Results and Reflections--The Right and the Wrong of it All.
A few days of waiting in the buildings of the Naval Academy at Annapolis
while exchange papers were preparing gave us opportunity for a
much-needed transformation. Our old clothing, encrusted with dirt and
infested with vermin, in many cases had to be destroyed. One of our
number especially unkempt, Captain T., who gave up for an hour or two
his beloved trousers, found to his surprise and horror when he called
for their return that they had been burned with four hundred dollars in
greenbacks sewed up in the lining! We smiled at his irrepressible grief;
it was poetic justice. He had carefully concealed the fact of his being
flush, pretending all along to be like the rest _in forma pauperis_, and
contriving, it was said, to transfer in crooked ways our pennies into
his pockets!
Fumigated, parboiled, scrubbed, barbered, decently clothed, "the
deformed transformed" were once more presentable in civilized society.
Then followed a brief leave of absence if desired, to visit relatives.
To them it seemed a veritable resurrection after our months of living
burial; yet the joy of reunion was sometimes tinged with sorrow. I
learned that in the very week in which the tidings of my capture came
our home circle had been sadly broken by the death of a beloved sister,
and just then the telegraph told of the loss by fever in the army at
Newbern of our household darling,
Younger by fifteen years than myself,
Brother at once and son.
As previously stated we who held commissions fared better on the whole
than the non-commissioned officers and privates, though receiving from
the commissary rations exactly equal to theirs. Commonly older and
therefore of larger experience and superior intelligence, a good officer
is as a father looking out for the physical welfare of his men as well
as himself. Then there were some who, like Gardner, had been fortunate
in keeping clothing, money, or other valuable at the instant of capture
or in hiding it when searched by Dick Turpin at Libby. Several like
Captain Cook had obtained pecuniary assistance from influential friends
across the lines, or in a few instances had been favored by brother
freemasons or by charitably disposed visitors who gave us a little food,
a few old books, or even Confederate currency. Several sold to the
sentinels watches, rings, chains, breast-pins, society badges, silver
spurs, military boots, or curiously wrought specimens of Yankee
ingenuity carved with infinite pains. The "Johnnies" appeared to hanker
for any article not produced in the Confederacy. An officer of the guard
offered Putnam three hundred dollars for a nearly worn-out tooth-brush!
The educational standard among our officers was quite respectable. I
think that West Point had a representative among us, as well as Bowdoin
and several other colleges. Certainly we had ex-students from at least
five universities, Brown, Yale, Harvard, the Sorbonne, and Göttingen.
To afford diversion and as an antidote to depression, as well as for
intellectual improvement, some of us studied mathematics[11] or
_Shakespeare_. Three or four classes were formed in modern languages.
We had card-playing with packs soiled and worn; checkers and chess on
extemporized boards with rudely whittled "pieces"; occasional
discussions historical, literary, political, or religious; many of us
quite regular physical exercises in brisk walks on the empty lowest
floor; story-telling; at times, though not often, the reading aloud of a
Confederate newspaper, to a group of fifty or more listeners; at
evening, sweet singing, riddles, jests, or loud-voiced sarcastic
conundrums and satirical responses. Many found interest and pleasure in
carving with the utmost nicety wood or bone.[12]
Something like military discipline prevailed among the two hundred in
the upper room where the superior rank of General Hayes was often
recognized. Among a hundred and fifty or more in the lower room, where
for a month or two I was the senior but was unwilling to assume
precedence, I secured with the aid of Major Byron, Captain Howe, and a
few others a sort of civil government with semi-military features.
These measures and the favoring circumstances that have been mentioned
tended of course to the preservation of health among the officers. There
was severe suffering from hunger, cold, rheumatism, and scurvy, from all
of which I was for weeks a victim and at one time seemed doomed to
perish. I recall, however, the names of but two officers (there were
said to be four) who died at Danville. Some of us, though enfeebled,
were soon able to rejoin our commands; as Putnam his at Newbern in
April, Gardner and I ours at Morehead City the day after Lee's surrender
at Appomattox.
Of the effect in after-life of these strange experiences it is safe to
say that to some extent they were a spur to intellectual effort. At
least they should have made all sadder and wiser; and they certainly
were in some cases an equipment for descriptive authorship. Major (Adner
A.) Small wrote a valuable account of prison life. Dr. Burrage's
narratives of his capture and its results are entertaining and
instructive. Major Putnam's _A Prisoner of War in Virginia_ (reprinted
in his _Memories of My Youth_) is an important contribution to our
military history.[13] Lieutenant Estabrooks's _Adrift in Dixie_ is
charmingly told.[14] "Dutch Clark" (Adjutant James A. Clark, 17th Pa.
Cav.), one of the four who nightly tried to sleep under my blanket,
started and edited with ability at Scranton _The Public Code_, for which
I was glad to furnish literary material. He afterwards became prominent
in theosophic circles. Others distinguished themselves. Captain (Frank
H.) Mason, in prison our best chess player, was long Consul-General at
Paris. Cook studied five or six years in Germany, France, and Italy,
then was for eight or ten years assistant professor in German at
Harvard, and afterwards for two years, until his untimely death,
professor in the same department at the Institute of Technology in
Boston. In addressing a Sunday-school in Brooklyn, 1871, I unexpectedly
lighted upon Captain Tiemann doing good work as a teacher. Captain
Gardner continued for many months a model military officer in
Georgia.[15] I remained in the service a full year, often on
courts-martial, military commissions, and "reconstruction" duty.
* * * * *
As already described, the condition of the enlisted men strongly
contrasted with ours. The Report of the Confederate Inspector of Prisons
now on file in the _War Records_ of our government, though the reports
of his subordinate officers are significantly missing, covers the few
months next preceding January, 1865. It sharply censures the immediate
prison authorities, stating, as the result of the privations, that the
deaths at Danville were at the rate of about five per day! I think they
were more numerous in January and February. None of my battalion were
there, but at Salisbury three-sevenths of them died in less than three
months!
It is hard to refrain from the expression of passionate indignation at
the treatment accorded to our non-commissioned officers and privates in
those southern hells. For years we were accustomed to ask, "In what
military prison of the north, in what common jail of Europe, in what
dungeon of the civilized or savage world, have captives taken in
war--nay, condemned criminals--been systematically exposed to a
lingering death by cold and hunger? The foulest felon--his soul black
with sacrilege, his hands reeking with parricide--has enough of food, of
clothing, of shelter; a chair to sit in, a fire to warm him, a blanket
to hide his nakedness, a bed of straw to die on!"
But listen a moment to the other side. Alexander H. Stephens,
Vice-President of the Confederacy, afterwards for eight years a
representative in our Congress, a man of unquestioned integrity, shows
in his _War between the States_ (pub. 1868-70) by quotation from the
Report of our then Secretary of War (July 19, 1866) that only 22,576
Federal prisoners died in Confederate hands during the war, whilst
26,436 Confederate prisoners died in Federal hands. He shows also from
the United States Surgeon-General Joseph K. Barnes's Report that the
number of Federal prisoners in southern prisons was about 270,000, but
the number of Confederate prisoners in northern prisons was about
220,000; so that the percentage of deaths in southern prisons was under
nine, while the percentage of deaths in northern prisons was over
twelve![16]
Had there been, from the first, prompt exchanges of prisoners between
the north and the south, few of these forty-nine thousand lives would
have been lost. _Who, then, blocked the exchange?_
Stephens declares (_War between the States_, vol. ii):
"It is now well understood to have been a part of the settled policy
of the Washington authorities in conducting the war, not to exchange
prisoners. The grounds upon which this extraordinary course was
adopted were, that it was humanity to the northern men in the field
to let their captured comrades perish in prison rather than to let
an equal number of Confederate soldiers be released on exchange to
meet them in battle."
To the same effect our Secretary Stanton in one of his letters in 1864
pointed out "that it would not be good policy to send back to be placed
on the firing line 70,000 able-bodied Confederates, and to receive in
exchange men who, with but few exceptions, were not strong enough to
hold their muskets."
The responsibility, then, for this refusal and the consequent enormous
sacrifice of life with all the accompanying miseries, must rest in part
upon the Government of the United States.[17]
Blame not the tender-hearted Lincoln for this.
Did he not judge wisely? Was it not best for the nation that we
prisoners should starve and freeze?
The pivotal question for him and Grant and Stanton was, "Shall we
exchange and thereby enable the South to reinforce their armies with
fifty to a hundred thousand trained soldiers?
"If yes, then we must draft many more than that; for they being on the
defensive we must outnumber them in battle. If no, then we must either
stop their cruelties by equally cruel retaliation, as Washington hung
André for the execution of Hale, or we must, more cruelly still, leave
myriads of our soldiers to sink into imbecility and death."
The North had not the excuse of destitution which the South had, and it
could not bring itself to make reprisals in kind. To draft again, as
evinced in the terrible riots of July, 1863, would have been extremely
unpopular and perhaps overthrown the administration and defeated the
policy of the government. To exchange would pretty surely have prolonged
the war, and might have resulted in permanent disunion.
As to the right or wrong of the refusal to exchange, it is hardly
relevant to insist that the triumph of the South would have perpetuated
slavery. Lincoln's Proclamation, January 1, 1863, did not touch slavery
in the Border States. And from the southern nation, denuded of slaves by
their escape to the North and confronted by the growing anti-slavery
sentiment of the civilized world, the "peculiar institution" would soon
have died out.
Need we attempt, as is often done, to justify our government's attitude
in this matter by affirming that the nation was in a life-and-death
struggle for its very existence? Did that existence depend upon its
territorial limits? Would it have gone to pieces if the victorious North
had relinquished its hold on the defeated South? Had a boundary line
been drawn half-way across the continent, separating the twenty-three
loyal States from the eleven seceding, the twenty-two millions of the
North from the nine or ten millions of the South, would it not have
remained a mighty nation with no cause for further disunion, and able as
the war had shown to place in the field more than two million fighting
men?
Is it not equally unnecessary to urge, as if it were a valid excuse for
our government's refusal to exchange, that between the two nations there
would have been frequent if not perpetual hostilities? Why so, any more
than between the United States and Canada, where for fifty (it is now a
hundred) years, along a boundary line of thirty-eight hundred miles,
there had been unbroken peace and no fort nor warship?
Let us not raise the question whether Lincoln made a colossal blunder
when he renounced his favorite doctrine so emphatically set forth in his
Congressional speech (page 47). The die was cast when Sumter was fired
on. The question which confronted him in 1863-64--What to do with the
perishing Union prisoners?--was simply one of military necessity.
According to the ethics of war was he not fully justified in sacrificing
us rather than imperiling the great cause which he had at heart?
Are we, then, to blame President Davis, or the Confederate Commissioner
Robert Ould, or Gen. John H. Winder, Superintendent of Military Prisons,
for allowing the Federal prisoners to starve and freeze and die by
thousands? Must we not admit the truth of their contention that their
soldiers needed the food, clothing, and medical care for want of which
their prisoners were suffering? And if the shocking conditions at
Andersonville, Salisbury, Danville, and other prisons could easily have
been avoided, or even if they were made more distressing by the
deliberate inhumanity of those in immediate charge, ought not such facts
to have intensified a desire on the part of both governments to effect a
speedy exchange?
The southern people were threatened with subjugation, their government
with annihilation. In such a critical situation, what measures are
allowable?
We endeavor to look at the matter from both standpoints.
This brings up the whole question of the rightfulness of war. If it must
be waged, is success the highest duty? If military necessity demands,
may any and every law of God and man be disregarded?
While we write these concluding pages, the European conflict is raging,
and the voice of the most warlike nation on the globe is heard
continually affirming that war is useful and highly honorable, and that
any means, however frightful, if necessary to ensure or hasten victory
is praise-worthy!
Then both presidents were right!
But is not international war murder on a great scale? It is glorious to
die for one's country; but how about killing for our country? killing
innocent men, too? for the soldiers on either side honestly believe they
are doing their duty in shooting and stabbing as many as possible! "The
business of war," said John Wesley, "is the business of devils." So it
would seem; but at heart few are enemies, none devils.
It has been a pleasure in this narrative to record instances of a very
different spirit. Surely, in proportion to population such were not
fewer in the South than in the North. Like Whittier's _Angels of Buena
Vista_ they rescue us from pessimism. They are prophetic of a better
day.
Not wholly lost, O Father, is this evil world of ours!
Upward through the blood and ashes spring afresh the Eden flowers:
From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity send their prayer,
And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in our air!
FOOTNOTES:
[11] I still possess the copy of Davies's _Legendre_ which I bought on
the 8th of November for twenty Confederate dollars, and of which I
memorized three books in prison. As to the _Shakespeare_, see _ante_, p.
85.
[12] I retain with pride the wooden spoon which did me good service when
I was _in limbo_. It cost me over two weeks' labor in shaping it with
half a knife-blade and pieces of broken glass. For the little block of
wood I paid the sentry one "rebel dollar!"
[13] Many years after the war he rendered financial aid to fellow
prisoners, his chum, artist Vander Weyde, and General Hayes. Author of
several valuable works, he is now head of the publishing house of G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
[14] It was a special pleasure after the lapse of fifty years to meet
Estabrooks at the Massachusetts Commandery of the Loyal Legion, where,
without knowing of his presence, I had just made honorable mention of
him in an address on prison life.
[15] In my own case the prison experience was peculiar: it changed the
course of my whole subsequent life. I had studied law, been admitted to
the bar in two states, and "practiced" with fair success, "though," as a
friend was accustomed to remark, "not enough to do much harm!" Many
times one of the best men I ever knew, my father, had said to me at
parting, "Do all the good you can." Much meditating while in the army
and especially while in prison, I finally resolved to pursue an
educational career. Of course I felt sadly the loss of years of study
that might have better equipped me; but it seemed a duty. I had had some
experience which, I thought, proved me not wholly unqualified. While a
student in college and while reading law I had partly supported myself
by giving instruction to private pupils and in the schools of General
Russell and Mayor Skinner. Afterwards, before the war, I had taught
Greek in the Worcester (Mass.) Academy; and English literature, Greek,
and Latin for more than three years as principal of the Worcester public
high school. I knew the vocation would be congenial. So I became
principal of a state normal school, of two high schools, of a large
academy; house chairman of a (Conn.) legislative committee securing the
enactment of three school measures of importance; later, president of a
college, professor in a theological seminary and in Cornell University;
founder and for three years first president of the earliest and long the
largest of the world's general _summer_ schools (which now in the United
States number nearly 700); lecturer in many Chautauqua assemblies,
colleges, vacation schools, and university extension centres; President
of the State University of North Dakota; editor, with biographic
sketches and copious notes, of many masterpieces as text-books in higher
English literature; author of a history of my regiment; also of a
treatise on _Voice and Gesture_, of many monographs and magazine
articles mostly educational; associate founder and first president of
_The Watch and Ward Society_; one of the directors and executive
committee of the _American Peace Society_; director of the
_Massachusetts Peace Society_; president of _The American Institute of
Instruction_; translator, annotator, and essayist of _The Book of Job_;
etc.
It may be proper to add that among those indebted in some degree to my
instruction or training were several who captured Yale's highest prize
for rhetorical excellence (the hundred dollar gold medal of which I was
the first recipient): one college president; six college professors;
three university presidents; two governors of states; two United States
Senators; and many others eminent as clergymen, authors, judges,
editors, and business men.
[16] The higher death-rate (if that be conceded) of southern soldiers is
easily accounted for. The northern soldiers had been carefully selected
by competent surgeons. They were physically perfect, or nearly so. They
were in the bloom of early manhood or the strength of middle age--not an
old man among them, not a diseased man among them, not a broken-down
constitution among them. But multitudes of the southern, enrolled by
conscription, were physically unfit. Many were much too old or too
young. Said our General Grant, "To fill their ranks, they have robbed
the cradle and the grave!"
[17] The exchange is said to have been stopped in 1862-63 by the refusal
of the Confederates to give up captured negro soldiers in return for
southern captives in the North, the United States properly insisting
upon perfect equality in the treatment of black and white. But early in
1864, if not previously, the Confederates yielded the point and were
anxious to surrender man for man.
APPENDIX
(From the original record. See p. 88.)
Proceedings of a Court Martial convened at Danville Mil. Pris. by virtue
of the following Order:
DANVILLE MIL. PRISON, Oct. 29, 1864.
General Order
No. 1.
Pursuant to the Regulations adopted by the Union Officers of the 2d
Floor Military Prison, Danville, Va., Oct. 26, 1864, a Court Martial is
hereby appointed to convene at 10 o'clock A.M. on the 29th inst. or as
soon thereafter as may be practicable, for the Trial of Captain [I omit
from the record the name of the accused], 104th N. Y. Vols., and such
other officers as may be brought before it.
Detail for the Court.
Lt. Col. W. A. LEACH, [Here follow the names
90th P. V. of Captains Bryant,
Lt. Col. THEO. GREGG, Black, Clapp, Burkart,
45th P. V. Weiss (?), Reilly (?),
Major J. W. BYRON, Moody, and the name
88th N. Y. V. of the Judge Advocate,
Capt. G. M. DICKERMAN, Lt. and Adjt. James A.
26th Mass. V. Clark, 17th Pa. Cav.]
By order of the Officers of the 2d Floor,
JAMES CARLE,
Col. 190th Pa. Vols., Senior Officer.
DANVILLE MIL. PRISON, VA., 10 o'clock A.M., 31st, Oct. 1864.
The Court met pursuant to the foregoing order. Present all the members.
The Court then proceeded to the trial of Capt. [we again omit the name
of the accused], 104th N. Y. Vols.
The Judge Advocate stated that he had acquainted the accused of the
order convening the Court, to which he replied in the words following,
to wit: "What is that to do with me? I recognize no authority in this
prison to convene a court martial," or words to that effect.
The accused having refused to appear, the members of the Court were duly
sworn by the Judge Advocate, and the Judge Advocate was duly sworn by
the President of the Court. The accused, Capt. [again we omit the name],
104th N. Y. Vols., was arraigned on the following charges and
specifications:
Charge--Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
Specification--In this: That Capt. [we again omit], 104th N. Y. Vols.,
without provocation, did say in the hearing of several officers to
Lieut. Col. Homer B. Sprague, 13th C. V., speaking in coarse and
ungentlemanly manner the words following, to wit: [here we omit the
language uttered as being too vile and filthy to print]; that he did
several times repeat the same in a coarse and angry tone, and used other
vulgar and indecent expressions in an insulting tone and manner. This at
Danville Mil. Prison, Va., in the lower room thereof on the 29th day of
October, 1864.
The accused refusing to appear, the Judge Advocate was directed by the
President to enter the plea of Not Guilty.
To the Specification, Not Guilty.
To the Charge, Not Guilty.
Lieut. G. C. Wilson, 2d P. Artillery, and Lieut. Wm. Shuler, 107th P.
Vols., witnesses for the prosecution, stated that they had cognizance of
the facts set forth in the Specification.
The proceedings of the Court having been reviewed by the Judge Advocate,
he submitted the case without argument. The Court was then cleared for
deliberation, and having maturely considered the evidence adduced find
the accused
On the Specification, Guilty; with the exception of the words "and used
other vulgar and indecent expressions."
Of the Charge, Guilty. And do therefore sentence him to be reprimanded
by the Senior Officer.
The Court is thus lenient owing to this being the first case of the kind
brought before it.
WM. A. LEACH, Lt. Col. 90th Regt. Pa. Vols., Pres.;
JAS. A. CLARK, Adjt. 17th Pa. Cavalry, Judge Advocate.
The Proceedings and Findings in the foregoing case are hereby
respectfully submitted to Brig.-Gen. Hayes for his consideration.
JAMES CARLE, Col. 191st Pa. Vols., Senior Officer, 2d Floor.
CONFED. MIL. PRISON, DANVILLE, VA., Nov. 1, 1864.
The Proceedings and Findings of the Court Martial of which Lt. Col. W.
A. Leach, 90th Pa. Vols., was President, having been submitted to
Brig.-Gen. Hayes, the Senior Officer present, are approved. The extreme
leniency of the Court must be apparent to all, and can only be excused
by the novelty of the case brought before it. Language fails to convey
censure adequate to the gross vulgarity and ungentlemanly conduct of the
accused. Captain [we omit the name] seems to forget or misconceive his
responsibility in his present circumstances. An officer being a prisoner
of war is not relieved from his responsibility to his government nor
from his liability to the regulations of the service as far as may be
applied to his dishonor by ungentlemanly and unofficer-like conduct; and
many other offenses committed by an officer when a prisoner of war are
as punishable as if that officer were serving with his command. And it
is well the officers in the prison have organized a Court for the
summary punishment of those of their number, who, forgetful of their
position and their honor, would bring shame upon themselves and their
associates.
It is to be hoped that Capt. [name we omit]'s conduct in the future will
be such as will cause to be forgotten his mistakes of the past.
JOSEPH HAYES, Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols.
INDEX
A
Adams, Dr. Nehemiah, 29
Adams, Sarah F., quoted, 35
ambulance, 37, 38
annihilation threatened, 23
apothecary doctor, 108, 109
Appendix, court record, 153-156
apple-jack, 39
Army of West Va., 4, 5, 6
artillery, trained on us, 51, 58
_at_ in "Where is he at?" 73, 75
attempt to break out, 113, 118
autographs, officers', 136
B
Barnes, J. K., Surgeon-Gen., 146
battle, pomp of, 8, 134
battle-field, Winchester, 3 +
beans, soup of, ration, 44, 94, 102
Beecher, Henry Ward, quoted, 30
Beecher, married by, 52
Berryville, 3
Berryville pike, 3, 4, 7
Birge, Gen. H. W., 7, 9
blanket for several, 105
blankets "confiscated," 46
blankets, not to be shaken, 87
Blinn, Col. C. D., ill, 7
Blue Ridge, 1, 35, 36
Braxton's Confed. artillery, 9
bread, corn-cob-meal, 44, 93, 100
breakfast at Staunton, 32, 33
breakfast at Tom's Brook, 21
Breckenridge, Confed. Gen., 5
Brinton, Col., escape of, 26, 27
brooms in prison, 100, 102
Brown, John, defended, 28
Brownell, H. H., quoted, 137
Browning, Mrs., quoted, 36, 83, 91
buckets for water, 98, 110, 116
Buckingham, Gov. of Conn., 7, 129
"Bucktail Regiment," 64, 130
burning $400, 138
Burrage, Major H. S., 117, 120, 142
Bush, Lieut. W. W., 93, 96
"Butler's dandy regiment," 7 (note)
Byron, Lord, quoted, 28
Byron, Major John W., 87
Byrne, Major John, 64, 66, 141
C
cards, playing, 102, 106, 141
Carle, Col. James, 64, 66, 80
carving in prison, 49, 83, 101, 141
cavalry, 4, 5, 6, 13, 25, 34, 40, 45
chaplain, prisoner, 57, 58, 80
charge, Gordon's brilliant, 10, 12
Chautauqua, Mountain Lake, 121
checkers, 92, 102, 141
Cheever, Dr. Geo. B., 29
chess, 92, 102, 141
choosing death, 124, 125, 133, 134, 136, 143, 153
Clarke, Adjt. James A., 22, 96, 101, 117, 143, 153
clergymen's visits, 121, 122
Clover, in it at night, 47
coal, poor and scanty, 79
coal dust, very fine! 48
cold, severe and fatal, 79, 132, 142
communication, finger signs, 65, 70
communication, secret, 43, 70
Confederate currency, 27, 32, 33, 34, 94, 121, 140
Cook, Capt. William, 58, 85, 96, 103, 105, 143
cooking, how and where, 21, 95
Constitution, U. S., 29, 39, 47
Corcoran, Gen. Michael, 53
corn-cob-meal bread, 44, 93, 100, 107
corn-cob-meal soup, 94, 102
court martial in prison, 88; and Appendix, 153
Crew, John, a kind enemy, 28
Crook, Gen. George, 4
D
daily routine, Danville, 97-105, 140, 141
Dame, Rev., preaches to us, 121
Dan river, 79, 98
Danville, arrival at, 47, 48;
again, 77
Danville death record, 129, 132, 142, 144
Danville prisons, 98, 129
Davies's _Legendre_, 140 (note)
Davis, Jefferson, 150
Davis, Lieut., death of, 57, 58, 68
dead lines, Salisbury, 54
deaf-and-dumb alphabet, 65, 70
deaths at Salisbury, 55, 130, 134, 136, 145
deaths of Confederates in northern prisons, 146
deaths at Danville, 129, 132, 136, 145
Declaration of Independence, 47
defile, Berryville, 3, 4, 7
devastation by Sheridan, 2, 3
diary kept, 22, 28, 44
Dickerman, Capt. G. M., 32
discussion with Lieut. Howard, 28, 29, 30
discussions in prison, 47, 90, 91, 102, 110, 141
distribution of rations, 54, 100
Dolan, pitied by Confederate ladies, 37
Duffié, Gen. O. N., 113-117
Dwight, Gen. William, 12, 13
E
Early, Gen. Jubal A., 5, 9, 14, 17
Edenburg village, 26
education in prison, 69, 70, 91, 92, 140
Eighth Corps, W. Va. Army, 4, 5, 6
Election votes in prison, 90
Emerson, Rev., prison chaplain, 58, 80
enlist or die, choice to, 133, 134
Epaminondas, strategy at Leuctra, 10
"escape on the brain," 67
escapes attempted, 26, 50, 110
Estabrooks, Lieut. H. L., 72, 74, 142, 143 (note)
exchange of prisoners, 83, 89, 102, 131
exchange blocked, 89, 90, 106, 107, 124, 131, 147-151
F
Ficklin, J. F., his kindness, 125-129, 131
Fisher, First Sea Lord, quoted, 57
Fisher's Hill, battle, 25
Fisher's Hill reached, 20
"flag-of-truce fever," 106, 107, 108
fleas, wicked, 27
flour ration, how cooked, 21
Fontleroy, Dr., his hospitality, 32, 33
freemasonry, very useful, 38, 40, 42, 46
French, oral lessons in, 69, 70
Fry, Major W. H., 85
fugitive slave law, 29, 30
fun, critical and sarcastic, 104, 105
fun, sanitary, 79, 80
furnace way of escape, 110
Furness, Horace Howard, 129
G
Gardner, Adjt. W. C., 69, 70, 71, 74, 85, 107, 108, 109, 142, 143
Gee, Confed. Major, 52, 53, 56, 74
German, oral lessons in, 92
Ghost in _Hamlet_, 85, 86
"God's Country," 137
God's fugitive slave law, 29
"going through" prisoners, 22
Gordon, Confed. Gen. J. B., 5, 10, 17
Gordon's brilliant charge, 10, 13
gorge of Berryville pike, 3, 4, 10
gorilla or guerrilla, which? 39, 40
grain cars at Danville, 48
Grant's merciless orders, 2
Greek Testament, kept, 42;
stolen, 80
greenbacks burned, 138
greenbacks, relative value of, 23, 24, 41, 140
Greensboro, N. Carolina, 48
Gregg, Lieut.-Col. Theodore, 64, 85
Grover, Gen. Cuvier, 5, 6, 8, 12
guerrilla, "I'm a guerrilla," 59
guerrilla, Morgan's, a kind gentleman, 34
gun cotton, cushion suspected, 45, 46
H
hake, issued in rations, 94
Hall, Rev. Charles K., kind, 122
_Hamlet_, rehearsal, 85, 86
Handy, Lieut., aide to Molineux, 11
Hartshorne, Col. W. Ross, 64, 66, 67, 68, 115, 130
Haslett, Capt., Provost Marshal, 26, 37, 38
Haurand, Major August, 22, 66
Hayes, Gen. Joseph, 53, 61, 65, 67, 92, 141
Hayes, Gen., on court martial, Appendix, 156
health, surely failing, 123
Henry, Patrick, cited, 30
"Hide your greenbacks," 41
hole in the brick wall, 43
Holland, J. H., imaginary, 128
Homer, quoted, 80;
puzzled to death, 99
Hooper, Lieut.-Col. C. H., 41, 54, 100, 115
horse lost in battle, 10, 11, 19
hospital in Danville, 106, 132
hostage, Lt. Manning held as, 60
Howard, Confed. Lieut., 28, 29, 30
Howe, Capt. Wesley C., 22, 50, 72, 109, 110, 141
I
Imboden, J. D., Confed. Gen., 25
Indiana soldiers, acrobats, 24
innocent deliberately slain, 152
international war, 152
Irish Bend, La., battle, wounded in, 89
J
James river, 46, 137
Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 31
Jersey lightning, apple-jack? 39
Johnson's Island prison, 126
Jonah, disgorged like, 49
Jordan, H. T., 126, 127
K
Keifer, Gen. J. W., 9
Kerrstown, 20
L
Ladies, Confed., kind and handsome, 37
Lee, Gen. Fitzhugh, 5;
wounded, 13
_Legendre_, Davies's, 113, 140 (note)
letters from outside, 88, 89, 96, 132
Libby prison, 40-44, 112, 144
lice in prison, 102, 103, 132
lice of Egypt, not "in it," 80
Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 47, 48
Lincoln on exchange of prisoners, 89, 90, 125
Lincoln on right of revolution, 47, 48
Lloyd, J. J., returns from desertion, 133
Lockwood, Capt., killed, 77
log houses for officers, 52, 53
Longfellow, quoted, 136
Lovelace, poet, quoted, 89
M
Manning, Lieut. W. C., tunnel, 60, 61, 65
Mark Tapley's "jolly" example, 38
_Marmion_, Scott's, quoted, 37
martyrs in reality, 133, 134, 136
Mason, Capt. Frank H., 92, 143
Masonic Hall, Winchester, 18
McIntosh's cavalry, 4
Meacham's Station, 38, 40
meat ration, 44, 93, 94
Mercutio's wound, 118, 119
Middletown in Shenandoah Valley, 20
Molineux, Col. E. L., 7, 9, 14
money concealed, 42, 119, 138
money, Confederate, 23, 32, 33, 34, 113, 140
Morgan's guerrillas, 34
Mortality in prison. _See_ under "deaths"
"Muggers," 51
N
Napoleon, his strategy, 10;
quoted, 135
nationality, northern, 149, 150
nationality, southern, 39, 150, 151
necessity, military, defies every law, 151
negroes, loyal and kind, 111
negroes, prisoners of war, 78, 129
New Market, Va., 26, 27, 28
Newtown, V., 20
Nineteenth Corps, 4, 5, 6, 10, 66, 67
O
occupations, 83, 84, 85, 91, 92; 97-105
O'Neil, Col., Yale classmate, killed, 64, 130
Opequon battle, 3-15
Opequon Creek, 3, 7
order to retreat, 11
Ould, R., Confed. Agt. for exchange, 151
ovens for baking, 110
overcoat saved, 19, 20, 42, 46, 105, 108, 109
P
"painfully sober," 85
parole given, 53, 129
parole rejected, 53
_pediculidæ vestimenti, non capitis_, 99, 100
Petersburg shelled, 45
Pharaoh's epidermis and obstinacy, 80
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, 10
plots to break out, 61-75; 113-119
policing prison, 87, 100
prayer of chaplain Emerson, 58, 80
prey and pray, 121
Prey, Col. Gilbert G., 54, 115, 130
prison number 3, officers', 78, +
prison 6, the worst of all, 131, 132
prison rules adopted, 87, 88
profanity of soldiers, 14, 15, 39, 87
Putnam, Adjt. G. Haven, 91, 92, 101, 110, 121, 140, 142
Q
questions, amusing or ugly, 104, 105, 141
R
Ralston, Col., killed, 61, 64, 66, 114, 118
Ramseur, S. D., Confed. Gen., 13, 15
rations, 44, 49, 56, 93, 94, 100, 102, 107, 124, 139
recapture of escaped officers, 112
recount made futile by trick, 111, 112
Redwood of Mobile, Yale classmate, 38
Reed, "shot into inch pieces," 24, 25, 26, 31
retaliation threatened, 60;
done, 148
rheumatism, 123, 142
Richardson, Albert D., of _Tribune_, 52
Richmond, arrival at, 40, 136
Richmond, watching exploding shells, 45
Ricketts' Division, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12
riddle, fatal to the old poet, 99
riots in July, 1863, 133, 149
robbery of captives, 15, 22, 46
Rodes, Confed. General, 5;
killed, 10, 13
roll-call nullified, 111, 112
roll-call sergt., queer, 99-103, 111, 112
rope ladder, twisted rags, 111, 112
rules adopted in prison, 87, 88, 141, 153
Russell, Sergt. Alfred, 89
Russell, Gen. D. A., killed, 13
Russell, Martha, 89
Russell, Gen. W. H., 128
S
Sadler, Major David, 66
Salisbury prison, 50-55; 61, 130, 133, 134, 136
sandwiches, G. W. Swepson's, 49
sanitary measures, 79, 80, 103, 141, 142
Sargent, Lieut, of 14th N. H., 23
Scott, Sir Walter, quoted, 8, 37, 134, 135
scurvy prevalent, 123, 142
searching of prisoners, 41, 42, 119
seceded states, a real nation? 150, 151
sentries' sing-song call, 44
sermons in prison, 57, 58, 121, 122
"Set the table for dinner," 96
Shakespeare, quoted, 36, 118, 119
Shakespeare's _Hamlet_, 85, 140
shelter, lack of at Salisbury, 53, 55, 136
Shenandoah river and valley, 1, 2
Sheridan's devastation, 1, 2, 3
Sherman, Gen. W. T., quoted, 1
"shot twice into inch pieces," 24
Simpson, Lieut. J. B.; his sly trick, 77
singing at evening at Danville, 104, 141
Sixth Corps, 4, 5, 6, 10, 13
"skirmishing" a misnomer, 102, 103
slavery doomed in any event, 149
"Slim Jim," 101
Small, Major Adner A., 142
Smith, Robert C., Confed. commandant, 81, 82
Smith, Col. Robert C., Yale man, kind, 82, +
Smith, Sergt. W. F., clerk, 129
"snack?" or snake? 49
sorghum syrup issued, 94
soup, so called (or broth), 44, 94, 102
spittoon mystery, solved? 78
spoon, carving of, 83, 141 (note)
"spoon fashion," lying in, 105
"_Spoon_"! significance of, 105
Sprague, Bvt. Col. H. B., _passim_, and 143 (note)
stampede, Yankee, 11, 12;
Confederate, 18, 23
Stanton, E. M., War Secretary, 147, 148
State, allegiance to, 39
Staunton, Va., march to, 2, 28
Staunton, arrival and breakfast at, 32, 33
Staunton, Morgan's guerrilla kind at, 33, 34
stealing rations from guards, haversacks, 77
Stephens, Hon. Alexander H., 146, 147
"Storming Column" at Port Hudson, 7
"Stove Brigade," at Danville, 79
stoves in prison at Danville, 79, 95
Strasburg, Va., 20
Strickland, undertaker, 129
Stuart, Dr. Moses, on slavery, 29
subjugation policy, Lincoln's, 151
sunrise on the Blue Ridge, 36
sutler, Confederate, 84
swearing, copious, of two kinds, 14, 15, 39
sweeping the floors, 87, 100
Swepson, George W., very kind, 49, 50
T
table-knife saw, Lieut. Titus's, 97, 111
Tarbell, Capt. Doctor, assistant commissary, 54, 100
Taylor, Bayard, quoted, 80
_tertium quid_, solution of mystery, 78
theatrical collapse at Danville, 85, 86
Thirteenth Conn. Regt., very patriotic, 7
Tiemann, Capt. W. F., 14, 15, 85, 109, 143
Titus, Lieut. L. B., invents useful saw, 97, 111
tobacco and the spittoon mystery, 78
tobacco given us by kind clergyman, 122
Tom's Brook, 20, 22, 23
tooth-brush, second-hand, $300 offered, 140
Torbert, Gen. Alfred T., 3, 4, 5, 6, 17
trading with Confed. sentinels, 54, 120
tunnel through the Blue Ridge, 35, 36
tunneling at Salisbury, 60, 61;
Danville, 109, 110
Turner, Nathaniel, inspector, Libby, 41
Turner, Richard, commandant at Libby, 41, 45
U
unguentum, two pounds called for, 81
university students in prison at Danville, 140
V
Vander Weyde, Lieut. Henry, artist, 101, 117
vermin at Danville, 80, 81, 87, 131, 132
view-point, all-important, 57
votes in prison for President, Nov. 8, 90
W
war, Admiral Fisher on its essence, 57
war, Lieut. Gen. S. B. M. Young, quoted on, 57
war, Gen. Wm. T. Sherman's "War is hell," 1
Washington, George, Commander-in-chief, 73, 148
Washington, Lieutenant, a Confederate, 83
Washington, President, a Mason at Winchester, 18
Washington wished slavery somehow ended, 30
water parties under guard, 98, 110
water scarce _en route_, 20;
at Salisbury, 56, 65, 75
Watts, Isaac, quoted, 45
Waynesboro, Va., 34, 35
Webster, Daniel, 29
Wesley, John, quoted, 152
West Virginia, Army of, 4, 5
"Where is he at?" 73
Whittier, John G., quoted, 152
Wilson, Cav. Gen. J. H., 4
Winchester, Va., battle of, 3-15
Winder, Confed. Gen. J. H., Supt. Prisons, 112
wood, split without edge-tools, 97, 107
Woolsey, T. D., President of Yale, 128
Y
Yadkin river crossing, 72, 75
Yale College men, 38, 49, 64, 69, 82
Yankee ingenuity and skill, 83, 84, 97
Y. M. C. A., of Richmond, 121
Young, Lieut.-Gen. S. B. M., on war, 57
Transcriber's Endnotes:
The following significant errors have been corrected:
Portrait Caption, "Gardiner" to _Gardner_.
Page 102 & 160, "peculidæ" to _pediculidæ_, could be amended to
_pediculus_ however the former seems more in keeping with the
original intent.
Spelling errors occurring solely in the Index have been corrected
to match the main text.