The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-30
REcoLLEcTIoNs OF JOHNSON ISLAND
BY COL. ; D wEEDoN.


 | tAfterwards the authorities became | stricter and reduced the amount of currency to two postage stamps to each man, and it was not long before tho clever gentleman from Huntsvilla I owned all the stamps, and correspon- dence was done only by his permis. sion.
 The food of the prisoners consisted | of pickled beef and salted white fish with but little bakers bread, the very kind of food to produce scurvy. which was making terrible havoc among them Once a week ore Irish potato would be | issued to each man, which was eagerly eaten as an anti -scorbutic. I have there seen men cry from hunger who had braved death on many battle fields. An officer who called the rol at one of l the blocks would sometimes bring in a little rat terrier, which was instantly seized by prisoners, taken to the Mess Hall. and made to catch rats which 1 made into pies, which they seemed to relish. The United States authorities issued an order forbidding any boxes of supplies to be received by prisoners and forbade suffers to sell any other article than com, soap, tobacco, and writing material No healthy man can we'll subsist on less than thirty-eight ounces of food per day, but our priso-
 
 ounces.
 The Masonic fraternity among the | prisoners did much good. The hospi- | tai within the groundf sas made roIn. fortable for the sick and wounded. several times aided in the last sad | duty to deceased Nasons. Neat head | and foot boards were placed at their graves. with name, rank, and date of death cut in the boards.
 The Northern papers were at this time publishing such narrowing ac- l counts of the alleged bad treatment of their prisoners at Andersonville. Ga. | that they were using retaliatory measures on us. forgetting that An- dersonville was getting the same rat | ions as were issued to Confederate sol- diers. The per cent of Federal deaths in Southern prisons was under nine, | while the per cent of Confederate deaths in Northern prisons wUs over twelve. This shows where there was most cruelty. Judge Ould, our Commis- sioner of Exchange. offered to pur- 1 chase medicine in the North for Fed cotton. or tobacco. but this was not l accepted. In his book "The War Be- tween the States" MT. Stephens says, | Had MT. Davis repeated offers been accepted no prisoners on either side would have been retained in confine- | ment a day.
 ! Near the large gate of the prison, | artillery was planted which could sweep 1 the prison grounds, and a block house | with loop holes for the Infantry. The l 12Sth Ohio Infantry was on guard that | winter with Col. Charles W. Hill com manding the post and a gunboat on | the lake.
 l One bright morning. April 18th 1865, | as an officer from Virginia and myself | af@tr i,, fbA l preached the large gate and saw the artillery run out and the guards stand I ing on their posts at a ready. Soon an | officer came In and announced that | President Lincoln had been assassinat- | ed the night before and the orders were l to shoot down any man who should cheer or make any demonstration l showing qualification at his death; that we were shortly to have been exchang ed but he could not then say when, If ever. we would be released. A few nights before there had been speech | making, drinking and oarousing among | them over the surrender of Lees army, | and they were in an exceedingly angry mood.
 At nine o'clock each night the senti- 1 nels on guard would order Lights Out'' and If not instantly obeyed. they would | shoot into the rooms. One night young lieutenant from Virginia was ly- ing asleep on his bunk. and shot from one of the sentinels pierced his heart, killing him instantly. A short time af- terwards a shot was fired into the same. | room ard went through a candle box on which a prisoner was sitting. Senti- nels were generally promoted for these wanton acts of cruelty. Under such state of circumstances | 1t was not to be wondered at that | prisoners would sometimes make an ef- | fort to escape, though successful es- | cape was next to an impossibility. As | soon as prisoner was known to have | escaped, cannon was fired as a signal | to the Home Guard on the mainland. who searched for miles and telegrams l were sent to all Provost Marshals on l the Northern border. Tho prisoners att tempted to dig tunnels and by this | means escape, but invariably they were betrayed by informers. placed there as spies in the garb of Confederate sol diers.
 Early in January 1865, Col. D. R. Hundley of the 31st Alabama regiment, who had been in captivity since the | fall-of Vicksburg, becoming tired of the restraint, determined upon a plan of es- cape He procured blue uniform, and one morning. feigning sickness, was absent from roll call. The officer visi- | ted his room and found him in bed. As
 
 blue unifoym and a book under his | arm, looking the Image of a roll call CT. appeared upon the scene. By agree ment sham fight was gotten up | among his friends who were in the secret, and when the attention of the Yankee guard was directed to the fight. | Col Hundley boldly walked past the sentinel at the gate. and the sham l fight ceased We watched him from an upper story till he had safely crossed | the lake. He was out of prison about one week. and during that time under went much suffering. walking by night and sleeping in hay lofts during the | day. He was but once at a fire while | out. and that was at Fremont, Ohio, where driven by hunger and cold he | went into a hotel, registered and was assigned a room He was soon asleep. | and when he awoke next morning, a Yankee guard was seated near him and