The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1864-12-01
[NUMRER 26.
Interesting Narrative of an Escaped Prisoner
J From the Chicago Tribune

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, private in Co. K, 18th
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 successfully taken to Macon, Anderson
| VILE Augusta, Savannah Charleston, and
Columbia. At Macon he was fortunate
enough to obtain position in the hospital,
where he cared for the wounded men of Cook
and Stonemans raiders Among them wat
a Tennessee cavalry officer who was in {
dying condition. This officer gave to Eide
his clothes, and desired him to send home hi
shoulder straps and memorandum book tc
! his friends atKnoxvile Elder donned tht
officer s coat and placed the book and straps
in his pocket, which served him a good turf
as our readers will see. -s
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 pri
vate, but upon searching him, the with the
name of the Tennessee officer and the strap.
were found in his pocket. The rebels al
once demanded why he had registered hi i'm
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 propriety of his assuming
!, the rank even if it did not belong to him,
and acknowledged his mistake. The result
was that he remained in the pen only two
} days, and was soon removed to better and
} more desirable locality 1881
His account of the horrors of that pen
more than confirm previous descriptions. -
; Our poor fellows were in terrible condition
many of them were fearfully eaten by the
scurvy, their jaws and thigh bones, in some
INSTANCES, protruding through the skim
Large numbers, although comparatively
sound In body, were turned into maniacs by
the horrors of the scene.
They slept in a swamp without shelter.
They were stripped of their clothing, and
covered their nakedness with old rags and
: filthy meal sacks. In this plight the cold
dews of the night, the malarious, stcamng
vapors of the morning and the unwholesome
food soon reduce body and mind. Many
and many poor fellow has tottered to tho
dead line, and passed it in order to be shot
/ by the guard and relieved of his miseres by
DEATH
/ On one occasion, Elder saw sergeant de-
liberately cross the lines. He folded his
arms and called out to the guard to shoot
him. The bungling wretch fired five times
at him, the last shot killing him and two
of the others wounding other prisoners, one
| of them fatally The bodies of the dead
men left unburied and under the swelteriug
broiling sun, rapidly turned black and
sweled in the most repulsive manner.
Eaten with scurvy, gangrene and vermin
starved, beaten and abused; sick wounded
and crazed with the inhuman treatment,
they still clung with answering fidelity to
the Union cause, and no bride was large
enough to tempt them from their allegiance.
Noble heroes! gallant men! They truly
are wasting beneath the furnace bla st. God
help them.
From Andersonviie Elder was moved
back to Macon, where he made but tenn
porary stay, and thence on to Augusta
Here he renamed but a short time and
was again moved to Savannah. At this |
latter place their treatment was much bet
tier than they had expected.
There are Union men in Savannah, fact |
they discovered by presents of food and |
money being conveyed them surraptitiously.
There are no Notifications in the rear of Sa-
vannah, and garrison of 2, 900 men, most
ly militia, hold the place. Elder says Sher-
man will have no difficulty in taking Sa-
vannah, and will fnd plenty of Union men
10 greet the temperance of the Stars and
Stripes.
But like Ahasuerus, the prisoners must
still OH and the next time they were re-
moved to Charleston, where they were plac-
ed under Federal fire. Here they again ex-
pelienced at intervals the kindness Of Union
men, who found opportunities to convey ar
ticles of comfort and consumption to them
which were connlved at by
of certain reDel regiments, specif
cation of which would be of course irnprop- {
per. During their stay they were often
kept without food for four or five days aud
thus reduced to the starvation point. The
rebel authorities would then offer to pro
vide them with good clothes and the best of
food, with cooks to prepare it and comfort
able tent TO lodge in, if they would give
their parole and go to work in the quarter
master and commissary departments. Many
of our men worn down by fatigue and sick
ness, accepted the term and are now at work
in divers capacities. During his stay there
he received information from what he be-
lieved to be reliable source that there were !
hundred members of a Union League in the !
city of Charleston, albeit the hot bedsof trea- l
son.
From Charleston he was removed to Col I
1mbia, S. c.. Here as at Andersonvile, they
were kept in a pen, without shelter, like
cattle. Their rations consisted during the
six weeks he was confined there, OF a pint =
Of corn meal, in which the cobs were ground =
upwith the kernels, and quarter of a pint :
Of sour sorghum per day. No meat rations ,
W ere issued at all. In spite of the failures !,
Of several to escape--for the blood hounds
were keen upon the scent and had already
nangled and killed many (among them
Capt. Petrol of the 9TH Iowa)-Elder deter '
nined, as he had on three previous occa-
,ions to make his exit. =, - aL !
On the night of November 18th, Elder l
capt Patson, 18th Tennessee, one Of the e
Of the Fort Pillow Butchery, Capts.
Dickinson, Robinson and Burke, of the 10Th
Capt. Rennals, 10Th Ohio, Capt I
Smith, 10th Iowa, and Capt. Rathbone, 153d =
Ohio, planned their escape. Aiming them !
selves with clubs, they dashed suddenly u
upon the guards idling around the tire,and
each singing his man felled him to the
ground before musket could be fired or I
alarm given, and Immediately struck for '
the woods. l.-.
They hurried on to a Negroes cabin, who i
them of the locality of two boats /,
On the Congaree river-for the negroes
throughout the South are true as steel =
They were also provided with sweet pota-
toes, hoecakes and and cask of water
They embarked and were soon on their way
down the river, and as they glided cautious.
ly along in the intense dark, heard atar otI If
the baying of the bafed hound who had 1
lost the scent at the river bank. The guards
evidently believing that the prisoners had
crossed tie river gave up the chase and I
returned to Columbia. Our voyagers under y
the friendly cover of the night made rapid
speed and by daybreak were far on their way
towards the Atlantic. During the day, they