Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1863-12-25

ST Vermont Cav
non. recently suc.
sca,e from Rich.
he Irasburoh Er.
he ceremonies of
tion TO Richmond.
ire naraded in the
through rows Of
Two or three times
o went NV. hut !,
J. There was no
apatly ovcrccme
lin, and want. The
went hv was in
r canfors As we
,ounied-this time
us-and fhe d,or
II was dark and
already stretched
on the floor for the night followed the ex-
ample set by those who had been inmates
OF the den for a while. Those who
had Blankets spread Them. Others threw
| themselves on The hard foor. nerhans with
| an oyercoat about their shoulders. and per-
| hans with nothino save the clothinp worn
during the day. There were no rroups Of
! friends here and there. thouob friends MIGHT
be together for the whole f,oor was entirely
covered bv The sl.ening forms
Morninp revealed 70 ma the long b;ob
room we were occnnv;no st,etcb;no across
the middle or tbe hniIding with The Grated
windows nj each end, There was an ah-
sence of GLASS or even sash and tho r.;n
or wind bea, m.ro;Isssl, !, inst 40 ,be s,or,,
chanc. 10 drive. There was no provis-
ion for fires. thouoh there were two fire.
nlaces in which coal migbt ha used Tbara
was also a plentiful sunplv Of water AZ one
side of the room. These were our opar-
ters.
About nine in the mornina an oficar
came in and ordered ma ont 70 roll call W.
were drawn nm in line four deem and count-
ed. That was ;. roll CALI and was attend
ed 70 Inv the officers in charge da;l1 Az
this roll call we were counted off into
!. messes " az a dozen men each far tbe
drawing of rations. One man was elected
| from each p,sss to whom, the officers gaea
! The ra,;ons far The wbola twalva and he n
,ur, divided the an,ornt be raoo; ved omo,,o
tho noan of b;s mess
Al ,his roll call too. another officer gave
Us an invitation 10 deliver nm what money
we had about ms. saving at the same time
| that if we came forward and gave if no
willingly. an account would be kept. we
should have the amount returned when we
were paroled or exchanged but if we did
NOT. we should be searched, our money all
| taken and no return made. Influenced by
this threat. MANY rave their preenbacks
the rebels would take no other. thus show
| inc their contemnt for their own worthless
raos. The " account was kept on loose
I sheet Of naper. and consisted only of the
name of the person and the amount Of
monev--no book. no recent. no date. moth
;no bnt the name and the account on those
! loose sheets of paper. Our eomnanv were
not searched. though heard the others
were who came in atterward
This oneration over. we drew the rstions
| of the dav-balf a loaf of bread nearly as
large as our government gives, and a piece
Of boiled fresh beet, of not more than twJ
| cnhi,. inches 10 each man. This wa, the
first food that had been issued 10 US since
taken. and was the amount we drew daily
while was a nrisoner. The ouality was
usually good enough. though the beef was
abcminably fresh. But to think of hearty
man living on eight or ten ounces of soii
bread and piece of beef as large as hi:
two fingers daily!!
Well. that night they took US out of the
! Libby and put us into an old tobacco facto
nv. filthier and far more inconyenient than
we had seen before. After a few days
howeyer. water was provided for each O
the three floors, the rooms were clsansed q
little, and our condition made more endur
able thar at first.