The Daily Dispatch: November 25, 1864., [Electronic resource]

The Prison at Florence, South Carolina.

‘ "There are still in the stockade here ten thousand prisoners, over one thousand having died from scurvy and their own natural filthiness. They are well fed, drawing the same rations we do; but they crave vegetables, which, except potatoes, are not to be had by any of us. They have booths inside, where they sell bacon, tobacco, potatoes, red pepper and pea-soup to one another, carrying on, perhaps, their old trades, except that their swindling operations are confined to one another. They have yet some specie among them, though their currency is mostly greenbacks, for which the soldier is not allowed to trade. Potatoes is our currency most available with them — these are bought outside at five dollars per bushel, and exchanged for rings, pipes, inkstands, watches, oil cloths, and a certain style of Yankee hat, which is becoming very fashionable among us, and which form a part of the "home remittances. " It is said, if you lock two Yankees up in a room together, they can make five dollars a piece swapping jackets; if so, they have an opportunity of carrying on a thriving business. Tunneling, it was found, would not pay."

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