The true northerner., 1876-03-10
Crue NOrtl)trner.
Paw Paw, sIsc@aAs, MAAon TO- 1876.


low but. naked. emaciated, and ghostly, was
not sight calculated TO produce cheerful feel
inc in the minds of the sick men, to say the
least The usual rate of mortality after De- |
cember lat. was. think, about forty daily, and
the commandant kept team OF four mu'es-
wagon and driver-with four negro iaoofe's'
busy every day after December lst' hanhng
swsy the dead. They would throw the naked
and stifened bodies on the wagon until IT was
,nn. and then drive out with the out stretched
and stiffened arms and legs swaying back and
forth. and heads with CHASTITY face and open
mouth hanging over the side OF the wagon poA.
This was pleasant sight for men VINO were
striving by every means to keep in cheerfui
mood. and so keep out OF that dead wagon
The bodies we're hauled about half mhe to
trench dug in an open field and there thrown
in Just as it happened, four deep. No head
stones mark their graves, no record was kept
Of their death Or resting place, save the chance
record by some comrade who outlived them
and father mother,s brother, sister, aud WIFE,
can only know that somewhere IN that mon
strous grave the forms OF their dear ones are
mouldering into dust.
Reliable statistics show that during the time
the prison was located here, nearly II 600 men
eied and we're buried in these trenches, and OF
this number all but abo1t eighty-fve must be
cassed under that significant and sad word
- nknown."
The weather was sometimes pleasant, put
only sometimes for it was usually very cold
with copious rains and driving sleet. The rain
would forms INTO a thick coat OF ice as it fell,
so that il was rendered dangerous by the limbs
breaking from the trees and falling. We had
frequent snow. storms when the snow would
fan of depth Of six inches or more but these
did not last long at time, usually ending IN a
ram storm that would produce flood and make
the mud bottornless. Those few who were well
had the care of the sick, which was necessarily
very meager carcass we had no lconyeniences
and the best lbed;wes could give them was to
build platfornfof pieces of bricks and strips
of our fire woQd,arranged 80 as to raise them
Nd out of the mud and water and many a
soul passed to.its God, leaving the poor shat
tered body on'such a bed. The weather was SC
cold that the men almost without exception
having no covering for their feet but rags tied
aroundthem-frozeth their feet repeatedly; andthif
leads me to mention fact which has been re-
corded by several observers but not often men
toned However, there. are hundreds OF the
boys now living (thoughsthe victims are not
who said andlsnewit to be true: This repeated
freezing and thawing caused a specie OF gan
creme ESQ believe the Surgeons called it, Z
attack the feet and toes. AT first t-~ould
would slIenormously .ynEH~ngry red color;
loos like warts. ana -~d pegin to disappear and
-s-zssssn ttss~rnange to hvid hue and finally
-~-recome black. At this stage the feet would
emit most horrible smell I; the entire foot
fellow fhe-ankle would finally shrink away until
taken off at the ankle point. I have seen at
Wilmington, N. c. one case where both feet
were thus destroyed, and was told by the
nurses that there we're a number Of cases like
this one, and also saw, at least, six men who
had lost one foot, part OF foot, or all their
toes in this way, and would myself have been
compelled to suffer amputation Of some of my
toes from this cause, had it not been for the
patent and tender care bestowed on me by my
mother, after reaching home.
These nurses have spoken OF as beng at
Wilmington, were two ladies' from Boston,
believe, belonging to the Christian Commls-
content, unheard Of, and unknown, to go down
INTO those loathesome sheds and rookeries
swarming with diseased and dying returned
Prisoners, at Wilmington, to nurse ard care for
these wretched men, and for no other reward
than the satisfaction Of their wish to do some
thing for their country and to alleviate some
OF the horrors OF war. They were Impelled TO
this work by simple kindness Of heart and
feeling Of patriotism, such as was exemphied
so many times during the war by the women of
this and
he fuel furnished us was as much green
OAK wood daily for each squad OF one hundred
men as two men ia our weakened state could |
carry on their backs quarter OF miie, and
this was IN sticks eight feet long. This had to
lie split up by ourselves and fitted for burning
10 our mud ire-places, which was done with
wooden wedges driven with big stone. We
would IN this way split il up into stripe and
then break 1t. One Of the large ovens IN which
they baked our corn bread projected inside the
stockade, and in the cold weather this was al
ways surrounded by men who crawled around
Il and fought for their places like pigs as their
emaciated and half frozen bodies could get
some little heat from the bricks against which
they leaned. But this heat only hastened
death. as il was so very enervatng and in ad.s
dition to this, it assisted in the breeding of
vermin with which the entire stockade seemed
to be swarming; and some OF the men who
lad apparently lostall energy and hope we're (
literally covered With these creatures, which
we're certainly unique ini size, ,fshape color,, ,vo-
recity, and ability to multiply i think these |,
g line backs" must have been indigenous to the 4
sacred soil of North Carolina, for we never saw
their like any where else.
The water allowed us for drinking .wAs'very'I' n
scanty and dirty, and we had absolutely no
way IN which to wash ourselves or our clothing
We got our water from six or seven wells which
we dug ourselves. with shovels and buckets..l Z
furnished us. These wells we're square. twen-;
ty-fve to thirty feet in depth, and neither wal
led nor curDed. The soft yellow soil would
come in frequently making the water gritty
dirty and unfit TO drink The onlv wa vfva had