‘I was captured by Confederate cavalry, Nov. 12, 1863, and have been a prisoner-of-war ever since. . . . My treatment has been very humane considering the circumstances of the case. The Confederate authorities show a disposition to release all free men, and as we come under that head, we hope a movement in that direction will be soon made. About fifty of the colored troops are at the jail in Charleston. They are not confined in cells, but volunteering to work they are permitted to go into the yard. Most of the men have hardly enough clothing to cover them. Their food consists of one pint of meal each day. They receive nothing else from the Confederate authorities but this meal, and some of them say they never ’
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Glazier adds that the colored soldiers sang this song with great zest, as it related to their sufferings and hopes, and was just mournful enough to excite our sympathy.
In these several accounts we notice different statements regarding the number of colored prisoners in the jail, and of the number allowed to visit the yard.
This may be accounted for by the necessities of the work required there, or elsewhere in and about Charleston.
Only one contemporaneous statement of a colored prisoner has been found.
It is a letter of Sergeant Johnson of the Fifty-fifth Mass., previously referred to, published in the Boston ‘Liberator’ of Oct. 7, 1864.
He says:—
1894. Boston Book Co. Boston,.
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