Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-04-14
FEDERAL PRISON FARE.
BY D. !. Walden, Of the Tenth eeor-
gia Regiment.

gia Regiment.
During the month Of September, 1861
was confined In the penitentiary at Nash
vile, Tenn, as a pr soner OF war. L re-
ferred to this imprisonment incidentally
in a former article, but made no attempt
to. describe our miserable fare and the
incidents that grew out Of il. I had been
severely wounded, at the battle Of the
Wilderness, Va, had come home and was
spending the time OF my convalescence,
very pleasantly with my fathers family
in Clayton county, Ga, when Sherman
army passed, en- route from Atlanta TO
Jonesboro and persuaded me, by means
of such tangible arguments as guns, pis-
tolls, bayonets, ETC., to forsake the COM
forts and happiness Of home for the mis-
cries and wretchedness of the prison.
They captured several hundred other Con-
federate soldiers in and around JonesboFo,
carried us to Nashville and kept US pent
up inside the walls of the penitentiary
grounds. We suffered severely from hum
ger, thirst exposure, filth and the an
noyance of vermin. They pretended 90
serve one meal each day and It consisted
Of a slice of bread, about fou inches
square by three-fogrths of an inch thick
and a slice Of boiled bacon about one
fourth as large. -
At meal time we were marched very
slowly, in double file. through an opening
who doled out to us as we passed, our
meagre allowance for the day. There
was very little Of anything, connected
with those proceedings. that seemed to
deserve a word of praise, but those little
lunches were certainly very palatable, the
excellence of flavor being due. very large
ly, no doubt, to the keenness of appetite
consequent upon our extreme Punishment.
And when we received our little portion
we almost entirely lost our self-cOntrol
and devoured it ravenousiy like so many
wild beasts. Shortly after our arrival
undertool1to devise some kind of a scheme
for increasing my allowance, and tor that
purpose took position in the line near
the head of the column and was among
the first TO be served; then 1 went around
by circuitous route, took another posi-
ton in. the line, marched through again
and received another portion. 1 repeated
that process for two or three days in sue
cession. and on one occasion drew three
times, but when several other men caught
on to the trick, 1t was so extravagantly
overworled that the Yankees detected II
and summarily frustrated its About that
time Mr.. JEFF Miller, a friend Of mine.
became so sick he was unable. to eat any
of his rations, and ash happened to have
one of the few blankets that the place
contained, he proposed TO trade me his
rations for the use Of my blanket, and
so got two mems rations for several
days and slept on the bare ground, as
many others were doing. We were fire.
quently visited by ministering angels, in
the form Of women and girls. with has
kets. of the most delicious nourishme1.s,
and as they were not permitted to- enter
the enclosure, they would stand on the
outside and throw the precious missiles.
piece by piece over the prison walls and
the copious showers of dainty viands, fall
ing among US, provoked the widest and
most exciting scrambles, some of the.
strongest and most active ones getting