The National tribune., 1910-03-24

When our boys arrived we went down
to the court house. While there L fell
in with a comrade from an Ohio 1egi-
ment. who invited me to his regiment.
camped near the college grounds.
soon had a crowd of Ohio comrades
around me asking about prison life. II
was in rags but they fitted me out with
two full suits of army clothes and 81 in
money. ] enlisted in 1862. in the COM
pany made up largely of boys from the
Ypsilanti Normal School, which be
came Co. f, 18th Mich. Our regiment
was attached to Gen. Burnside's Gcog-
raphy Glass of the Ninth Corps, where
we remained during the war. At STot-
sylvania we were badly cut UP and
many captured. We prisoners were
taken to Lynchburg and from there to
Andersonvile. Well do I remember the
day when that big rain storm deluged
the camp and washed out portion of
the stockade, and how the rebels stood
at their guns. ready TO open on us
should we make an attempt to escape.
| If any of those boys that We're with me
| in the loft at Mrs. Turner's are alive, L
would like to hear from Them
Everything Dead or Dying.
J. A. Thomason. Co +, goth ILL.,. st.
, Louis, Mo-, says: ID. c. Allen speaks of
green spot in Andersonville Prison.
| Everything l saw there was dead or
| dying. l was captured at Atlanta on
| July %, 1864, and on my Goth birthday.
! July %, i entered the prison with %
others of my company. / saw much of
Providence spring. 1t was there, caused
! by flood rain which fell on Aug. or
| 9, 1864. 1t furnished about gallon of
pure water every four minutes, and was
the result of natural causes. This storm
washed out about so feet of the stock
/ lala hot cid nf I,a -
could not see thru this rain more than
10 feet. The first thing / saw after it
| Stacked up was the cannon in front of
| the gap in the stockade. The water
| from this spring was caused to run in
over the dead line thru a small V
shaped wooden gutter. When the stock
ade was enlarged the prisoners got the
partition stockade to use for wood. This
was done before l arrived, and there
was said to be 1000 prisoners in An
dersOnville in July, 1854. The rebels
said we were there because the Yanks
| would not exchange us, because we
were physically unfit for service. Each
one of us. because of not being ex-
changed, therefore held an able-bodied
rebel in Northern prison. From this
| it is plain that, tho more dead than
| alive, we fought battle greater than
any fought in the field, and all got our
man. Congress should pass bill with
out debate that Will give us at least $50
a month. We earned it. 1t is not char
ity,"
Burial Squad at AndersOnvilIe.
Ira X. Morris, West New Brighton.
N Y, says: Ira S. Crandall, Wells
members of the burial squad. Peter
Pero, who died Is years ago-a neigh
Dor of mine-was a member. He en-
listed Sept. 1, 1861, in Co. A, I'd n. Y,
which was consolidated with the SD
n. Y, and was captured at Antietam
and taken to Belle Isle. He remained
| there six months thru that hard Winter
with all its indescribable horrDrs. He
was exchanged, and after three months
/ returned to the front, and was at Fred
| ericksburg, Charlottesville and Gettys-
burg. On the second day at Gettysburg
about half the regiment was captured,
and he again landed at Belle Isle. In
another month they were at Anderson
vile.
But a small portion of the stockade
was built around the prison pen at that
time. Mr.. Pero, with others, was de-
tailed to finish the work. When it was
completed he, with others, went out
side to bury the dead. The treatment
of Union prisoners there need not be
repeated. Suffice it to say Mr.. Pero
was suffering witness of those scenes
for 13 long months, and hts burial
party placed II 900 of the poor fellows
into their welcome graves. The burial
party planned to escape, and were saw
ing up their ratiOns. A Unionist among
the rebel pickets kept them posted.
THE day before the escape was to
have been undertaken the Unionist in
formed them that Gen. Sherman's army
was bearing down. upon Andersonville,
and he would soon be there. Imme-
diately after that about 5000 prisoners
a day were sent off to other places. One
day the entire picket line closed in, and
the burial squad was driven into the
stockade. there to find that not a soul
remained He and his comrades were
taken to Florence and were almost
starved to death. Then they were sent
TO Salisbury, n. c., where they were
kept for three months. Maddened by
their sufferings, he and companion
determined to escape. When night
came they crawled thru the picket line
and made their way toward the coast
They only got a few miles when they
were recaptured by home guards. They
were surprised by being kindly treated
and given all they could eat. After three
months they were taken to Charleston
where Mr.. Pero learned that all the
Yankee prisoners who were good foI
were to be paroled' So he determined
to play off deaf. AS the poor fellows
were being sorted out and sent thru
the gate Mr.. Pero joined the crowd
Hiar. thar called Confederate
guard: what 'er yah goin out thar
fo'?' Mr.. Pero paid nc attention to the
question. but tramped slowly on. Hes
as deaf as post said his comrade. as
he hobbled on. Let him go, then said
on officer. He'll never do us any more
harm Mr.. Pero got on the transport
that left Charleston under a flag oi
truce. He was taken directly to New
York City, where he was mustered out
of the service on Feb. IA, 1861
Moskcto Bites and Starvation.
John Nickols, Co. F, gath KY, Argyll
lite, KY, says: In reply to DIR. w. j
w. Kerr allow me to say that when
am reminded of the suffering and tor
ture that we went thru at Anderson
vile, and, after a lapse of SO many
; years, TO hear one who could have fur
nished us relief try to vindicate him
Iself and others thru misrepresenting
the facts, 1 feel I am not doing myself
and others justice to sit still and say
J nothing.
II was captured at Kingston, Ga.
May "a, 1864, by Joe Wheeler's cavalry
and landed in Andersouville on the
27th. DIR. Kerr came in August He
says he found things in a deplorable
condition. / would like to ask him
how he left it. He says the only true
account he has ever seen was by Fed