Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-11-10
How We Spent our Time in Prison.
BY II. w. ROOD

How We Spent Our Time in Prison.
Some time ago / asked Comrade e
R. Reed TO write for me story Of
every day life in a rebel prison.
have now received from him what
seems to me very interesting reading
and ! am putting ii here where others
besides myself may enjoy it. This is
his ,sory:
/ was a private in Company p OF
the I'd Wisconsin infantry, was
wounded and made prisoner at the
first battle of Bull Run, was in a gen
eral hospital two months, and then
sent to the famous Libby prison. In
Libby / fell under direct control of a
man we called the Dutch sergeant,
afterward known to history as Cap
tain Wirz, commandant of the prison
at Andersonville. I'd be glad to tell
all | know about this man Wirz as a
gentleman and a villain, but my lin.
tied space will not permit
Not long after being domiciled in
Libby / found & nan one day rubbing
something on TIE upholstered brick
wall. He rubbed hard and vigorous
~, as If he were trying TO do some
thing. With characteristic impudence
and inquisitiveness l watched him a
few minutes, and then asked what he
was trying to do He showed me a
bone with a hole in it, and said he
was trying to make finger ring. II
was a crude looking affair, but he
thought it would be a sort of relic to
take home Soon / dl scovered others
engaged in the same laudable enter
prise-making souvenirs to take home
Practice makes perfect" and Sue
cess is secure, unless energy fails.
The fellows kept at this ring-makins
until they were able to produce some
quite artistic specimens.
Having an abundance Of self.conceii
of my own, thought that if | would
try / could do a little better than any
of the others, so got a bone and be
gan to white. In course Of time-it
took time--I fashioned a bone into Z
five-sixteenths of an inch cube, witt
ball in the center, and ring so at
tached as to hang it to a watch cham
My bit of jewelry won the bet, anC
then / rested, not intending to do an!
more whiting.
About this time the bone work be
/ ~ no uffnnffnyN Af TN
confederate officers who now and thei
visited the prisons. and from then
we got consent to purchase srnall file
to use. They could not see that suci
files could help us in any way to es
cape. Thereafter the enterprise be
came more enterprising.
On the % of November, 1861, Ser
geant Wirz, with 500 of us prisoners
started south for Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Before leaving Richmond he had tel
egraphed to Petersburg, where W.
we're to change cars, to have read,
| for us one cooked ration for each o
the 500 men. 1t was done as ne ha'
directed, and issued to US as W.
marched from one train to the other
AS it was past midnight, we could no
/ see in the darkness what we wer'
| getting. We soon found that we ha'
cold boiled pork and hunk OF bread
The bread was all right,--but tn
pork, None of us could eat IL
Nearly all of the men threw their
away, but / kept mine-I might b
+! glad to eat ii yet. In the morning
held a postmortem over 1t, and foun'
| that the pork had been alive with fa'
Juicy maggots. The boiling had cooke
them. Some of the men showed thei
meat to Wirz the next day. Tina
| good mans soul became vexed exceed
| iEgly, and he swore worse than TN
army IN Flanders" He said. Il Of
dered meat and by G-d meant mea'
not maggots!" | verify believe that
he could then have got hold OF tina
Petersburg commissary he would haY
had him chopped into small piece
and fed to his yankees. He Away
spoke of his as my yankees n
,sured us that we should have u
n ore such food.
At every station where we stoppe
a crowd would gather. They erowde
close up to the cars and demanded:
What did you-ups come down her
TO fight we-uns for?"
A great variety Of answers wer