The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-10-04
PRovIDENTFALi SPRING.
An iowa Mans Recnllectl0ns.

An Iowa Mans RecollectiOus.
EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: kept a jour
nal during portion of my army life, and also
while in Andersonyille and Florence 1t was
laid away with some old papers, until the other
day got it out to read to my children, and
found to my surprise that a great many items
which / had written in my journal were as
new to me now as they were to my children.
Important scenes incidents and facts occur
ring in everyday camp life had completely
gone from my mind. 1 was then able to see
how it is that comrades who write from mem
DRY are so often mistaken in what they attempt
to describe. But while this may be true in such
cases as the recapture Of the, DeGress battery
before Atlanta, or who placed the first flag on
the State House at Columbia, or what regi-
ments composed Crocker's Iowa Brigade of the
Seventeenth Corps, | can't understand how
any comrade who was in Andersonville in Au-
gust, 1864, did not know anything about
Providence Spring till he read it in the papers"
as Comrade Joseph Hall says he did in The
NATIONAL TRIBUNE of Aug. 30. The spring
broke out on the west side of the stockade, on
the north side of the creek and about half way
between the gate through which the rebs
brought rations and the creek. / left Ander-
sonville on the 18th day OF September, and was
one of the first train sent to Florence S. c. and
l obtained water from the spring many times
before ! left there. l remember very well OF
going there in the early morning, and there
would be hundred men in line waiting their
turn to obtain the pure water, and we did not
have to wait very long, either so strong was
the flow; but sometimes man would try to
force his way in, and Immediately the cry
would be raised, There goes 'danker!
Close up keep out the hankerl'"
1t seems to me these words would be good
notices for US to adopt in the present cam
paign: Close up" Letno tanker get into
Congress who will keep us from receiving that
which we earned by those months and years of
suffering, which no pen can fully describe,
tongue tell, or pencil paint
l wish to ask few questions which if any
comrades can answer, l will be pleased to cor
respond with them. went into Andersonville
the goth Of July, 1864; was put in the 18th
detachment (270 men in each detachment). In
! a few days so many died that they broke up
/ the 18th, and ] was put in the 22d detach-
| ment. There was a tunnel being made near
the northeast corner OF the stockade, little
nearer TO the east side. Our Captain who had
1 charge of the tunnel was reported to be one of
! Grants spies-a short, heavy-built man with
sandy beard. I was introduced to him by
| Serg't Ben Kearsey, Co. b, 11th Iowa. We COM
menced in shanty, and went down three feet,
then ran along a short distance, then down
again, then another slope, and then down
again, making about nine or 10 feet, when we
commenced the tunnel proper. We could only
|
| scattered little here and there IN such a man
ner that it would not attract attention The
| guard which stood nearly opposite was, ]
| think, No. IA, and often / heard him call Post
numbah fawty-fo; 10 o'clock, and alPs well, y
sometimes varying the latter by saying
Flyers yer mewl!" When we were moved
Sept II We had got under the st0ckade Who
can tell me the name of the Captain of the tun-
mel? should like the names of all engaged in
it. Generous, brave, kind hearted Ben Kear
sey died there, l believe, and by the column;
! of The NATIONAL TRIBUNE l find the ladies
| of Iowa have Relief Corps named for him. IL
the daytime the mouth of our tunnel was GOV
cred with couple of boards; dirty blanket
was stretched over it, and two or three men lay
on it asleep and no one would think of its being
the mouth of tunnel. Was the work con
tinued after left; and did anyone escape
from it? Who can tell? G. A Smith, B. f
Bower, S. S. Martin. M. Paxton, III. Poo
and myself formed a mess. For our shell
ter we had single wooden blanket stretch
ed over pine stick an inch square aud six fee
long, the ends resting On two sticks of the same
size and four feet long; for these three pieces o
wood we paid rs cents in greenbacks, or at tbs
rate of over 81 900 per cord and this, too, witt
heavy forest around Us. Many poor fellow
life might have been prolonged if he could have
had few chips to make little soup; and thel
in daytime, with the scorching sun beating
down upon us, we could look across the stock
ade and see the green, waving trees and coo
shade, while we were suffering the torments o
hell. Across the alley from us were some New
York boys, one a Sergeant and Hospita
Steward, DR.. A. K. Gould, of Fitchburg, Mass
/ afterward met the Doctor in Florence very
weak and emacated. | tried to get place 70
him outside but failed At Florence | saw
member Of the 45th Ill. who was an outcast-
that is, he was alone, with no shanty, no blank
ets-a tramp. Some Of the boys had pet do
which disappeared, and no doubt furnished
Christmas dinner for some mess, but the heat
was thrown away and was picked up by thi
man and laid on some Goals, and l saw hin
eating it. The picture is indellibly stamped o.
my mind, and after reading Dante's Intern
of this gallant follower of Col. Maltby reduces
to the extremity of eating dogs head. Ca
anyone tell me his name ?-CLIEToN Z. Hull
18th Iowa, President California Association
Ex- Union Prisoners of War, Berkeley Cal.