English Diary 1
-
20th. The rebel quartermaster came into the building this morning and read off a long list of names, saying there were boxes for them from the North and to come and get them. While he was reading off the list, you could have heard a pin drop. Among the list was my name. Oh! how glad I was when I heard that name! About twenty of us went over to the quartermaster's storehouse and sure enough the boxes were there. We had to open them in the presence of the officer and two of the guards. He took everything out that he thought unlawful to pass into our hands. He took a book from my box called "The Collegians of Ireland," but I said nothing, for if I did, he would not let me have it at all. So I carried the box over to the prison on my shoulder. A happier set of fellows never walked into Pemberton than we, with the boxes. The other poor fellows gathered around us to see the good things from home. My box contained one large sweet cake, tea, coffee and sugar, salt, pepper, writing paper and envelopes, two pairs of drawers and shirts, which I needed badly, stockings and several other things very useful in a place like this. It came in time for a Christmas present and more appreciated than any I ever received.
-
21st, Some of those that received boxes yesterday had some of the things stolen from them last night. Mine is safe. I had some tea this morning. How good it tasted. Gave some to three or four of the sick boys who are close to me. I wish I had enough to give them all some. Three or four of us belonging to the one company are going to keep watch over it by turns. And of course I have to pony up with them. If I don't do that, it will be all stolen from me in one night.
pony up means to pay money, to pay what one owes, to make good a debt
-
23d. I don't feel very well this morning. Probably been eating too much. I must be a little careful with what I eat. It is very strange I do not get a letter from home. I sent two and they must have received them, or I would not have received the box. Three of us who received boxes got one of the guards to bring us in an armful of wood for us to cook our tea and coffee, and we paid him three dollars in Confederate money, which is equal to thirty cents in our money.
-
Christmas Day, 1863, and still in the Confederacy. Thinking of our friends at home, enjoying themselves, and the condition we are in. The most barbarous country would hardly treat a prisoner thus. One of my regiment died last night. It was a relief to a great deal of suffering. There was a hole under his arm large enough to put your fist in. Rations two biscuits, half a loaf of corn dodger and two spoonfuls of molasses, for our Christmas present, but I will attend to my box today. The Richmond papers state that the stench from the prison is endangering the health and the lives of all in the City, and it would be well to remove these "Lincoln hirelings" to where scant fare and cold weather would reduce them in number; consequently we will be removed to Bell Isle.
-
26th. Great talk of sending us to Bell Isle, but I hope they won't, for it has a dreadful name and there is no shelter there. To take us out of this building and put us on Bell Island would wind up our career, as two-thirds of us have barely enough clothing to cover our nakedness, not speaking of keeping us from freezing.
-
27th. Orders given for us to be ready to go to Bell Isle at two o'clock this afternoon, and pass the balance of the winter there. There are a great many of the prisoners here who cannot walk, and of course must be left behind. All hands move as soon as they get their rations, so the quartermaster said, "and get over to Bell Isle; Tote all your dirty rags with you, as we won't have them here." One of the boys spoke up and said we would leave them with him for a New Year's present. I did not think so many of our number were disabled. I really believe that one half of them cannot get up. What agony when comrades must part in this way, knowing full well that we will never see each other again. Two brothers from a New York regiment, one of them almost dead and the other was taking care of him and now they must part. They tried hard not to be parted, but they were not allowed to stay together. This is part of the horrors of war. Some of the boys did shed tears notwithstanding their hardened hearts.
tote - to carry by hand
-
28th. About five hundred of us marched from Pemberton prison across the bridge to the other side of the James river, opposite Richmond, and then crossed a small bridge which brought us to Bell Isle. The space to be occupied by the prisoners is about six acres, enclosed by an earthwork three or four feet high, and with a ditch about five feet deep and six wide, to prevent any of the prisoners coming near to the grounds. There are about five thousand prisoners here. The part occupied by us is a low, sandy, barren waste, without the shadow of a single tree, and exposed to the chilly damp winds, with only a few tents with which about half of our number are protected from the severe cold and the other half are lying on the ground between the tents to keep the cold wind from them as much as possible.
-
29th. I was lucky in getting into one of the tents, so did Webb and Culberson. The reason we got in this tent was on account of what we had in our haversack out of the boxes. There are ten of us in this tent, if I may call it that, and I promised to pony up with them. Webb and I went to work and made a large can of coffee for all hands. Those poor fellows, how they enjoyed it. This is a horrible place. Pemberton we thought was bad, but nothing compared to Bell Isle. Very cold last night.
-
30th. Rations for the next twenty four hours about three fourths pound of corn dodger and two spoonfuls of molasses to each man. Prisoners dying very fast here. A number of Pemberton men died last night. They say Uncle Sam's rations are all gone. Resorted to box and got a cup of tea, some cake and ham.
-
31st. Four hundred more crossed from Barrett's prison for here this morning. It is dreadfully cold on the Island this morning, It is not strange that life under these circumstances should become weary. It is a sad thing to have established on the pages of history. These poor defenseless soldiers not only to be deprived of their arms which were so much their pride to bear and their glory to wield, but also deprived of every personal comfort and convenience and compelled to lie down exposed to the frowning elements of nature, and the still more pitiless abuse of mankind. It were scarcely possible to conceive of more persistent wholesale misery, deliberately heaped upon men, than agents of Southern malice have poured upon their Northern kindred. The tortures of the inquisition were horrible and we shrink with horror as we peruse the history of that period. Those terrible pages telling us how the flames rose from a bundle of sticks, and curled above the martyrs as they were tied to the stake, have a power to stir our souls within us to their utmost depth, but who will say they are more dreadful than the slow burnings which eat out the vitals, leaving the tenement of clay a mere wreck before the spirit quits its frail abode, more to be feared than the lightening which prevents the play of life, more sure than the anaconda's grasp or the tiger's embrace. There are some of these things which have to be taken as the natural consequences of war, but some of them are not. We know that the misfortunes and chances of war are privations, exposures and suffering, which is the inevitable lot of those who engage in the service, but we seldom hear our willing soldiers complain of these; it is the inhuman and inexcusable treatment they receive as prisoners.They bear their misfortunes bravely and patriotically, blaming only the conduct of our merciless enemies. Later in the history of this war, the people will become acquainted with the treatment of Union soldiers in the various Southern prisons.
-
2d. Rations three-fourths of a pound of corn dodger and a pint of bean soup for the next twenty-four hours. Hardly any of the prisoners have anything to get their soup in, and it would make your heart bleed to see how poor fellows trying to get their soup in their caps and anything that will hold it. Two hundred more prisoners came in here this morning. They were captured at the Rapidan. They have their overcoats and blankets. Lucky fellows! as they will have to sleep in the open air and on frosty ground.
-
3d. Received a Ietter from my mother this morning. It was dated Bristol, Nov. 15111, 1863. There were about four hundred letters for the boys. Walter Webb, my comrade, was very sick this morning; made him a little tea. I must keep the tea and coffee for ourselves in case of sickness. Some of the new prisoners have plenty of money and keep up a general trading with the guards, buying butter, eggs and wheat bread. I forgot to mention that we are divided into squads of twenty, and one man goes outside prison lines with the guard and brings in three sticks cord wood for the twenty men, and after that is divided up, we have to wait our turn for the axe, there being only three on the Island. We have not received any soap since we came here. We look like a lot of colored persons.
-
4th. Great demand for greenbacks; ten in Confederate for one of ours. Prison rations the same for the last four or five days; several fellows had their feet frozen last night and quite a number taken to the hospital this morning. A little time on this island will soon make one a fit subject for the hospital.
-
8th. Rations same as yesterday. Have a little left from the box yet, but very careful of it. Had a cup of coffee this morning. Froze hard last night and about six hundred of the prisoners who came in last night were almost frozen to death, not having any shelter.
1 - 2025-02-27
2 - 2025-02-26
3 - 2025-02-25
In 2024, the number of babies born in South Korea increased for the first time in nine years. The change is welcome news for a country that is dealing with serious population problems.