The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1883-04-05
OPINIONS WILL DIFFER
A Lively Discussion Concerning the
Famous AndersOnVille Spring.
To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE.

To the Editor NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
As Lieutenant Theo c. Davis has begun the
skirInish with me, propose to advance on his
works" III my style lst. How did he, q lieu-
tenant get into understanding prison? There were
no commissioned officers i'll that prison; only en-
listed men were admitted within those gates. was
he afterwards promoted? If he was there he GER
tainly must have got turned clear around. lie says:
The brook ran from east to west the spring
the south SIDE and 100 feet from tile dead-ilne
i say, and will stake my last cent ON it, too that
the brook ran from west to east 1t past Amber
Station first, and less than fifty rods from the
station there was hydraulic ram set in the brook
that supplied the railroad station with water, and
/ spoiled that ram all could without tools the
morning of May 1861 before was. put inside the
stoekade. The cooiS-house was also west OF the
stock ada The spring broke ont about 100 feet from
the brook the north side of the brook and inside
of the dead-line, nearly under il. See Comrade
Urban's Battlefield and Prison Pen, page Al;
also, regards the tunneling, same, y. 36t.
indorse him fully But, to be exact, will refer to
my old prison diary. May TO- 1861, | was sworn
into the conspiracy band of the foriorn hope
to lead IN the break. May i5 1864, water came IN on
US III our tunnel-hole which we stopped by driving
wooden plugs in the water courses. May 18th we
undermined the first place III the stoekade, May
18TH the ttnneiing party got ultder the 8ifeilery
at the south gate. A1ay :d, same north gate. May
% date of Writes notice that he knew all about our
plan of escape and was prepared to eheckHiate us,
&c. Now, will Lieutenant Thee. c. Dan pardon
meif fatty contradict him, and prove besides in
nearly every other statement he has made? He
asks for the distance from the south gatesto the
artillery. will not be certain, but think about
f25 feet helped TO measure the distance from the
sick-cll stand outside of the south gate by the
morning sun shadows, which will illustrate thus
Ii stick two feet long casts shadow sixteen feet
long, how long will 81 shadow be of stf fade log
sixteen feet long? This was our rule. and who can
say it not correct? He asks " What was done
with the dirt 2" guess lie never was there. or he
would have known that all tunnel dirt was always
hid by digging well at the tunnel entrance
and then carried to another part of the prison IN
haversaclSS meal sacks and emptied there. His
next, in regard tunnelng ut the head of swamp,
have answered; but we did have rather wet time
for comfort. Next he recoleets the big hood in
Julg;' that big flood was August 0, 1854 (See
keiIoggS Life and Death in Rebel Prisons, p.
2O9; Also Urbans book, p. Ill also, see my diary
same date.) Comrade Urban says The spring
was discovered next morning after the fiood, WIZ
August l0th) right beneath the dead-line, and
about 100 feet from the brook / say Urban Is
correct; so do Comrades Ike Shakeley, of Ember-
ton, Pa, and John Kennedy, of Butler, Pa, both
members of my regiment and prisoners there at
the time. Next, the lieutenant says: Il recoilect,
too that the force of the water toppled over quite
stretch of the stocksde the west side and made
much larger gap where it made its exit His
head is turned again If the water toppled the
stoekade on the west its exit must have hn east,
and he makes this statement just after reminding
me that the brook flowed from east TO west. He
further says . don't think there was any tunnel
ing done on the east side &c. l do not know
that there either, but do know there was
tunneling done the west side, and hard, dirty,
wet work it was, too. As to the practeability of
tunneling in dry ground, ask any ex-prisoner
from Andersonville that tunneed there how il was.
The dry ground was either I" hardpan'-too hard to
dig almost-or white sand that caved in just when
we didn't want it to. In conclusion, l would say
that there is nothing wouidrather do than to make
trip this summer to those Southern pTissn-pens,
Were able, and write them up as they to-day
and as they when last saw them-Anderson-
vile, Charleston Florence, Salisbury Goldsboro and
Raleigh, well us the cities passed through. And
this reminds me that | would give much 10 know
who the little girl about ten years of age who
took canteen from dirty, weary, sick and thirsty
| prisoner in a box car, Sunday evening Septem-
Der IL, 1864, at Savannah, Ga, and filed that can
| teen with good, cool, pure water. On returning,
| she found the train had moved, but she searched
| on refusing to give mp the canteen to dozens of
! claimants until the rightfui owner reached.
Oh, how Iwould like to know where she is to-day
! God bless her Esay. | will remember her 10 my
| dying day, and should her eyes fall these lines
/ will she please write to She truly an
angel of mercy to me- and Others too for she carried
loads OF filled eanteens to Others until train
moved off and LEFT her and little boy, both of whom
had gone after fresh supply of water for the poor
fellows the train. also will ever remember with
and foreigners who came out to see us when we
were put off the train the course and
/ their many acts of kindness to US, of them
| giving the last scrap of food they had in their
houses. still love to- think OF these acts of kind
| ness; it convinees that there few loyal
sympathiZers left in the South.
r F. BLACK,
Late private Co. f. 103d Pa. Vet. Vols. One of the
| Plymouth Pilgrims"
| PARKER CITY, Pa.