PRISON LIFE FROM THE DIARY OF A CAPTAIN IN THE 123D OHIO VOLUNTEERS.
After our surrender on the morning of June 15th, 1863, to Col. Walker,
commanding the famous “Old Stonewall Brigade,” we were taken to where
the morning fight had taken place, and were permitted to lie down and
rest. After remaining there a couple of hours we were marched into
Winchester, halting there a few moments, and were then taken over to the
Fort. A couple of tents were then put up for the accommodation of the
commissioned officers, but which failed to prevent the wind from
annoying us very much by blowing sand in from all directions. Wearied
and worn out, and having eaten nothing during the day, we were compelled
to lie down at night without even a “hard-tack” to refresh us. Next
morning, about 9 o’clock, a few pounds of meat was distributed among us,
shortly after which the officers were separated from the enlisted men
and marched over to the Court House. Late in the evening we received
some bread and meat, but previously, Capt. Chamberlin had received a
basket of provisions kindly tendered by some good Union loving Quaker
ladies of the city, which he distributed among our officers, and for
which they will ever hold those ladies in grateful remembrance. The
officers remained there until 4 o’clock P. M., of the following day,
when they were drawn up in line, the roll called, and after being
supplied with blankets, our party, consisting of one hundred and eight
commissioned officers, started on our march to Richmond, under charge of
Capt. Wingfield, 58th Va. (Confederate), and his company. That evening
we marched eleven miles, and laid down on the ground for the night about
10 o’clock. Thursday we marched twelve miles, lying by for three or four
hours in the middle day, when flour and meat were issued to us, and we
set to work baking up our flour into cakes. The men overtook us here,
but we were not allowed to communicate with them. It rained heavily in
the afternoon, completely drenching us through, and at night we were
obliged to take up our quarters in an old log stable, which was more
thoroughly invested by fleas than was particularly pleasant or
convenient to us. Wet as we were, we laid down and attempted to gain a
few hours repose, but alas, no chance for that desired boon. All night
long the inhabitants of the stable could be heard visiting their
maledictions on the fleas. The next day we marched nineteen miles to Mt.
Jackson, and took up our quarters for the night in the Rebel hospital
buildings. On Saturday we marched sixteen miles to Lincoln Springs,
where we had a pleasant place to camp for the night. On Sunday we
marched twenty-one miles. Col. Wilson, Adjt. Blair, Capt. Rings, Capt.
Chamberlin and Lieut. Pumphrey, about noon hired a man, with a one horse
wagon, to haul them to Staunton, a distance of twenty-three miles, for
which privilege each of them paid five dollars in Confederate money.
And, if the man could have carried them, he would have had more
passengers at the same price.
On Monday noon we reached Staunton and remained there two hours, and
then took the cars for Richmond, a distance of one hundred and
thirty-six miles, which we passed over during the night, arriving at our
destination about six o’clock A. M., June 23d. We were immediately
marched to the Libby Prison, where we were searched, and our rubber
coats, blankets, etc. taken from us. The most of us managed to secrete
our money, so that it was not discovered. They gave receipts for the
money they did get, which _assured_ us that it would be _returned_ to us
when released. The officials informed us we could draw it as we needed
it; which, afterwards, proved to be anything but true. They even went so
far as to take a few sheets of paper and envelopes from one of our
officers.
We were then taken up stairs, and introduced to our new quarters. The
“Hotel de Libby,” as it was afterwards facetiously called, is a large
brick building, one hundred and fifty feet in length by one hundred and
five feet in depth. It fronted on Cary and extended back to Canal
street, immediately in the rear of which was the canal and James river.
This building was, previous to the war, occupied by Libby & Son, who
carried on in it their business as ship-chandlers and grocers.
Internally, it much resembled an Ohio grain ware-house, being three
stories high, with a basement story underneath, and divided into three
tiers of rooms. The lower room of the first tier was occupied by the
various officers engaged in the control of the Prison. The two upper
rooms were, at the time of our arrival, used for the confinement of
prisoners, and we found there Col. Streight’s command and a few others,
amounting to thirteen hundred and sixty officers. Of the middle tier,
one room was occupied by citizen prisoners and deserters from the Union
army. The third tier was used as a hospital for Union officers. The
basement contained a couple of cells, for the close confinement of
prisoners; the remainder of it was devoted to the use of the slaves
employed about the premises. _The attaches_ of the Prison were as
follows: Capt. Turner, commandant; Lieut. Latonche, his assistant, and,
by-the-way, the most obliging official we had anything to do
with—Inspector Turner being one of the most tyrannical beings that ever
lived, and had been a horse-jockey in one of the Northern cities
previous to the war; Ross, who attended to the roll, and was a deserter
from the North; George, (a sergeant) under lackey, whose duty it was to
communicate orders to the prisoners; and Charley, a mulatto, who
superintended the gang of darkies in their labors. When we entered
Libby, the upper one of the two rooms in which we were placed contained
bunks, sufficient for those who were then in the Prison, while they used
the lower one for cooking and eating purposes.
We were obliged to take up our residence in the lower room and sleep on
the floor at nights and use it to sit on in the day time, as we had no
other seats furnished except stationary benches, at the tables.
Shortly after taking up our lodgings there, we applied for some of our
money, but we met with the reply that none of “the officers of Milroy’s
command could have a d—d cent.” Nor did we get any from them until the
1st of October. We were also informed that we would not be allowed to
purchase anything outside—as Straight’s command was then permitted to
do—so we had to smuggle our purchases through them for some time, until
their orders were tacitly countermanded.—During the first four weeks,
while subsisting on the rations furnished, we were often glad to pick up
crumbs from the table to satisfy our hunger.
In speaking of the attaches of the prison, Gen. Johnson, a gentleman of
color, should be mentioned, although he was a prisoner, as well as
ourselves. His duty consisted in supplying us with smoke, which he did
every morning, carrying a skillet of burning tar through the rooms,
crying “Here’s your nice smoke, without money or price.” He also
collected the soiled clothes once a week, which he was permitted to take
out to be washed, returning them Sunday mornings, at the small charge of
three pieces for one dollar. He also, for some time, monopolized the
shaving and hair cutting, which operations he performed at the moderate
price of twenty-five cents for the former and seventy-five cents for the
latter; but he was finally superseded by an enterprising German
Lieutenant, which compelled him to abandon this calling and take to that
of “boot-black.” The old fellow was a regular fixture there, having been
in the Prison about two years. He was an old soldier also, having
accompanied a Pennsylvania regiment through the Mexican war. Every
morning at nine o’clock A. M. “George” made his appearance, and, with
his peculiar intonation of voice, would cry out: “Fall in, sick, and go
down;” when those who wished to be prescribed for would huddle together
and go down on the first floor, where they were examined by the
surgeon—who was spoken of as a kind and attentive physician—and, after
making a minute of their cases, would send them back to their rooms,
excepting those whom it was deemed necessary to send to the hospital. In
the course of two or three hours, the medicine would be brought up and
distributed to the sick.
Our enlisted men, prisoners of war who were so unfortunate as to become
sick, suffered outrageously. They were often allowed to lie in their
tents on Belle Isle, on the wet ground, until the last moment, when they
would be brought over to the hospital to breath their last.
If a description of the truth would be fit for publication, some few
particular cases could be cited that would make any one shudder to think
that there were, in this day and age of the world, men who were so lost
to all feeling of humanity as to permit men, although their enemies, to
languish and die through sufferings such as no pen should be called upon
to describe.
Once a squad of Yankees (prisoners) were leaving the Libby building with
a supply of the “so-called” rations for the prisoners. It consisted of
weak soup—better say soiled water—in old, dirty pails, and about six
ounces of poor bread per man. We threw a few apples to them from the
windows, which they received gladly and began to eat as if they were
nearly starved.
The “Libby Burlesque Troupe,” as they announced in their programme
Saturday morning, October 17th, 1863, appeared for the last time that
evening, owing to their having an engagement in Washington, for which
purpose they expected to leave on the next “Flag of Truce Boat.” They
exhibited to a crowd of Yankees with one or two Rebels included. The
performances were very good, considering the impromptu manner in which
they were gotten up. They consisted of songs, dances and the reading of
the “Libby Ironical,” which was a burlesque on the “Libby Chronicle,”
the weekly issue of which had been read the forenoon previous.
During the hot weather of July and August, the variety displayed in the
costume of the inmates of the Prison, was decidedly laughable. Here you
would see a man with nothing but drawers and shirt on, there one with
drawers minus the shirt, while close by was another with the shirt minus
the drawers, and then another one with nothing on but a linen coat
(Raglan style), his clothes being out washing, no doubt. This style of
dress was very comfortable during that kind of weather, but when the
cold days of October came, it was rather unpleasant to be _compelled_ to
go around without socks or drawers and only one shirt, which valuable
article we were obliged to dispense with occasionally for the purpose of
having them washed. We had blankets enough during the warm weather, but
when the cold nights set in, it was discovered that while some had an
abundant supply, others had only one, and many had none at all. Repeated
complaints having been made to the Rebel officials, Inspector Turner
made his appearance one Sunday morning and proceeded to make a division
of the house, putting prisoners in one room and blankets in the other.
He then gave to each man as he passed back into the room, two old
blankets (U. S.), but the supply not being sufficient to go around, the
remainder of the men had to go without, and on application to the
authorities we were informed that they had no more, and consequently
could give us no more. The bedding and clothing furnished to our sick in
the hospital was supplied by the United States Sanitary Commission.
The principal topic of conversation and excitement in Libby was the
“Exchange Question.” When we first made our advent in that highly
popular institution, it was certainly thought that we would not possibly
remain longer than ten days or two weeks. But at the end of that time we
were still there, the Commissioners not having met; “but just as soon as
they do meet we will be exchanged sure, and go home by the first Truce
boat.” In this manner we consoled ourselves in our misfortune. Well, the
Commissioners met, but did not agree. And the Rebel authorities then
published a statement, that they had made a proposition to our
Government, which was so plausible on its face that we thought it would
be immediately accepted, as a matter of course, but something intervened
to prevent the exchange. And so it went on, first one rumor and then
another; first would come the report that the surgeons and chaplains
were going to leave on the next boat, and the officers were to follow
immediately; this statement would be directly succeeded by the report
that the Commissioners had disagreed and there would be no more
exchanges during the war. The next report would come from the hospital,
to the effect that a clerk in the War Department had just been to see a
friend there and told him that a boat was up, and that the chaplains and
some of the officers would be exchanged. And so on without end, each day
bringing some new sensation relative to the exchange question, and each
one without foundation. Upon the arrival of any of these statements it
would be followed by the vociferous cries of “get ready,” “pack up,”
“pack up,” from all parts of the house, while the inmates would soon
gather in crowds to discuss the correctness of the report. One would be
certain of its truth, for it came from a reliable gentleman; the next
would be a little doubtful, while the third one declared he would hardly
believe we were exchanged even if Capt. Turner should come up himself
and announce the fact.
Lieut. Flick, for an attempt to bribe the guard and escape, was taken
out and confined in the cell for some three weeks, then released and
sent back among the officers.
When we first entered Libby we could exchange our _greenbacks_ for
Confederate trash at the rate of two dollars of the latter for one of
the former. In a short time they began to increase in value, until we
were able to get seven and a half Confederate for one of Federal, at
which rate it ranged for a long time. At first the exchange of money was
conducted through the sentinel stationed on guard at the stairway, but
two or three having been arrested for so doing, put a stop to that
manner of transacting business and another, but less dangerous, plan was
adopted. One hundred dollars in greenbacks would be raised and sent out
by one of the negro boys belonging to the establishment, who would
exchange it with some citizen, and bring us back seven hundred and fifty
dollars in Confederate rags, which was the only kind of currency we
could use in the purchase of provisions.
The following is the list of officers from our regiment who were
captured at Winchester and confined in Libby: Col. W. T. Wilson, Lt.
Col. H. B. Hunter, Adjt. Blair, Capts. Riggs, Caldwell, Robbins,
Rosenbaum, Randolph, Bender and Chamberlin; Lieuts. Davis, Smith,
Bevington, Schuyler, Pumphrey, Breckenridge, Sowers, Colver, Williams,
Acker and Boyce, making twenty-one in all. The enlisted men were taken
to Belle Isle, confined there about three weeks, when they were paroled
and sent North.
On October 7th, the chaplains were aroused early in the morning, marched
to the boat, and then taken down the James river to City Point, where
they met the Flag of Truce boat, and went North. They were all very much
elated, except Chaplain McCabe, of the 123d Ohio, who, on account of
poor health, was obliged to wait for the next boat.
On the 11th a meeting of the Ohio and Pennsylvania officers was held for
the purpose of making the necessary arrangements preparatory to holding
our election. On the 13th election was held. At the Pennsylvania polls
Curtin received a large majority. And at the Ohio polls one hundred and
sixty-three votes were cast—one hundred and sixty-two for Brough and one
for Jewett. Three Ohio officers refused to vote.
On the 16th we were notified by the Rebel authorities that they would
only furnish us twenty-five dollars—Confederate—per month out of our
money in their possession. This amount would not have furnished potatoes
for one week, at the rate we were paying for them, but as we were under
Rebel authority, we of course, had to submit.
Furnished with only a limited supply of Government rations, money taken
from us, and only allowed in such small sums that it really amounted to
nothing, caused us to think that perhaps they meant to starve us.
Richmond daily papers were constantly complaining about their government
feeding so many Yankees there; and one paper advised the authorities to
confiscate the boxes of clothing and provisions that were sent us by our
friends in the North.
On the 19th the Right Rev. Bishop Magill (Roman Catholic) preached to
the officers in Libby. On the 20th quite a large number of boxes, for
officers, from their friends in the North, arrived and were distributed.
A few greenbacks were ingeniously concealed in some of the boxes and,
fortunately, escaped the search of the examing officers. Notices were
posted, informing us that there would be, hereafter, roll-call twice a
day—at 7:30 A. M. and 5:00 P. M.—and that five minutes would be allowed
each time to “fall in;” officers not in line then “would be punished
accordingly.” Also, that if “spitting on the floor” and “throwing apple
cores in the spit-boxes” were not stopped, the purchase of tobacco and
apples would be prohibited. We received letters from the regiment on the
21st, being the first since we were captured.
The Rebels had some sugar in hogsheads, stored in the ware-house, nearly
opposite the Libby, where some of our enlisted men were confined. The
men were in the second story, the sugar in the first. On the 24th it was
discovered that the sugar had been too tempting for the boys, and that
they had appropriated some seven or eight hogsheads to their own use,
amounting to some twenty thousand dollars of their money. As a matter of
course, the remainder was immediately moved out of the reach of the
half-starved Yankees.
On the 25th a letter was found, purporting to be from a Michigan surgeon
to Capt. Turner, asking for a blanket, in which he stated that, under
other circumstances, he would rather be a friend to the South than an
enemy. A drum-head court-martial was immediately convened, the culprit
brought forward, and confronted with the letter. It appeared, on
examination, that he was guilty of writing the letter, but that he was a
loyal man and, suffering very much for the want of a blanket, had taken
this method to procure one. He was permitted to go unmolested, as he had
not succeeded in his attempt to deceive our _humane_ captors.
Maj. Huston, who had been in the hospital for some time, and was a
tailor by trade, was employed by the Rebel surgeon to repair his uniform
for him, which he did, but, when completed, instead of giving it to the
surgeon, donned the uniform himself and, about dusk, he quietly walked
out, passing himself off as the surgeon. He succeeded in passing the
guards without any difficulty.
This escape so alarmed the Rebels that they took possession of the lower
east room, again locating the officers’ hospital in that room, nailed up
the door between that and the upper rooms, giving us the possession of
the lower, middle room, after taking the precaution to nail up the
windows and double the guard on the outside of the building. For nearly
forty-eight hours after the sick and wounded officers were brought to
the building, the Rebels neither furnished them with rations nor
blankets, but after dark, communication was opened with them, and they
were furnished with blankets by us and a portion of our eatables.
About midnight of the 25th a gun was fired by one of the guards, at
which signal—premeditated no doubt, as no one was attempting to
escape—there immediately assembled in front of the prison two companies
of infantry and a small crowd of men with a howitzer. This was done very
promptly, no doubt with the intention of intimidating us Yankees inside.
On the 26th we were put on bread and water. The reason assigned for this
was the breaking open of the door into the hospital, but, most probably,
the reason was the want of meat to furnish us with.
During the last of this month the weather was very severe, our officers
suffering much from the cold. We were allowed little or no fire, and the
windows having no glass in them, the zephyrs had free access. Many of us
had no underclothing, a number with only one blanket, and some without
any. One morning the man “George,” without any provocation, drew a
revolver on one of the officers, when Lieut. Reed, 3rd Ohio, a wounded
officer, told him he must not attempt that here. For this offence (?)
Reed was taken down to the cell and kept there three days, the first
night without any blanket whatever.
On the 29th of October some forty boxes and bales, from the Sanitary and
Christian Commissions, were received at Libby; also, about one hundred
and fifty private boxes, for officers. The boxes from the Sanitary
Commission were consigned to Gen. Dow, consisting of shirts, drawers,
socks, handkerchiefs, and blankets. Those from the Christian Commission
were consigned to Lieut. Randolph, 5th U. S. Artillery, the contents
consisting of underclothing, reading matter, hams and liquors, the
latter, no doubt, for hospital purposes. The articles were, probably, as
well distributed as could be expected under the circumstances, excepting
the hams and liquors, which were monopolized by a very few.
On the 30th of October we learned that nine men, belonging to our
regiment, were still on Belle Isle, some of them wounded and all
suffering very much.
On November 2d, some of the officers received money from the Rebel
authorities at the rate of five dollars Confederate for one of
greenbacks. A large number of private boxes also arrived and the next
day were distributed; six for the officers of the regiment, one of them
from the sutler. So many boxes were arriving at this time that they were
examined very briefly; the principal object of the search being to
ascertain whether there was any liquor concealed in them. Both money and
lengthy letters were frequently so ingeniously concealed as to elude
even a close scrutiny. They were usually secreted in cans of fruit or
butter, and occasionally a can of whisky would pass labelled “peaches.”
On the 5th Gen. Dow went over to “Belle Isle” and issued to our men,
confined there, the clothing consigned to his care by our Government. He
reported their condition to be very destitute indeed, many being
compelled to sleep on the bare ground without any shelter over them.
This sort of treatment, in the dead of winter and on a sandy island in
the James river, was simply barbarous.
On the 7th a class in sword exercise was organized, and for a few days
nothing but the resounding clash of _sticks_, and the various commands
were heard. But the novelty of the thing soon wore away, and this, like
every amusement gotten up to while away our lonesome hours, was soon
dropped.
Large numbers of boxes arrived daily, their contents being distributed
to the boys on “Belle Isle,” by Union officers designated for that
purpose.
Gen. Dow occasionally entertained us with a lecture on—his favorite
topic—Temperance. Corn bread was our regular rations; the Rebel
authorities said they had nothing else to give us.
November 8th the Rev. Dr. McCabe, of the city, preached to us in the
afternoon, and the minstrels performed in the evening. A gun was fired
by one of the guards during the night, the alarm given and the whole
guard turned out to repel the expected outbreak, which, after all, was
only a false alarm.
On the 12th the daily papers stated that the surgeons had been
exchanged, whereupon everybody went to work writing long letters to be
secreted on the persons of the fortunate doctors, and in that way get
them smuggled through the “blockade.”
On the 13th several hundred enlisted men were sent to Danville, the
Rebels beginning to fear that there were too many Yankees in and about
the city of Richmond. It did not make much difference to the boys, as
they could hardly be treated any worse than they had been.
On the 14th we had some beef issued to us for the first time in many
days. Corn bread was our staple, and such stuff it was; it looked as
though the meal of which it was composed had been made by grinding the
corn and the cob together, thus utilizing the whole ear. The compound
was baked in large sheets about three feet square and from three-fourths
of an inch to three inches in thickness, and about the solidity of lead.
No one ever attempted to dispute the fact that we received our full
rations of “bread by weight” during those days.
About this time the most exciting topic of conversation was relative to
allowing Rebel ministers of the Gospel to preach to us in Libby. It was
decided, however, to allow them to do so.
On the morning of the 24th the surgeons were notified to be ready to
leave in a few moments, as the Confederate soldiers had arrived; they
were also ordered to disgorge the letters they had concealed about their
persons; only a few of them, however, did so. We afterwards learned that
they were searched down stairs, but with what result we did not learn.
Letters were concealed about their persons in a variety of places; in
the lining of hats, coats, pants and boots, under shoulder straps,
bandaged around sore legs, twisted up in small wads, and carried loosely
in the pockets, concealed in plugs of tobacco, loaves of bread, etc.
Maj. White, 67th Pennsylvania, hired a surgeon to let him go in his
place, which he did. It being afterwards discovered—some Federal officer
having divulged the fact—notice of it was telegraphed to City Point. The
Major was stopped, and we were notified that unless we designated the
surgeon left behind, our rations would be stopped. Some _craven-hearted
coward_ pointed him out. The next day Major White was brought back, but
was not punished.
And such was life in Libby. It was not safe to trust any-one, save your
most intimate friends and acquaintances. Volumes might be written of the
brave things that were done in that terrible place, and then, again, of
mean and cowardly things, done by men, whom at home were brave men and
gentlemen. The only wonder is that every spark of manhood was not
utterly crushed out of those so unfortunate as to be confined within its
walls. Modern warfare presents no parallel in the treatment of
prisoners, as devised and perpetrated by the chivalric gentlemen who
managed the affairs of the so-called “Confederacy.”
But enough has been told to convey some idea of our condition while
prisoners—the many hopes deferred! the long, weary waiting, that made
the heart sick nigh unto death.
It is needless to follow our officers and men to other prisons, where
many of them were sent, when our forces got in close proximity to
Richmond. It would be the same old story, in some cases, perhaps, a
little more revolting, but in the main, one Rebel prison was a sample of
all the rest.
One thing more that should be mentioned in connection with our life in
Libby: On the 6th of July, 1863, all the Federal captains, then in
Prison, were ordered to fall in—there were seventy-two in number. They
were then taken down stairs, into a large, vacant room in the same
building and formed in a hollow square, when Capt. Turner read an order
from Gen. Winder, directing him to select, at once by lot, from among
the Federal captains in his custody, _two for immediate execution_! Each
captains name was then called, and, when answered, a slip of paper,
containing his name and regiment, was placed in a box. We were then
given permission to select one of our chaplains, if we desired, to draw
out two names. We selected Father Gray, who, after offering up a prayer,
with a trembling hand and tears standing in his eyes, drew out two slips
and handed them to Captain Turner. That moment was one of anxious
suspense to those seventy-two men who were awaiting the result. Capt. H.
W. Sawyer, 1st N. J. Cavalry, and Capt. Flinn, 51st Indiana, were the
unfortunate men. We all thought, at that time, that they would surely be
executed. They were confined in the dungeon a few days, and, our
Government taking prompt action in the matter, by holding Gen. Lee and
Capt. Winder as hostages for our men, the rebels soon relaxed their
rigor, and permitted them to come back with the other prisoners.