The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1905-05-05

us, for we landed in the city iail..
When we reached Baltimore
we went to the Provost MarshaPs
office and he separated us from
the doctors, and | do not know
what they did with them, but
they put us in the city Jail and
told us we would have to stay
there for a few days, until some
transports could come from
Washington to take us to Rich
mond, we stayed there nine days
then called us out to take the
transports, and we we're glad.
The vessel started down the
Potapaco river, passed the fa-
nous old Fort McHenry, got into
the Chesapeake Bay and the next
morning we landed at Point
Lookout, there they put US off,
saying that we would have to
stay until the transports could
come down the Potomac and take
us on, they marched us out into
an open field where there were
about one hundred more, and put
us with them, guards were placed
around us thick, we wanted to
know how long they had been
there, they came the day before,
and they kept coming, and when
our transportation came it was
tugs towing barges loaded WITH
lumber to build a stockade with,
our joy was all gone then, they
had force of hands who went
to work building a stockade some
70 acres or more, laid off streets,
ditched them and hauled gravel
from the beach on the bay, and
put all over them, dug wells and
put pumps in, built a commissa-
ry house and five long houses all
in a row to cook in. They put
US in companys of a hundred
men each and ten companys
made a division, at one time
there was $4,000 there but they
took some of them away, but |
don't know where they went to.
They an officer in the commits
sary house and some recruiting
officers came there and they
would march up company at
time in front of the office, and
would call in one man at time
and ask him questions about
what he wanted to do, did he
want to take the oath of allegi-
ance to the United States and
join their army or navy, or did
he want to take a parole for and
during the war and stay within
their lines, or did he want to re-
main a prisoner of war and to
go South. / am sorry to say that
a good many took the two first
propositions, and we could tell
who was going to be galvanised
for when he would come out of
the office he would be eating SUI
gar, and the rest of us would
have done them up a job if we
could have had our way.
Our diet consisted of one loaf
of bakers bread for two days,
two bits of salt pork for break
fast and pint cup full of soup
of some kind for dinner, our
guard was the End, 9Th and 18th
Newhampshire regiments which
got all torn up at Gettysburg.
| 1t toook a regiment a day for
guard. But on the morning of
the Oath of Februory, 1864, they
brought in a negro regiment, the
26th N. G.. which was made up
about Newburn of rough black
Africans and put them on guard,
and of all the whooping and yell
ling, we prisoners did it, which
scared the negroes. When the
officer of the day Captain Lides
came dashing in on a horse and
struck a Louisianian on the head
with his pistol, and that made
all of the others mad and they
tried to catch him, but he put
lspurs to his horse and got out,
land he never came back any
more.
| The next morning they were
labout to have trouble, the seconC
Regiment was on duty when the
negroes relieved them, and 18th
regiment was to relieve the ne.
j groes: but the Colonel of the 5ti