Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-11-18

/ ing AT rOll-call, the squad Ot'nlnety tC
which he belonged was deprived of the
ration. The ''dead-line" bullet. already
referred to, spared no offender. One
poor fellow, just from Sherman s army
his name was R0berts-was trying t(
wash his face near the "dead-line" rail.
ing, when he slipped on the clay bottom
and fell with his head Just outside OF the
fatal border. We shouted to him, but il
was too late another guard would
have n furlough," the men said. 1t was
y common belief among our men, arising
from statements made by the guard
that Gen. Winder, in command, issued
an ORDER that any Of the guard who
should shoot a Yankee outside of the
'dead-linc' should have Il month"; IS fur
iough, but there was probably no truth
III this. About two day were thus
shot, some being cases of suicide
brought on by mental depression OF
physical misery, the poor fellows throw
!ng themselves, or madly rushing out
side tie line
The mental condition of q large por-
ton of the men was melancholy, begin
ming in despondency and tending to Il
kind of stolid and iuiotic Indifference.
Many spent much time iii arOusing and
encouraging their fellows, but hundreds
vacantly to and fro, quite beyond any
help which could be given them within
their prison walls. These eases were
frequently among those who had been
imprisoned but a short time. There
were those who were captured in the
| first Bull Run battle, July, 1861, and
had known Belle Island from the first.
yet had preserved their physical and
mental !!ealth to a wonderful Degree
Many were wise and resolute enough to
keep themselves Occupied-some in cut
ting bone and wood ornaments, making
their knives out of iron hoops-others
in manufacturing iron from the rust
! from these same hoops, and with rude
| pens sketciling or initiating bank notes
or any sample that would involve long
and patient execution.
! Letters from home seldom reached us
ana few had any means OF writing. In
the early summer, Il large batch of let
ters-tive thousand we are tOld-arrived,
having been accommodating somewher
Tor many months. These We're brought
| intu camp by an officer, under orders to
collect ten cents on each--ot course most
were returned, and we heard no more OF
| them. One of my companions saw
among them three from his parents. but
lie Was Unable 10 pay the charge. Ac
| cording to the rules of transmission of
| letters over the lines, these letters must
have already paid ten cents to the rebel
| government.
| 1t is melancholy and mortifying fact
| that some of our trials came from our
own men. At Belle Isle and Ander-
soDville there were IL gang OF desperate
men, ready to prey on their fellows
Not only thetts and robheries, but even
murders were committed. Affairs he
came so serious 1T Camp Sumter that an
appeal was made to General Wiuder,
who authorized All arrest and trial by Il
criminal court. Eiwhty-siX were arrest
cd and six were i,ung, besides others
who were severely punished. These
proceedings effected Il marked change
| for the better.
| some few weeks before being released.
| was ordered to act rs clerk in the hos
| pital. This consists simply of Il few
scattered trees and fly tents, and is in
charge of Or. White, an excellent and
considera.e man, with very limited
means, but doing all i'll his power Tor
! his patients. He has twenty-five assist
ants, besides those detailed 10 examine
.or admittance to the hospital This
| examination was made III q small stock
ale attached to the main one, to the
inside door of which the sick came or
We're brought by their comrades, the
number To be removed being limited -
Lately, in consideration OF the rapidly
increasing sickness, it was extended to
one hundred anu fifty daily. That this
was too small an allowance is shown by
the fact that the deaths within our stock
a!c were from thirty to forty day. |
have seen one hundred and fifty bodies
waiting passage to tie dead house. y
TO be buried with those who died in hos
i,jtal. The average of deaths through
The earlier months was thirty day at
the time left, the average was one hun
!red aid thirty, and one day the record
showed one hundred and torty-siX!
! The proportion of deaths from starva-
ton, not including those consequent on
the diseases originating in the character
and limited quantity of food, such as
diarrhea, dyestery and scurvy, | cannot
state but, TO the best of my knowledge,
Information and belief, there were
scores every month. We could, at any
time, point out many for whom such a
fate was inevitable, as they lay or feebly
walked, as mere skeletons, whose ema-
citation exceeded the examples given in
Lestio's Illustrated for June Is, 1884,
For example: in some cases the inner
edges of the two bones of the arms, be-
tween the elbow and the wrist with the
intermediate blooh-vessels, Were plainly
visible when held toward the light
The ration, in quantity, was perhaps
barely sufficient to sustain life, and the
cases of starvation We're generally those
whose ston.achs could not retain what
had become entirely indigestibie.
! For Il man to find. on waking, that his
comrade by his side was dead, was an
occasion too common to be noted.
have seen death i'm almost all the forms
OF the hospital and battlefield, but the
daily scenes in Camp Sumter exceeded
in the extremity OF misery all my previ-
Gus experience.
| The work o; burial is performed by
our own men, under guard and orders
twenty-five bodies being placed in q sim
ole pit, without headboards, ana. the sad
duty performed with indecent haste
! Sometimes our men were rewarded fOI
this work with a few sticks of firewood
and have known them quarrel over q
dead body for the job.
DR.. White is able to give the patients
a diet but little better than the prison
rations-a little -four rorridge, arrow
root whisky and wild or hog tomatoes.
In the way of medicine, l saw nothing
but camphOr. whisky, and decocton
of some kind of bark-white oak, |
think. He often expressed his regret
that he had not more medicines. The
limitation of military orders, under
which the surgeon in charge was placed,
is shown by the following occurrence
\ supposed private, wounded in the
thigh, was under treatment in the hos
pital, when it was discovered that he
WAS a Major of a colored regiment The
assistant surgeon, under whose immedi
ate charge he was, proceeded at once
not only to remove him, but to kick
him out, and he was returned to the
stockade, to shift for himself as well as
he could. DR.. White could not or did
not attempt TO restore him.
After entering on my duties at the
In.,iial I u-ac nccacinnnll1, fa1 1.nrod VI, Il d