Year: 1864

A very small proportion of these reached oul


soldiers.


Libby Prison was a great tobacco ware


house, or rather three tobacco warehouses


three stories high upon the front, four stories


upon the rear, separated by brick walls


through which doors were cut. Our officers


were placed in these rooms with bare walls


bare floors and without any blankets.


When | arrived there | was clad in the


lightest summer clothes. 1t was cold Qcto-


Der night and my suffering must have been


extreme but for the kindness Of my fellow


officers in supplying Inc with garments and


blankets. After a while great quantity ol


blankets were sent by the Sanitary Commits


sion which made us comparatively comforta-


BILE, but we were treated in no other respect


than as so many negroes sent to Richmond to


barracoon for sale. An officer who had a


very extensive acquaintance at the South,


said we were not nearly so well treated as


that, for blacks sent for sale, were kindly


cared for that they might bring better price.
| The Union officers were treated as so many


cattle turned into a slaughter pen or barn to


sleep. Confederate officers in the hands OF
| Union authorities were treated courteously


and kindly; that is right.


A little incident occurred to myself which
will illustrate the point of the difference of
treatment between their prisoners and ours.
l was exchanged for Gen. Lee. As l was
| Cdil6u uOWu 10 pass OH, L Hau Two large
trunks to take away. / could obtain no assis-
tance in transporting them, no dray or other
| mode of conveyance. Some of my fellow
officers kindly rendered their assistance,
| and we carried them between us through the
| streets of Richmond to the steamer, on which
| we were ordered upon the forward deck and
| forbidden to come abaft the wheels. We
| were situated on the steamer, like SO many cat
| tie, e,slaves or swine, on the way to market. AT
| Do;z L -, H. a
| cent saloon of the Federal steamer, New
York, we ourselves emerging from the for
ward deck of the dirty rebel steamer. When
| Gen. Lee and his fellow officers were ready to
| change steamers, the General stopped to take
| his small valise, when the Federal officer in
| command said to soldier near, Sergeant,
take the Generals valise on board for him !"
| l mention this to show the sort of treatment
we received down South, and that which the
rebels meet with when they fall into our
hands; they are treated kindly, courteously;
| we rudely ,barbarously. We don't complain,
| because we will strike balance with them
| one of these days. (Cries of Good, and
| cheers


There are a great many Union people
| down South, even in Virginia; Union men
and Union women. l shall not give any
names. We had communication with Union
people by writing and by signals, and the





to shoot US if we looked out of the windows.
One of their own men looked out and they
shot him. They were resolved to shoot q
Yankee as an Offset for this, and a rebel
sentinel fired several times at us without sue
cess. They were exceedingly mortified at
shooting their own man, the ball entering the
right eye and stopping at the back of the
head. These rebel sentinels watched our
men at the windows very much as bows hunt
m conirrala aut 1aaltnor inf
their game. But many Of the guards gave
us all the information which came to their
knowledge, of what was going on around
Richmond, as to the pressure for food, and in
all other matters.


They told us of Klpatricks raid. On the
first of March arrangements had been made
to receive him. And what do you suppose
the arrangements were? To defend Rich
mond? Was that it? No. They mined
Libby Prison, with the intention of blowing
up it and us; to use their own phrase, TO
blou us TO hettW (voice, Is there proof of
that?) That is capable of proof. | cannot
tell you how the fact was minated to us the
next day, without betraying those from
whom the intimation came. On the morning
of Wednesday, March 3D. after we had been
informed of the gunpowder plot, Dick Tur-
ner, the Inspector OF Military Prisons, was
asked by many officers at different times, If
we were correctly informed, and he assured
us it was true; that large quantity of pow
der had beemplaced under the prison, to blow
us up, il Fitzpatrick had come in, and that it
would be done yet, if attempts were made to
rescue US.


Rev. DIR. Smith, President of Randolph Ma
con College, well known down South, and
known in the North too, as an able and nflu-
entiai man, ea.,no into tho prison 10 visit Lieut.
Col. Nichols, of the 18th Conn. Regiment, with
whom he was acquainted. He said that pow
der had been placed in the basement for the
purpose of "blowing us into atoms" Col.
Nichols did not believe it. Dr. Smith assured
him it was SO. He had then come from the
office of Judge Ould, Commissioner of Ex-
changes, who told him it was so. Rev. DIR.
McCabe said the same thing to Col. Ces-
nola, of the 4th n. Y. Cavalry, and Others
Some officers were in the kitchen at the back
window, directly over the door leading into
the cellar. Maj. Turner, the commandant of
the prison-Dick Turner-and four or five reb-
ell officers went into the cellar, and on coming
out they remained few moments at the door,
and one of the officers said, "By G., If you
touch that off it will blow them to h, sure
enough! On the morning we came away,
Maj. Turner assured Capt Sawyer and Capt.
Flynn,who were exchanged in connection with
myself thar powder was there, and he said,
Rather than have you rescued | would have
blown you to h, even if we had gone there
ourselves" At first we could not believe it;
not that we did not suppose them capable of
it. We did not suppose them to be fools
enough to be guilty of an act like that. The
destruction of nine hundred Federal officers
in that atway, would not have been fatal blow to
the Union cause but ii would have drawn down
upon them the execrations of all mankind: it
would have united the Northern people as one
man, and would have fired the Northern heart
with an intense indignation, and when Rich
ond.should be captured, it would have been
utterly destroyed, and blotted out forever from
the earth. At first, we could not believe that
such an act could have been contemplated,
but we now regard it as established by satis-
factory proof Such is the temper of the lead
ers of the rebellion! Such their character.


The negroes! II seems to strike them with
horror that We should enlist in the public
service the negro. A great many conversa-
tions l have had with civilians as well as Off
GERS upon the subject. They say it is bar
barous, unknown in the history of mankind
They say the negroes are their property
Our answer is, we take away your horses and
your mules. We use them to draw baggage
trains and in the artillery service, wherever
we can make them useful. You also take
away our horses and our mules. l tell
them when we cannot carry of the horses
and mules we destroy them, and they do the
same by ours if they can. They admit that
this is according to the usages of war. We
find part OF their population very friendly
to US and hostile to them. They use them to
dig their intrenchments, because they find
them useful. We also use them in any way
in which we can find them useful. If we could