The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1864-12-03
Prison Life in the South.

An escaped Union prisoner who was cap
tured in the summer of 1863, while scouting
in the service of General Burnside, has fur
nshed a New ork paper with a long ac
count Of his experience. He was the inmate
of three nrisons-the Pembcrton at Rich
mond, the Danvlle, and the infamous An.
dersonvlle. First incarcerated in the Penn
borton, he found there the usual cause Of
suffering operative, a great want of proper
food. He knew men fall down and die
before his eyes of starvation. Some of the
men would catch dogs and kill and eat them
in an almost raw condition, as there were
no means of cooking them. In the Danville
prison another element of suffering was
introduced in the crowded state OF the
prison. They suffered also from the cold,
and it was not until Christmas that clothing
arrived from the North to comfort them
The food furnished was of an inferior quality,
supposed to be made of mouldy flour mixed
with the crushed seeds of the sorghum. Or
the result of eating this he says:
- 1t caused the men to have the diabetes,
and they suffered terribly from this i'll their
crowded condition, beng unable to leave
their place of confinement, except OCCASION
ally. and a few at time. The small poX,
too. broke out amongst the men, and they
were so Unattended to that there were cases
in which men passed through the small, poX,
either dying or getting WELL without being
taken at all to the hospital. The hospital
treatment in Dan"ille, however, was very
good in comparison with that ut other Con
frderatc stations. At Danville all the pris
oncrs were searched, and everything about
1Hnm, as weapons, watches, knives, or trim
kets, was taken away from them. They
were placed in four ranks, standing, and all
were searched in that position. They mum
Lered about forty five hundred, and it took
nearly thirty hours to &C through the whole
number
He. with all his fellows, was removed to
Andcrsonville. where he was placed in the
Stockade which has already been described.
lie corroborates previous statements rela-
tive to the putrid swamp, the " dead line
the disease of the camp, and the disgusting
quality of the food. 10 cook this wood was
required. AND the men stroTe to get 1t by
ouarrelling with each other as to who should
90 out with corpscs to the dead, house. Only
one team hauled wood for the whole stock
ade and the only way the prisoners could
get extra wood was to take in some on their
return from this dead house. The prisoners
made many efforts to escape, by tunnelling,
&C., but they all failed, generally by treach
cry among themselves. To guard against
contingencies, shortly after the capture of
Atlanta all the well prisoners were removed
very hurriedly to Milan, Florida, and Flor
ence. South Carolina. There were five or
six thousand men in the hospitals, and sick,
who were not removed. The narrator was
among that number. The hospital was of
tents surrounded by a board fence. The
doctors in the hospitals tried to do the best
they could by the patients umder their care,
but the great difficulty was the want of pro
per food. The fare was little rye soup in
the morning, a small piece of beet--about
two ounces per day-with plenty of corn
bread. Vegetables were sometimes brought
in as contributions by the people round
about, bat, of course, made but very scanty
quantity for so many. No person visited
them but the Catholic priests, and these were
allowed to come only for religious purposes.
The scout, with four others, made his
escape from the hospita! by bribinga guard
with an overcoat and q pair Of boots to let
them get over the board fence At one side
Of the hospital there was a swamp almost
impossible, and for the purpose of eluding
the bloodhounds they first took to this
swamp, wading sometimes almost thigh deep
in mud and water, and tearing through dense
thckets. When they got out cf this swamp
they took southerly course, guiding their
way by the moon and stars Most escaping
men travelled to the North to reach Sherman,
and they believed they would be safer by
taking different course. They travelled in
the night time wholly, and as far as posi-
BILE through woods and unfrequented coun.
try, and hid by day in thickets. They had
taken the precaution to bring some provi-
sions with them, and they got, some corn
and sweet potatoes on the route. They ira,
veled for about three days, until they came
to the railroad west Of Fort Smith, and fol
lowed that down nearly to Albany. They
then got on to a sort of an island in a swamp
by mistake, and revealed themselves for the
first time. They chose for their confdant q
negro, a teamster, about 40 years old, owned
by wealthy planter, rather more intelligen,
than ordinary, and who used to drive in q
wagon hundred miles often for salt and
provisions. This negro furnished them with
provisions, and concealing them in his
wagon, gave them ride of about sixty OF