Part 17 (1/2)

When leaving Washi+ngton our party had been increased by three more runaways, who bore the names of Robinson, Fenton and Stanton, so that ere now six in all

The guard at the door excitedfrom his haversack a lot of biscuits and the ha off te bits of lean meat my envy overcame any timidity I may have had, and I determined to have some of that meat by fair means or foul

Stanton came up to me as I came to this conclusion, and I remarked to him that I was about to take supper with the rebel His curiosity spurred me on, and I walked out to the sentinel and asked if I could have some of his meat and biscuit Much to my surprise and pleasure he promptly said: ”Tub ber shure,” and sliced off forit to me with some biscuits My success led Stanton to follow suit, and we both had a fairdark, and the rain kept co down We had full possession of the room, and as Stanton andInquiry developed the fact that he had been plundering the piled-up haversacks while we had been outside, and e learned that there was a supply still unappropriated we pro desirable During our talk together the sentinel had added his haversack to the pile, and the first thing to which we came was the balance of the haether with fourteen biscuits We felt awfully mean about it, but ”self-preservation is the first law of nature,” and we cleaned that bone, throwing it and the haversack behind the wainscoting

This food was sufficient for our wants, and ould have been satisfied but that we found Ruht bread, which he had purloined froain, so ent back and took all the desirable stuff we could find in the pile for future use

We got a lot of light bread, about a pound and a half of butter and some sweet potatoes

The wounded , and I borrowed this, built a fire in the stove and cooked our sweet potatoes

About this tiuards came back, and one of the that he had some sweet potatoes to cook

I told the man that he would have to wait until our stuff was cooked, and he sat down quietly and waited, chatting with us to pass away the tiave him the utensil, which he filled ater and put on the fire before he went for his potatoes

Then there was a row, as his potatoes happened to be those boiled by us

Of course he could not identify the property, and I was indifferent, but tous, he did not seeainst theate on their own hook The row that now ensued took a direction which we had not calculated upon, and we finally got well scared The men were all more or less drunk, and their denunciations and reproaches of each other caused a row a themselves The rest of the party caation, more row and much confusion There were two classes of norant, malicious sort, and the balance of a better class

The question finally settled down to a denunciation of us by the first-naainst thean to talk of searching us, and we got scared, for we had too eneral search, and their condition of exciteu, but it was done on the principle that, while our conviction of the robbery ht curse and swear htily, but would not harm anyone if they found the balance of their stuff where we put it--a the wounded men We hid it around as best we could and awaited developments with much interest, but the row finally quieted down and we all went to sleep

We were up very early in the , as we had to dispose of the plunder in some way, and went to work, for it ork We ate all we possibly could, including the butter, and stuffed the remainder inside of our shi+rts I had a butter taste in ood while before I could eat the article with uards made a partial search before we started, but they did not attempt to be too personal, and we evaded the discovery of any of the purloined food It was plainly to be seen that ere now suspected, but they rather regarded the thing as a good joke, now that they were sober, and the search was for so

We now had several days of travel and siainst the potato holes on the line of our road, where the surplus of the crop was stored for the winter, and the guards and ourselves shared alike in the guilt and proceeds

When we reached Shreveport, ere taken through the town to Four Miles Springs, where I had been before, and here ere kept for six weeks

A stockade and quarters had been built since s were much more comfortable

We soon built a comfortable cabin in partnershi+p with soht to this stockade, and one of these, Lieutenant Bushnell, of the 120th Illinois, became my berthmate when lots were cast to see who should occupy the several rude bunks erected in our mansion

Sweet potatoes at this time were 10 a bushel in Confederate money, and my supply of cash came in so handy that ere enabled to refuse all rations and to live on the fat of the land; but we did not risk the gout by so doing The fat of the land in those days was so well streaked with lean that everyone had to take et any fat, and the rebels themselves did not live in luxury

There were about 250 prisoners now at this point The rations served to thee of doing our own cooking we asked and obtained special pered to have anted

There was a ”greaser,” from Mexico, on the outside, who et five for a 5 bill and give Bushnell two At the next pie s

We i a Captain Moore

At roll-call the guards made the prisoners stand out in line, and Moore was frequently prodded with a sword for hanging back and delaying matters

One day weand some clothes, and carefully deposited it in Moore's bunk, covering it naturally hat bedclothes we had At next roll-call Moore was not to be found, and the guards, after , went up to his cabin and found him, apparently, in bed and asleep After several calls and shakes, accoently with his sword A little harder punch follohen he still slept, and then a vicious one, when they threw back the covers and discovered the deception A crowd had followed theood-hu at Moore for his deviltry When ent back to roll-call Moore was in his place in line, and, as he gave a good excuse for absence and disclaiuards had to be satisfied with so

The rebel prisoners were also kept in this stockade--ton, were imprisoned for various crimes and offenses