Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1864-12-02

P.r the glorious light OF the future CLEANS
Der the down.'rod race that their blood reieems
IL Is well oh God, IL Is we'll know,
But twas Leightons boy and loved him so.
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From the Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. GATH
THE SOUTHERN PRISoNS.
INTERFERING NARRATIVE OF AN
ESCAPED PRISONER.
7hs Fees ef Mucon. Anie,soaeiue aud Co'a,nJia-
Terrific SgeriHgs or he ttierui Prisoners 4
journey Ht0Hgh the Hea,t of SOatt CtyoLina-Fi-
deity IF hs Negroes. .ki,Gcaioais kacipe--l.fer-
essing Concerning shern'ans Koceaeat.
From an interview with j. L. Elder, of
Cedar Baplds, Iowa, private in Co. X. llth
Iowa Infantry, and an escaped prisoner from
Southern dungeons, we have gathered many
items of interest. Mr.. Elder was taken pris.
oner at or before Atlanta in July last, and
was successively taken to Macon, Anderson
vile, Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, and
Columbia. AT Macon he was fortunate
enough to obtain u position in ths hospital
where he cared fer the wounded men of Cook
and Stonemans raiders. Among them was
Tennessee cavalry officer who was in a dy-
ing condition. This officer gave to Elder his
clothes, and desired him to send home his
shoulder straps and a memorandum book to
his friends at Knoxville. Elder donned the
| officers coat, aud placed the book and straps
in his pocket, which served him a good turn,
as our readers will see.
Shortly after, he was removed to Ander.
sonville, that den Of horrors worse than the
Black Hole Of Calcutta, or the terrors of the
Jersey, in revolutionary days. The prisoners
were drawn up in line, and examined and
registered. Elder gave his name as a private,
but upon searching him, the book with the
| name Of the Tennessee officer and the straps
were found in his pocket. The rebels at
once demanded why he had registered him
self as private, and told him he must be
silly to want to go into the pen when he
could be better treated as an officer. Elder
at once saw the proprety Of his assuming
the rank even if it did not belong to him,
and acknowledged has m;stake. The result
was that he remained in the pen only two
days. and was soon removed to better and
more desirable locality. His account of the
horrors OF that pen more than confirm pre-.
vious descriptions. Our POOR fellows were
in a terrible condition. Many of them were
fcar'uly eaten by the scurvy, their jaws aud
thigh bones, in some instances, prutruAing
TIN oreh the skin. Large numbers, a.tho
comparatively sound in body, were turned
into maniacs by ths horrors of the SCENE
They slept in swamp without shelter
They were stripped OF their clothing, and
covered their nakcdncss with old rags aud
filthy meal sacks. In this plight the cold
dews OF the night, the malarious, Steamiug
va2ors o: the morning and the unwh0lcsome
food soon reduced them in body and mind
Many and many poor fellow has totiered to
the dead line, and passed it in order to be
shot 10y the guard and relieved Of his miScr
les by death. On one occasion, Elder saw a
sergeant deliberately cross the lines. He
folded his arms and called out to the guard
to shoot him The hungling wretch fired
five times at him, the last shot killing hIm
and two OF the others, woundng other pri>.
oners, ore of them fatally. The bodies Of
the dead men left unburied and under the
swelterng boiling sun, rapidly turned black
and sweled IN the most repulsiye manner.
Eaten with seur9y, gangreue and vermin !;
starved, beaten and abused; sick. wounded
aud crazed with the lnhuman treatment they
still clung with answering fidelity to the
Union cause. and no bribe was large enough
to tempt them from their allegiance. Noble
heroes! gallant men They truly are g, ait
ing beneath the furnace blast. God help
them.
From And9rsonvlIe Elder WAS removed
back to Macon, where he made but tempo
rary stay, and thence on to Augusta. Here
he remained but hort time, and was gain
moved to Savannah. At this latter place
their treatment was much better than they
had expected There are Union men in Sa
rannah, fact they discovered 10y presents of
food and money conveyed to them surrepti.
tiously. There are no Notifications in the
rear Of Savannah, and garrison of 1000
men, mostly militia, hold the place. Elder
says Sherman will have no difficulty in tax.
ing Savannah, and will find plenty uf Upon
men 10 greet the re appearance Of the Stars
and Stripes.
But like Ahasucrus, the prisoners must
still on, and the next time they were removed
TO Charleston, where they were placed unde,
Federal fire. Here they again experienced
at intervals the Kindness of Onion men, who
found opportunities to convey articles Of
comfort aud consumption to thcm-0pportu.
mites which were connived at by members
Of csftain rebel regiments, the specification
Of which would Of course DO improper Du
ring their stay they were often Eept without
food for four Or five days, and thus reduced
to the starvation point. The rebel authori
ties would then offer to provide them with
good clothes aud the best of food, with cooks
to prepare it, and comfortable tent to lodge
in, if they would give their parole and 20 to
work in the quartcIinas,er and conimissary
departments. Many Of our men worn down
with fatigue and sickness accepted the terms
and are now at work in divers capacities.
During his stay there, he received lnforma-
ton from what he believed TO be d reliable
source that there are seven hundred members
of a Union League in the city Of Charleston,
albeit the hotbed Of secession and treason.
From Charleston he was removed to Co.
lumbia, 5. q. Here, as at Andcrsonvllle,
they were kept IN pen, without sbeltcr,
like cattle. Their ratiops consisted, during |
the six weeks he was confined there, Of a
pint Of corn meal, in which the cobs were
ground up'wth the Kernels, and a quarter Of
apnt OF sour sorghum per day. No meat
rations were issued at all. In spite Of the |
failures of several to escape--for the blood |
hounds were keen on the scent, and had al. |
ready manglcd and killed many (anong them !
Captain Petrol, Of the 9th Iowa Elder dc. !
termined, as b. had on three previous occa.
sions, to make his exit.
On the nigh. of November 18Th, Elder, |
Capt. Pastor, 9Th Tennessee, one of the sur, !
vivors Of the Fort Pillow butchery, Capts.
Dickinson, Robinson and Burke, of the 10Th |
Capt. Rrnnals, 18th Ohio, Cart. |
Smith, 10th Iowa, and Capt Rathbone, 1881 |
Ohio, planned their escape. Aiming them
selves with clubs, they dashed suddenly upon
the guards dling around the fire, and each
singing his man, icled him to the ground |
before musket could be 6red or alarm civ.
en-, and Immediately struck for the woods
They hurried on to negro's cabin, who in.
formed them Of the locality Of two bents ON |
the Congaree rver-for the negroes through
out the South are as true as steel They
were also provided with sweet potatoes, hoe
cakes and cask Of water. They embarked
and were soon on their way down the river,
and as they gliaed cautiously along in the
intense dark, heard afar eff the baying Of the
safilcd hound who had lost the scent at the
river bank. The guards evidently bclieging
hat the prisoners had crossed the river gave
up the chase, and.retuInedto Columbia. Our
royagers under the friendly cover of the night
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