The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-05-07

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Of it was alive, and eating at the other two.
thirds. Believe me or not, but i could
swear by my most sacred oath that many
q time our rati0ns were one-half worms
except our breed and that was baked OF
dried (you may take which you will out
of meal which was made of corn, cob,
bran and all mixed up together. Wegot Of
and about fivecubic inches at . time, a lit
tie rice or black bean soup, and canal or
river water. Those at the hospital got hy-
adrant water. The Belle Islanders got their
water out of the river. They washed them-
selves, had Their privy and drinking water
! all vt the same place. "A person could see
some of the starved wretches going all
over the island, trading for something to
eat. One would say, "Ill fill your can.
teens for ration Of corn bread" :" or "Ill
let you sleep in the middle for your ration
of brick Brass buttons were currency
on Belle Island, but they were soon played
out then what few Overcoats and blankets
| were left wGe sold TO the guard for some
thing TO eat; out this was played out, too,
90 At last they could freeze or starve. Tho
rebel guarCs would buy greenbacks 1t
twelve, andas high 40 twenty dollars "Con-
fed" for one dollar Of Uncle Sans money.
Common blsQsa huttons would cell for SIX
and eight dsllsssber dozen. Wheat bread
would cost eight dollars per pound but
ter fifteen dollars per pound; eggs eight
and ten dollars per dozen; two small ap-
ples for one dollar. AL except wounded
men were ribbed Of their money, their
postage stamps, paper, envelopes and brass
buttons, too; and 80 none but wounded
men had means to buy bread with. Some
of the boys got to keep their greenbacks by
the means o. Yankee trick, which is too
good toreveal. AcommOn-sized dog would
cost twenty. i've or thirty dollars. The
boys said they liked dog meat great deal
better than the Wormy mule meat which
we would get about twice q week. / did
not think 80 much Of eating dogs, but some
of the boys wOulG go to the dead house and
kill rats which hsd been eating at some OF
the dead men oil night; they would kill
the rats, skin. wash, fry and eat them. 1t
appears to me thst would starve before
would eat either rats or dogs, but, / can
can tell you with truth that q man will do
q great deal before he will starve to death.
The men in the hospital would be carried
into an old wood.shed after they were dead;
some would be carried out before they
were really dead and left to die afterward
in the woOd-shed, or dead-h0use, a. the
rebels called il. But before carrying them
out among the .est, or else the cruel nurses
would take them and Trade them Oh to the
guards. The eO-cailed corpse would then
be carried out in the sheet whereon he died
and dumped into the woOd.shed, the sheet
taken from him, and the dead man left with
the rats. II Iwould go out in the morning
to the wood-sled, which often did after !
fifteen to twenty dead men lying on heap
and - naked as the day they were born.
The greater rumber Of them would have
their ears n0ses, fingers-in abort, their en-
tire body would be eaten by the rats there
would Be nething left but skeletons. At
about nine O'Clock in the incoming a man
would bring wagon load Of rough Pine
skeletons would be put in, nailed up, and
hauled out again, ~ high ~ six on one
wagon. Thy would be buried like crimi-
nals-ratheI worse than some criminals
II box happened to be too short for q man
he would be doubled up and edged in some
way, any how. Sometimes one rebel would
stand on Tho box lid to keep it down while
another would nail it down. The rebel
doctors would frequently cut up some of
the dead bodies to try experiments, as they
called it. Seveyal Of the boys called me to
their hunks just before they died; they told
me not to lat the doctors cut them to pieces
after they we're dead they also entreated
me to have them put into the boxes before
the rats or logs would eat them up. One
night some half fstarved hogs got into the
wOOd-shed and eat several Of the dead men
entirely up; they left nothing Of them but
. few bones When the rebel guard saw it
he said-"7he Yankees make good feed for
our hogs" At the time the rebels were ex-
pecting Ger. Fitzpatrick to take the infer
nal hole of rebellion, every fire-bell and
church bell in the city. was tolling; the ne
safety, all the dogs barking, and the rebel
city battalion double-quicking through the
streets. never saw such q hustle in all
my life. The rebel guards told us not TO
dare to put our heads out Of the doors or
windows, o. they would shoot our -
brains out" They said that 1.-THE Yankees
are coming to take Richmond" The rebel
on were rejoicing. We were singing Yam
kee Doodle, Hail Columbia and other ma
tianal airs ; We were wishing the Yankees
God speed-but alas the day was not ours
The rebel Surgeon told US afterwards, that
their military authorities had put several
kegs of powder under the Libby Prison, SO
that If Richmond should fall into our hands
inmates, sooner than to have the confined
officers released. The rebel papers denied
this, but thu rebel doctors told us that they
saw It with their own eyes, and several Of
our boys are willing to Be sworn that it is
true.
About tie latter part Of March the rebel
doctors told as that the next Monday COM
ing we would ali 60 OaCK 10 10nke00Om.-
We all cAeered up and wished Monday
would come soon. Some of the boys that
were low and wasting away, oheered up
and looked quite different when they heard
they were going home to Father Abraham.
Monday came at last, but alas, no boat =
We were sorely disappointed, and some of
the boys sank and died just on the account
Of over exciting themselves. The rebels
told us that the next Monday the boat would
como up to Richmond from City Point for
thesick and wounded. Again wewaited and
tasted, ~ II were; again we were disap-
pointed. They then put It of till to.mor-
We thought the boat would never come.-l
But the rebel doctors would raise runors
and false reports every day in order to keep
us excited and in suspense all the time
At last We were paroled ON the 10th Of
April, but on acoountof high water We had
to stay while longer. We left Richmond
on the 10th inst. The sickest ones had to
stay. Some of them had been paroled and
carried to the ambulances, when the doc
tors ordered to stay, cried like little chill
dren. They said they would sooner die
than stay there and suffer any longer
T. r.