‘There were twenty-one negro soldiers, most of them belonging to Colonel Shaw's Fifty-fourth Mass. regiment of immortal memory, among the number. They were never to be exchanged, but were to be reduced to slavery. They were all that were left of the colored troops captured at Wagner. Tile rest were bayoneted and shot after they surrendered. Their rations were bread and water; still they would sing Union songs, pouring their melody through their prison bars for the entertainment of the Union officers in the prison and below.’He says there was no shelter for these officers. Filth, garbage, and urine were all about. The gallows were still in the jail-yard. Shells exploded about the jail. On Sept. 16 there was a great bombardment, but only two were injured, and slightly. No cooking utensils were provided. A lot of lean beef was
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negro, and he having told his story, it was corroborated by some of the officers.
Doctor Todd said he did not care a damn, and had the negro taken out and given forty lashes.
When the negro came back he said: ‘For God's sake, how long has this thing got to last?’
This Todd was considered the most degraded of all the rebels the prisoners had to do with.
Capt. Frank E. Moran, Seventy-third N. Y. Infantry, was there in July, 1864, and testifies that there was a number of colored prisoners there.
They were allowed to come into the yard once a day for water.
One of them was murdered by the guard while coming for water.
Lieut. Harvey G. Dodge, Second Penn. Cavalry, was taken there in August, 1864, and says that the water was miserable.
There was a double row of tents then, extending around three sides of the yard, and four in a tent.
It was almost impossible to keep clean; everything must be laid in the dirt; not a stone or piece of wood to lay anything on. Says there were about forty of the Fifty-fourth there, and some felons and convicts confined in the jail for desertion and other crimes.
The captured colored soldiers had been there about a year, and were kept in close confinement, except two or three who were made to do the work of the prison.
Capt. Samuel C. Timson, Ninety-fifth New York infantry, was taken there Sept. 13, 1864.
He says:—
1894. Boston Book Co. Boston,.
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