The Waynesburg Republican. [volume] (Waynesburg, Pa.) 1867-18??, 1868-04-22
Original.
No 0.
For the REPUBLICAN,.
PRISON LIFE.
BY a. PRISONER.

Friends. Up to the 2Sth of July
had not seen any old acquaintance il
the prison, and | had coasoled mysel
with the thought that ifI found
resting place in the graveyard, m,
friends would never know my fate
But on that day as | was walkin!
down to the brook, man arrested m,
attention. lie was disputing with al
lrishman who was cursing our gov
eminent for not releasing us. | haC
seen the same person o few days be
fore, and something about him then
looked familiar Now, as he argued
with the ignorant foreigner, showing
plainly the rebels were to blame fol
our captivity, and growing eloquent
in his appeals to the crowd that had
gathered around, l stopped 10 listen,
When he finished, the crowd applauded
him, and then memory brought his
name to mind, and stepping up to
him | said, are you not Col. c., of
Waynesburg. In an instant he knew
me and shaking my hand almost off,
led me to his tent. There | found
Capt. Rogers, Chas. Hook, Rich.
Adams, Bcn. Hagar, and other Greene
county boys. 1t seemed like home to
me. | was then so reduced in flesh
they almost despaired of my life, but
the Col. said, eve will get him out"
Asa help to this, some money was
placed in my hand, for which | can
never be grateful enough, With it ]
purchased raw potatoes to cure the
scurvy, with which l was tl,en afIlict-
cd. While on the subject I may as
well describe this disease
1t usually appeared first in the
gums. These became blue, and rot
ten, and finally turned black, and the
teeth grew loose in their sockets ard
often fell out. often pulled chunks
offlesh thesize ofa pea from my mouth.
Some could take their teeth out with
their fingers and place them in again,
and if they got we'll the teeth would
remain. My front teeth are still loose
from the effects Of it, In few days
it attacks the legs, particularly abo 1t
the joints, drawing the leaders, max
ing the persons lame, ard turning the
flesh a BLUSH color, fringed with yell
low. The victims scarcely looked
like men. The worst Of all was, it
was often attended with diarrhora that
soon carried its prey down to the
grave. l think the highest number
OF deaths in one day was a hundred
and fifty. This was in August. Cen
orally, from thirty to aundred were
taken out, exclusive of those that died
in the hospital. The dead were thrown
into wagon anl hauled to the
trenches and then laid in side by side,
with only foot or two of dirtto cover
them. 1t is said their graves were
marked, but it is very doubtful if they
were correctly.
Very often our rations were cut of
for some trivial excuse. On the 3rd
and 4th of July the rebels reorganized
the detachments and in consequence
nothing was given us to eat. To
keep us quiet they pretended they
were going to send US away for ex-
change.
One thing is worthy of notice here. |
We knew the Presidential contest at
home was vigorously being carried on.
The rebels were loud in their praise of
Mcclellan, and declared if he was
elected, peace would be at once made.
And yet but few of the prisoners
wished for this, even though they
knew it would bring release to them.
They preferred to see the Union saved.
even if they had to lie down in the
burning sand and die. 1t was anus.
ing to hear the men cursing when thev
would get no rations, or something
would go wrong. The first maledic-
tion would be upon our government,
then upon the War Department, then
on Gen. Grant, and finally winding
DIP on JEFF Davis, and the whole
Southern Confederacy.