Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1865-04-28
The Experience Of q Union Prisoner.

TIIIRTEEN MONTHS IN REBEL PRISONS.
Edward Shields, who enlisted i'm this
city in old Co. X, Third Iowa Infantry
got home last week, having succeeded
in escaping from the rebels, in whose
hands he was a prisoner for thirteen
long months. lie was captured near
Canton, Miss, ON the 27th day of Feb
ruary, 1864, together with six others OF
his regiment, among whom was Moses
Allen, also of this place. From Canton
the prisoners We're marched to the Tom
bigbee River, distance of 80 miles
Before starting out the rebels robbed the
men of the greater part of their clothing
and all their valuables. They even took
from them their boots and shoes, and
compelled the prisoners to march the
entire distance dGre. .footed. During the
latter part OF the journey the blood flow
ed from their feet at every step. Or
reaching the TombiGbee they took {
boat to Demopolis, Ala, and from thcr,
/ they were sent to Cahawba, in tho Same
''tat., where they were put ia. prison. -
Shields remained there from about the
first of March until the first of May
when he was removed to the celebrated
AhdersonNilIe prison,--a place where
cSh0tccn Thousand of our brave boys lie
buried,--a prison pen which has wit
messed more misery, more diabolcal
brutality, than any othersince the world
was; which has been the scene of deed.
OF cruelty such as no people, civilized or
barbarian, outside of the traitorous do
mons of American Slavery could find il
in their hearts to intiict upon their fnl-
lowmen. In this terrible place Shields
remained four months and n half. At
this time there were about 5000 pris-
oners confined there. The men were
without shelter, without clothes, and
worse than all their rations consisted of
a pittance barely sufficient TO keep them
alive, and the quality was of the very
poorest. The author of q work entitled
" Life in Rebel Prisons" speaking of
Andersonvilie, gives the following, all
of which is corroborated by Shields, who
was there during the same summer with
the writer. He says:
In the month Of juno It raired twc,l-
ty-Onc days in succession, and it was
not strange that disease silOuld multipiv
and assume every imaginable form. -
There were fifteen thousand men in the
stockade, without shelter of any kind.
and it might be expected that the hos
pital would be rapidly peopled from
their ranks. During the waim season
it was dreadful. The men scarcely ever
wore any clothing at all, but shirt,
that they might keep as free as possible
from the lice which covered all their
clothing. 1t was three hours' work ev-
cry day, in my comparatively hea!thful
condition, to keep my own body tolera-
bly, free from them, and the poor sick
men, who were too feeble 10 help them
selves, would actually find their life
blood taken away from them In this
way. Many men have died apparently
from no other cause than that OF being
overrun with lice. 1 have had mems
hair cut when, If these had been meas
ured, there would have been i'm bulk q
half pint of them, and i'm size about a
quarter Of an inch. Mosquitoes, too,
were terrible. A man who could not,
through weakness, defend himself, look
ed as II he had the measles, so comp!ete-
ly would his face be covered with their
bites, and fleas without number We'd
with these to torment the poor prisoner,
sick or well, 4
"The principal diseases were diarrhea,
scuryy, dropsy, and typhoid fever. The
intensity OF suffering among those who
We're the victims OF the first mentioned
disease, surpaSses all description. have
known many Of them TO eat nothing
for q week at a time, except little -four
paste, while their evacuations would be
nothing but Gi1od, and attended with
the most exciucating pain. in
dropsy the suffering was hardly less
acute. / have seen the limbs of some of
the patients which had become so badly
swollen they would burat, and for the
want OF proper treatment become fkLed
uith Hui1ig things! The horrors
OF scarvy none can know but those who
have witnessed them. 1t appeared i'm
different forms. Sometimes it would
appear in the limbs, and the cords would
be so drawn up they could not walk
The flesh would become discolored as if
they had been beaten with clubs, and
SO soft the impress of the fingers would
remain as they pressed upon it. Some
times it would be confined to tho bones,
and not show itself outside at oil. In