Part 19 (2/2)

She had heard ofin the stockade, but she had received no other inforotten hoe My letter from New Orleans had been a very welcome missive

My friends at ho h it all, I was disposed to drop the hardshi+ps fro as a huge picnic My natural disposition being to see the bright side only, the hardshi+ps of which I had to tell were made to have another aspect than the usual one presented of prison life As a consequence of this fact, my story differed considerably from that of a number who had been prisoners with me

Friends would co:

”My! Swiggett, you do not seem to have had such a bad time of it The others tell such horrible stories that it is a relief to hear yours; and yet you were in the same prison How is it?”

I replied in such cases that most of my time as a prisoner had been spent outside of the stockade, in one way or another, and that, aside from the monotony and the separation from family, we did not see much more hardshi+p than comes in the every-day life of lots of people out of prison, and that there was a bright side to it all

”But you don't daett, like the others,” they would say, to which I would reply that the rebels had treated me as well as they could under the circumstances, and that when people did the best they could they should not be damned for what they failed to do, especially as prison life was necessarily a hardshi+p at its best

There were cases of personal ill-treatreat exceptions, and, as a rule, the rebels of my acquaintance did for their prisoners all that was possible with the means in their power, and treated them as well as prisoners could expect to be treated

It may be of interest to the reader to learn that all the , except Capt J B Gedney and Adjt Stephen K Mahon

The rebels did not treat us as well as we ht have been treated, as it was possible for Jeff Davis to have invited us to Richmond, arrayed us in his Sunday clothes, fed us at his own table and confined us in his front parlor It ht that he did not do so, but it was not expected, and we harbored no ill-feelings because of the neglect On the other hand, ere not treated as badly as we ht have been, inasmuch as ere not deprived of companionshi+p, and, as a rule, were allowed to sleep e pleased, to rest as much as we desired, to be late for dinner if ished, and to eat in our shi+rt sleeves without protest Many a es in his own ho character than that given us by the rebels, even at the table of a newly-n supreme

The war is over Our foes had neither our resources nor our advantages in its prosecution, and s that were easy for us were impossible for them Abuse of authority is not a trait of man, but of men, and those who are indirectly responsible should not be too harshly censured for what they cannot altogether control Incidents by the thousand of heroic, heart-touching actions perfor our war by those on one side for those on the other reflect as much credit upon rebels as upon Yankees, and I have always felt that, on the whole, our antagonists did the best they could for their prisoners

THE END

APPENDIX

Brief Sketches of my Companions

FRANCIS MARION DRAKE, GOVERNOR OF IOWA

The parents of Governor Drake were John Adams Drake and Mrs Harriet O'Neil Drake They were natives of the Old North State; removed to Rushville, Ill, where the son, Francis Marion, was born December 30, 1830 From Rushville they removed to Fort Madison, Iowa, in the fall of 1837 The father was a e of probate of Lee county, Iohen a resident of Fort Madison, until the spring of 1846 He then ree of Drakeville Francis Marion received his early education in the coe of law

When the gold exciteht he crossed the plains in 1852 with ox-teaain in 1854 with a drove of cattle

On the first trip across, his coement with the pawnees at Shell Creek, Neb, in which they encountered about 300 Indians, ere defeated with heavy loss and driven across the Platte river On his return froer on the ill-fated steamer ”Yankee Blade,”

which recked and totally lost, and he was picked up five days later on a barren coast which he had succeeded in reaching

He had been successful in his California ventures, and on the 1st of January, 1855, entered the mercantile business with his father, and brother, J H Drake, under the firm name of Drake & Sons, at Drakeville In June, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the volunteer service of the United States and served until the close of the war, being promoted to captain, major, lieutenant-colonel and froeneral by brevet He was in eht mortally, wounded, and from which wound he has never entirely recovered His record for bravery and efficiency was universally commended by his superior officers, and his military career is one of which hecivil life, General Drake engaged in the practice of law, in which he was eminently successful, for a period of three years, when he entered the railroad business, organizing and building what is non as the Keokuk & Western Railroad He resumed his law practice for another period of three years, associated with Gen A J Baker, who becaain entered upon the railroad business, and has organized and built by his own efforts over 400 e part of which he still controls, being president of the Indiana, Illinois & Iowa, Albia & Centerville and director in the Iowa Central and Keokuk & Western railroads He has also been successful as a banker, and is president of the Centerville National Bank

Hisan active interest in educational matters and missionary work He is president of the board of trustees of Drake University, at Des Moines, nareat liberality to that institution in its building and endowment He has also been a contributor to many other educational institutions

In 1895 he accepted the nomination of the republican party for Governor of the State of Iowa, and was elected by a large iven for a candidate for Governor of the State