The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-10-14
months paw. bought an armful of loaf bread

hciplCSS Cullditu, slCk. dgcu dul tEinDiGI
while the women were handel over u the
fury of the released prisoners. from Libby
& Belle lsle-a brutal horde Of every race
and tongue
My answer to Dr.. 4. will teach him his
mistake IN attempting to lecture me, as well
as to offer help in that shape. We are
having a hard struggle for our ike. 10 this
vile place but all his wealth, and Boston
on top ofit, wouldn't get me out in the
style he proposes.
Oct. 9th. Ugh Fingers too cold to hold
the pen. Dozens of u have lain since
breakfast curled up under our Blankets
real chilline>> not comfortable u moment
Of the day The wintry blasts sweep up
the broad river, and across the fiat island.
with the kernne>s of an ocean cyclone
roaring round the Prison yard, whistling
Through thousands Of crevices in the open
barracks with a chill rasping So IN | tn. 1t in
creases the cold by imagination! As for
comfort. il s-out of the question, even for
the well and hearty. How much worse for
the sick, and cebilitated God help us this
dreary winter! | dread to see night APP
preaching, for then | hi u relinquished the
blankets borrowed FROM my comrades and
have only half an one to sleep on, and hall
for cover. And yet how much better off are
we than many of the poor fellows in the
Private Pen There are ten OF more thous
and men packed into d square OF about six
acres; thousands Of them barJooted; not
one in twenty supplied with Undertaking
Even of those who are taken out to work
the greater number are shoeless and hatless
yet gladly do they consent to go out and drag
the heavy stone carts as long as they can
stand, simply for a few extra crusts of
bread
Noe. 24h.-It may seem sensational, yet
from my own feelings | can credit it fully.
that scores of poor fellows in the ~privates
pen are furnishing and freezing at this mo
ment. To most Of our men, especially those
from the Gulf States. the climate Of this
bleak island is of Arctic severity. Already
the winter is severe beyond anything [ have
known il years, though | saw some extreme
ly cold weather while at school in Piedmont,
Penna. Perhaps the inexplicable difference
is to be attributed to our deficient housing,
and clothing. Few of us have any under
clothing, or at best only an old cotton un-
dershirt and in most cases, as in my own,
our exterior clothing is Of the merest sum
mer quality, totally unfit for breasting the
icy blasts of this latitude.
But the most shameful piece of barbarity
of recent date was the robbing us of our
blankets. No matter how many blankets a
man may have brought with, or purchased
from the sutler with his own money, he is
stript of all save a single one although it is
veil known that in these open barracks no
man could sleep comfortably under even
three blankets, and with an equal number
to sleep upon. Imagine how ] suffer for
[ have never been able to sleep without
waking every few minutes-since our blan-
kets were stolen from us. The rough plank
On which we sleep are no worse than our
army beds, except that here they are over a
damp, mouldy mud that is little better than
a marsh during rainy weather: while the
keen blasts which sweep up the broad sur
face of the Delaware, supplemented by a
salt mist and fog from the ocean, fairly
howl as they penetrate the trail sheds.
Stoves, one In each shed, have been put up,
but there is not enough of fuel to keep even
a semblance of fire more than half the time,
either day or night; and not even a power
full furnace at ''red hot" heat could fairly
warm the generality of the barracks. At
present the stove is almost an aggravation
for it is so closely Rugged by a double circle
of men (and among one hundred and ten in
mates Of the room there is little chance for
"A dlttldent person to get anywhere near IT.
that | rarely get near enough to see 1t.
while the crowded gangway prevents walk
ing about to warm up by exercise For
three weeks | have been neither comfort
ably warm during daylight, nor able to s.eep
| above two hours of any night have not
tasted warm food in that period have not
been really free FROM hunger any moment of
that period, waking or sleeping as 1t is our
unhappy experience to be haunted by
dreams of treedum, warmth, and food
dreams which realize the tabled Barmecide
ieasts, and add a sting of vivid ~dlsappOint-
ment to the waking discovery that It was
but a dream!" Our ration is. still, three
hard tacks" at 9 a. m, and three more at
3 g. M, with a morsel of meat, rusty and
wormy, with occasionally a gill measured
by a weeks average) of ''rice-soup,' stuff
which no ordinarily respectable, negro's.
dog down South would condescend to sniff
att
Let no one mistake this plain statement of
fact for "grumbling.' omit many things,
seen or heard of from authentic sources,
because l wish to exaggerate nothing, nor
"anything in malice set down. 1t is my
| wish that my journal, if l live, may bear
| witness to the horrors of this place and if
| die, may be preserved by my comrades
(some of whom have Instructions relating
thereto to be published in Dixie, and per-
chance add new V gor to the arms of my
countrymen by showing to them the foul
treatment which has swept away thousands
on thousands of our hapless, helpless sons
Of the South, and is continuing to do so
every hour of the day. Let it be remem-
bered the hardships from which We suffer,
and which has tumbled nearly ten thousand
Southerners into the pits on yonder Jersey
shore, are not necessary, are not the result
of poverty, or lack Of supplies, clothing,
etc.; nor from necessary rigor of discipline
to prevent escape. Fort Delaware is one of
the most accessible places in the country.
Ii can be reached by daily steamers from
half a dozen points, and is almost within
sight Of the main artery of trade and trave.
between New York and Baltimore. 1t can
be reached by letter in a day, ~ telegraph
in five minutes, from New York, Philadel-
phia. " ashington. or any other of the prin
cipal Atlantic cities. And its insulated
position, with an ~impregnable fortress con
trolling the prison pens the fort utterly
proof against surprise by reason of the moat
surrounding its wallis. prevents any fear of
an outbreak such as compels our govern
ment to be very strict with the prisoners at
Salisbury and Andersonville. 1t is this
- 10, rtt