USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > The story of Camp Chase; a history of the prison and its cemetery, together with other cemeteries where Confederate prisoners are buried, etc > Part 24
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About this time ( July 15) the prison was enlarged, and the Cap- tain and his mess moved into the new place bag and baggage. In this prison there were about five acres. Instead of barracks. how- ever. there were tents. There was not a house. There were some seventeen hundred men in the prison at this time. Captain McNeil was quite ill for several days. Soon after this a call came to the prisoners to volunteer to build quarters. They were offered full rations and good clothing.
July 2 .- Rained all night; nice day follows. I am on the top of a new building. looking out into the world once more; have a splendid view ; country very level. I am spending some of the happiest moments of my prison life; see a woman. who looks charming to a poor prisoner shut out from the world and society.
Sunday, July 3 .- Very warm. One hundred and eighteen new- prisoners bring good news.
Monday, July 4 .- There is a roar of artillery at Columbus. A great celebration is going on there to-day. I am busy making rings. When at 9 o'clock wagons came in with wood, some forty Rebs charged the gate. The guards on the parapet began to fire on the men ; fire continues all around the parapet. I jumped up and ran out of my tent : I saw a sentinel with his gun up : he
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fired ; I ran up to the gate. All of us were ordered to return to our quarters, or were told that they would fire on us. As firing continues and is heard in the distance, there is great excitement, and no rations are to be issued to those who charged the gate for two days. One man was wounded and found lying close by the gate.
Tuesday, July 5 .- Beautiful morning. Excitement continues. No news. O God, deliver us from this awful place !
Thursday, July 7 .- For the first time in this prison, we had roll call. We are ordered to remain on the north side of the ditch runnng through the center of the prison, east and west. Cloyd, from Wilson County, Tenn., was shot through the leg for trying to cross. He says he did not hear the order. His leg was ampu- tated. His father was shot on the 4th instant, and his arm ampu- tated.
Saturday, July 9 .- Have been a prisoner two months to-day. The time seems as long as six months. We turned over our blankets and cooking vessels, and drew an equal amount. I kept two extra blankets.
July 13 .- Getting better. Two men shot to-day-one in the breast, the other in the thigh. Leg amputated. They were shot for throwing out a cup of water against orders. Both men were wounded by one ball.
Wednesday, July 20 .- Working hard making rings. Sell them readily for fifty cents each. Moving into our new houses. They are one hundred feet long by eighteen wide, and contain one hun- dred and ninety-six men-terribly crowded.
Friday, July 29 .- An order is issued prohibiting the sale of a great many things. There are two very good eating saloons here. We can send out and buy anything we wish to eat.
.August I .- Cloudy. Five hundred fresh prisoners from John- ston's army arrived to-day. They were all in fine spirits.
Saturday, August 6 .- Nice day. Two hundred prisoners came to-day. Grant was terribly defeated at Petersburg.
August 10 .- Will be exchanged soon. Got a letter from Uncle John D. Vincil, who sent me ten dollars; also his photograph. Met a cousin from Alabama. Still working hard making rings.
Friday, August 12 .- Four hundred new prisoners came to-day. several from my native country. Heard from home. Glad to see them all in good spirits.
September 2 .- Sentinels very talkative-all for McClellan.
September 5 .- No eatables allowed to come in here only on approval of the doctor. Hard times will be with us now. I am walking five times around the wall every evening. I feel much better by taking exercise.
Friday, August 9 .- Smallpox raging.
Many of the entries in this diary during this time related to
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reports from the front, about the armies and what they were doing. In the meantime one hundred prisoners were taken out for exchange. On October 4 there were sixteen cases of small- pox in the prison. Out of one hundred and ninety-six cases, thir- teen died. On October 8 it snowed, and there was only one stove to each house.
November 1 .- Rations were better than for some time.
November 8 .- This is the great day in the North-the election for President. God grant that something may be done to close this unhappy war !
Thursday, roth .- McClellan seven hundred ahead in Columbus, large majority in Cincinnati. Rations very short.
Wednesday, 16th .- Abe elected. Went out and drew a pair of pants and shirt ; gave us splendid Confederate gray.
Monday, 21st .- I put on my new gray suit and gaiters yester- day ; felt like a man once more. Report is that we will get full rations once more.
Thursday, Dec. I .- Talk of exchange. I get as much en- graving as I can do. Men go out every day by taking the oath. Rations are very short. This is enough to try any man's pluck- get up hungry, stay hungry all day, and go to bed the same way. They promised us straw to sleep upon. The promise was all we got.
Sunday, 18th .- The report is out that we are going to get bet- ter rations. . This pleases the boys, for we are half starved. Ra- tions are sold to us at half price.
Wednesday, 21st .- We had an election of officers to receive Confederate supplies. Colonel Hawkins, Captain Smith, and Colonel Jose, of Arkansas, got the most votes.
Thursday, 22d .- Colonel Hawkins is making a speech, and says we will soon get plenty to eat. All in fine spirits, a smile on every man's face.
Sunday. 25th .- Christmas day. Raining a little. Prison awful muddy. Have had a splendid dinner for the first time. We have one week's rations of beans and hominy. My mess has saved a spoonful of meal out of each man's rations for a month past. so we have four pints of meal and our day's rations. I think I never enjoyed a Christmas dinner as I did this one to- day. We had as much as we could eat for the first time for many long days.
Monday, 26th .- Mud four inches deep all over the prison ; an awful place.
Saturday, 31st .- Colonel Mulford goes to Richmond to arrange for exchange. We are all in hopes he will succeed.
1865. Sunday, January 7 .- Snowed all night; eight inches
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deep ; drifted in places four and five feet deep. Drew molasses for the first time since being a prisoner. Rations short again.
Tuesday, 17th .- Looks like all of Hood's army was coming here.
Thursday, 26th .- There are upward of five thousand men in this prison now. Thirty-four men died in the last twenty-four hours.
Sunday, 5th .- At 9 o'clock Lieutenant Sankey and several officers appeared on the parapet and, to our great surprise, said that all who wanted to go out on exchange come forward. There was yelling and cheering, and soon we became a solid mass of Rebels. Order was restored, and Lieutenant Sankey addressed the crowd. "Gentlemen," he said, "the Colonel commanding this Post has received orders to make rolls for exchange in lots of five hundred from Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana. Arkansas, and Kentucky: then the other States in rotation. All others from States not named will retire; the others remain." It is impossi- ble to find language to express my feelings when I heard the offi- cer say "exchange." God speed the day when I shall be permit- ted to bid a final farewell to my long home in Camp Chase! The first five hundred will leave Wednesday, and five hundred every other day. Hope that there is no humbug this time.
Monday. 6th .- Still calling and making out rolls. Papers con- firm the exchange. Men still dying at a fearful rate.
Tuesday, 7th .- A good many men are refusing to be ex- changed. Five hundred out of the first eight hundred signed the roll. They would rather be paroled. I don't see into that.
. Wednesday, 8th, has come and the first squad has not gone. Some two hundred have refused to go. Lieutenant Sankey says they will have to go if they don't get enough to exchange for their men.
Sunday, 12th .- First five hundred have gone. This begins to look like exchange sure enough.
Monday, 13th .- I have been called and all who came with me. Tuesday, 14th .- We signed the parole and are now ready to go.
Thursday, 6th .- Had good rations of flour and beef. Squad . ordered to be ready to leave for "Dixie" in the morning.
Saturday, 18th .- We are drawing fourteen ounces of flour per day. Very good.
Sunday, 19th .- W. H. Gose, of Tazewell, died last week.
[NOTE .- In the list of Confederate dead of Camp Chase the name of W. H. Gose, Sixteenth Virginia Cavalry, will be found. He died February 10, 1865, and was buried in Grave 1144. as shown in the plat .- EDITOR. ]
Monday, 20th .- The sutler is selling apples, potatoes, onions.
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cabbage, parsnips, and turnips. He cannot or does not supply the demand. Every one crowds to the sutler's, so that it is almost impossible to get anything.
Saturday, 25th .- Third squad called. Lacked four names of reaching mine. Sadly disappointed. They have taken several of -my mess, also my old friend and fellow-ringmaker. We have been working together now nine months. They call the roll al- phabetically-got down to L. One more letter is mine.
February 28 .- I am doubtful if I can sleep much -to-night, so anxious am I to go.
Wednesday, March 1 .- Report is that the exchange is played out. Many long faces to-day.
Thursday, 2d .- Raining. Fourth squad called out. I was fifth name called. One hundred of the Eighty-Eighth Ohio to guard us. Mud very deep. Arrived at Columbus at sundown. Got aboard box cars pretty well filled with straw.
There is much omitted from Captain McNeil's diary. He an- ticipates its complete publication some day.
Mr. R. H. Strother wrote a story of Camp Chase to the Confed- erate Veteran. The narrative, an interesting one, is as follows :
I regret very much that I am unable to give you a detailed history of my stay in prison at Camp Chase. I can recall events better than dates. It has been a long time ago. I failed to keep a diary, and many things connected with my life in Camp Chase have passed from my memory. I am satisfied that a true history of prison life at Camp Chase would not be believed by a large number of people in the Northern States; but whether they be- lieve it or not, those who were there and passed through the terrible sufferings imposed upon them know from sad experience that what they say is true.
I enlisted in the Confederate army September 10, 1862, and left my home in Trimble County, Ky. I became a member of Company E, Fourth Kentucky Cavalry. Our command, up to the time of my capture, operated in Kentucky, Southern Virginia. and Eastern Tennessee.
I was captured in the Rheatown fight, in Tennessee, about October 13, 1863. and taken first, after capture, to Greeneville. Tenn., then to Knoxville, where I remained until the first of November. Then, with about one hundred and fifty other pris- oners, I was sent to Nicholasville. Ky., afoot; thence by rail- road to Covington, where I, with one or two others, being sick. was left in the hospital. I remained there until about the middle of December, 1863. I was then sent to Camp Chase. On the way stopped in Columbus and remained there three or four days in the barracks, then on to Camp Chase. On my arrival at the prison I was put in the hospital, in old Prison No. 2. In a short
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time I was able to be on my feet again. I was then assigned to duty in the hospital, where I remained for a short while, and was then sent to one of the barracks in the prison.
When taps sounded at eight o'clock at night, all fire and light had to be extinguished; then the prisoners retired to their bunks to sleep, if they could. Imagine a man sleeping sweetly and com- fortably whose bed was a hard plank, and whose covering was one blanket, with the thermometer registering fifteen and twenty degrees below zero. On the 3Ist of December, 1863, snow fell to the depth of several inches. That night the weather turned extremely cold, and New Year's day was known the country over as "the cold New Year's."
On the morning of January 1, 1864, an officer with guards came into the prison, and ordered the prisoners from their bar- racks, one mess at a time, under the pretext of searching for con- cealed arms. We had to form in line in front of our barrack and stand in the snow shoetop-deep, the coldest day I ever saw, for nearly an hour. Quite a number had their feet frozen and frosted, and I, for one, suffer from it to this day. The sequel proved that, instead of searching for weapons, they were search- ing for extra blankets; and where there were found to be more blankets than men in a mess the extra blankets were taken away. I shall never forget the sufferings of that winter. In the spring following the prisoners, to change the monotony, concluded to organize a State government. We had in our prison then many distinguished men from the different Southern States.
As well as I remember, Col. W. S. Hawkins, of Tennessee, Maj. Sanders, of Virginia, Gen. Robert Vance, of North Carolina. and Col. Carter, of Tennessee, were the opposing candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor. On the day set for the election the prisoners got permission from the officers in com- mand to allow them to meet en masse and hear the different candidates present their claims. Quite a number of the Federal officers and a large number of ladies appeared on the parapet and listened, seemingly with great interest, to the speeches, as the candidates were orators of note. After the speaking the ballot was taken, and Hawkins and Carter were declared elected, and installed as Governor and Lieutenant Governor. Members were elected to the State Senate and Legislature; courts were estab- lished, from police court to the Supreme Court ; a standing army organized, with Maj. Lamar Fontaine as commander-in-chief. A daily paper was established, entitled. The Rebel Sixty-Four Pounder: or. The Camp Chase Ventilator, and had for its editors and correspondents talented and able men. There were but three or four copies of the paper put out each day. They were posted on bulletin boards in different parts of the prison. It was amuis- ing to see the boys gather around these bulletin boards to read
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the morning news. We all enjoyed the novelty of our govern- ment, for it served to keep our minds from our surroundings ; but our government lasted only a short time. I don't know why, unless those in authority saw we were deriving some pleasure and amusement from it, and concluded we were not suffering sufficiently ; so they forbade the prisoners collecting in groups of more than two or three persons. Then, as we could no longer enjoy the privileges of our government, we had to submit to that of Uncle Sam.
During the spring and summer of 1864 quite a number were transferred from Prison No. 2 to Prison No. 3, about a half mile north. Here we underwent the same treatment and the same monotony as Prison No. 2. During this season, Prisons Nos. I and 2 were remodeled, and a new prison built at the west end of Prison No. 2. They were all in a row, with a partition fence between them fourteen feet high, on which was a parapet for the guards who, in patroling their beats, could see what was going on in each prison, as well as the guards on the outer walls. After the walls were placed around the new prison, and before the barracks were completed. the prisoners from old Prison No. 3 were removed to new Prison No. 3, a great many having to occupy tents until the barracks were completed. The barracks in the new were superior to those in the old prison. [They have been described elsewhere .- AUTHOR.]
The prisoners had to do all the nursing of sick. Doctors were provided by the government. They made their rounds in the morning. The death rate was at times very high. In February, 1864. if I mistake not, it was 600. At times we were treated humanely; at others barbarously. Whether it was the fault of the government or the officers in command. I am unable to say. We were not allowed to have over one dollar at a time by the prison regulations ; and if a prisoner succeeded in concealing his money when searched on entering prison, he could not use it if it was in bills or coins of a larger denomination than a dollar, for the sutler was ordered to confiscate all bills of a larger de- nomination when you went to purchase from him.
At times the prisoners could buy eatables from the sutler : at other times he was allowed to sell only paper, envelopes. stamps, tobacco, and articles such as were needed in our wardrobe to cleanse ourselves. Occasionally we were allowed to receive boxes of provisions and clothing from our friends.
In our correspondence we were limited for a long time to writ- ing one letter per week and only one page of note paper. But I often sent six or eight and some of them four pages of foolscap. and they were not examined ; but I will not give my friend away. He may yet be living, and I would not like for him to be called a traitor in his old days. He was true to his country, but humane
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to prisoners, and I shall cherish the memory of that man through life.
I have not mentioned the dark side of prison life in Camp Chase. I wish that I had never witnessed it. I should like to think better of my fellow-man. When, without cause, you see men shot down by your side, it is awful. - One day while I was conversing with a young man from Ten- nessee, standing near the center of the prison, I heard the report of a gun. The young man with whom I was talking reeled and fell, shot by one of the guards; and why, we never knew. He was shot through the leg, between the knee and thigh. The bone was shivered and he lost his leg. He is still living. On another occasion a young man went to one of the wells and, after drinking, turned to leave, when he was shot. The ball passed through his arm between the shoulder and elbow, then through his side and out through his arm again between the elbow and wrist. The same ball passed on through a tent, wounding a man who was sit- ting in the tent reading his Bible. He had his left hand resting on his left leg. The ball cut off his little finger and passed through his leg, which had to be amputated. This was without any provocation.
On another occasion one of the prisoners was killed at night while sitting by the stove. It was against the prison regulations for fire to be kept burning in stoves after 8 P.M. On the night mentioned the prisoner was sick and nearly frozen. it being very cold, when he made a fire in the stove and was quietly sitting by it. The sentinel, seeing the smoke from the stovepipe, got the proper range. fired, and killed the poor fellow. Many were the shots fired into barracks at night, sometimes wounding some one. Many were the attempts made to escape, but few were suc- cessful. Tunnel after tunnel was made, but before reaching the outside was discovered. There were spies in the prison who re- ported.
On one occasion in our barracks we discovered one of the spies. That night after taps he was taken from his bunk, a blanket wrapped around his head, and he was plunged into a barrel of water that stood at the corner of the building ; but before he had been in the barrel long enough to drown, another spy that we had not found out reported to the guard and he was rescued. But it was the last seen of the gentleman in that prison.
I could give many other instances of cruelty practiced on the . prisoners, but I forbear.
I left Camp Chase in the spring of 1865 and came to my Ken- tucky home, where I have resided since : but the cause for which we fought is still dear to me-the principles of a true republic.
In a letter to Col. Knauss he wrote :
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I know of you from what I have read concerning the interest you have taken in the graves of the Confederates at Camp Chase, and have wished that I could be present sometime on Decoration Day. Your friends in the South are legion. May God bless and prosper you! is the wish of your unknown friend.
LIEUT. D. T. MITCHELL. .
D. T. Mitchell, a planter and merchant living at Highlandale, 'Miss., has prepared for this volume the following interesting little story of his escape from Camp Chase Prison :
In June, 1864. we had a severe fight at Mt. Sterling, Ky., in which our loss was very heavy. Lieut. Samuel G. Grasty, of Danville, Va., and myself were wounded and left on the field, being carried to the hospital in town and kept for some two
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months. We were moved then to Lexington and there kept in the hospital a few days, then to Louisville a few days; and our wounds still improving, we were taken to Camp Chase, Ohio, landing there sometime in August. About that time they were sending all the officers to Johnson's Island, and immediately on leaving Mt. Sterling Grasty proposed to get the officer in charge to change the roll and put us down as sergeants, to which I readily agreed; and we had to plead with then very hard to get them to do it, by telling them that the inis- take occurred by our acting as lieutenants in the absence of the regular lieutenants, and they got to calling us lieutenants.
His (Lieutenant Grasty's) object in the matter was then to keep from going to Johnson's Island, for if they sent us to any inland prison, we would have a better chance to make our escape, as the exchange of prisoners had been discontinued. and the idea of staying in prison indefinitely was horrid. That winter of 1864-65, when it was so cold the Federal authorities did not have so many guards upon the parapets, Grasty watched all one morn- ing, and, as he thought the time had come for him to try the hazardous undertaking, he came into the barrack and said he was going to make the effort. Not one of us but thought that he would be captured or more probably killed. I had some good citizens' clothes sent to me from my friends in Kentucky, and we dressed him up pretty well, and a Federal blue coat and pants over them, and I wrote him a pass myself, and it read about thus :
"HEADQUARTERS, CAMP CHASE, OHIO.
"All guards will pass Corporal
"LIEUTENANT SANKEY, Officer of the Guard."
I have forgotten the name I substituted for that of Grasty ; but I remember that there was a Lieutenant Sankey who made his appearance on the parapet very often and sometimes threw us our letters, and we all knew him well.
After we had finished dressing him, the great object was a little greenback money, in case he should get through.
As it happened. I carried some in there with me. I had it under the lapel of my vest. It had been given to me by friends while in the Louisville ( Ky.) hospital, and on entering Camp Chase I pulled out a two-dollar bill, handed it to the officer, and told him that was all I had. He rubbed his hands over my clothes a little, and said: "That fellow has been in the hospital : he hasn't got anything. Let him in." I then had forty dollars secreted on my person. I then gave Grasty the last ten dollars I had. The clothes and money all ready, then it was for two brave men to go to the parapet with him and lift him up high enough so lie
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could reach the parapet with his hands, pull up, and jump to the ground, and go walking along the same as a guard. corporal, officer, or any other soldier. The chance Grasty wanted was just as a guard turned to walk the other way on his beat. He and his two men then jumped to the parapet, and up they hoisted him. He went right along following the guard. A man by the name of Penn, from Tennessee, was one of the mess who helped him up; the other I have forgotten. The reason I was not the other man was because I had not entirely recovered from my spell of sickness. It was so bitter cold that the guard had the cape of his overcoat entirely over his head, so that he never saw or noticed Grasty, and neither did any one else. I learned afterwards that they found the Federal blue coat and pants where he pulled them off and threw them away. He wrote several letters to me, and dated them Quebec, Canada ; but they were always mailed in New York, where I knew he had friends. This was the second time he made his escape.
This is as brief as I can make it, and exactly as it occurred. though many little incidents are omitted. I was brevetted Second Lieutenant, Company H, Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, C. S. A. Born and reared in Henry County, Ky. Was then in my twenty- fourth year of age ; now in my sixty-fourth, this September, 1904. D. T. MITCHELL.
The following is told by Capt. W. H. Herbert, at present Dep- uty Mayor of Sandusky. Ohio, prominent in business and a prom- inent Elk. The Southerner who may make a pilgrimage to Johnson's Island will find a good friend in Captain Herbert. He was not confined upon the Island at any time, as his narrative will show. A copy of a special order assigning the Captain (then Lieutenant) to the command of a number of exchanged prisoners is here given, he having kept it through all the years :
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