The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-01-28

The recent amnesty debate in Con
gress has moved a soldier of this city,
who belonged to the 95th Ohio infantry
and was captured by the rebels in 1864,
to write out the following narrative OF
his experience in one of the Southern
prison pens in which he was confined
subsequent to his capture. His name is
withheld from publication from motives
of modesty solely, and as to his reliabil-
ity it is only necessary to say that he is
vouched for by one of the most promi-
nent and respectable business men of
this city
10 the Editor aJthe Ohio STATE Journal:
was captured with about three hun
dred Others near Guntown, Miss, June
IL, 1864, and was sent to Andersonville,
Ga, where we arrived June -. Four
of us, being comrades, cast our lot to-
gether, and remained together through
thick and thin, and we thought the
greater portion of our life there was very
thin. We each of US had a gum blanket,
and we had one wool blanket among us.
When we arrived at the pen, as we called
it, the first act of our Southern friends
was to demand our gum blankets. Per-
haps it was an act of charity, but we
failed TO see it in that light. We were
then marched into the pen.
My God, can that be described, Never,
no never. Thousands OF beings that had
once been men were crowded around
the gate, all eager to get word of news
from their homes. | feel sure could our
Brother Hill from Georgia have seen
them, he would not be in favor of an
other war. Some of them had pants ON,
some shirt without pants, and have
seen some men there as naked as they
were when they came into the world.
Perhaps some have forgotten what kind
of a boarding house we had. Could
you see thirty-five thousand hogs, with
fence built around them, that had been
kept in one field for six months, and
through the center of that field a swamp
reeking with filth and foaming with mag
gots, you would see Andersonville prison
as we first saw it.
We wanted a place to lie down, and
kept walking on and inquiring of the old
prisoners if we could not lie here and
there. "No; this ground is all occupied.
l can't tell you where you can get place
to lie." We kept on, and soon had the
satisfaction of seeing piece of ground
in the Confederacy that did not seem to
be occupied. As we came near it We saw
that there was a railing between us and
it, but we had not then heard of the dead
line. Said l, 'Boys, here it is, now we
are all right" An old prisoner standing
by said, ''You had better look at that
guard up there before you go any near
er" Looking up to the stockade / saw
a guard, with rifle cooked and at his
shoulder, all ready to pull the trigger
We were near the dead liue.
We resumed our march and at last
came to place where we could lie down,
but one of us would have TO lay over a
sirk-hole This was a little hole made
in the ground about twelve inches in d.
ameter, and about eighteen inches deep,
and it was used by three sick men lying
near that could not walk down TO the
swamp; and there were thousands of
such holes scattered all over the prison.
In fact, | think AndersonviIle was the
largest privy that was ever enclosed on
the face of the green earth.
- lay over the sink hole every night
from June 10 to July 1, excepting for
short time every hour or two, when one
of the sick men would want the use of it.
Those who were well enough to get to
the swamp would try to do so, and they
would not stop on the edge of it either,
for every foot OF ground was used for
some poor fellows bed. Soin they would
have to go, mp to their knees in filth, and
| have seen some of Them so weak from
starvation that they colld not lift their
feet out of it, and would fall down and
remain in that filth until they were
helped out. What a glorious place that
was for the ''Yanks,"
Through the center of this swamp ran
10 afr of oh fnr, fAa
wide and, ordinarily, from six to eight
inches deep, and our Confederate friends
were thoughtful enough to build their
cook house Oh this creek, so that all the
spare grease and slop would run through
the prison. have creased my old shoes
with grease from this water many a time.
What a refreshing drink Brother Hill, of
Georgia, could have had there that sum-
mer of 1864, provided he would have
shut his teeth to keep the maggots outl
Yes, it was humane prison. Even
the guards had compassion OH some of
into the prison at night to relieve some
poor Yank that might be in misery, and
| have known them to be successful. |
have known prisoners TO be shot while
sitting OH stump as much as twenty
five yards from the dead line.
What did we nave to eat. got enough
to keep me alive while was there. Some
times we got mush, no, not always musb,
for | have eaten it when it had never
been warm, so we will call it corn meal
and water without salt, have had corn
bread, and have picked whole kernels
of corn out of it, and have planted the
same where | used to lie, and by doing
sil have seen green leaves in Anderson
vile. | have drawn my half pint of corn
meal, with my three tablespoonfuls of
Inolasses, and also half pint of ''nigger
peas as the Johnnies called them, but
never have drawn anything to cook my
meal or beans in. used to get stick
of pine wood as large as my arm, once
in three days. The above rations were
to last for twenty four hours, but some
times they had to last for two days.
They would bring in corn bread in their
wagons, unload, drive to the dead house,
outside of tie stOckade, load up with
dead bodies that were nothing but a mass
o. filth and carrion, drive them to their