English Diary 1

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21.Rations served out early this morning. I have forgotten to mention before that there are about six hundred prisoners in this room, divided into squads of twenty. One man draws the rations for the twenty and cuts it up. Each man has a number from one to twenty. The twenty rations are put out separately on the floor, and one turns his back and the sergeant points to a ration and says, "Who takes this ?" and the man with his back turned to the ration says- "one," "two," "five" or "ten," as the case may be, on up till the twenty are served. This is done to prevent the sergeant from showing any favor to any particular one.

as the case may be - according to the circumstances
favor - to show preference

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22d. Rations the same as yesterday. The men despondent and anxious to get paroled or exchanged soon. There is a great deal of trading going on here in the evenings.

despondent - in low spirits from loss of hope or courage
anxious - wanting something very much
get paroled - release (a prisoner) on parole

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23d. Rations very small to-day; a mixture of corn meal and flour and only get about four ounces of that, and about three ounces of raw, half rotten bacon for the next twenty-four hours.

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24d. Rations about the same as yesterday. Great rumors of a parole this morning. I wish they would hurry, as we are tired of this place and treatment.

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25th. Half a loaf of corn bread and about a mouthful of beef. The rebels say their men only get the same amount. I hardly credit that, as they have an opportunity to get more.

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26th. Greenbacks in great demand this morning ; nine Confederate for one greenback, as they are called here, So you see Yankee money is considered the best by far right here in the hotbed of secession,

secession - the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.

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27th. Prisoners busy making bone rings, tooth picks, chains, etc., and selling them to the guards. And selling boots, shoes, shirts, blankets, and in fact anything in order to get something to eat. Men are very hungry; many weak and sick with hunger. I wonder if our government knows how we are treated. I hardly think the rebel prisoners in the North are treated like we unfortunate beings.

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28th, No change in our rations. We hardly get enough food to sustain life. We cannot live on this treatment long. Some of the prisoners snatch bread and sausage from the guards who want to trade. They snatch it in the dark and then run among the crowd, and of course the guards go in after them. We will do almost anything to get something to eat. Some of the poor fellows are in such a state of starvation that they are reduced to mere skeletons and cannot live very long.

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29th. Rations about three-quarters of a pound of bread, no meat, but a bucketful of bean soup for each twenty men, about twenty beans to the bucket — nothing more than warm water. It has the name of bean soup and that is all. Oh ! what stuff ! but we are glad to get almost anything to try to stop the cravings of hunger. God help us ! If our friends in the North would see us and the pitiful condition we are in, it would bring tears to their eyes. Fathers, brothers and lovers doomed to a death of starvation. Oh ! what a pity that so many brave fellows must die this way.

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Better for us if they would take us out in an open space and place us before a battery of cannon and blew us to pieces, than have us dying this way by inches. Some one will have a tremendous account to settle at the last day. To fall in battle is bad enough, but to be doomed to a hell of torture and misery is worse than a thousand deaths.

inch-move slowly and carefully in a specified direction
settle-resolve or reach an agreement about (an argument or problem)

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30th. Rations the same as yesterday. The guards are more careful in trading, and it is dangerous to snatch any more from them. They swear they will shoot. Ten of our men were taken out to the hospital from here this morning. That is the last of them, poor fellows. There were two of my regiment among them. We will never see them any more, as they are more dead than alive.

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31st. Rations about half a pound of bread and about four ounces of beef to-day. These are the best rations we have received for over a week. Men are very anxious to be exchanged so that we can get into our lines once more.

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November 1. 1863. Some of the prisoners altering one dollar greenbacks into tens and succeed in passing them on the guards, who were furious when they discovered the fraud, but they have no redress as they are not allowed to trade with the prisoners. The guards content themselves by vowing vengeance.

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2d, Great talk of sending us to Pemberton building, our old quarters, opposite here. They say they must make room for some officers that were captured and that Libby is going to be for them, so that all the officers will be in one place. Well, I think that the change will be for the better for us, as Pemberton is much brighter and we will have the sun shining in on us almost all the day, and that is quite a comfort, for in this place we cannot see the sun more than two hours any day.

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3d. Moved to Pemberton this morning, and as a consequence, we did not get our rations till three o'clock this afternoon, almost starved waiting and not much when we did get it; four ounces of bread and two ounces of beef.

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4th. Things same as yesterday.
5th. Rations a little better to-day. Guards slot at one of the prisoners this morning because he was looking out of the window. The rebels shoot a prisoner for looking at the light of heaven.

slot-slang used in the British armed forces meaning to kill or shoot

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6th. No change in the program today. Have nothing of interest to put down in my diary but hardships and misery, and plenty of that. No one can form an idea of what suffering there is here, and no pen can describe the hardships we have to endure, all through bad management in some department, either Union or rebel. There is talk of sending a petition to Washington to see if we cannot be gotten out of here. Our government should not allow its citizens and soldiers to remain in rebel prisons to rot and die. The rebels blame our government.

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7th, About a dozen of our men taken to the hospital, among them one of my company. Don't expect to see the poor fellow again. One of the guards said today that they only take them to the hospital to get them ready for burial, and advised us all to stay where we are, if we had any one to care for us, as at the hospital the doctors are all young fellows who have no experience and only practice on the prisoners. The old doctors are with the army tending to their own men.

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8th. Saw Capt. D. B Meany, of my company, at the window in Libby, opposite here. They say that the officers have all they can to eat. I wish we could say so.

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9th. Rations three-quarters of a pound of corn dodger and about half a pint of bean soup for today. We are used to this and there is no use grumbling but make the best of it.