The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-05-26

the part Ol any HeSTo tuat Lave O'ei nos'io
Of
We were taken to the overseer's house OF
plantation near by, where we were kept
in custody the remainder Of the day and
next night. We had many visitors, many
of whom came to see for the first tirle what
to them was a great curiosity live
Yankee" / gathered from their converse
tion that every white man in the South be-
longed to the army in a nominal sense, and
those at home were on detail principally as
overseers of the plantations so that every
stranger passing through the country was
required to exhibit his passport, else he
would be taken into custody by the Provost
Marshal. Another matter which interested
me strangely was their style of address on
meeting one another, which was about as
follows:
GOOD morning; have you had the fever
yet?" "Yes (or no); have you?" 1t
seems that the swamp lands of the Congaree
River had worked change in the Usual
form of polite salutation.
The next day we were taken to Columbia,
and to the Capitol Building of South Caro-
lima, the cradle of Secession. While waiting
for the Provost Marshal, TO be interviewed, l
remember sitting down on the pedestal Of
bronze casting of q palmetto tree. 1t was
standing in the grounds outside the building.
When read of the destruction of Columbia
by Sherman's army, though l had no pleas
ant recollcctions of Columbia, I did hope
that this bronze piece might have been
spared, it was so beautiful.
After getting through with the Provost
Marshal we were marched across a bridge
over the Congaree River TO tho prisoners
camp. We found the same old crowd which
we had deserted a few days before All of
our acquaintanees had many questions to
ask about our adventures outside. The
prisoners in this camp were entirely out-of-
doors, having no shelter at all except such
as they could rig up from blankets and
brush. The provisions were most wretched,
consisting principally of corn-meal and sor-
ghnm. The sorghum was vile stuff, and
even now, after the lapse of a quarter of
century, / cannot taste sorghum but that it
seems to wear the flavor of South Carolina.
l had been in camp but few days when
I WAS SEIZED WITH THE SWAMP FEVER.
My exposure while trying to escape was
having its effect. / was removed to the
hospital, which consisted of a number of
large tents, with straw for bedding. l was
an inmate of this hospital until there was
an arrangement made to parole the sick and
wounded and was placed on the list for ex-
change. / do not remember much of my
hospital experience; for a long time l was
out of my head. and when the fever did
finally leave me I was too weak to walk.
DR.. Lagron was the Surgeon in charge. l
think he lived at GreenYille, S. G.. He was
a very kind and humane man, and think
that all the sick prisoners under his charge
have grateful memories of him and his ex-
ertions to relieve our sufferings. My cloth
ing was now nothing but rags, filled with
veTmin, and when scratching would break
the skin; then scurvy sore would form. L
cannot now imagine how I ever lived
through my sufferings. / can remember
very we'll that l was anxious for death to
come and end them.
About the time the feverl left me received
500 in Confederate money from sister liv-
ing in Eufaula, Ala. Mrs. r. T. Mckay, now
purchase some clean clothes and to buy
few things-such as fresh eggs-that could
eat. / believe that money saved my life.
In the meantime, while / was almost
dying of the fever, prisoners were escaping
every night. Our number was about 1,500
when we reached Columbia, but when / left
there do not think there could have been
more than half that number left The usual
way was to run across the sentry-line dur
ing the darkness. Some reached the mount
ocean and reached the bIockading fleet;
others made it to Sherman's army, when
Tramp, tramp, the boys came marching
through Georgia and the Carolinas-" Each
narrative of each escape would form TO-
nance in itself. One officer, trying to escape
in this manner, was shot in the arm by the
sentinel. The arm was amputated by DR..
Lagron,
AND THE PATIENT LIVED.
One prisoner was killed in the day time, but
he was not trying to escape. He was fixing
his brush shanty where he lived, and as it
was close to the dead-line he, without think
ing of the line, stepped over it, and was
shot dead by the sentinel. He was New
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