Category: Biographies

Prison Life in the Old Capitol and Reminiscences of the Civil War

It is not my intention in my prison diary to discuss the constitutional or legal question of arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of non-combatants, but to present to my readers a picture of the daily routine of prison life as I saw it, together with incidents related to me by f...

Chapters

2. Part 2

On arriving at the Old Capitol, we were halted at the entrance by the sentry patroling the pavement in front of the prison door, who called out with a loud voice, “Corporal of t...

9. Part 9

“When I visited Major Wirz the next morning he told me that the same proposal had been made to him and had been rejected with scorn. The Major was very indignant, and said that...

5. Part 5

_Thursday, March 5._--Boyd Barrett returned. He had a slight attack of varioloid. Haskins, of South Carolina, who was taken away with him, died of smallpox. Another of the party...

4. Part 4

_Wednesday, Feb. 18._--_At Home._--Mrs. Fullerton called this morning. She said she had been to the prison and had carried a few things, including my wife’s picture. The officer...

6. Part 6

I went back to my room, giving up the idea of getting away then. Some things I had sent for had not arrived, so I was disappointed in more than one respect, and was about settli...

3. Part 3

“I did. Mr. Howe and a man named Daniels came to Richmond while I was there. They took board at a house kept by Mrs. Graves, on Franklin Street, where I was boarding. On the nig...

7. Part 7

Beef is selling in Richmond at $1.25 per pound; butter, $3; coffee, $4 to $5; eggs, $1.50 per dozen. Expected to go to the transportation office at night, but went to the theate...

8. Part 8

In August, 1864, Brigadier-Generals Wessells and Seymour were sent South to look into the condition and treatment of Union prisoners. From a report of General Seymour to Colonel...

1. Part 1

It is not my intention in my prison diary to discuss the constitutional or legal question of arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of non-combatants, but to present to my readers a...

10. Part 10

Exchange of prisoners, Ould’s letter to Hitchcock, 123. Letter to _National Intelligencer_, 124. Report of Gen. Seymour, 126. U. S. authorities did not want, 125. Gen. Butler’s...

11. Part 11

[E] It was in a corner of this yard, a few years later, after the close of the war, that poor Wirz, condemned and tried by a Military Court-Martial, was judicially murdered.