North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1863-01-28

but under a kind Providence I began to get
better from that time on. If anything could
add to the cruelty inflicted upon me during
these long days and nights of my sickness
and suffering, it was the refusal of the CON-
mandant to allow me the use Of Bible. -
Day after day begged of the sergeant to
procure one for me. HIS constant answer
was, "the commanding officer says you
shan't have one." begged him to remind
the commanding officer that we lived in a
Christian, and not in heathen land-that I
was an American citizen, and not condemn
| ed ftlon. Still the answer was " the COM
mandIng officer says you shan't have one,
and you need not ask any more ;" and i,
was not until af er sixteen days of such more
than heathenish treatment that Col. Burke.
OF Fort Hamilton, upon the Importantly of
my son, sent an order to the comman ant of
Fort Lafayette to let me have Bible 1t
was upon the sixteenth day ofm lonely i'm.
pris"nment, that my son, upon an order from
the Secretary Of War, was permitted to see
the, not in my lonely cell but in the com.
mandants room and presence. 1t was with
much difficulty that, even at that time, was
| able 10 walk from my cell to the command
ants room. This was the first time during
my imprisonment that | was able to obtain
an interview with the commandant In his
weekly inspection of the prisoners he had
carefully avoided my dungeon. No kindly
message of inquiry as to my wants and con-
difion had ever reached me from him. 7
seized upon this opportunity to let him know
that was humrn being, and as such, enti
tied to humane tr atment that such thin.
as refusing prisoner a Bible was unknown
in any civilized community. His answer
was. that he was not permitted, under his
orders, to let me have one. had great rea-
son to be thankful! that my sons visit gave
me an opportunity to see the commandant,
ior IRON that time, although kept in solitary
confinement, my co lItiOn was made more
nf'rtable. A better mattress was But up
on my bed, occasionally raw "niun or to
mat"e was added to my dinner, and twice,
believe, some picked beets were sent me
from the cook room. My son was compelled
to visit Washington city and obtain from
the Secretary Of War an order to that effect.
before he could See me AS soon as he learn
ed how had been treated, he returned i'm
med'atelJ to Washington, and with the As
s>Iance of a very kind friend, procured an
order from Secretary Stanton for my re-
lease from Solitary confinement, and that
should have al the privileges accorded to
the other prisoners. And that after twenty
two days of this luathsome and worse than
heathenlsh treatment, my dungeon door wa
unlocked, and was permitted to hold inter
course with nv fellow prisoners. Such nv
friends, is PLAIN statement of the manner OF
my arrest, and the treatment received dur
ing the twenty-five days of my solitary CON
tinement.
Ii 1t affords any qualification to those Re
publlcans who caused my arrest, they aye
welcome To it. Their time will come some
day. The end is not yet" AT er my re-
lease from solitary Confinement, was gut
twelve OF US in room measuring Is by 25u
In this room we slept, cooked and eat In 1t
were our beds, chairs, tables, trunks, cooking
utensils, table furniture, &c. We were lock
| ed into our room at sundown, and unl,cked
again at sunrise. Through the day we were
permitted to stand or sit in front of our Gel,
| inside OF the fort. We had, morning and
evening, what was called walking hour.n
This hour was sometimes ten and sometimes
thirty minutes long, just as suited the caprice
OF whIm OF the sergeant. Our walking round
was inside the fort. We were permitted to
walk backwards and forwards across the area
OF the fort, which was perhaps a little larger
than your City Hall. We were permitted
through the commanding officer, to supply
and cook our own food. We were compelled
To use rain water for all purposes-conki ing
washing and drinking. Each and every time
that we drew any water from the cisiern We
were required first to Obtain permission from
the sergeant of the guard. This, like all c,s
tern water, was sometimes quite usabe and
sometimes quite offensive. Mr.. ChIds, one
"f my mess, informed me tha: at one time
during the latter part of last winter, IN con-
sequence of the accumulation of ice IN the
cutters, all the washings and scourings from
the soldiers quarters run into the cistern out
of which the prisoners were compelled to
draw the water which they used-that the
wat became SO filthy that they had to boil
it and skim off the fiji tn before using it; and
that notwithstanding they had three other
cis,erns inside the fort, full of COMPARATIVELY
clean water, yet the commanding officer CON-
PEELED them to use these filthy washines
from the soldiers quarters. / will, with
your PERMISSION, my friends, lelate another
incident connected with Fort Lafayette, so
monstrous, SO hoathenish as almost to chal