The weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 186?-1869, 1866-03-28
10y OUR OWN SPECIAL REPORTER
Trial Of Major John Il. Gee.
SEVENTEENTH DAY.

The Court met according to adjournment-all
the members present.
The Judge Advocate introduced Mr.. George j.
Manson, as official reporter OF the proceedings of
the Court, and he was duly qualified The jour
nal of last session of the Court was then read.
John Poula5 was called and sworn-liyes in
Rowan county-waS born and raised there-went
to Salisbury in October, l064-was a member of
the Senior Reserves, in Col Hoke's regiment
my company was quartered at the southeast
corner of the garrs .'Il-when We first went there
We had no quarterS-aiter while we got tolera-
bic comfortable quarters, made OF logs and
boards-the poles were got near the town-they
were tolerable plenty there. | was on guard
while there-was instructed not to trade with
the prisoners, not to trade with them nor have
anything to do with them. l was rot with the
guard at any time when food was offered TO the
prisoners which they were not allowed TO take,
that recollect of-once when had my saver
sack with rations in it, a prisoner asked me for
some bread; | didn't know whether would be
allowed TO give it to him, and asked the sergeant
of the guard, whether might give it to him; ne
said it was against the rules, but that he some
times gave them part Of his rations and that
there could be no harm in giving them some
thing to eat, and then gave the prisoner some
bread.
CROSS EXAMINED.
The poles for our quarters were got about two
miles Off, and hauled in in wagons-can't tell how
many wagons were -used-a man was detailed
from our company TO go and have the poles haul
ed. cannot tell how long after we went there
before we got poles to make our quarters, per-
haps two or three weeks; it may have been Ion
ger-cannot swear ii was not less than six weeks
i don't think it could have been more than six
weeks, ii that long, for was not there long and
they were brought there before went AWAY
-teeft there the End of December. We had several
axes-our company lad two, or three, or four,
may be more-some of tine sent home for
their axes TO use; one OF my mess sent home for
his axe. We generally carried out eighteen to
a
always carry all who wanted to CO. but only the
squad of eighteen or twenty-dont know how
many times we went after water in day, sup
pose six or eight times-we were going cOntinu-
ously-we were allowed an hour to go and return,
but had an hour, / think, for dinner; with the
exception OF this, We were going continuously.
have seen the prisoners Sometimes washing
themselves in the creek when they went after
water-they were permitted TO do SO by the
guard. We had no orders about the prisoners
but what we got from the sergeant and that was,
not to trade with or give any thing to the pris-
oners, or have any thing to do with them. l re-
ceved no such orders from any commissioned of
ficer-it was understood in the camp that these
were the orders-the soldiers in camp said these
were the orders-orders to the guard were always
given by the sergeant. L do not know that there
was commissioned officer in charge of the water
gate-I suppose there was.
mean by saying that there were plenty of
poles, that there was a good deal of tiinbercd
land about there-can't tell how many acres there
were-there were large bodies of oak and pine
land about there. We sometimes build houses of
oak logs in that country; we do not split it, but
build them of the round poles We. built our
quarters of logs-there were great quantities of
poles where we got them-can't tell how many
houses could have been built of the poles in three
or four miles of there, perhaps several hundred
We had to have wagons to haul the poles-we
had plenty of wagons; they were impressed
they were used to haul wood-they hauled wood
into the prison-the wagons were imp essed from
the citizens around there-don't know how many
wagons our regiment had--there were several OF
them-I suppose they belonged to the govern
ment
was in camp at Charlotte-'Eent fromthere to
Greensboro and from Greensboro to Salisbury
was never in the service before1 went to Char
lotte in Hoke's regiment.
Moses Palmer called and sworn-22 years old
reside in Lynn, Mass.,-wa q prisoner at Sails
bury. belonged to the 9th army corps; Ind dlyis-
ion: 3rd Hrigade-was taken prisOnerat Winches-
ter Va-went to Salisbury Oct. 9th, 1854 and left
fine latter part of Feb. 1S65-went with the sick
from Salisbury TO Richmond-thhaTo TTeTe about
five hundred of the sick who left for Richmond
assisted in making out their paroles. The rest
of the prisoners were sent wilmington made
out their paroles-thcre were about 25OO OF them.
I was in the prison from the time l went there
until the 18th of November, and then went to
Mai Gees head1uarters-I kept the prison regis
tef-tfris- ssI.s,..ccd lst of the prisoners their
names rank, company and regiment; also, list
jsbury about two thousand prisoners afterward
Others arrived, making the aggregate about 5000
or 5000 cannot tell how many escaped from the
prison. it was impossible to find out because the
prisoners would not report when any had escaped
i knew sixteen to escape-there were about
100 who enlisted out of the prison. No account
was taken of those who escaped have no idea
of the number-do not know the number of es-
capes that were reported while L was there.
CROSS EXAMINED.
wrote the paroles of the prisoners by the Or
der of Mai. Goethe orders were to make the
paroles out as soon as possible, and that should
employ as many clerks as should be necessary
he showed great anxiety to have the paroles made
out speedily. l carried the news of the exchange
of prisoners to the prisoners at the request OF Maj
Gee, and that they would be paroled.
Here question put to the witness as to the
manner of Mai Gee, an, his instruction to the
witness in communicating to the prisoners the
intelligence of tier exchange, was objected to by
the Judge Advocate, on the ground that state
ments of the prisoner IN his own favor were mad
missabe as evidence.
The Counsel for the defense contended that all
the prisoner said to various persons at the prison.
or to the prison and post officials while at Sails
bury, having reference to the prisoners or the
the prison. are part of the res geSts and are adj
missible evidence for defense, as explaining his
conduct and showing the asinauS, and, i'll some
instances, the acts.
The Counsel cited large number of authorities
to sustain the position, and entered into some
what lengthy argument 10 show the justice and
legality Of admitting the declarations Of the pris-
oners eommitant with the actions, to show what
his actions and the aniDsus of them were, while in
charge of the prison at Salisbury.
The Judge Advocate replied, and read authori-
ties to sustain the objection, showing the law of
evidence in cases similar to the one under consid
Grafton.
The Court declined to makea general ruling on
the subject, but would decide on each question
as it arose in the examination OF witnesses. The