The National tribune., 1902-04-03

morning we halte0 IN clOFer nelu 10
breakfast. We were so fatigued that res
seemed more desirable than rations.
sank down, and was soon sleeping sound
ly. l was awakened by one of the guards
shaking me. l received very little TO eat
A detail of six guards was made t.
watch our little band Of 16, and we tool
up our tramp 10 Staunton, Va, 116 miles
up the Shenandoah Valley. The troops
accompanying us from HagerStOwn wen'
no farther. We were several days making
the trip through this beautiful valley
sleeping at night upon the ground and
receiving our rations from the farm
houses. There were two reliefs of guards
We were we'll treated.
We remained at Staunton two or three
days, and were then put aboard train
and sent to Lynchburg, Va. Here we
found some 5000 of our boys confined IN
tobacco warehouses, all apparently happy,
singing Union songs, playing cards and
telling stories.
We remained here about 10 days, and
were daily reinforced by more prisoners.
At length we marched to the depot.
Upon arrival at the depot several long
freight trains were steamed up, appar-
emily in waiting for us. Then began the
work of packing US closely in old, dilap-
idated freight cars, as if we were cattle
IN shipment to market.
EN- ROUTE TO ANDERsoNvILLE.
The first train being loaded pulled out
amid the untiring songs and cheers of its
human freight. Others soon followed, and
In due time the late occupants of Lynch
burgs tobacco houses We're on their
way to a novel tenement built by rebel
hands, "open to the armament" located
In the dreary swamps of Georgia, away
from every sign of civilization, at once
place to bring sudden gloom over the most
stout-hearted and to make life sad bur
den.
We were about two days making the
Journey. Rations had been provided, but
not sufficient in Quantity to carry us
through. At the stopping places en- route
yenders of sweet-potato pies, cornbread
and sweet potatoes offered their tempting
edibles at very reasonable rates in our
money. But when values were measured
by Confederate rags, the price of any of
the foregoing dishes" was simply fabu-
lous. Buttons were in great demand, and
very fair bargains could be struck with
such a medium of exchange. As long as
the button supply held out we could not
starve, and long before we reached An
dersonville many 4 comrade was minus
buttons, but in lieu thereof wooden pins
were dexterously substituted to keep his
clothes from falling off.
At last, after a most diSagreeable ride
of two days, over the toughest of roads
behind a weak and asthmatic old engine,
we arrived at 8 o'clock at night at An
dersonville Station. We were not admit
ted to the prison until the, morning fol-
lowing, but were, after leaving the cars,
placed under strong guard outside the
stockade.
About 9 o'clock next day we were
marched up to Capt. Wirz's quarters,
where our names, company and regiment
were taken, after which we were assigned
TO one of the divisions of a thousand
within the stockade.
Prisoners were known there as belong
ing to a certain hundred of a certain
thousand. This plan was adopted by the
rebel authorities to facilitate the distrib
ution of ratiOns, as well as to ascertain
the whereabouts at once of any man who
might be wanted for any purpose of Spe-
eial exchange or otherwise. l shall never
forget the scene that presented itself as
the ponderous gates of the stockade
swung open to receive us. About the
first evidence of the death-dealing pen
was seen In the number of men we came
In contact with bearing the dead outside
upon stretchers. What a sad spectacle'
No funeral train. No funeral ceremony.
No loving hands to arrange the body for
burial, or TO lower it to its last resting
place. All of these needful Offices sus-
pended by the dire necessities of war.
Soon after our entrance a rebel Ser
geant appeared and assigned us to the
proper thousand, so that we might be
snabled 10 draw our rations
CAMP SUMTER.
A brief description of Camp Sumter,
tor that was the official name Of the stock
ade, may be here given. The walls were
formed Of pine logs % feet long, from two
TO three feet in diameter, hewn square
int tba 20
feet, and placed so closely together as to
leave no aperture through which the coun-
try outside could be seen. There being
about five feet of the logs in the ground,
the wall was, Of course, 20 feet high; suf-
6ciently high to make 1t difficult to be
scaled, and almost impossible to undermine
or batter down.
The pen was longest due north and
south. 1t was divided in the center by
creek about yard wide and from 10 to
Il inches deep, running from west to east.
On each side Of this was shaking bog
Of soft mud $50 feet wide, and SO tremu-
lous that one attempting to walk upon il
would sink to the waist
No trees were left standing inside the
stockade, and all the rank vegetation of
the swamp had been cut.
There were two entrances TO the stock
sde, one on either side Of the creek, mid
way between it and the ends, and called
ltbpeCLINtIt IHe NOEIn Natc ana tile south
Gate. These were double; smaller stock
AIDES had been built about them on the out
side, with another set of gates. At regu-
lar intervals along the stocIiade guards
were stationed.
The only view we had OF the outside
was that obtained by looking from the
most elevated point of the north or south
sides across the depression where the
stockade crossed the swamp. 1t was es-
timated that the incosure contained about
20 acres.
Two regiments Of infantry guarded us,
the 26th Ala. and 55th Ga. There were
two batteries, also, bearing their great
guns upon US. The former regiment was
composed Of men Of some intelligence and
honor; the latter were ignorant and treach-
erous, besides being brutal. ANY viola
ton of orders on our part, notably that of
getting within the dead line" or near it,
was invariably accompanied by q warn
Ing by the guards of the Alabama regi-
ment TO retire; whereas, the guards Of the
Georgia regiment seemed only too glad of
the slightest excuse TO fire and Kill the
unfortunate one who, either through ignO-
rance or mistake, violated one Of these
petty orders. Many shameful and cold
blooded murders were thus perpetrated
by the ruflians Of. the 55th Ga
This "dead-lne" was constructed by
driving a line of stakes at q distance Of
70 feet from the stOckade, and a strip of
stuff four inches wide nailed upon them.
uhis line extended around the entire in
side OF the stockade, and the space thus
taken up by ii narrowed our quarters
from three to four acres The object eyi-