Watauga Democrat. [volume] (Boone, Watauga County, N.C.) 1888-current, 1919-01-09
P.rsss.l lilaisesse,s Il lie Civil Var
1861 To- 1865.
lBY L. N. !.

loX L. ~. FAnhlNS
The first month or more ol
prion life at Camp Douglas We
were guarded by a regiment 81
Michigan troops recruits who
had never seen anything of war.
They were mostly boys ranging
from lS to 20 years, apoatently
They were. very exacring, an d
thought it quite the thing to do
upon any little pretext to abuse
q prisoner. They were also, srme
of them at least, very suscepti-
BILE to a br,be. :apd.for a few: dol
lars in greeubacks they would let
n prisoner escape There were six
men in the company to which l
belonged ch J bribed the general
and escaped in less than a months
time. They we're, Kentuckians,
and their friends lived inside Of
Federal ttrritlity and they kept
some money cpucea'ed some way
that was not found whan: t he y
were :searched;fwith which they
gained theit.Iberty.: Our Micbi-
gan guards, were sent to the
front just IN time, We were told,
to participate in the battle otthe
Wilderness, and they were badly
cut upIand probably. learned a
few things about Rebels t h a. t
they did not know. They were re-
placed, by q portion ot what vas
known as the Invincible Corps
men who had seen service and
had been woInded' or disabled In
some way till they were unfit for
active sertice:::;' They were much
kinder, and treated theprisoners
reasonably we'll.
During the latter part OF the
year '63 the weather was favor
able, and we did not suffer from
cold, as ye had plenty of: wood
and coaf, but the Arst Of Janua-
~, 81, it turned exceedingly
cold, the Chicago paperss report.
ing 40 degre. below zero There
was q foot or more Of snow on
the ground and the wind blow
ing a gale, The guard walking
the bea, near the barracks be-
came 90 bpnumbed with the cold
that he, fell ITO 'he E. 'ound and
could not walk. Some of the
boys Aaw him fall and ran out
and carried him in the house
where he soon revived. The au-
thorlties then took all the guards
of the beats and stationed ore
in each barracks with the prison.
ers and kept up a FIRE for two or
three days and nights. Our sup
ply Of wood and coal gave out
about this time and it was 40
cold the draymen could not haul
it. The coal and wood was stor-
ed in ? shed in an enclosure ad-
joining the prison where t b 9
guards had their shacks, so the
officers came around and threw
the gate open and told the men
to 90 to the shed and help them
selves, and try and carry enough
to keepffom freezing until the
weather turned warmer so they
could haul. A number of the
boys wrapped up with overcoats
and mittons and tied hapdker'
chiefs over their ears, ran asfast
as they could and brought wood
and coal enough to do until the
teams could haul. The distance
was not over two hundred yards,
but several OF the boys had their
fingers and ears frozen 80 the
skin peeled on..
I was taken sick about the be-
ginning of the cold snap and lay
in my bulk for three days near
tie stove which was kept red hot
day and night aud did not suffer
very much from the cold, and
when l recovered sufficiently to
sit up, l could not speak in an
audable voice for q week or more,
the cold having settled on my