American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1863-12-16
From the Pittsburgh Evening Chronicle
A Letter From Libby Prison !
LInnx Pnisos RionMosD, va, Nov. q, 1ses

letter by the underground now, I sit
down to write you few lines and let you
know the truth about the situation Of my
self and fellow officers Recellect, / will
juss speak about the officers, not the pri<
Yates, whose situation is much worse than
ours: There are over 800 military andn naS
val officers, and some few political prison.
ers, confined in what once was was a large
tobacco warehouse. Khe building is di-'
vided into nine large rosus. Each room
is one hundred feet long b, fifty vide
One room is used for hospital, and one.
for cook room, and one as a store room
and for officers leaving six rooms for the
nearly one thousand occupants. Wehave'
to sleep on the floor, with but one thin
blanket to each man. There are from ten
to fifteen windows in each ROOM but not
one of the windows has single pane of
glass in fact they have not even a sash.
Il does very well in summer, but now we
find it to be uncomfortably cold at night
with our thin covering, And to add to
our misery, the room is filed with vermin
On warm day we can see them crawl
ing ON the floor and walls. Between the
cold and vermin you can well imagine what
kind Of nights sleep wehave. / get up
every morning with an unfreshing sleep,
and my bones sore and aching from TheiT>
contact with the hard floor. r
The basemento of the building is divided
off, into cells, or dungeons, more properl
speaking. The dungeons are used to COZ
fine officers who in the least break I'll
prison rules, such as asking for more foy
looking out of the windows, talking to Il
guard, attempting to escape, &c. Anoffid
who has been confined there three weeH
when he comes out his shoes and clod
ing are mouldy, and he has altogether md
the appearance Of a corpse than livif
! man A part Of the basement is used
a staye pen, and every day we can hear
cries of the poor creatures as they am
brought thereto be whipped by their worsa
than savage masters. A few days ago fvg
women were given one hundred lashes eacf
for selling bread to our soldiers as tM
were being marched through the street, e
the city ON their way to Danville. ~
present time: there are $4,000 Uni4 4
diers in this cityas prisoners. The
ofthe officers has been much bettE
one would expect with such treating
rations as they give us.
When first we came here we were : ftf,
treated worse than we are now Our regt
ular ration is one poundof corn bread, half
pound Of beef, and a small quantity oil
rice per day. We fare much better since|
we are allowed to get boxes from home.-
have written to our suttler for another
box, and expect it here in day or two.
| have plenty of tea to last me for some
time longer / traded the most of mysu-
gar off for money and with the money /
bought bread. The box that is coming
will have army bread and two hams in it,,
besides some other little articles
Those officers who have any money can
send out by the Inspector, of the Prison,
and purchase bread and potatoes; but ev-,
erything is SO dear that it takes great
deal of money to go but short ways
To give you an idea of the priceof eata-
| bles in the Richmond market, enclose
you a slip from one of the daily papers,
Recollect it is the tchoiesaie price that is
quoted in the papers. TIE retail prices
rule about one-third higher For 6f1edof--
lar Of United States money we can get
twelve dollars of rebel currency. From
the cast side of the prison we have nice
view of the James river and of the beau
Ltiful rolling country for miles south of the
city But such a view only makes one de-
sire for freedom the stronger. Ihavenow
been prisoner for four months and dur
ing that time the sun has not shown on
me once. During August and September
we suffered very much from the heat, but
| it is from the cold we now suffer. Atthe.
present time, November 21st, see no
prospect of an exchange, but still livein
hopes that it will take place before the
last of January. 1t may possibly take place
before, but hardly expectit When VIC
are exchanged there is no doubt but what
we will get a leave Of absence for twenty
or thirty days.
There have been five orsix fag-of-truee
boats up siie., / heard from you. My
mess-mate gets one or two letters a week
| from his parents | have to buy allthe pa
per and envelopes | use, for when l wrote
NOME 1uf IL DoA, \ HeoiSSlct " sNHu 1DT pa
per. We only allowed to write twicea
month, we can receive as many as comes
to us. A sheet of paper of thiskin costs
fifty cents each. Il has been raining hard
all day, and on cloudy day the centre of
our room is too dark to read in it. As I
write I am as near the window as can
get. but it is still too dark to write easily.
We are not furnished with candles, and
the nights are so long and as tedious as
the DAYS. As soon as it is dark many of
the prisoners lay down to sleep, but some
will set around in groups on the floor,
talking of the hardships and dangers they
have undergone; while again others curse
Ed. STANTON, JEFF. DAVIS and their
bad luck all in one breath
Twice week we have religious servi-
ces; on Mondays by the Catholic Bishop
Of Richmond, and on Thursdays by one of
the Episcopal elergymen of the city
When the ehaplains were here we had
them every day, but they were all, with
two exceptions, such barefaced hypocrites,
that the prisoners would not listen to them.