USA > Indiana > History of the Forty-sixth regiment Indiana volunteer infantry : September, 1861-September, 1865 > Part 11
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On the morning of the 9th, the day after the battle, the entire capture was assembled and moved forward toward their destina- tion, in Texas. No rations whatever were issued to the prisoners.
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Chilled, hungry and weary, this band, numbering fifty commis- sioned officers and 1,200 men, was goaded forward between two lines of rebel cavalry, flushed with a temporary success, void of all the principles of manhood, or the honor of a soldier, and filled with a ferocity developed by their losses and their triumphs. The. most insulting epithets were heaped on the defenseless men; and those who, from sickness or exhaustion, reeled in the ranks, were treated with a degree of barbarity almost beyond belief.
At 6 o'clock in the evening, after a march of twenty-four- miles, the staggering column was turned into an open field, with. an unbroken fast of two days. About 10 o'clock a small allow- ance of wood was given the prisoners, a pint of musty corn-meal, with a small quantity of salt beef, no salt, and one baking pan to each 100 men. There was no water within a quarter of a mile. Eight or ten men were taken out at a time, to fill canteens, of which a very small number had escaped the notice of the rapacious. captors on the field. The entire night was spent in trying to make a meal from the scanty material at hand, a task almost impossible.
At daybreak, on the 10th, the haggard procession was again put in motion, and marched twenty-five miles. During this day's. march, many men were forced along by the bayonet and by threats of shooting.
About the same rations were issued as on the evening before, with the addition of an abundant supply of water from a creek. In keeping with the consideration generally shown the prisoners. by the gnards, they encamped above the prisoners, and washed their horses and their own persons in the stream, and in other ways rendered the water as filthy as a systematic endeavor could make it.
After marching and halting for sixteen days, the point of des- tination was reached. The women and children from the country, on either side of the road for miles, congregated in motley groups to witness the rare sight. The doors and windows of every house. . were filled with crowds of haggard women, white-headed children and naked negroes, of all sizes and ages. Old men and boys were- posting hurriedly to the front, armed with every conceivable weapon known to the gunsmith of the last century, and mounted on every possible animal. Confederate flags were displayed in abundance -- fit emblems of treachery and villainy. In passing- any considerable group or town, the prisoners drowned all shouts. of exultation by the rebels with patriotic songs. The "Rally-
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Round the Flag" seemed to have new significance, and swelling out from a thousand brave throats, drowned the rebel shouts and yells. Never were the rallying songs of the Nation more appro- priately used, nor with greater effect, in impressing upon traitors an idea of the moral force of the Union, and its inevitable triumph.
The Rev. Hamilton Robb, chaplain of the Forty-sixth, a man of seventy years, made this dreadful march, a prisoner. He was not released until June, and was held until then in violation of the. universal custom of all civilized nations.
Previous to the arrival of the prisoners of the Red river cam- paign, Camp Ford had been occupied by about 800 men and officers, including 150 officers and sailors captured at various points on the coast of Texas.
In April, 1864, these men were almost destitute of clothing. Many, when captured, were robbed of all articles not absolutely necessary to cover them. They had passed one of the coldest winters known in Texas in that destitute condition. More than three-fourths of the men had no shoes, for months. In December, they had marched to Shreveport, a distance of 140 miles, and back in January, through rain, snow and sleet, and over icy roads, with no shelter at night, on rations of coarse meal and starved beef. Again, in March, they were driven over the same road and back. These moves, it was said, were made for the purpose of exchange, but they were not finally released until July. When they left the prison, many of them were about in the condition of Adam and Eve on the entree of those individuals into society.
On the 20th of April, the Red river prisoners arrived at Camp Ford and were promptly assigned quarters.
Early in May, some 1,500 officers and men, captured from General Steele, in Arkansas, were added to the already crowded prison pen, and, at various times, the captures from transports and gunboats were brought in, until the congregation reached four thousand eight hundred.
Steele's men had been captured at Mark's Mills, Ark. Their treatment had been most barbarous. As soon as they had been marched to the rear, they were systematically and completely stripped of everything - hats, boots, coats, pants, shirts and draw- ers -- and left to go naked, or put on the filthy rags thrown away by the scoundrels who robbed them. Their money, watches, and, in short, every article in their possession, was taken from them. Even the treasured pictures of their wives and mothers were taken
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and made the subjects of gross, vulgar ribaldry, and then thrown in heaps, when the chivalry rode over them with their horses.
AT CAMP FORD.
Tins prison was four miles from Tyler, Smith county, Texas. It covered an area of about six acres, enclosed by a stockade. A trench or ditch was first dug around the ground selected; in it were placed, on end, oak or pine timbers, fitted closely together, and forming a wall about eight feet high. On the outside the earth was banked up so that the guards, while on their beats, could see over the camp. The location was on an abrupt hillside - a kind of oak and pine barrens. Every tree and shrub was carefully cut down, leaving nothing to protect the prisoners from the drenching rains, the chilling dews of night, or the scorching rays of the sun. Within this pen the prisoners were turned, and mockingly told to "make yourselves comfortable."
The officers had the rare privilege of going to the woods to cut logs and limbs, which they carried in on their backs, under guard, and constructed rude and insufficient shelters. Thus, parties of five and ten going out, in time built up cabins, a labor not light, considering that there were only twenty axes and five shovels for use. These, among 4,800 men, were in demand. An auger and an old saw were supposed to be within the stockade, but could never be found.
The men, with the greatest difficulty, with an armful of brush brought in one day, and some twigs the next, sought to erect shelters to protect them from the sun. Parties of from ten to twenty were successively passed out, under guard, with an old ax or. two. A short time was allowed them to procure this class of material, but so great was the clamor and eager rush for the prison gate, that, in their ill-humor, the officers in charge for days would allow none to go out. Hundreds of the men dug trenches in the · hillsides, and from two to four lived in each, like wild animals. The rain ran through the thin covering of earth and made their only shelter untenable, even for swine. Others, with no enter- prise, made no attempts to shelter themselves, and, consequently, soon became sick from exposure. Many of those unfortunates died, and many became cripples for life.
To add to the misery of living in such hovels, this was one of the wettest seasons Texas had had for twenty years. During
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the entire months of May and June, and far into July, rain fell almost constantly, literally in torrents - floods overhead and cata- racts under foot. With blankets, only in proportion of ten men to one -robbed of clothing, in many cases, these unfortunate men were compelled, almost naked, to endure the drenching rains day and night. What though rain should cease, the dark gloom of a cheerless night, like some demon, would spread its impenetrable vale over the camp, and exaggerate, if possible, the misery of the sufferers. They did not freeze, but they shivered in every muscle. The body did not become numb, but there was an uneasy, unsatis- fied craving for warmth, that seemed worse than a positively colder degree. And with this misery came memories of home to inten- sify the suffering.
The ragged, haggard, care-worn men, huddled together like sheep, as if to kindle a little warmth by contact, and move the blood that seemed fast ceasing to flow. So, night after night ·of sleepless wretchedness passed, with no hope of comfort in the coming morn except the warming influences of day.
Many of the prisoners were recruits, on their first campaign, and unaccustomed to the exposure of even ordinary camp life. Upon these the trial soon began to tell, and each night there was witnessed the death of some unfortunate breathing out his life in darkness. Lying in the mud, with the rain falling upon him, he became insensible to the loud thunder and the vivid lightning, and was beyond the reach of those who tortured him.
LIFE INSIDE.
THE inside of a rebel prison camp cannot, like many other things, be imagined. It must be lived-seen, felt -to be comprehended. Fancy and imagination, in most cases, can bring to view scenes of beauty or pictures of terror, but the degree of wretchedness in real prison life, such as the rebel government systematically imposed on its prisoners of war, was too extremely brutal and unusual to be appreciated outside of their infernal boundaries. Such suffering was only known in Confederate prison pens-nowhere else. The pen or tongue is inadequate to paint or group in one idea the multiplied sources of annoyance, pain and horror that had their rise in the prisons of the rebels for Union soldiers. They contained a multitude of ragged, dispirited men, covered with filth, and anxious only about the
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most ordinary and primary necessities of life. Reckless, regardless of everything except what pertained to their own immediate per- sonal existence; shivering with the cold at night and scorched with the sun in daytime; without hats to protect the head or clothes to cover the body, the elements had uninterrupted influence upon them, and they became the fruitful sources of disease and death.
Through the main street of Camp Ford, the larger portion of the prisoners passed for water, and Broadway never presented a. more busy scene of barter and traffic than there appeared. Nor did any broker's board ever present so much intenseness as was exhibited by the prisoners and outsiders in commercial operations. Here was brought the product of the surrounding country for sale, at fabulous prices. Flour at $500 a barrel ! There was no sign of shame on the face of the slave-driver, when he demanded from the reeling, exhausted prisoner forty dollars for a chicken. Melons sold at ten dollars, and that when they were rotting, in super- abundance.
Trading stands were erected along the main street of the pen. Wholesale and retail merchants operated in divers departments, and all diving into the pockets of the prisoners. Tobacco was the great staple article. Everybody wanted it -few could get it. Men would barter their only shirt for it, and it was said the old. repudiated quids were worked over and again made do duty. Whisky was sometimes introduced by a guard or an outsider. What was called a " drink," about a quarter of a gill, cost a dollar.
The prisoners made rings of bone, gutta percha, wood, etc., and sold them to outsiders, at strong prices. Turning lathes were set up and fancy work, principally chessmen, turned out, and sold at paying prices. Combs, violins, earthenware, and many other articles were manufactured, and in good style, too, and disposed of at remunerating prices. Many other articles were made in a. superior manner, and sold.
A crockery manufacturer got up several canteens, made of clay, . which were in much demand among the rebel soldiers. He cast. them over a tin one, and tore up a pair of old blue pants for covers. The cloth and the strips of an old shirt, for straps, were well washed, and the clay canteens, with an old teapot spout for a neck, looked, as they hung in front of his quarters, like a first rate article,. and perfectly new. It was not long before a squad of rebel soldiers passed through, and were attracted by the canteens, and the entire stock was sold at extra figures. Three months after, some of the:
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same squad sauntered through the same quarters, and innocently inquired for canteens. Remembering his customers, the prisoner said he had none -- that he never had any canteens. One of the- rebels said that they wanted a d ---- d Yankee who sold them some . canteens as they passed up. They were clay only, and when they put water in them, they just melted.
After being imposed upon in trading, a portion of the guard sought their revenge by persuading some of the men to come to a. forbidden line and trade. When they went out to the line, and displayed their goods, they were seized by the rebels and robbed. of all they had. The prisoners dared not resist, for they were in a position which would have warranted the guard in shooting- them, so they had to submit.
But it was not long before the prisoners squared accounts with the rebels. When the affair seemed to be forgotten, they were. invited in one night to trade. This was forbidden by the rules, but the extreme anxiety of the rebels to trade overcame their caution and induced them to venture. As soon as the business had arrived at an interesting stage, the rebels were seized, their pistols taken, and they were robbed of every movable article about . them. Their situation obliged them to submit.
Exciting and amusing scenes occurred. When a wagon loaded with produce entered the camp a dense crowd would gather around it. A multitude of purchasers would so confuse the vender that . all consciousness would be lost, and his stuff would go without a consideration.
On one occasion a pompous old planter came in with a wagon load of produce, driven by a negro. A few hundred men sur- rounded the wagon, and made offers to purchase. In the mean- time the linchpins were removed, and the wheels slipped to the ends of the spindles. The hame-strings were untied and the har- ness generally loosened. About that time the planter begun to suspect something wrong, and ordered his negro to drive out. qnick. Jube cracked his whip, and, lo! a general catastrophe- ensued. The mules slipped from the harness, the wheels rolled off and the wagon, planter, produce and negro experienced sudden emancipation. The old gentleman felt a dozen hands in his. pockets, which quickly relieved him of everything. He lost all his produce, his money, his hat, harness (for it was valuable material) and most of his clothes, while his negro was carried off" to the quarters on the shoulders of the men.
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This "outrage" called forth the severest denunciations from the authorities, but, on investigation, it appearing that nobody did "it, there was no punishment.
ESCAPES.
THOUGH the prison was heavily guarded, escapes and attempts were of nightly occurrence. During the month of March, a party projected and completed a tunnel. It commenced inside of one of the cabins, and extended out 150 yards beyond the stockade; but just as all was ready for a general rush, the stockade was extended for the accommodation of more prisoners, and the plan was frus- trated. This tunnel, afterward, furnished a good place for prison- · ers to hide in when contemplating an escape. They would enter and remain until the pursuit of them outside was given up, when they would go in earnest. Several tunnels were constructed, but none were ever made available for their original purpose. One large one was within fifteen feet of completion in March, 1864, when the last but one of the prisoners of the Forty-sixth come out. It was reported abandoned. This tunnel cost an immense amount . of labor. A shaft six feet deep was sunk in a cabin. The tunnel was then started toward a bank outside, about 170 feet distant. The chamber was two feet wide by three feet high. Air holes were opened above, under a bunk or a bed, through which the miners got breath. The tools used were case-knives; a sled, upon which the earth was drawn out in buckets, and ropes made from cows' tails. A station would be established midway, to which the sled would be hauled by a stationary Yankee engine. The bucket would then be put on another sled and hanled to the shaft. The first sled would, at the same time, return to the work, bearing another bucket. The earth was spread under bunks, or in holes about the camp, and covered up before daylight. There was a traitor among the prisoners, at last discovered to be one Hawkins, of the One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio. On discovery, he was removed outside, and lived about the officers' quarters, and worked for them at tailoring. On coming up the river, in March, 1864, this gentleman was thrown overboard, but was saved by the deck hands, who were not posted.
Nearly every movement in the pen was known to the guards, and great cantion was observed in working on tunnels. None except a select few knew anything about it. Rebel officers would come
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in and make a general and thorough examination, looking especially for tunnels, of which they evidently knew something. Ramrods. and swords were run into the earth, but no discoveries were made .. The " Grand Trunk" laid too deep.
The digging of the large tunnel cost an immense amount of risk and labor. On one part of the line the excavation had to be - made fifty feet without ventilation - almost suffocating those . engaged in it.
A pack of trained hounds was constantly kept for the purpose . of tracking and hunting down fugitives from the pen, and these were under the chargeof a professional negro hunter. When a . prisoner was missed, these dogs were made to take the circuit of the camp until the track was discovered, which they would follow, . through woods and swamps, and almost invariably overtake the . exhausted man.
Music was often resorted to, to beguile the watchful guards . while a party was meditating an escape. Attention would be - attracted by a good song, while a log would be dug up out of the stockade, and a party prepared for the venture were getting out .. Others, more venturesome or desperate, would draw themselves to the top while the sentinel's back was turned, and quietly let them- selves down on the outside.
Hundreds who had secreted their money, bribed guards to . connive at their escape. Sometimes as many as twenty of a night went out in that way. The market price for such favors was five . dollars in greenbacks. Such contracts were made with men pro -. fessing Union sentiments, and who would, for money, take such risks.
But very few of those who got out of prison escaped. It was - rare one overcame all the dangers from dogs, rebels, deep rivers, swamps, hunger, and the many difficulties that beset the way to the Federal lines. In from two to ten days the fugitive would be . brought back and reconsigned to the pen.
It was seldom the officers discovered the absence of a man. escaping, until his friends made it known or he was recaptured. Keeping his escape a secret gave the man a start of the hounds and . cavalry, and it gave the camp an extra ration.
It frequently occurred that when a soldier died a sailor would exchange clothes with the deceased, and remove the body to his quarters. The sailor would assume his name, get his rations and a chance for exchange or parol -a privilege not possessed by-
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sailors. Of the numbers getting out, it is safe to say that not "over one in fifty finally escaped. The others were overtaken and brought back, to suffer severe penalties for their effort.
The nearest point in the Federal lines was at Vicksburg, a · distance of 300 miles. There was not a county in the States west of the Mississippi, within the Confederate lines, but what had a party of mounted soldiers, with a leash .of trained bloodhounds, hunting deserters and conscripts. At least one-half of the popu- lation was actively disloyal, and bore an intense hatred to Federal soldiers. An escape might well be considered a miracle.
Most of those attempting to escape, started with little or no preparation. They were ignorant of the geography of the country, and without maps or charts. Many knew nothing : about traveling at night, and were unaccustomed to traveling in forests. Their appearance would betray them to the first man they met. After a few days of bewildered wandering, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, many would be willing to barter their free- dom for corn-bread, and give themselves up, or, more probably, be overtaken by men and hounds, and driven back. Frequently men would travel hard all night, and by the first dawn of daylight - see the prison from which they had escaped six or eight hours before. Many cases occurred where men had reached the Missis- sippi and were recaptured while hailing a gunboat or transport. Others, within sight of a Federal picket, would be taken by some straggling vagabond and delivered up.
Much ingenuity was required and used to conceal the escape of a prisoner by his comrades. Every morning there was a general roll-call. The camp was divided into seetions of from 100 to 200 men. A rebel sergeant had a roll of these, and it was his duty to call the list and ascertain the presence or absence of every man. The prisoners were formed in two ranks, and two sentinels, with muskets and bayonets, passed along the front and rear of the line as the roll-call was called. With all this precaution, the absent ones were duly answered for without discovery. Frequently the sergeant, whose duty it was to call the roll, was not able to read the names withont spelling, when some considerate Yankee would volunteer to assist him, and would inadvertently miss the name of an absconding party. By universal consent, the party covering up the absence of a friend was entitled to the surplus ration. With the officers there was more difficulty. They were carried on a separate roll, but they were so successful that the name of an
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absentee was often carried a month without discovery -- long enough to insure his safety.
GENERAL TREATMENT.
THE commanding officer of Camp Ford, Lieutenant Colonel Borders, was an Englishman, a resident of the South about nine years. From association with the most reckless and dissipated of this semi-barbarous society, he was thoroughly imbued with its worst qualities. By marriage he had stepped into a fortune, and had become arrogant and haughty. Here the innate brutality of the man found full scope and a field for cultivation. The posses- sion of power fed his pride and sharpened his malice. With all, the infamy of his character was intensified by his being a bitter , rebel. A monarchist, hating everything republican, and with unbounded vindictiveness toward Federal soldiers, he was a fit instrument to carry out the system provided by the leaders of the rebellion in the treatment of prisoners. He had an adjutant, unprincipled, cowardly, vicious and destitute of the dimmest spark of manhood. This officer's name was Lieutenant McCann. He had no principle of action but the slavish one of wishing to please his superiors. When some of the prisoners were coming home through New Orleans, McCann was just being brought in a pris- oner. General Canby was informed of the brutality practiced by him by Major Norris, of the Forty-third Indiana, when the scoun- drel was put in irons, and a ration of a pint of meal a day, with a half pound of bacon, ordered him.
If men approached too near the stockade -- the limit being ten feet - they were either shot down or made to mark time at a vig- orous " double-quick," at the pleasure and discretion of the senti- nel. As many of these were boys, not over fifteen years old, it was very gratifying to the embryo traitor to have a Yankee dance at his bidding. The inducement, a cocked musket, held at the breast of the prisoner and handled in the most reckless manner, was generally sufficient to get out of a man all the dance there was in him. As many as thirty at a time have been subjected to this treatment for two hours, or until they became exhausted and fell. Confederate officers often stood by, enjoying the scene and suggesting a bayonet to enliven the performance.
Men who were overtaken in trying to escape. and returned to prison, were made to stand on stumps or blocks of wood, bare-
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headed, in the sun for four hours, and after two hours off, then. again on for four hours. This, in some cases, was continued for a. week.
Lady visitors sometimes visited the prison, and seemed to enjoy the misery they witnessed.
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