Andersonville, vol 2 | Page 8

in the field.
They had nearly always had comfortable quarters, an abundance of
food, few hard marches or other severe service. Consequently they
were not so well hardened for Andersonville as the majority who came
in. In other respects they were better prepared, as they had an
abundance of clothing, blankets and cooking utensils, and each man
had some of his veteran bounty still in possession.
It was painful to see how rapidly many of them sank under the miseries
of the situation. They gave up the moment the gates were closed upon

them, and began pining away. We older prisoners buoyed ourselves up
continually with hopes of escape or exchange. We dug tunnels with the
persistence of beavers, and we watched every possible opportunity to
get outside the accursed walls of the pen. But we could not enlist the
interest of these discouraged ones in any of our schemes, or talk. They
resigned themselves to Death, and waited despondingly till he came.
A middle-aged One Hundred and First Pennsylvanian, who had taken
up his quarters near me, was an object of peculiar interest. Reasonably
intelligent and fairly read, I presume that he was a respectable
mechanic before entering the Army. He was evidently a very domestic
man, whose whole happiness centered in his family.
When he first came in he was thoroughly dazed by the greatness of his
misfortune. He would sit for hours with his face in his hands and his
elbows on his knees, gazing out upon the mass of men and huts, with
vacant, lack-luster eyes. We could not interest him in anything. We
tried to show him how to fix his blanket up to give him some shelter,
but he went at the work in a disheartened way, and finally smiled
feebly and stopped. He had some letters from his family and a
melaineotype of a plain-faced woman--his wife--and her children, and
spent much time in looking at them. At first he ate his rations when he
drew them, but finally began to reject, them. In a few days he was
delirious with hunger and homesick ness. He would sit on the sand for
hours imagining that be was at his family table, dispensing his frugal
hospitalities to his wife and children.
Making a motion, as if presenting a dish, he would say:
"Janie, have another biscuit, do!"
Or,
"Eddie, son, won't you have another piece of this nice steak?"
Or,
"Maggie, have some more potatos," and so on, through a whole family
of six, or more. It was a relief to us when he died in about a month after
he came in.
As stated above, the Plymouth men brought in a large amount of
money-- variously estimated at from ten thousand to one hundred
thousand dollars. The presence of this quantity of circulating medium
immediately started a lively commerce. All sorts of devices were
resorted to by the other prisoners to get a little of this wealth. Rude

chuck-a-luck boards were constructed out of such material as was
attainable, and put in operation. Dice and cards were brought out by
those skilled in such matters. As those of us already in the Stockade
occupied all the ground, there was no disposition on the part of many to
surrender a portion of their space without exacting a pecuniary
compensation. Messes having ground in a good location would
frequently demand and get ten dollars for permission for two or three to
quarter with them. Then there was a great demand for poles to stretch
blankets over to make tents; the Rebels, with their usual stupid cruelty,
would not supply these, nor allow the prisoners to go out and get them
themselves. Many of the older prisoners had poles to spare which they
were saying up for fuel. They sold these to the Plymouth folks at the
rate of ten dollars for three--enough to put up a blanket.
The most considerable trading was done through the gates. The Rebel
guards were found quite as keen to barter as they had been in
Richmond. Though the laws against their dealing in the money of the
enemy were still as stringent as ever, their thirst for greenbacks was not
abated one whit, and they were ready to sell anything they had for the
coveted currency. The rate of exchange was seven or eight dollars in
Confederate money for one dollar in greenbacks. Wood, tobacco, meat,
flour, beans, molasses, onions and a villainous kind of whisky made
from sorghum, were the staple articles of trade. A whole race of little
traffickers in these articles sprang up, and finally Selden, the Rebel
Quartermaster, established a sutler shop in the center of the North Side,
which he put in charge of Ira Beverly, of the One Hundredth Ohio, and
Charlie Huckleby, of the