USA > Connecticut > New London County > Norwich > The Norwich memorial; the annals of Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, in the great rebellion of 1861-65 > Part 19
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The thorough rousing of the nation, however, to all the
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unutterable barbarities to which our prisoners were subject- ed, was due to the report of the " Committee of Investiga- tion," appointed by the United States Sanitary Commission. This committee was carefully selected, and embraced those in whom the public could place entire confidence. The names of those composing it were as follows : Ellerslie Wallace, M. D., Hon. J. I. Clark Hare, and Rev. Tread- well Walden, of Philadelphia; Valentine Mott, M. D., LL. D., Edward Delafield, M. D., and Governeur M. Wilkins, Esq., of New York. The narrative of the report was writ- ten by a former Norwich resident, still held in loving and honored remembrance, - Rev. Treadwell Walden, Rector of Christ Church, from 1857 to 1863. It was admirably arranged ; the history, based on the irrefutable testimony taken, was calmly and dispassionately related, and as might have been anticipated, the impression produced was most profound and wide-reaching. On its publication, it had an immense circulation in this country, and was extensively read in Europe, startling the whole civilized world by the facts it established, and the appalling details it made public. Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote to Mr. Walden concerning the facts embodied in the report, "Their interest is terri- ble ; the world will shudder and sicken as it reads them. . I shall read in it at times, and when I can read with-
out cursing and swearing. . . . To palliate these infernal savagisms, to call them barbarisms, is a compliment at the expense of barbarism, to which they are not entitled."
Many other equally earnest and strongly worded testi- monies were received from prominent men throughout the country, which together with the unprecedented demand for the report, and its vast circulation in various forms, showed that its purpose was attained, and that the public heart was deeply touched, and the mind of the nation con- vin ced. The preparation of this report cost the writer
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much time and labor, and to the admirable and wise accom- plishment of his work, was due the lasting and needed good of which it was unquestionably productive.
Among those who contributed testimony, based on per- sonal experience and observation, was Lieutenant-colonel Charles Farnsworth, of this city. His letters were of great interest ; his evidence on points of fact emphatic, exposing clearly the sufferings and horrors incident to life in Libby and Belle Isle.
Indeed, when the true state of things in these southern prisons became publicly known, the marvel was that so many of those incarcerated survived the fearful ordeal.
When the subject was brought before Congress, by the report of "the Committee on the Conduct of the War," which confirmed the fact that the most unparalleled atroci- ties had been inflicted upon Union prisoners, some advocat- ed a system of strict retaliation. This was, however, decid- edly negatived. In reference to the facts, which some even at this time (1865, Jan.) affected to gloss over, Senator Fos- ter, in his place in the Senate, thus emphatically, and yet with characteristic carefulness, spoke : " I am astonished that any intelligent man should express a doubt, whether our prisoners in the hands of the rebels, from the first day of the war, have been treated barbarously, inhumanly, and that this treatment continues to the present time. Who are our opponents ? They are a band of insurgents, robbers, trai- tors, malefactors on land, and pirates on the deep, and be- cause such men descend to what would disgrace savages in the treatment of prisoners, not disgracing any National name, for they have no National name to disgrace, shall we who are citizens of the United States of America, each man feeling that he has a part of the National honor to sustain, do that which disgraces them ? No, Mr. President, no, no." Mr. Lincoln, when the report of these rebel barbarities
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came to him, authenticated beyond a doubt, nobly said, when urged to retaliate, " I never can, I never can starve men like that."
The facts are such as are too painful to be dwelt upon, but they cannot be forgotten or overlooked. They stand rather to point the moral of that system of human bondage, which so largely debauched the consciences of those who had aught to do with it, and made millions of our fellow countrymen willing to embroil a peaceful and happy country in civil war, for the purpose of establishing a separate con- federacy, whose "corner stone should be slavery." This prison treatment is the last hideous monument of unre- lieved terror and shame, that will memorialize with eternal infamy the slaveholders' rebellion. No picture of torture or misery was ever presented by a civilized people to the world, comparable to this, - the treatment of our defense- less prisoners by the rebels. And now that enough years have passed to abate the immediate enmities and bitter- nesses occasioned by this unprecedented strife, the impartial historian reluctantly touching upon this dark chapter, can- not make of it other than an unrelieved tale of needless and wicked barbarism, of cruelty so inhuman and persis- tent, of deliberate and systematized .inhumanity, which in savages would not have been palliated.
The number of Union prisoners held in the South during the rebellion, was one hundred and twenty-six thousand nine hundred and forty (126,940). Of this number twenty- two thousand five hundred and seventy-six died or were starved to death. For the only complete roll of the prison- ers who perished at Andersonville, the nation is indebted to Private Dorance Atwater, of Plymouth, in this State. Two hundred and ninety Connecticut soldiers are known to have lost their lives in this worst of the prisons of the South.
In some or all of these accursed prison-pens Norwich
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soldiers were confined, some falling victims to the treatment which was to such vast numbers fatal ; others, surviving their imprisonment, returned to friends and kindred, rejoic- ing over their escape from death in its most dreaded and distressing form. The exact number of our soldiers that were captured, and for longer or shorter periods confined, cannot now be actually determined.
Much was done by citizens at home to mitigate the suf- ferings of those known to be imprisoned, by sending boxes of provisions and clothing, and delicacies for the sick. Not all of these were allowed by the Confederate authorities to be delivered, some were misappropriated, and some reached their destination, bringing untold cheer and comfort to those whose needs were by them supplied. The investi- gation conducted by the committee of the Sanitary Com- mission, showed that at one time in Richmond, three thousand boxes had accumulated, sent to the prisoners in Libby and Belle Isle, by their anxious and devoted friends in the North, and these were maliciously kept back, though piled in warehouses in full sight of many of the hungry captives. The contents of not a few of them were thus entirely spoiled, while those containing clothing were in some known instances appropriated by the rebels. In this way not only were the sufferings of the imprisoned ag- gravated, but those who begged the poor boon of minister- ing to their actual necessities, were insulted and deceived.
The Libby - which was the chief prison in Richmond, and the one best known -consisted of a row of brick buildings three stories high, situated on the canal and overlooking the James River, which were formerly tobacco warehouses. The partitions between the buildings were pierced with door-ways on each story, and the entire range of rooms on each floor thus connected, and utilized for prison purposes. The rooms were one hundred feet long by forty feet broad,
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and in six of them were twelve hundred officers at one time confined, including all grades from a brigadier-general to a second lieutenant. Here, crowded together amid vermin and filth, with no furniture but what the prisoners madc, with no sanitary regulations, in the power of a brutal guard, and with rations insufficient to appease the cravings of hun- ger, were those who, under the instigation of a lofty patriot- ism, left homes of comfort and affluence at the North to enter the service of the Government, put in peril by the Rebellion.
Norwich had, during the course of the war, a number of representatives in this prison. On the surrender in part of the Eighteenth Regiment, after the disastrous battle of Winchester, officers and privates were taken to Richmond and confined, the former in Libby, the latter in Belle Isle. From this town there were: Colonel W. G. Ely, Captains H. C. Davis, Joseph P. Rockwell, S. T. C. Merwin, M. V. B. Tiffany, John E. Woodward, and Quartermaster Dwight W. Hakes ; also, Lieutenants Adam H. Lindsley, James D. Higgins, Henry F. Cowles, John Francis, and Francis Mc- Keag. Nearly all of the privates were soon paroled, but the officers were held in durance vile, some for almost a year, and six for twenty-one months. The latter, during their captivity made the acquaintance of eight different prisons, being removed from one to another for no well- defined reason. The monotony of prison life was broken up by these repeated changes, and by their diversified expe- rience they acquired a reliable knowledge as to the condi- tion of these various places of confinement.
Major (afterwards Lieutenant-colonel) Farnsworth, of the First Regiment Cavalry, was also an inmate of Libby, and while there did what he could to see that those of his own command, captured with him, as well as others whom he knew, shared in the good things sent to him from his own
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home. His thoughtfulness and zeal in this particular was remembered with devout gratitude by some who returned to speak of it, and who felt that their own preservation from death by starvation was due to him. When he was ex- changed, and returned home, he not only had words of tes- timony concerning the inhuman prison treatment which prevailed in Richmond, but he forwarded, as early as pos- sible, to those he had left behind him in weary confinement, a box containing such things as, from experience, he knew would comfort and cheer them.
After the battle of Gettysburg, the fare in Libby im- proved somewhat, owing to the wholesome fear of retal- iation, the balance of prisoners being in our favor. The monotonous prison life was varied in every possible way. Classes in the modern languages were formed, a literary society was organized and maintained with great spirit, a journal called the " Libby Chronicle " was edited with inter- est and marked ability. Music classes, theatrical entertain- ments, and other diversions were resorted to, by which the depressing imprisonment was made somewhat endurable. All this was possible in Libby to an extent never allowed in other prisons, because those confined in the former were officers, and were within reach of those ever-helpful and life-cheering boxes sent them from the North. The Sab- bath-school of the Second Church, which had a large repre- sentation among the prisoners in Libby, was specially for- ward and generous in this work of providing boxes for those of their number there confined. On Thanksgiving Day, 1863, it sent twenty-two packages of sundries, fruit, meat, and vegetables to the "boys in Libby," for the pur- chase of which two hundred and forty-one dollars were raised by the school. At the same time, in the Broadway Church, at the union Thanksgiving service, one hundred and sixty dollars were raised for the same purpose. This
18
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money, subsequently increased by a few additional contri- butions, was turned over to Mr. Charles Johnson, who in- closed the whole amount to Mr. C. C. Fulton, of Baltimore, who made the following report : -
BALTIMORE, December 28, 1863.
CHARLES JOHNSON, Esq., -
Dear Sir : Your draft for $174.20 was duly received, and I will to-day ship to Colonel William G. Ely the following articles : -
Two barrels of flour.
One barrel Bologna sausages.
One barrel smoked beef.
One barrel hams.
One barrel chewing and smoking tobacco, pipes, matches, scis- sors, thread, needles, combs, etc.
One box of articles of luxury and necessity, to make palatable the substantial food that accompanies it.
I inclose your letter to me, with the box, with a list of articles forwarded. I have direct information from Richmond that all the articles I forward are promptly delivered.
Yours for the Union, CHARLES C. FULTON.
In acknowledging this timely and most considerate gift of Norwich friends, Colonel Ely wrote back from Libby, January 28, 1864 : -
" I have this day visited Belle Isle, by permission of the Con- federate authorities, and was also permitted to carry many things for the comfort of the soldiers of the Eighteenth and Sixth Reg- iments. I can almost say that it has been the happiest day of my life."
Mr. Johnson made, about this time, another attempt to forward supplies to those who were confined in and about Richmond, but it was found impossible to communicate with them, and not till some months later were any boxes or packages allowed to be sent for the relief of those in Libby or Belle Isle.
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In February, 1864, Colonel Ely and one hundred and eighty officers made their escape from Libby, through the famous tunnel, on which some fifty-five days of hard work were spent.
The Richmond "Inquirer " thus describes this ingenious undertaking to escape from a prison life, which never was comfortable enough to make contented and patient, those who were waiting to be released in the ordinary and only legitimate way : -
" It appears that the tunnel under Twentieth Street was dug en- tirely with an old hinge, and the loosened earth - a brittle marl and sand - removed with an old sugar scoop, stolen from the hospital quarters. As the tunnel progressed, the miner took with him, besides his tools, an old-fashioned knapsack made upon a wooden frame, to which a cord was attached. When he filled this with earth it was drawn out by an accomplice who remained in the cellar. The contents safely deposited out of the way, it was then shoved back to the digger with a pole. The basement in which this work was carried on was kept constantly locked, never used, and the windows being tightly nailed, it was dark as pitch."
About fifty of those who escaped, including Colonel Ely, were recaptured, and had to pay for this inordinate love of liberty - this daring to work a passage out towards friends and freedom - by close confinement in the underground cells of the Libby, which were infested with rats, and foul with a dampness that dripped from the walls. Still our boys kept up a brave heart during their long and exhaust- ing imprisonment. Captain Davis of the Eighteenth, repre- sented the pluck and noble spirit that dwelt in his com- rades, when he wrote from Libby, October, 1863 : -
"On the walls of the Conciergerie, in the days of the French Revolution, was written the sentiment, ' He who retains his patri- otism can never be wholly miserable.' So here in these days,
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having their parallel with those, in fraternal bloodshed, this is the sentiment of many a prisoner enduring incarceration to which the fortunes of war have consigned him. Deprived of personal liberty, of the comforts of even camp life, subsisting on a scanty diet, yet we are not of all men most miserable, when we remem- ber for what we are here."
It was not an easy thing to escape from these rebel prisons, and those who tried to, paid pretty dear for their liberty if they gained it, while if they failed, it subjected them to all the more rigorous treatment when taken back. We give the following experience of one of our Norwich men, who got out of Libby by means of the tunnel just re- ferred to, as illustrative of what risks those venturing an escape encountered : -
NARRATIVE OF ESCAPE FROM LIBBY.
" Just as the rebel guard appeared to see that all was right we had started on our slide, feet foremost, through a hole in the brick chimney into the cellar below. Dropping on the cellar bot- tom, we crept across it in the dark, found the opening to the tun- nel occupied by the retiring boots of another aspirant for liberty. As we were rather stalwart in size, hitching along three inches at a hitch, was the best we could do. It was all elbow work, the limited area of the tunnel not admitting any use of the legs. Hitching and perseverance brought us to the exit of the tunnel. Here we waited with head out of the hole (marmot style), took a survey of the empty boxes under the shed that once had been filled by the United States Sanitary Commission supplies, waited for our comrade from Willimantic, with whom we had sworn to make a strike for liberty. We waited about ten minutes, when we felt a pull at our leg, and speedily emerging from the tunnel made room for Lieutenant Clifford, of Ohio. Next came Quartermaster -, from New York. Through the cracks of the shed which separated us from the street the rebel guard could be plainly seen patrolling in front of the prison, and watch-
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ing it closely. It was not a good place to wait even for sworn friends, and the ten minutes seemed like ten hours.
" Here we quietly took off our shoes and walked on tip toe to the corner of the shed. It was evident that we must pass the width of the shed on the beat of the guard. The only time to do it was when he was walking towards the prison. It was done ; and safely around the corner, we three agreed to stand by each other till we reached the Union lines. If ragged uniforms could have disguised us we were well disguised, but not knowing the city we ran plump on to a rebel guard around the City Hospital. ' Halt ! who goes there ? ' rang like a death knell to our hopes of freedom, but the prompt reply, 'None of your business ; can't a fellow see his girl without being halted ?' proved a pass-word, and the striking up of ' Dixie' in a half drunken songster style by Clifford, disarmed any suspicion that the sentinel may have had.
" We crossed the street in front of the sentinel, and threaded our way to the outskirts of the city on the east side. Every house was dark, and the streets were deserted. When fairly out- side of the city we proceeded with great caution, but found our- selves close upon the fortifications before we were aware of it. These appeared to be unoccupied, and further observation showed us that this was even the case. A single man with a handful of files might have spiked forty or fifty pieces of artillery. Peering over the parapet, the faint glow of campfires revealed long lines of stacked muskets and rows of tents. Dusky forms could be seen grouped around fires farther distant, that were supposed to be reserved picket fires. Several spots were tried before we succeeded in finding a gap in the picket lines. We soon found one that promised to be a good outlet, and pushed through without disturbing the sentinels, who could be plainly seen counteracting the chill of a frosty night by the warmth of a few embers.
" We were hardly outside of the picket lines, well under way putting as much distance between us and the City of Richmond as possible before dawn, when the sudden neighing of a horse brought us to a stand, and not a second too soon, for careful
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examination showed that a large cavalry picket was dead ahead. The cavalry picket proved more easily evaded than the pickets just passed, so on we pushed, through woods, and over brooks, sometimes floundering in the cold water up to our arm-pits. The night was cold, but exercise and excitement kept us warm. The increasing light of early dawn warned us that it was time to seek a hiding-place for the day. The spot selected was a bushy hill-side covered with scrub oaks. Here we sat down to rest and wait for the next night.
" Our Norwich representative now found to his astonishment that he was the only one of the party who had any provisions. A boiled tongue, shriveled and mouldy, three months' old, kept in anticipation of this emergency, with eighteen soda crackers, comprised the entire stock of provisions, which was divided into three equal lots. A light breakfast was eaten, and by turns two slept, while the third kept watch. Our hiding-place proved well selected, overlooking a road a half-mile distant. Twice during the day a company of rebel cavalry passed by, also several foot soldiers. Unable to light a fire from fear of attracting attention, we suffered greatly with the cold. At night the march was re- sumed.
"Keeping the North Star in view as a point for reference, we aimed in the direction of Charles City Court House. The second night was much like the first, with fewer indications of the enemy. 'The next morning's breakfast finished all that was left of the tongue and soda crackers, but failed to satisfy the cravings of our hunger. Our refuge the second day was a large swamp. Want of sleep, want of food, as well as suffering from the cold began to tell on systems already debilitated by long imprisonment. A search was made for acorns to eat ; but it was evident that the acorn crop had been disposed of earlier in the winter by the squirrels and turkies. The latter were frequently seen, but showed great lack of confidence in us refugees, who looked at them with longing eyes, and wished in vain for a shot-gun or rifle. The swamp seemed sufficiently unfrequented, dark, and dense to give a feeling of security from cavalry and infantry. At night the
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march was resumed, and as we knew that we had already left Bottom's Bridge in the rear we confidently anticipated being within the lines of General Butler's corps the next morning.
" The third night's march was one of great suffering and faint- ness from hunger. The New York Quartermaster showed signs of extreme weakness, and retarded the march of the other two greatly. The last two hours of the night was over mostly open country, and the gray of dawn found us wearily struggling through a thinly wooded tract of timber. We much disliked the appearance of a lonely house about three quarters of a mile dis- tant, - there was no shelter where we were, and we pushed on as rapidly as possible, hoping to reach what seemed to be a dense swamp about a mile ahead, and expecting there to find a secure hiding-place, from which we could watch for the blue coats of Uncle Sam's cavalry.
" Just now the sound of cavalry was heard in our rear, but it came from the wrong direction. 'Only a half a mile to the swamp, and no place to hide even a man's head till it was reached. So on we pushed, the Quartermaster falling behind from exhaustion. The sound of horsemen came nearer and a triumphant yell announced that the Quartermaster was again in the hands of the rebels. We had succeeded in getting out of the timber, and were going down the hill-side for the swamp, going at a lively pace, too. Soon we heard shouts of, 'Halt !' but heeded them not. Crack! crack ! crack ! crack ! went the carbines till there was a rattling fire, nearer and nearer sounded the horses' feet, till these seemed more fearful than the fusilade and whistling of bul- lets. Only one hundred yards, and horses would not have been able to follow ! Another yell, and Clifford was taken. A horse- man dashed by us, sprang from his saddle, and intercepted us with a Colt's navy pistol leveled at our head.
"Libby Prison loomed up again ! The captured were gathered together, three in number, in company with our pursuers, who were Major Robertson's cavalry, forty in number.
"' I say, Yank, ain't you hit ?' was a frequent inquiry. And ' No; wish I had been,' the sullen reply. And some laugh-
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ing was done at the expense of the crack shots of the company by their comrades. A proposition was made to us by the ser- geant of the company : 'Say ! You tell the Major that I did the right smart thing in overhauling you, and you shall have a good breakfast.' The proposition was accepted, and we breakfasted with Major Robertson, and received handsome treatment that day. We now learned, much to our chagrin, that we were cap- tured on ground held by General Butler's command forty-eight hours previously, and were several miles above Charles City Court House.
"The next morning we were turned over to the home cavalry guard, a mean, cruel set of devils, who marched us till noon, and then turned us over to a relief, who marched us to the doors of Libby Prison, forty miles, in one day !
" Dick Turner, jailor, smiled grimly upon us, and ordered us to the cells below, and put us on a diet of corn bread and water. Below, we found companions, - forty men, stowed away in four cells, seven feet by twelve feet each, - many of whom, like our trio, had the entire soles of their feet blistered in the attempt to escape. Ten men were confined for three weeks in a cell seven feet by twelve, with not room for them all to lie down at once, and when they did lie down wharf rats and vermin were too plenty to permit rest."
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