The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1865-01-07

hounds aud scouts and brought back. and
placed in the stocks, OF ,.-! up by tho thumbs
and have to stau3p pn tip toe a. "a punishment.
For:v-tiye sentinel boxes surrounded the
s,ockades with guard to each. On The
outside. some distance from the stockadeS.
thcv had a line Of pickcts consisting Of Old
soldiers. disabled III battle, and called the
invalid corps These were to keep the CON
crip.s from dese-ting. saw little boys, ap
. pareutiv thirteen OF fourteen wears Of age.
in the ranks, who could with difficulty should
er q mushct, and old men, seventy and eighty
wears Of age.
The rebels. aud old Vert esp c;aily, used
10 brag and boast that their troops, taken by
Union soldiers in battle, ard sent as prison
ers to the North, always came back hearty
and recruited in health while the id
Yanks in Southern prisons would hardly ever
be fit for service ngain-at any rate for many
months.
Tie prisoners became so desperate from
starvation that thev would murder their fcl
lows .or the little supply Of rations received.
The cry OF murder could at night he heard
all over the pen, rs the stronger ann mor@
voracious ones strangled or cut the throats OF
weaker ones for a spoonful! Of rice or an
ounce ofbread and meat.
Oae thing more and am done with An
iersonville, and write this to show what
hunger VII DO. have seen men vomit. and
Others run and fight 10 get to lick it up. This
] have seen with my own eyes, and could
say worse.
The people whom I saw and oonversed
with. had los; all hope OF the rebellion sue
ceeding They knew, and said. il was {. fail
ure, and they seemed TO be preparing for
:. sulbiuration to the Yankees When the
news of Sherman's march reached Anderson
Vile, there was great CONSERVATION among
the rebs. and we were hurried off to Millen.
They placed eighty OF us together in cars,
and we were consequently forced to stand up
tanned together as close rs possible. We
had twelve pounds Of bread and eight pounds
of meat to the car, which had to last US TWEEN
ty-four hours-tbe time consumed in going
to Milcu.
The stockades at Millen were similar to
those at Andersonville, with the exception
that at Milen there is only one line of them
and several trees in the enclosure. When
we left Andcrsonvile, we thought we were all
going to be exchanged and were consequent
" in better spirits. When the boys arrived
at Mllen and found no exchange, they felt
| as thongh fate had intended them as sacr-
! fee To Southern barbarism. Rebe, recruit
ing officers came in to recruit. and offered a
bounty of 800 fin rebel scrip, or bushel of
sweet potatoes. About FIVE hundred Irish
| a, d ia5tern men joined the rebel army. All
/, took the "sweet potato bounty and had a
furlough of thirty days under guard at
| Augusta. .sl 7gs.o
| Here we learned we were to be paroled.
As each mans name was called he would
| step ont, when he would be asked what regi-
ment and company he belonged to, where
| he was taken prisoner, when, and how he
had been prisoner. If a prisoner name
was called who had died, Que Of our boys, re-
collecting his regiment. company, DC, would
answer to the uame and thus get paroled-
! This we called thanking out end great
many got clear BY the thanking out process,
Eight hundred Of us were thus paroled lii
one night, the rebels having no time TO pa
role more, rs Gen. Sherman was reported to
be within six hours march Of Millen. The
rest of the prisoners, some 5000, were sent
further South, reports said to Florida.
We were placed in cars as before, and
| reached Savannah in about twelve hours.
Here we were greeted by friendly demonstra
tions. ! saw several Union flags thrust ou,
of windows, but as quickly withdrawn. Wo.
men and children tired to fight their way
through the guard TO give Us pies and Other
eatables, but were rudely beaten back.
saw no defences about the city worthy Of the
name, but heard there were some formidable
works FIVE or six miles cut. Here ~ werl