Audubon County journal. (Exira, Iowa) 1884-1993, 1908-03-19
AT ANDERSONvILLE
Providence Spring
]. E. Meglemre, a Cousin of Mrs.
Caroline jenkins of Extra, Gives
Account Of Finding Of Spring
Taken from Newton Recora-

Taken from Newton Record
The following very interesting ac-
count of the discovery of providence
Spring"-the historic spring which
gushed forth at Andersonville Prison
in answer to the prayers of the Boys in
Blue during the Civil War. was
written by j. e. Meglemre, who was
at one time resident of this county
near Monroe but now resident Of
Lincoln, Nebraska
~. e. Meglemre, Company d. 23d
Missouri Volunteer Infantry, tells us of
the Providential Spring at An
Jacksonville Prison. He was an eye
witness to the coming of the God-sent
spring. He also tells us how he was
chosen and crossed the Dead Line and
got the first drink of water from the
spring.
was captured on the night of Aug
ust 18th, 1864, in the siege of Atlanta,
Georgia, and was put in Anderson
Prison the 10th day of August, 1864.
When | was captured the rebels took
me to Hardy's headquarters. While
there a rebel doctor took my hat away
from me and gave me his old Worn out
white hat and when | got in prison /
cut off my coat tail and patched the
crown of that rebel hat. / will refer to
this hat later on.
Now am in Andersonville Prison
with no hope of getting away except by
Gods help. l walked around about
the prison looking at the dead and dy-
ing men and watched the guards eager
~ trying to get some excuse to shoot a
Yankee prisoner, and there We're some
shot and killed every day and hum
dreds of dead men carried to the gates
and laid in row prepared for burial
About four o'clock each afternoon the
rebels would commence to bring in our
rations in a wagon and when they
We're unloaded they would go to the
gates and load in a load of dead men
in the same wagon and haul them out
We're buried. Then they would come
back to the cook house and get another
load of rations in the same wagon and
bring them in and take another load of
dead men away. This was repeated
until all of the dead men were taken
out and buried. These were common
every day occurrences; so we got used
to them and made no note of it.
AS L have been asked to make my
story short | will not take your time
to tell about the quality or the quantity
OF our daily rations or the kind of water
which we We're compelled to drink.
About the goth day of August, this
monotony was changed for short
time. The authorities at Richmond,
Virginia, sympathized very much with
us poor prisoners of war and they sent
an orator from Richmond to come to
Andersonville and parole us on certain
conditions. remember the conditions
and terms of parole. Also a part of
the speech he made to us. They first
came in the prison and took out about
four thousand of us and marched us
out of the north gate, then across the
creek over to Gen. John III. Winder's
headquarters; there they formed us in
a hollow square and ordered us to sit
down. In the center of this hollow
square they had a platform and the
orator stepped upon this platform and
"menced his speech. He said that
President Jefferson Davis and Robert
p. Lee had great sympathy for us;
that our General Grants army was
whipped and nearly all killed and
driven across the Potomac river: that
Gen. Sherman's army was whipped
and on the retreat and in few days
would be driven across the Ohio river,
and we We're left here to be starved and
killed by the guards if we refused his
terms of parole. He then read the
terms of parole and conditions. The
first paragraph or section was y simple
parole. We could all have signed this