Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1875-04-17
OUR CORRESPONDENCE

by Il I. POWELL.

About 10 o'clock they brought us in a
little food but it was not near enough to
satisfy our hunger w had 10 be content.
Those Of the boys who had u little money
could send out by the guards at the back
windows ana buy something. We staid
here few days, and were then sent over
to Belle Isle, where there We're about ten
thousand prisoners. They had tents for
shelter, enclosed by an cnbankmcnt three
or four fee, high. This prison was hor
rihle place for human beings to live H.
Starvation and freezing prevailed. Death
was an every day visitor.
was there only few days before the
commander, Lieut.. BosscauX, let me out
on parole of honor. He had quite num-
Der Of little Yankee boys out there. We
had privilege 10 run around i'll the enclos-
urc, where the bake -housc, cook house and
headquarters were. And we frequently
sailed around on the James Rivcl in small
SllifS We We're enabled to get enough to
eat, and have good times. | went out one
day hunting with the commander several
miles south of Richmond. ] went into
forts which had been built and left there
alone in the weeds almost as high as my
head. | saw some very large cannon there
at which | was surprised, but slipped and
examined them, and found they were per-
feet wooden mutations One could not
discover what they were Il few feet off
He shot one rabbit and we returned home
in thc afternoon.
Tic guards used to frequently shoot
some OF Tie prisoners. They belonged to
what was called the Richmond Battalion,
and he'd never done any llghtiny. One
day the guard at Tie front cate Shot in
among the prisoners, killing two and
Woundug two. His blanket was lying by
a hole in the boards which was joined TO
the gate One OF the prisoners grabbed it
through the hole, and ran into the crowd
with it. He deliberately shot in the crowd
The commander threatened the prisoners
that he would Give them nothing to eat un-
til they gave up the man that stole the
blanket, which they did. II" then sent
some of the little Yankee boys over to n
little island to Gu. Il Great bunch OF switch
cs. Afcr taking Tie mans cl9thcs of and
TYING him down securely, he gave each boy
a bunch of sticks and told them to wear
them ont ON him. The officers stood by
Il tt1 I,.,VA of
When tlCY came TO me to perform my
part, they found would engage in no such
work. believe | would have suffered
death before w@uld hay" helped. When
they found me SO positive they let me 20
unmolcsicd Some of the little boys were
hard cases and would layc killed the man
if they would have been Let alone He
begged most pilifully for mercy all the
while. He was sent to the hospital, and,
| was told, hicd afterwards. Al any rate
he was badly used w.
There were two ScrgcaDts who assisted
the commander on Belle Isle One was
named Height and the other Marks.
have forgotten thcir first names. There
used to be some barrels of slop standing by
the cook house, and sometimes when the
prisoners were passing by, guarded, after
having been taken some place outside the
prison, they would have Il little can or
quart ssbuckct and attempt TO dip it full
of slop TO take IN the prison to cat, If
lhcy were noticed it would be knocked out
Of their hands. The commanders dog
jumped into the prison one night The
next morning :hcIc laid III front of his TN.
the head and neck with the collar on,
which they throWcd out after cutting ii off.