The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-03-28
[DY OUR OWN SPECIAL EEroRrEn.]
Trial Of Major John &. Gee.
! TWENTIETH DAY.

TWENTIETH DAY.
! FRIDAY, March 23rd, 1865.
| The Court met pursuant to adjournment-ali
the members present. The reading OF the Jour-
nal OF yesterday was dispensed with.
The Rev Charles j. Geer called and sworn
resides at Springfield Ohio,-in March, 1900 was
| Chaplin of the lS3rd Ohio regiment, at winning
tou, N C.-was at the Geer hospial-n TINS nos.
pital were 800 cases mostly gangienousr 10 VI
these were from Salisbury k ew they were
| there from their statements to me-two Oh .nese
I aied-they suffered from gaugrenous ieet,"h le1
they arrived their feet were black and DEAD ana
had vefmin in thcln-their feet finally came on
one before he died. the other alter man lali n
" iison, from Illinois, had his leet 10 cohie On
out he is still livng-he said he was from sans
bury-I talked to the prisoners in regard TO their
conditioner their future; they seemed TO De
Impressed with their condition, and professed 10
he satisfied as 10 their future prospects-thcy
ioid me where they were from.Miiier, one oi tne
men who died, spoke of the prison at Salisbury,
and of his treatment there as cruel The de-
ience objected to the conversation OF these men
being admitted as evidence, as not being given
underline solemnity of which dying declalatlons
ID ought to be uttered to be admitted as evidence.
The Judge Advocate contended that the men
We're conscious of their condition, that they could
NOT recover, and therefore met all the require
ments of such cases. The Court was cleared for
consultation, and when the doors were again open,
II was announced that the evidence OF this witness
be stricken from the record.
James A. Gault-sworn-reside in. Buffalo, N.
Z. in 1854 was Captain in the 104th New York
Volunteers-was taken prisoner on the 10Th of
August on the Weldon Railroad-was taken to
Salisbury on the 4th Of put in the large
brick building in tlsS prison remained in prison
at Salisbury Until tile 10th Of Oct The supply
of water was limited-I suffered frequently with
tLirst-we had enlisted men to bring water-we
seldom, if ever got any for washing. Our rations
were about 10 ounces wheat bread per day-for
Sc hours after we arrived we got nothng-we got
about ounces Of boiled beef per day, or about
gill of s0rghum-part of the time little rice
soup.
Don't know the day Ii. Davis was shot, think
il was aboutthe 18th or 18th of October. There
WIS a large tree about IL feet from the stockade
Tie officers repaired there for the purpose of an
swering a call of nature. The day before Lieut..
Davis Was shot, some of The officers had gone up
Ills tree to gather acorns-on the day Ii. Davis
WAS shot, he had gone to this tree Tor the usual
purpose, wien the guard shot him without halt
ing him-he died instantly. | saw the body on
the ground-irom where he fell he had not quite
reached the Tree. The guard said they would
shoot the officers if they came TO the body
heard some one from outside say did you kill
| him? He said, of course did. | do not think
The sentinel remained long on duly. He was re-
licved alter tais. The officers in the prison de-
manded an Investigation of the affair. The SEN
linel was a small boy, about 5 feet inches high
and suppose be was about IA years old-fair
complexion and hair and was quite young look
ing, and dressed in gray uniform.
There was no dead line at that part of the prison.
though there was at the other part where the en-
listed men were The sink was about 10 ieet
from the wall, and the officers went there at
pleasure. Tbs, body of 1t Davis was about IL
leet from the sink, Maj. Gee was not present at
the time he was shot, but saw him there soon
alter. He TALKED with some of the officers in re-
gard 10 the affair, but did not hear the CONVEX
sation. The officers occupied the four buildings
on the North east part Of the yard. We had
wood enough to warm us at night-the men were
short of wood-towarts the latter part of the
time there We're from TO 10000 prisoners, aud
ihey had 3 or 4 loads of wood to be divided among
them. Therd was generally great scramble foi
it, when it came in I've seen men at night in
crowds around small fires, but in the morning
they had nose and they suffered greatly as they
had no covering or overcoats.
CROSS EXAMINED.
The officers remained in the big brick building
about So hours then moved 10 the lorrwOodhOuses
they were removed on account OF q protest on
their part against being quarteredi in the building.
That building was perhaps the only one in the
yard besides the hospitals that would have held
t;icm ALL | may say they Were changed on
the demand they made. There were rebel
convicts and deserters in the brick building.
don't know that it was necessary 10 separate
these from the other prisoners; they were separl
ted except in the daytime, then they mingled
| together
There WAS not much harmony between the pri
souers of war aud the convicis on account of the
-.pasesins by tho conyets,- aad henns the ne
: ceasity OF separating them
/ don't thin6 that would, as prudent com
mander, underline circumstances have allowed the
officers and enlisted men to be together-but
would have put the prisoners in the open air, il
no better could be done, before putting them in
the penitcntiary, the brick building was
called.
{ To the best of my knowledge / believe the
tree near which the body of Lieut.. Davis lay, was
- feet from the wall. l saw him approaching
l,,@1 Il % IA Tho
gun fired. But saw the guard bring the gun tt
Ills shoulder, heard the report and looked ou
and saw Lieut. Davis fall. l cannot tell whethe
he did not stagScr backwards i or feet. Ge'
came in soon after the occurrence took place.
, did not hear him express regrets at the circum
stance-they said he did l heard Gen. Hays 81,
TO other officers that Gee expressed regrets
know nothing of any search being made near tn
tree for a pin oranythiug else belonging to Lieut.
Davis. saw 10 attempt on the part of the guart
to fire on Confederate officer nor heard the sen
tine halt Confederate officer at thai place.
had little opportunity 10 form an opinion o
Major Gees intercourse with the prisoners.
I saw and heard nothing ungentlcmanly on ih
part of Gee towards the prisoners
There was line which separated the officer
from the enlisted men. l don't know what TIL
orders were, in regard to separating them, onl
> as thew were told to us. There was no mark 4
the guard allowed lis to approach it, and som
: would not allow us to go nearer than 10 feet
: The officers remained at Salisbury from the It
to the 18th of October l know nothing dcfinit
of any plan to escape. heard that.we were II
: moved because Major Gee feared there was sue
: a plan We were always awaiting an opporir
niiy to escape and ready to take advantage if
= offered 1 know nothing of any date being fixed
9 but the subject was frequently discussed.
n know nothing OF any organization among til
prisoners for the purpose of escaping.
:. l know of no Investigation Oh the part of til
d rebel officers in regard to the shooting of Lieu
Of l,r.r ts.,,,. .
d the officers in prison in regard 10 it. We wei
allowed enlisted men as servants 10 bring
water-they were not limited to that service bl
there was little clsef for them to do them
). know of no notes having passed between Gel
l. Hays and Maj. Gee-there were three or four el
g. listed men to each OF the four houses occupied
p the oiiicers-do not know that they were parole,
WITNESS was asked a number of questions in +
I gard TO his opinion military officer, as TO I'll
IS prudence of allowing prisoners to approach IL
n siockade, &c. also as to custom in prisons of I'll
n U. s., which VIC omit.
p The prisoners at Salisbury, if they had con
> bined and moved at once, could in my opinion
70 have broken out-great vigilance was necessal
Y to prevent it, but it was not vigilance that hu
" the prisonersIwith such guard as was the
: greater vigilance was necessary than would ha'
been with well drilled, active soldiers-as SUI,
Il rior officer, should hold my subordinates
S, stric,er account with raw troops than with tho
re well organized Ihad little means of ascertainiI
ID the character of the troops on guard at Salisbu
70 some were young boys; some old men; fey
70 perhaps third, in vigorous life, and fit, as
ie CARDS age to be soldiers. ! don't know as
S, their efficiency in drill, but they were prompt
in execute, or to threaten to execute orders.
- A few enlisted men went with us TO Salisbu
~ prison-their clothing was poor-saw quite
number hatless and shoeless-quite numb
were ragged-they had been captured in the SUI
mer and consequently had on summer clothin
except pants which were the same winter al
IN summer-I had been in Libby before going
n Salisbury-was there from Goth of August to t
a 3Oth oil September believe most OF the prise