, 1865-05-26
The Horrorg Of Andergonville.

Several days ago we met party of prisoners
escaped from the "bull pens" of Georgia.
They were gaunt, bony fellows, not long genough
fed to fill out and still looking hungry They
had been driven from Andersonyille into other
prisons, the rebels hurrying them from place to
place to avoid Sherman. They were fifteen.
in number, and had escaped at different times,
and, reaching the sea-coast, had gotten upon
vessels, and had been taken to Hilton Head, and
from thence had been forwarded by the ''Ful-
ton," to New York, and were, when we saw
them on their way to Annapolis, Nd. to report,
get their pay, and as they hoped, a furlough
They described the prisons at Andersonyille
as being attilst ten and afterwards eighteen
acres in extent, surrounded by a stockade fence,
very high, and upon the top Of this fence, at
stated points, little guard houses or sentry
boxes. The enclosure consisted of ravine or
low place,.an rising ground on either side A
little brook ran through the center. Into this
pen there were 80 ,000 prisoners on the rolls at
one time; besides those in the hospital The
hospital was nothing more than one corner Of
the field, where sick mssf were carried and Hid,
without beds or anything beneath them, and
only the sky above them. When it rained they
laid in the mud and water, and the soldier with
whom we conversed said he saw two of his com
panions, who the last days of their lives, were
half covered up with mud and water after
this place where they had lain for weeks i'll of a
fever, and indeed he had not so much as a blank
ct to give them, as he had only aepiece of pair
of drawers to cover his own n8bFdness
The fare Of the prisoners great part of the
time consisted Of four table spoonsful of(buggy)
beans, (called peas there) ana four spoonsful of
meal, such al we use for horse feed, corn ground
up, hull cob and all. 1t was very seldom that
they could get wood to cook their food with,
when we were furnished itzgas only one common
quarter (splt) cord stick ana this was divided
between twenty men. 1t was splitup into twenty
pieces and then one turned his back and decided
whose should be each split. After the wood
was stopped altogether, the men had to soak
their beans till soft in cold water from the brook
eating their meal raw. This brought on dysen-
terry and scurvy ofwhich in seven months 2 O5O
died. AT one time they died faster than they
gould be buried and carted out, and the soldiers
prisoners were permitted TO carry out their
dead comrades, and in this way were able to get
brush and wood from outside, Weing with each
other for the privilege Of carrying out a dead
man. 1t was one of these occasions, when gath
ering wood outside Of the prison pen at Florence
that the party with whom we conversed escaped.
They saw they were unObserYsd by the guard,
and as soon as beneath little knoll, dropped
their load Of wood and made for the bushes
One Of the patty had paper of cayenne pepper,
which for five dollar greenback, he had pur-
chased from one Of the guard, and this they
sprinkIed in their tracks to stop the hounds
which they afterwards heard baying loudly on
their path.
They were fed by negroes and in fifteen days
reached the coast. Signalling tender, were ta-
ken on board, clothed by the sailors and fed till
they arrived at Hilton Head.
They belonged mostly to a Massachusetts reg
iment and were Ofasquad captured at Plymouth,
when two companies who were guarding the
town were taken by the rebels. When captured
fifteen wounded negroes were killed before
their eyes The negroes begged piteously to be
taken prisoners, but were all bayoneted as they
lay excepting two who, showing a determination
The white Plymouth soldiers we're then taken to
Richmond and from thence to Andersonville in
close cattle cars, seVenty-fye in each car, and
for three days and nights were without food
At Salibury the cars were opened and ten or
twelve taken dead from each car. When the
exchange of 10 900 was made at Charleston the
prisoners were told that all who had $40 in
greenbacks could go, and all who had up to
this time been able to secret this amount got off
on the exchange but all the prisoners captured
by Virginia soldiers had been invariably stripped
clean and robbed of all-even their clothing so
few of them got away. They did not know that
the exchange had been agreed upon; but sup
posed their keepers got them through on the $40
arrangement. The soldiers captured by Georgia
or South Carolina Confederates had mostly been
permitted to retain their blankets and some of
their clothing.
In May, very often days rations was missed
the supply train from Savannah not comming
up, and then the curses from the starving thous-
ands were loud and deep. These missing days
rations were never made up to them. Some
stealing took place and raids were de.by hun
CRY crowds, and the meal captured and the tin
cups carried off. This led to the establishment
Of police and Judge Lynch's Court, and on the
18th of June the prisoners hung six of these
raiders or robbers. This stopped the theiving
and those who were straying went down and
picked undigested beans from the filth of the
low ground, washed and ate them, preserving