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

l arrived on the evening Of the 18th Of No
vember. l was the only Yankee in th,
car, among about twenty wounded rebels
They did not know that was Q prisoner
and 20 bad an opportunity of hearing tht
rebels talk about the war when they tho'I
they were alone and no Yankees listening
l lay as quiet rs could, and let them b
none the wiser, for ! was covered with 8
rebel blanket, and they had not seen my
suit OF blue yet. / arm not able to relate tC
you their encouraging conversation, bul
tne amount of~lt was that I'VE will never
set Southern Confederacy." 1.-THE Yam.
KEGS are sure to whip u.s." I'VE don't ge,
Yankees have plenty Of every thing, and
we get nothing 1--WE ought just to 20
home and not fight another bit, and then
the war would come to an end before " 9 are
all killed of, for the Yankees will gain the
victory any now" &c.
lay next to the door Of the car, for was
put in last. The train moved very slowly;
at = station just before We got to Richmond;
do not feoollect the name, but at any rane
there Was . woman there selling apples to
the rebels. One In my car says to me part
ner, buy US some apples.'' told him that
had no money. "Oh, says he, ''I,ll give
you the money" He handed me paper
rag, which he called - dollar in Confed. y
l UQO0eV
and got three apples for the dollar. han
ded him the. apples; he gave me one, one
to bis right-hand man, and kept one him
self. As got up to buy the apples they
saw my ''blue all over suit" and as Iturn-
ed saw that all eyes were directed toward
me. As many as twenty asked me all at
once, TO what regiment do you belong1"
told them, when about twenty voices re-
Piled, "Oh, you are . Yankee" told
them that was no Yankee, but Federal
soldier. 'sOh, said they, tits all the same
thing" ! am not able to Tell you what
their questions were, but we had quite q
series Of dialogues before we got to Rich
mond.
was taken from the railroad station to
an old tobacco House, called Military Pris-
on, Hospital No. q, ward c. There arri-
ed on the evening Of the 29th, and got a
piece Of bread to eat from the Ward-master,
which was the first had eat since was
captured. went to bed that night, IL bed it
can be called, but instead Of bed 70 reet
upon, 1t was den Of vermin for o man to
De tormented to death upon. i slept lit
tie that night, and it vas little, too, for /
would not overrate it if / would Say that
myself. I was in the rebel hospital three
days before l had anything done to my
wound, which was, in all, Eve days after I
Was wounded. Ny wound had swelled up
to an awful size and was as black as lei.
The doctor then ordered the nurses to ap-
ply cold water every fifteen minutes; but
some Of our own men are almOst as mean
AZ the rebels, fol. they neglected me ~ well
~ others of their fellOw-soldiers; instead of
applying water every fifteen minutes as
the doctor had ordered, they applied 1t
twice in twenty-four hours. II any one
would complain, they would curse and
swear At him, and threaten to tie him.
n~H<> ~ AA<~nn 1~,A ~ - n
inson actually took man by the throat
and checked him till he was almost life
less; the poor fellow died few hours after
ward. A great many of our boys died last
winter Of mere neglect Of our own men
who were nurses In the rebel hospital
They not only suffered for something to
eat, but were neglected in every respect;
min; or as the rebel doctors said, by "gray-
backs" The doctors attended TO N ~ we'll
~ they could, at least that one that attend
ed in ssWard c." but how can Q surgeon
treat q patient to any advantage If he has
no means to do 90? for the rebel doctors
did not have sufficient medicines for ten
men, much less ten or -welve hundred.
The average number Of deaths in and
about Richmond was about one thousand
per month; three-fourths died OF starva-
ton; Ono-half of the remaining fourth, of
cold; and the remainder OF wounds and
| natural diseases. But il Our men had re-
| ceived the right kind OF treatment, such
treatment as is due TO prisoner Of war,
nineteen-twentieths Of them would not
| have died. The boys on Belle Island snf-
fered beyond description. have not the
expression, nor do think that words will
express the reality of their suflerings. You
may imagine 1t. but you never can imagine
all OF their sufierings, and all this for what
offence? What crimes were those poor be-
hxAsvn n
| most correct answer TO these questions is,
"the crime of volunteering to defend our
Government, its Constitutions and laws
flag that our fOrefathers died to establish;
for the crime Of trying to put down this
Satanic rebellion" For thus crime our gal
liant soldiers suffered hunger, thirst, cold
and murder! Murder can say with truth,
for many one was shot to death on Belle
Island. A Sergeant and about twenty men
were detailed one day to clean out ditch;
the rebel officer told the Sergeant that he
should taket charge OF the men, that he
should take his place on the embank nkment.
&c. The Sergeant obeyed his orders, put
dered by the rebel officer. He had not
more than done so, before the sentinel
called out, "git off dat bank, dar." The
Sergeant told him that he was obeying his
orders which he had received from the off,
Ger of the day. The rebel sentry never
spoke another word, but cooked his mus
ket, and shot him dead without further
ceremony. "Dar," says the rebel, 'you
damn Yankee" There was nothing done
to the guard; there was one Yankee less
that was their consolation. One night two
of our boys were out in the ditch, and
could not find their way out Of it. The re-
bel guard was nigh the place, and, without
saying a word, be fired At them; he shot
one dead and wounded the other, but before
he could reload his piece, the wounded one
escaped.
Those who were captured last winter
were put on Belle Island, but first robbed
of their money, blankets, overcoats. and
even hats. They had no tents or anything
else TO ahelter them from tho frosty winter
nights. They would lie down on the sand
lin spoon fashion style! % high e twenty
In bunch, with nothing but the starry
heaven Tor their covering, and the God Of
mercy for their protection. In this way
they would sleep, Or rather suffer tho whole
night. They would take their turns In ro-
tation for sleeping on the ends Of the rows,
which were always the hardest and cold