The tri-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1866-1868, 1866-03-27
tBr OUR own SPECIAL RrroRrnR.l
Trial of Major John E. Gee.
TWENTIETH DAY.

nal of yesterday was dispensed with
resides at Springfield, o,-in March, 1865 was
Chaplin of the 1S3rd Ohio regiment, at Whining
ton, N. C.-was at the Geer hospital-in this hos
these were from Salisbury k ew they were
there from their statements to me-two of these
died-they suffered from gangrenous feet-when
they arrived their feet were black and dead and
had vermin in them-their feet finally came Off
one before he died, the other after,-a man name
Wilson, from Illinois, had his feet to come of,
but he is still living-he said he was from Sails
bury-I talked to the prisoners in regard to their
conditioner their future; they seemed to be
| be satisfied to their future prospects-they
| told me where they were from-Miller, one of the
men who died, spoke of the prison at Salisbury,
and of his treatment there as cruel. The de-
| fence objected to the conversation of these
being admitted evidence, not being given
under the solemnity of which dying declarations
ought to be uttered to be admitted evidence
The Judge Advocate contended that the men
were 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,
it announced that the evidence of this witness
| be stricken from the record.
James A. Gault-sworn-residei in Buffalo, N
Y. in 1864 was Captain in the 1O4th New York
| Volunteers-was taken prisoner on the 18th of
August on the Weldon Railroad-was taken to
Salisbury on the 4th of Output in the large
brick buildngin the prison-remained in prison
at Salisbury until the 10Th of Oct. The supply
| of water was limited-I suffered frequently with
thirst-we had enlisted men to bring water-we
| SCluOm, IL ever SOI any lOT WdSHluS OuT TdtlOuS
were about 10 ounces wheat bread per day-for
| 36 hours after arrived got nothing-we got
| about ounces of boiled beef per day, or about
gill of sorghum-part of the time little rice
| soup.
Don't know the day 1t Davis was shot, think
it was about the 18th or 18th of October. There
was large tree about IL feet from the stockade.
The officers repaired there for the purpose of an
swering call of nature. The day before Lieut..
Davis shot, some of the officers had gone up
this tree to gather acorns-on the day 1t. Davis
was shot, he had gone to this tree Tor the usual
purpose, when the guard shot him Without halt
ing him-he died instantly. 1 saw the body on
the ground-from where he fell he had not quite
reached the tree. The guard said they would
shoot the officers if they came to the body-I
heard some one from outside say did you kill
| him? He said, of course did. do not think
the sentinel remained long on duty, He was re-
lieved after this. The officers in the prison de-
handed an investigation of the affair The
tinel was Il small boy, about 5 feet inches high
and suppose he 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 ofthe prison,
though there was at the other part where the
listed men The sink about 10 feet
from the wall, and the officers went there at
pleasure. The body of 1t. Davis about IL
feet from the sink, Maj Gee was not present at
the time he was shot, but saw him there soon
after. 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-towards the latter part of the
time there from to TO- 900 prisoners and
they had or loads of wood to be divided among
them. There was generally great scramble TO-
| it, when it came in. I've seen men at night in
crowds around small fires, but in the morning
they had noNe, and they suffered greatly as they
had no covering or overcQats.
| CROSS EXAMINED.
The officers remained in the big brick building
about Sc hours then moved to the four woodhouscs
| They were removed on account of protest
their part against being quartered in the building.
| That building was perhaps the only one in the
yard besides the hospitals that would have held
them all. l may say they were changed on
the demand they made. There were rebel
convicts and descrters III the brick building
don't know that it was necessary to separate
these from the other prisoners; they were separa-
ted except in the daytime, then they mingled
together.
There was not much harmony between the pri-
soners of war and the convicts on account of the
| ''mugging' by the convicts, and hence the
cessity of separating them.
l don't think that would, a prudent COM
mander under the circumstances have allowed the
officers and enlisted men to be together-but
would have put the prisoners in the open air, If
no better could be done, before putting them in
called
To the best of my knowledge, 1 believe the
tree near which the body of Lieut.. Davis lay, was
II feet from the wall. 1 him approaching
| the tree, but did not see him at the moment the
gun fired. But saw the guard bring the gun to
his shoulder, heard the report and looked out
he did not stagger backwards 3 or feet. Gee
came in soon after the occurrence took place.
! i
stance-they said he did. 1 heard Gen. Hays say
to other officers that Gee expressed regrets 1
know nothing of any search being made near the
tree, for pin anything else belonging to Lieut..
| Davis. saw no attempt on the part of the guard
| to fire Confederate officer nor heard the SEN
| tinel halt a Confederate officer at that place
| had little opportunity to form an opinion of
Major. Gees intercourse with the prisoners
saw and heard nothing ungentlemanly on the
part of Gee towards the prisoners.
There line which separated the officers
from the enlisted men. 1 don't know what the
orders were, in regard to separating them, only
as they told to There was no mark to
prevent the approach to the stockade. Some of
| the guard allowed us to approach it, and some
would not allow us to go nearer than 10 feet.
/ The officers remained at Salisbury from the 4th
| to the 18th of October. l know nothing definite
of any plan to escape. I heard that we were re-
moved because Major Gee feared there such
4 plan. We always awaiting opportu-
nifty to escape and ready to take advantage if it
Offered. know nothing of any date being fixed,
but the subject was frequently discussed.
! know nothing of any organization among the
prisoners for the purpose of escaping
| l know of no investigation on the part of the
rebel officers in regard to the shooting of Lieut..
Davis: 1 know of no one asking questions of
| the officers in prison in regard to it. We
allowed enlisted men as servants to bring us
water-they were not limited to that service but
| there was little else for them to do them.
know of no notes having passed between Gen.
| Hays and Maj. Gee-there were three or four
listed men to each of the four houses occupied by
the officers-do not know that they were paroled.
| WITNESS was asked a number of questions in re-
gard to his opinion, as military officer, rs to the
prudence of allowing prisoners to approach the
StOckade &c, also to custom in prisons of the
U. s., which we omit.
The prisoners at Salisbury, if they had COM
| bined and moved at once, could in my opinion,
have broken out-great vigilance was necessary
TO prevent it, but it not vigilance that hurt
the prisoners-with such guard there
greater vigilance was necessary than would have
been with well drilled, active sodiers-as a sure
rior officer, 1 should hold my subordnates to
stricter account with raw troops than with those
wel1organized. Ihad little means of ascertaining
the character of the troops on guard at Salisbury
some were young boys; some old men; few,
perhaps third, in vigorous life, and. fit, as re-
CARDS age, to be soldiers. I don't know to
their efficiency in drill, but they prompt to
execute, or to threaten to execute orders.
A few enlisted men went with us to Salisbury
prison-their clothing was poor-saw quite a
number hatlcss and shoeless-quite a number
were ragged-they had been captured in the sum
mer and consequently had on summer clothing,
except pants, which were the same winter and
SUMNER had been in Libby before going to
SaIisbury-was there from Goth of August to the
Both of September-I believe most of the prison
ers were sent from Libby to Belle Isle before they
were sent to Salisbury-the prisoners at Salisbury
| were ragged, but were not much FRUSTRATED ply
| sically.