St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1890-08-21

|
his connection with the Grand Army
he has proved popular and valua-
| BILE member
A YANKEE IN ANDERSONVILLE.
From Dr. T. H. Mann's "a Yankee
| in Andersonville, )" in the Century for
| August we quote as follows: "All
this time it was evident that the
Confederacy was fast falling to
| pieces, and our deliverance not far
! distant. The tone of the prison
authorities began to change, par
| ticularlv to those of us who were en-
joying the outsideparole. The guard
| began to fraternize with us, showing
a disposition to be neighborly. One
of them made the burial squad a
present of a very fine ham, such a
ham as they at the South only know
how to cure, and bushel of sweet
potatoes. They began to lounge
into our little log-hut and chat with
us during the evening, and play crib
bage, chess, and checkers. We were
invited into their camp. The last
two or three weeks of our stay at
Florence we could go and come pretty
much as we pleased after our days
duties were done. At last we were
told that they could hold us no
longer, and that we would be placed
on board the cars as fast as they
could be obtained and run into the
Union lines at Wilmington. Adj
jutant Cheatham requested all the
paroled men to remain to help off the
last train-load, which would consist
of the sick and totally disabled.
watched for my comrades as the
prisoners filed out of the stockade.
| took Snow, McCullom, and Short
by the hand as they emerged from
this gate to Hades, and assured
them that they were really bound for
Gods country this time. The last
load left the fourth day after. We
worked till near midnight in loading
the box-cars with their half-living
half-dead, human freight, the rem
nants and dregs of the Florence
prison. Seven died on the way to
the train, and more than twenty
while en- route between Florence and
Wilmington. We placed aboard the
train nearly a hundred cases of small
pOX, and two hundred cases in the
last stages of scurvy-whose condi-
ton | dare not describe. The excite
ment and efforts to revive the almost
dying kept my nerves and muscles
strung till the last man was on
board; then | felt faint and deathly
sick, and could not ride inside the
cars with the loathsome sick and
dying. l climbed to the top of the
train, and rode for the first fifty miles
in a cold northeast rain storm, until
SO thoroughly wet and chilled that l
shook from head to foot like a man
with ague. Then | era wled along to
the engine and over the tender into
the cab, where | found four of my
comrades, who had preceded me to
get warm, and we rode here the re-
naming distance to Wilmington.
We supplied the tender and fire with
wood, and, in short, pretty much
ran the train as we pleased. Soon
after daylight of March I, 1865, l
saw the first free Union soldier in ten
long months, in the form of a forag-
ing cavalrvman. Our whole train
load cheered him with all the noise
we could make, and waved some
kind of a rag. | never saw q more
astonished soldier. Evidently he did
not comprehend the situation
About noon we reached the Union
lines, upon the opposite side Of the
river from Wilmington, where we
were met by ambulances, surgeons,
and everything possible to make us
comfortable, and there we saw the
glorious God given flag, the Stars
Sft-,r, Of.
| could not eat during the three
days we spent at Wilmington, but
did drink little coffee, that we had
lOnged for so much.
We were taken from Wilmington on
a small steamer over the bar and |
transferred to the ocean steamer
Livingston, that was waiting in the |
offing. l fell asleep from sheer ex
haustion, and when | woke again it |
was to find myself in the Jarvis Gen
eral hospital, at Baltimore, with |
three weeks of lost time to be &C
counted for The surgeon told me
that | had been delirious during that |
time; that | was now on the fair |
road to recovery, and must remain
quiet several days longer
In response to my importunate APP |
peals, was promised a furlough as
soon as l should be able to walk to
the office. This l attempted every
day till the fourth day l succeeded,
BUTT took me to the end of my rope.
The surgeon tried to persuade me to
remain a few days longer; but l was
bent on going home; l claimed his
promise, and the furlough was writ
A h.
arms to his vehicle, and from that
aboard the train in the Baltimore
depot. The journey to Boston l do
not remember. Somehow l got
there, and another hackman carried
me to my uncle's house and placed
me upon the lounge in his sitting
room. The next morning | was car
ried to the cars and rode out home,
twenty miles, and was borne into
my fathers house"