The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-07-26
\ NORTHERN PRISON.
How Rebel Capiiyes Fared at the
Elmira StOekade.

The thriving little city of EImfra, New
| York, lies on the picturesque banks OF the
Chemung River, q few miles north of the
/ boundary Line between New York and Penn
/ syivania. 1t contains a population of 25,0O0
| inhabitants, and is bustling busy trade CEN
| ter, with nothing especially to distinguish ft
from other cities of like size but the fact of It's
! being the summer home of Mark Twain and
the proposed site of monument to our general
ancestor, Adam. Bat twenty years ago Elmira
| occupied a prominent place in the eyes Of the
public. 1t was then an important military
post, and its streets echoed to the tread of 30
| OG0 soldiers Lying at the intersection of the
\ Erie and Pennsylvania Railroad systems, it
| was one OF the most important recruiting sta
1 tions OF the North. and thousands Of troops
/ were here equipped and sent OUT
| Here it was, too, that IN 1854 was established
| one OF the most famous rebel prisons. On the
| banks of the river in the northern suburb OF
/ the city, nearly two miles from the then bust
ness center, lay Barracks No. g. The iBclOs-
ure contained about thirty acres, gently sl0p-
/ ing towards the south, and was surrounded by
high tight fence At the northern end were
/ several large buildings used as officers bar
racks These, with one exception. have all
/ been removed and the whole space built up
/ with cottages. Some 1900 captive COnfed-
crate soldiers were confined here from the Iat-
| GUARDING THE BARRACKS.
| Along the top of the fence surrounding the
| prison ran a platform several feet In width.
/ Along this, as stated intervals paced armed
| sentinels, while guards were also stationed at
J points around the outside. The barracks were
/ IN the western end of the inclOsure, and were
/ made fully as comfortable for the prisoners as
/ they had previously been for the soldiers.
| About sunset on the sultry evening of July
[ HrCf cf
arrived in Elmira, via the Erie Railroad, from
| New York. They had been captured at Point
/ Lookout, and were mostly from North and
/ South Carolina and Virginia. They were a
/ tall, hardy looking lot OF men, ragged and
/ trayel-stained, but in general good spirits
/ They were mainly from the rank and file few
/ officers ever being consigned to Elmira They
4 showed greater muscular than mental develop
| ment; majority of them being from the lower
| classes of the South. Every few days, for the
rest of the year, saw addition made to the first
detachment of 700 on the 9Th of july and the
| beginning of the new year found above 5000
men in Barracks No. 3. On Saturday, July I6
| the third consignment of Confederates arrived
/ over the Erie Road. The train which bore
/ them had met with frightfnl accident Be
/ tween Lackawaxen and ShohOla, the train,
/ laden with 500 prisoners and their guards had
| been run into by coal train and wrecked
/ Fifty men had been killed outright and 100
/ others badly wounded. The sufferers were
| brought and placed in the hospital and we'll
| cared for.
RIGID PRISON RULES.
| The rules and regulation governing the prison
were of the most rigid character. As fast as
| they arrived at the barracks a careful eompar-
| ison of their numbers with the rolls which ac-
| companied them was made, and the men divided
/ into companies for the better preservation OF
order. A prison fund" was created, to be
| used in the purchase of additional table deli
caeies, defIaying the expenses of washing and
mending &C. This fund was principally made
up from the difference between the prison "a
| tions and those allowed the United States SOL
diers. The rationSall08ed each prisoner were
as follows: Pork Or bacon, fourteen ounces;
fresh beet, fourteen ounces; -four or soft bread,
sixteen ounces; hard bread, sixteen ounces;
corn-meal, fifteen ounces; and to every 100
rations, beans or peas, twelve and half
| pounds; rice or hominy, eight pounds; soap,
/ four pounds; vinegar, three quarts salt. three
| and three-quar pounds; potatoes, fifteen
| pounds. Tea, coffee and sugar were only issued
| to the sick and wounded, and then upon a sur
/ geOn's certificate also, to those employed upon
! public works near the camp Each man drew
a small amount from the prison fund weekly
for the purchase of tobacco, &c.
In their prison life the COnfederates were
generally cheerful and good natured, spending
| their time in wood and bone carving, reading,
writing, and the thousand and one WAYS those
Z
WRITING HOME LETTERS.
They were permitted to write letters to
friends, subject always to the inspection Of an
| officer. Many of these letters were of course
withheld, and some which were not were copied
for their very quaintneSs. A portion of one
| from captive written to a woman friend ID
| Dixie read as follows:
The quarters in camp are passable. but the quar-
| ters in my pockets are not. Last night I had a
q
sheet of water. long for whisky barrels and
less gun barrels more biscuits and less bullets How
i wish you here. The farther get away from
you the better like you
Many were the devices put into execution in
| their attempts at escape, some of them showing
a daring and shrewdneS5 worthy Of success.
Most of these were futile, owing TO the close
ness with which the camp was guarded Two
daring North Carolinians, brothers. worked a
month on tunnel, carrying the dirt away in
/ their pockets and boots 1t was finished one
night about 9o'clOck and the astOnished tunnel
/ workers found that an angle had been made in
/ their hole and they had come out on the inside
/ OF the fence. They were discovered and closely
watched for time. but in about two months
did make their escape and were never over
| taken. One reckless young fellow, an eighteen
1 year-old Virginian, with the aid of companion,
removed the body of small pOx corpse from It's
coffin and placed himself IN it. 1t was tsksn to
| the cemetery at night and unlOaded. When he
heard the dead-wagon leave the grounds ne LEFT
his CHASTITY bed, and, IN rising up, nearly fright
/ ened the two negro grave-diggers out of their
/ senses He made good his escape, and the pre-
| sincts of Barracks No. saw him no more.
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
| At first very few of the prisoners would
| take the oath of allegiance, the spirit among
/ them at that time being very bitter against
| the North. In letter written TO the Rich
mOnd Examiner by prisoner who escaped by
/ digging tunnel sixty-ive feet long. the fol-
/ lowing strong words are found:
| We should fight forever before being subdued By
/ such nation, though I cannot see where old Abe
is to get his next call from They are searoer from
/ here to Elnira than in the Confederacy i think
that it Is they who are played out, not Us Of the
South.
| Towards the last, however, they accepted the
| parole and were released by hundreds.
| Shortly after the first consignment of pris-
| oners arrived In Elmira they were attacked
/ with chronic diarrhCea, and in the winter OF
/ 1S6i-65 the dread seOurge of smallpox made
/ its appearance. and before the ensuing spring
! had made terrible rayageS among the ranks of
/ the Confederate eaptives At one time they
/ died OF at the rate of twenty-five or thirty
/ day. and the prison dead-wagon was busy from
early morn till night bearing the victims 20
their final resting place. In March, 1855,
occurred q rise in the Chemung and Susque-
hanna memorable throughout Eastern New
4 Work and paypSrIxropia he bsrr f4oo.4