Prison Life in Andersonville

ns dealt out to an Andersonville prisoner were too small for proper maintenance, and much of the time inferior in

achments and duly numbered. Every detachment was divided into the first, second and third nineties, each of which was in charge of one of our ow

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

e 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,

d 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

e able to stand up. Two army wagons drawn by mules entered the north and south gates simultaneously. They were piled high with

hereon in three piles; one for every ninety, according to the number of men able to

s: His blanket was spread in front of his shelter tent and on it he spr

ing to a cube of bread, "That piece is smaller than the one next to it." A crumb is taken from the one and placed up

is this?" A designated comrade looking the other way calls a number. The owner steps up and takes his portion. This process is rep

. 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 f

quate. Therefore raw rations were issued alternately every two weeks to each side of the prison. In

e very difficult to issue in accurate portions. Sometimes a quantity of this gluten

bine 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 bla

off in the spring of 1864. The new recruits and re-enlisted veterans, in many instances, had with them bounty money when captured. Gre

. From small clay ovens they supplied fresh bread and baked meats. Irish and sweet potatoes, string beans, peas, tomatoes, melons, sweet corn, and oth

e 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

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 ou

e handle. This disaster brought consternation, for the owner valued his knife at five dollars. However, a settlement was effected by which the

leeding 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 additio

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 tr

he 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 b

e pail was set. A pencil was run round on this bottom and the end of ea

fe sufficed to produce from hard pitch pine the staves for

ough 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 i

or $1.50 with which the proprietor bought vegetab

lina, the shoes worn by the most of our group, owing to defective machine stitching, peeled fr

ot 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 lengt

tatoes which he brought with the working squad into the prison at evening, and with them paid for the mending

our 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 mone

n 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 colo

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 exposur

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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

six one fairly good meal each day and made possible the survival of