The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1913-05-30


number of deaths would never have
been known, for the record in the
hands of the Rebels was so appalling
that it was suppressed.
A detail of prisoners removed their
dead comrades outside the stockade
where the record the body carried
was copied. The bodies were then
loaded, uncoffined, on army wagons,
The loading was not carefully done
and the dead prisoners were piled on
the wagons like so much trash OF
cordwood, arms and legs sticking up
into the air or hanging over the
sides. In this way the loads of dead
soldier boys were removed to the
cemetery. The wagons thus used
rations were served out to the sur
viving prisoners.
The Water Supply of
the Prison Camp.
Flowing down between the two
hills of the Andersonville camp was
a little brook. This soon became pol
luted and actually unfit for use; and
yet, for months the poor fellows in
that Georgia camp had access to no
other water supply for any purposes
whatever. The very ground became
alive with vermin and communicating
matter, and yet men had to drink
it and to cleanse their bodies and
rags in it. Undoubtedly many a
prisoner found himself repeating the
lines of Thomas Hood:
Picture 1t, think of it,
Dissolute man!
Lave in it, drink of it,
Then, if you cam
as he gazed upon it's loathsome con-
dition; and when the burning sun
had sunk beneath the Georgia hills,
or when he vainly sought forgetful-
ness in sleep, with the pure stars
twinkling in pity from the blue arch
above him, his tortured mind and
fevered body called in vain for the
cool springs, the sparkling rivulets
and the softly flowing rivers of his
native land in the North and when
he awoke to the reality of his awful
condition, can it be thought as at all
strange that he longed for death and
the silence and peace of the grave,
with the winds whispering ever so
gently like mothers lullaby, over
his resting place in the valley, or
on the hillside? Reader, Mr.. Cross
ley can picture to you what it meant
to spend months in such camp as
Andersonville was when the entire
supply of water was that little trickl-
ing stream between the two hills that
served as filth sheds instead of water
sheds, and converted that streamlet
into veritable sewer.
Here Is the Strange Story
of providence Spring"
Many people know something
about Andersonville, but not all have
heard the wonderful story of "Provi
dence Spring" AS sketched above,
the poor fellows were suffering for
water. There seemed to be a gen
eral cry of Water! Water! We are
perishing for the want of water!"
Then a strange and wonderful event
occurred. At night when the sun
went down the cry for water was still
going up, but the only water was
the foul supply of the brook. Lo! in
the morning noble spring of pure,
cold, sparkling water was bursting
from the ground, and whose over
flow went bubbling on it's way to
mingle and as far as possible purify
the waters of the brook. This was
CCl Ldlhly d dCIJ anu
many believe that it may rightly be
classified as miraculous. Even the
Rebels themselves came into the
camp to drink of the cold flowing
waters.
The springing forth of Providence
Spring brought hope into the
hearts of the prisoners, and they be-
gan digging wells for themselves. Mr..
T.
For digging purposes they used brok-
en- canteens and any old pieces of tin
ware, drawing the soil from the
depths in old tomato cans. 1t was
awfully slow work, but it gave them
something to do, and helped pass
away the time. At the depth of 40
Several years ago Mr.. Crossley visit
ed the camp, and his we'll was still
there and providence Spring" was
still flowing.
for Liberty
Under the StOckade.
Pope has declared that Hope
springs eternal in the human breast"
One would naturally suppose that
hope would be dead, dead, dead
thrice dead and plucked up by the
roots" in that Andersonville camp of
misery; but not so. The men spent
their time in a ceaseless battle
against vermin, with which the very
ground was fairly alive, and in talk
ing about home. AS men from the
same section of the beloved North
gathered in groups they were ever
talking of home, home home. This
was how mother cooked it; that was
the way wife did it; the Sunday
plunge bath in the cool and refresh
ing waters of the sleepy old mill dam
was in fancy experienced once more;
and what the children and the home
folks were doing was talked over and
over. Finally the longing for home
grew so intense that it led to action
along the line of escape.
In some concealed place, probably
a shelter tent, tunnel was started.
The excavation was made very eau
tinu with iD1p1annanfc