Brutal Treatment of Enlisted Men.

I have so far only given an outline of the treatment and condition of
the officers, which in comparison was a favored one. I cannot describe the
condition of the enlisted men, as seen by the officers and learned from
sources at present nameless. Hunger, treatment, and exposure, have done
their work too surely, for many brave souls have gone up to testify at the
bar of God to the barbarities practiced upon them. Many of them, also, were
shot by the guard upon the most frivolous pretences.
Belle Isle, our place of confinement, is supplied with tents only
sufficient for a part of the men; the rest were compelled, during the cold
nights, to pace up and down the island to keep warm, and while the sun was
shining during the day, they would sleep. I have seen them march through
the city barefooted, bareheaded, without coats, and with only the remnants
of other articles of clothing.
I have seen them brought from this island in the evening, to ship them
in the morning for City Point, so weak from hunger and disease that they
were unable to stand upon their feet. Never have I witnessed such misery
and want among any class of human beings.

Northern Negroes Whipped.
There are also there about one hundred free negroes of the North,
officers’ servants from the army and navy. they are used at the present
about the prison, or upon the fortifications around Richmond. One of the
many nights spent in Libby is deeply engraved upon my mind. A free negro of
Philadelphia, captured in the navy, nearly white, received three hundred and
twenty-five lashes in a room immediately beneath us, his loud cries and
pleadings penetrating every part of the building, as blow followed blow. He
was then wrapped in a blanket situated with salt water, and cast into one of
the dungeons for month or more. Such scenes and cries were frequent. those
of our number how entered there as advocates of slavery or at least
sympathizers, are such no more.
*
November 17-1863 [part 4 of 4]
Republican Advocate-Batavia NY

Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865.
Collected and Arranged by Frank Moore, published 1867

            “When I was in Jefferson, in the fall of 1862,” said Robert Collyer, “I found the hospitals in the most fearful condition you can imagine. I cannot stop to tell you all the scenes I saw; it is enough to say that one poor fellow had lain there sick on the boards, and seen five men carried away dead, one after another, from his side. He was worn to a skeleton, worn through, so that great sores were all over his back, and filthy beyond description.

            “One day, a little before my visit, old Hannah, a black woman, who had some washing to do for doctor, went down the ward to hunt him up. She saw this dying man, and had compassion on him, and said, ‘O, doctor, let me bring this man to my bed, to keep him off the floor.’

            “The doctor said, ‘The man is dying; he will be dead tomorrow.’ Tomorrow came, and, old Hannah could not rest. She went to see the man and he was still alive. Then she got some help, took her bed, put the man on it, and carried him boldly to her shanty; then she washed him all over, as a woman washes a baby, and fed him with a spoon, and fought death, hand to hand, day and night, and beat him back, and saved the soldier’s life.

            “The day before I went to Jefferson, the man had gone on a furlough to his home in Indiana, He besought Hannah to go with him, but she could not spare time; there was all that washing to do. She went with him to the steamboat, got him fixed just to her mind, and then kissed him, and the man lifted up his voice, as she left, and wept like a child. I say we have grown noble in our suffering.”

Inhuman Treatment of Our Men.

The treatment received by the officers during this trying time was bad
and only bad continually. One seemed to vie with the others in their
endeavors to any us and make our situation intolerable. Did one under this
debilitating process stretch himself upon the floor during the day upon his
blanket unless he had first obtained the consent of the prison inspector to
spread his blanket, and he was never present when wanted, he was rudely
aroused, his blanket taken from him and carried down stairs to be given to
some needy rebel or placed under the saddle for one of these ruffians to
ride upon. If by an means we offended his supreme highness, the commandant,
our supply of water was cut off for half a day and night, and this during
the suffocating weather of summer; or to vary the punishment and add zest to
this regimen, we would be left without wood for three-fourths of a day
wherewith to cook our food, but then we saved our rations and had more the
next day. More on Inhuman Treatment of Our Men.

Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865.
Collected and Arranged by Frank Moore, published 1867

One of the most interesting incidents of the battle of Bull Run, says a Southern journal, is presented in the case of Willie P. Mangum, Jr., son of Ex-Senator Mangum, of North Carolina. This young man was attached to Col. Fisher’s regiment, and owes the preservation of his life to a copy of the Bible presented him by his sister. He had the good book in his left coat-pocket. It was struck by a ball near the edge, but the book changed the direction of the bullet, and it glanced off, inflicting a severe, but not dangerous flesh wound. The book was saturated with blood, but the advice written on a fly-leaf by the sister who gave it was perfectly legible.

In reference to thier treatments in Libby Prison, he says:

Union Prisoners Starved to Death.
Many sank under it, and falling away into living skeletons were passed
over to the hospital, in the other end of the building, where they lived or
died as circumstances might declare. How often have I seen this; so often
that it had long ceased to call forth special attention. Did men fall down
exhausted upon the floor, those stronger picked them up and strove to have
them removed to the hospital. Did they die, their bodies were carelessly
thrown to one side until convenience suited them to hurry them underground.
During this time the heat was intense, and the suffering from this cause
alone very great. Add to this the fact that from diet and other causes, the
prisoners suffered greatly from dysentery, aggravated by the disagreeable,
water we were obliged to drink, and I know not, indeed, how we passed the
summer, or bore up under the accumulated woes of our situation.

The Amount of Food Allowed to Prisoners.
Do you ask me as to the amount of food received daily by each officer?
The question is easily answered. One fourth pound of very tough or raw beef
and bones, very little over ten ounces of bread, very heavy and sour, a
little rice and infinitesimal quantities of salt and vinegar. This was the
amount of rations received, though I will do the authorities the justice to
say that it was hardly the amount allowed, the remaining part being
appropriated by officials. However small the appetite of the prisoner, if
well he could eat the whole of his day’s ration at one meal, and look around
for more. At the time of which I speak the officers were not allowed to
purchase or receive any food but that furnished by the authorities as the
daily ration.
The bread was very unpalatable and unwholesome, the beef oftentimes
tainted, and sometimes evidently diseased, as we could see where tumors had
been extracted. If in lieu of rice we obtained beans or peas, we received
with them no small quantity of animated life, in the form of worms, fat and
plump.

Inhuman Treatment of Our Men.
-to be cont’d.
*
November 17-1863 [part 2 of 4]
Republican Advocate-Batavia NY

Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865.
Collected and Arranged by Frank Moore, published 1867

            The following account of the battle of Big Bethel was given by a Confederate soldier, who participated in the defence:

            “An engagement lasting four hours took place yesterday, June 10, between five regiments of the troops from Old Point, and 1100 Confederate troops, consisting of Virginians and North Carolinians under Gen. Magruder, at Bethel Church, York County. Before telling you of the battle, I will give you some circumstances preceding it. About two weeks ago, a party of three hundred Yankees came up from Hampton, and occupied Bethel Church, which position they held a day or two, and then retired, leaving written on the walls of the church several inscriptions, such as ‘Death to the Traitors,’ ‘Down with the Rebels,’ &c. To nearly all these the names of the writers were defiantly signed, and all of the penmen signed themselves as from New York, except one, who was from Boston, Mass., U. S. To these excursions into the interior, of which this was the boldest, Gen. Magruder determined to put a stop, and accordingly filled the place, after the Yankees left, with a few companies of his own troops. In addition to this, he determined to carry the war into the enemy’s country, and on Wednesday last, Stanard’s battery of the Howitzer Battalion was ordered down to the church, where it was soon joined by a portion of Brown’s battery of the same corps. The North Carolina regiment, under Col. Hill, was also there, making in all about 1100 men, and seven howitzer guns. On Saturday last the first excursion of considerable importance was made. A detachment of 200 infantry and a howitzer gun under Major Randolph, and one of 70 infantry and another howitzer under Major Lane, of the North Carolina regiment, started different routes to cut off a party which had left Hampton. The party was seen and fired at by Major Randolph’s detachment, but made such fast time that they escaped. The troops under Major Lane passed within sight of Hampton, and as they turned up the road to return to Bethel, encountered the Yankees, numbering about 90, who were intrenched behind a fence in the field, protected by a high bank. Our advance guard fired on them, and ill another moment the North Carolinians were dashing over the fence in regular French (not New York) Zouave style, firing at them in real squirrel-hunting style. The Yankees fled for their lives after firing for about three minutes without effect, leaving behind them three dead and a prisoner. The fellow was a stout, ugly fellow, from Troy, N. Y. He said he had nothing against the South, but somebody must be soldiers, More on The Fight at Big Bethel

Brutal Treatment of Union Prisoners in Richmond.
Rev. George Hammer, Chaplain of the Twelfth Pennsylvania cavalry, who
was recently released from Libby Prison, furnishes the Philadelphia Enquirer
a long account of his captivity and of the sufferings of our soldiers who
fall into the rebel clutch. With regard to his capture, he says: -

I was captured at Winchester, Va., June 15, 1863, with six other
Chaplains, and quite a number of Surgeons, sharing in the contumely and
privations heaped upon the officers and men of Milroy’s command. I have
seen the men angry with passion, but never have I beheld such maddened
fiendishness of feelling as that poured out upon us.
Under the sanctity of a flag of truce, two of our Chaplains (not then
captured,) visited the field of slaughter to gather up the wounded,
administer to their wants, hear their last whisper, and bury the dead. They
had hardly entered the field before they were insulted, and from one of them
a valuable watch was taken by force, and himself threatened with violence.
We were marched on foot to Stanton, ninety six miles, under a June sun,
and over a road every contact with which seemed to burn the foot to a
blister. Half-clad, many shoeless and hatless and unfed, the cavalcade was a
sorrowful one. The sufferings of the trip I cannot express. – Nothing to eat
but what we begged or bought of citizens who hated us intensely, shut their
doors in our faces, and from appearances would have been far better pleased
with a visit from even his Satanic majesty himself.
After arriving at the Libby prison everything of value was taken from
us – canteens, haversacks, gum blankets, in some cases our woolen blankets,
our money and valuables, private papers and pocket diaries, lists of dead
and wounded, and even last messages from some brave martyrs to their
friends – nothing being retained but the few things that seemed to be a part
of ourselves and necessary to conceal our nakedness. The surgeons whose
private property is always respected in war, were likewise stripped of their
effects. Their green sashes as badges of their profession were taken from
them, their pocket cases of instruments abstracted, their pocket medicines
confiscated, so that upon our introduction into the mysteries of Libby we
had few things to care for, fewer still to lose.
In reference to their treatment in Libby Prison, he says:
- to be cont’d
*
November 17-1863 [part 1 of 4]
Republican Advocate-Batavia NY

Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865.
Collected and Arranged by Frank Moore, published 1867

            “Brick” Pomeroy, of the La Crosse Wisconsin, on being invited to assist in forming a body-guard for President Lincoln, after due consideration decided to “go in,” provided the following basis could be adopted and rigidly adhered to throughout the war:

            The company shall be entirely composed of colonels, who shall draw pay and rations in advance.

            Every man shall have a commission, two servants, and white kids.

            Each man shall be mounted in a covered buggy, drawn by two white stallions.

            Under the seat of each buggy shall be a cupboard, containing cold chicken, pounded ice, and champagne, a la members of Congress and military officers at Bull Run.

            Each man shall have plenty of cards and red chips to play poker with.

            The only side-arms to be opera-glasses, champagne glasses, and gold-headed canes.

            The duty of the company shall be to take observations of battle, and on no account shall it be allowed to approach nearer than ten miles to the seat of war.

            Behind each buggy shall be an ambulance, so arranged as to be converted into a first-class boarding-house in the daytime, and a sumptuous sleeping and dressing room at night.

            The regimental band must be composed of pianos and guitars, played by young ladies, who shall never play a quickstep except in case of retreat.

            Reveille shall not be sounded till late breakfast time, and not then if any one of the regiment has a headache.

            In case of a forced march into an enemy’s country, two miles a week shall be the maximum, and no marches shall be made except the country abound in game, or if any member of the regiment object.

            Kid gloves, gold toothpicks, cologne, hairdressing, silk underclothes, cosmetics, and all other rations, to be furnished by the Government.

            Each member of the regiment shall be allowed a reporter for some New York paper, who shall draw a salary of two hundred dollars a week, for puffs, from the incidental fund.

            Every member shall be in command, and when one is promoted, all are to be.

            Commissions never to be revoked.

Arlington, August 2d, 1861.
Miss Jennie Parsons,
Secretary &c.

The Fourteenth Regiment of New York Volunteers, to which my command is
attached, was mustered into the service of the United States on the 17th day
of May 1861, for the term of Two Years, at the expiration of which it will
return home, and not before.
My Company therefore, will not return home until the expiration of Two
years from the day it was mustered into the service of the United States,
which will be on the 17th day of May 1863.
The kind and unsolicited offer to furnish us with the rubber blankets, I
feel bound to accept, and wrote to the Secretary explaining their use and
necessity. – Were we about returning home I would certainly have written to
that effect and relieved those you represent of any trouble in our behalf.
But it is not so; we are enlisted, mustered in and accepted by the United
States, for the term of Two years, no more, no less. I assure you that I
have no desire to put the Patriotic Association to trouble or expense for my
command.
I shall do all in my power to contribute to the comfort of my men,
firmly believing that they will fight the approaching battles for their
Country, with courage and honor enough to fully compensate me, or others,
who may volunteer them any assistance.
The kind sentiments expressed for us in your letter, on behalf of the
Patriotic Association, I fully appreciate and reciprocate.
I am Very Truly Yours,
William L. Cowan,
Capt. Co. D, 14th Reg’t N.Y.V.
*
August 5-1861
The Daily Republican Advocate, Batavia NY

Anecdotes, Poetry and Incidents of the War: North and South. 1860-1865.
Collected and Arranged by Frank Moore, published 1867

A gentleman from Charleston says that everything there (Jan. 7, 1861,) betokens active preparations for fight. Last Sunday, he says, not a lady was at the church he attended. They were all at home making cartridges and cylinders, and scraping lint. The thousand negroes busy in building batteries, so far from inclining to insurrection, were grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of shooting the Yankees. Extravagant reports were current as to the hostile designs of the Federal Government, such as that the Macedonian was on her way with five hundred troops.