The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-06-21
FIGHTING THEM OVER.
What Oar Veterans Have TO Say About
Their Old Campaigns
CAMP CHASE.

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE; call HAS
been made through Thu NATIONAL TRIBUNE
for a report Of tie treatment. Of the rebel prls-
opers at Camp Chase. o. / have waited for
some one who welds 2 more facile pen than
mine 10 comply with the request; but As no
such report is forthcoming, / assume tic task.
] do not know sc what date The prison was
FIRST opened loT she reception Of tie Southern
public. When i arrived ct The Camp about
the 25th Of Jnly. 1868 the entertainment was
in fall blast, with about 1909 or LOO men IN
the arena and about , % armed spectators. Tho
prison WAS iuclosed by hoard fence. or wall,
about l. feet high, Wlti posts set deep IN the
ground about II feet apart These posts had
nailcrs, or striugeEs, ike those OF picket
fence. and the I2lcO, boards @eIe firmly nailed
10 these, with the ends O. iae boards up and
down. A good sircu. braae on tho outside Of
the pen kept the ftsce On position. About
HiuC feet from t4e c-cun3 sad three feet from
the top OF the fencs WAS walk or psTspet for
the guards There were no sontTy-boEe5 TO
ehicla tle guards from the sun and storm.
Prom this paraPet tine guards had full view
OF The entire inclosaTe.
This Enclosure was about = rods long, TO
rods wide, aGd contained about two and a hall
acres 1t stood about the center Of an unfeBced
clearing containing about loo acres. Inside
this prison were about 90 or 90 boX-houses, about
l5xl2 feet, for quarters for our distinguished
guests. There was also sWeat-hOnse, about
SEo feet, something of tie form Of an old
fashioned out-oyen, and so low that person
could barely crawl round on his knees. This
was used as a stTaitjacket for offending
Johnnies.
The Camp was under command of Col. Por-
ter or PoUljer, and there WAS some complaint
by the prisoners Of their treatment.
New companies were organized, and, IN cor
nection with the aforementioned 500 guards,
The 5oth Ohio was organized and assigned TO
H 4 of lTsalT
This brings Us 10 the time Of my advent into
the Camp and to the prison, July, 1863. By
the time we were mustered in, uniformed and
armed q new regime was inaugurated. Gen.
Richardson had taken command Of the Camp.
He bad been Colonel Of an Ohio regiment, (the
25th, ! think, had lost the use Of an arm, and
was just suited 30 such work as this
came too late TO sec the change in the man.
sgeHent Then, the Lieutenant in charge Of
the prison was as fsr removed from the hard
hearted villain that did JEFF Daviss murderous
work at Andersouyiile as it would be possible
10 imagine one man above and better than an
other The prisoners had nothing but the
kindliest expressions for him, and this sketch
would fall far short Of doing the subject justice
without mentioning this Lieutenant's name,
Alexander SaDkey.
About September, 1862 a new prison was
erected about 300 yards southeast of the old
one. IL WIS built Oh the same general plan,
except il was two or three times as large. The
box houses were about 3GxIS feet, and were Of
the same Elake aud style as those occupied by
the gCards. tie recruits snd the psrOled men
IN Camp. The old prison was torn down and
the materials used IN constructing the new one.
The work was done by the prisoners under
guard and under the direction Of local me-
chauic. The houses stood in regular order
and tie streets were commodiOus and kept
scrOpulO1sly clean. and great care was exer-
N al Gar RI 2nn n
late in the prison. The above-named sweat
house was not an adjunct Of the new prison.
A small dry ragine, or draw" ran through
the center Of the prison from west 10 east, from
which the grOuEd assembled gently on each
side. Tais draw was cut out and plaBked on
tbe bottom and ca the sides, forming an aque-
duct about four feet wide and two feet high,
and running the full width Of the prison. Over
this 2qpeduct 8 number Of sinks we're built
At the west end Of tie agueduct 8 large well
was dug and pumps were kept running every
day pumping water into large tank. This
tank was opened every evening at suud0wn.
and the water, rushing through the aqueduct
and under the sinks, washed ont ali the 9Th
that had accumulated in the preceding "a
hours. Three or four other wells were located
a. convenient places in the prison, and the sup
ply Of water was always abundant and Of the
very best The rations were ready-baked
Eght bread wheat, as good as any one could
a.
etc, Tor I'VE men IS was drawn for four Of Us.
They could have c0rnmeal substituted for the
Whc2t-bTcad ana bake the corn-bread them
selves. VIC did not have this privilege They
drew potatoes, and the supply was always ex-
haUstec by the time our turn would come so
that we were like Old Mother Hubbard's y
cog. They drew the headquarters Of beef
We drew the foTe-quarters every time. In this
respect their quarters ~ were better than ours
They drew coffee, sugar, beans, rice, salt, vine
gar, pepper sowbelly, soap, candles and 81 the
wood they needed.
The wood was generally delivered 70 them
about 8 O'Clock each morning, and the prison
erB concluded they could escape by following
the wagons out before the gates could be closed
AZ were IN the plot, and tie 4th Of July, 1854
vas fixed upon for going ont. The prison Vas
divided INTO two COZ p2rtments, each having
is own separate gate. The rebeFofIicers Occu.
pied the smaller aud the enlisted men tho
larger compartment.
As the wagons passed out Of the respective
gates, there were no unusual groups 70 be seen
IN either part u the prison As the last wagon
passed out Of the officers prison, something
seemed 70 instinctgely tell the Sergeant z
close the gate quick. He WAS Just in time, and
Gs the bar tel that held the gate, the surg,
was made against the gate, but it would no
yield, and not one man got out.
Al the other gate the Sergeant was knocked
cut All the Others backed out" There wer,
ABOUT 1900 prisoners IN The two pens at thi
time. The guards commenced firing on tn,
escaping prisoners as they ran across the cpeI
ground in & southwesterly direction. Thi
airing soon brought cut the boys Of the regi
nent. SEEKING their guns and not waiting 10
orders, they ran IN q southerly direction, an,
before the Johnuies had gone half mile ia
blue-cOats were among them two 20 one an,
Eaore coming. Not q shot was fired, excep
BY TIE guards. IN 20 minutes from the tim
they passed cut Of tbs gate they were al
back IN the prison. Bat one shot took effect
Eno, strangely enough, 10 hit the man tina
had taken the lead and knocked the Ser
EeAnt down with stone; and, strange
stall, tie shot hit the wrist Of IA
hand that threW the stone and the
hand had 20 be amputated. I saw the han
afterward. as IL was preserved In Jar Of alex
hol. The man was Icnnesseean had been
blacksmith, was 8 bugler, and claimed 70 b
loyal. aud asked 60 be released on cath Of los
atty. His case had been favOFably reported
Washington, and an order Of release was q
pecied ln 3 few days. A different report wa
forwarded and the order Of release never came
but they were careful 10 see that he was anon
The first batch Of prisoners sent away for e.
change. Aside from the firing on these escsI
ing prisoners, / never knew but one shot FIRE
sno ono CAP snapped IN the two years and seve
days OF my service in camp. There WAS i
dead line in the prison. For sanitary reason
the order had been given that all dishwate.