The National tribune., 1890-04-24
RELEASE OF PRISONERS.
CONTINUED from Ist page j

by tame chronicle of the delicious dishes.
Let 10 be remembered that in all those starving
months we had never tasted tea or coffee, and
now both were at our call, hot and delicious.
How the steaks, eggs, ham, smoking pOta-
toes hot biscuits and sweet butter vanished
before us how we wnked and exchanged with
each other in boyish pautomimo the speeChless
expression Of our happincssi
Schcll and Dodge 5prinklcd their pie with
happy tears. and the rest OF US could scarcely
resist the impulse OF putting the remnants OF
the banquet in our pockets.
The meal over we lit cigars and went forth
for n stroll over the town, aud with an air Of
prOprietoTship that created perceptible cool
ness between us and our late companions, whom
We were frequently passing
What smiling, friendly look everything
about us seemed to have. How we all talked
40 the same time like roistering schoo-bOys
about the happy hOme-returning now so near !!
It s not often IN the lives Of men that so much
happiness so swiftly succeeds so much misery,
and is showered upon them in q single day.
On March we boarded the steamer General
Sedgwick and steamed out the Cape Fear IN
sight of Fort Fisher, on whose ramparts our
brave comrades had but recently planted the
Union flag aud after a rough night off the
coast we entered the Chesapeake, and before
noon landed at the Naval Academy, Annapolis,
where we were greeted with music aud cheers,
and received a royal welcome.
The quaint old Maryland Capital was soon
swarming with prisoners; the enlisted men
and many of the officers finding good quarters
and generous fare at
CAMP PAROLE,
adjacent to the town. The rest sought accom-
mediation at the hotels or were provided for at
private residences.
The little postofIice and telegraph Offices were
soon besieged by throngs of prisoners, and
mails were soon speeding and every wire was
humming with the glad tidings of their liberia
tion to their loved ones at home.
Within few days three months pay proper
was given to the men on account" and this
generous promptness of the Government
which for once in history broke loose from red
tape was quickly followed by the granting 20
each released prisoner furlough for Sd days.
Aud thus, after unparalleled trials in which en-
during affection for each other was welded in
tho FIRE of suffering old comrades bade each
other a loving Godspeed and farewell; forget
ting not TO shed their tears for the host of their
martvred brothers sleeping at AudeFsOnVilie,
Salisbury. MIIen. Florence and Belle Isle.
| was made happier still by the prompt and
kind notice from my Colonel lMiehael W..
Burusl of my promotion from Second Lieuten-
aut 10 Captain OF my company; my commits
sion from Gov. Fenton dating the day Of my
release from 90 months captivity. March /.
1900. i hhh uteh III SERVICE 5lhCe tht z4sb oI
July, 1861, having enlisted as q private imme-
diately on my return from New Orleans.
had been four times wounded, having eye
blinded at Gettysburg. | had been in six
prisons, had escaped five times. and was each
time retaken. / was one of the 100 Union OIL
GERS who escaped through the tunnel az Libby
Prison Feb, o, 1861. and was retaken in sight of
the Union pickets. My account of the affair
appeared in an illustrated article in The Cen
fury Augaziae for March, lsoS.
Within week after my arrival at Annapolis
with my lurough in my pocket and happiness
in my heart, / was on the train speeding home.
4 month later tho curtain went down at Apo
mattox. The great rebellion. with its blood
aud bitterness and tears, and the cruel bastiles
of the Confederacy, with their tragic scenes,
were things of the pathetic past,