A sentinel house stood every 100 feet along the fence. Any prisoner crossing that line would be shot. That first winter of 1863-64, there was a shortage of blankets. Thermometer 30 below zero. 3 January 1864 - I suffer greatly for blankets.
Many fellows have no blankets yet and are very thinly clad.
Such men suffer terrible. I fear that disease and death will be the result of all this suffering. Prisoner s food rations were cut after June of 1864 due to the treatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville, Georgia. June of 1865 saw the release of the last prisoners. The Union guards, under Colonel Adolphus Johnson, were of the 4th Regiment Veteran Reserve Corps.