Part 37 (1/2)
”'We had an abundance of good, pure water, which was a great blessing. Pails were furnished, and when five or six men were ready, the sentry would call the corporal of the guard, who would send a guard of from four to six with us to the river, about two hundred yards distant. Twice a day an officer would come in and call the roll; that is form us into four ranks and count the files. If any had escaped, it was essential that the number should be kept good for some days, to enable them to get a good start, and for this purpose various means were used. Some, times one of the rear rank, after being counted, would glide along unseen to the left of the line and be recounted. A hole was cut in the upper floor, and while the officer was going upstairs, some would climb through the hole and be counted with those on the third floor. This created some confusion, as the number would occasionally overrun.
”'As the season advanced we suffered more and more from the cold, for being captured in September our clothing was not sufficient for December and January. Very few had blankets, and the rebel authorities never issued either blankets or clothing of any kind. The windows of the lower rooms were without gla.s.s, and only the lower half of each boarded up; the wind would whistle through the large openings, and drawing up through the open floor, upon which we had to lie at night, would almost freeze us. I finally succeeded in trading my watch with one of the guard for an old bed-quilt and twenty dollars Confederate money. The money came in very good time, for I then had the scurvy so badly that my tongue, lips and gums were so swollen that by evening I could scarcely speak. In the morning the swelling would not be quite so bad, and by soaking the corn-bread in water, could manage to swallow a little. The surgeon, who visited the prison every day, cauterized my mouth, but it continued to grow worse, until at last I could not eat the coa.r.s.e bread. Sometimes I would have a chance to sell it for from one to two dollars, which, with the twenty, saved me from starvation. I bought rice of the guard for two dollars the half-pint, and good-sized potatoes for a dollar each. These were cooked usually over a little fire in the yard with wood or chips picked up while going for water. Sometimes, by waiting patiently for an hour or more, I could get near enough to the stove to put my cup on. The heating apparatus was a poor apology for a cylinder coal-stove, and the coal the poorest I ever saw, and gave so little heat that one could stand all day by it and s.h.i.+ver.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ESCAPING PRISONERS FED BY NEGROES IN THEIR MASTER'S BARN.]
”'The bed-quilt was quite narrow, but very much better than none.
”'Capt. Weiss and I would spread our flannel coats on the floor, use our shoes for pillows, spread the quilt over us, and with barely s.p.a.ce to turn over, would, if the night was not too cold, go to sleep; usually to dream of home and loved ones; of Christmas festivities and banquets; of trains of army wagons so overloaded with pies and cakes that they were rolling into the road; of a general exchange; a thirty day's leave of absence, and a thousand things altogether unlike that which we were experiencing; and would wake only to find ourselves cold and hungry.
”'Our mess had the volume of _Harper's Magazine_, found at Salisbury, and we each could have it an hour or more daily.
A few games of checkers or cribbage, played sitting on the floor, tailor-fas.h.i.+on, were always in order. All who were accustomed to smoking would manage to secure a supply of tobacco at least sufficient for one smoke per day, and, if they could not obtain it in any other way, would sell half their scanty ration, and perhaps get enough to last a week.
It was a good place to learn how to economize. I have known some to refuse a light from the pipe, for fear of losing a grain of the precious weed. Evenings we would be in darkness, and as we could not move about without frequent collisions, would gather in little groups and talk of home, friends, and the good time coming, when we would have one good, square meal; arrange the bill of fare, comprising all the delicacies that heart could wish, or a morbid mind prompted by a starving stomach could conceive; lay plans for escape and discuss the route to be followed; sing a few hymns and the national airs, and wind up with 'We'll Hang Jeff Davis on a Sour Apple Tree.'
”'There were with us two officers who, when we arrived at Salisbury, had been in solitary confinement and whom the rebels were holding as hostages for two guerillas whom Gen.
Burnside had condemned to be shot. When the removal of the officers to Danville occurred, these two were released from close confinement and sent on with us, and it was thought they were no longer considered as hostages. They had planned an escape and well nigh succeeded. They had dug a hole through the brick wall, and pa.s.sing into an adjoining unoccupied building, cut through the floor, dug under the stone foundation and were just coming through on the outside, when some one in pa.s.sing stepped on the thin crust and fell in. Whether he or the men digging were the most frightened it would be hard to tell. The next morning these two who had worked so hard to regain their liberty were taken out and probably placed in close confinement again.
”'After this attempt to escape, the rebel authorities made an effort to rob us of everything, particularly pocket-knives, watches, or any thing that could aid us to escape. In this they were foiled. They made us all go to one end of the room and placing a guard through the middle, searched us one by one and pa.s.sed us to the other side. If one had a knife, watch or money, he had only to toss it over to some one already searched, and when his turn came would have nothing to show.
”'The guards would not allow us to stand by the windows, and on one occasion, without warning, fired through a second-story window and badly wounded an officer on the third floor.
”'My shoes were nearly worn out when I was captured, and soon became so worn that I could only keep _sole_ and _body_ together by cutting strings from the edge of the uppers and lacing them together. These strings would wear but a little while, and frequent cuttings had made the shoes very low.
”'Toward the last of January, Capt. Cook received intelligence that a special exchange had been effected in his case and he was to start at once for the North. Here was an opportunity to communicate with our comrades and friends, for up to this time we did not know whether any of our letters had been received. Capt. Cook had a pair of good stout brogans. These shoes he urged me to take in exchange for my dilapidated ones. At first, I felt reluctant to do so, but finally made the exchange and he left us with a light heart, but his antic.i.p.ations were not realized, for instead of going directly North he was detained in Libby Prison until just before the rest of us arrived, and when we reached Annapolis he was still there awaiting his leave, and had been obliged to wear my old shoes until two days previous.
”'Rumors of a general exchange began to circulate, and a few boxes of provisions and clothing, sent by Northern friends, were delivered. Among the rest, was a well-filled box from the officers of our regiment, and twelve hundred dollars Confederate money (being the equivalent of sixty dollars greenbacks) which they had kindly contributed. Could we have received the box and money in November, instead of just before our release, we could have subsisted quite comfortably all winter. As it was, we lived sumptuously as long as the contents of the box lasted, and when about a week later we started for Richmond to be paroled, we had drawn considerably upon the twelve hundred dollars.
”'February 17th, we left Danville for Richmond and were again quartered in Libby. On the 19th, we signed the parole papers.
”'The second morning after signing the rolls, one of the clerks came in and said that for want of transportation, only a hundred would be sent down the river that day, and the rest would follow soon; that those whose names were called would fall in on the lower floor, ready to start. As he proceeded to call the roll there was a death-like stillness, and each listened anxiously to hear his own name.
Of our mess only one name was called. As he stopped reading and folded his rolls and turned to leave, I thought, what if our army should commence active operations and put an end to the exchange, and resolved to go with the party that day, if possible. I had noticed that the clerk had not called the names in their order nor checked them, and knew he could not tell who had been called. I therefore hurried down to the lower floor and fell in with the rest, thinking all the time of the possibility of detection and the consequent solitary confinement, and although my conscience was easy so far as the papers I had signed were concerned--for I had only agreed not to take up arms until duly exchanged--I did not breath freely until I had disembarked from the boat and was under the Stars and Stripes. Fortunately, the rest of the party came down on the boat the next day.
”'One other incident and I am done: Sergt. Henry Jordan, of Company C, was wounded and captured with the rest of us, but on account of his wounds was unable to be sent South with the other enlisted-men. After his recovery he was kept as a servant about the office of Major Turner, the commandant of the prison, and when, on the 2d of April, 1865, the rebels evacuated Richmond and paroled the prisoners, he remained until our forces came in and took possession of the city.
When, a few days later, Maj. Turner was captured by our troops and confined in the same cell we had occupied, Sergt.
Jordan was detailed to carry him his rations, and although he was not of a vindictive or revengeful disposition, I will venture to say that the rations allowed Turner were not much better than had been given the sergeant through the winter.
Had Turner been guarded by such men as Henry Jordan, or even by the poorest soldiers of the regiment, he would not have escaped within three days of his capture, as was the case.'”
Very few of the black soldiers were exchanged, though the confederate government pretended to recognize them and treat them as they did the whites. General Taylor's reply to General Grant, was the general policy applied to them when convenient. In the latter days of the war, when--in June, 1864, at Guntown, Miss.,--the confederate Gen. Forrest attacked and routed the Union forces, under Sturgis, through the stupidity of the latter, (alluded to more at length a few pages further on,) a number of black soldiers were captured, Sturgis having had several Phalanx regiments in his command. The confederates fought with desperation, and with their usual ”no quarter,” because, as Forrest alleges, the Phalanx regiments meant to retaliate for his previous ma.s.sacre of the blacks at Fort Pillow. Seeking to justify the inhuman treatment of his black prisoners, he wrote as follows to General Washburn, commanding the District of West Tennessee:
”It has been reported to me that all of your colored troops stationed in Memphis took, on their knees, in the presence of Major General Hurlburt and other officers of your army, an oath to avenge Fort Pillow, and that they would show my troops no quarter. Again I have it from indisputable authority that the troops under Brigadier General Sturgis on their recent march from Memphis, publicly, and in many places, proclaimed that no quarter would be shown my men. As they were moved into action on the 10th they were exhorted by their officers to remember Fort Pillow. The prisoners we have captured from that command, or a large majority of them, have voluntarily stated that they expected us to murder them, otherwise they would have surrendered in a body rather than have taken to the bushes after being run down and exhausted.”
The ma.s.sacre at Fort Pillow had a very different effect upon the black soldiers than it was doubtless expected to have. Instead of weakening their courage it stimulated them to a desire of retaliation; not in the strict sense of that term, but to fight with a determination to subdue and bring to possible punishment, the men guilty of such atrocious conduct. Had General Sturgis been competent of commanding, Forrest would have found himself and his command no match for the Phalanx at Guntown and Brice's Cross Roads. Doubtless Forrest was startled by the reply of General Washburn, who justly recognized the true impulse of the Phalanx.
He replied to Forrest, June 19, 1864, as follows:
”You say in your letter that it has been reported to you that all the negro troops stationed in Memphis took an oath, on their knees, in the presence of Major General Hurlburt and other officers of our army, to avenge Fort Pillow and that they would show your troops no quarter. I believe it is true that the colored troops did take such an oath, but not in the presence of General Hurlburt. From what I can learn this act of theirs was not influenced by any white officer, but was the result of their own sense of what was due to themselves and their fellows who had been mercilessly slaughtered.”
The chief of Forrest's artillery writes in the Philadelphia _Times_, in September, 1883:
”Col. Arthur T. Reeve, who commanded the Fifty-fifth Colored Infantry in this fight, tells me that no oath was taken by his troops that ever he heard of, but the impression prevailed that the black flag was raised, and on his side was raised to all intents and purposes. He himself fully expected to be killed if captured. Impressed with this notion a double effect was produced. It made the Federals afraid to surrender and greatly exasperated our men, and in the break-up the affair became more like a hunt for wild game than a battle between civilized men.”