New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-02-08
%.nrv MONTHS IN THE SOUTH.
Cout,uued.from Pfrs, Pase.

CoutInu ed. from First Pase.
hixbt in the thick darkness inhahne the ioul
and the acrid smoke, longing for the morning "heh
we could again catch glimpse OF the o'eTareAlHe
aky. a. c,nr,,,rv
Think Of this death.ifc month after month !!
Think Of men Of delicate organization, accustomed
60 ease and luxury, Of fine taste and passionate
sove of tho beautiful, without word Of sympathy
Or whisper of hope, wearing their days OUT anna
such scenes Not pleasant sound, nor d s"o''
odor, nor a vision Of fairness ever reacneu 'hoA
They were buried ss completely az II they LAY o''
meath the ruins of Pompeii or Hercuianeuin. me!
breathed mechanically, hut were shut out from an
that renders existence endurabe. Every sense was
shoeked perpeually and yet the heart, by strange
inconsistency kept up its throbs and preserved inc
pbvscal being of hundred and fifty wretehed cap
tiyes. who, no doubt, often prayed TO die
Fewpcr can have any idea Of long imprson'
ment in the South. They usually regard II lneIc'!
M an absence of freedom, deprivation OF inc
pleasures and excitements Of ordinary lie. lhey
do not take into consideration the seant and hiser
able ratious that no one, unless he be half fam
i.hed, can eat; the necessity of going cold ana
hungry in the wet and wintry season; the constant
torture from vermin, Of which 10 care nor preeau'
tion will free you the total isolation. the supreme
drcariness, the dreadful. monotony, the perpetual
turning inward of the mind upon ITSELF the selide-
youring of the heart week after week, month after
month, year after year.
Most strange that csptives there do not lose ther
reason, or die of hamilton and despair. How hard
Mis to kill a man l had not fully learned until
fortune threw me into Rebel hands. fully be-
hevod, when thrust into the Libby, that would
not survive three months, and the first week was
attacked with burning fever that promised me-
deliverence in much hreftr time.
We grow accustomed 10 everything. outlved
the fever and the long csptiyityard will no doubt
outliye the Rcbellion--by determination rot to
surrender existence if VIII could retain it.
Frequently thought of the suggestive words OF
Glanyil: "Man does rot yiold TO death, nor TO the
angels even, save through the weakness Of a con-
uuered will and my spirit seemed 10 grow stronger
and control the failing flesh.
Man must be a brute or philosopher to bear up
under all the trials of confinement in Rebeldom;
and wonder now how the stoicism l had so long
cultivated stood me in that period of most urgent
need. Much do marvel that passed through the
ordeal unscathed, whether an the same mortal
who bore with outward calm and uneomplaining
fortitude nearly two years OF Southern captivity.
Was it my other or my actual self who passed those
ages Of months in Secessa1 fancy see myself
still in Richmond or Salisbury, pacing those filthy
aoors, and that be who dashes the pen across the
page is another identical form Of my developed
consciousness.
More fortunate, as was, than most ofmy fellow
prisoners, still am / surprised that did not perish
in pure seif-defense. What motive or purpose had
to cling to the PlanetY Perhaps, uncoDsciousy
my instincts held me, and informed me vaguely
OF the day Of deliyerence.
All that somber past appears now ike night.
mare DREAM and this restoration 10 q free and nor
NAL condition the glad awakening. The recent re
alities seem shadows; and yet they were sucl
shadows struck terror to the soul Of the tyralt
king.
While one beholds the vast throbbiug, rushing
life of the great, fee enlightened North, he fnd
# difficult TO believe but few days divide him from
the meanness and misery, the despair and decay and
horror that are the constant comnanions nf tho h"r-
less victims immured in the prison-pens Of the
South
THE FIRST NINE MONTHS N North CAROLINA
On the whole our confinement at Salisbury for
nine months was as epdurable az Az we had e1'
penenced. We had an opportunity to purchase
supplies outside, and had tho means TO do go, which
kept us in a comparatively comfortable condition.
Indeed, we never lived !or single week ct a time
on the ratons Of any prison in which we were, nor
could we have sustained life and health without
those provisions Of our own buying that furnished
our principal nourishmeut. We would not have
staryed outright; but the tone Of our physical sys-
Gem would have become 80 low that, in the event
of any illness we could not have rallied The reg
Mar rations, even when largest and best. did little
more than support life; and If sickness came
Heaven help him on whom 1t foil. Very few taken
seriously i'll but found rude ard unknown grave.
Little mourning was there for the dead; the sor'
row was for those Who were left behind. 1hose
had ceased to suffer- to these, every morrow bristed
with unknown horrors and darby -conjectured woes
YEARrUL GRANGE.
After nine months nine or ten thousand enlisted
men were sent to Salisbury from Richmond and
other points; and then began a reign Of pain and
horror such as had not believed could exist in the
Republic under any circumstances.
Our poor soldiers had been robbed Of their
blankets overcoats. often their shoes and blOUses,
turned for some weeks into tie open Enclosure with
ont sheltef After while, they were given tents
capable of accommodating about half their num-
Der; and there they began to sickcn and die from
cold and hunger--the rations being sometimes only
o small ieoe of corn bread in foryeight hours uD'
Gil the daily mortality ranged from twenty-five 10