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 20
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Belle-Isle - a small island in the James River, opposite the Tredegar Iron Works of Richmond - was in part used for prison purposes. The upper portion, being broken and rocky, was ill-adapted to use of this sort ; so the lower end, which was flat and sandy, comprising from three to six acres, was made into a pen. It was inclosed by an em- bankment of earth, with a ditch inside, in which from ten to twelve thousand prisoners were herded like cattle, with no shelter but worn-out tents, and these sufficient to ac- commodate only a meagre number of the suffering and exposed. On this low, unhealthy island, enduring all that results from overcrowding, from inadequate rations, from
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uncleanliness, from exposure to rain and night dews, were the captured privates of the Eighteenth, and representa- tives of Norwich in other regiments, confined.
Lieutenant-colonel Nichols, of the Eighteenth Regiment, who was nine months a prisoner in Libby, in a letter to General Schenck, Chairman of the Congressional Military Committee, dated March, 1864, thus describes the state of things on Belle Isle : -
" On the island, where at times there were as many as nine or ten thousand, the tents for the men were poor. No straw was furnished as bedding, and at no time was there enough to accom- modate all. Vitality was so reduced by starvation, that many were absolutely frozen to death, and numerous amputations of frozen toes and feet were made necessary. But it seems to be a standing regulation to prevent the men from dying on the island, hence they are borne off when in a dying condition, that the officials may be able always to show but comparatively few graves in the island burial place, and yet have it to say that all who have died upon the island have been buried there. It would be well, if all who even died there were decently buried .. . The first demand of the poor creatures on the island was always for food, and we have seen them die clutching the half-eaten crust."
The patient courage and inflexible loyalty of these suffer- ing Union prisoners were hardly appreciated by the coun- try, and it was only as facts and incidents from their prison experience became known, that the public began to realize their heroism. Colonel Farnsworth stated, that while he was in Richmond, some three hundred shoemakers were confined at one time on Belle Island, and although men were there dying from starvation, and all were on rations so meagre, that their hunger was never appeased, yet they indignantly refused the offer of extra rations and other privileges, if they would work for the Confederacy. Such
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was the honor that even the most barbarous treatment could not tempt or break down.
Andersonville, - the name which starts echoes fraught only with horror, - was an open space of twenty-five acres, resembling in shape a parallelogram, bisected by a little brook which flowed through it, with barely a perceptible ripple. The fence or stockade was made of upright trunks of trees about twenty feet high, near the top of which, at regular intervals, were small platforms, where the butcher- like guards were stationed. Twenty feet inside of this fence ran a light railing parallel to it, which formed " the dead line." Visiting it in 1868, there were still to be seen the remains of the caves in which the prisoners sought shelter from the torrid heat of summer, or the cold dews and frosts of winter, or the drenching rains which pitilessly descended upon them, as they were crowded in this otherwise uncov- ered camp. The soil was of red clay, and could be cut or moulded into any shape, so that caves, and sleeping holes, and fire-places could be fashioned by the industrious pris- oner. Relics of the sheds which they were allowed to build could still be seen, and remains of the rude self- made implements constructed for their use, were found scattered through this fearful place. Here were confined at one time as many as twenty seven thousand prisoners, with the death-rate in the summer of 1864, because of its unutterably horrible condition, over one hundred and thirty a day. The history of this prison-pen is too frightful to be read ; it has no parallel for fiendish cruelties and bar- barities. Like Dante's " Inferno, " it soon came to be un- derstood -
" Who enters here, leaves hope behind."
In this accursed place were some of our soldiers con- fined, and here met their sad torturing death.
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HERBERT BECKWITH, Private in the Tenth Regiment In- fantry, afterwards Corporal in the Second Heavy Artillery of Massachusetts, was captured at Plymouth, April, 1864, and taken to Andersonville. Here he spent five weary months, leaving in his journal the record of sufferings and patient waiting for release, affecting to read. Boy that he was, he was spared none of the rigors and inhumanities, under which he gradually gave way. He lived to reach Camp Parole, Annapolis, Md., to behold once more the flag for which he had periled his young life, and there, in the hospital, kindly cared for by a Christian woman, he died in peace.
GEORGE W. WARD, of the Eighteenth Regiment, taken prisoner at the battle of Winchester, June 15, 1863, after being confined successively at Belle Isle and Danville, was brought to Andersonville. Here he, too, fell a victim to treatment it was given to but few so long imprisoned, to survive. Twenty-one months of dreary, wasting, heart- breaking captivity he endured, hoping for that which to so many never came - release from the sufferings that made each prison one of deeper despair. He found his libera- tion through death, February 6, 1865. An earnest patriot, loved for qualities and gifts which made life full of promise and happiness, he is numbered with our martyred dead.
JOSEPH H. WINSIHIP, of the Eighteenth Regiment, had a prison experience, in nearly all of its features, like that of his comrade and townsman, Ward. Unable to bear up un- der his long confinement, attended as it was with increased suffering and lessening strength, he died at Andersonville, April 5, 1864.
JOSEPH A. BAILEY, First Regiment Cavalry. Captured June 1, 1864. Died at Andersonville, August 13, 1864.
THOMAS M. BALDWIN, First Regiment Cavalry. Captured May 5, 1864. Died at Andersonville, July 3, 1864.
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EDWARD BLUMLEY, Eighth Regiment. Was taken pris- oner in an engagement on the Petersburgh R. R., May 7, 1864, and died at Andersonville, October 6, 1 864.
HENRY F. CHAMPLIN, Tenth Regiment. Captured near St. Augustine, Fla., while on picket duty, December 30, 1863, and died at Andersonville, August 11, 1864.
WILLIAM DAVIS, First Regiment Cavalry. Captured at Craig's Church, Va., May 5, 1864. Died at Andersonville, August 30, 1864.
THOMAS DUGAN, Twenty-first Regiment. Died at Andersonville, June 4, 1864.
SYLVANUS DOWNER, Eighteenth Regiment. Captured at Winchester, Va. Was paroled June 15, 1863 ; returned to the ranks, and was a second time taken prisoner, at New Market, Va., June 5, 1864. Died at Andersonville, Novem- ber 5, 1864.
WILLIAM G. HAYWARD, Eighteenth Regiment. Cap- tured at Winchester, June 15, 1863. Was paroled and rejoined his comrades, and again taken prisoner at New Market, Va., May 15, 1864. Died at Andersonville, Sep- tember 11, 1864.
JAMES S. McDAVID, First Regiment Cavalry. Captured at Ashland Station, June 1, 1864. Died at Andersonville, August 21, 1864.
EDWARD F. TISDALE, First Regiment Cavalry. Captured May 14, 1864. Died at Andersonville, September 29, 1864. JOHN F. TREADWAY, First Regiment Cavalry. Died at Andersonville, August 3, 1864.
MOSES TYLER, Fourteenth Regiment. Died at Ander- sonville, April 14, 1864.
On the third of January, 1866, Mr. G. W. Smith of this city was dispatched to Andersonville, to recover the bodies of those Norwich soldiers, known to be interred there, and whose graves could be identified. The expense of his
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journey, and the removal of the bodies was provided for out of the patriotic fund. Mr. Smith succeeded in bringing away the remains of nine of our Norwich boys. The city authorities awarded them a public funeral and a burial lot in Yantic Cemetery. Commemorative services were held in Breed Hall, and the coffins placed on a funeral car, covered by the American flag, were borne in solemn pro- cession by friends and citizens, societies and soldiery, to the place prepared for their reception. Their graves are now with us, and this last tribute, of providing them a burial amid kindred dust, and in the precincts of the town their patriotism and sufferings honored, has been paid their memory.
In addition to these martyrs to the terrible prison treat- ment of Andersonville, two of our soldiers are known to have perished at Florence, S. C.
JAMES MASSEY, Eighteenth Regiment. Captured May 15, 1864, and died January 7, 1865.
ISRAEL VARNEY, Eighteenth Regiment. Died February 10, 1865.
Besides these, and completing the list of our prison-dead, are
ADAM ACKSLER, Eighteenth Regiment. Captured June 5, 1864, and died at Madisonville, October 5, 1864.
THOMAS FILLBURN, Seventh Regiment. Captured May 16, 1864, and died at Millen, Ga., October 21, 1864.
HENRY W. GREENOUGH, First Regiment Cavalry. Died at Salisbury, N. C., October 9, 1864.
HORACE B. WOOD, Second Regiment Artillery. Died at Richmond, December 27, 1864.
HENRY C. GASKILL, Eighteenth Regiment. Wounded and captured at battle of Piedmont, June 5, 1864. Died at Danville, Va., on his way to be exchanged, February 20, 1865, after a long and barbarous captivity.
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This by no means exhausts the number of those who for a longer or shorter period were confined in some of the numerous prison-pens, with which the South abounded, but the rest survived, living to reach home and die among their friends, or to recover the health their imprisonment had in many instances seriously impaired.
What a fearful commentary, however, on the prisons of the Confederacy, is this list of our dead. Among the latter were men fully up to the average of human strength and en- durance, and brave soldiers animated by patriotic impulses ; yet such was the deliberately planned treatment and fare, that they perished, victims of rebel inhumanity. Some discrimination was made in dealing with commissioned officers, but on the private soldier fell the unrelieved bru- tality that made confinement in prison so largely fatal.
CAPT. JOHN B. DENNIS, of the Seventh Regiment, was captured with part of his command, while guarding the picket line in front of Bermuda Hundreds. He was taken from one prison to another, being a temporary tenant in six different pens, but made a bold and successful escape from Richland jail, Columbus, S. C., the last one in which con- fined. He, with six of the longest imprisoned officers of the Eighteenth Regiment, was among the six hundred Union prisoners exposed to the fire of our batteries by General Gillmore, in retaliation for the bombardment of the nursery- city of the rebellion, - Charleston, S. C. The jail of the latter, in which at one time eighteen hundred prisoners were confined, suffering from lack of clothes and food, was in keeping with the other prisons already described. It was so crowded as to render the condition of the inmates one of extreme wretchedness. Lieutenant James D. Hig- gins of the Eighteenth Regiment escaped from this prison, by a bold stratagem, making out to reach Hilton Head, S. C., in safety.
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From Camp Sorghun, Columbia, S. C., Captain H. C. Davis of the same Regiment, made his escape, but after a tramp of one hundred and fifty miles, through wood and swamp, was tracked and run down by a pack of hounds, and taken back to the fearful prison, after an absence of twenty- three days.
The following is the narrative of Lieutenant H. F. Cowles' escape from captivity : -
" We left the prison in Columbia, S. C., February 14, 1865, and were marched to the Railroad, where a special train, going north, awaited us. We were packed into box cars, the same as are used here for carrying freight, with a sliding door on each side. One of these doors was locked, and the other generously left open that we might breathe. The guards were placed on top of the car, the Rebels having once before detected an attempt to overpower them when stationed inside.
" As the night came on and we got under way, rain began to fall, which turned into hail, and the storm became so furious that we had to push the door nearly together, leaving only a small aper- ture for breathing purposes. I had determined to effect my es- cape, for I did not feel, knowing how poor the Confederacy was, that I could any longer trespass upon its hospitality. I had talked over the matter with Captain Hawkins, of the Seventy-eighth Illi- nois and Lieutenant Sears, of the Ninety-sixth New York, when we watched in turn at the door for a favorable chance to escape. As the train stopped for wood and water about thirty miles out of Columbia, it was found that seven out of the nine cars of our train had been lost on the road. After a council was held, it was deter- mined to back down and find the missing cars. I told my com- rades that now was our time ; so after making them both promise to follow me, I jumped out. The ground was covered with sleet, and as soon as I struck, my feet went from under me, and I rolled down the side of the track against the fence. For an instant I expected to have a volley of musket balls poured into me, but as they did not come, I gathered myself up and tried. to vault over the fence.
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I got half way over and there stuck, doubting not at this time I should be riddled ; but giving another desperate lurch, I tumbled head first into the field on the opposite side. I drew myself along for a few lengths, and then ran on all fours, until I had placed a few rods between me and the train. I then lay perfect- ly still, not daring to rise for fear of being seen, and awaited the coming of my companions. I was scarcely over the fence myself before I heard Hawkins come crashing out, and it seemed to me as though he was making noise enough to wake the dead ; then Lieu- tenant Sears came, and as I thought two others, and then all was quiet. Not a shot had been fired, which astonished me more than anything else. I immediately gave the signal which we had agreed upon, a quail call, and out they came, one, two, three, four. They seemed to rise out of the very ground, and upon getting together, we found not only our original party of three, but two more, who seeing how safely we escaped, followed us on the spur of the moment.
" Our first care was to place as great a distance between us and the guard as possible, so we took up a line of march across the country at a right angle with the Railroad.
" Our cramped prison life for twenty months previous, and the food we had received, had not particularly fitted us for such work as this, but we were on the road to freedom. Pluck and nerve kept us going, and we got over the ground in a style that did us all credit under the circumstances. After repeated attempts, we got a fire started, and bringing forth our corn bread and hard tack, we all sat around the fire and warmed ourselves and ate our breakfast as free men once more.
" We then went as far into the forest as we could, and still keep the fire in view, where we waited for something to turn up. We remained here, I suppose, about two hours, all too thoroughly drenched and too excited by our novel position to sleep, when to our great joy we saw our picket approaching the fire, accompa- nied by a negro. He listened very quietly to all we said, and then assured us in the first place that we ran no risk in staying near our fire, as there would probably be no white persons along
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that way. We told him that, as our provisions were nearly ex- hausted, he could best serve us if he would go back to his cabin and get from the other negroes, or any one else, such eatables as we could most readily carry.
" At nightfall our faithful guide came back, bringing with him corn-meal, corn-bread, and cooked and raw bacon, upon which we all fell like wolves, and ate a good substantial supper. Gathering from him all possible information as to our route, and being led by him for some little way, we pushed on our exciting course, meeting with a variety of adventures, and finding our way to freedom about as ' hard a road as Jordan' to travel. Two days and nights passed in this sort of weary wandering, when I was startled while on watch by the distant booming of artillery. At once it occurred to us, ' this is old Tecumseh giving them a little serenade at Columbia!' Inspirited by this music, we started on again, heading for Wilmington, N. C. Through swamps and roads, weary, hungry, and ragged, we still held on our route, until we came across another negro. He also proved a friend in need, and from him we learned that we were near one of the principal roads, and that his master said that probably some of General Sherman's army would pass that way, and advised us, instead of trying to pass the rebel lines to reach our own, to let him secrete us in one of those almost impenetrable swamps, and there wait for the rebels to pass and our army to come up. At midnight his son came to guide us to his father's cabin. We were intro- duced to his wife, who had prepared a substantial supper for us. I can't remember all the courses, but the principal feature was an immense roasted goose, with appropriate fixtures, thinking of which even now makes my mouth water. The way that we went for that fowl, and the other things on the table, would have as- tonished any member of a civilized community, I think. After concluding our supper, we all sat around the fire-place and had a good smoke, and then, having expressed our thanks to our hostess, we started for the swamp. Here we were secreted for nearly a week, visited nightly by our colored friend, who brought us provisions, and cheered our hearts by his own hopeful assur-
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ances. Near the close of this week of confinement he brought the glad news that Sherman's troops had come up, and led us to one of the cabins near his own, where we found the orderly of General Howard. By him we were taken to headquarters, and there met such a reception as only the blue-coats could give us. We were fitted out with clothing contributed by our fellow-officers, and in due season were forwarded to Wilmington, and thence to New York. Thus ended our life of captivity, and our long and exciting escape from the prison-pen of Columbia and the land of Dixie. H. F. COWLES."
The fittest conclusion we can make to this chapter on the sufferings of our heroes in these wretched spots, is in the words taken from a letter in the " American Mis- sionary," dated Atlanta, Ga., May 13, 1867.
"Did they ever imagine, those rebel officers, who used our poor boys to erect those buildings, - buildings put up to enable them to hold thirty thousand prisoners in unheard of tortures, - did they imagine to what use these buildings were to be put so soon ? Did they dream that the wail of the captive would scarcely be hushed, and the last victim laid to sleep his last sleep in those awful witness-bearing trenches, before two angels of mercy should take up their abode there, transforming that hell upon earth into a little earthly heaven ? Yes, ' Andersonville' has been cleansed and sanctified, and, thank God, by the purity, the presence, the labor and the love of woman. Where the rebel soldiers' jeer and oath used to be heard, now daily ascends the sweet sound of prayer and praise. For the howl of the hungry hound, eager to chase the perishing Union fugitive, you may now hear the sweet voices of the children blending in song. The jailor has fled, haunted by the memory of his crimes (for Wirtz was not alone in the charge), and two gentle women have taken possession of his dwelling. The persecuted slave has found a shelter in the huts erected by his persecutors, and the freedman's corn is now grow- ing in the empty stockade."
In 1868 we were permitted to attend a school meeting in
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what was part of the barracks of the rebel garrison. Here in this place of saddest memories, a school had been opened, through Northern benevolence, in which was gathered from near and far, those who were hungry for knowledge. We listened to their weird songs, learned in the dark days of their bondage, and then speaking words of cheer to them, reminded them of their new responsibilities, resulting from their lately gained liberty, which had at last lifted them to the dignity of freemen and citizens. From the schoolhouse, where we watched with a pathetic sort of interest the bright eyed boys and girls recite, we crossed the yard, passing what was formerly the rebel officers' quarters, and took our course to the stockade. Within the inclosure we stood awhile, its suffering memories coming back to us, and thought of the change that had come over this once populous and dreary spot. Thence we went to the cemetery, hard by, where rest the twelve thousand that were borne from out the awful prison to grateful sepulture. The trees were just coming out in their new spring foliage, the air was resonant with singing birds, the mellow light of the setting sun irradiated the simple white head-boards, which had been erected by our Government to mark the close and neatly arranged graves of our martyred dead, while over their sleeping dust the southern pines cast their benignant shade, and swept by the evening breeze, made a low dirge-like music.
There, standing in the silence of that beautiful cemetery, where the unnamed thousands of our patriotic dead lie buried, over whose graves the National Government watches, I thought of the change that even here had taken place. What was but a little while before a rude burial spot, in which the lifeless forms of once brave and fondly loved men were hurriedly laid in the long and fast filling trenches, was now a tastefully arranged cemetery. Each grave was des- ignated and carefully turfed, while ramifying paths led
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every whither through this sacred inclosure ; and over the principal gate of the cemetery were the following appropri- ate lines : -
" The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldiers' last tattoo, No more on life's parade shall meet The brave and daring few. On Fame's eternal camping ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."
This was the altered and redeemed Andersonville. Prison days were ended, the rude cheap sepulture of lamented dead, had ceased, and on every side appeared the signs of. " the good time coming," in which these sleeping heroes be- lieved, and for the hastening on of which they devoted life itself. We thanked God for the change, and breathed a prayer of thanksgiving for what the sacrificial sufferings of those all about us in their quiet graves, had accomplished, and took hope for that better future, whose dawn we even here beheld.
"New England ! on thy spotless shield, inscribe thine honored dead, Oh ! keep their memory fresh and green, when turf blooms o'er their head ; And coming nations yet unborn, will read, with glowing pride, Of those who bore thy conquering arms, and suffering, fought and died ; Who, foremost in the gallant van, laid life and honor down - Oh ! deck with fadeless bays their names who've won the martyr's crown."
XIV.
1865.
CLOSE OF THE WAR. - FALL OF RICHMOND.
" Thank God ! the bloody days are past, Our patient hopes are crowned at last ; And sounds of bugle, drum, and fife, But lead our heroes home from strife !
" Thank God ! there beams o'er land and sea Our blazing Star of Victory ; And everywhere, from main to main, The old flag flies and rules again !" GEORGE H. BOKER.
THE quiet of the grand army under Grant, during the eventful winter of 1864-5, was part of that General's strat- egy. Instead of wishing to drive the Rebel Government and army from the banks of the James, he was only appre- hensive that they would voluntarily abandon Virginia for a time, and that Lee would attempt to attack Sherman, as he was making his splendid though hazardous march to the sea. This expedient, however, seems not to have oc- curred to the Confederate leaders. Prior to the opening of the Spring Campaign, General Lee had been appointed to the command of all the armies of the Confederacy, and as indicative of the desperate condition in which the rebels found themselves, the Legislature of Virginia on the Six- teenth of February, 1865, passed resolutions, "authoriz- ing, and consenting that such number of able bodied slaves
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might be enlisted into the military service as might be deemed necessary." The Confederate Congress subse- quently passed a bill to the same effect, but too late to be of any practical avail.
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