The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-04-21

ting US to retain our personal belongings
l shall never forget the evidences of car
mage l saw in the edge of the woodland
where the rebels had fought. Many dead
men lay just as they had fallen along the
line, and the groans and cries of the
wounded were most piteOus. There was
still roar of battle. and missiles were
flying over the fields. The rebel regi-
ments through which we passed were dis
orga nized--seemingly demOralized. One
their Colonel having all he could do to
keep them from running away. / noticed
a young Johnnie who was shot through
the hollow of his foot. an evidence that ut
least one of our men had Obayed the order
to aim low. AT Atlanta we We're searched
for weapons. but our personal property
was not taken from us. We were then
sent to Il point six miles south of Atlanta
where some 800 prisoners We're assem-
b!ed. On the oath the rebels shipped
heavy siege guns and other war material
southwark an indication of retreat from
Atlanta.
ON THE WAY TO PRISON.
On the morning of July - we were
started toward AndersOnyille We noticed
that the regiment guarding us, 9th Va
was two companies short | asked a
guard as to the whereabouts of the miss
ing two companies. He replied: You
probably know more about them than we
do. They deserted the regiment at New
Hope Church one night about O'clock
and went over to your lines Having
marched IL miles we went into camp i'm a
field through which ran small stream
Our fare was about the same as that of
the guards. who treated lis AZ well rs they
possibly could under the circumstances
Tn the 18th we marched 10 miles. When
we were passing Il fine residence. the pro
prletOr, c0rpulent, ponpOus man. stand
mo- ha lam. .r,,ll,
exclaimed: Now we've got Sherman's
whole army" We told him that he was
labOring under n false impressions; that
Shermans army would come along later.
and that he would do well to look a little
bit out" On the 9th we marched nine
miles To Griffin. where we were put on
| the ears and forwarded to Macon. Their.
we remained in the cars all night, and
were separated from our commissioned
officers. Continuing our journey on the
18th the train stopped for time ut
small station where a number of women
had various edibles for sale. Our pocket
books not being plethoric. our purchases
were limited. \ generous hearted guard
gave SD. Confederate money. for water
melon. which he divided among us. retain
ing only Il small piece for himself.
ANDERSONYILLE
We arrived ut Andersonville i'm the af-
ternoon and were seached again. but moth
ing was taken from us. Every man was
! required to give his name company and
| regiment. We We're divided into detach-
| ments of o7O, and these were subdivded
into three sectlOnS-.jO men in each. James
Fitzgerald, Sergeant of Go. Is, was
placed in charge OF ths section To which
members OF that company had been as
signed. his most important duty being to
draw 0nr rations and properly distribute
them. Entering the strckade we passed
kindly babe us farcwei They well knew
that many of Us wouli never come our
alive.
Remaining together. the squad repre-
| senting co. Is found quarters, not very
| inviting. III the northeast corner. On the
! following day we managed To build n shed
on the east side of the first street from
| the deadline. near the north end Sery't
Harris Il. Franklin had little money.
which he freely expended in securing
poles necessary for the construction Of our
| shed. our dog tents aud oilclOths being
utilized for roofing and siding. Having
two frying-pans. we exchanged one Of
them for an antiquatcd wooden bucket
The Older inha bitants'' gave us some
timely information regarding the rules
and regulations for instance. we were
| warned that if any one man should abb
sent himself from the morning roll call,
without good and sufficient excuse. his
entire section. 80 men. would be deprived
OF rations for that day. However, we
soon learned a trick by which we could
beat the game" When one OF or men
failed 10 show up we borrowed" man
from nearby section to take the place
OF our missing man and answer to his
name The character of food served at
Andersonville is so well known that
shall not describe it here
The ~ men were allowed only three
sticks Of cordwood a day. We supple
mented this allowance by digging mp roots
along Main street" l also got a lot OF
pine knots out Of the black muck on the
west end Of the brook. on the north side
'On one occasion, when searching for pine