Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1866-01-30
A q MON Soldiers Experience at Anderson
VILE

We print below very reaiable extract from
the book written by - Carleton. and Published
by Messrs Ticknor ( Fields, Boston, entitled
4" Winning His Way" The story is the delight
tui one which has appeared in the numbers Of
Our Young Folks
When Pauis wound had healed sufficiently 10
enaue him 10 travel, ne was put in q freight car
with his Comrades and sent 20 the rebel prison at
Andersouvile The ride was long and hard, but
the prisoners bore the jotiDg without a murmur
for they supposed they would be soon exchanged
and sent North. lhey were doomed to bitter
disappointment.
The prison yard enclosed BY high
fence. There was platform on the outside
where the sentlnels stood on guard, and ready to
shoot any one who approached nearer han what
they called the 'dead line" The prisoners had
no shelter from the scorching of the sun
through the long summer days, nor from the
seety rain and freezing nights of winter The,
dug holes IN the ground with their hands, and
made the coll, damp earth their bed. \ Shiny
brook ran through The grounds, foul with hlth
from the camps of the Rebels. There was a
marsh in the centre of the yard, full of rottenness
where the water stood IN green and stagnant
pools, breeding flies, mosquitoes, and vermin,
where all the ooze and scum and slOps of the
camp came TO the surface, and filled the air with
horrible smells. They had very little food
nothing but hali-plnt i coarse corn-neal, lit
tie moiasses, and mouthfuI of tainted bacon and
salt, during each twenty -four hours. They were
herded like sheep. The yard was packed with
them. Inere were more than twenty thousand
10 place designed for half that number.
w nen Paul and his comrades reached the pris-
on, they were examined by the officer iu COM
mand, a brutal fellow named Wirz, who robbed
them OF what money they had. The gate opened,
and they passed IN. When Paul beheld the
scene, his heart sank within him. He had SUI
tered many hardshlps, but this was experience
oe, ond everything else. He was still weak. He
needed nourlshlng food, but he must eat the
corn-mea or siarve. Everywhere he saw only
.lckening sghts,-pale, woebegone wretch.s,
clothed In blthy rags, covered with vermn
oome were picking up crumbs of bread which
had been swept out from the bakery. O.her>
were sucking the bones which had been thrown
out from the cook-house. Some sat gazing into
vacancy, taking no notice Of what going on
around them,-dreaming of homes which they
never we're again behold. Many ere stretched
upon the ground, too weak to sit up, from whose
hearts hope had died out, and who were waiting
calmly tor death to come and relieve them OF
their su6erings. Thousands had died. One
hundred died the day Paul entered, ana
another hundred during the night. All day long
the bodies lay amoi.g the nvipg in the
When The dead cart came IN, they were thrown
into it like logs of wood. 1t was horrible sight,
the stony eyes, the sunken cheeks, the matteo
nair, the CHASTITY countenances, the swayng limits,
the cart jolted along the uneven groundd
More than thirteen thousand soldiers starved and
murdered by the rebels were thus carried out in
The dead-carts.
The ke pers cruel. Paul saw poor
cripple crawl towards the fence and reach bis hand
over the dead-lne 10 get bone. Crack went
the rifle OF the sentinel, which sent bullet
through the prisoners brain, Hho tossed up his
hands.gave one heart-rendering outcry, and rolled
overload. On dark and stormy night some
of the prisoners escaped, but ferocious dogs were
put upon their track, and they we're recaptured.
The hounds mangled them, and the Rebel officers
had them tied up and whipped, Till death put an
end to their sufferings.
1t was terrible to hear the coughing of those
who were dying of consumption,-:o see them
crawling from place TO place. scar ching in vain to
find shelter from the diving storms,-to hear
the piteous cries of these who were racked with
pains, or the moans of those who gave them
selves up to despair. For want of proper food
the prisoners suffered from scurvy;-ther gums