The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-12-05

regulation greetings accorded to new corners,
perceived among the detected and down
hearted fellows, young artillery oncer,
fresh from the front, and as peered into his
one brilliant but now detected countenance,
thought saw the familiar look OF school
boy friend of my almost forgotten youth.
Second glance revealed to me the now dis
tinguished superintendent of our Maine Gen
eral Hospital, who exclaimed, "Why Mat
tocks, are you here too?" / was forced to
admit that his conclusions were entirely cor
rect.
Our guard consisted of conscripts taken APP
parently from such of the male population of
Georgia as were either too young or too old
to be drafted for service in the field. These
men, being deprived of the more glorious
and perhaps more hazardous privilege of
shooting Yankee soldiers at the front, were
in many instances inclined to fire OFF their
emuskets upon very slight provocation. One
day, prisoner approached the muddy brook
running through one end of the grounds, for
the simple purpose of getting water, as was
our won't, when, without warning, as was
claimed by eye-witnesses, he was fired upon
by one of the sentinels, and mortally
wounded. We were assured by the Confed-
I crate commander that the matter would be
fully Investigated, and we presume it was, as
( the sentinel was q few days afterwards pro
)moted to sergeant and granted leave of
absence as reward for his fdelity and
watchfulness.
) The Fourth of July was memorable. In the
morning, instead of the regulation fantasies
which we used TO witness In Maine towns in
our Doyhood days, we were entertained by a
i've elephant composed of two men and a
blanket, preceded by a tall keeper armed
shoolx at its end. After this. Inspired by the
elephant as well as the memories of the"ever
glorious Fourth" we adjourned to the COM
mlssary building in the centre of the enclos-
ure, ana, after prayer by the chaplain, list
! ened TO patriotic speeches and songs, and
when, near the Close a sprightly young fell
low Jumped upon the temporary rostrum,
composed OF two old barrels and a board,
and pulled from the recesses of his pockets q
little American flag and called for three
cheers, It seemed as il Pandemonium had
been let loose. The Confederate guard rushed
I in to see what the trouble was, but they didn't
get that flag Soon after this, either from
fear that our elephant might get loose or that
the little flag might lead us into mischief,
Z three additional pieces of artillery were
planted so as to bear upon the premises, so
wesha nh ad six guns bearing upon us to
break. But, we were not idle. Wehadllearned
from the men who had been confined at Lib
by Prison all aboutIthe famous tunnelthrough
which Col. Streight and his comrades had
made their escape. Several of these subter-
ranean passages were started by digging
down under the sheds and then running hor-
izontally toward the stockade. was q CO.
owner, and co-worker in one of these en-
terprises, and never did O stakeholder in q
Colorado mine, or boomer of a Southern
city site, feel more confident of fortune
than did of my ultimate escape; but, alas,
while our tunnel was progressing finely, au-
other similar work OF engineering had actu-
dark night, hungry COW, yainly seeking for
grass by means of which she might delight
her owner by increased flow of milk, with
that stupidity which is common to animals,
and without that sympathy for suffering
which characterizes her sex, put an end to
our engineering and our hopes by stepping
upon the thin earth which covered the now
nearly completed tunnel, and actually
slumped down into the concealed passage,
which, like the Trojan horse, was ito conceal
the soldiers of the enemy. In fact that COW
literally "Out her foot in IL -
Had it not been for the fact that the men,
bers OF our mess had managed to keep few
ornaments, which we readily sold, our suf-
ferings would have been much greater. 1t
was Paradise for advocates of paper money
A pair of common buckskin gauntlets would
sell for $25 in Confederate bills "a pair of top
boots at $3.50; a silver watch at 800 or
more, while gold watch was good for $500.
But these prices were fully offset by those we
had to pay for eatables and other necessaries.
have In my diary list recorded at the time,
from whichiI quote.as follows: butter SO per
ID; potatoes So per peck; tobacco $3.50 per
Id; writing paper $12 per quire. For tin
plate or tin dippel we were obliged to pay five
dollars while six quart pail, an article used
only by the most affiuent of the prisoners,
commanded the high price of $37, which
clearly shows that the passage of the McKin-
ley bill has not increased the price of tin
plate, in the South at least. After so many
improvise many dish which served to vary
the monotony of our regulations. l find
among my recipes as recorded at the time,
"Bo1led Pudding: qts. corn meal, l tea
| spoonful of salt, of soda, four of vinegar in
lieu of yeast, one gill of pork fat; mix water
to the consistency of batter. Put the whole
| into bag and boil two hours. Sauce for
| above pudding: ~ gill of molasses, ~ spoon
| full salt, 8 of flour and pint boiling water.
Stir ten minutes while boiling. 10 make
same quantity of molasses. Let stand exposed
| to sun four days"
/ have recipes for yeast, baked apple dunn
pings, and special delicies which j will dis.
close to personal friends for the1rown use only
at present, and to be given to the world for
| the benefit of suffering humanity when Kee-
ley makes known the gold cure for inebrie-
My diary says, under date of July 14th
"My business capital khas now become re-
duced to the small sum of one Confederate
| dollar, which will buy a quart of blackber-
| ries, two sheets of paper, or a pint of pea
nuts. Upon the whole think will be pru-
dent and save this money for any chance of
sickness. My stockings are very much worn,
and have now come down to the prison
level of bare feet, and do not think of putting
on shoes at all" Through the months Of
May, June and July, in such latitude and
with no protection from the scorching sun
upon hot days, we of course suffered consid-
erably. Still, accustomed to heat and damp
eaa up pae Ct S,lo 5
ers generally could be classed as ssnot sicST %
They were weak and poor in flesh, and many
were detected, and, of course, were gradually
failing. In case of slight sickness we
x.
attacks of chills and fever the suffering was
intense, as quinine could not be had for love
or money, and whiskey was but a memory.
shall never forget the delight felt in look
ing up once, while was shaking with chill,
my teeth chattering so as to render speech
almost impossible, and receiving from the
hands OF messmate, Lieut. Whitney, now
the efficient chief clerk of the Bureau Of
Statistics in Washington, his last quinine
powder, which he had kept secreted many
months, he being one of the officers captured
at Gettysburg, who had then already suffered
q full years imprisonment, and still looked
down upon the victims of the Wilderness
campaign as "fresh fish,"
On the 2Sth of July, and after more than
two full months imprisonment at Macon, it
was decided by the Confederate authorities
to take out six hundred of us, and place us in
Charleston under the fire of our guns then
bombarding the city from Morris Island and
the Federal gunboats. While we had no de-
sire TO be food for gunpowder, we were quite
willing to bid farewell to Macon with its
scanty shelter and more scanty fare, the rec
objections Of sickness, the mingled hope and
despair. We knew that by this change
we would be placed as q human barrier be-
tween the deadly fire of our own artillery
and the doomed city, yet we felt as we re-
luctantly left behind us twelve hundred of
our comrades with many of whom we had
formed such friendships as can only arse
and develop among men sharing common
danger, that any change would be welcome
which would bring exemption from a CON
tinuance of scenes we had begun to fairly
loathe.
so far as might be, a repetition of the dis
comforts of our previous travel in the Com
federacy as its military guests, except that
we had just bit of excitement resulting
from brilliantly planned but poorly exc.
cuted scheme for the capture of our railroad
train and the release of the prisoners who
We're passengers upon it. 1t had been de-
cided that, when we neared Charleston and
were at but q short distance from a river
which divided the pickets of the opposing
forces, and when, too, we would be equally
near the coast where possibly some OF our
gunboats might be hailed and send us a res
cuing party, we would seize upon our guards,
there being but four in each car, and, arminp
ourselves with their muskets, take posses.
then make one bold dash for liberty. All
this was to be done under cover of darkness
and at an hour when the weary guards, who
had in fact been very much overworked,
guards were sleepy. Many of them, having
confidingly loaned the passenger prisoners
their muskets from time to time, during the
merits of the different Kinds Of muskets In in
use among the Federals and Confederates,
did not notice that their muskets
. when returned, had been stripped Of
necessary to the discharge of the
pieces should the holders attempt to fire
them off at runaway Yankees. Nor did the
unsuspecting sentinels notice that, while they
themselves were unusually tired and sleepy,
their prisoners, though very quiet and order.
ly, were on the alert at all times. The signal,
which was to be given by the ringleaders at
Ia u nead OF the Train, was never, as a matter
OF fact, given, and our plan was like the
"best laid schemes of mice and men," II
was fortunate for us that the expected signal
was not given, for afterwards learned, by
to reach any possibility of passing
the pickets or reaching the seashore
we should have been obliged to traverse eight
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