Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1865-02-16

more DIVISIONS OIL JuOuSdDu meu
would receive no rations for twenty
four hours; sometimes they were
without a morsei of food for forty
eight hours The few who had mon
ey would pay from five to twenty
dollars rebel currency for little loaf
of bread. Mostprisoners traded the
buttons from Their blouses for food.
Many, though the weather was very
Inclement and SHOWS frequent, sold
coats from their backs and shoes
from their feet. Yet / was assured,
on authority entirely trustworthy,
that the great commissary warehouse,
near the prison, was filed with pro-
visions; that the commissariat found
it difficult to obtain storage for his
-four and meal; that when a subordi-
nate asked the post commandant,
Major John H. Gee. "Shall / give the
prisoners full rationsi" he replied,
mo, God damn them; give them
quarter rations." know, from per
sonal observation, that corn and pork
are very abundant in that region
about Salisbury.
For several weeks the prisoners
had no shelter whatever. They were
all thlnly clad. Thousands were
barefooted. Not one in twenty had
either overcoat or blanket. Many
hundreds were without shirts, and
hundreds more without blouses. At
last one Sibley tent and one 'A'' tent
were furnished to each squad cf one
hundred. With the closest crowd
ing these sheltered about one half
the prisoners. The rest burrowed
in The ground, crept under buildings,
or shivered through the nights in the
open air, upon the frozen, muddy, or
snowy soil. If the rebels, at the
time of their capture, had not stolen
their shelter-t tents, blankets, clothing
and money, they " ould have suffered
little from cold. If the prison au-
thorities had permitted a few hundred
of them, either upon parole or under
guard, to cut logs within two miles
of the garrison, the prisoners would
have gladly built con Portable and
ample barracks in one week. But
the commandant would never, in a
densely wooded region, with the cars
which brought it passing by the walls
of the prison, even furnish half the
fuel which was needed.
IT, I--..4oI. !, Ill
condition. BY crowding the patients
thick as they could be upon the floor
they would contain six hundred in
mates. They were always full to
overaowing, with thousands seeking
admission in vain. In the two lar
gest wards, containing jointly about
two hundred and fifty patients, there
was no fire whatever; the others had
small fireplaccs, but were always
cold. One ward, which held forty
patients, was comparatively well fur
nished. In the other eight the sick
and dying men lay upon the cold and
usually naked floor, for the scanty
straw furnished us soon became too
filthy and full of vermin for use. The
authorities never supplied single
blanket, or quilt, or pillow, or bed,
for those eight wards; we could not
procure even brooms to keep them
clean, or cold water to wash :he faces
of the inmates. Pneumonia, catarrb,
and diarrh9a were the prevailing
diseases; but they were directly the
result of hunger and exposure. Mcre
than half who entered the hospitals
died IN a very few days The de
ceased, always without coffins were
loaded into dead cart, piled upon
each other like logs of wood, and so
driven out, TO be thrown into a trench
and covered with earth.
The rebel surgeons were generally
humane and attentive; they endeav-
ored to improve the shocking condi-
tion of the hospitals, but the Salisbu-
ry and Richmond authorities both
disregarded their complaints and
protests.
On November 25th mahy of the
prisoners had been without food for
forty eight hours. Desperate from
hunger, without any matured plan, a
few of them said: "We may as well
die in one way as another; let us
break out of this horrible place. -
Some of them wrested the guns from
a relief of fifteen rebel soldiers just
entering the yard, killing two who
resisted, and weunding five or six
Others attempted to open the fence,
but they had neither adequate tools
nor concert of action. Before they
could effect a breach every gun in
the garrison was turned upon them;
the field pieces opened with grape
and canister, and they dispersed to
their quarters Five minutes from
the beginning the attempt was qnell-
ed, and hardly prisoner to be seen
in the yard. Ny own quarters were
a hundred and fifty yards from the
scene of the lnsurrection; in our vi
cinitY there had been no participa-
ton at all in it, and yet, for twenty
minutes after itwas ended, the guards
upon the fence on each side of us,
with deliberate aim, fired into the
tents upon helpless and inocent men.
They killed fifteen and wo unded six
ty, not one-tenth of whom had taken
part in the attempt; many of whom
were ignorant of 1t until they heard
the guns.