Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-05-28

Oi oLiC UC1OlO vi SIuCc.
1t was yet so dark that one could moi
. distinguish familiar face twenty feet
away when Sergeant Turner and Little
Ross came to the head of the steps and
shouted: Turn out for roll CALI Turn
= out!'
Preparing for roll call was very SIM
, pie matter. AS the only clothing re-
moved before retiring were the boots or
shoes, there was no trouble dressing. The
f blankets were rolled up and placed
against the dividing brick walls or
thrown over the heavy beams, which
served as racks for anything owned by
the unfortunates who had their quarters
in the middle of the room. There were
about l 300 prisoners in the building at
this time, and the roll call consisted of
the very primitive plan of standing
them in ranks four deep, counting the
first line and multiplying it by four. As
escapes were not unusual it was easy to
conceal the absence of a man who had
"lit out" particularly in that dark Lower
Chicamauga room, which because of its
central location, was the place in which
we were counted. If man were miss
ing prisoner in the rear rank on the
right of the line would wait until he
was seen by one of the sergeants keep
ing the tally, then he would drop down
behind, scuttle along to the vacant
place, and then "bob up" as serenely in
nocent as fresh fish" from the home
guard.
Very often in spirit of mischief and
in order to perplex Little Ross and
"Black George''-the former was liked
and the latter detested- trick would
be played when there was no need to ac-
count for missing man, so that there
would be frequently an extra half dozen
Yankees present who could not be found
ON the prison books. About the middle
of Dec. it dawned upon Major Turn
er's mind that this plan of roll call was
defective, and thereafter we were hud-
died and jammed every morning into
| the Upper Potomac Room, and through
an opening in the dividing wall, which
was kept closed at other times, we were
counted, one at a time, into the Upper
Chicamauga; but. as will be seen here
after, even this precaution was not ad
equate.
After roll call grand rush was made
for the cook room. This was the middle
room on the ground floor facing Carey
street. In it there were four old fash
ioned kitchen stoves and few long,
rough tables; rather limited accommo-
dations for the number of men in pris-
on, but, as an offset, it should be added
that the stoves were quite sufficient for
. ho do H<
1st of January, 1864, the friends of pris
oners in the North, or "God's country"
as the men called it, were permitted to
send through supplies under flag of
truce. These boxes contained clothing
and condensed food, which, after being
carefully examined, were delivered to
those to whom they were addressed.
This gave the men who had been in
prison for some time, and whose friends
knew of their whereabouts, decided
advantage over the impoverished fresh
fish," But recall with pride that no
man was permitted to go hungry in that
prison while another had food. Yes,
there was one exception, to which L may
refer again.
The prisoners who suffered most and
were most dependent on their more af-
fluent comrades were those from TenneS-
see, Kentucky, and West Virginia, in
which States the friends were fugitives,
impoverished themselves, or within the
enemy's lines.
was Captain Martins guest, as were
two other "fresh fish," and this increas-
ed his mess to seven. He had the cook
i,r hot ic paaIa nOffao fnI 70
coffee" out of roasted, or rather burn
ed, cornbread; vile stuff it was, but then
it had the merit of being hot; the heel
of molasses jug helped to allay its bit
terness. After time grew to like it.
This coffee, with few dabs of their
stringy beef, heated on stove lid, and
the hardest cornbread that mans
teeth ever bit into, constituted the
breakfast of our mess. But hunger
makes the most repulsive food palata
BILE.
of the stoves that morning, and recall
hanging round just to sniff in the intox-
icating odor. OF course, | broke the
Tenth Commandment into smithereens
while was looking on, but soldiers, and
particularly prisoners of war, soon get
on good terms with their conscience.
BY way of introducing me to my fel-
low boarders and making me acquaint-
ed with the building, Captain Forsyth,
of the One Hundredth Ohio, took me in
charge. "You will find not a few nota-
bles here" he said, as he led me into the
Lower Potomac, adding, "there goes one
of them nOw."
Following the direction of Forsyth's
hand, l saw slender man of medium
height, who walked back and forth,
back and forth, incessantly, with his
chin on his breast as if he were men,
tally struggling with most difficult
problem. His hair and beard were near
ly white; he wore tattered overcoat,
and on his head was a red flannel cap,
evidently extemporized from the leg of
a pair of drawers. His bearing was not
military, but there was set to his lips
and CLINT in the gray eyes that be-
spoke him man of brains and force.
"Who is her" L asked.
"That," replied Forsyth, sis the cele-
brated Neal Dow, of Maine. He takes
his punishment like man, never whim-
pers, and 50 the boys like him."
After had taken in General Dow l
saw a stout, foreign-looking sOldier,with
black eyes, black hair, and black beard,
passing, but what particularly attracted
nv attention was the fact that this Of
icer wore the best and warmest coat l
had seen in prison. 1t was cavalry
tunic. trimmed with fur. In reply to
my question, Forsyth said;
''Oh, that's Colonel Cesnola, of the
Fourth New York Cavalry. They say
he is an Italian Count, but, be that as
it may, he is gentleman. Those who
have served with him say he is as brave
as they make 'em. Another thing that
makes him popular, is that he doesn't
whine about exchange nor talk against
the government, but bears his punish
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