Gen. Buford, U. S. A.; Passenger Cars for Rebel Oflicers; A Gymnastic Feat Dixieward; Natives flock in to see Johnny Rebs; The Ladies and Copperheads ; Terre .Haute; Muss with a Dirty Dutchman : Indianapolis Then and Now; Our Reception; Soldier's Home; Visitors and Incidents; Railroad Metropolis; Passage through Ohio; Sandusky City; Our Home in the Distance; Strange Feelings.

CHAPTER IV.

Over the Bay; Sail Crafts; Head Quarters ; Funds or no Funds; The Place and the Garrison ; Sandusky; Exterior Survey; In Prison ; Thoughts ; First Thing Done; Who We Found There; Rebels shot and Others under Sen-

XII CONTENTS.

tence; "VallandiEfham ; First Sunday in Prison; Preaching; Dress Pande; What Next? My Watch in Pawn ; Sutler; Washing; Day ; Ring Making; Prisoners Arrive ; Still They Come ; Touching Incident ; Lt. Read Dead; Galvanized Rebels; Kxchange; Baltimore Merchants ; Lee, Rragg, and the Southwest; Loyallnconsistency ; Meade, the 7th Commander; Difference in Northern and Southern Armies ; Money from Home; Fourth of Tuly; Divine Service; Gen. Archer and others from Gettysburg; My Ring Disaster; Sky Rockets and Cannon; John Morgan's Raid, &c.

CHAPTER V.

My first box from home ; Cannonading Across the Lake ; Foaming white Caps ; Peculiarities of Prison Life; The Morgan Boys ; Gunboat Michigan; Iron-clad I'rowess Defunct; Lee and Meade; Rebellion Most Dead ( ?); Siege ot Vicksburg; Woman's Worth ; Alabama Officers in Luck ; Olden Times Made New ; Foreign Intervention ; Grand Proposition to the South ; Four Hundred Veterans from l^ee's Army; Thoughts and Talk of Escape; Smuggling Letters ; Sutlers' Department; Our Mess Reinforced by Twenty Dollars; Northern Press; Death in Prison; Hospital Scenes; Morgan Raiders Arrive; Crittenden, Dead; Jolin Morgan in Federal Clutches; His Achievements; One Hundred and Sixty Rebellonians from Port Hudson; Prison Scenes; Retrospective Look, &c.

CHAPTER VI.

Gloomy Prospect; Cartel Broken; Bone of Contention ; Prison Scene; Off for the Penitentiary; Siege of Charleston; Mobile: True Friendship; One Hundred Gallant Sons trom the Old Dominion; Eccentric Minister; Domestic blatters ; Going Home; Conscripts; Hidden Fire; Our Possible Destiny; Contrast between the Naval Fleets; Why the Disparity in our Favor; Kentucky Election; Despotism; Inhuman Federal Officers; Changeable Weather; Yancey is Dead; Ourselves and our Friends; Soldiei's Life; Two Years from Home; Then and Now; Fast Day; Pay Day; Capt. Law; New Pump; Lt. Kirby Smith; Northern Extract; Two Suits of Gray from Louisville; Manners and Customs in Prison; Celebrated Characters ; Youngblood, Brantly, &c.; Prison Scenes and Prison Ways; Daily Routine; Captives from Helena; Col. Johnson's Jewels; Alton Prison; Sunning Day; Going after Straw; Bathing in the Lake; Skirmish with the Pump, &c.

CHAPTER VII.

Kycursion Party; Preaching; Col. Lewis; Who are in the Penitentiary at Alleghany City, Pa.; Profession Life in our Midst; Lt. Minor and his Drinkables; No More Boots; Laid Away; Rebels Arrive; Mr. I^iiicoln's Intention; Sutler Enlarging; Washing Day; The Rebel that didn't go out in a Slop Barrel; The Loyal Folks want us back in the l^nion, and Why; Political Parties; Brantly and Universalism ; Prayer Meeting; The Sisters of 1-t. Brand; The Alabama; My Way of Cooking; Town Ball; Pi ison Scenes; Mv Facilities for Writing; Fashions Among Us; Hard-shell Sermon; Old Pap; Reflections; Theoretical versus Practical Knowledge of Persons and Things; What our Ministers Pray For; Retrospect; Mental Rehearsal; Chain of Memories ; Our Prospects; Panorama of War; What the North Thinks and what the South Thinks, &c.

CONTENTS. XIII

CHAPTER VIII.

Almost Two Years since the Last Chapter was Written ; "Why the Original Manuscript was Written ; My Present Quarters; Why in Jail; Long Chain of Events; Grave Charge; Before a Magistrate; Article in Jonesboro paper headed "Arrest of the notorious Capt. Wasli;" Renegades; Tlie Sequel Not Yet; Kindly Cared For; Bad State of Affairs; A Look Around Me; Thoughts of 1S64; Memorable Cold Day; Four Confederates off for Canada; The Result; Death of Col. Cluke, of Kentucky; Blockade of Ice; Express Matter; Dead House; Plot Nipped in the Bud; Five Hundred Prisoners Ordered for Exchange; Act of Federal Kindness; Sutler Closed Out; Our Fuel; Exit Rebels; Re-enter Rebels; Papers Suppressed from Prison ; Rebel Kicked out of Prison ; Removal and Escape ; Sermon by Col. Lewis; Death of Capt. Barnes; The Masons, a word in their behalf; My Bunk iNIate Takes the Small Pox; Inspection by U. S. A. Surgeon; Prison Guard Increased at Night; Col. Pierson's Prison Report from Organization up to Date; Grand Snow Battle; Gen. M. Jeft". Thompson Captured; My Frencli; Judge Breare; The Owner of our Island; Heavy Dixie Mail; Its Contents, &c.

CHAPTER IX.

Fourth of July, 1865; My Enemies and I; Celebration; No Secesh; Poor Beef; Major ScoviUe; Jas'. B. Clay Dead; Death of a Choctaw Captain; Dr. Foster and the Bitters; Sharo Practice; Stir in Prison, Four Hundred Sent Off; A Joke on Some Who Staved; Southern I^eague; Col. D. Howard Smith on Parole; Lt. Alexander takes the Oath; Mountains of Ice; Blockade Described; Two Ladies in Prison; Rings and Autograph Albums; Confederate Captain Disgraced; Gen. Shaler; A Night in the Hospital; 22d February; Brantley's Rat, my share; Col. Lyle a Rebel, a Yankee aftd a Rebel Again; Revival; Promenading; Puerile Order; Arkansas Travelers; Conversion of Prisoners; Federal Chaplain; Short Rations; New Furniture; Lamp Broken Over Sutler's Head, and Why; Starchy Federal Popped in the Back and Don't Like It; A Good Old Capt. Praying in the Hospital; Col. Printup's Box; Nothing Lost by Kindness; Delicious Pudding; Escaped and Captured; Money Makes the Mare Go; Crowd at Sutler Shop; Kentucky and Baltimore Ladies, &c.

CHAPTER X.

Sub-Sutlers; April Fool's Day; Good Joke on Maj. Stewart, of Ark.; Dancing School; New Occupations; Southern Thanksgiving Day; "AsaHartz;" Ladies from Kentucky; Galvanized Rebels; Camp Morton; Warm Times in Northern Congress; Not Captured on the Battle Field; Rebellonians; Prison Strategy; Dr. Woodbridge, U, S. A. ; Dixie Mail; Rugged Lake; French Letter; Fun; Tunnels; Ditch; Lt. Williams, U. S. A. : Torchlight Procession; Dr. Brantley and Co. Trying to Bribe Sentinel; How the Dr. gothis Title; Gen. Shaler in Rebel Prison ; Muster and Inspection; Gen. J. E. B. Stuart killed; Fish, Butter and Eggs; Prisoners frorn Johnson's Army; Hawthorne and Giddings dead ; Attempt to Scale the Wall ; Tunnels; Qiiarters Searched; Result, &c.

CHAPTER XI.

June ist, 1S64; Our French; Lt. Tobey; Long Letters Forbidden; Underground Railroads ; Col. Hill Excites Rebel Indignity; No more Coffee, Sugar or Candles; Box from Mrs. Lillard; Morgan Turns up Again; Grant

XIV CONTENTS.

Changing- his Base; Vallandigham back in Ohio; Swimming in the Lake; Five Daily Papers in Our Room; Gen. Polk Killed; Gold 22610235; Gen. Archer sent off; Secesh Arrive; Capt Jonas on Parole, and Why ; Seven Surgeons Sent South ; My Sclioolniate ; Lt. H. M. Baldwin, U.S. A.; Geo. M. Steever, the Youngest of our Class; Southern Gentry Aim to Scratch out; Disagreeable Roommate; Sentinel shoots a Ditch instead ol" a Rebel; July 4th; The Alabama Sunk: Box from Home; Thoughts; Prison Wall Moved Back; Talk About Rebelling; Prison Gardens; The Oath After Dark; A Dutchman's Order; p'ifiy Dollars from Home; Gen. Trimble; Circulating Library; Lt. Brown; Col. Boynton, U. S. A.; Chair Factory; Two Prisoners Wounded by Sentinel; A Dark Hour; Programme of Concert Given by Rcbellonians, fcc.

CHAPTER XII.

August — Arrival of Prisoners ; Maj. Dick Person; A Dozen Surgeons Sent South; Bold and Successful Attempt to Escape by Lt. Murphy: Rebels in Blue Follow Out Sand Wagon ; Value of Worn-out Blue Pants; Eleven Southerners Ride out on Two Wagons ; Adjutant Newman as a Yankee ; Lt. Selecman Trapped ; Loyal Troops Skirmishing forSeceshers ; Seventeen Captured First Haul; Guard at the Gate; Prayer Meeting; " Fresh Fish; " Col. Baxter, C. S. A., as a Major U. S. A.; Cruel Order from Commissary General; Fuel Added to the Fire; Three Southern Gents Crawl Down a Slop Ditch; Lt. Dudley; How Lt. Clark and I confiscated numerous Plank and what we did with it; Our Study finished and described; French and Spanish ; Cheating the Yankees; Ugliness Sometimes a Virtue; Rebel Hung; Ratastrophe Described; Col. Fite, President of the " Rat Club; " Exciting Era; Heavy Slain: Our Modus Operandi; Raid on Hospital Woodpile; Col. Lewis Gone; Escaped and Caught; The Washing Business; Capt. Furnish and Lt. Maris in a Muss over a Rat; Sequel, &c.

CHAPTER XIII.

"Pro Bono Publico" McClellan Nominated; We Indifferent; Golden Rule ; Memorable Occasion; Graphic Description of a Tornado; Prison Scenes; Rich Jokes; Nothing but the Lord's Prayer ; Thompson's Christmas Turkey; All About It; A Rich Affair: Short Rations; Fight in Prison; Privileges of Our Cook; Pleasant Surprise; How a Rebel Got to Canada ; Col. Printup in Luck; About tlie Prison Officers; How and Why We Played Possum; Lt. Wilson, who will Appear on' the Stage Again; Generals Removed from Our Prison; Studying Spanish in our Studio; Our Room in Luck; Gens. Marmaduke and Cabell Arrive; A Good Soldier Dead; What Breckinridge Did for Gillem; Reign of I'errorin Kentucky; Cotton; Gen. Beall; Col. Fite Promoted; Sherman's March to the Sea, &c.

CHAPTER XIV.

Hot Weather in Jail; My Relative Situation; I Think Much but Say Little; Dec. 1st, 1864; Battle at Franklin, Tenn.; Southern Chivalry Scratch Out; End of Block 1; Death of Col Matlock, of Arkansas; How We Profited by Somebody being Three Sheets in the Wind; Memorable Occasion ; Outbreak; Lieut. Boles Killed; Gen. Beall's Circular ; Our Share of the Mobile Cotton; Port Holes in the Wall and Forts on the Island; Inspection of Blankets, and How We Juggled; Thief in Prison; Two Hundred and Eighty of Hood's Officers Arrive; Colonel Printup Dines with a Federal Major; Colonel Mike Woods; Fish in the Dab; Rebels Apply to Work on Forts; Gold 216; My Spanish Grammar Finished; Prospects; Good-bye 1S64; All About Wilson's Chicken, &c.

CONTENTS. XV

CHAPTER XV.

1865; Genoral Remarks; Why Prison Life was not Unhappy for Me; Grant Authorized to Exchange; Federal Policy; its Cruelty, its Results; Exchange Begins; Feelings in Prison; Two Plundred Rebel Officers Shipped; Scenes and Thoughts; Still They G(?; INlodus Operandi; My Time Comes; How I Felt; On the Outside; Passage over the Bay; On the Ice, and Incidents; Across Oliio; "No Use Grieving over Spilt Milk"; Mansfield, Ohio; Pittsburg; Through the AUeghanies ; Our Finances; Happy Family; Juniata Valley; Old Friend in the Shape of a Bridge; Mufflintown, Pa. ; Harrisburg; Pies and Pretty Giils at York, Pa.; Anti-Triumphal March through Baltimore; The Dear Ladies; Beast-like Federal Officer; At the Wharf; Down Chesapeake Bay; Historic Scenes; City Point; Up the James; Our Steamship; My Adventures among the Sailors ; Twenty Dollars for Breakfast; Our Federal Escort; Scenes on Shipboard; Pleasant Parting; Harrison's Landing; Confederate Flag ol Truce Boat; Colonel Mulford a Generous Foe; Unfurling of a Hidden Flag; Passage over Historic Space; Arrival at the Confederate Capital, &c.

CHAPTER XVI.

Disappointed, and Why; Spottswood Hotel; Colonel Leathers; On Parole Furlough; Wages Paid and Balance Due Me; Richmond Theater; Libby Prison; How IFelt Toward the Inmates; Confederate Capital; President Davis and General Lee; All Sober; Adieu to Richmond; FJurksville; Pleasing Incident; Round tlie Jolly Camp Fire; Bound West; Unexpected Meeting; I-ynchburg Excited, and Why; An Order from the War Department, and how it was Evaded; Wytheville; Our Luck at Glade Springs; Wicked Bedfellow; Abingdon; Bristol; General Vaughan and Others; Off for Carter's Depot; Johnson's Depot; A Circuit of Three Thousand Miles Complete, &c.

CHAPTER XVn.

The Future Looks Brighter; Pleasant Associations in Jonesboro; March in Retreat; Parting to^Meet no More; Up the Holston ; Miss Kate Worley; Bound for Old Virginia; Why not in the Army; Blue Spring; Dry Creek Gap; Incidents; We Part; Rev. David SuUins and Major John Sanders; Work in the Garden and Make Chicken Coops; Happy Times; Fishing for Trout; Pleasant Meeting; Lead Mines; Religious Community ; Good joke on Myself; Confederate Armies Surrendered and President Lincoln Killed; Sad Farewell; Washington Springs; Why I Laid Over; War Incident; Marriage at a Strange Hour; Blountville Then and Now; Jonesboro Again ; In the Midst of Unknown Dangers; Fiendish Spirit; Jail Life Incidents; Good Friends all Round; Dr. Bill Sketer Smith; My Uncle Arrives; Our First Greeting; Colonel Brown, U. S. A.; Dr. Joe Clark and Sergeant Garber; The Dear Women; Almost a Good Time; The Bright Side of Prison Life ; I'm Almost Free.

Conclusion

Leaving Jail; Dark Ride; Bull's Gap; Old Friends; Was the Meeting Accidental; No; Why Preconcerted; What about the Bail; Gross Outrage; Barking up the Wrong Tree; Homeward Bound; Safe Arrival ; The Country Along the Route; Meager Sketch; All Lost; Not Sorry; No Peace Yet; My Hopes Realized; Reflections; Verdict of the Reader; Conclusion.

CAMP, FIELD AP PRISON LIFE.

CHAPTER I.

Johnson's Island, near Sandusky, Ohio, \ July 10, 18GS. J

From the 1st of October last I have kept a minute diary of our camps, travels and the incidents connected therewith, from time to time writing them down in a somewhat connected narrative, in a journal I had prepared for that purpose. In Octoher, 1862, we — that is, Vaughn's Tennessee Brigade — were camped near the western border of Virginia ; in April following we were in the vicinity of Vicksburg, Miss., having traveled diagonally through Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, tarrying a while at Knoxville, Montgomery, Mobile, Jackson and Grenada.

E'o one except a soldier knows how many incidents crowd into a 1,200 mile military trij) through the South. Often, while at Vicksburg, I derived great pleasure from going back and reading over the occurrences that took place before we left

18 CAMP, FIELD AND PEISO?^ LIFE.

Tennessee, and I could imagine liow mncli greater the pleasure would Idg in tlie great future, when all this strife is only in song and story, to rehearse the scenes and deeds of a wonderful era. I had my journal "written up to within the month of April, and the tale consumed some fifty pages, descriptive of matters and things in general along our route, and about the cities in which we stoi:)ped.

" Martial circumstances " and increased activity in "war business" caused me to cease my .scribbling, and leave my all, except war implements and a single blanket, to go and try the stern realities of the field, where I was soon to see the foe. As was too often the case, ne'er more did we return to that camp. Many sacrificed their heart's blood at the altar of liberty, and a host of others are, with myself, serving out a martyrdom, for their country's sake, in a Northern prison. '

My journal, account books, clothing, many highly prized letters and tokens from friends, all are, perhaps, now smouldering in the ruins and waste about Vicksburg. That was the third time I had lost all my clothing, and the second my journal, precious at least to me, by the vicissitudes of war. And, though what I am now penning may meet the same fate ere the year is past and gone, still, to fill up vacant hours and to

CAMP, FIELD AISTD PEISON LIFE. 19

renew tlie scenes through which we have so lately passed, and. for the curiosity of hereafter looking back on prison life as it passed, I will persevere.

I Avill go back to a thrilling occurrence near to the time at which my other journal ceased. About the middle of March our regiment changed the locality of its camp, very much improving our situation and comforts. Our camp was in an elliptical shaped hollow, containing some six acres, and surrounded on all sides, except one, by hills, towering above the stately poplars in the midst of our camp. The crest of one of the lofty hills that engirdled our secluded home was lined with brazen batteries and strong intrenchments, our camp being just outside of the outer line of defense of Vicksburg. "We had very respectable shanties for both officers and men, and a good spring within the limits of our camp.

Everything was passing oif in the usual manner of camp life, till the night of March 28th, when we were shocked by a sudden and terrible calamity. The day had been calm and serene, and there was nothing in the heavens or on the earth portending to human vision the coming sad spectacle. About ten o'clock at night the wind commenced blowing "a steady gale, and black clouds loomed up. For an hour it seemed that we were only going to have a thunder gust, but the storm increased and the winds howled among the thick

20 CAMP, FIELD AND PEISOISr LIFE.

foliage of the tall trees. Not one in our camp dreamed of danger, till the limbs commenced crashing, and the huge poplars were being torn up by their roots in the very center of our camp.

All was flurry and consternation. Men rushed wildly from their cabins in their night clothes, seeking eagerly a place of safety. In many cases the cabins were crushed into atoms before the men had fairly escaped. A tent occupied b}^ my brother and five others was torn into shreds in a moment after their exit. Six men were killed outright in one tent, and ten others injured in various parts of the regiment. 'Twas the most pitiable sight man ever beheld, to see six stalwart men lying side by side, mangled and bruised, in death. We buried them side by side on a neighboring hill. Never did a conflagration or tornado leave a more desolate and gloomy scene than was presented by our once jbeautiful camp. It required several days to clear up our camping ground so as to make it even passable.

About the 1st of February orders were issued from headquarters for officers to be sent home on recruiting service. I sent R. A. Anderson, my orderly sergeant, as being most suitable, because of energy and j^erseverance. On the 29th of ]\larch he returned with twelve men and no less than thirty boxes of provisions, and some clothing and a host of letters for the boys. Never was there