The first thing you would hear in the morning was a big negro, hollering "great news;" but he would not sell any of his papers till all were awake. The price was very reasonable. One-half sheet seven columns, and price only fifteen cents apiece. The next thing after reading the papers, was to find out when your turn came to cook. Sometimes we had a chance to cook twice, and sometimes but once. If you had the first chance, you might cook twice; if not, you ate just as little bread as you could get along with, and hung off till dinner time. Our rations in Libby prison were not anything to brag of. The meat was not much worse than we had while in Atlanta- -a little older and somewhat more venerable. We could not get very near it until it had been boiled in two or three waters. Some of it had been pickled in the same brine that had been used for pickling oysters, and all that you would have to do to distribute it around, was to take off its shackles and order it to go, which it could do without further assistance. With this beef we had a one-half pound loaf of hard bread, and I have seen the time I could eat the day's rations at one meal very comfortably.

Bread was worth $2.25; butter, $2.50, and molasses could be bought at from $13.00 to $16.00 per gallon. We used to have pretty high living when we had plenty of money.

The most amusing occupation we had, was what we called skirmishing. A class of individuals were disposed to dispute our sovereignty to a certain portion of our property. Our blankets were of a curious nature. I don't know how many men had died in them; I don't know where they came from; but I do know they had a great many inhabitants in them. Mine had, and it was absolutely impossible to rid them of their tenants. You might sit and search your clothes; the floor on which you slept; might look at your blankets; boil them in hot water, and you could not expect to exterminate the heavy division called "Grey Backs," which came down upon us like an avalanche every night. One of our principal sources of amusement in Libby prison, was punishing these fellows. Sleeping on the floor is very nearly as good as sleeping on the ground; but not quite, because you could

COL. MILLER'S STORY.

401

make a hole in the ground. We used to sing there, very considerbly," Old John Brown," &c., and by this means passed away many a happy hour. We were in Richmond till a week ago Tuesday. A week ago last Sunday, the doctor conveyed the idea that we were going to be carried to City Point. If you ever saw a panic anywhere; if you ever saw men concerned about their property and negroes; if ever men were in a panic, they were when Stoneman's cavalry neared the city. I believe fifteen hundred cavalrymen could have gone into that city-burned all the government stores, cars and transportation, which, by the way, is one of their very greatest supports. No train was permitted to run more than ten miles an hour, and when you destroy a full train of cars, you do them more damage than if you destroy a whole brigade of infantry. The following Tuesday morning we were taken to City Point, where we saw a flag-of-truce boat, and for the first time in four months we saw the American flag. When you come out from under the tyrannical power of the S. C., and compare it with the control under which you now live, you will then know what relief is.

The order and system that exists in Fortress Monroe, compared with that of City Point, presented a most glowing contrast. I don't see how any man who has ordinary observation, judging from what he can see, can have any sympathy whatever for the Southern Confederacy. I don't see how any man here can possibly grumble at the deprivation of his liberties under the Government, at the enormous taxes, duties, &c. Nothing makes me so completely exasperated as to hear a man complain of the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, when in the Southern Confederacy it has been suspended without any right. All you have to do there is to be suspicioned, and that is enough to throw you into prison. I have seen gangs of from forty to sixty, with iron bracelets on each hand, marching into prison, to remain-not till they take the oath of allegiance, but till they volunteer to go into the Confederate army, or stay till the war is over-one or the other they have to do.

CAPT. MERRILL'S STORY.

We, Col. Silas Miller, Capt. Albert Hobbs, Capt. O. B. Merrill, Capt. Frank Campbell, Capt. Wakeman and Lieut. Smith, prisoners taken at Stone River on the last day of December, 1862, after a stay of three weeks at Atlanta, arrived at Libby via Augusta, Ga.; Sumpter, S. C.; Wilmington, N. C. Our advent, in company with many other officers of other regiments at the old tobacco mansion, was the signal for great rejoicing on the part of the denizens of Richmond, who came in large numbers to see how Western soldiers looked, they having never seen any such before. We were given quarters on the first floor, adjacent to the room of Major Turner, the commandant of the prison. The prison was about 60 by 30 feet, with a very good view, from the two back windows, of the James River, the cotton mills on its opposite bank, and the surrounding country. The view from the front was not so pleasant. Most of the time it was a home guard carrying a musket. The furniture was plain and substantial one twelve-foot bench. Toward evening we were furnished with a blanket each, well lined with "grey-backs;" and wrapping the frisky drapery around us, we lay down to sleep, or dream, or scratch-our first night in Libby.

The morning came, dark, heavy and dreary, and upon every face were hidden glances of solicitude, of reflection. But the dreariness soon passed away in the presence of new duties and new scenes. There were twenty-two officers, all from the Western army, Brig. Gen. Willich, of Johnson's Division, among the number. At ten o'clock came the roll-caller (one Ross, who perished at the burning of the Spottswood House in '74), and then came rations for the day: two table-spoonsful of black beans, two of rice, six ounces of meat (generally mule), and three small slices of bread. With this was a dozen tin plates. This necessitated the dividing of the company into messes of twelve, and with the conviction that in union there is strength, we put the twelve rations together into one kettle, boiling to a soup. It was soup, soup, twice a day for five months, with but a few exceptions. It was also a lucky thing for the cooks that so many men

CAPT. MERRILL'S STORY.

of different nationalities were fond of soup.

403

About the com

mencement of the soup season we purchased an old stove for one hundred and sixty dollars, making an everyday detail from each mess of two as cooks, thus enabling us to cater to our appetites more fully by occasionally having-soup.

The prisoners were generally disconsolate for the first month, from the fact that we were continually reminded that an exchange was about to take place, but we soon learned that this was for effect, to keep the gathering force resigned. Then it was that some of the prisoners, whose home ties were strong, became disheartened and sick, resulting in their being taken to the hospital, which they rarely ever left except in a pine coffin. It was

at such times that inducements were offered to enter the Confederate service, but we have no record of a single one accepting or even giving it a thought. The monotony and close confinement was beginning to tell upon us, and give signs in the gaunt faces, listless eyes and stupid utterances. But Gen. Willich, a thorough soldier, came to the rescue by organizing games of exercise, one of which was "Fox and Geese." This soon became the game of all others, which was practiced twice a day for four months, and to its highly entertaining qualities many were in debt for their rescue from gloomy thoughts, the hospital and death. Our "Fox and Geese was similar to the old game, with the exception of which the Fox must hop from his corner on one leg, having a knotted handkerchief, and whoever received a blow must "git" to the goal, after having to run the gauntlet of all the geese who also had knotted handkerchiefs to help the victim along. There were some strong arms there, and some knots larger than others, and some officers who wore jackets and were possessed of rotund forms, not over active, and for such the running of the gauntlet had its terrors. New recruits were brought in almost every day, and this was our mode of initiation. It may seem to those not acquainted with the situation that there was folly in this, but in the absence of reading matter or any occupation whatever, it was the very best thing to do. At times the discipline around the prison was very severe. The guards on the James river side, on the slightest pretext shooting through the windows, but there was

no one hit, though there were some narrow escapes. The rim of Col. Miller's hat was perforated during one of their shooting scrapes.

The floor above us was used as a prison for Southern Union men, and through a hole in the floor, we opened a correspondence and an exchange bank.

Finding that a dollar of our money went no further than a dollar of Confederate when sent out by the guard for rice and tobacco, we were not long in finding out, too, that we could do better, the Union prisoners above offering four, five and six dollars for one of greenbacks, we always taking the highest bidder. A string was let down, the greenback tied on and hauled up and its price returned. About the first of April the small-pox appeared. As a "preventative," they smoked us twice a day. "Uncle John," a colored prisoner, appeared at such times with his campkettle half full of burning leather, crying out, "Good mornin', gentlemen; here's yer nice warm smoke." nice warm smoke." All "business immediately suspended. Weeping, sneezing, and feeling around for what was once a handkerchief, in the smudge of half an hour, was about all that was done. But there were many things said.

was

Our room was full, and, perhaps owing to the prevailing epidemic, a large number were removed to a room on the third floor, all officers being selected above and below the grade of captain, thus separating the 36th squad; leaving Capt. Hobbs, Capt. Waterman, Capt. Campbell and the writer below; Col. Miller and Lieut. Smith above-a change not all desirable.

About this time, Brig. Gen. Stoughton arrived, captured from the army of the Potomac, and taken at the same time was a Russian baron, a Captain of Lances in his country, taking "items" at the general's headquarters. He was assigned to our mess, and Capt. Campbell, who was cook for that day, conducted him to the table, placing before him a tin plate and a wooden spoon, asking, "Will you have some of the soup, sir?" He looked thin and hungry, but he said gracefully, "No, tank you; I haf never eat soup." This being the first and last "course," he fasted, we knowing full well the cause. For three days the Baron held out,