USA > Texas > Prison life in Texas : an account of the capture and imprisonment of a portion of the 46th Regiment, Indiana Veteran Volunteers in Texas > Part 2
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PRISON LIFE IN TEXAS.
daunted heroes in blue, drowned all shouts of exultation of the foe, with patriotic national songs. The "Rally Round the Flag, Boys," seemed to have a new signifi . cance, and swelling out from a thousand brave souls, drowned the weak ebullition of rebel hazzas. Never were the rallying songs of the nation more appropriately used, nor with greater effect, in impressing upon the traitors an idea of the moral force of the nation, and its inevitable triumph.
The Rev. Hamilton Robb, Chaplain of the 46th Indi- ana, a man near 70 years of age, made this march, a pris- oner. He was released by order of Kirby Smith, at Camp Ford, late in June. This officer had also been cap- tured at Champion Hill, on the Vicksburg march in 1863.
Previous to the arrival of the prisoners captured from General Banks, Camp Ford was occupied by about eight hundred men and officers, including one hundred and fifty officers and sailors, captured at various points on the coast of Texas.
The army was represented by Colonel Burrell and eight officers of the 42d Massachusetts, who were captured at Galveston, about the 12th of January, 1863; the en- listed men had all been paroled ; the officers who were captured at Brashear City, La., in June, 1863; the 19th Iowa Infantry, Lieutenant Colonel Leake; the 26th Indi- ana, Lieutenant Colonel Rose, captured at Morganza, in September, 1863, with other and smaller bodies of troops of General Heron's command, Of the navy, were the officers and crew of the " Morning Light," captured off Sabine Pass, February 12, 1863 ; the officers and crews of the ' Sachem" and " Clifton," captured on the attack on Sabine City, by General Franklin, September, 1863, and some officers captured at Brashear City.
In April, 1864, these men were almost destitute of clothing. Many of them at capture, were robbed of all articles not absolutely necessary to cover their naked- ness. They had passed one of the coldest winters known in the country for years, in this destitute condition. More than three-fourths of the men had no shoes to their feet
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PRISON LIFE IN TEXAS.
for months. In December they had been marched to Shreveport, a distance of one hundred and forty miles, and back again 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 marched over the same road and again back to Camp Ford, their condition not, in the least, improved by the lapse of time.
These movements, it is said, were made for the pur- pose of exchange, but they were not finally released un- til July, when they left prison, many of them in about the condition of Adam and Eve, on their entree into so- ciety.
On the 20th of April, the prisoners captured at Pleas- ant Hill arrived at Camp Ford-about eight hundred- and were at once assigned quarters within its hospitable limits.
Early in May, some fifteen hundred men and officers, captured from General Steele's army in Arkansas, were added to the already overcrowded prison-pen, and at various times, the captures from transports and gunboats, until the number reached forty-eight hundred.
Steele's men were captured at Mark's Mills, Arkansas. Their treatment had been most barbarous. As soon as they had been marched to the rear, they were systemati- cally and completely stripped of everything-hats, boots, coats, pants, shirts and drawers, and left to go naked, or put on the filthy rags thrown away by the scoundrels who had robbed them. Their money, watches, and, in short, every article in their possession, was taken from them. Even the treasured miniatures of their wives and moth - ers were taken and made the subjects of gross, vulgar ri- baldry, then thrown into heaps, when the chivalry rode over them with their horses. At Shrevesport they were again subjected to inspection, and made to pass in single file, before a guard, so that any articles that had, by any strategem, been concealed, might be discovered.
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Camp Ford.
The prison is four miles from Tyler, Smith county, Texas. It covers 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 close together, and forming a wall about eight feet high. On the outside, the earth was banked up so that the guards, whilst on their beats, could see over the whole camp. The location was on an abrupt hill-side-a kind of pine and oak barrens. Every shrub and tree was carefully cut down, leaving nothing to pro- tect the prisoners from the drenching rains, the chilly dews of night, or the scorching rays of the semi-tropical sun. Within this pen the prisoners were turned, and mockingly told to "make yourselves comfortable."
The officers had the rare privilege granted them of go- ing to the woods, under guard, to cut logs and board tim- ber, which they carried in on their backs, and construct- ed for themselves huts for shelter. Thus, parties of five and ten going out, in due time, built up cabins, a labor not light, when it is considered that to near forty-eight hundred men, but twenty axes and four or five shovels were allowed. An auger and an old saw made up the complement of available tools. Outside, in the camps of the guards, there seemed to be abundance, but nothing but the assortment named, could be procured for the in- side.
The private soldiers, with the greatest difficultv. b" 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 one or two old axes, and a short time allowed them to procure this class of material ; but so great was the clamor and cager rush for the pris- on gate by the men, that in their ill humor, the officers in charge, for days, would all " none to goout. Ilundreds of the men dug holes in the hill.side, and from two to four
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PRISON LIFE IN TEXAS.
lived in each, like wild animals. Each rain soaked through their thin covering of earth and soon made their only abi- ding place untenable, even for well raised swine. Others, with little enterprise, made no efforts to construct any kind of shelter. A very large proportion, owing to the seareity of tools, and the many impediments thrown in their way, were unable, with all their efforts, to get anything up till late in the summer. The men who lived in the caves soon became siek, and death became a frequent guest in these unnatural abodes. Many of these unfortunate men will be cripples for life from such exposure.
The only reply to complaints of such neglect, was, that" You might have stayed at home !" "You had no business to come down here and interfere with us." " We did'nt want to fight you 'uns." " If you 'uns had stayed at home, we 'uns wouldn't have interrupted you 'uns." " Good enough for you." These, to the subjects of the argument, were not very logical deductions, but unavoid- able conclusions.
To add to the misery of living in such hovels, this was one of the wettest seasons Texas had witnessed for twen- ty years. During the entire months of May and June, and far into July, rain fell almost constantly, not figura- tively, but literally, in torrents-floods overhead and cataracts under foot. With blankets, only, in the pro- portion of ten men to one-robbed of elothing, in many cases, these unfortunate men were compelled, almost in a state of nakedness, 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, exag- erate, if possible, the misery of the sufferers. They do not freeze, but they shiver in every musele. The body does not become numb, but there is an uneasy, unsatisfied craving for warmth, that seems worse than a positively colder degree. Men seem to draw within themselves, and shiver, as they remember the comforts of home, and Would barter for the firesides of home, the entire world besides.
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The ragged, haggard, careworn men, huddled together in groups, like sheep, as if to kindle a little warmth by contact, and move the blood that fast seemed ceasing to flow in their veins. So, night after night passed, of sleep- less wretchedness, with no hope of comfort in the coming morn, but the warming influences of day.
Many of the prisoners were new recruits on their first campaign, and unaccustomed to the exposure of even or- dinary camp life, Upon these. the trial soon began to tell, and each night witnessed the death of some unfortu- nate man, breathing out his life in darkness. Lying in the mud, with the rain falling upon him, he becomes in- sensible to the loud thunder and the vivid lightning, and is beyond the reach of those who had tortured him. No mother near to gently smooth the aching brow ; the kind hand of no sister to minister to his wants ; no wife, with her deep love watching the spirit's last struggle.
Hurried to a near grave, scarcely deep enough to hide the body from the prowling wolf, it is soon forever dis- posed of.
Life Inside.
The inside of a prison camp cannot, like many other things, be imagined. It must be lived in-seen, felt-to be comprehended. Fancy and imagination, in most ca- ses, can bring to view scenes of beauty or pictures of terror, but the degree of wretchedness in real, barbarous prison life, such as the rebel government has systemati- cally and intentionally imposed upon its prisoners of war, is too extreme and unusual, in ordinary experience, to be appreciated anywhere outside of their infernal bounda- ries. Such suffering is only known by the heart throbs felt in a rebel prison, for such throbs are no where else experienced. The pen or tongue is inadequate to paint and group in one comprehensive idea, the multiplied sources of annoyance, pain and horror, that have their rise in the prisons of Southern traitors. They contain a multi-
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tude of ragged, dispirited men, covered with filth, and anxious only, about the most ordinary and primary ne- cessities of life. Reckless, regardless of everything but what pertains to their own immediate personal existence. Shivering with the cold at night, and scorched by the sun in day-time. Without hats to protect the head, cr clothes to protect the back, the elements have uninterrupted in- fluence upon them, and becomes the fruitful source of dis- ease and death.
Through the main street of Camp Ford, the larger por- tion of the prisoners passed for water, and Broadway never presented a more busy scene of barter and traffic, than here appeared. Nor did any " broker's board" ever present so much intenseness as was exhibited among the prisoners and outsiders in commercial operations. Here was brought the produce of the surrounding country, for sale at fabulous priccs. Flour at five hundred dollars a barrel ! There was no sign of shame on the face of the pampered slave-driver, when he demanded from the reel- ing, exhausted prisoner, forty dollars for a chicken. Mel- lons were sold at ten dollars, and that, when they were rotting in superabundance. The morbid appetites of the skeleton prisoners were taken advantage of and such pri- ces extorted.
Trading stands were erccted along the main street of the prison. Wholesale and retail merchants operated in divers departments, and all of them diving into the pock- ets of the prisoners. Tobacco was the great staple of trade. Everybody wanted it-few could get it. Men would barter their last shirt for it, and it is said the old, repudiated quids were gathered and prepared for smok- ing. Whisky was sometimes introduced by a guard, or an outside trader. What was denominated " a drink," about the fourth of a gill, cost a dollar. Such drinks were unpopular, for experienced men declared such an al- lowance but an aggravation.
The prisoners made rings of bone, gutta-percha, wood, &c., and sold them to outsiders for strong prices. Turn- ing lathes were set up and fancy work, principally chess
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men, turned, and sold at " remunerating prices." Combs, violins, earthen-ware, and many other articles were man- ufactured, and in a superior manner, too, and disposed of.
Some of the prisoners realized large amounts from the sale of their handiwork, and brought home with them quite a nice balance-sheet. One man is said to have sav- ed three thousand dollars ; another fifteen hundred, and many, after paying extravagantly for the necessaries of life, found a good balance left.
But contact with the rebels begat commercial demorali- zation among our men. Gutta-percha became scarce and valuable, and a bogus article of finger-rings was made from the horns of cattle. These, when purchased by the delighted Texan citizens, at two or three dollars, became rough and ugly on his fingers, and, finally, became brittle and broke. This was a source of outside sorrow and pro- fanity, and brought the ring market into disrepute and suspicion.
A crockery manufacturer got up several canteens, which were much in demand among the rebel soldiers, made clay. He cast them over a tin one, and tore up an old pair of blue pants for the cover. The cloth and the strips of an old shirt, of which he made the straps, were well washed, and the clay canteens, with the piece of an old tea-pot spout for a neck, looked, as they hung in front of his quarters, like a first-rate article, and perfect- ly new. It was not long before a squad of rebel soldiers passed through, and were attracted by the looks of the canteens, and they were soon sold at a magnificent fig- ure. Three months after, some of the same squad saun- tered around the same quarters; and asked the manufac- turer if he had any canteens for sale ? Remembering his customers, he said he had not-that he did not make such things. One of the rebels, with much indignation, said they were in search of a d-d Yankee, who sold them some canteens, as they passed up, and they were nothing but clay. When they put water in them, they
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went to pieces. They failed to find the man who had im- poscd upon them.
After being imposed upon, in trading, a portion of the ยท guards, sought their revenge by persuading some men to come to a forbidden line, and trade. When they went out to the line, and displayed their goods, they were seiz- cd by the rebels and robbed of all they had. The pris- oners dared not resist, for they were in a position which would have warranted the guard in shooting them, so they had to submit, with the best grace possible.
But it was not long before they squared accounts with the rebels. When the affair scemed to be forgotten, they were invited in one night to trade. This was forbidden by the rules, but the extreme anxiety manifested by the prisoners to trade, induced the rebels to venture. As soon as business had arrived at an interesting stage, the rebels were seized, their pistols taken, and they were rob- bed of every moveable article about them. Their s tua- tion obliged them to submit, and they left the contraband spot, much wiser, though poorer men than before.
Exciting and amusing scenes often occurred. When a wagon ladened with producc, entered the camp, a dense crowd would gather around it. A multitude of purchas- ers, at a time, would so confuse the vendor, that all con- sciousness would be lost.
On one occasion, a pompous old planter came in with a wagon load of produce, driven by a negro. A few hun- dred men surrounded the wagon, at once, and made ma- ny offers to purchase. In the meantime, the lynch pins 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 began to suspect something wrong, and ordered his nc- gro to drive out, quick. Jube. cracked his whip, and, lo! a general catastrophy ensucd. The mules slipped from the harness; the wheels rolled off; the wagon, plan- ter, produce and negro, experienced sudden cmancipa- tion. The old gentleman felt a dozen hands in his pock- ets, which quickly relieved him of everything, He lost
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all his produce, his money, hat, harness, (for it was valu- able material,) and most of his clothes, whilst his negro was carried off to the quarters, on the shoulders of the men.
Th's outrage called forth the severe denunciation from the officials ; but, upon 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 one hundred and fifty yards beyond the stockade ; but just as all was ready for a general stampede, the stockade was extended, for the accommodation of more prisoners, and the plan frustrated. This tunnel after- wards served a good purpose. for prisoners to hide in, when contemplating an escape. They would enter it and remain there 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 46th Indiana, came out. It may have been successful. It was the result of an amount of labor and ingenuity that deserved the reward of success. A shaft, six feet deep, was sunk in a cabin. The tunnel was then started towards a bank, outside, near a hundred and seventy feet distant. The chamber was two feet wide by three 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 was drawn out the earth in buckets, and rope 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
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and hauled 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 with litter before daylight. There was a traitor among the prisoners ; at last discovered to be one Hawkins, of the 120th Ohio. On discovery he was removed outside, and lived about the rebel officers' quarters, and worked for them at tailoring. On coming up the river, in March, this gentleman was thrown over- board, but was saved by the deck-hands, in their ignor- ance of the facts.
Nearly every movement in the camp was known to the rebel guard, and great caution was observed in laboring upon the tunnels. None but a select few knew about it. Rebel officers would come in and make a general and thorough inspection, looking especially for tunnels, of which they evidently knew something. Ramrods and swords were forced down into the earth, but no discove- ries were made. The "Grand Trunk" laid too deep.
The digging of the large tunnel cost an immense amount of labor and risk. On one part of the line, the excavation had to be made fifty feet without ventilation- almost suffocating those in it.
A trained pack of hounds was constantly kept, for the purpose of tracking and hunting down fugitives from the pen, and these, were under the charge of a professional negro hunter. When a prisoner was found to have es- caped, these dogs were made to take the circuit of the camp, till the track was discovered, which they would fol- low through the woods and swamps, and almost invaria- bly accomplish their mission.
Music was frequently resorted to, as a blind to cover over the designs of a party meditating escape-drawing their attention by a good song, whilst a log was dug up out of the stockade, and a party, prepared for the venture were making their escape ; often, within a few feet of the guards. Others, more adventurous, or desperate, would draw themselves to the top whilst a sentinel's back was turned, and quietly let themselves down upon the outside. ?
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Hundreds, who had money, bribed the guards to con- nive at their escape. Sometimes as many as twenty of a night. The market price for such favors, was five dollars in greenbacks. These contracts were made with men who professed Union sentiments, and would, for money, do the prisoners any favor in their power, when their offi- cers were not about.
But very few, of the many who got out of the prison, escaped. It was rare, one overcame all the dangers from dogs, rebels, deep and swift rivers, swamps, hunger, and the many other difficulties that beset the way to the fed- eral lines. In from two to ten days, the fugitive was brought back, and re-consigned to the stockade.
It was seldom the authorities discovered the absence. of a man, escaping, until his friends made it known, or he was re-captured. Keeping his escape a secret, gave him a start of the hounds and cavalry, and, equal to that in general interest, it gave the camp a ration extra.
It frequently occurred, that when a soldier died, a sai- lor would change clothes with the deceased, and remove the body to his quarters. The sailor would assume his name, get his ration and a chance for parole, or exchange, that was never extended to the sailors.
One of the most novel and original inventions for es- cape, was here practiced, and with great success, for over a month.
A prisoner under parole not to escape, drove a cart through the camp, for the purpose of hauling the accumu- lating dirt, to a ravine, outside. This suggested to an Irishman, the idea of a cartel, perfectly feasible, and be- yond the danger of interference from the regular Com- missioners of Exchange. Two men would get into the empty cart, over whom was thrown a blanket, or some light brush, with the ordinary load of dirt on top. Dirt, rubbish and Yankees, were then driven to the ravine and tumbled down a declivity of some fifteen feet, into the brush, when the contraband part of the load shook them- selves, and hid away until darkness enabled them to leave. The driver of the cart would dance upon his load as he
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PRISON LIFE IN TEXAS.
drove past the guards, as he said, to prevent suspicion ; but he was suspected of doing it for his own fun as much as for any thing else.
Under this cartel, over a hundred and fifty men were liberated, before it was discovered by the rebels and re- pudiated.
Of the numbers constantly getting out, it is safe to . say, that not over one in fifty escaped. The others were overtaken and brought back, to suffer the severest pains for their effort.
The nearest point in the Union lines, was at Vicks- burg, a distance of three hundred miles. There was not a county in the States west of the Mississippi, within the Confederate lines, but what had a party of mounted sol- diers, with a leash of trained blood-hounds, hunting de- serters and conscripts. At least one-half of the popula- tion was heartily disloyal, and bearing 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 ; with no maps nor 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 be- wildered wandering, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, many were obliged to barter their freedom for corn bread, and give themselves up, or more probably, be overtaken by men and hounds, and brought back. Frequently, men would travel liard all night, and by the first dawn of light, see the prison from which they had escaped, six or eight hours before. Many cases occurred, where men had reached the Mississippi. river, and were re-captured whilst hailing a gunboat or a transport. Others, within siglit of the Federal pickets, would be taken by some straggling vagabond rebel band, and delivered to a post for re-conveyance to prison.
Much ingenuity was required and used to conceal the escape of a prisoner, by his comrades, Each morning,
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there was a general roll-call. The camp was divided into sections of from one to two hundred men. A rebel ser- geant had a roll of these, and it was hiis duty to call the list, and ascertain the presence, or absence of each 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 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 without considerable spelling, when some considerate Yankee would volunteer to assist him, and would inad- vertantly miss the name of an absconding party. By universal consent, the party successfully covering up the . absence of a friend, was entitled to the surplus ration. .
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