Misc: Alexander Pattison Watson Journal, Indiana Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Dinahan@aol.com Dinahan@aol.com USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Belle Island Prison Experiences by A.P. Watson 67th Pa. Vols. Indiana, Pa. There was but one bright spot in that God forsaken and seemingly God forgotten Rebel Prison Hell, Belle Island, Virginia in 1863, and that was in tent No, 1 Squad No. 2l, during August to Sept. 22nd 1863. There quartered or messed together Benton Squires Co. C 110th Ohio Veteran Volunteers, a comrade named Edward Alton 8th Conn. Vet. Volunteers, 2 comrades of the 55th Ohio, Vet Vol. One Pa. Cavalry and 15 other comrades whose names and regiments the writer has forgotten.. Comrade Alton 13th Conn. was an excellent singer and assisted by the writer and two other comrades, a vocal quartet was formed which was hard to excel, either in melody of voice or the patriotic sentiment of the select songs included in their repertory. There were two New York actors who were members of the 125th N.Y. Vet Volunteers who often recited appropriate Shakespearean selections between songs and with their assistance, we enlivened our section of the Prison Pen and for the time being at least, tried to forget our Horrible, Miserable surroundings. Every patriotic song then known was sung by our quartet, and also an original Belle Island song, composed on the island was sung every pleasant evening, which never failed to receive an encore. Another great favorite with the boys was "The Union Oath" --it out rivaled either the "Star Spangled Banner," or "The Red White and Blue" for fine patriotic sentiment. Sometimes we would change the program and sing "Dixie" and " The Bonnie Blue Flag." Do my comrades of the 55th Ohio VI who messed with me, August to Sept. 22nd 1863 in tent No. 1, Squad N. 2, the squad next to the cook house and the tent next the gap, on the right, as you passed out of Belle Island, does the 55th comrade or any others of the messmates remember his seconding the writer in knocking out the deserter name ________of the Excelsior Brigade. Report said he was a member of the 77 NY Vols. Assuredly, every living ex war prisoner who by the misfortunes of war, was compelled to starve and freeze by inches in Camp Belle Isle Hades or in Hotel de Jeff Davis--Libby Prison was almost eaten alive by 6 legged rebel gray-backs recollects Comrade Bloss, who used to row the rebel important(?) Johnny Reb with long yellow dog hair. Bloss used to row this Lieutenant __________to and from Richmond, morn, noon or night or at his, the Lieutenant's pleasure. Bloss had a royal good time and every day picnic, compared with his starving comrades in the pen. He was a sort of a Rebel Pet, or dog robber as such were styled in those days by our boys. Bloss one day ran up the Stars and Bars. He also made it his business to hunt up beef bones and refuse or stolen bits of bread and meat from about the Reb guards_________and sell those bits of dirty grub to his starving prisoner comrades at robbery prices, charging $25 for a few bites of bread and meat, and old bone, a table spoonful of salt, a bit of tobacco, or anything by which he could cheat and rob the prisoners. We thought he was acting as a rebel spy at the same time. One day as he came in the gap I said to my 55 Ohio messmate," Lets knock out dog robber Bloss. " "all right" said he and at him we went, each striking and kicking him. Bloss shouted "Murder" and "Help" Held his pocket book in one hand and watch in the other. After a good beating and losing a peck haversack sack filled with meat and bread, he was rescued by his traitor friends and life perhaps thus saved. The Rebel guards with fixed bayonets, charged on the mob of some thousands that had us jammed into such a tight place that we could not do up the deserter _-________enough. The crowd was finally dispersed by the guards, Bloss taken away and fixed up and next day he strutted about in front of camp in a full new, Rebel gray uniform to taunt us. Had he been picked up on the road after Lee, his traitor carcass should of hung from a tree. I suppose the comrades will remember how the dirty dog Rebel Commanders of Belle Island, through false pretense and lying, robbed the 4,200 or more starving , ragged and sick union prisoners, first placing them on the river bank above camp on the island out of speaking distance, then placing a square tent on outside near upper N.W. corner of the prison pen -- passed one man at a time into it-closed the tent, had 2 Yankee clerks write down the prisoner's name, Rank, Co. and regiment. Then on the pretext of a fear that the prisoners might bribe the Rebel guards and escape to God's country again, the poor, half clad, 1/2 starved union comrade was ordered to hand to the Rebel officers on watch , all his many and other things of value in his possession on condition that the designated articles and amount of money were to be honestly returned to the soldier at time of his parole, or exchange, as each article designated and set down in black and white next to his name. Then after each had given money and c & c, they were searched for more and all they had taken off, then returned to the death trap, poorer than the day they were born, except their vermin infested filthy_______clothing, unwashed for from 3 to 6 months or a year-perhaps longer. Though the Rebels set up a fine job of lying, false pretense, High Way robbery and traitor like swindling of Gods Martyr, Union loving Patriots, who starving , would rather than take an oath to remain inside Confederate lines, and to neutral until end of the war, they choose death before dishonor by taking any kind of oath that would compromise their patriotism, with treason Davis or the Devil's lost cause to sustain and perpetuate human slavery, a great and profitable institution for a time for the few landed Lords. But a curse to the poor of every race. In that 4 year Civil War to sustain a God accursed cause, the proud, the lazy, indolent politicians of the South had all at stake and lost...The poor suffered comparatively less, but had all to gain, and they in Dixie who are fair minded should today admit that in the death knell of the lost cause ______and_______the voice of a mighty boom of prosperity all over that once Godless land of________and Oppression. The reason we were hungry when arrived at Libby Prison was while in the Taylor or Union Hotel, Small Pox and ___________broke out among the prisoners and for some time before leaving Winchester, Va. we had to live on hard tack and water. The wounded and sick suffered fearfully, then on the march from Winchester to Culpepper Court House, Va. we received but one pint tin cupful of wheat flour for 24 hours march. This ration was Issued from the BBl as we marched in line by it. Many of us had nothing but our hats and caps to put our floury supper in. Some ate the flour dry, some made a sort of cold water gruel of it, and drank it down. The writer made his into flat cakes and baked and burnt them on hot stones where the Rebus company cook was baking the next day's rations of biscuits for the guards. I had traded my cap for a hat, a brand new broad brim lead colored hat, the better to ward off sun and rain. the Rebel may have stolen it out of a store on his way to or from Gettysburg, Pa, and I felt dressed and proud of the hat until after I put my pint of flour in it. My good old grandmother used to tell me that hunger world break through a stone wall and I believed it then . Divided by lot by the prisoners=8oz. bread, 1 1/2 meat, one pt. bean tea. This was our daily bill of fare while in Libby and on Belle Island, July-Aug. and to Sept. 1863--from 10 A.M. to 12:00 noon, we received each one, 1/4 of a pound loaf of bread, about 4 oz. bread and one to one and a half ounces very poor and tasteless lean beef in size not averaging larger then a hen's egg. This constituted all our breakfast and dinner. Then they, after taking out the boiled beef at about 10 A.M. put more water, sand and mud into the tank, then they carried up some 2 bu sacks brown beans untied the sack while on their shoulders and while the beans ran into the tank, the dirt and dust , like a pillar of smoke rose 6 to 10 ft. in the air, from amount of sand and dirt bugs, warm and c found in bottoms of our half canteens, wooden dishes, wooden and old tin cups. Each day we feel sure that we were getting our peck of dirt each. The beans never had been hand picked or even well cleaned for windmills teaching and school houses always like hen's teeth were few and far apart in Dixie. This hog slop, of a bad unhealthy quality was kept boiling until about 3 P.M. when a 2 _____________bucket of the stuff was issued to every 20 men, at rate of 16 pints to 20 men. This bean tea 4/5 of a pint and another 4 ounce quarter of a loaf constituted each day's ration. It was 1pt James River water, water called Bean Soup. to live on from 3P.M. to 10 A.M. each day. Good clear clean water would have saved perhaps many a noble boy's life, as they never could get offer affects of the bugs, mud and sand, eaten in Bean Tea and drunk with sand floating in the water. The writer suffers yet from result of the sand consumed with food and drink while in Libby Prison and Belle Island during the unhealthy season in 1863. The 110 Ohio Veteran Volunteers were a band of heroes, truer and braver 3 year Volunteer soldiers do not exist. They were commanded by General Warren Keifer, our good general. Well they did their duty while bivouacked in that historic valley of the Shenandoah, and while following the Blue Greek Cross of the 6th Corps with generals Wright, Keifer and glorious Little Phil who early and late gave Jubal Early, late and early, all he could digest and more of Sheridan, on Sept. 19th and Oct. 19th in 1864. ____________________Prisons at he South) compared with Northern Prisons for Rebels--there was about as much difference in hospitality between the two as between day and night, as I will prove to the readers of the Union soldiers good friend, the National Tribune and its competent and faithful editor George D. Leeann. The writer was captured near Winchester, Virginia in June, 1863, escaped from the Rebels taking his fever sick skeleton of a Captain Maj. RT.. Cornwall Esq. of W______, Pa. Comrades _________ and a No, of others unable to walk in a conveyance hired from citizens, one typical tar stick southern wagon, with Hay ladder on inside of which we laid the 2 bed ticks on which we laid the 2 poor bed sore living skeletons of my Company I. and Company E 67th Pa-Vet.-Vols. Ferrier, John Co. I 67th P.V. and William Moalweaver (???)Co. E 67th P.V. Their sufferings were untold as for long weeks and perhaps months were demented by disease and each have gone to his long home in the grove years ago from results most likely of Army Service and starvation in the God accursed Rebel Prisons. Captain, now Major R.J. Cornwall was in a buggy . We paid the citizen $17 in a variety of money, and he was to haul the sick. Old Mrs. Tower(??) Regimental cook , nurse and laundress and Mrs. John Curry and daughter assistants, cooks and nurses to Martinsburg, V. Protected by a parole list signed by some scalawag commissioned traitor. Part of a nice white shirt--tied to a stick carried by a comrade 10 to 20 paces in advance of the team. This represented a flag of truce. With this systematic arrangement we moved out of Berryville's Provost lines, and got past a No. of picked guards along the roads, and had gone about 5 1/2 miles toward God's Country when we met a Reb Colonel that could count and read. He demanded my _______or Parole list, counted the prisoners, then counted the names. There was one man's name not on my list, he said. But I explained how that happened. It was Doc. Hartinstine, the Captain's nurse. as he did not stop where the others did, his name was not there and perhaps he was not paroled at a... I explained away everything I could, and plead the case of the sick, lame and lazy, but all in vain. He asked how we got out of and so far away from Berryville, post guards ect I said by rules recognized en civilized warfare. But he said there was something wrong , detained us on the road until he dispatched his orderly to Berryville, and on his return we were ordered to report to Winchester, and the old man's wagon was turned on almost less ground that it stood and about 15 miles travel brought us to Winchester, where all except the ladies and worst disabled were penned up in the Court House. The sun was fast sinking behind the old fort Milroy Hill. It would soon be dark and we were all sore sick and worn out- 15 miles further into the Devil's land than in the morning. Hopes deferred makes the heart sick and there seemed now but one chance in a hundred of avoiding a siege in one or more to those cruel Rebel Hell Death traps. There was no place to sit down, lie down or even good place to lean against and rest. There was a fearful stench that was sickening to us and that would give a healthy clean northern hog the yellow jaundice-enough to forever turn a respectable man or beast against tobacco. The whole Court House was 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep and floating with tobacco slobbers and black dirt of different kinds and the place crowded. My legs ached from hunched down. I had got wet , forded rivers and creeks and had not fully recovered from results of Typhoid Fever which had kept me on my back over a month in April and May. I had made up my mind to pick out a corner early in the evening and sit on my hunkers in it all night or as long as I could, for my limbs would not bear my body up much longer, but I was always on lookout for a chance of escape and the opportunity came at last. It was getting late in evening. Some officers entered the prison to take out some wounded. They examined them about middle of Court House and each one passed out alone when examined. I located self about half way between examining surgeon and the door, watched my chance and walked out while the guard was looking after the last man passed by the door , and I thing supposed I was allowed to go out also as I was somewhat lame. I never looked back, but made my way to the Taylor, or as some called it Union Hotel. There I met another guard at entrance of front porch. He asked no questions nor did I have time to as I was on a business. Once inside Hotel, I found Captain A.M. Clark, Co. K , Captain R. T. Cornwell Co. I. , Fenton S_________ 110th Ohio Vols. Capt. Clark's nurse. Capt. A.M.C. had a severe wound in one ankle. Having been on detached duty, for a few weeks after having fever, had not yet learned all particulars in regards the June 15th battle and was sorry to hear of the deaths Capt. Trorrgh of Co. H 67th and many others including Leonard Huey the clever good hearted messmate of my own Co I. Mayer, Co. A and Irish Pat Co. A wounded in back and Mayer through middle of foot, a most painful wound in June, 1863. Comrade Wm Gates, Co I died there very unexpectedly after a long illness from Rheumatism of Heart Small Pox and Er__________ caused some fatalities amongst the sounded. One of the 1st N.Y. Cavalry was left at Berryville swinging to the rafters in a store--alive. He was wounded near the S__________.Another 1st NY Cavalry man though shot plum through the center of his body from front was walked about in back yard of Hotel suffering so little that he seemed unhurt. Another large soldier of 126th Ohio Vols. had a spent miney ball weighing an ounce lodged under his tongue-knocking out most all his front teeth. His tongue was so swollen he could not eat or shut his mouth. His tongue protruding full length almost, and on which he kept continually pouring cold water. His suffering must of been terrible from thirst, hunger and pain. Terry Lynch 126th Ohio died from a shell wound in hench bone, a fearful wound to dress. Comrade Wipinser (?) 67th received a frightful wound on side of face, tearing out teeth and disabling jaws. Capt Flick 67th lost part of a hand. Many others of the 67th PV fought their last battle there and are sleeping their last sleep in old Winchester National Cemetery today. More in number than any regiment of that army. Winchester had some royal good and true union loving citizens amongst them was the Joseph Jackson family, constisting of his good kind hearted wife, daughters Mary, her sister and young brother Lewis W. Jackson now of 466 Broadway, N.Y.. Lewis W. Jackson was scout nad guied for General Milroy's Division in 1863 and although but a boy in years and small of stature, at the time he was a hero all the same, having many adventures and hair breadth escapes. The family home is now on the pike near Winchester. Lewis did business on corner of 12th and market Street in Philadelphia, Pa. in summer of 1864 where the writer last saw him and carried back a week after, to his good old parents lovely and loving sisters the good news that their loved, pariotic union scout and brother had escaped with the remnant of Milroy's command and was safe and sound, enjoying hospitalities of the good people in the city of brotherly love, and that he would be home soon as the war was over.