Produced by Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net.
[Illustration: [signature] A. Cooper]
IN AND OUT
OF
REBEL PRISONS,
BY
LIEUT. A. COOPER,
12th N. Y. CAVALRY.
ILLUSTRATED.
OSWEGO, N. Y.:
R. J. OLIPHANT, JOB PRINTER, BOOKBINDER AND STATIONER.
1888.
Copyrighted 1888,
BY A. COOPER.
All Rights Reserved.
To CAPTAIN ROBERT B. HOCK,
THE GALLANT AND LOYAL COMRADE IN THE FIELD,
THE FAITHFUL AND CONSTANT FRIEND DURING THE DARK
DAYS OF MY PRISON LIFE,
The Daring Companion of my Escape
AND THREE HUNDRED MILE TRAMP THROUGH THE CONFEDERACY,
WHO, WHEN I BECAME TOO FEEBLE TO GO FARTHER, SO
GENEROUSLY TOOK OUT HIS PURSE AND GAVE ME THE LARGEST HALF OF ITS
CONTENTS,
THIS BOOK IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED
BY THE AUTHOR.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Many books have been written upon prison life in the South, but should
every survivor of Andersonville, Macon, Savannah, Charleston, Florence,
Salisbury, Danville, Libby and Belle Island write their personal
experiences in those rebel slaughter houses, it would still require the
testimony of the sixty-five thousand whose bones are covered with Southern
soil to complete the tale.
Being an officer, I suffered but little in comparison with what was
endured by the rank and file, our numbers being less, our quarters were
more endurable and our facilities for cleanliness much greater. Besides,
we were more apt to have money and valuables, which would, in some degree,
provide for our most urgent needs.
In giving my own personal experiences, I shall endeavor to write of the
prison pens in which were confined only officers, just as I found
them--"Nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice."
Being blessed with the happy faculty of looking upon the bright side of
life, and possessing a hopeful disposition, unaccustomed to give way to
despondency, I also write upon the bright side of my subject. The reader
who expects to find in this book a volume of sickening details of the
horrors of starvation and suffering endured by those whose misfortune it
was to be confined in Andersonville, under that inhuman monster Wirz--the
mention of whose name causes a shudder--will be disappointed. Having kept
a complete diary of events during my ten months' imprisonment, I am able
to give a reliable account of what came under my personal observation. I
have often heard it said, even here in the North, that our men who were
prisoners, were cared for as well as the limited means of the Confederacy
would admit; but the falsity of this is seen when you remember that
Andersonville is situated in a densely wooded country, and that much of
the suffering endured was for the want of fuel with which to cook their
scanty rations, and for the want of shelter, which they would have
cheerfully constructed had the opportunity been afforded them. The
evidence all goes to show that instead of trying to save the lives or
alleviate the sufferings of those whom the fortunes of war had thrown into
their hands, they practiced a systematic course of starvation and cruelty,
that in this nineteenth century, seems scarcely believable. In this
scheme, the arch traitor, Jeff. Davis, was most heartily assisted by the
infamous Winder and his cowardly assistants, Wirz, Dick Turner, Tabb and
others, whose timid hearts unfitted them for service in the field, but
just qualified them for acts of atrocity and cruelty, such as were
inflicted upon the loyal sons of the North who were in their power. Prison
life, at best, to one who has been educated beneath the flag of freedom,
is a trial hard to be endured; but when accompanied with indignities,
insults and tortures, such as were inflicted upon the occupants of those
prison hells of the South, it becomes simply unbearable.
A. COOPER.
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF PLYMOUTH, N. C.
Plymouth, in 1863-4, was a small town, situate on the Roanoke river, about
six miles from where the waters of that stream enters the Albermarle
Sound.
The river at Plymouth is nearly a quarter of a mile wide, and with a
sufficient depth of water to float the largest draught gunboats. The shore
next the town was supplied with a wharf for landing steamers that navigate
the river; but the gunboats, of which there were quite a number stationed
there, were usually anchored in the middle of the stream. The town was
enclosed with earthworks, with the exception of about two hundred yards on
the left next the river which was rather low and marshy, and covered with
quite a thick growth of alders and other bushes. On the extreme right, on
the bank of the river, was Battery Worth; a small earthwork, just large
enough to work a two hundred pound Parrot gun, with which it was supplied,
and accommodate twenty or thirty men to handle and support it. This was
surrounded with a deep ditch; but on the side next the town it was
protected only with a low breastwork with a wooden slat door, and a
person could jump across the ditch and step over into the redoubt.
Extending south from this small earthwork ran a line of breastworks to the
south-west corner of the town, when it turned at right angles, making a
continuous line of works nearly two miles in length, completely
surrounding the place, with the exception of the short space next the
river on our extreme left, as before stated.
In the south center stood Fort Williams, a strong work; and some distance
from the line of works on the right center was Fort Wessels, a small
redoubt.
On the left of Fort Williams on the works facing east, were Comphor and
Coneby redoubts, one each side of what was called the Columbia road. On
each side of Fort Williams, which faced south, were sally ports, on what
was called the Washington road and the middle road.
In our front, to the south, was an open field for a thousand or twelve
hundred yards, the farther part of which was partially covered with the
brush and stumps of the newly cleared field, and beyond this was woods.
About a mile up the river, on what was called War Neck, as a protection to
our extreme right, was Fort Gray, a work of considerable strength,
garrisoned by the 96th New York.
Such is a brief description of Plymouth as it appeared in April, 1864.
Brig. Gen. W. H. Wessels was in command of the post, and Lieut. Commander
Flusser was in command of the fleet of gun-boats, which consisted of the
Miama, a large wooden double-ender, the Southfield, an old New York
ferryboat under command of Capt. French, the Whitehead, Capt. Barrett, the
Bombshell, and a small supply boat called the Dolly, with one or two other
boats whose names I do not now remember.
These were all wooden boats, but were supplied with a good armament of
heavy metal, and their commander, W. H. Flusser, was as gallant an officer
as ever trod the quarter deck, and thoroughly determined to sink the rebel
ram Albemarle, which had been built near Richmond, and was daily expected
to come down the river, and attempt the destruction of our fleet, or sink
every boat under his command. Being very intimately acquainted with Lieut.
Commander Flusser, and knowing his plans, having been instrumental with
the detachment of cavalry stationed there, in getting much valuable
information in regard to the progress of the building and intentions of
this ram, I can speak by card of his preparations for its destruction,
when it should make its appearance.
Gen. Wessel's brigade consisted of two companies of the 12th N. Y.
Cavalry, A and F, 85 men; two companies, H and G, of the 2d Massachusetts
H. A., garrisoning the fort and redoubts; the 16th Connecticut, the 101st
and 103d Pennsylvania, the 85th New York Infantry, and the 24th New York
Independent Battery, Capt. Cady. There was also a company of North
Carolina colored troops, Capt. Eastmond, and two companies of loyal North
Carolinians, making in all about two thousand troops.