Part 65 (1/2)

Franklin Dinsmore, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where did you enlist?

Answer. At Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

Question. To what State do you belong?

Answer. Eastern Tennessee.

Question. How long have you been in the army?

Answer. I enlisted on the 11th or 12th of last July; I do not remember which day.

Question. To what regiment do you belong?

Answer. Eighth Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Who was your colonel?

Answer. Colonel Strickland.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Zollicoffer, near the East Tennessee and Virginia line.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. Right straight on to Richmond. I was taken on the line of the railroad. We were burning bridges there to keep the enemy out.

Question. How did you fare after you got to Richmond?

Answer. They just starved us.

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. For forty-eight hours after we got there they gave us only just what we could breathe; then they gave us a little piece of white bread and just three bites of beef. A man could take it all decently at three bites. That is the way we lived until we went to Danville, and then we had meat enough to make half a dozen bites, with bugs in it.

Question. What brought on your sickness?

Answer. Starvation. I was so starved there that when I was down I could not get up without catching hold of something to pull myself up by.

Question. What did you live in?

Answer. In a brick building, without any fire, or anything to cover us with.

Question. Had you no blankets?