The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1865-06-16
Prison Life in the csouth-Capt. AIbnn'.
Narrative. .-s.s..r. O.. I'd. F.r


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Prison Life In the csouth-Capt. AIban't
Narrative. aer. Fe rrFn
coNrINUED FROM LAST WEEK.
Now came hard times indeed. =
Many Of the prisoners were almos
destitute of clothing; some had ONT
blanket, many had none, and th,
weather about this time became in
tensely cold. In describing my owr
case describe that of many others o.
my fellow prisoners. My under
clothing was entirely worn out ant
thrown away; my blouse and shirl
were so worn that my arms were bare
to the shoulder; my vest was minus
the back and all thc buttons but one
and good part of the front. By
unravcling old socks and darning my
pants whenever / discovered q break
l managed to keep them together
l think when j came to Richmond
where Gen. Hayes issued me new
suit, I had the aa, ndest pair of pants
ever q white man wore. 1 had nei.
ther shoes, hat or socks.
As we had no light by which to
read, and nothing to read if we had
had light, we generally went to bed
at dark. After the weather became
cold we could not stand il more than
one-half or three quarters of an hour
without getting up TO warm. Iwould
get up and go to the fire five or sis
times of night, and always found
a large crowd of men around the
stoves in the same condition as my.
self The enlisted men were in an in.
flnitely worse condition than we were
Those Of us who had money were
furnished -four at three dollars PEI
pound, meal at one dollar and hall
per pound, rice two dollars per pound,
butter fifteen dollars per pound, po
tatoes ninety dollars per bushel, eggs
nine dollars per dozen, and every
thing else in proportion. may as
we'll state here that it appeared to be
u uniform practice among those hav.
ing charge of us, TO make a fortune
out of us. The rations allowed by
the confederate government, if issued
in full quantities, was hardly sufll-
cicnt to sustain life in most of men
We were not allowed even this. The
salt, rice, beans, meat and vinegar
were retained, thus compelling those
who had money to buy or starve.-
Most of the officers succeeded in ne.
gotiating a loan with some of the cit
izens at two dollars in confederate
money for one in greenbacks, or six
for one in gold; if they had the mon
cy in their pockets they could get
twenty for the grecnbacks and eighty
for the gold. Not so with the enlist
ed men. They had been robbed of
their blankets, ovcrcoats, and many
Of them Of every article of clothing
they had on, being compelled to put
on the old clothes the rebels threw
away when they donned the Yankee
uniform. They had no money and
they had no credit to obtain it. They
were robbed of their ratons by these
Confederate hounds of hell, and then
left TO die the most horrible of all
deaths-staryation. Think of this,
secession sympathizer; think of it,
vile traitor, and then ask that the in
human perpetrators of these fendish
crimes shall go unpunished!
About the 10th of December there
was an effort made to escape. The
plan was to overpowcr the gucrd, rush
out, break open the prisons of the en-
listed men, seize the stores and ar
senal, to clothe and arm them, and
then march through the country to
our lines, the nearest point of which
was one hundred and forty miles dis
tant.
The expedition was commanded by
Brigadier General Duflle, and the
charge was led by Col. Robson -
They chose fifteen men, who, about
three o'clock, p. NJ, were to 90 on
the lower floor with pals in theil
hands and call "buckcts, for water"
and as soon as the Sergeant would
open the door they were to seize him
and the guard, disarm them and then
rush out, the rest were to follow
They made the effort; Col. Robson
had captured and disarmed one guard
and another of the party another,
when Col. Rohlson was fired at from
the outside of the building and Sc
verely wounded. Gen. Dunle order
ed retreat, and the crowd rushed
up stairs in considerable confusion
closely followed by the guard, who
by this time were in crowds around
the building. Thus ended that eff
fort. The thing at best was imprac
ticable, the distance to our lines be
ing too great. The time was badly
chosen, the weather being cold, and
three o'clock q time when all wer,
awake and soon rallied. Every MAJ
in tho South, by law of their Con
gress, is soldier and is compelled t.
turn out at moments warning, ant
in q very few minutes the streets wcr,
crowded with armed men.
After this they treated us pretty
much the same as they had done-nt
better, and they couldn't treat III
much worse.
During my stay in Danville, the,
issued an order that no person shoulC
tl,,nx,, xyata. out Of N r,;,,1nu, /,