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ANDERSONVILLE.
Andersonville prison was in
Sumter County, Georgia, and contained about forty acres
inclosed by a stockade of logs set endwise in the
ground, and about ten feet high. Attached to it
were guard houses at intervals of about 100 feet, which
overlooked what they appropriately called the
"dead-line," about ten feet from the stockade on the
inside. At the front of the prison were three
other stockades with heavy gates. The entrance or
vestibule of the pen, which prevented the escape of
prisoners in either large or small bodies on the right,
were earthworks, with cannon mounted ready for action.
A little further to the right was the cookhouse.
On the left was the hospital intended
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for sick Union prisoners - but few were taken there -
many dying at the gate while waiting for medicine: but
the principal number died in the larger apartment.
A small creek ran through the middle of the inclosure,
and at an angle with it was about five acres of swamp,
thus reducing our parade ground to about thirty-five
acres. On one side of the stream the soil was
almost entirely sand - on the other - yellow clay.
In this space the 40,000 prisoners were crowded without
shelter of any kind. The trees that were standing
on the ground when it was first occupied were cut down
and the roots dug up for fuel. The possessor of a
blanket could to some extent obviate his discomfort; but
without it or a substitute the prisoner could burrow in
the yellow clay for a brief period preliminary to being
carried to the “long trench.” Through this yellow
clay there were from time to time several tunnels made
under the stockade; but as far as was known all were
failures. The venturer was either captured by the
rebel guard or torn to pieces by the bloodhounds.
Of the victims of the “ dead line,” starvation or
disease, there were about, 13,000 prisoners buried in a
trench, a few inches deep, and wide enough for the
length of the body. Thus, side by side, they
braved shells or starvation. The officers of the
prison extended no favors to any of the prisoners,
except to Free Masons. When they were recognized
in the prison the officers would generally find
something for them to do on the outside; and if a Mason
died he was more respectably buried.
*The narrator of this sketch volunteered in the United
States signal service corp at Columbus, O., and went
into camp at Georgetown, D. C., and from there with a
squad to General Siegel’s army. He was
captured by Mosby’s men at Middletown, between
Martinsburg and Winchester, on the 13th of May, 1864,
and with about 150 prisoners was marched across the
country to Gordonsville, thence to Andersonville, where
his stay was until September, 1864; thence to
Charleston, S. C., and from there to Florence, where he
remained until March 4, 1864; from thence to Wilmington,
A. C., and from there to Annapolis, Md., from which
place he returned to his home.
Mr. A. Arrick furnishes the following
interesting synopsis of an interview with James P.
Hartzell, of company G, 78th Regiment, O. V. 1.,
Col. M. D. Leggett:
"I was captured at Atlanta, Ga., on 22d of July, 1864,
with twenty others of our regiment. About 7 p. m.
the prisoners, two thousand in number, captured that
day, were marched by a long detour to the rear of
Atlanta. From here our officers were sent to
Charleston, S. C., and we saw them no more. We
remained here until the 24th, when we started and
marched during that and the following two days, and
arrived at Lovejoy Station, whence we took the cars to
Macon, Ga.
“At Macon we were treated with great kindness by the
ladies. They brought us warm biscuit, milk, wine
and ham, and many other luxuries to which we had long
been strangers. One, whose name I regret 1 cannot
recall, was particularly kind to me, and talked of her
own boy in the Confederate army, while the tears rolled
down her cheeks. I was then only about seventeen
years of age, and her
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* Albert Worley, of McConnelsville, Ohio.
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motherly kindness produced an impression which will ever
be remembered. After leaving Macon we were at
Andersonville at noon.
"We were marched from the station to the front of the
stockade and formed in line, and we were introduced to
Captain Wurz. Being in line, we were
ordered to open ranks and unsling knapsacks. The
guards then ‘went through our traps,' appropriating
everything in our possession, whether valuable or
worthless, taking even our knives, forks and spoons.
By some inadvertance, my blanket was left lying in front
of me, and when the order ‘march’ was given, with a
soldier’s instinct, I reached for it, when a revolver
was thrust into my face, and there stood the redoubtable
Captain Wurz, who in broken English
exclaimed, ‘Yon tarn Yankee, ven I says march I means
you to go.’ I went, bidding farewell to my
blanket.
“We were then turned in like cattle, without tent or
blanket. While looking on the scene with anxious
wonder, I was accosted by G. W. Sprinkle, a
member of our regiment, who had for some time been a
boarder, he was an intimate friend, and his assistance
and instructions were of great benefit. Twenty men
of our regiment together occupied a spot of ground ten
feet square, appropriated to our use, and this was our
‘home.’
"The inmates were divided into detachments of 270 men,
under the charge of a rebel sergeant. These were
again sub-divided, forming three divisions, commanded in
like manner by a sergeant. The business of the
sergeants was to draw and issue rations for their
respective commands. This duty was attended to
every evening. The first day it would be a
half-pound of corn bread, half a pint of raw beans and
about half a pound of cooked bacon. The next day
we would have a half pint of raw corn meal, three
spoonfuls of raw rice and a half pound of raw beef.
The third day it would be our former allowance of corn
bread, a half pint of ‘nigger’ beans cooked in the pod,
and a half pint of sorghum syrup. The dead were
carried away and deposited promiscuously beneath the
soil, in a land they had died to continue ‘a land of the
free and a home of the brave.’
“The ‘dead line’ was a mark made by stakes driven in
the ground and connected by slats, and was so called
because the guard was ordered to shoot any one crossing
or touching it. On one accasion a famished
prisoner, in his efforts to obtain a cup of water less
filthy than usual, reaching under the slat, happened to
touch it. No sooner than he did so, the guard
fired, scattering the poor fellow’s brains over some of
us who stood near.
“But this lack of good water was removed by a singular
phenomenon. On the elevation some distance from
the stream, a spring of pure and delicious water burst
forth, affording an abundant quantity, which we utilized
by a sluice-way to a lower level and used there for a
bathing pool, sustaining the lives of many.
“About the 17th September, 1864, an order came to
muster 2,000 able bodied men for exchange. I was
included in the list, as I weighed ninety-five pounds.
My name was the tenth one called, to which there was at
least a dozen answers; but crowding up to the gate with
one who had been my comrade through all, we made good
our exit.
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We were not long- in reaching our regiment, then at
‘Rough and Ready,’ near Atlanta. Oh! it was one of
my happy, happy days.”
LIBBY AND BELLE ISLE.
* "I was a member of Company D, 122d Regiment, O. V. I.,
Colonel W. H. Ball commanding. I was taken
prisoner on the 14th of June, 1863, at Winchester, Va.,
by Lee's forces on their way to Gettysburg.
"On the second morning after our capture we were
conducted up the valley on foot to Staunton. It
required nearly three days to march that distance.
From Staunton we were taken to Richmond by the cars, and
there we were placed in a tobacco warehouse, where we
remained two or three days, then were removed to the
second floor of the famous Libby prison; thence, after a
stay of three or four days, by way of variety, we were
sent over to Belle Isle, where we were detained and
entertained ten or twelve days, until July 10 or 12,
when we were paroled. “Our r daily bill of
fare on the way up the valley, and until we reached
Richmond, was two pints of flour and a little salt.
Afterward, and while we were in prison at Richmond, our
diet consisted of a piece of baker’s bread, about two
inches square, and half a pint of field-pea soup, meat
and maggots all mixed together each day. While in
the warehouse and Libby proper we were admonished by the
guard to keep away from the grated windows or he
‘mought’ shoot. While I was at Belle Isle there
were about 500 prisoner, at least half of them without
tent or shelter, sitting or lying exposed to the rays of
a July sun, on the burning hot sand, in which the
‘graybacks’ were only to be distinguished by their size
and capacity for locomotion.
“The water privileges were to some extent of a military
order. At given intervals the entire number of
prisoners were formed in line and marched to the edge of
the river, each taking his drink and countermarching,
many being so much exhausted as to be only able to crawl
to the designated locality.”
** “I was a member of Company B, 62d Regiment, O. V.
I., Colonel F. B. Pond commanding, and was taken
prisoner at the charge on Fort Wagner. Morris
Island, S. C., on the 18th of July, 1863, with
seventy-six of our brigade at the same time. We
were taken to Charleston and put in jail, where we were
kept for two days. In the afternoon of the 20th we
were put on the cars and carried up to Columbia, and
again put in jail and feasted on boiled rice (cold), one
tablespoonful twice a day.
“While here we were for a short time in charge of a
Captain Linn, who by the way was a
Presbyterian preacher; and in justice to him I must say
I think he was a gentlemen and a Christian, as he was
very kind to us while he had us in charge, and I
afterward heard him denounce the holding and starving of
prisoners; but he was under orders, however, and could
not prevent it.
“We were held at Columbia nearly two months, then sent
to Richmond and put in the Libby prison. Here, for
the first time, we were searched for money or anything
we had, which was taken from us, from a match to an
ancient penny or army relic, blankets, haversacks,
canteens, pocket knives - all but the clothes we had on,
and our pocket bibles. We were only kept in Libby
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* C. J. Gibson, of Stockport, Ohio.
** C. H. Laughridge, of McConnelsville, Ohio.
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three days and were well searched twice in that time;
then we were taken over to Belle Isle. In the
inclosure in which we were confined there was no
evidence that there had ever been a tree or even a blade
of grass. For the first three months there was no
tent or shelter of any kind to protect us from the
burning sun, or storms; and being entirely destitute of
blankets, or other covering, our sleeping was done in
the day time, as it required as much exercise as we
could take after night as the only means of keeping
warm. Our beds were at any point within the ‘dead
line’ where we might chance to be.
“ About the first of January, 1864, we got tents of a
very inferior quality; they were old tents that our
government had condemned, and by some means had come
into possession of the rebels. They would not turn
rain, but only answered for a wind-break during the cold
and stormy winter, for we had no fire during that entire
time.
“In March they gave us the privilege of carrying wood
nearly half a mile distant with the understanding that
we should have all that we could carry; but if any one
took a bigger load than he could carry all the way to
camp without stopping to rest, he must take it to the
rebel officers’ tent. By this means they got all
the wood they wanted, and we scarcely any, for the
reason that we were feeble and could scarcely walk
without the wood.
“Our camp was inclosed by a four-foot ditch and the
embankment on the outside for the guards; but I wish to
give further evidence of the brutal treatment we
received. The ditch was eighteen inches deep; at
each corner of our enclosure there was a well, dug the
depth of a barrel, in which the water must stand at the
same height as that in the ditch; from these wells, or
barrels, alone could we obtain our water to drink.
The ditch being used as a receptacle for filth, the
water from it would filter into the barrels or wells.
“The rations furnished us while on the island were bad
beyond comparison. At first they gave ns a piece
of wheat bread about half the size of a man’s fist twice
a day; sometimes a little meat once a day, not more for
a hundred men than ten could eat; but this did not
continue. As the time lengthened the rations were
abbreviated both in quantity and quality. The
initial of this arrangement was bread made of wheat and
pea flour, mixed in equal quantities, served without
meat, but with a little pea soup - a common wooden
bucket full for 100 men. Then corn bread alone,
without salt and only partially baked, each man being
furnished a piece an inch and a half square and half an
inch thick, at first twice a day, then once a day with
intervals of one or two days, and once the intermission
was three days, but no increase in quantity or
improvement in quality.
“During the time I was on the Isle I think there were
not more than seventeen or eighteen of our boys who died
on the Isle, but when death was ascertained to be
certain they were started for Richmond, and they either
died on the way or soon after arrival. Of those
that did die on the Isle numbers were not buried, but
were thrown outside the camp to be devoured by the
hogs.’"
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