West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1899-02-09
OUR CAMP FIRE COLuAy.
Prl.On Life in bRdtTSOHYills By An
Old Veteran Of Valley District.
Special Contribution for 1uH AHGUs.
SKETCH 40 3.

lii7p' NV
lie was taken prisoner, along
with Others by & P',ia Mcneil
in June 1864. At Green Spring
Ran, aud taken 70 Lynchhurg. Va.
where he renamed several days.
Captnin Mcneil vas very consil-
crate and kind to bis prisoners on
This OCCASION, us h. give etch of
them - pipe and ,o5 eco Then
after bidding them good bye, took
his departure. From thpro John
sou was marched TO Dinville. From
Danville he was shipped to Ander
sorvillc by rail.
On entering This prison. the frat
thing that attracted his attention
was gnllows where six Of our boys
paid the death penalty for aurder
ing some of our soldiers. They
then went to work and organized =
police court, in order to keep down
any further riots. On the arrival
Of now prisoners. the first thing was
to strip them Of their clothing and
give in exchange their old worn out
suits. Comrado Johusou's pants
were worn out to the knee and his
shirt was sleeveless.
The prison was estimated to CON.
tam sixteen acres. The walls were
formed by pine logs twenty five feet
long, from two to three feet in
diameter, hewn square, set in the
ground to a depth of five feet, and
placed so close together as to leave
no crack through which tho country
outside could be seen. This man
ner of enclosure was in some re-
spects superior to n wall of M sorry.
The pen was longest north and
south. 1t was divided in the CEN
ter by creek about a yard wide
ard ten inches deep, running from
west to east. On each side Of this
was a quaking bog Of Shiny ooze
one hundred and fifty feet wide,
and anyone attempting to walk
upon 1t wou'd sink to the waist
From this swamp the sand hills
sloped north and south TO the
stOckade. There were two en-
frances to the blockade, one on each
side of the creek midway between
it and the ends, aud called the
north and south gate. At regular
intervals along the palisades were
little perches, upon which stood
guards who overlooked the whole
inside of the prison. The only
view the prisoners bad of the out
side was that obtained by looking
from the highest points of the
north or south sides, across the
depression where the stockade
crossed the swamp. The rations
consisted OF tin cup of corn meal
and water, with no salt, as a rule.
Sometimes few beans and bugs
were issued to the prisoners. There
were generally more bugs than
beans. Let the reader ponder in
his mind as to how little life can
be supported on, for any length of
time. and then imagine how he
would fare with that as his sole
daily rations for long, hungry
weeks and months.
The number of prisoners in the
stockade, the number of deaths
each month, and the daily average
during the five months, we give as
follows, which We have carefully
taken from the history of Ander-
sonville:
July, number in stockade, 81,
67s; deaths, 1,7l2; daily average,
Sc. August, number in stockade,
31,G03; deaths, 3,O76; daily aver
age, 90. Der, mum Der in
stockade, g ,21S; deaths, 2, 100; daily
average, 90. October. number in
siockade, POS; deaths, ,595; daily
average, 81. November. number in
stockade, 1859; deaths, 49,; daily
average, 10. The grea'ost numbo
Of deaths in one DAG occurred on
The 23rd of August. when t27
died, or one man every eleven
minutes.
In July or August a secret orgoni-
zltion was formed for The purpose
Of planning some way Of escape.
They decided TO tunnel out under
the stockado on the north side OF
puson. j was q ysrilous under
taking The starting point Of the