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diff --git a/39584-8.txt b/39584-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3693cfd --- /dev/null +++ b/39584-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2977 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Prison Life in Andersonville, by John L. Maile + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Prison Life in Andersonville + With Special Reference to the Opening of Providence Spring + +Author: John L. Maile + +Release Date: April 30, 2012 [EBook #39584] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRISON LIFE IN ANDERSONVILLE *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images +generously made available by The Internet Archive.) + + + + + + + + + +"PRISON LIFE IN ANDERSONVILLE" + + + + + This volume, + Number 48 + + of the Author's Autograph + Edition, limited to five hundred + copies, is presented to + + + In grateful appreciation + for cordial support and financial + patronage of the work. + + + + + "Prison Life in Andersonville" + + With Special Reference to the + Opening of Providence Spring + + + _by_ + John L. Maile + + + A Veteran of Company F, Eighth Regiment Michigan + Volunteer Infantry and afterward assigned as + Lieutenant in the Twenty-eighth U. S. C. T., and + for a time an unwilling guest in the Confederate + Military prisons at Lynchburg and Danville, Va., + Andersonville, Ga., Florence, S. C., and Salisbury, + N. C. + + + "One flag, one land, one heart, one hand, + One Nation evermore." + --O. W. Holmes. + + + GRAFTON PUBLISHING COMPANY + WEST COAST MAGAZINE + LOS ANGELES. + + + + + COPYRIGHT 1912 + BY JOHN L. MAILE + + LOS ANGELES, CAL. + U. S. A. + + All Rights Reserved + + + PRESS OF WEST COAST MAGAZINE + LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA + + + + +Commendation + + +That the following narrative of Southern prison life should be written so +many years after the occurrence of the events described is explained by +the fact that the author has been urged by many friends to put on record +his descriptions that have interested many people in the East, in the +Interior and in the West. + +To Members of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the Woman's Relief Corps, +allied organizations, and readers generally, I am glad to commend this +book as giving a more particular account of the opening of Providence +Spring than has before appeared. + +Appreciation of the strenuous days of the great Civil War will be revived, +and the memories of Veterans, not a few will be refreshed by this +interesting story. + + H. M. Triuble. + Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. + + Princeton, Illinois, + March 2, 1912. + + + + +[Illustration] + + +Four years of war life. + +In five Confederate prisons. + + +[Illustration: The Author in 1860. + +The Year Before Enlistment.] + + + + +DEDICATION + + + Dedicated to the Woman's Relief Corps, whose tender, + thoughtful care has preserved the + sacred memorials of the war, and + to the memory of my + + COMRADES + + in arms + who have answered + the final + call; to the age-worn + remnant who still linger + behind, and to the younger + patriots of the present generation, + to whom it is given, in the happier + days of peace, to fight for their country + the bloodless battles of righteousness and truth. + + + + +TABLE _of_ CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER. PAGE. + + I. The Writer's Credentials 19 + + II. View of a Confederate Prison 27 + + III. The Prison Commisariat 35 + + IV. A Dearth of Water 53 + + V. A Cry to Heaven 61 + + VI. Unsealing of the Spring 65 + + VII. Was It a Miracle? 72 + + VIII. Deliverance 85 + + IX. An Incident by the Way 93 + + X. A Sequel 103 + + + APPENDIX. PAGE. + + A. Contributory Testimony 116 + + B. Responsibility for Prison Treatment 119 + + C. Woman's Relief Corps Memorial 123 + + D. A Memorial Day Meditation 135 + Rev. H. H. Proctor, D. D. of Atlanta. + + E. Permanent Honors for Confederate Heroes 141 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + +The Author: As Prospective Soldier. As Present Writer. + +Plan of the Prison Pen. + +View of Interior and Foreground. + +A Dream. + +The Broken Stockade. + +The Spring and Women of the Relief Corps. + +Adventure in Wilmington Hospital. + +The Beloved Teacher. + +The Michigan Monument in Andersonville. + +The Andersonville Cemetery. + + + + +A Personal Foreword + + +The establishment and perpetuity of our Union have been secured by the +sacrifices of war. The Declaration of Independence preceded seven weary +years of conflict, whose culminating sufferings were experienced in the +British prison ships and in the winter camp at Valley Forge. In this +contest the patriotic soldiers of the north and of the south made common +cause, and what they did and what they suffered indicates a measure of the +enduring worth of our national life. The story of revolutionary days finds +an enlarged counterpart in the sufferings of the civil war. + +A phase of the great struggle is recalled in the following narrative of +events, which belongs to a rapidly receding past. Soon no survivor will be +left to tell the tale; hence the desirability of putting it into permanent +form before it fades altogether from recollection. To some the story of +the breaking out of Providence Spring may seem to have been given undue +prominence in this record; but it is around that event that these +reminiscences gather, and the circumstances attending were so indelibly +stamped upon the memory of the writer that they call for expression. +Probably he was the youngest of the group of Andersonville prisoners who +participated in the concert of prayer that preceded the unsealing of the +fountain, and on that account he may be the only survivor. + +In the course of the narrative unpleasant things have been referred to in +the interests of truth, but nothing has been set down in malice. The Great +Healer has closed up many wounds of hearts as well as of bodies, and the +grass has grown green over the graves of buried controversies. The boys in +gray and the boys in blue now fraternize around common campfires and under +a common flag. But while the writer has none save the kindliest feelings +toward his brothers of the lost cause, he cannot help rejoicing that +alike in the clash of arms, and in the more peaceful conflict of ideas +which has followed, the principles for which he and others bled and +suffered have gained the victory and are among the things which never +perish from the earth. + + + + + "We are coming, Father Abraham--three hundred thousand more, + From Mississippi's winding stream and from New England's shore. + We leave our plows and workshops, our wives and children dear, + With hearts too full for utterance, with but a silent tear; + We dare not look behind us, but steadfastly before-- + We are coming, Father Abraham--three hundred thousand more. + + "If you look across the hilltops that meet the northern sky, + Long lines of moving dust your vision may descry; + And now the wind, an instant, tears the cloudy veil aside, + And floats aloft our spangled flag in glory and in pride; + And bayonets in the sunlight gleam, and bands brave music pour-- + We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more. + + "If you look up all our valleys, where growing harvests shine, + You may see our sturdy farmer boys fast forming into line; + And children, from their mothers' knees, are pulling at the weeds, + And learning how to reap and sow, against their country's needs; + A farewell group stands weeping at every cottage door-- + We are coming, Father Abraham--three hundred thousand more." + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WRITER'S CREDENTIALS. + + +The writer of the following narrative feels justified in calling attention +to his military record in order that he may be furnished with a warrant +for inviting the attention of readers to the matters herein described. +Broadly speaking, his record is that he saw nearly four years of active +service, including ten months of confinement in Confederate prisons and +three months in hospitals and parole camps. + +Given more in detail it would be as follows: He enlisted at the age of +seventeen, on September 2, 1861, at Hastings in the Eighth Regiment +Michigan Volunteer Infantry; Company F of which N. H. Walbridge was +Captain; Traverse Phillips, First Lieutenant; Jacob Maus, Second +Lieutenant, and John D. Sumner, Orderly Sergeant. + +The Eighth was known as the famous "wandering" regiment of +Michigan--ex-Governor Col. William M. Fenton, Commander. + +His regiment was mustered in at Grand Rapids and journeyed via Detroit, +Cleveland and Pittsburg to Washington, going into camp on Meridian Hill +overlooking the capitol. On October 19th, with his regiment, he embarked +from Annapolis on the steamship Vanderbilt, taking part in the Dupont +Expedition to the South Carolina coast and occupancy of Beaufort and the +Sea Islands. + +He was in engagements on Coosaw river, and at the bombardment of Fort +Paluski off Savannah. While his regiment was in the campaign of James +Island, near Charleston, he was in the Signal Corps service on the +Beaufort river. In April the regiment sailed to Virginia; he was at the +second Bull-Run in July, and with the Maryland campaign of South Mountain, +Antietam; the succeeding Fredericksburg fighting and thence via Kentucky +to Vicksburg and Jackson, Mississippi. + +In the autumn of '63 he marched via Cumberland Gap to East Tennessee and +took part in conflicts at Blue Springs, Lenoir Station, Campbell's +Station, the siege of Knoxville, and defense of Fort Saunders. After +re-enlistment with his comrades in January he marched over the mountains +nearly two hundred miles in ten days through deep snow to the railroad at +Crab Orchard, Kentucky. This severe ordeal was followed by a brief respite +of a thirty days' furlough from Cincinnati to Michigan. + +In April, 1864, the regiment rejoined the Ninth Army Corps at Annapolis, +and on May 3rd he was, after examination in Washington, confirmed for a +commission as Lieutenant. On the 4th, he overtook his regiment camping +near the Rappahannock river; on the evening of the 5th the vicinity of the +Rapidan river was reached in full view of the smoke of Sedgwick's +artillery opening the great battle of the Wilderness. On the afternoon of +the 6th, his regiment was ordered into action when he with a thousand +others from the division was taken prisoner and marched to Lee's +headquarters, where he saw the famous general, whom he remembers as +sitting with great dignity of bearing upon his horse, calmly viewing the +situation. And it was reported that he kindly remarked to a group of +prisoners that they must make the best of their predicament. On the 9th +the examination papers came for the new Lieutenant, but he was now the +guest of the Confederacy and could not be excused. + +A comrade sent to his home the disquieting message, "missing in action and +probably killed," but happily from Orange Courthouse by the great kindness +of a Virginia Lieutenant a telegram was forwarded by flag of truce to his +parents stating that he still survived. The memorial services announced +for the following week were postponed and are yet to take place. + +Introductory experiences as a prisoner of war included many hours of +fasting, followed by a most exhaustive march of twenty-eight miles to +Orange Courthouse under close cavalry guard; thence by rail to +Gordonsville, where the place of detention was a pen frequently used for +the rounding up of cattle. At this point the prisoners were usually +relieved of any superfluous clothing and outfit. + +Fortunately the writer had discovered in the crowd five members of his +regiment. He and they drew together as companions in misfortune, and +formed a group in which each one was to have a share and share alike of +all they possessed; and they entered into a solemn pledge to care for one +another in sickness. + +Very early in the morning of our night at Gordonville we were aroused by +the sharp command, "Wake up there, wake up there, you Yanks. Fall into two +ranks. Quick there," given by a Confederate sergeant. The occasion was the +arrival of a trainload of beef cattle for the Confederate army, and the +master of transportation saw an opportunity to load the prisoners into +the freight cars just made vacant and which were to return to Lynchburg +immediately. + +To be thus unceremoniously aroused from sleep and hustled into filthy cars +made us very indignant, but "There is a divinity that shapes our ends; +rough-hew them how we will," and in the confusion of moving in the +twilight, and the absence of inspection we got off scot free from the +usual ceremony of being stripped of superabundant clothes and +accouterments. Thus our group of six were each left in possession of a +blanket, a section of shelter tent, a haversack, a tin cup and plate, a +knife, a fork, a spoon, and such scanty clothing as we had on. The extras +we possessed were a frying pan, a file, and several pocket knives, two or +three towels, a small mirror, and a thin piece of mottled soap. The latter +was used exclusively for a Sunday morning wash of hands and face until it +melted away. + +This unusual amount of equipment was kept as inconspicuous as possible and +was safely carried through the prisons at Lynchburg and Danville, where +we awaited transportation to an unknown destination, which proved to be +the military inferno of Andersonville, in southwestern Georgia, to reach +which we rode more than seven hundred miles from the battlefield packed +fifty and sixty in a freight car, with twenty or thirty of our number on +the top. + +The locomotives, which burned pitch pine, emitted clouds of acrid smoke +that, mingled with dust arising from the roadbed, enveloped the train in a +gloomy, suffocating pall. Mile after mile the worn, rattling freight cars +and wheezing engine crept along the right-of-way, which, as a narrow lane, +threaded the interminable pitch-pine forests that admitted no stirring +breeze. + +On Sunday morning we arrived in the beautiful city of Augusta, Georgia. +Our train was sidetracked on a principal thoroughfare whose borders were +embowered in luxuriant foliage which screened attractive homes, whence the +church bells were calling the summer-dressed occupants. On the sidewalk +opposite from the train groups of the people loitered to gaze upon the +grimy, famished prisoners who swarmed upon the tops of the freight cars +and formed a sweltering crowd within. + +Several ladies deferred their church-going, re-entered their houses, +emerged with baskets filled with sandwiches, crossed the street to the +side of the train and, overcoming the objections of the guards, handed out +the precious food to the grateful men, who responded with their most +courteous thanks. + +This little piece of genuine chivalry was the one bright spot in the +torturing journey, and was matched by the sensibilities of some Southern +ladies, who later viewing the interior of Andersonville from the stockade +platform, turned away their faces weeping. + + + + +[Illustration: Ground Plan of Andersonville Stockade. + +Description: Fig. 1, Keeper's House; 2, "P. Spring"; 3, Nat'l Monument; 4, +Purchased Property; 5, Stockade; 6, Outer Stockade; 7, Deadline; 8, Forts +and Batteries; 9, Main Fort; 10, [1]Gallows; 11, Magazine; 12, Capt. +Wirtz' Headquarters; 13, To Cemetery; 14, Wells and Tunnels; 15, Dead +House; 16, Guard Camp; 17, Road to Station; 18, Creek; 19, North Gate; 20, +South Gate; 21, Flag Pole.] + +[Illustration: THE ANDERSONVILLE PRISON PEN + +This view looks westward. Providence Spring was located just below the +north gate, close to the stockade X.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +AN INSIDE VIEW OF A CONFEDERATE PRISON. + + +At the time of our incarceration in Andersonville, the crisis of the war +of the rebellion was reached. General Grant was fighting the great battles +of the Wilderness in Virginia; the investment of Petersburg was about to +begin, and General Lee was resisting the impact of the Federal forces with +unsurpassed skill and heroism. General Sherman was also hastening his +preparations to penetrate the vitals of the Confederacy by his famous +"March to the Sea." + +Skirmishes by the contending forces were of daily occurrence, and +frequently battles were fought that now loom large in history. To bury the +dead was not difficult; but the care of the wounded was a grave concern to +both armies. An affair of still greater magnitude was the gathering up of +the captured officers and soldiers, the transporting of them hundreds of +miles, and the placing of them in prisons for safe keeping. + +The Confederate authorities adopted a simple and logical plan. Foodstuffs +for their armies could not be gathered in war-swept Virginia, nor to any +great extent from the border States. In Georgia and Alabama, in parts of +the Carolinas, Mississippi and Louisiana faithful slave labor produced an +abundant supply of rice, corn and bacon, sweet potatoes and beans. + +To transport these bulky materials to the armies of Lee, Hood and Johnson +required every locomotive and freight car that could be mustered on +Southern railroads. Hence the northward-bound trains were heavily laden. +Those going southward were empty, and were available to carry away the +thousands of Union prisoners. At several points in the South Atlantic and +Gulf States, stockade prisons were set up, notably that in Southwestern +Georgia, named after an adjacent hamlet, "Andersonville." + +This celebrated place of confinement for Federal prisoners below the rank +of commissioned officer was located about sixty-two miles from Macon. It +consisted of a stockade made of pine logs twenty-five feet long, set +upright in a trench five feet deep, inclosing some sixteen acres, +afterwards enlarged to twenty-six acres. + +This inclosure was oblong in form, with its longest dimension in a general +north and south direction, and had two gates in its western side, near the +north and south ends respectively. It was commanded by several stands of +artillery, comprising sixteen guns, located at a distance on rising +ground. From four directions the guns could sweep the prison interior with +grapeshot or shells. + +A line of poles was planted along the lengthwise center of the pen. We +were informed that if the men gathered in unusual crowds between the range +of the poles and the north and south gates, the cannon would open upon us. + +A report was circulated among us to the effect that General Sherman had +started an expedition to release us; and we were informed that if his +troops approached within seven miles of the stockade the prisoners would +be mowed down by grapeshot. The fact is that one of his generals proposed +a sortie that never was made. "About July 20, 1864, General Stoneman was +authorized at his own desire to march (with cavalry) on Macon and +Andersonville in an effort to rescue the National prisoners of war in the +military prisons there." + +Outside and against the stockade platforms for guards were placed two or +three rods apart, and were so constructed that the sentinel climbed a +ladder and stood waist high above the top of the wall and under a board +roof, which sheltered him from the sun and rain. + +Each of the guards faced the vast mass of prisoners and was ordered to +closely watch the dead line before and below him half way to his comrade +on his right and left. + +The "dead line" formed a complete circuit parallel to the inside of the +stockade and about twenty feet therefrom. It consisted of a narrow strip +of board nailed to a row of stakes, which were about four feet high. +"Shoot any prisoner who touches the "dead line" was the standing order to +the guards. Several companies from Georgia regiments were detailed for the +duty, and their muskets were loaded with "buck and ball" (_i. e._, a large +bullet and two buckshot). The day guard at the stockade consisted of one +hundred and eighty-six men; the day reserve of eighty-six men. The night +reserve consisted of one hundred and ten men; the outlay pickets of +thirty-eight men. + +A sick prisoner inadvertently placing his hand on the dead line for +support, or one who was "moon blind" running against it, or anyone +touching it with suicidal intent, would be instantly shot at, the +scattering balls usually striking others than the one aimed at. + +The intervening space between the wall and the dead line was overgrown +with weeds, and was occasionally tested by workmen with long drills to +ascertain the existence of tunnels. In attempting to escape by this means +the prisoners endeavored to emerge at night some distance from the +stockade and take to the woods. To frustrate such attempts, which would +inevitably be discovered at roll-call the following morning, man-tracking +hounds were led by mounted men on a wide circuit around the prison, with +the well-nigh universal result that the trail was struck and the fugitive +taken. + +Later a stockade was erected parallel to the first, and some ten or twelve +rods beyond. Tunnels could not be carried so far with the means available. +They were dug with knives and the dirt was taken out in haversacks or bags +drawn in and out by a cord. The work of digging was usually carried on at +night. During the day a sick man lay over the tunnel's mouth in a tent or +under a blanket. That the roll-call sergeant might not discover the fresh +earth, it was sifted early in the morning from the pocket and down the +trouser leg of a comrade, who walked unconcernedly about. The little +grains of earth which he dropped were soon trodden under foot. + +To increase the difficulty of tunnel escape, slaves and teams were +employed to build piles of pitch-pine along the cleared space beyond the +outer stockade. At night, when these were lighted, a line of fires was +made which illuminated a wide area. From these fires arose columns of +dense smoke, which in the sultry air of a midsummer night hung like a pall +over the silent city of disease and starvation. Yet the city was not +wholly quiet, for undertones of thousands of voices that murmured during +the day at night died away into the low moans of the sick and the +expiring, or rose into the overtones of the outcry of distressful dreams. +In the edge of the gloom beyond the fires, patrols paced to and fro until +the dawn. Every evening the watch-call sounded, "Post number one, nine +o'clock and all is well." This cry was repeated by each sentinel until it +had traveled around the stockade back to the place of starting. "Nine and +a half o'clock and all is well," was next spoken, and likewise repeated. +Thus every half hour from dark to daylight the time was called off, and +this grim challenge greeted our ears every night until the survivors bade +the Confederacy good-bye. Not that our captors benevolently wished to +increase the sense of the shortness of the time until our release, but to +be assured that the guards were keeping awake. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE PRISON COMMISSARIAT. + + +The least that can be said of the prison sustenance is that it was +exceedingly slim. But while the _per diem_ rations dealt out to an +Andersonville prisoner were too small for proper maintenance, and much of +the time inferior in quality, yet the thirty-two thousand to thirty-five +thousand men who had to be fed were as a rule promptly served. + +To secure this result effective organization was necessary. It was +accomplished as follows: Groups of two hundred and seventy men were named +detachments and duly numbered. Every detachment was divided into the +first, second and third nineties, each of which was in charge of one of +our own sergeants. The nineties, in turn, were divided into the first, +second and third thirties, which also were in charge of a sergeant or +corporal. + +At ten o'clock every forenoon a drum call was beaten from the platform at +the south gate. At this signal the prisoners fell into line by +detachments, forming as best they could in the narrow paths that separated +the small tents, blanket shanties or dug-outs. At the same moment a +company of Confederate sergeants entered the two gates for the purpose of +counting and recording the number of the prisoners. To each of these +officers a certain number of detachments were assigned. The men, +unsheltered from the fierce sun-heat, had perforce to remain standing +during the entire count. If a number less than that of yesterday was in +evidence, the Federal sergeant had to account for the deficit. Sometimes a +number of men were too ill to stand up, so the line was held the longer +while the Confederate official viewed the sick where they lay. + +The bodies of those who had died since the count of the previous day were +early in the morning carried to the south street and laid in a row until +the ration wagon could haul them to the burying trench. On a card attached +to the wrist of the deceased was written by the detachment sergeant, his +name, regiment and date of death. These names were taken by the +enumerator, who verified the record as the bodies were carried through the +gate. Such was the scarcity of clothing that garments of any value were +taken by comrades from the dead before interment. + +In the early summer prisoners were occasionally detailed under guard to +carry the dead some distance from the gate. On the return they were +allowed to gather up chips which had accumulated from the hewing of +stockade timbers. The quantity a man, weakened by hunger and disease, +could bring in would sell for five dollars, U. S. currency. Competition to +get out on one of these details became so intense that the privilege was +discontinued. + +At four o'clock in the afternoon rations of corn bread and bacon were +issued on the basis of the morning count of those who are able to stand +up. Two army wagons drawn by mules entered the north and south gates +simultaneously. They were piled high with bread, thin loaves of corn bread +or Johnny cake, made of coarse meal and water by our men who had been +paroled for that work. + +A blanket was spread upon the ground and the quantity for a detachment was +placed thereon in three piles; one for every ninety, according to the +number of men able to eat. In like manner the sergeants of nineties +sub-divided the piles to the thirties. + +The writer had charge of a division of thirty and distributed as follows: +His blanket was spread in front of his shelter tent and on it he spread +the bread in as many pieces as there were men counted in the morning. + +Each man had his number and was intently watching the comparative size of +the portions. "Sergeant," cries one, pointing to a cube of bread, "That +piece is smaller than the one next to it." A crumb is taken from the one +and placed upon the other. The relative size of any piece may be +challenged by any member of the thirty, for his life is involved. + +The equalization is finally completed to the satisfaction of all. The +sergeant then takes up a piece in his hand and says, "Whose is this?" A +designated comrade looking the other way calls a number. The owner steps +up and takes his portion. This process is repeated until all are served. +Some four or five pounds of bacon are then cut on a board into small +pieces and issued in like manner. + +The cube of bread and morsel of meat constitute the ration for twenty-four +hours. One-half may be eaten at once; the remainder should be put in the +haversack for breakfast. If any one yields to his insatiable hunger and +eats the whole for supper he has to fast until the following evening and +must then deny himself and put away the portion for the next morning's +breakfast. Experiment proved that strength was better sustained by taking +the scanty ration of food in two portions than by eating the whole at +once. + +When the number of prisoners exceeded fifteen thousand, the facilities of +the cook-house were inadequate. Therefore raw rations were issued +alternately every two weeks to each side of the prison. In this form the +amount _per capita_ daily was a scant pint of corn meal and a scrap of +uncooked bacon. + +Occasionally boiled rice and cow beans were substituted for the meal, but +these were very difficult to issue in accurate portions. Sometimes a +quantity of this glutenous food was carried in a sleeve of a shirt or in +the trouser's leg tied at the end. + +The supply of fuel for cooking was wholly inadequate. Often the ration of +wood was ironically called a "toothpick." It would be split into small +short splinters and two men would sometimes combine their portions. Water +in a quart tin cup setting on small blocks of clay could be brought to a +boil before the wood under it was consumed. Into this water meal was +stirred and, if the blaze could be yet further economized, partially +cooked mush was the outcome. The sick could not, however, do this work for +themselves. Many ate meal uncooked, but the experiment soon ended life. + +It may be observed that many of the Andersonville prisoners were well +supplied with money. The Federal armies were reclothed and paid off in the +spring of 1864. The new recruits and re-enlisted veterans, in many +instances, had with them bounty money when captured. Greenbacks could be +pressed into the sole of a shoe, or placed inside a brass button. In +various ways money was concealed about the person. + +The authorities at Andersonville allowed supplies to be sold to the +prisoners for Federal money. Numerous small restaurants flourished in the +stockade. From small clay ovens they supplied fresh bread and baked meats. +Irish and sweet potatoes, string beans, peas, tomatoes, melons, sweet +corn, and other garden products were abundantly offered for sale. New +arrivals were amazed to find these resources in the midst of utter +destitution and starvation. + +As this sketch is of the nature of personal experiences, the writer might +tell how, in his case, the question of increasing the food supply was +solved. A ration of fresh beef received by his thirty consisted of a shank +bone on which a small amount of lean meat remained. This latter was cut +into portions about the size of a little finger. These were easily issued, +but what shall be done with the bone which towered on the meat board above +the diminutive strips of beef? No tools were available by which it could +be broken up. One and another cried out, "I don't want the bone for a +ration." "Count it out for me." "I can't gnaw a bone." The writer knew +that a wealth of nutriment was contained in the rich marrow and oil-filled +joints, and in view of the unanimous rejection of the bone, said, "Well, +boys, if none of you want it, I will take it as my portion." "Agreed," +shouted the crowd, adding expressions like these, "Come, hurry up and +call off that meat; I'm hungry." The strips were speedily issued, and, for +the most part, eaten at once. + +The fortunate possessor of what was a large soup bone borrowed from a +comrade a kitchen knife with permission to cut on the back of the same +teeth, which were made with a file procured from a tent-mate. The steel of +the blade was exceedingly hard and by the time the teeth were finished the +file was worn nearly smooth. However, this fact insured that the teeth +would hold their edge. The bone was quickly cut in two and the marrow dug +out with a splinter. What remained was melted out with boiling water and a +marrow soup was prepared for six hungry patriots. Next, the joints were +sawed into slices and the rich oil extracted therefrom with hot water. +Thus for two meals a generous addition was made to our impoverished menu. + +Soon after, while splitting wood by driving the knife into the end of a +stick, the blade was snapped off about one and one-half inches from the +handle. This disaster brought consternation, for the owner valued his +knife at five dollars. However, a settlement was effected by which the +user retained the broken parts and the worn-out file. The blade was set +into a split stick to be used as a saw, as circumstances might require. + +The broken end of the shank was scraped on a brick to form a beveled edge +like a chisel. Later on, the fact was demonstrated that these tools were a +providential preparation. The face of the writer became diseased with the +much prevailing scurvy. A swollen cheek, inflamed and bleeding gums with +loosening teeth, indicated the fact that a hard fight for life must be put +up. How shall it be done? About this time a stockade was built on three +sides of an enclosure attached to the north end of the prison, thus making +more room for the thousands of additional prisoners who were constantly +arriving from many battle fields. The intervening wall was taken up and +most of the timber sold to the prisoners. From one who had purchased a +log, the writer obtained the wood sufficient to make three water pails; +working on a two-thirds share. + +This material was delivered to the writer in split strips about three +inches thick and four feet long. With the knife-blade saw these sticks of +hard pine were slowly and laboriously cut into lengths for staves which +were split on a curve by driving together several sharp-pointed wedges +into a circular grain of the wood. Thus each stave was an arc of the +circumference of the tree. A day's ration was traded for a board three +inches wide and thirty inches long. A mortise was cut through this to +receive the knife-chisel, which was held in place with a forked wedge +after the manner of a carpenter's plane. + +This was the jointer on which the edges of the staves were smoothed and +its upper end was placed on the knee of the writer, who sat tailor fashion +on the ground, and the lower end was placed in a hole in the earth. The +pieces for the bottom of the pail were split flat across the circular +grain of the tree, and the edges were also smoothed on the jointer. For +the want of truss hoops, the problem of setting up the staves seemed +insurmountable. A sleepless night was passed in thinking the matter +through. At four o'clock in the morning the inspiration came, and the +solution was: Dig a hole in the ground the form and slope of the +prospective pail. This was speedily done, and the staves were successfully +set half their length in this mold, and the last one driven home brought +the whole into shape. Two knapsack straps were passed around the top of +the pail and held it together. It was then carefully drawn out of the hole +and hoops made of split saplings were put in place, and the handle of like +material was made. Precious food was bartered for these split stems, and +the resultant fasting added to prevailing starvation nearly cost the +writer his life. + +Pieces for the bottom were jointed, placed on the ground and on them the +pail was set. A pencil was run round on this bottom and the end of each +piece was cut with saw and chisel wherever the curved mark indicated. + +Days of incessant labor with chisel and a borrowed jackknife sufficed to +produce from hard pitch pine the staves for the sides and bottom of a +water pail of the ordinary size. + +When at last the pail was completed so imperfect were the joints that meal +could be sifted through. Derisive laughter greeted the apparent failure of +a pail to hold water, through the joints of which the light freely shone. +However, the maker depended on the dry wood of the staves swelling tight +if only the hoops proved strong enough to stand the immense pressure. +Happily, this resulted and in triumph the first made pail was handed over +to the owner of the log in payment for the wood from which three pails +could be made. + +The second pail was more speedily made and sold for $1.50 with which the +proprietor bought vegetables which eaten raw cured the scurvy in his face. + +During the following winter which was passed in the Confederate prison at +Florence, South Carolina, the shoes worn by the most of our group, owing +to defective machine stitching, peeled from the toe to the heel, causing +almost constantly damp feet, to the serious detriment of health. + +Again the writer was obliged to make a fight for life. Recalling the +process of making his chisel, he scraped, on a brick, the shank of his +worn-out file into a point like a pegging awl. A gum tree knot served as a +handle. A two-inch nut from a car bolt was screwed to a handle for a shoe +hammer. A piece of soft pine was whittled into a last. With the knife-saw +maple chips were cut into right lengths for shoe pegs which were shaped +one by one. With this equipment the loosened soles were tightly pegged to +the uppers. The shoes thus made water tight contributed no little to our +chances of survival. + +The writer afterwards mended shoes for one of the wood-chopping party who +secured, of field negroes, sweet potatoes which he brought with the +working squad into the prison at evening, and with them paid for the +mending. These were cooked by the writer and retailed to the prisoners +with large profit in U. S. fractional currency. + +Confederate money was secretly purchased forty dollars for one, and with +this supplies could be lawfully bought of the prison sutler. Bread per +small loaf, flour per pound, and a fair-sized cabbage could be bought each +for ten dollars. We drove a flourishing trade in hot cabbage soup with men +who possessed any money; especially to those who, without shelter, +literally piled themselves together for mutual warmth during the piercing +cold and rain of a southern winter night. + +The soup was made in the following manner: A cabbage consisted of a stalk +with a tuft of leaves on the upper end and a bunch of roots on the lower +end. The whole was washed clean and chopped up fine with the knife-chisel. +The sliced leaves, stem and roots were boiled in eight quarts of water +until made as tender as heat could do it. Into the green colored liquid +was stirred some flour thickening; the whole was salted and a minced red +pepper was added for pungency, while a whole pepper floated on the surface +as an advertisement. + +For a soup dipper a piece of pail hoop was riveted to the side of a +condensed milk can, the two rivets being cut from a copper cent with the +chisel driven with the shoe hammer. For soup plates a canteen was melted +apart and the two halves formed each a plate. On [2]Market Square, down by +the swamp, four slender stakes were driven and thereon was placed a pine +shake, which formed the soup counter. The soup kettle was covered with a +piece of woolen shirt, which kept in the heat. Very early each morning we +opened up for business and a line of shivering men in rags and nearly +perished from exposure formed as the soup brigade. The price per plate +was a five-cent shinplaster of U. S. fractional currency. The poor fellow +who had no money must needs go without. As new prisoners ceased to arrive +the money supply was soon gathered up and the prison sutler went away and +trade was brought to an end. + +[Illustration: A DREAM] + +Our last plate of soup was sold to a Maine soldier who paid for it his +last five cents. He was nearly naked and incessantly shivered from the +cold. The writer found him the following morning, after a night of rain, +to which he was exposed, with his knees drawn up to his chin in the +instinctive effort to bring the surfaces of his body together for warmth. +With difficulty his frame was straightened out for burial. + +The profit of this business for several weeks gave to our group of six one +fairly good meal each day and made possible the survival of those of our +number who finally emerged from this awful prison life. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A DEARTH OF WATER. + + +If the food supply of Andersonville was bad, the water supply was worse. +To understand the situation and to see how little was done to overcome the +difficulties involved, and to make the most of the existing facilities for +the relief of the suffering, one has to consider the formation of this +prison encampment. + +The surface of the interior consisted of two hillsides, sloping +respectively north and south towards the center which was occupied by a +swamp of nearly four acres. This was traversed by a sluggish creek which +was some five feet wide and six inches deep, and made its way along the +foot of the south slope. Up the stream were located the headquarters of +Capt. Wirtz, the camps of the Confederate artillery and infantry and the +cook-house for the prisoners. The drainage of these localities entered +the creek which flowed into the prison through spaces between the stockade +timbers, and polluted the water which was the chief supply of the prison, +and which, at midnight, in its clearest condition, was the color of amber. +The intervening space at the foot of the north hill was a wide morass, and +when overflowed by rains became a vast cesspool on which boundless swarms +of flies settled down and laid their eggs; which were speedily hatched by +the fervent heat of the nearly tropical sun, and became a horrible +undulating mass. On a change of wind the odor could be detected miles +away; indeed it was reported that the people of Macon petitioned General +Howell Cobb, the military governor of Georgia, for a removal of the prison +located sixty miles away, lest an awful pestilence sweep over their +country! + +The turkey buzzards, birds of ill omen, would come up against the wind, +alight on the bare limbs of the tall pines overlooking the prison, and +circle over the grizzled city as if waiting to descend for a carrion +feast. + +When we entered the prison on May 23rd, our detachment of two hundred and +seventy men was scheduled fifty-five, indicating the presence of fourteen +thousand eight hundred and fifty prisoners. The number steadily rose until +a reported thirty-five thousand were present at one time. As the arrivals +increased by hundreds and thousands, the daily mortality was counted by +scores and hundreds, and many of the sick were without shelter from the +heat of the pitiless sun. + +As the killed and wounded are scattered over the fields of the sanguinary +battle, so our dying sick lay around on every hand. In the early summer, +Capt. Wirtz issued to the prisoners picks and shovels, with which to dig +wells for increased water supply. From some of these wells the men started +tunnels through which to escape. Discovering this, the commander withdrew +the tools, and ordered the wells to be filled up. Permission to keep one +of them open was purchased by a group of prisoners. It was sunk to a +necessary depth, covered with a platform and trap door, and supplied about +one thousand men. + +Aside from this well, for the favored few, the only water supply was from +about twelve feet of the length of the creek which reached between the +dead-line and the bridge connecting the two divisions of the prison. A +terrible water famine set in, with the result that many of the ailing ones +became insane from thirst. + +In these unsanitary surroundings there is a well authenticated case of a +man who was severely afflicted with scurvy. As he lay in the place of +filth and stench, without medical attention until gangrene of the lower +limbs set in, he realized that to save his life he must lose his feet. No +one of his comrades had the nerve to perform the necessary operation, so +he obtained an old knife and disjointed his pedal extremities. + + "In November, 1863, an order was issued for the establishment of a + prison in Georgia, the granary of the eastern part of the + Confederacy, and for this purpose a tract of land was selected near + the town of Andersonville. A stockade 15 feet high, inclosing 16-1/2 + acres, was built, and this, in June, 1864, was enlarged to 26-1/2 + acres, but 3-1/4 acres near the center were too marshy to be used. A + small stream ran through the inclosure, which, it was thought, would + furnish water sufficient for drinking and for bathing. The trees + within the stockade were cut down and no shelter was provided for the + expected inmates, who began to arrive in February, 1864, before the + rude prison was completed according to the design, and before an + adequate supply of bacon for their use had been received. Prisoners + continued to come until, on the 5th of May, there were about 12,000, + which number went on increasing until in August it exceeded 32,000. + Their condition was one of extreme wretchedness. Those who came first + erected rude shelters from the debris of the stockade; later arrivals + burrowed in the ground or protected themselves with any blankets or + pieces of cloth of which they had not been deprived according to the + practice of robbing men who were taken prisoners which prevailed on + both sides. Through an unfortunate location of the baking and cooking + houses on the creek above the stockade the water became polluted + before it reached the prisoners, so that to obtain pure water they + must dig wells. =After a severe storm a spring broke out within the + inclosure, and this became one of the main reliances for drinking + water.= The sinks were constructed over the lower part of the stream, + but the current was not swift enough to carry away the ordure, and + when the stream was swollen by rain and overflowed, the foecal matter + was deposited over a wide area, producing a horrible stench. This was + the famous prison of Andersonville."--From Rhodes' History of the + United States, Vol. V, pp. 483-515. + + "The history of Andersonville prison pen has shocked the world with + its tales of horror, of woe, and of death, before unheard of and + unknown to civilization. No pen can describe, no artist can paint, no + imagination comprehend their fearful and unutterable sufferings. + + "Into the narrow confines of this prison were herded more than + thirty-five thousand enlisted men, whose only fault was they 'wore the + Union blue,' many of them the bravest and best, the most devoted and + heroic of those grand armies that carried the flag of the Union to + final victory. For long and weary months they suffered and died for + that flag. Here they suffered =unsheltered= from the burning rays of a + southern sun, or were drenched by the rain and deadly dews of the + night. All this while they were in every stage of physical + disease--hungered, emaciated, starving. + + "Is it a wonder that during the month of August, 1864, one man died in + every eleven minutes, night and day, or that, for six months, + beginning April, 1864, one died every twenty-two and one-half minutes + night and day? This should forever silence the assertion that men + would be taken prisoners rather than risk their lives on the firing + line. The lack of water was the cause of much disease and suffering. + Under the most favorable circumstances the water supply was + insufficient for one-quarter of the number of men confined there. All + the water obtainable was from a sluggish creek that ran through the + grounds; and, in addition to this, there were thirty-six hundred men + acting as guards camped on the bank of this stream before it reached + the prison pen, and the water became so foul no words can describe + it."--From "A Sketch of Andersonville," by Mrs. Lizabeth A. Turner, + Chairman Andersonville Prison Board. Journal of the Twenty-fifth + National Convention of the Woman's Relief Corps, page 169. + + + + + "More things are wrought by prayer + Than this world dreams of." + --Tennyson. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A CRY TO HEAVEN. + + +The bitter cry which arose from the suffering camp was changed on the lips +of a few to an appeal to heaven. Where else could men look in their dire +extremity? One evening early in August the sound of the old long metre +doxology was heard from the voices of a group of men gathered around the +solitary pine stump in the enclosure, which was situated at the end of the +north street of the prison where space was left for the ration wagon to +turn around. On this stump was seated an emaciated cavalry sergeant, Mr. +Shepard, of Columbus, Ohio, formerly an honored preacher of the gospel. In +days past he had frequently been called upon to offer prayer over the +remains of some deceased comrade, and now he led in the old and well-known +hymn to call like-minded souls together. + +Some twenty-five unkempt, starving men gathered around him and joined in +the familiar strain. What memories of family worship and old-time services +in the meeting-house those words called up. Said Brother Shepard in +substance: "I have today read in the book of Numbers of Moses striking the +rock from which water gushed out for the ample supply of man and beast. I +tell you God must strike a rock in Andersonville or we shall all die of +thirst. And if there is no rock here, He can smite the ground and bring +forth water to supply our desperate needs. Of this I am sure; let us ask +Him to do this." + +Pointing to an uncombed, unwashed, ragged comrade standing close by, he +said, "Will the brother from Chicago pray?" He then successively called on +other acquaintances, distinguishing them by their different localities at +home. All the prayers were poured out in the one desire for water. + +For perhaps an hour the meeting continued and closed with the doxology. +The words of the leader were, "Boys, when you awake during the night +offer to God a little prayer for water. Do the same many times tomorrow, +and let us meet here in the evening to pray again for water." + +If memory be not at fault, these individual and collective petitions were +steadfastly offered from Monday evening to Thursday evening. + +For a month previous we had noticed that a number of the stockade timbers +near the north gate had been loosened by the percolating of the copious +rain and that they were sagging considerably and had settled out of line. +We wondered why they had been allowed to remain so long in this unsafe +condition. Was it a coincidence that after prayer began to be offered the +quartermaster of the prison notified Capt. Wirtz that stockade timbers +were out of line and should be set right? He was ordered to take a gang of +slaves and make the necessary repairs. About fifteen stalwart negroes were +marched through the main gate and turned into the twenty-foot space +between the dead-line and the wall. With pike poles the closely adjoining +posts were heaved into position and the earth was closely tamped. + +Then the workers faced about and commenced digging a trench up the hill +nearly as wide as the space between the dead-line and the stockade. A part +of the gang swung their picks into the red clay which was shoveled against +the timbers. Another set followed with heavy rammers and pounded the whole +into a smooth, sloping surface which was tamped closely to the base of the +wooden wall, making a perfect watershed, and thus preventing the further +loosening of the earth at the base of the stockade. By Thursday evening +the broad trench with rounded bottom was completed from the swamp up the +dead line space to the north gate. + + + + + THE WOMANS RELIEF CORPS + + "Today beneath our Nation's flag, + The old red, white and blue, + A band of noble women work + With a purpose just and true; + To aid and succor those who fought + To save our honored land, + For home and freedom, God and right, + Those earnest women stand." + + +[Illustration: PROVIDENCE SPRING AND WOMEN OF THE RELIEF CORPS] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +UNSEALING OF THE SPRING. + + +On Friday morning an ominous stillness pervaded nature. By the middle of +the forenoon a dense, dark cloud was noticed in the southwest quarter of +the horizon, slowly creeping upward. It rose above the treetops majestic +and awful in appearance. A troop of small, scurrying, angry-looking clouds +seemed to form an advancing line to the vast mass of storm cloud. The +onward movement quickened, and soon the front of the mountain of +approaching cloud assumed a gray appearance, caused by the mighty downpour +of water which more nearly than anything else seemed a continuous +cloudburst. + +Crashes of thunder broke over our heads and flashes of lightning swished +around us as if the air was filled with short circuits. The awful moving +wall came towards us rapidly and we understood what was happening. + +As the mighty deluge swept through the clearing west of the prison, we +bowed our heads in preparation of submersion in the advancing waterspout. +When it came upon us the sensation was as if a million buckets of water +were being poured upon us at once. The air was so filled with the roaring, +hissing flood that we could not look up, but bent forward to protect our +faces, covering our nostrils with our hands to preserve a little breathing +space. + +Instantly rivulets of water poured down over our bodies as if a hose were +discharging its stream on our shoulders, and the surface of the filthy +ground was soon covered with a rush of muddy water. The swamp space as +quickly filled with great swirling eddies. The upper stockade served as a +dam across the creek, which in a few minutes became swollen into the +dimensions of a river. Driftwood bore down upon the stockade, causing it +to give way with a mighty crash. The heavy timbers were whirled across +the prison as if they were mere straws, and by the force of their impact +carried away the rear stockade. From the batteries solid shot was fired +over our heads to warn us that if we attempted to escape through the +opening in the wall we would be swept by the cannon. The roar of the guns +chimed harmoniously with the thundering of the storm. In the awful +suspense of such overwhelming conditions the progress of time could not be +measured. The downpour may have continued twenty minutes, perhaps half an +hour, or possibly longer. So great was its fury that we felt it must soon +end or it would end us. Fortunately, it ceased as suddenly as it came. +Looking up, we saw the great water wall retreating. The sun burst forth +with unwonted vigor and shone with brilliant effect upon the receding +rain. A dense fog arose from the drying garments of thirty-five thousand +human bodies and from the exhalations of surrounding surfaces. As the +heavy mist cleared away, the drenched and forlorn prisoners tried to be +merry. They viewed with complacency the breach in the walls of the +infamous pen and wished that every timber had been leveled to the earth. + +A witty comrade on the south hill of the prison, thinking to convey +desired information to the north side, shouted at the top of his voice, +"Water! Water!" Men on the north side, as by a common impulse, answered +back, and the two great companies in turn shouted the magic word, much as +the opposite hosts on Ebal and Gerazim alternately responded, "Amen." + +Immediately after this antiphonal outburst a voice was heard from the +north gate, ringing out in clear tones the thrilling words, "A spring! A +spring! A spring has broken out!" "Where, where?" was the eager inquiry +which arose at once from many lips. The writer tried to press his way +towards the north gate, but the crowd was so dense that no progress could +be made. The excitement of the moment was indescribable. During a lull +some one sang out, "You fellows over by the north gate, tell us, has a +spring broken out?" "Yes," was the reply, an emphatic "Yes." Then was +further shouted the explanation, "Where the trench was dug the flood has +torn up the earth and a spring has gushed out." + +As soon as opportunity afforded we pressed our way to the spot, and there, +just below the north gate, in the center of the space between the stockade +and the dead-line, at the point where the earth had been most deeply +excavated, the sloping surfaces had gathered the waters of the flood. The +bottom of the trench was torn up some twenty inches, uncovering the vent +of a spring of purest crystal water, which shot up into the air in a +column and, falling in a fanlike spray, went babbling down the grade into +the noxious brook. Looking across the dead-line, we beheld with wondering +eyes and grateful hearts the fountain spring. + +But our relief was not yet realized; the question which now concerned us +was how to bring its cooling waters within reach of our lips. In the +afternoon and evening of that eventful Friday we prayed that God would so +turn the heart of Capt. Wirtz that he would allow the precious water to be +conveyed within our lines. We waited in suspense for the answer, and on +Saturday morning, to our delight, we saw the quartermaster again enter the +gate with a gang of slaves, bringing fence boards, hammers, nails, axes +and stakes. A double row of the latter was driven, so that the direction +crossed the dead-line at a slight angle down the hill. A strip was nailed +across each pair of stakes, and in the aperture rested a trough made of +two fence boards nailed together. At the lower end of this chute in an +excavation was set a sugar hogshead, around which clay was tamped so as to +aid in making it watertight. When all was ready the upper end of the chute +was thrust under the falling column of water, which swiftly ran down and +filled to overflowing the large barrel. From this the men by crowds dipped +freely of the refreshing, life-giving water. + +Laughter, songs and thanksgiving abounded. Thus was wrought before our +eyes a gracious work of Providence which to many of us was quite as +wonderful and quite as manifestly the work of the All-Father as was the +smitten rock in the Palestine desert from which the thirst of the fainting +hosts of Israel was slacked in their desert wanderings. + +[Illustration: Stockade bursted by a flood which opened the wonderful +"Providence Spring"] + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WAS IT A MIRACLE? + + +A profound conviction has been cherished by many that the unsealing of +Providence Spring was as marked an interposition of the hand of the +Almighty as that recorded in the Book of Numbers where it is said, "And +Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice; and water +came forth abundantly and the congregation drank." Num. 20:11. + +Are they wrong in this conviction? The unwontedness of the incident admits +of no dispute. In such a sober work as Rhodes History of the United +States, we have the statement, "After a severe storm a spring broke out +within the enclosure (Andersonville stockade) and this became one of the +main reliances for drinking water." Vol. V., p. 492. + +An eye witness records: "About the first of August showers fell that beat +anything I ever saw. There was one good result, for where the stockade was +washed away on the north side, it opened a spring of pure water, enough to +supply nearly the whole of the prison." (The narrative of Amos E. Stearns, +Co. A, 25th Regiment, Mass. Published by Franklin Pierce, 1887.) + +While comparatively few of the prisoners knew of the days of prayer that +preceded the storm, every one recognized that something out of the +ordinary course of events had happened; and that a new spirit pervaded the +camp. Before this, no one would give a dying man a drink, for water was +scarce, and the scurvy in the recipient's mouth might contaminate the cup +for its owner. And indeed, not many had the strength to wait upon others. +But now the dull, sombre, despairing mood was changed. The little stream +of pure water, contrasted with the former slough that supplied us, +murmured sweetly down through the night, and during the day it +over-brimmed thousands of cups that eager hands reached forth. + +In after days many of these men were gathered at Camp Chase, Ohio, and +there detained until improved health rendered them presentable for return +home. + +We recall that when in the chapel of that place a Capt. Allen conducted +evening religious services, hundreds of testimonies were given to the +effect that the breaking out of the spring at Andersonville was a distinct +answer to prayer and a convincing fact of the reality of help coming from +above. Many of the speakers declared that their Christian faith began from +that occurrence. + +Questions such as the following naturally arise: Was Providence Spring a +miracle? Would the saving relief have been withheld if prayer had not been +offered? + +The situation is not more difficult of analysis than is that described in +the story of Queen Esther where is exhibited the interplay of natural and +supernatural elements in human activity and Divine over-ruling. The +northern section of the Andersonville inclosure was mainly a bank of clay, +as evidenced by the many wells which were partially sunk, but filled, by +order of Capt. Wirtz, because tunnels therefrom were dug for escape. The +vein of water which issued in Providence Spring doubtless flowed from time +immemorial, and being unable to work upward through a too great overpress +of clay, had found a lower seam through which it seeped into the depths of +the swamp below. This implied fact was learned as follows: As the prison +administration was unable to cook meal and bacon for the increasing +thousands of men, these articles were issued raw for two weeks alternately +to the north and south sides of the enclosure. + +A distressingly small lot of wood must suffice a detachment of two hundred +and seventy men for three days. Often the individual portion would not +make a fire that would scald, much less cook, the scant portion of +cornmeal, which was sometimes coarse and unbolted. It was said that more +than ten thousand cases of bloody dysentery prevailed at one time; +aggravated by irritation to stomach and intestines from the practically +uncooked food. The awful unsanitary conditions which prevailed can be +described, but respect for the sensibilities of the reader forbids. +Suffice it to say that the need for fuel was urgent, that a number of the +stronger captives would lay aside their tattered remnants of clothing, +wade into the slimy muck of the swamp, and, sinking to their armpits, +would pull up fragments of wood that had long been submerged. This was +mostly pitch pine and when broken up would quickly burn. The work of +exhuming fuel under such repulsive conditions was chiefly done at night. + +It was noticed that in the morning the partially remaining foot-prints and +depression, from which the stick had been drawn, were filled with clear +water. This fact was a mystery until after the spring was opened; then the +conclusion was reached that the spring water followed a deep seam in the +clay and oozed into the swamp some distance below the surface and rose up +through the openings made by the wood-diggers. + +Therefore Providence Spring was not especially created to order. Like +Topsy, it had "allus" been. The providential aspects of the case may be +thus stated; the spring existed, but was unknown. It was located under the +space between the dead-line and the stockade, through which digging for a +well was not permitted; it therefore remained undiscovered. The +out-of-plumb position of the stockade timbers had existed for a long time, +but was not noticed by the officials until the time when prayer began to +be offered for water. As the petitions of Esther and Mordecai, unknown to +the King, in a manner unseen affected his action, so by analogy, the +prayer of Sergeant Shepard and his colleagues influenced the state of mind +of the quartermaster and of Commandant Wirtz and they were moved to the +repairing of the stockade which had long been neglected. + +This decision led to the forming of a broad trench by digging away the +ground to afford the needed watershed from the base of the stockade. + +Thus a channel was formed which gathered the storm-water with force +sufficient to tear away the ground over the spring and release the +life-giving fountain. The slaves removed quite a depth of the earth +directly over the unknown reservoir; thus the deepest part of the trench +was brought so near the spring that the rush of the storm-flow could do +the rest. + +The spring water was uncovered and its pressure was sufficient to throw it +into the air. However, as it was located on the forbidden margin, any +prisoner reaching under or over the dead-line for a draught of the water +would be instantly shot by the sentinel posted overhead on the wall. + +Hence, after the spring was opened an object of much desire, and suitable +as a subject of prayer, was that the hardness of Capt. Wirtz would be +relaxed to the extent of allowing the prisoners to have access to the +water. This result was accomplished and the relief was complete. + +A recent writer commenting on the development of Providence Spring refers +to the marble fountain erected by the Ex-Prisoners of War Association +inside the granite pavilion built over the spring by the Woman's Relief +Corps, remarks, "The waters flow strong and sweet with a never-ceasing +stream into the marble basin. It is said to be the best water in all +Georgia; that which gushes forth from the side of the little hill in +Andersonville." Confirmatory to this statement is the following incident: + +In 1896, when the writer lectured in Warsaw, N. Y., on "Reminiscences of +Battle-fields and Prisons," a prominent war veteran of the town, who had +been a member of the staff of General Grant, showed him a bottle of water +from Providence Spring which nine years before had been hermetically +sealed by the Rev. G. Stanley Lathrop of Atlanta. So pure was the content +that no sediment existed. + +The further comment is: "The scientific fact of Providence Spring is that +in the August electrical storm the rocks (clay) which held back this +spring were cracked or broken open by a lightning bolt and the waters +gushed forth. No one ever believed that it was a sort of Moses +intervention for the prisoners, but it was undoubtedly looked upon in that +light by the poor, thirsty, half-starved prisoners." + +To which we reply that if we believe in prayer as an instrumentality by +which human and divine forces cooperate to a beneficent end, and the +result takes place, why should we question the efficacy of intercession? + +The fact that a number of believing men in the prison were engaged for +some days in protracted prayer for relief from water-famine was not +ostentatiously announced at the time, and was little noticed by the crowd. +Thus has it ever been with the origin of great spiritual movements. + +The relief came and a new spirit of hope and gladness, such as prevailing +prayer engenders, swept through the multitude. + +The scientific fact of a mightly rain storm being the visible agency of +completing the opening of Providence Spring fitly coordinates with the +moral force of prayer, as in numberless instances such convergence occurs +in history. Nevertheless, this explanation will probably be accepted or +challenged according to the personal experience of the reader in matters +of Christian faith. + +In the case of the smitten rock of the Palestine desert water doubtless +existed in an abundant, although unknown supply. The Almighty, by the +agency of Moses, brought it forth for the satisfying of a great multitude. + +The prophet was commanded to speak to the rock and it would give forth +water. The response could be from none other than the Creator of all +mountains and flowing streams. And although Moses went beyond the Divine +command, and struck with a rod instead of speaking with his voice, yet the +Divine goodness was not withheld, "and the water came abundantly." So at +Andersonville the sufficient, though unknown, supply was close at hand. +Human voices pleading for relief were answered by Him who spoke by the +wind, the lightning and the flood. + +It is said that the spiritual desires of our hearts are the reflection of +what God is waiting to do for us through our own co-operation. Surely +then, the prayers of the Andersonville prisoners for water were incited by +Him who saw their dire necessity, and who waited only for human hands to +aid in the release of the fountain of water which his Omnipotence had +created. + +During the subsequent years the writer has given the foregoing account in +lectures and conversations to his comrades of the Grand Army of the +Republic and to many others. Gentlemen of scientific and Christian +attainments have said that this explanation of the phenomenon of +Providence Spring is the most satisfactory of any that they have heard. + +The event here chronicled is commemorated by the erection on the spot of a +granite pavilion which is appropriately named "Providence Spring." The +inscriptions are as follows: + + This Fountain Erected by + THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF UNION + EX-PRISONERS OF WAR + In Memory of the 52,345 Comrades + who were confined here as prisoners of + war, and of + the 13,900 comrades buried in the + adjoining National Cemetery. + Dedicated Memorial Day, + May Thirteenth, Nineteen Hundred + and One. + + James Atwell, National Commander. + S. M. Long, Adjt. Gen'l. + J. D. Walker, Cham. Ex. Committee. + +A reverse tablet bears the words: + + This Pavilion Was Erected by the + WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS + Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the + Republic + In grateful memory of the men who + suffered and died in the + Confederate Prison at Andersonville, + Georgia, + From February, 1864, to April, 1865. + + "The prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven; + God heard, and with his thunder cleft the earth + And poured his sweetest waters gushing here." + + "Erected 1901." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +DELIVERANCE. + + +[3]At a point on the Cape Fear river, about ten miles from Wilmington, N. +C., a trainload of old Andersonville prisoners who had been confined also +at Florence, S. C., and Salisbury, N. C., were delivered to General Terry. +They had just been paroled at Goldsboro, and were received by him about +the middle of March, 1865. His headquarters was at a point on the Cape +Fear river and recently taken from the enemy. It was now held by the Third +New Hampshire, Sixteenth New York heavy artillery, and by a division of +colored troops. + +The freight cars halted in a pine forest about a mile from this position, +which commanded a pontoon bridge. A squad of cavalry received the +ex-prisoners, unfurling the Stars and Stripes in greeting. Many of the +boys in blue wept, when they saw our plight. The released men tried to +hurrah, but were too weak to raise much of a shout. Three ambulances were +loaded with as many of the sick as could be taken on the first trip. + +At the farther end of the pontoon bridge the road led through a deep cut +in the bank up to the open space of the camp where guns pointed over the +river towards the forest through which the freight train had come from +Goldsboro with the paroled men. Spanning this cut was an arch constructed +of evergreen boughs and faced with the white cloth square of shelter +tent, upon which was spelled in letters made of evergreen sprigs, "THE +SIXTEENTH NEW YORK WELCOMES YOU HOME." + +The march of a mile from the railroad to the pontoon bridge greatly +exhausted the paroled prisoners. At first the excitement of once more +gazing upon the flag they loved, and being received by the advanced +squadron, stimulated them to walk with some show of vigor. + +But soon their eyes shone with the unwonted brightness of fatigue in +contrast with their pinched and grimy faces. Many sank by the wayside, to +be picked up by the ambulance when the same could return for them. + +The stronger ones worked up into the head of the column which crossed the +pontoon bridge and the advance files of men undertook to walk up through +the cut in the bank at the bridge end. But their feet sank in the sand and +they were too weak to go further. + +Meanwhile a company of colored soldiers were drawn up through the cut in +two ranks facing. Between these lines and under the arch our ambulance +passed; the horses tugging with might and main up the steep grade and +through the deep sand. The white officers and the black soldiers stood at +"Present Arms." The eyes of the soldiers opened and their teeth gleamed +with an aspect of astonishment, as they for the first time beheld seasoned +graduates from a course of experiences in war-prisons. The living wrecks +in the ambulances were still more pale and ghastly than were the stronger +ones following slowly on foot, and as the latter emerged from the woods on +to the floating bridge, the onlooking crowd of our men off duty began to +be stirred with a great excitement. + +As the ambulances lined up before headquarters, General Terry approached. +With him were the brigade surgeon and a representative of the United +States Christian Commission. The General looked upon us with tear-dimmed +eyes; and turning to the surgeon gave his pocket flask, saying, "Doctor, +for God's sake, help these poor fellows." + +This ambulance stopped on the crest of the hill, when the Christian +Commission man stepped to its side and said to the writer, "My boy, you +will get out here." Seeing I was too weak to rise from the seat, he said, +"Just lie across my shoulder." This I did and he carried me into a near-by +country church building which sheltered the sick until they could be +conveyed by boat to Wilmington. + +Meanwhile the straggling column of paroled prisoners had crossed the +bridge. An officer undertook to form them into ranks so as to march in +form under the arch and between the lines which stood at "Present arms." +Their feet sank in the soft sand of the cut, and after taking a few steps +they were utterly exhausted. The officer in charge thus addressed the two +lines: "Shoulder arms!" "Order arms!" "Stack arms!" "Break ranks and carry +these men up the hill!" With a mighty cheer the athletic colored soldiers +sprang forward and each picked up an emaciated, wilted prisoner, carried +him up the hill, and tenderly placed him on the ground. In due time, the +sick were taken by boat to the Wright House Hospital, Wilmington, and the +stronger ones were placed in a camp waiting transportation by steamer to +the north. + +In the winter of 1875-76, the partially regained health of the writer +collapsed, and he was advised to consult his former regimental surgeon, +Dr. Wells B. Fox. The Doctor said, "You may live a good while, and you may +not. Prepare to leave your family in as good shape as possible. If you +have unsettled accounts fix them up." + +Pursuant to this advice, and needing the benefit of a climate warmer than +a Michigan winter, he went to Washington to close up some army matters. +Here he was received very kindly by Surgeon General Barnes, and by him +ordered to have a thorough examination by experts of the medical +department. The diagnosis was more favorable than was deemed possible, and +its correctness has been verified by the subsequent years. + +On the journey from Cheboygan to Washington, a stop was made at +Greenville. With his host, a call was made on the Rev. James L. Patton, +pastor of the Congregational Church of that place. As the evening passed, +conversation turned to army happenings. After reciting some experiences in +the service of the United States Christian Commission, with an aroused +manner, Dr. Patton said, "I must tell you of an occasion that I shall +never forget. I was in the Christian Commission service outside +Wilmington, North Carolina, near the close of the war, with General Terry, +when he received the first installment of old Andersonville prisoners as +they were sent into our lines. Terry was all broken up over their +condition." "Could the prisoners walk?" asked the writer. "Yes," he +replied; "some of them could, but many had to be brought in on +ambulances." He was asked, "Where did you put those who were sick?" "We +laid them on the floor of a little church that was close by," Dr. Patton +replied. Extending his hand the writer said, "Dr. Patton, thank you." +"Why, why," he replied hesitatingly, "you need not thank me for the +story; it is true and you are welcome to it." "Yes," was the response, "I +have no doubt the story is true. I do not thank you for it, but for +helping me out of the ambulance at that time." Need it be said that these +two men found themselves comrades, indeed? + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AN INCIDENT BY THE WAY. + + +A steamboat on the northeast branch of the Cape Fear river carried our +paroled men from the station held by General Terry to the city of +Wilmington. + +One of the principal mansions was owned by a Dr. Wright who had fled with +his family on the approach of the Union troops. His fine residence was +converted into a hospital for the arrivals who were sick. + +During the ride from Goldsboro on top of a freight car, the writer was +taken ill and was barely able to walk the steamer plank at the point of +transfer. After resting in the little country church he was taken to the +Wright House Hospital and assigned a straw bed on the floor of a room in +the third story. Soldier nurses proceeded to take off his infested prison +rags and to give him a sponge rub. He fainted under the process and had a +run of fever during which he was delirious. + +When the point of death was apparently reached his vitality took a turn +for the better and he rapidly improved. + +On the floor of his room were twelve narrow straw beds having a succession +of occupants who, with a few exceptions, were soon transferred to their +final resting places. + +Many of the ex-prisoners having died from the effects of the too early use +of solid food, the physicians became extremely cautious and limited the +sick to small quantities of the most simple preparations. + +During the writer's convalescence, his ravenous hunger was unsatisfied by +the slender allowance. It happened that his bed ended up to a window, and +his favorite occupation was to sit on his pillow and watch the proceedings +in the yard below. Here was a servant's cottage occupied by two colored +women who evidently had excused themselves from flight with their master. +The older one moved about with quiet dignity and doubtless had been the +"mamma" of the family. With evident pleasure she watched the new life and +movement around her, and held in restraint her young and vivacious +companion. + +In the yard soldier cooks prepared in large kettles great quantities of +beef soup, which was ladled into pails, carried to the kitchen and served +to the patients throughout the building. + +A young artilleryman from Olean, New York, lay on a straw pallet alongside +that of the writer. The one was called "Olean" and the other "Michigan." +From his post of observation at the window the latter, one morning, +watched the handling of the soup below with an interest that could not be +concealed. "Say, Michigan, what are you looking at?" inquired Olean. "I am +looking at them pouring out the soup," was the reply, "and say, Olean, I +wish I could have a good smell of it." + +"_Smell_ of the soup," said Olean contemptuously; "if I was a wishing I'd +wish I _had_ some and not just a smell." Upon this sagacious remark, a +number of the occupants of the other beds passed the wink or laugh with a +feeble, hacking sound; their pinched faces brightening with a sense of +mirth. + +The practical wisdom of the suggestion was not lost upon "Michigan," who +said, "If I was a little stronger I would take my cup, go down the stairs +and into the yard and I would say, 'Boys, I'm awfully hungry; please give +me some soup.'" Ah-ah-ah, laughed "Olean." "Say, Michigan, I'll bet you +five cents you can't walk the length of your bed and touch the door knob." +Upon this challenge, the other patients from their pillows exchanged +glances, several braced up on the elbow and discussed the possibility of +one of their number leaving his room without permission to forage for +refreshments. The concensus of opinion was that he could not succeed. + +"Who are you talking to?" vigorously responded "Michigan." "You think I +can't do it; I'll show you what I can do." Grasping the projecting window +moulding he helped himself to his feet, carefully balancing his trembling +steps along the narrow space between the beds on the floor, and +triumphantly grasping the knob of the door exclaimed, "There now, Olean; +I've done it; I've done it. Where is your five cents?" "Oh, I haven't any +five cents," replied Olean, "but say, Michigan, you would look mighty fine +going down those stairs, wouldn't you?" + +Thereupon the observing comrades laughed in great glee; in weakness, like +little children, a very trifling incident amused them; they nodded their +heads at each other and exchanged approving glances. + +Our regulation costume was a gray army shirt, drawers of like material, +and a pair of socks. Thus appareled "Michigan" opened the door into the +hall, peered over the railing down the two flights of stairs and, seeing +the coast clear, worked along to the newel post and carefully lowered +himself one or two steps. + +Thinking discretion might be the better part of valor, he tested his +strength for the return by trying to retrace the steps down which he had +come. He was quite unable to lift himself on the rising, so must needs +continue down the two flights, resting his weight on the rail. Dizzy and +breathless he stood by the stair post on the main floor. At this juncture +the hospital steward suddenly entered and was amazed to find a very weak +patient in a state of migration. "What are you doing here?" he hurriedly +and angrily asked. "What room do you belong to and who said you might +leave it?" "Oh, I'm just taking a little exercise," was the reply. The +steward rang for an attendant, and with an oath said, "No more of this; I +will order a man to help you to your room and there you stay." + +But no helper appeared, so our hero summoned all his determination and +walked through the hall to the back porch. Here a stack of plain coffins +greeted his view; and he fancied that one of them belonged to him. Going +down the veranda steps he held to the rail and coming into the full rays +of the sun turned faint and for a few minutes was helpless. Again, he +summoned all the powers of his will and started down the gravel walk +towards the servant's cottage. + +Reaching the porch of the same, he sank exhausted on the steps with head +resting against the corner post. Just then the old "mamma" came out of her +room and caught sight of the wasted form and pale face of the would-be +soup hunter. Gazing pityingly upon his emaciation, and speaking to her +assistant, she exclaimed, "Dinah, Dinah, come yeah, come yeah; look at dat +ar' po' white chile; he bleached so white as linen!" + +Then addressing him, she said, "Wah yo' come from? Wah yo' come from?" +"Oh, auntie," he gasped, "I came out of the hospital to get some soup and +I can't get any further. Auntie, give me something to eat; I'm awfully +hungry!" "Dinah, Dinah," she said. "Go to the cupboard and git a big slice +ob de co'n pone; jes slip it undah you aprun and bring it yeah to me." +Passing the generous slice under her own apron, the old mammy stood by the +veranda post, looking the meanwhile intently at a distant object as if +oblivious to all near concerns. + +Thus she partially screened the invalid from observation, and reaching the +portion down to his hand, tenderly said, "Dar now, honey, yo eat dat +bread." No second invitation to indulge his famished appetite was needed. +The slice of "co'n pone" speedily disappeared. Strange to say, no +inconvenience resulted. The food aroused the dormant vitality and the +young fellow eagerly exclaimed, "Auntie, Auntie, that was so good. Give me +some more." "No, honey," she said decisively, "de doctah see me do dis +yah, I done go, suah." Then the invalid began to cry hysterically. The +sympathy of the kind old heart was still further aroused and, spreading +her great hand on his head, she said softly, "Po chile, po chile, he want +ta see he muddah." + +"Mother, Mother!" How that word stirred his heart and aroused his memory +so weakened by suffering. Physical vigor from the dark hand upon his head +was surcharged with vitality that probably stimulated the depleted +personality. + +Again the young man asked, "Aunty, aunty, give me some more," and again +came the reply, "No, honey, de doctah see me do dis, he send me off for +suah." Meanwhile "Olean" was pressing his face against the third-story +window to see how "Michigan" was prospering in his quest for soup. + +A soldier nurse approached the cottage and "aunty," who seemed to be on +good terms with all, interceded for her guest. "Dis ya chile done cum down +fo a wok; he done tiad out, yo' help him back, won't yo', massa?" And he +did. + +[Illustration: "Dinah, Dinah, look at dat ar po' white chile; he bleached +so white as linen."] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +A SEQUEL. + + +At the age of thirteen, the writer attended a series of religious meetings +and became profoundly convicted of his obligation to accept Jesus Christ +as his personal Savior. Lack of moral courage held him back from an open +confession. He compromised by secretly pledging to become a Christian +after he had entered upon his chosen profession of law. Thereupon his +convictions ceased and the matter was forgotten. + +Now, in his illness in Andersonville prison, answer to prayer, as +evidenced in the instance of Providence Spring, turned his attention to +his own moral necessities. Well might this introspection occur; for, in +this month of August, 1864, his prospects of surviving the surrounding +conditions were swiftly diminishing. Blood poisoning, in the form of +scurvy, had settled in his face. He tottered from weakness. His long days +and weary nights were spent on his blanket, spread on the ground, just +within the little shelter tent that was wedged in among others. When eyes +were closed to awful sights, the ears must listen to dreadful sounds. As +vitality was ebbing away, and the things of time and sense were +withdrawing, the realities of eternity seemed to come to the front. Truly +it was time to "prepare to meet thy God." This must be done at once. The +reading of the little pocket testament began anew, and the thought was +awakened to pray for self; when suddenly there came to mind the forgotten +covenant of seven years ago, "I will be a Christian _after_ I become a +lawyer." + +The obvious conclusion was, "Taken on your own terms, as you cannot be a +lawyer, you cannot be a Christian." Total physical and mental weakness +could not cope with this mental suggestion. The reflections that followed +led to feelings of utter despair. Thus he soliloquized, "In the day of my +strength I said 'No' to God; now, in the hour of my weakness, he will not +hear me. He knows that from fear and not from sincerity I now seek to +pray. Hypocritical prayer will but add insult to injury. I must not pray." +These confused reasonings were largely due to an anemic brain and mental +temptation. The weakened mind accepted a lie in place of the invigorating +truth that "now is the day of salvation." Eternity seemed to open its +portals to a realm of darkness into which the soul was being forced by the +stress of its own past decision, while high over these gates enthroned in +light appeared the radiant form of the Son of God. While this Personage +seemed unspeakably lovely and "chief among ten thousand," the soliloquizer +said, "He has been denied, he is lost to me." These cogitations filled the +waking and sleeping hours of several nights. With a sense of woe +unutterable the decision of doom was accepted. The sensations of a lost +soul seemed to be real. Words are entirely inadequate to express the sense +of eternal, irremediable loss by which the heart was oppressed. This +exhaustive strain could not long continue. The evening of a day of +unusually oppressive heat presaged the end. Vividly the thought stood +before the mind, "This is my last night on earth." To the comrade who was +blanket-mate the home address was given and a whispered good-bye. This was +the fully accepted close of life. + +Sinking into an unrestful slumber, the small hours of the morning arrived, +and a forgotten incident of the long ago was revived in a dream. The scene +in vision occurred on a beautiful Sunday morning of spring, eleven years +before. The location was a village on the old Ridge road in Niagara +county, New York. The region was, and is, noted for its orchards of +deciduous fruits. On this date the blossoms were out in full. Banks of +pink and white embosomed the homesteads that lined the historic highway; +sweet odors filled the air, and bevies of bees with droning song were +industriously gathering the abundant nectar. Nothing could surpass the +beauty of that quiet Lord's Day morning as the family, consisting of +father, mother, older sister and younger brother, with the lad, wended its +way to the brick church of the village. They habitually passed, on the +outskirts of the same, the stone house of Col. N----, whose daughter's +husband was absent in the West. + +The good lady taught in the Sunday school a class of boys who were from +seven to ten years of age, and although they were possessed of +irrepressible juvenile energy, and occasionally, to her distress, seemed +to be irreverent; yet they regarded her with sincere respect and gave +willing obedience. + +On the Saturday night, preceding this Sunday morning, a great burden of +solicitude for the safety of her husband was suddenly pressed in upon her +mind. To her imagination he seemed to be in extreme peril; perhaps he was +unattended; he might be alone and facing a speedy and fatal termination. +Possessing a strong faith in God, and believing his readiness to hear and +answer prayer, at midnight she aroused from her bed and engaged in an +irrepressible travail of soul for the far-away loved one. For several +hours the burden of intercession continued. With the coming of the Sunday +morning dawn, the light which made all nature bright and beautiful was +suddenly duplicated in her heart. All at once the burden lifted. +Instantaneously her being was filled with the sweet assurance that all was +well with her husband; that whatever was his danger he was being saved +therefrom. A tender gratitude possessed her heart. A sense of union with +the mighty Jehovah suffused her being with a consciousness of strength and +resource. Like Deborah of old a song of triumph arose in her soul. + +As the time of going to church approached, the above mentioned family came +along, and, as was their custom, the teacher and her son, who was about +the age of the writer, joined them on the way to the sanctuary. As the +others were conversing by the way, the two boys ran on ahead and the one, +having observed on the face of his teacher the marks of suffering, said to +his chum, "Newton, what is the matter with your mamma?" + +"O, Johnny," was the reply; "My mamma has been feeling awful bad about my +papa. I guess she thinks he is going to die, for in the night I heard her +talking and talking to God about saving him and making him well. Say, +Johnny, if God don't do what mamma asks I won't have any papa, will I?" + +With their hands joined in a common sympathy, and with mutual tears, the +two lads sorrowed for a brief moment. But what parental anxiety could hold +their abounding life from immediate sympathy with nature smiling all +around? By the time the church was reached and cheery salutations had been +exchanged with arriving classmates, all impressions of grief were +forgotten. + +The teacher, in a mood of chastened gladness and confidence, listened to +the sermon which the venerable pastor extended to an unusual length. This +delay absorbed the brief period of time usually given to an intermission, +during which the intermediates might straighten out the kinks which +seemed to form in their lithe limbs while perched on cushioned seats so +high that their feet dangled short of the carpet. + +The good superintendent, whose gracious face and form are remembered as +but of yesterday, called the school to order immediately after the +benediction was pronounced. "We are late," he said, "and cannot have +intermission today; classes take their places at once." + +These irrepressible youngsters combined the movement of filing into the +pew with motions not included in the regular order. One punched another. +The lad who had recently shared the mental distress of his mother now +inserted a bent pin under the descending form of his companion; resulting +in a response that did not improve the discipline of the occasion. The +boisterous impulse seized the entire class to the annoyance and +discomfiture of the teacher, who was seated at their front in the +adjoining pew. Several reproving glances directed towards the young +insurgents quieted them during the opening exercises. + +After the vigil of prayer during much of the preceding night and the +answer of peace that had been given, we can readily understand the state +of mind which now possessed the teacher. The transient, sportive disorder +of the little boys was but a harmless ripple on the surface of her +thought. Her soul was in a continued attitude of prayer. Her victory in +intercession made easy a renewal of request at the throne of grace. Not +only her mother-heart but her Christian love yearned over the lads that +were committed to her care. Not the surface question of behavior, but the +issue of their conversion to Jesus Christ took possession of her mind. She +thought to herself, "Why not now? Why not now?" Attracting the attention +of the lads by tapping on the pew-top with her ivory-mounted fan, with +countenance expressing unwonted strength, she said, "My boys, I want you +to now be perfectly quiet, and to bow your heads and close your eyes +while I pray for you." + +The spirit of quiet firmness which accompanied these words, the +outreaching of her soul as in the interceding exercise of the previous +night, profoundly impressed the lads. Instantly and willingly, they took +the attitude of reverence; motionless they listened to the tender voice +that pleaded in words like these: "O Lord, my heavenly Father, I ask Thee +to help my little boys to give their hearts to Thee. Wilt Thou not, by the +sacrifice of thy dear Son, cleanse their hearts from sin. Wilt Thou give +to them a new heart, a clean heart? Bestow upon them freely of Thy Holy +Spirit, and help them to live always for Thee. Amen." + +Although eleven years had passed away, and the immature experiences of +boyhood had been replaced by the opening realities of manhood, the events +above described formed the subject-matter of the dream on that memorable +night in Andersonville. The panorama of what was largely forgotten +unfolded before the mind in what was supposed to be the sleep of +approaching death. These renewed impressions were so vivid that at the +instant of awaking the reality seemed to be with the old-time home; the +dream was the being in the prison pen. + +But a few moments of consciousness were required for the recognition of +the actual circumstances of the present time and place. + +But, within, all was changed. In the place of despair an inspiring hope +was in the ascendant. The forms and voices of loved ones had been seen and +heard. The intercession of the teacher for her little boys had restored +the right to pray. While yet in much physical weakness the day was mostly +passed in silent prayer. + +During the second night a lessened impression of the dream was repeated. +By the second morning all the processes of thought were restored to the +normal condition. The mind and will were able to adopt the irreversible +determination to henceforth implicitly trust in the living God and to +live the life of faith and prayer. And up to the present hour that +determination has sought to be unfalteringly kept. + +[Illustration: The Beloved Teacher in After Years.] + + + + +"The mystic chord of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot +grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will +yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will +be, by better angels of our nature."--Abraham Lincoln, Inaugural Address, +March 4, 1861. + + + + +APPENDIX A. + +CONTRIBUTORY TESTIMONY. + + +Many narratives of experiences in the military prisons maintained by the +government of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War have +been written by Union officers and soldiers confined therein. With minor +differences of statement arising from personal diversities these +testimonies as a whole establish the fact of unprecedented suffering and +mortality. + +Since the close of the Civil War our government has unstintedly employed +ability and money in compiling and publishing an exhaustive exhibit of the +Union and Confederate records. These statistics and memoranda afford to +the later historian abundant and reliable data, and upon his calm verdict +we may rely for the substantial truth. + + The holding of prisoners during our civil war was a matter of large + concern. The number of Union soldiers captured was 211,411; paroled + on the field, 16,669; died in captivity, 30,218. These last figures + are defective. Of twelve Confederate prisons the "death registers" of + five are only partial and thousands of the emaciated men passed away + soon after release. + + The number of Confederate soldiers captured was 462,635; paroled on + the field 257,769; died in captivity 25,976. The percentage of deaths + among the imprisoned Confederates, it will be seen, was far less than + among the Union prisoners. + + The number of enlistments in the Union army was 2,898,304; in the + Confederate army from 1,239,000 to 1,400,000. The estimated cost of + war to the North was $5,000,000,000, and to the South $3,000,000,000. + +(The above figures are taken from a "History of the United States," by +James Ford Rhodes, LL.D., Litt.D., who quotes from General F. C. +Ainsworth, Chief of the Record and Pension Office.) + + + + +"We raise our father's banner that it may bring back better blessings than +those of old; ... that it may say to the sword, 'Return to thy sheath,' +and to the plow and sickle, 'Go forth.' That it may heal all jealousies, +unite all policies, inspire a new national life, com-pact our strength, +ennoble our national ambitions, and make this people great and strong, not +for aggression and quarrelsomeness, but for the peace of the world, giving +to us the glorious prerogative of leading all nations to juster laws, to +more humane policies, to sincerer friendship, to rational, instituted +civil liberty, and to universal Christian brotherhood."--Address of H. W. +Beecher at Fort Sumpter flag raising, April 15, 1865. + + + + +APPENDIX B. + +RESPONSIBILITY FOR PRISON TREATMENT. + + +It is difficult, even after the lapse of years not a few, to consider +dispassionately the treatment accorded by the Confederacy to her +prisoners. War had fanned to a flame the fire of sectional animosity, and +a spirit of retaliation was awakened. It is true the South was +comparatively a poor country, and the hand of war had stripped her bare. +The mighty armies of both sides carried on their vast operations on +southern soil; the one as an army of defense, the other as an army of +invasion. + +In the movements of strategy and battle, many combatants were taken +prisoners; these were sent to the rear for safe keeping and maintenance. +With practically unlimited resources this additional burden was scarcely +felt at the North. + +At the South, the case was different. The extended territory occupied by +the armies was practically unproductive for the people. It was, therefore, +inevitable that the prisoners of war share the general limitation. As +their numbers increased, it was necessary that they be conveyed to +localities beyond the reach of rescue. Their increasing hosts could not +wait upon the size of the stockades built for their confinement, and the +limited forces that could be spared for their safe keeping must in some +way hold them closely in hand. + +Moreover, unfriendly prejudices were increasing by the very fact of +invasion, and as the North was held responsible for the war, the prisoners +were the object of bitter hatred. In numerous minor particulars, such as +ample supply of water, of shelter and of food and fuel, the obligations of +the southern military authorities were criminally negligent; yet many of +the features of the prison circumstances were probably unavoidable. + +The situation in the South is summed up in the following extract from "A +History of the American People," by Woodrow Wilson, Ph.D., Litt.D., Vol. +IV, pp. 306, 307: + + "One of the most distressing evidences of the straits to which the + South had been brought was seen in the state of the prisons in which + she was forced to keep the thousands of prisoners who fell into the + hands of her armies. + + "More than two hundred thousand, first and last, were taken, and only + some sixteen thousand of these were paroled upon the field.... + + "Not until the war seemed turning toward its end could an exchange of + prisoners be arranged. The Federal authorities knew their superiority + in fighting population and did not care to lose by returning fighting + men to the South. If her soldiers died in Southern prisons, they were + dying for their country there, General Grant said, as truly as if they + lost their lives in battle. + + "In the south men could not be spared from the field to guard the + prisons; there were not guards enough; there was not food enough; and + many thousands were crowded together under a handful of men. + + "Proper sanitary precautions were, in the circumstances, impossible. + The armies themselves lacked food and went without every comfort, and + the prisoners could fare no better--inevitably fared worse, because + they were penned within a narrow space and lacked the free air of the + camp. A subtle demoralization touched the government of the + Confederacy itself as the war went its desperate course, and those who + kept the prisons felt that demoralization with the rest." + +One recollection has burned itself into memory. At Andersonville there was +a standing offer of immediate release to any prisoner of average strength +who would take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and engage in +non-combatant service. Officers who entered the prison with these +proposals were shunned by our men. I recall a recently naturalized Federal +prisoner who thus enlisted. When he re-entered the prison in Confederate +uniform as a recruiting officer, his reception was such that he fled to +the gate for his life; shouting to the guard to protect him. For flag and +country our boys could uncomplainingly die a lingering death, but they +could not turn traitor. + + + + +APPENDIX C. + +WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS MEMORIAL. + + +Among the heroisms of the great Civil War none surpassed the +self-sacrificing devotion manifested by the women of the North and of the +South. The latter are represented by an organization known as "The +Daughters of the Confederacy," within whose associations are kept alive +ardent memories of heroic days. + +The former have wrought enduring deeds of patriotism and of mercy, chiefly +in co-operation with the Grand Army of the Republic. The work of the +Woman's Relief Corps in securing and improving the Andersonville prison +grounds constitutes an imperishable memorial to their patriotic devotion. + +To the energy and executive ability of Mrs. Lizabeth A. Turner, Chairman +of the Andersonville Prison Board, is due in large measure the complete +success attending the movement to gain possession of and to beautify the +site and surroundings of the historic Andersonville prison. + +The following letter written two years before the decease of Mrs. Turner +explains in her own vigorous expressions how these great results were +secured: + +"Woman's Headquarters Relief Corps, (Auxiliary to the Grand Army of the +Republic.) 46 Camp Street, New Britain, Conn., October 14, 1905." + +"Rev. John L. Maile. + +Dear Comrade: Some fifteen years ago the Department of Georgia, G. A. R., +considered the idea of buying the Andersonville prison pen and holding it +in memory of the men who there died for the preservation of the Union. + +The committee bought all the land the owners would release and hoped to +raise through the Northern posts and their friends a permanent fund for +the care of the grounds. + +The plan proved a failure. The G. A. R. in the South is very poor. Its +members are mostly colored men who are able to make little more than +their living. + +On the property was a mortgage of about $750, which was paid by the +Woman's Relief Corps, but money for the care of the place was lacking. The +grounds were then offered to the United States Government on the condition +of providing perpetual care. As Andersonville is not a battlefield, the +authorities declined the proposition. + +On two occasions a like proposal was made to the National G. A. R. +Encampment, but these veterans decided that the time is not far distant +when they can care only for themselves. + +With better success the responsibility was tendered to the Woman's Relief +Corps, which felt that if there is a place on God's earth that should be +held sacred, it is that prison pen. The officials accepted the obligation, +trusting to woman's patriotism for support and care, and they have not +trusted in vain. + +The adage that "God helps those who help themselves" has been true in our +case. When we accepted the sacred trust and looked the ground over, I +found a large corner of the original pen and three forts we did not own. +We bought the extra grounds and the forts, paying for them several hundred +dollars more than they were worth. We ventured for all or nothing--and +_all_ it was. + +This occurred in 1895, and in that year I was elected President of the W. +R. C. At the convention we raised by personal contributions $700 as a +beginning. + +During several years each member was asked to give from three to five +cents; some responding, others refusing. Now all bills are paid from the +general fund of the National organization. + +We own eighty-eight and one-half acres of land, including the seven forts; +all the earthworks and rifle pits; also the wells dug by the men in trying +to reach water. These are in as perfect condition as when the war closed. + +Not a well has caved in or a fort changed in shape. That hard, red clay +seems as unyielding as stone. + +The grounds are inclosed with a high wire fence and suitable gates. Roads +are laid out and bridges built over the creek. Bermuda grass roots planted +on the north side will make an even lawn. + +Grass seed for a sward will not germinate in that soil. We have built over +Providence Spring a stone pavilion, also a nine-room house, well +furnished, and after the northern home pattern. + +We also have a barn, a henyard, a good mule and all kinds of work tools +for such a place. + +We engage an old veteran and his wife as caretakers. From a pole 116 feet +high floats in the air every day the flag those heroes died to save. At +our last convention we voted to build a windmill the coming winter. + +Last fall we set out 300 roses and this autumn will add 200 more. We have +also set out 150 four-year-old pecan trees that are from 10 to 15 feet +high. They do finely in that soil and when from ten to twelve years old +will bear a paying crop. A freeze does not affect them and they are +marketable without decaying. + +Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Michigan have put up beautiful +monuments in the prison pen. Wisconsin will have hers ready to dedicate on +next Memorial Day. + +Pennsylvania, Iowa and Maine have placed monuments in the cemetery. All +this has been done through the work of the W. R. C. + +While I believe the prison pen is the _only_ place for the monuments, I am +thankful to have any State remember their Andersonville men wherever they +think best. + +"Death Before Dishonor" is the motto on all the monuments within the +prison grounds. + +Last year we had markers put down on all the places of special interest; +also on the stockade and dead lines. Trees have grown up _through_ the +forts forty feet high and are more than two feet through. + +The W. R. C. has started a fund for the perpetual care of the Prison Pen +Park. We began last year and have already $3,000 in the fund. The yearly +income is to be added to the principal, and none to be used until the +proceeds are sufficient to support the place. + +We are to set aside annually _not less_ than $1,000 for the increase of +the fund, besides caring for current expenses. + +You will, I am sure, be much interested in the situation. I have been +Chairman of the Board from the beginning and hope to live long enough to +see sufficient money set aside to care for the place _forever_. + + Yours in F. C. and L., + LIZABETH A. TURNER, + + Chairman Andersonville Prison Board of Control." + +Mrs. Turner served as President of the Woman's Relief Corps, Auxiliary to +the Grand Army of the Republic, and was appointed by her compeers as Life +Chairman of the Andersonville Prison Board. Her death occurred at +Andersonville on April 27, 1907. + +A monument suitable to her memory, erected by the Woman's Relief Corps, +adorns the prison grounds for which she spared not her life to preserve +and beautify. + +From the Annual Address of Mrs. Fanny E. Minot, President of the Woman's +National Relief Corps, at the Twenty-third Annual Convention, 1905: + +"In March it was my privilege, in company with Mrs. Turner, Mrs. Winans +and Mrs. Kate E. Jones, to visit Prison Park at Andersonville. As I walked +through the grounds and read and pondered on the suffering there endured, +it seemed, indeed, a hallowed spot. Just beyond is the National Cemetery, +in whose broad trenches are interred more soldiers in one group than upon +any battlefield on the face of the globe. A whole army perished rather +than deny the country which gave them birth! The bravery of the men at +Thermopylae has been the theme of song and story; but they fought in the +shadows of their soul-inspiring mountains, while these men, removed from +the activities of war, the flash of arms, the long array of men eager for +the contest, dragged out a miserable existence till death came to their +relief. If ever men were loyal, true and brave, whose names should be +inscribed on honor's roll, it was these." + + "Who tasted death at every breath + And bravely met their martyrdom." + +"How fitting that the magic touch of woman should consecrate this prison +pen and make it a prison park! Only patient, persistent effort has made +the change possible; for the soil is unresponsive, and tangled vines and +underbrush had run riot for many years. But on this visit we found the +grounds suitably enclosed, the Bermuda grass taking root, the moats and +creek cleared of the vines and the conopy erected over that wonderful +Providence Spring. The house erected for the caretaker much exceeded my +expectations for comfort and convenience. Honeysuckles and roses clambered +over the porch, and the rose garden, planned by Mrs. Turner, gave promise +of beauty and fragrance where formerly had been barrenness and foul odors. +On these grounds Ohio has raised a beautiful granite shaft, Massachusetts +has placed a substantial monument near by, Rhode Island has honored her +dead in bronze and stone, and last Memorial Day the Governor of Michigan +came with friends to dedicate with appropriate ceremonies a monument to +the brave sons of that State. Wisconsin has selected a site near the spot +where some of her men encamped; and other States are planning to erect +monuments, but wish first to be assured that the park will have permanent +care." + + + PLANTING THE FLAG AT ANDERSONVILLE. + + BY MRS. ANNIE WITTENMYER. + + We lift up the banner of freedom today, + And let the world know that due honor we pay + To liberty's martyrs, who starved for the right, + And crown them with heroes who fell in the fight. + + Their chalice of woe was filled up to the brim; + They drank to the dregs with high courage and vim, + Nor faltered, nor wavered, but loyal and true, + Stood firm by their colors, the red, white and blue. + + The earth was their pillow, their covering the sky; + And thousands lay down on the bare ground to die; + No artist can paint, no pen tell the story + Of all they endured for love of "Old Glory." + + + The Lord, in compassion, took note of their grief, + And came, in His majesty, to their relief; + He rode on the wind, where swift lightnings played, + And hallowed the ground where the prisoners laid. + + They panted with thirst, ere the Presence passed by, + But flashes of glory lit up the dark sky; + A thunderbolt fell, with omnipotent ring, + And opened the fountain of Providence Spring. + + And peace came at last. Ah! for thousands too late; + We mourn, as a people, their pitiful fate, + And hold the ground sacred, our care and our pride, + And plant the flag over the place where they died. + + But the Nation is saved! They died not in vain; + Our people are all reunited again. + From ocean to ocean--the lakes to the sea-- + One country, one people, one flag of the free! + + + + +APPENDIX D. + +A MEMORIAL DAY MEDITATION. + + +By Rev. H. H. Proctor, D.D., of Atlanta, Ga., in The Congregationalist of +May 2, 1905. + +"The thirtieth of May is sacred to the nation. With its return the heart +of the country instinctively turns to those eighty-three national +cemeteries, mostly on Southern soil, where in 194,492 known and 151,710 +unknown graves lie 346,202 men who fell fighting for the flag. And in all +the land, fittingly enough, there are no spots more beautiful than these. +For their care and improvement the national government spends $100,000 a +year. + +The cemetery at Andersonville, Ga., gains additional interest in view of +the famous prison connected with it. Of these I wish to speak. No one can +spend a day there, as I did lately, without drinking deep of the patriotic +spirit. The very ground on which you stand seems holy, when you think how +brave men suffered and died there. The very air seems charged with their +spirit still. + +Some disappointment is felt when over one hundred miles south of Atlanta +you get off at a little station, with a few straggling houses here and +there. But in the distance, a mile away, the national flag waving +invitingly bids reassurance. At length you stand at the entrance of the +cemetery, entering through the strong iron gates of the thick ivy-covered +brick wall, 12,782 known and 923 unknown men are buried within. + +Many things at once interest you. Walks lead to every part of the grounds. +Trees, shrubbery and flowers enhance the natural beauty of the place. +Feathered songers of the South chant daily requiems. Each grave is marked +by a white marble headstone, on which is generally carved the number, +rank, name and state of the dead soldier. Here and there we read the sad +inscription, "Unknown." The white stones contrasting with the fine +greensward under the soft Southern sky make an impressive scene. This is +especially true in that part of the grounds where stands the splendid +monument of New Jersey, as shown by the accompanying illustration. + +In a convenient place there is located an octagonal rostrum, where every +Memorial Day gathers a large concourse of people to pay homage to the +sacred dead. After the exercises the most impressive act of all follows. +Each grave, officers or private, white or black, known or unknown, is +decorated with a miniature flag. And what a transformation! Instead of the +monotonous rows of bare white stone a field of flags, by the magic of +loving remembrance, appears! + +But as impressive as is this cemetery, more impressive still to me was the +prison. It is only a few rods away. Its notoriety is universal. Blaine, in +his memorable speech in Congress, immortalized its more than Siberian +horrors. + +Some of the posts of the old stockade fence, survivors of that dread +prison will be interested to know, still stand. There, within a space of +thirteen acres, 52,345 men, the very flower of the Republic, were kept in +a pen. For thirteen months they were exposed in that rude stockade to the +heat in summer and the cold in winter, to blistering sun and chilling +blasts. From cruelty and exposure, hunger and thirst, disease and dirt, +they died like sheep. Every fourth man died! + +The story of "Providence Spring" is universally familiar. It proves that +God is yet with men as of old. The water supply for these thousands in +that small space consisted of but one little brook which of course soon +became unspeakably foul. In their thirst they cried unto God for water. He +who hears the cry of the raven could not be dumb to the prayer of the +suffering soldier. It was night. Soon the sky was overcast with clouds, +the lightnings flashed, the thunders rolled, and a great rain came that +night. Next morning a fountain of living water sparkled in God's sunshine +near where the devout soldier had knelt in prayer the night before. + +In recognition of God's providential gift they christened it "Providence +Spring." Today a pavilion of stone, erected by the Woman's National Relief +Corps, commemorates the spot. Two significant utterances are carved on +marble tablets in the pavilion. On one we read these words: "The +prisoner's cry of thirst rang up to heaven. God heard and with his +thunders cleft the earth, and poured forth his sweetest waters gushing +here." Over the fountain, which has never ceased from that day to this, +carved in Georgia marble are the great words of that great man in whose +big soul the nation was born again: "With charity to all and malice toward +none." + +As I stood by this spot and looked up on the hill I felt a new love of +country stir within my heart. I could but say in my heart I would rather +be a plain American citizen, though black, than a knighted Roman under +Cæsar. + +As we think of that prison we are thankful for the cemetery. The prison +typifies suffering. The cemetery is the symbol of peace. Through that +gateway of suffering our martyrs entered into peace. How typical of the +nation! Through the crucible of suffering it entered into peace." + +[Illustration: FLAG DAY: ANDERSONVILLE CEMETERY] + +[Illustration: THE MICHIGAN MONUMENT IN ANDERSONVILLE CEMETERY] + + + + +APPENDIX E. + +SHALL THE GOVERNMENT CONFER PERMANENT HONORS ON CONFEDERATE HEROES? + + +The magnanimity which dictated the terms of surrender at Appomattox was +typical of the treatment extended by the Government of the United States +to its defeated opponents. Well might this be so. The sinews of strength +of the mighty North had through the four years of desperate conflict grown +strong indeed. + +A Confederate Major General declared that the veterans of General +Sherman's army, pushing their winter way through the swamps and rivers of +the South; foraging widely for subsistance and always ready to fight, +illustrated a type of soldier that the world had not seen since the days +of Julius Cæsar. + +The final parade of the Union army along Pennsylvania avenue before the +President, the Cabinet, prominent Generals and notables of other nations, +displayed a vast procession of seasoned veterans whose effectiveness had +never been surpassed. They were the choice, steel-tempered residue of more +than two millions of citizen soldiery who had enlisted to preserve the +union of States, "one and inseparable," against the folly of secession. + +In the plentitude of their invincible strength, nursing no lust of power, +they disbanded to peaceful homes from whence they came; subsiding from +their regnant military life as the mighty storm-waves of the ocean sink +away into pacific calm. + +Apart from wide-spread personal bereavement the North bore no serious +scars of war. The perfection of agricultural machinery enabled rich +harvests to be gathered in season notwithstanding the dearth of farm help +which had gone to the army. Factories of every kind were, with large +profits, turning out abundantly all sorts of goods. Our commerce with the +world was unhindered, save by the eccentric raids of the Alabama; the +muscle and brawn of an ample labor immigration supplied the manual force +necessary to national expansion; as illustrated in the building of the +trans-continental railroads. The huge war debt instead of being felt as an +incubus was but a process of turning into ready cash the prosperity of the +future. + +Contrast with this picture the condition of the Southern States at the +close of the four dreadful years. Within a goodly portion of her borders +the country was war-swept and harried by the consuming necessities of vast +armies of both friend and foe; for hungry men and beasts on the march and +in the fight must subsist largely upon the supplies which the foragers +gather from the adjacent regions. + +Manufacture, as compared with the North, was a neglected art south of +Mason's and Dixon's line. + +The most extensive and effective naval blockade of history hermetically +sealed nearly every Southern port, thereby hopelessly shutting in untold +wealth of cotton, the returns of which were otherwise available to every +need. + +No millions of stalwart immigrants reinforced Southern industry; on the +contrary her labor system and property tenure in human beings were +shattered in pieces. + +The flower of her masculine youth perished; the prestige of ruling +intelligence, culture and wealth was dethroned and, to crown her +afflictions although she knew it not, the South lost her best and most +powerful friend in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. + +Then followed the agonies of political reconstruction and the ignoble +invasion of carpet-bag adventurers who, in many instances, were valiant +only for pelf. + +Surviving this wide-spread chaos the South, for the most part, believed in +their lawful right of withdrawing from the Union. By many of their leading +minds this contention had been long held, and that conception of +government doubtless had filtered down through all classes of society so +far as thought was developed on the subject. + +The defense of State rights probably was a more powerful incentive to +civil war than was at first the purpose to defend slavery. + +The bravery of Southern soldiers has never been surpassed. The +self-sacrificing patriotism of Southern women reached the high-water mark. + +The vitality and moral force of Southern chivalry was distinguished even +in the remarkable loyalty of the slaves. + +If the foregoing briefly stated considerations form a truthful +presentation of the case, why, it may be asked, may not the National +Government expand the magninimity of President Lincoln and General Grant +by engaging with Congress to erect monuments and other memorials to heroes +of the army and navy of the Confederacy? The first step towards such +procedure has already been taken in the form of proposed legislation at +Washington. + +We would not imply that the most eminent leaders of the Southern forces +were personally unworthy of posthumos honor. + +On the contrary it is our privilege to bear testimony to the exalted +individual worth, the consecrated devotion to country as they understood +the duty, and the pre-eminent ability in action that characterized the +most noted leaders of the Confederacy. + +Nevertheless their relation to national history is determined, not by +individual excellencies, but by the fact that they rebelled against the +Government they were sworn to defend. To the utmost they did all they +could to dismember the Union of which they were an integral part, to +dishonor the flag that emblazoned the glory of a common origin and +history. + +In the interest of perpetuating a far-reaching sentiment of loyalty to +national life and well-being we would strenuously deny the moral right of +Congress to make appropriations for the erection of memorials that are +designed to crown Confederate valor with renown. If by private +subscriptions admirers wish to build monuments they undoubtedly will be +allowed to do so. + +Our Government has wisely extended high courtesies to prominent Southern +Generals, and has on many occasions held out the olive branch of peace. +But we must not forget that brotherly kindness and neighborly good-will +cannot cancel the fact that the Southern conception of government by state +rights, as against National sovereignty, meant the destruction of the +Nation as such and was so intended. + +Had the war for the Union been a failure this fair continent on which has +been nourished the hopes of the world would have been the arena of two +general governments separated by no natural dividing lines and probably at +last to be succeeded by contending states and communities. + +Thus the last condition of free civilization in America would have been +more disgraceful than was the situation of the warring principalities of +ancient Greece, because we had sinned against a greater light than they +possessed. + +If National monuments are dedicated to commemorate Southern gallantry will +not a subtle influence steadily flow out from these reminders of civil war +to the effect that assault upon the Nation's existence is an offense so +trivial as to be expiated by bravery on the field of battle? + +Who can tell what crises of peril may in the future break in upon our +beloved land? And what if the youth of the North and of the South are, +from generation to generation, taught by the influence of public memorials +that there is no real distinction between those who fought to save the +Nation and those who did all they could "that the government of the +people, by the people, and for the people, shall (not) perish from the +earth." + +We present a quotation from the judgment of the Supreme Court, as given by +General N. P. Chipman on page 503 of his recent and informing book on +Andersonville: + + "The rebellion out of which the war grew was without any legal + sanction. In the eye of the law it had the same properties as if it + had been the insurrection of a country or smaller municipal territory + as against the State to which it belonged. The proportion and duration + of the struggle did not affect its character. Nor was there a rebel + government de facto in such a sense as to give any legal efficiency to + its acts.... The Union of the States, for all the purposes of the + constitution, is as perfect and indissoluble as the union of the + integral parts of the States themselves; and nothing but revolutionary + violence can in either case destroy the ties which hold the parties + together. + + "For the sake of humanity certain belligerant rights were conceded to + the insurgents in arms. But the recognition did not extend to the + pretended government of the Confederacy.... The Rebellion was simply + an armed resistence of the rightful authority of the sovereign. Such + was its character, its rise, progress and downfall." + +The legal aspects of the case as thus expressed have their great value as +indicating facts fundamental to organic National existence and they +demonstrate the inherent inconsistency of devoting Federal appropriations +to the erection of monuments to the honor of opponents of the Union. This +can be but a transient purpose which should and, we believe will be, +relinquished. + +We close this narrative with the words of a departed soldier who was a +devoted friend of General Lee and afterwards a trusted counsellor of +General Grant, as recorded in the Memoirs of Gen. John B. Gordon, pp. 464, +465: + +"American youth in all sections should be taught to hold in perpetual +remembrance all that was great and good on both sides; to comprehend the +inherited convictions for which saintly women suffered and patriotic men +died; to recognize the unparalleled carnage as proof of unrivalled +courage; to appreciate the singular absence of personal animosity and the +frequent manifestation between those brave antagonists of a +good-fellowship such as had never before been witnessed between hostile +armies. It will be a glorious day for our country when all the children +within its borders shall learn that the four years of fratricidal war +between the North and the South was waged by neither with criminal or +unworthy intent, but by both to protect what they conceived to be +threatened rights and imperiled liberty; that the issues which divided the +sections _were born when the Republic was born_, and were forever buried +in an ocean of fraternal blood. We shall then see that, under God's +providence, every sheet of flame from the blazing rifles of the contending +armies, every whizzing shell that tore through the forests at Shiloh and +Chancellorsville, every cannon-shot that shook Chickamauga's hills or +thundered around the heights of Gettysburg, and all the blood and the +tears that were shed are yet to become contributions for the upbuilding of +American manhood and for the future defense of American freedom. The +Christian Church received its baptism of pentecostal power as it emerged +from the shadows of Calvary, and went forth to its world-wide work with +greater unity and a diviner purpose. So the Republic, rising from its +baptism of blood with a national life more robust, a national union more +complete, and a national influence ever widening, shall go forever +forward in its benign mission to humanity." + +From the oldest to the youngest, let us all unite in the patriotic +salutation, "I pledge my allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for +which it stands. One Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for +all." + + +THE FINISH + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Toward the close of the war great bounties were paid for recruits in +northern cities. Many desperate characters enlisted for this money, +intending to desert at the first opportunity. The vigilence of Genl. Grant +forced them into battle. Many were captured and landed in Andersonville. +Here they conspired to rob and murder fellow prisoners. Capt. Wirtz +convened a trial court composed of prisoners who observed all the forms of +law in the trial of these desperadoes. Six of them were found guilty of +murder and were hung. + +[2] Market Square was a piece of made ground on the edge of the swamp in +the center of the prison. Here men came together to barter trinkets they +had made to while away the time, to exchange parts of rations, and to +indulge generally, so far as they could, in the Yankee instinct for trade. + +[3] On February 20th, 1912, the writer received a call from an old friend, +Rev. M. L. Holt, of Neligh, Nebraska. He gives this confirmatory statement +to Mr. Maile: "As Sergeant Major of the Third New Hampshire Veteran +Volunteer Infantry I can certify to the military surroundings at the place +of your release. Two days before your arrival from Goldsboro, General +Terry ordered our Third New Hampshire to make a forced march to a point +ten miles distant from Wilmington on the Northeast branch of the Cape Fear +river and take from the enemy a pontoon bridge at that point. + +"We skirmished with the foe nearly the entire distance and came up to them +just as they had cut the near end of the bridge from the bank. With our +machine guns we drove them off and moored the bridge back to its place. On +the second day after we received the old Andersonville prisoners and had +the satisfaction of knowing we had prepared their way by having the bridge +in readiness for them to cross the river into our lines. I shall never +forget the impression made upon us by the condition of these survivors of +Confederate prisons. These events occurred in March, 1861." + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Passages in italics are indicated by _italics_. + +Passages in bold are indicated by =bold=. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Prison Life in Andersonville, by John L. 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