St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-01-17
G.. A. r. CAMP FIRE.
Speeches by Gen. Henry and COmrade
w w. SDraSue.

Chamberlin post had a rousing
camp fire in the Town hall Tuesday
evening and every seat in the room
was filled. The exercises opened
with a finely-rendered solo by A. P.
Taft. Commander f. l.. Hovey then
introduced Gen. w w. Henry of
Burlington. colonel of the 10th Yer
mont infantry, who gave a running
account of army life from the battle
of Cold Harbor to the battle of Ce-
dar Creek
The address opened with descrip
ton of Richmond and vicinity revis-
tied i'll 1888 and the speaker spoke of
many traces of the war that were
still to be seen all along the line. Re
turning to the subject, the progress of
the 10th Vermont was traced from
Cold Harbor to Frederick city, Md,
where under the command of Gen.
Lew Wallace they were gather
ed to defend Washington Then fol-
lowed a vivid account of the battle
of MonOcacy, where there was q to-
tai loss to our forces of 1925 men.
Gen. Henry said after reading in
Grants report that the plucky fight
at Monocacy saved Washington be-
cause it crippled Gen Early, he was
not discouraged because of the loss
of 1000 men. Since the war Gen.
Early has also admittd that he lost
Washington at MOnocacy. The
march up the Shenandoah with it's
exciting skirmishes with the enemy
was followed by the march back un-
der Gen. Sheridan when 1000 barns
and 70 mills were burned and 2OOO
cattle and 5000 sheep taken for sup
plies. The address closed with a
thrilling account of the battle of Ce
dar Creek, the allusion to Sheridan's
arrival from Winchester eliciting
hearty applause from the interested
audience.
After solo by Comrade Dennis E.
May, Comrade w. w. Sprague gave
touching account of life at Belle
Isle prison-pen. He was among
$500 that were captured after the
first days encounter at Gettysburg.
The prisoners were divided off into
squads and his companion was the
l., 4 ~ la II
rest. Mr.. Sprague was next in line
and when he bid his companion fare
well it was with the firm expectation
that they would soon meet again at
Belle Isle. When the next squad ar
rived at Belle Isle they found that
these 700 had been exchanged and
gone back into service. The Incl
dents of prison life were vividly por-
trayed and the details were shocking
to all lovers of humanity AS winter
came on 10000 prisoners were con-
fined in a pen only an acre and one
quarter in extent and the James river
was frequently frozen over. The
prisoners were barefoot and clad in
rags and many frOze to death while
others became insane for the rest of
their life. At one time one-half the
number were on the sick list. The
food was mostly from condemned
stores intended for the Confederate
army and the ratiOns were very scan
ty. Communication with the North
was carried on by means of indelible
ink made of onion or lemon Juice
which would turn black when expos
ed to the heat. Mr.. Sprague exhib
tied one of these letters which he had
written home and also recited two
poems composed by the boys Ian
gushing in prison Release came at
last and the soldiers went North, a
diseased and emaciated set of vete-
rams. On their way they met the
Confederate soldiers for whom they
were exchanged. They had been
well cared for in Northern prisons,
were hardy and healthy set of fell
lows, and presented a striking con-
trast to the shattered forms of the
Union soldiers. The camp fire closed
with a song by the quartette consist
ing of Comrades Bonett, Goodwin,
Nav and A. P Taft