Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-02-26
PRISON EXPERIENCES.
NO. g..

a.
Monday, June 27, about noon, after
having our names taken down, we
got q small piece of corn bread and a
half pint of bean soup to a man. We
called it dinner, though it was the
only meal we got that day and the
first since our capture. 1t presented
few attractions for hungry man un-
der ordinary circumstances, but to
men who had been without for four
days, was eaten with the greed Of a
hungry dog. The soup was brought
in in pals and Labeled out to such as
had cups or dishes or anything in
which to receive it. Som e received
in their caps or shoes and after wards
cleansed thom at the trough; some
made a temporary bowl Of their hands
and drank down what they could be-
fore it dripped through their fingers.
The next day, the 9th, which was
our last day in Richmond, we drew
the same rations as above, with the
addition of a spoonful of vinegar and
a small piece of soap. The vinegar
they told us to drink to keep away
the scurvy.
The remainder of the time in Libby
was passed in reading testament,
playing checkers-boards were mark
ed out on the floor and pieces of leath-
er used for men-,smoking and
speculating on the prospects of COM
ing events which seemed to cast their
shadows before
Libby prison was building of three
stories and attic, on Carey Street. In
front, the first story was on a level
with the street, allowing space for
a row of dungeons under the sidewalk
which were used for the confine ment
of prisoners for the violation of any
known or unknown rules of the prison.
In the rear the land sloped
away till the basement rose above
ground. At this time prisoners were
only confined there temporarily as
place where they could be kept long
enough to rob them of their money
and valuables and then sent further
south. Earlier in the war eleven
hundred men we're kept there for
many months, the second and third
floors being used for the officers, the
basement and attic for enlisted men.
On the 9th of February, 1868, one
hundred and nine men made their es-
cape through tunnel extending some
sixty feet across the street. In Feb
zIf1n fo1 1Cr
several hundred pounds of powder
was placed in an excavation be meath
the building, with a fuse attached,
with view to explosion in case the
raid Of fitzpatrick had proved success
full.
The following extract from book
written by Warren G. Lee, Sergeant
Co. II. End Mass, Heavy Artillery,
who was confined in the attic in 1862,
shows how much more uncomfortable |
it was as a permanent prison than
temporary one:
s'With some five hundred others I
was crowded into the garret, next /
to the roof of the prison. The hot I
sun, D0dOlDS uOWA upOn UHO EOOl3 I
made the filthy garrett, crowded with |
men clamoring for standing room, !
suffocating in a degree which one /
cannot well understand who never I
experienced it. During the day, in +
the corners of our garrett, the dead |
remained among the living, and from
these through ali the rooms came the
pestilent breath of a charnel- house. |
The vermin swarmed through every
crack and crevice; the floor had not
been cleaned for years. To consign
men to such quarters was like signing
their death warrant. Two men were
shot by the rebel guard while trying
to get breath from the windows.
"The third day of my confinement
in this abode of torture, I noticed
young soldier dying; his long, fair
hair was matted in the indescribable
liquid and dirt which clotted and ran
over the floor of the prison. He was
covered with vermin; the flies had