Transcriber’s Notes
Italic text enclosed with _underscores_.
Small-capitals replaced by ALL CAPITALS.
More notes appear at the end of the file.
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FIFTEEN MONTHS
IN DIXIE
——OR——
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE IN
REBEL PRISONS.
A Story of the Hardships, Privations and Sufferings of
the “Boys in Blue” during the late
War of the Rebellion.
——BY——
W. W. DAY,
A PRIVATE OF 60. D. 10TH REGIMENT
WISCONSIN VOLUNTEER INFANTRY.
OWATONNA, MINN.
THE PEOPLE’S PRESS PRINT.
1889.
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To my Comrades
who, like myself, were so
unfortunate as to have suffered the
horrors of a living death in the Prison Pens of the
South, and who, through all their hardships, privations, and
sufferings, remained loyal to our FLAG, and to my beloved Wife,
who suffered untold tortures of mind begotten by anxiety
on account of the uncertainty of my fate, for
fifteen long, weary, months,——this
work is dedicated in
F. C. & L.
by
THE AUTHOR.
COPYRIGHT, 1889,
BY
W. W. DAY.
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PREFACE.
I have sometimes been in doubt whether a preface was necessary to this
work; but have decided to write one, for the reason that in a preface
the author is permitted to give the reader a “peep behind the scenes,”
as he is not permitted to do in the body of the book. Since the
commencement of the publication of this story, in a serial form, a few
very good people have been so kind as to tell me, that it is “too late
in the day” to write upon the subject of Rebel Prisons. My answer is: it
is never too late to tell the story of what patriotic men suffered in
the defence of Constitutional liberty, and of the Union of States, which
union was cemented by the blood of our Revolutionary sires. It is never
too late to tell the story of,—
“Man’s unhumanity to man.”
It is never too late to tell the truth, although the truth may be
sharper than a two-edged sword. It is never too late to inspire our
young men to love, and venerate, and defend, the Flag of their Country;
to tell them how their fathers suffered in support of a PRINCIPLE. No,
it is not too late to tell this story, and I have no apologies to offer
any man, living or dead, for telling it. But, while I have no apologies
to offer, I deem an explanation in order.
Since I commenced writing this Story I have felt the want of a liberal
education as I never felt it before. For, to tell the exact truth, I
never enjoyed the advantages of any school of higher grade than the
common district school of thirty years ago. Therefore, kind reader,—you
who have enjoyed the advantages of better schools, and a more liberal
education,—when you find a mistake in this book, one which can not be
laid at the door of the printer, kindly, and for “Sweet Charity’s Sake,”
overlook it; for I assure you I would be thus kind to you under similar
circumstances.
W. W. DAY.
Lemond, Minnesota, September, 1889.
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CONTENTS.
Page.
CHAPTER I.
1 Introduction
2 The Battle of Chickamauga
5 Captured