The National tribune., 1882-11-23

deaths in the prison. and during the month of
June they reached an average of forty per day.
By the end of that month the rolls showed a
total of q, 367 prisoners.
STARVATION DIET.
About this time an effort was made to bake
the meal which was issued to the prisoners in
the bakery connected with the cOOk-hOuse.
The lOaves were about the size of brick, and
half loaf, with occasionally a small slice of
salt pork was all that each prisoner received.
The meal was very coarse and irritating to
the bowels, and the men suffered greatly in
consequence from cramps, and thousands died
of diarrhea and dysentery. Flies and maggots
swarrned, too, in the trough where the dough
was kneaded and every ration of bread that
was issued contained some of them. After a
while the capacity of the bakery proved INSULT
clent to meet the demands upon it, and mush
was issued as q substitute for the bread. 1t
was shoveled into a wagon bed, and in
cases where the prisoners had no utensu in
which to receive it, it was thrown out on the
dirty sand, where they were forced to eat it as
best they could. By and by even this ration
gave out and many of the men had to be satisfied
with raw meal again. Wood was still great
luxury, and it was Only after much entrcaty
that enough could be obtained to cook the meal
with. Very little salt was issued to the pris-
oners. and the men missed it greatly. No one
who has not experienced the deprivation can
appreciate the intense longing which the men
had for it; even a single pinch was considered
a great prize at this time
herebcls treated the dead with even less con-
siCeration than the living So long as the deaths
averaged but four or five each day, the bodies
We're carried TO the buryinS- ground on stretchers
by paroled prisoners detailed tor that work.
The number of bodies mad now increased, how
ever, to such an extent that it was no longer
possible to remove them in this way.
was at the dead-house one day when heard
q confederate officer quarreling with the men
who were engaged in removing the bodies about
corpse that lay in the further end Of the dead
house. 1t seems that the number of bodies had
increased so that they had not been able to re-
move them as fast as they had been brought in
and the corpse in question had been allowed to
remain so long that it had become a mass of
corruption, and could not be removed on a
stretcher. The officer in question was obdurate
and insisted upon the men obeying his ORDERS
and they finally managed to get the body out.
A wagon was employed for the purpose of haul
ng the remains to the burying- ground, and the
bodies were thrown into it much AS dressed hogs
are thrown into dray at paclling-hOuse.
have frequently seen the arms and legs and the
CHASTITY heads of the dead hanging over the
sides and ends and tossing to and fro as the
wagon jOltcd along the road to the burying
ground. 1t was revolving sight and L cannot
even now recall it without a shudder
At first the bodies of those who died at An
dersonville were encased in a rude box; then,
rs the number increased, an offset was made in
the trench dug to receive the corpse, and
piece of heWn timber was placed over it. Ulti-
mately, however, the rebels contented them
selves with simply digging long trenches, into
which the dead we're tumblcd without any COW
ering whatever except old mother earth As
many as fifty or hundred bodies almost en-
trsly nude would be laid in a single row and
the dirt shoveled in on them in the most care
less manner. 1t would happen sometimes that
a hard piece of dirt would strike on a body and
instead of glancing Off would become imbcdded
ia it, and if it happened to strike on rib the
flesh would peel of in huge pieces.
Poor fellows! Their bodies decayed almost
before the spirit took its fight. In those hor-
rible trenches some of the best blood, the finest
brains, and the bravest hearts were covered up
forever.