The National tribune., 1893-06-15

wagon preparatory to their ride to the dead
! house or cemetery. They were thrown in
indiscriminately. 1t was horrible to see
the heads, arms and legs as they swung
back and forth with the jolting motion Ci
the wagon. This wagon was made to dc
double duty, for it not only carried the dead
out in the morning, but it brought in ouz
raiions of bread in the afternoon, not SO
much as being swept out As an appetizer
noting the condition of the load in the
morning, which certainly could be classed as
PERIsHABLE FREIGHT.
We had now, if not before, reached the
deplorable condition where everything had
TO give way to the question of something to
satisfy the continual cravings of an empty
stomach. We cared for, talked of, and
thought of nothing else. All schemes of
trading with and fooling the guards had
long since been given up as of no account
They had become accustomed to dealing
with Yankees, and were not so green as of
old. Furthermore, every article we had to
trade had vanished long since in the vain
attempt to fill that aching void.
Everything centered on ratons. The one
thing we had to look forward to was ration
swallowed than we commenced 10 count
the hours until the next issue. The last
thought at night was rations, congratulating
ourselves in the morning that we were so
much nearer the longed-for hour. As the
moments would slowly roll away, our nerves
by o'clock would be wrought to an intense
pitch. Excitement ran high, and stranger
would, if he could have looked in upon us,
have supposed that some great good fortune
was about to be realized by the whole camp.
The time for issuing rations was A p. m.
Long before 2 o'clock the majority of the
prisoners would be anxiously and eagerly
watching the road that led toward the
kitchen, which lay out of sight, to the
northwest of the stockade.
The first indication of the expected and
load of grub" would be the tip
ends of the mules ears, which came into
view above the intervening hilltop. Then
a shout would go up from the camp, which,
as the balance of the mules and wagons
came into sight, was taken up by the whole
body of inmates, and might have been heard
miles away.
From the time ratiOns were issued until
dark, the prison presented lively scene
Of trading, cooking, and bustling around
generally, trying to make the most of the
small ration that we received. Rations
were issued alternately to half the camp
raw one day, and cooked the next.
One great and unnecessary priyation was
that of wood. During the previous Summer
the estumps and wood that had remained when
the stockade was erected had been entirely
consumed. The $4,000 prisoners who had
been confined there had, before the Summer
had half passed away, used every vestige
Of wood, even digging down several feet
for the roots where the stumps of the trees
bad stood. The prison was surrounded
By dense pine forest, and nothing would |
have been easier than to give axes to squads /!
Of prisoners and send them into the woods |
under suitable guard daily to cut all the |
wood needed; but that would not agree with |
Winders and Wirz's policy of getting rid of
the Yankees as fast as possible. So they |
were allowed to suffer for that which might |
have been so easily obtained.
1t was a great deprivation even in Sum-
ner to have no wood to cook with, but now |
became much more so, when the weather
vas freezing cold. The little wood that we |
obtained we were obliged to split into pieces
he size of matches, and use it in that shape
o do our cooking with. One man from
'very squad OF 80 was allowed the privi-
ege of going twice a week to the woods
inder guard and bringing back as much
wood as he was capable of carrying, for the
lse of himself and the other % of his squad.