WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Lights and shadows in Confederate prisons cover

Lights and shadows in Confederate prisons

Chapter 19: INDEX
By Homer B. Sprague
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

BiographiesHistory - AmericanHistory - Warfare

About This Book

A first-person memoir recounts capture during a Civil War engagement and subsequent confinement in several Confederate prisons, tracing forced marches from Winchester to Staunton and transfers to Libby, Danville, and Salisbury. The author documents daily routines, exact rations, vermin, roll calls, escapes and tunneling attempts, theatrical and study efforts to occupy time, and deaths among inmates, drawing on a contemporaneous diary. Interwoven are logistical details of camp life and candid reflections on military strategy, prisoner-exchange policy, and the moral ambiguities of wartime necessity, together with repeated acknowledgment of kindnesses received from some captors.

Danville Mil. Prison, Oct. 29, 1864.

General Order

No. 1.

Pursuant to the Regulations adopted by the Union Officers of the 2d Floor Military Prison, Danville, Va., Oct. 26, 1864, a Court Martial is hereby appointed to convene at 10 o'clock A.M. on the 29th inst. or as soon thereafter as may be practicable, for the Trial of Captain [I omit from the record the name of the accused], 104th N. Y. Vols., and such other officers as may be brought before it.

Detail for the Court.

Lt. Col. W. A. Leach,[Here follow the names of Captains Bryant, Black, Clapp, Burkart, Weiss (?), Reilly (?), Moody, and the name of the Judge Advocate, Lt. and Adjt. James A. Clark, 17th Pa. Cav.]
90th P. V.
Lt. Col. Theo. Gregg,
45th P. V.
Major J. W. Byron,
88th N. Y. V.
Capt. G. M. Dickerman,
26th Mass. V.

By order of the Officers of the 2d Floor,
James Carle,
Col. 190th Pa. Vols., Senior Officer.

Danville Mil. Prison, Va., 10 o'clock A.M., 31st, Oct. 1864.

The Court met pursuant to the foregoing order. Present all the members. The Court then proceeded to the trial of Capt. [we again omit the name of the accused], 104th N. Y. Vols.

The Judge Advocate stated that he had acquainted the accused of the order convening the Court, to which he replied in the words following, to wit: "What is that to do with me? I recognize no authority in this prison to convene a court martial," or words to that effect.

The accused having refused to appear, the members of the Court were duly sworn by the Judge Advocate, and the Judge Advocate was duly sworn by the President of the Court. The accused, Capt. [again we omit the name], 104th N. Y. Vols., was arraigned on the following charges and specifications:

Charge—Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.

Specification—In this: That Capt. [we again omit], 104th N. Y. Vols., without provocation, did say in the hearing of several officers to Lieut. Col. Homer B. Sprague, 13th C. V., speaking in coarse and ungentlemanly manner the words following, to wit: [here we omit the language uttered as being too vile and filthy to print]; that he did several times repeat the same in a coarse and angry tone, and used other vulgar and indecent expressions in an insulting tone and manner. This at Danville Mil. Prison, Va., in the lower room thereof on the 29th day of October, 1864.

The accused refusing to appear, the Judge Advocate was directed by the President to enter the plea of Not Guilty.

To the Specification,Not Guilty.
To the Charge,Not Guilty.

Lieut. G. C. Wilson, 2d P. Artillery, and Lieut. Wm. Shuler, 107th P. Vols., witnesses for the prosecution, stated that they had cognizance of the facts set forth in the Specification.

The proceedings of the Court having been reviewed by the Judge Advocate, he submitted the case without argument. The Court was then cleared for deliberation, and having maturely considered the evidence adduced find the accused

On the Specification, Guilty; with the exception of the words "and used other vulgar and indecent expressions."

Of the Charge, Guilty. And do therefore sentence him to be reprimanded by the Senior Officer.

The Court is thus lenient owing to this being the first case of the kind brought before it.

Wm. A. Leach, Lt. Col. 90th Regt. Pa. Vols., Pres.;
Jas. A. Clark, Adjt. 17th Pa. Cavalry, Judge Advocate.

The Proceedings and Findings in the foregoing case are hereby respectfully submitted to Brig.-Gen. Hayes for his consideration.

James Carle, Col. 191st Pa. Vols., Senior Officer, 2d Floor.

Confed. Mil. Prison, Danville, Va., Nov. 1, 1864.

The Proceedings and Findings of the Court Martial of which Lt. Col. W. A. Leach, 90th Pa. Vols., was President, having been submitted to Brig.-Gen. Hayes, the Senior Officer present, are approved. The extreme leniency of the Court must be apparent to all, and can only be excused by the novelty of the case brought before it. Language fails to convey censure adequate to the gross vulgarity and ungentlemanly conduct of the accused. Captain [we omit the name] seems to forget or misconceive his responsibility in his present circumstances. An officer being a prisoner of war is not relieved from his responsibility to his government nor from his liability to the regulations of the service as far as may be applied to his dishonor by ungentlemanly and unofficer-like conduct; and many other offenses committed by an officer when a prisoner of war are as punishable as if that officer were serving with his command. And it is well the officers in the prison have organized a Court for the summary punishment of those of their number, who, forgetful of their position and their honor, would bring shame upon themselves and their associates.

It is to be hoped that Capt. [name we omit]'s conduct in the future will be such as will cause to be forgotten his mistakes of the past.

Joseph Hayes, Brig. Gen. U. S. Vols.

INDEX

A

  • Adams, Dr. Nehemiah, 29
  • Adams, Sarah F., quoted, 35
  • ambulance, 37, 38
  • annihilation threatened, 23
  • apothecary doctor, 108, 109
  • Appendix, court record, 153-156
  • apple-jack, 39
  • Army of West Va., 4, 5, 6
  • artillery, trained on us, 51, 58
  • at in "Where is he at?" 73, 75
  • attempt to break out, 113, 118
  • autographs, officers', 136

B

  • Barnes, J. K., Surgeon-Gen., 146
  • battle, pomp of, 8, 134
  • battle-field, Winchester, 3 +
  • beans, soup of, ration, 44, 94, 102
  • Beecher, Henry Ward, quoted, 30
  • Beecher, married by, 52
  • Berryville, 3
  • Berryville pike, 3, 4, 7
  • Birge, Gen. H. W., 7, 9
  • blanket for several, 105
  • blankets "confiscated," 46
  • blankets, not to be shaken, 87
  • Blinn, Col. C. D., ill, 7
  • Blue Ridge, 1, 35, 36
  • Braxton's Confed. artillery, 9
  • bread, corn-cob-meal, 44, 93, 100
  • breakfast at Staunton, 32, 33
  • breakfast at Tom's Brook, 21
  • Breckenridge, Confed. Gen., 5
  • Brinton, Col., escape of, 26, 27
  • brooms in prison, 100, 102
  • Brown, John, defended, 28
  • Brownell, H. H., quoted, 137
  • Browning, Mrs., quoted, 36, 83, 91
  • buckets for water, 98, 110, 116
  • Buckingham, Gov. of Conn., 7, 129
  • "Bucktail Regiment," 64, 130
  • burning $400, 138
  • Burrage, Major H. S., 117, 120, 142
  • Bush, Lieut. W. W., 93, 96
  • "Butler's dandy regiment," 7 (note)
  • Byron, Lord, quoted, 28
  • Byron, Major John W., 87
  • Byrne, Major John, 64, 66, 141

C

D

E

  • Early, Gen. Jubal A., 5, 9, 14, 17
  • Edenburg village, 26
  • education in prison, 69, 70, 91, 92, 140
  • Eighth Corps, W. Va. Army, 4, 5, 6
  • Election votes in prison, 90
  • Emerson, Rev., prison chaplain, 58, 80
  • enlist or die, choice to, 133, 134
  • Epaminondas, strategy at Leuctra, 10
  • "escape on the brain," 67
  • escapes attempted, 26, 50, 110
  • Estabrooks, Lieut. H. L., 72, 74, 142, 143 (note)
  • exchange of prisoners, 83, 89, 102, 131
  • exchange blocked, 89, 90, 106, 107, 124, 131, 147-151

F

  • Ficklin, J. F., his kindness, 125-129, 131
  • Fisher, First Sea Lord, quoted, 57
  • Fisher's Hill, battle, 25
  • Fisher's Hill reached, 20
  • "flag-of-truce fever," 106, 107, 108
  • fleas, wicked, 27
  • flour ration, how cooked, 21
  • Fontleroy, Dr., his hospitality, 32, 33
  • freemasonry, very useful, 38, 40, 42, 46
  • French, oral lessons in, 69, 70
  • Fry, Major W. H., 85
  • fugitive slave law, 29, 30
  • fun, critical and sarcastic, 104, 105
  • fun, sanitary, 79, 80
  • furnace way of escape, 110
  • Furness, Horace Howard, 129

G

  • Gardner, Adjt. W. C., 69, 70, 71, 74, 85, 107, 108, 109, 142, 143
  • Gee, Confed. Major, 52, 53, 56, 74
  • German, oral lessons in, 92
  • Ghost in Hamlet, 85, 86
  • "God's Country," 137
  • God's fugitive slave law, 29
  • "going through" prisoners, 22
  • Gordon, Confed. Gen. J. B., 5, 10, 17
  • Gordon's brilliant charge, 10, 13
  • gorge of Berryville pike, 3, 4, 10
  • gorilla or guerrilla, which? 39, 40
  • grain cars at Danville, 48
  • Grant's merciless orders, 2
  • Greek Testament, kept, 42;
    • stolen, 80
  • greenbacks burned, 138
  • greenbacks, relative value of, 23, 24, 41, 140
  • Greensboro, N. Carolina, 48
  • Gregg, Lieut.-Col. Theodore, 64, 85
  • Grover, Gen. Cuvier, 5, 6, 8, 12
  • guerrilla, "I'm a guerrilla," 59
  • guerrilla, Morgan's, a kind gentleman, 34
  • gun cotton, cushion suspected, 45, 46

H

  • hake, issued in rations, 94
  • Hall, Rev. Charles K., kind, 122
  • Hamlet, rehearsal, 85, 86
  • Handy, Lieut., aide to Molineux, 11
  • Hartshorne, Col. W. Ross, 64, 66, 67, 68, 115, 130
  • Haslett, Capt., Provost Marshal, 26, 37, 38
  • Haurand, Major August, 22, 66
  • Hayes, Gen. Joseph, 53, 61, 65, 67, 92, 141
  • Hayes, Gen., on court martial, Appendix, 156
  • health, surely failing, 123
  • Henry, Patrick, cited, 30
  • "Hide your greenbacks," 41
  • hole in the brick wall, 43
  • Holland, J. H., imaginary, 128
  • Homer, quoted, 80;
    • puzzled to death, 99
  • Hooper, Lieut.-Col. C. H., 41, 54, 100, 115
  • horse lost in battle, 10, 11, 19
  • hospital in Danville, 106, 132
  • hostage, Lt. Manning held as, 60
  • Howard, Confed. Lieut., 28, 29, 30
  • Howe, Capt. Wesley C., 22, 50, 72, 109, 110, 141

I

  • Imboden, J. D., Confed. Gen., 25
  • Indiana soldiers, acrobats, 24
  • innocent deliberately slain, 152
  • international war, 152
  • Irish Bend, La., battle, wounded in, 89

J

  • James river, 46, 137
  • Jefferson, Thomas, quoted, 31
  • Jersey lightning, apple-jack? 39
  • Johnson's Island prison, 126
  • Jonah, disgorged like, 49
  • Jordan, H. T., 126, 127

K

  • Keifer, Gen. J. W., 9
  • Kerrstown, 20

L

  • Ladies, Confed., kind and handsome, 37
  • Lee, Gen. Fitzhugh, 5;
    • wounded, 13
  • Legendre, Davies's, 113, 140 (note)
  • letters from outside, 88, 89, 96, 132
  • Libby prison, 40-44, 112, 144
  • lice in prison, 102, 103, 132
  • lice of Egypt, not "in it," 80
  • Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 47, 48
  • Lincoln on exchange of prisoners, 89, 90, 125
  • Lincoln on right of revolution, 47, 48
  • Lloyd, J. J., returns from desertion, 133
  • Lockwood, Capt., killed, 77
  • log houses for officers, 52, 53
  • Longfellow, quoted, 136
  • Lovelace, poet, quoted, 89

M

  • Manning, Lieut. W. C., tunnel, 60, 61, 65
  • Mark Tapley's "jolly" example, 38
  • Marmion, Scott's, quoted, 37
  • martyrs in reality, 133, 134, 136
  • Mason, Capt. Frank H., 92, 143
  • Masonic Hall, Winchester, 18
  • McIntosh's cavalry, 4
  • Meacham's Station, 38, 40
  • meat ration, 44, 93, 94
  • Mercutio's wound, 118, 119
  • Middletown in Shenandoah Valley, 20
  • Molineux, Col. E. L., 7, 9, 14
  • money concealed, 42, 119, 138
  • money, Confederate, 23, 32, 33, 34, 113, 140
  • Morgan's guerrillas, 34
  • Mortality in prison. See under "deaths"
  • "Muggers," 51

N

  • Napoleon, his strategy, 10;
  • nationality, northern, 149, 150
  • nationality, southern, 39, 150, 151
  • necessity, military, defies every law, 151
  • negroes, loyal and kind, 111
  • negroes, prisoners of war, 78, 129
  • New Market, Va., 26, 27, 28
  • Newtown, V., 20
  • Nineteenth Corps, 4, 5, 6, 10, 66, 67

O

P

  • "painfully sober," 85
  • parole given, 53, 129
  • parole rejected, 53
  • pediculidæ vestimenti, non capitis, 99, 100
  • Petersburg shelled, 45
  • Pharaoh's epidermis and obstinacy, 80
  • Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, 10
  • plots to break out, 61-75; 113-119
  • policing prison, 87, 100
  • prayer of chaplain Emerson, 58, 80
  • prey and pray, 121
  • Prey, Col. Gilbert G., 54, 115, 130
  • prison number 3, officers', 78, +
  • prison 6, the worst of all, 131, 132
  • prison rules adopted, 87, 88
  • profanity of soldiers, 14, 15, 39, 87
  • Putnam, Adjt. G. Haven, 91, 92, 101, 110, 121, 140, 142

Q

R

  • Ralston, Col., killed, 61, 64, 66, 114, 118
  • Ramseur, S. D., Confed. Gen., 13, 15
  • rations, 44, 49, 56, 93, 94, 100, 102, 107, 124, 139
  • recapture of escaped officers, 112
  • recount made futile by trick, 111, 112
  • Redwood of Mobile, Yale classmate, 38
  • Reed, "shot into inch pieces," 24, 25, 26, 31
  • retaliation threatened, 60;
  • rheumatism, 123, 142
  • Richardson, Albert D., of Tribune, 52
  • Richmond, arrival at, 40, 136
  • Richmond, watching exploding shells, 45
  • Ricketts' Division, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12
  • riddle, fatal to the old poet, 99
  • riots in July, 1863, 133, 149
  • robbery of captives, 15, 22, 46
  • Rodes, Confed. General, 5;
  • roll-call nullified, 111, 112
  • roll-call sergt., queer, 99-103, 111, 112
  • rope ladder, twisted rags, 111, 112
  • rules adopted in prison, 87, 88, 141, 153
  • Russell, Sergt. Alfred, 89
  • Russell, Gen. D. A., killed, 13
  • Russell, Martha, 89
  • Russell, Gen. W. H., 128