USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > The Melrose memorial : the annals of Melrose, county of Middlesex, Massachusetts, in the great rebellion of 1861-'65 > Part 13
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"Camp Ford," the " Andersonville " of Texas, was situ-
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IN REBEL PRISONS.
ated four miles from the town of Tyler, and consisted of a space of six acres, enclosed with a stockade of timbers eight feet high. One-sixth of this area was allotted to the officers, who dwelt in log huts and cabins of various shapes, crected by themselves or purchased of former tenants ; while the rest of the area was occupied by the other prisoners, who burrowed under ground, or erected booths of branches, and arranged every conceivable contrivance for a shelter. In April, during the "Red River Expedition," under General Banks, eleven hundred and eighty-six Federal pris- oners, captured at the "Battle of Mansfield," April 8, 1864, were brought to "Camp Ford" at one time. Many others were added at subsequent times, so that at the time Chambers entered the "Camp," May 28th, there were congregated as many as forty-seven hundred prisoners, three hundred of whom were officers. The rations for much of the time consisted of corn meal, -cob and all ground up, and generally musty at that ; often whole corn, without grinding, was given them. With this kind of food, insufficient clothing, and such general ill-treatment, it is not strange that there were many deaths. From May I, to Dec. 1, 1864, there were two hundred and thirty-two deaths in the "Camp."1 It was a constant boast with the guard, as they went on duty, that they would "shoot a
1 A very good picture of life at "Camp Ford," as then experienced, is given in the following letter written by the Confederate Post-Surgeon.
TYLER, TEXAS, June 14, 1864.
Surgeon J. M. Hayden, Chf. Med. Bureau, T. M. D.
Sir : - In obedience to orders, I reported to the officer in command of the camp of Fed- eral prisoners at this place (Colonel Anderson), who immediately placed me on duty, as surgeon in charge. I at once set about examining the sanitary condition of the stockade, and although my mind was prepared by representations to meet with abundant materials for dis- ease, it fell far short of the reality. The enclosed ground is entirely too small for the number
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
Yank to-day," and often, without any provocation what- ever, would a prisoner be shot down. Many were thus killed during his imprisonment. Notwithstanding all these disheartening circumstances, the Fourth of July, 1864, was duly celebrated by the reading of a poem, of the Declaration of Independence, and the delivery of an oration, interspersed with national airs by a glee club. When the weather permitted, much of the time it being very wet, evening meetings were held, conducted by the chaplains present. During all this time the hope of being exchanged was constantly entertained, fed by rumors, and the fact that occasionally squads of two or three hundred were sent away for that purpose.
Yankee ingenuity developed itself wonderfully at " Camp Ford," and a great variety of articles were manufactured.
of men, (over 4,500), and it would be impossible to make them healthy in such a crowded con- dition. The filth and offal have been deposited in the streets and between the quarters, from which arises horrible stench. A great number of the enlisted men have no quarter nor shelter, and have to sleep out on the ground, without even a blanket to cover them. Some of the sick are thus situated, and I am making preparations to provide for their wants and to make them comfortable. We have a hospital in course of erection, and will need bedding very much. The popular prejudice here is so strong against them that I can get no facilities from the people. I have sent to you for approval the requisition which I would have sent directly to the Medical Purveyor, but I thought your signature would be necessary. 1 am ready to receive into hospital a few, if we had the articles, and they are not to be had here. No regular register of cases or deaths has been kept, up to a recent period, but I visited the grave- yard and counted twenty-five graves, a much smaller number than I wasled to believe. *
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant, F. W. MEAGHER.
The following notice was also found posted one morning :
Hereafter any Federal prisoner, being detected in trying to make his escape from the prison, - either in the act, or after he has made his escape, - will be shot by the one capturing him. By order of Lieutenant-Colonel J. P. BORDERS,
B. W. McEACHAN,
Comd'g Camp Ford Prison.
Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant.
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IN REBEL, PRISONS.
With a half-dozen axes and hatchets, three spades, a dull saw and their jack-knives, the prisoners contrived to mul- tiply tools, and erect machinery, by means of which musical instruments, rakes, hoes, bedsteads, tables, chessmen, pipes, and very many other useful and ornamental articles were manufactured; and in this manner many weary hours of imprisonment were whiled away. While here Chambers contrived to make a very fine and complete model of the ship " Morning Light." 1
A newspaper was also established, called "The Old Flag," printed with pen and pencil, containing a variety of advertisements and literary emanations, and circulated among the prisoners.
Thus was this long imprisonment passed, amid many privations, much suffering, sickness, and death; but the long looked for and long deferred hour at length arrived. On the 3d of March, with three hundred other prisoners, Chambers was marched to the mouth of the Red River, and on the twenty-sixth day of March, 1865, having been in the hands of the Confederates two years, two months, and five days, he was exchanged and sent to New Orleans ; thence up the Mississippi River, home.
EDMUND WALLACE DAVIS.
Enlisted in Co. G, Twenty-Second Massachusetts Reg- iment, in 1861, and was taken prisoner at the "Battle of Gaines' Farm " or " Gaines' Mills," June 27, 1862. He was
' Colonel Duganne in his "Twenty Months in the Department of the Gulf," while enumerating the characteristics of some of his co-prisoners, thus refers to Chambers : " The ingenious Chambers whose model of the ' Morn- ing Light ' was a trophy of Yankee naval architecture."
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL ..
first carried to " Libby Prison," and afterwards to " Belle Isle," but was held only about six weeks, when he was exchanged and sent into the union lines; consequently . his sufferings, as a prisoner, were of short duration ; but the heart disease, with which he had been suffering, was aggravated by the treatment received while in the hands of the Rebels, and he was discharged from the service soon after his exchange. He died at Melrose, July 22, 1864.
Davis was one of five brothers that served in the Union army. Loami G. was in the Thirty-Third and Third Heavy Artillery Regiments; John E. and James L. were in the Forty-Second Regiment ; Charles L. in the Eighth Maine Regiment ; and Edmund W. in the Twenty-Second Massachusetts Regiment. We had no other instance where one family furnished five persons for the army, but we had two other families that furnished four; Martin and York, as follows : George T. Martin was in the Thirty- Eighth and Fourth Heavy Artillery Regiments ; William H. in the Thirty-Eighth Regiment; Charles H. in the Fourth Heavy Artillery ; and Jeremiah, Jr., in the Navy. Benjamin F. York was in the Fifty-Sixth Regiment ; Josiah R. and William B. were in the Forty-Second ; and Arthur, Jr., was in the Twelfth New Hampshire Regi- ment.
Several families furnished three members for different periods of service, viz: Shelton, Macey, Emerson, -a father and two sons ; Peabody,-a father and two sons ; Wyman and Mclaughlin. Many families gave us two members ; viz: Anderson, Barry, Barron, Crockett, Dawes, Fuller, Grover, Howard, Ireson, Lynde ; two families two each, - Morse, Marshall, - father and son, - McAllister, Nichols, and Quinn.
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IN REBEL PRISONS.
FREDERICK W. KRANTZ.
When the Rebellion broke out Krantz was in the U. S. Navy, having enlisted in 1859 for three years; he was dis- charged at Portsmouth, N. H., Sept. 24, 1861. In July, 1862, he enlisted in Co. C, Thirty-Third Regiment. After the " Battle of Gettysburg " was fought and won, while our army was pursuing General Lee, he became foot-sore, and, with others, was left behind the army to follow as best he could, when he was taken prisoner by Stuart's Cavalry. He was carried to a tobacco warehouse about two miles from Piankatank Point, between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Here he suffered the usual hard treatment allotted our prisoners, being sick a long while with fever and ague ; but, after an imprisonment of seven months, he made his escape in the night and reached Washington, Feb. 3, 1864. He returned to his home in Melrose, and, after recruiting his health during a furlough of two months, was returned to his regiment, then encamped in Lookout Valley, East Tennessee. After taking part in nearly all the engagements of the "great march to the sea," under General Sherman, he was again taken prisoner by Rebel cavalry, while on a foraging expedition. He was taken to the prison at Salisbury, N. C., where he remained suffering the horrors and tortures of that place, until just before the fall of Richmond, when he was removed to "Libby Prison," and after a delay of two weeks was paroled and sent to City Point, where he arrived, once more under the old flag, on the day Richmond was evacuated. He was sent to Annapolis, and soon after discharged and sent home.
The following extract from the "Congregationalist and Recorder" gives a slight idea of some of the experiences passed through by our prisoners while at " Andersonville."
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
It is from the description of a visit made in April, 1868, by the Rev. C. L. Woodworth, who was Chaplain of the Twenty-Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, two hundred and fifty members of which had been inmates of this " prison-pen."
After speaking of the insufficiency of water allowed our prisoners, received from a small brook running through the enclosure, which in summer "could have been little more than a mere drizzle from the swamps around," and that within bow-shot was "a creek of beautiful, unfailing water, twenty feet wide, and three feet deep, which would have made prison-life almost a joy," of the forests of wood near at hand, and only one stick a day allowed for a squad of fifty men, and of the evidences of the many attempts at "mining out " made by our men, he says :
One can give no account of his feelings as he wanders over these accursed acres, and sees everywhere traces of the unfortu- nate occupants. The debris of cabins, chimneys, fire-places, ovens, holes in the hill-side, are among the painful evidences of the battle they fought for comfort and life. The side-hill on the north, is burrowed all over, and reminds one of a sand bank honey-combed with swallows' holes. Some of these under- ground excavations were quite spacious, and might hold a score, while others are so small that not more than one could have occupied them at a time. The tops of the larger ones have mostly fallen in, softened by the rain. Indeed, it was no uncom- mon thing during a rainy night for some one or more of them to cave in and bury the sleepers. Quite a number of lives, it is said, were lost in this way.
But that which most forcibly reminds one of the terrible strug- gle which the men had for simple comfort, is the wells which they dug in search of water. Forty of these are still in exist- ence, and some of them as fresh as if dug but yesterday. In a
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ANDERSONVILLE PRISON.
number of instances they went down eighty feet, but in nearly every case failed to find the coveted treasure. One marvels how they could have dug them without tools of any sort, using simply their fingers, and bringing up the dirt in the poekets of their blouses, or in their caps, or handkerchiefs. Had I not seen the wells, and waited some moments for a stone, that I dropped in to strike the bottom, I could not have believed it. How consuming the thirst which could impel to such labors ! Until near the close of the war there was only one structure inside the stockade, - that was a small, rough building used by the Quartermaster, - where were weighed, and from whence were issued the scanty rations that our men fought over like famished dogs. I saw the platform, and a part of the scales on which this starvartion diet was balanced to the nicety of death.
It was after the attention of the civilized world had been directed to the barbarity practised on our prisoners, that the confederate government put up within the stockade, both at the northern and at the southern end, five large sheds of a hundred feet in length, simply covered at the top; the sides all open like a depot wood-house. These were better than nothing, but in storm and cold, were a poor protection for weak, starving men, and miserably inadequate for all.
South of the main stockade a hundred and fifty yards or so, was the hospital stockade. Within this were twenty-two of these long, low sheds, from which fifteen thousand martyred souls went up to God. The day I visited this ground was hazy and sultry, and I imagined the air was stifling from the boding horrors which every object suggested. Could I forget that only a little time ago these sheds were filled with sick, pale, famished, wasted men, that every hour out of the twenty-four, the dead- cart carried, at least, two, oft times six, lifeless bodies to the trenches !
Seven forts and earthworks commanded the prison, and made all thought of resistance hopeless. Escape, therefore, was a thing which depended entirely on the cunning and craft of
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
the individual man. Mining out was a favorite method ; a few scaled the stockade. Some ran the guard, and others, who had passes to cut wood, bring water, or bury a comrade, forgot to return. But this constant attempt to outwit, and elude their keepers, was met on their part with a weapon of warfare known only in the South, and up to this time practised only on negroes, and escaped Yankee prisoners. I refer, of course, to hounds that were kept to track and hunt down the fugitives. There were three block-houses, just west of the stockade, where the hunters and the hounds were quartered. Only one of the houses is now standing, and this will soon disappear, for every relic hunter is sure to carry a piece of it away. The stories told by the colored people of the horrid exploits of the hounds, - human and inhuman, -in running down our boys, is enough to make one's flesh creep. I have no heart to put a single one of them on paper.
We cannot better close these notices of the sufferings of our heroes in these wretched spots, than to give an extract from a letter by a correspondent of the " American Missionary," dated Atlanta, Ga., May 13, 1867, showing, as it does, the great change in the use to which " Ander- sonville " is now consecrated :
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 ever imagine to what use those buildings were to be applied, and 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 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
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ANDERSONVILLE PRISON.
love of woman. Where the rebel soldier's 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 jailer has fled, haunted by the memory of his crimes (for Wirz 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 growing in the empty stockade.
One of the ladies referred to above, says in the same paper :
You would scarcely know the place were you to come here now. The trees are heavy with the wealth of foliage, the air resonant with the sweet song of birds, and odorous with the breath of flowers. But the stockade with its silent tale of suf- fering, and the cemetery, with its quiet sleepers, are still here. " Andersonville " will ever be to me a memory of suffering, a home of dead heroes, a planting of freedom's seed. I am glad to have been here, glad of the record we shall leave - I only wish it were more glorious with fruit ; but one soweth, and another reapeth. I am content with sowing, and with the evidence of life in the seed. It is germinating ; already the mellowed soil is breaking from the struggles of the embryo which wants light and air. We have but to lay our ear to the earth, to hear the swelling and the struggling of the new life beneath. A few more rains of love, a few more dews of mercy, a few more suns of grace, and the blade will appear ; after that, the going on from strength to strength, till the harvest time shall come. Oh ! it has been good to work here. I thank God for it, and the rich experience it has brought !
XV.
1865.
CLOSE OF THE REBELLION.
Oh, beautiful ! my country ! ours once more ! Smoothing thy gold of war-dishevelled hair O'er such sweet brows as never others wore, And letting thy set lips Freed from wrath's pale eclipse,
The rosy edges of their smile lay bare. What words divine of lover or of poet Could tell our love and make thee know it, Among the nations bright beyond compare ? What were our lives without thee ? What all our lives to save thee ?
We reck not what we gave thee ; We will not dare to doubt thee, But ask whatever else, and we will dare! James Russell Lowell.
In the "Life of Abraham Lincoln," by Dr. J. G. Hol- land, -" Timothy Titcomb," - occurs the following vivid passage relative to the fall of Richmond :
The day on which Richmond fell will long be remembered by the people of America, in both sections of the country. When the news was made public on Monday, - April 3, 1865, - the whole North was thrown into a frenzy of joyous excitement. Every bell on every public building, from the Atlantic to the Pacific was rung for hours. Cannon answered to cannon, from
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CLOSE OF THE REBELLION. 200
mountain to mountain, and from valley to valley. Men grasped one another's hands in the streets, and wept, or embraced each other in the stress of their joyous enthusiasm. Public meetings were called, at which the deeds of the gallant heroes who had won the decisive victories were praised and cheered, and the public exultation found expression in speech and music. Noth- ing like it was ever seen upon the continent. The war was over. Richmond, that had so long defied the national authority and resisted the national arms, was ours. The rebel President and his associates were fugitives. Lee's army was running away, and Grant was pursuing them. The sun of peace had fairly risen. The incubus of war that had pressed upon the nation's heart for four long, weary years, was lifted ; and the nation sprang to its feet, with all possible demonstrations of joyous exultation.
Melrose joined with much enthusiasm in these demon- strations over the joyful termination of this great struggle. Upon the receipt of the telegram,
Richmond and Petersburg are ours. A third part of Lee's army is destroyed. For the remainder there is no escape,
there was great rejoicing ; the bells were rung, flags hoisted, houses illuminated in the evening, and a display of fire- works ; and a general congratulation over this long wished for event. A concert, given on the same evening by the " Melrose Musical Association," under the direction of Mr. Andrew J. Morse, was closed with patriotic airs, and cheers for General Grant and his noble army.
This great and universal joy was augmented six days later, April 9th, by the news of General Lee's surrender to General Grant, at " Appomattox Court House."
The culmination was now reached, and rebellion crushed.
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
Henceforth Peace was to take the place of War. The time had come when
" They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks."
But this great gladness was very soon turned into the deepest mourning by the death of our beloved president, Abraham Lincoln, who died only six days after Lee's sur- render, - April 15, 1865, -by the hand of an assassin.
Governor Andrew communicated this sad intelligence to the Massachusetts Legislature, April 17th, commencing his address as follows :
In the midst of the exultations of repeated victory, in the midst of the highest hopes, of the most auspicious omens, in the hour of universal joy, the nation passed at once, by an in- serutable and mysterious Providence, into the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Assembled while the cloud is yet thick upon our eyes, and the hearts of men are oppressed by the sense of a strange dismay, it has become my mournful duty to record, by formal and official announcement to the Legislative department of the Commonwealth, this calamitous and distressing event.
The day of the funeral, Wednesday, April 19th, was a day of general mourning throughout the land. Business was entirely suspended and funeral ceremonies were every- where held. Churches were thrown open, and music, prayer, and eulogy testified to the nation's great loss.
In Melrose, a united service was held in the Congre- gational Church, which was appropriately draped in mourning. This was a deeply interesting occasion, and the exercises were 'as follows :
1.
CHANT. - " Thy Will Be Done."
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FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
II. INVOCATION AND READING OF THE SCRIPTURES. BY REV. WILLIAM S. BARNES.
III. HYMN.
Sce, gracious God ! before thy throne 'Thy mourning people bend ; 'Tis on thy sovereign grace alone Our humble hopes depend.
Dark, frowning judgments from thy hand Thy dreadful power display ; Yet mercy spares this guilty land, And still we live to pray.
How changed, alas ! are truths divine, For error, guilt and shame ! What impious numbers, bold in sin, Disgrace the Christian name !
Oh, turn us, turn us, mighty Lord, By thy resistless grace ; Then shall our hearts obey thy word, And humbly seek thy face.
IV. PRAYER. BY REV. HENRY BAKER.
V. HYMN.
God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform ; He plants his footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
Deep in unfathomable mines Of never-failing skill, He treasures up his bright designs, And works his sovereign will.
Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take : The clouds ye so much dread Are big with mercy, and shall break In blessings on your head.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, But trust Him for his grace :
Behind a frowning providence He hides a smiling face.
His purposes will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour ; The bud may have a bitter taste, But sweet will be the flower.
Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan his work in vain ; God is his own interpreter, And He will make it plain.
VI. ADDRESS. BY REV. WILLIAM S. BARNES.
VII. ADDRESS. BY REV. HENRY BAKER.
VIII. ANTHEM. " REST, SPIRIT, REST."
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FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
IX. ADDRESS. BY REV. HENRY A. STEVENS.
X. PRAYER. BY REV. WILLIAM S. BARNES.
XI.
HYMN.
My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, Of thee I sing : Land where my fathers died, Land of the pilgrim's pride, From every mountain side Let freedom ring !
My native country, thee - Land of the noble free - Thy name I love : I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills ; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.
Let Music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song ! Let mortal tongues awake ; Let all that breathe partake ; Let rocks their silence break - The sound prolong !
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THE MELROSE MEMORIAL.
Our father's God ! to Thee, Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing : Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light ;
Protect us by thy might, Great God, our King !
XII.
BENEDICTION.
BY REV. HENRY A. STEVENS.
Owing to the length of the programme, the remarks by Messrs. Barnes and Stevens were quite short ; the principal address being made by Rev. Mr. Baker, of which the fol- lowing is an abstract.
I would rather have been a silent listener amid the univer- sal sadness of this hour! The stillness of these draped walls, the sombre flags of a thousand cities at half-mast, and their countless avenues hung with symbols of deepest woe ; the silent tread of the millions of mourners, and the universal sadness unspeakable, welling up from a nation's heart, all speak louder than words the sad consciousness of our terrible bereavement. But not only our own native land, but if angels are interested in the affairs of earth, and carry tidings from continent to conti- nent, and sphere to sphere, the great heart of humanity every- where bleeds to-day ! The down-trodden of every land will shed a tear, for a great, a good man ; humanity's universal friend has rudely fallen. A man peculiarly honest, for he had earned the enviable name of "Honest Abe." A man paternal, for we loved to call him Father Abraham. A thoughtful, sober, frank, sincere, sagacious, far-secing, common people's man, that you and I had learned to love.
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