Elizabeth daily monitor. [volume] (Elizabeth, N.J.) 1868-1880, 1873-09-25


in watching the destruction, that, for a
Short time, our sufierings were almost
totally forgotten.
An engine near our yard, drawn by
colored men, was struck by shell, and,
as rebel sergeant informed me, com
pletely "squashed."
The darkies, in common with the
'white trash,' had peculiar horror of
our bombs, which they called "rotten
shot feeling secure from their
unceremonious visits, as the ruthless
deatal dealing invaders entered alike the
mansion Of the rich and the cabin OF
the poor.
The flying missiles seemed to inspire
them with sensation of fear and sup
erstition often quite ludicrous.
At this period, too, the yellow fever
was raging fearfully, materially assisting
Gen. Foster in decreasing the poplla-
ton. But though many of our jailers
were seized with the terrible disease,
the prisoners were miraculously preserv-
ed from its attacks and this fact called
forth expressions of establishment from
those who had before failed to recog-
nize the interposition of gracious Pro
violence.
Oh that fearful autumn of '64 It's
horrors can never be forgotten, its
scenes of starvation, insult, and brutal
ity never removed from my memory.
Many a night we lay upon the cold
ground, racking our aching brains with
impossible plans for escape. Many and
many time have we awakened from
sweet dreams of home and loved ones,
to the stern realities of prison life and
prison hunger!
No one can imagine the intolerable
longing for freedom-the intense dis
gust with our surroundings-or the hor-
rible, black despair into which we would
sink when rejecting upon our situation.
1t is no exaggeration to say that we Of
ten thoughtideath, with all its terrors,
far preferable to the life we were lead
ing.
On leaving Savannah, we had been
compelled to leave behind us the cook
ing untensils (such as they were) fur
nished by our munificent friends; and
to make the matter worse, none what
ever were given us here
By bribing the guards with watches
and jewelry, howev r, pieces of old stone
plate and bits of tin were brought in &C.
casionally, and by such measures and
means only were we able to exc out an
existence. And even then, it was with
the greatest difficulty that we could get
enough wood to cook the unpalatable
fodder SO sparingly doled out to us.
Sam Jones" arged, that as our sup
ply of provisions would be exceeding y
limited while we were under his care,
such articles were altogether unneces-
sary ) and in reply to our application (af-
ter the lapse OF week or SOY said to
the captain commanding the iail-yard,
that "the major general wished to hear
no more complaints from the cdssed
Yankees p
Indeed, when the news of Early's de-
feat in the valley reached Charleston,
our jailers refused to issue our rations
for the space OF three days ; but as they
had long before ignored the fact that
Yankees could starye, this omission ac-
casioned them no uneasiness.
Our bill of fare was by no means at
tractive to an epicure-our only food
being black, maggoty beans, with now
and then little salt and molasses, as
great relish.
My messmate still lives to testify to
the endurance of the aged bean After
soaking some of them for forty eight
hours in order to remove the hulls, we
cut them in half, separated the worms
from the beans, then soaked them 1.-THE
beans) about sixteen hours longer. Yet,
after putting them through the boiling
process for the space of eight hours we
were still scarcely able to masticate
them.
While prisoners here at Charleston
we were visited by a clergyman who
gave his name as DIR. G. o. Rice. In
introducing himself, this ecclesiastical
worthy said, that, being actuated by
motives of philanthropy, he would be
pleased to contribute something towards
ameliorating our condition. He possess
ed some twenty-one thousand dollars in
confederate scrip, which he proposed
we should take at the rate of six dollars
for one dollar in gold, we furnishing
him with duplicate drafts on some per-
son at the north. He knew, be reitera-
ted, that as we were all gentlemen-offi-
GERS of the United States army, none
would seek to impose upon his good ma
ture or bounty. ~
Thinking that money might procure
for us few of the simplest comforts, it
required but little time for him to pay
out the twenty-one thousand dollars and
receive the duplicate drafts, with which
he went on his way rejoicing.
Whether the doctor. is still in such
good spirits, know not but after my
return home, 1 saw one of the drafts
presented to a person, who refused to
fulfill its obligations The matter was
referred to the government, and an Or
der issued relieving the parties from
paying said drafts. Compelled to pay
one dollar for an onion, or for a potato,
or cigar, or a spoonful of salt and mo-
lasses, the worthless scrip lasted but q
short time. 1t would require wagon
load of this money % to pay hotel bill
for single week. We also received a
call from party of blockade-runners,
who, after successfully disposing of
their goods in the city, entered our pri-
son and effected an exchange of hun
bred thousand dollars in confederate
money
The runners were recognized, though
they insisted that they were not from
New York. At all events, the drafts
were given to one of our officers at the
time of exchange, with orders to deliver
them to certain broker in New York