Rebel camp

“ From the rebel camp the spy also brought intelligence of armed men flocking out of the Belwa fort, and preparing for a foraging raid over the district. And to this information he also supplemented other intimations concerning the movements of the rebels, which, as on a former occasion, proved so true that, instead of being a “desperate scoundrel” — as his fellow camp followers for some occult reason had dubbed him — he became the native hero in the camp ”

“ The small squad of cavalry was drawn up on the hill near the Star Fort, and near it were the masters of the hounds, with their yelping packs.
All the hangers-on of the Rebel camp--clerks, teamsters, employer, negros, hundreds of white and colored women, in all forming a motley crowd of between one and two thousand, were gathered together in a group between the end of the rifle pits and the Star Fort. They had a good view from there, but a still better one could be had, a little farther to the right, and in front of the guns. ”

“ B who was taken prisoner on the 13th, came back to camp today, having been paroled, and walked from the rebel camp (which he thinks is nearly 100 miles from here) with one hardtack and a little corn meal for his rations during the march.
He thinks there are from 10,000 to 20,000 rebels between Donaldsonville and Thibodaux, with considerable artillery. A continued discussion of the question of “going home” now principally occupies the time of the men. ”

“ James Carle, 191st Pa., with his hundreds is breaking through the fence and capturing the rebel camp in rear of the officers' quarters. Colonel, afterwards General, W. Ross Hartshorne and his 330 men of the 190th Pa. are to break the fence just above the main rebel camp which is on our left. ”

“ After finding themselves so thoroughly vanquished at every hand, the panic-stricken rebels fled in every direction, with the utmost precipitation. Their infantry fled into the thick adjoining woods, and thus made their way to the wide spreading prairie beyond, while their cavalry, taking advantage of a moment when the Body-guard were most busily engaged with the infantry lines, sped across an adjoining field, and were soon beyond the reach of danger. ”

“ This small force was guarding eight thousand Rebel prisoners, one third of whom were Texas rangers, and guerrillas who had served under Morgan,—wild, reckless characters, fonder of a fight than of a dinner, and ready for any enterprise, however desperate, that held out the smallest prospect of freedom. To add to the seeming insecurity, nearly every office in the camp was filled with these prisoners. They served out rations and distributed clothing to their comrades, dealt out ammunition to the guards, and even kept the records in the quarters of the Commandant. ”

“ And yonder is my own camp."
"Yes, your camp, containing seventy thousand true and tried soldiers. Those who have shared your victories with you. Seventy thousand soldiers! ha! ha! ha!"
"Johnson, I do not like your sarcasm. Better the enemy should over-estimate our numbers. It will intimidate them."
"Intimidate! Whom?"
"Why, not only the soldiers of the army, but their generals!"
"Asboth?"
"Yes!"
"Sturgis?"
"Yes!"
"Hunter?"
"Yes!"
"Sigel and Fremont?"
"Yes; even Sigel and Fremont can be intimidated."
"Perhaps—by an earthquake, but not by you, General Price. ”

“ Not a day passed without some long-range artillery firing from both sides; sometimes a shell passed over our camp and over General McClellan's headquarters camp behind us. Picket firing also went on, and there were some casualties daily. It was at this camp that I saw Rebel soldiers for the first time; some prisoners, taken in a skirmish, were brought to headquarters. Only a few among them wore a complete uniform of gray; the others had a mixture of military and civilian clothing and wore slouch hats; they were taken charge of by the provost-guard. ”

“ A battery constantly in readiness to fire on us should an alarm be given stood near by. Our food was still the half-cooked corn and cobs together, with quantities of a poor and sickly sorghum molasses. We heard that the Rebel army was living little better than we were. In ridicule of the rations the prisoners dubbed this prison pen "Camp Sorghum." [Pg 145] Every man among us was sick with diarrhœa. The little grave-yard for the prisoners near by grew rapidly. The details of our life in this miserable camp I shall not relate. ”

“ We could for a while forget the stench, the lice, the heat, the maggots, the dead and dying around us, the insulting malignance of our jailors; but it was, very hard work to banish thoughts and longings for food from our minds. Hundreds became actually insane from brooding over it. Crazy men could be found in all parts of the camp. ”

“ The breast-works marking the Rebel's position were still there. A few miles beyond, about half way between our former camp and Yorktown, we halted and went into camp in a field at the edge of some woods, in which there were a large number of huts or shacks, which had been occupied by some Rebel regiment during the winter. We found a number of pigs running around in the woods, some of which we captured and had fresh pork for supper. ”

“ The general was so busy examining the Indian, that he did not see them, and I forgot to tell him they were here."
"What do the papers contain?"
"A plan of the federal camp—the names and description of all the principal officers, even General Fremont, and their entire force in round numbers—their guns—kind of rifle which the infantry use, and, in fact, all the particulars, even to where they post their pickets."
"Orderly, do you think we can successfully contend with their army?"
"I know we cannot! They have more fighting men than we, and are much better armed." ”

“ He was a born fighter. Physically I think he was the bravest man I ever knew. I witnessed several manifestations of his fearlessness, but one particularly impressed me.
I have spoken of the Camp Jackson affair. Although the people in the Rebel encampment surrendered without a blow, the incident was attended with considerable bloodshed. A mob of Rebel sympathizers, consisting largely of half-grown boys—I was in the midst of the throng at the time—with their pistols opened fire on a German Union regiment and killed several of its men. ”

“ If facts prove to be what they are now represented, this engagement of Sunday morning will be recorded as the most desperate of this war. Broken limbs, broken heads, the mangling of bodies, all prove that it was a contest between enraged men: on the one side, from hatred to a race; and, on the other, desire for self-preservation, revenge for past grievances, and the inhuman murder of their comrades. One brave man took his former master prisoner, and brought him into camp with great gusto. A rebel prisoner made a particular request, that his own negroes should not be placed over him as a guard. ”

“ Some fifteen or twenty went to Canada, and about fifty went to Southern Illinois and Indiana. Thus ended the first attempt to release the rebel prisoners of war at Camp Douglas. It was certainly a bold movement, both on the part of the rebels, who exposed themselves to such great risk of suffering a disgraceful and ignominious death, and the citizens who aided them in their nefarious designs. ”

“ Stay, here is a suit of clothing I wish you to put on, and wherever we go, understand you belong in Springfield, and have just left the hospital there. After we pass our lines, you know you are a rebel, so lay aside that rifle, and take the shot gun I gave you. 'Swasey's nigger' will not be armed at all. Go."
In a few moments the officers had changed their uniforms for the rougher dress. Their horses were brought up, and they at once took their leave of camp, followed by the negro and William Nettleton. ”

“ This section of the fort was literally full of dead and wounded, piled up even with the parapet. I crossed over their bodies, slid down the slope and crossed the moat, which was full of our dead. A rebel sentry was pacing up and down the beach, but by keeping near the bank I was able to pass him. My scabbard was shot away, my pistol bent and useless, and, leaning on my sword, I hobbled down the beach to camp. The 48th went into this assault with five hundred men and sixteen officers, and three hundred men and fourteen officers were killed, wounded, or prisoners. ”

“ No one can for a moment be deceived by such statements, who will reflect that our soldiers, who, when taken prisoners, have been stout, healthy men, in the prime and vigor of life, yet have died by hundreds under the treatment they have received, although required to perform no duties of the camp or the march; while the rebel soldiers are able to make long and rapid marches, and to offer a stubborn resistance in the field. ”

“ Any day that the Rebels had chosen they could have gotten a thousand volunteers who would have given their solemn parole not to escape, and gone any distance into the country, to gather the potatos and corn, and such other vegetables as were readily obtainable, and bring, them into the camp.
Whatever else may be said in defense of the Southern management of military prisons, the permitting seven thousand men to die of the scurvy in the Summer time, in the midst of an agricultural region, filled with all manner of green vegetation, must forever remain impossible of explanation. ”

“ This was under the bank, at the edge of the Swamp and at the eastern side of the prison, where the sinks were, and all filth from the upper part of the camp flowed down to them. The sand upon which they lay was dry and burning as that of a tropical desert; they were without the slightest shelter of any kind, the maggot flies swarmed over them, and the stench was frightful. If one of them survived the germ theory of disease is a hallucination.
The increasing number of prisoners made it necessary for the Rebels to improve their means of guarding and holding us in check. ”

“ But, stay. I heard the report of a rifle, and then a sharp cry. He may have met some of the soldiers, and suffered at their hands. At all events, it will be useless now for me to go again to camp, as the guard will be doubly vigilant. I will return to the cabin, and if Fall-leaf does not appear by nightfall, I will then go in search of him. Perhaps Johnson will accompany me. ”

“ No room could be given up for streets, or for the usual arrangements of a camp, and most kinds of exercise were wholly precluded. The men crowded together like pigs nesting in the woods on cold nights. ”

“ But the Rebels were led to believe that we were ripe for revolt against our flag, and to side with them. Imagine, if possible, the stupidity that would mistake our bitter hatred of those who were our deadly enemies, for any feeling that would lead us to join hands with those enemies. One day we were surprised to see the carpenters erect a rude stand in the center of the camp. When it was finished, Bradley appeared upon it, in company with some Rebel officers and guards. ”

“ The following account of the fight is from an eye witness:—
“My informant states that a force of about five hundred negroes, and two hundred men of the Twenty-third Iowa, belonging to the second brigade, Carr’s division (the Twenty-third Iowa had been up the river with prisoners, and was on its way back to this place) , was surprised in camp by a rebel force of about two thousand men. The first intimation that the commanding officer received was from one of the black men, who went into the colonel’s tent, and said, ‘Massa, the secesh are in camp.” ”

“ The moment they arrived in camp we began to be annoyed by their depredations. Blankets—the sole protection of men—would be snatched off as they slept at night. Articles of clothing and cooking utensils would go the same way, and occasionally a man would be robbed in open daylight. All these, it was believed, with good reason, were the work of the N'Yaarkers, and the stolen things were conveyed to their camp. ”

“ George H. Bangs was busily engaged in examining the rebel deserters and prisoners, Southern refugees and contrabands, who were either captured or came willingly into camp, and in preparing daily reports of our movements, which were required to be made to the General in command. I had accompanied McClellan upon this campaign, and gave my untiring personal supervision to the management of the large corps of [Pg 544] men and women, white and black, then engaged in obtaining information. ”

“ Far up the streets there were bright flashes from the muskets of the Rebels, who fired from cellars, chamber windows, and from sheltered places. Nearer were dark masses of men in blue, who gave quick volleys as they moved steadily on, demolishing doors, crushing in windows, and searching every hiding-place. Cannon were flaming on all the hills, and the whole country was aglow with the camp fires of the two great armies. ”

“ During the absence of our column, our camp, left under protection of the 84th, was threatened by the rebels, who, however, were easily beaten off.
An attempt, made by men engaged for the purpose, to burn down the jungle—​work in which had already cost us the lives of many men—​was but partially successful. While at one point this was in progress, from another came indications of attack by a considerable body of well-armed rebels. The 10th were quickly in movement towards them, a few of their bullets telling among our ranks. ”

“ A camp is a resting-place for the victor, a shelter for the vanquished. How many armies to whom the fortune of battle has proved unkindly have been driven inside their ramparts and then at their own time, sometimes almost immediately, have made a sortie and repulsed their victorious foe? Here is the soldier's second fatherland, here is his abode, with the rampart for its walls; here each finds in his tent, his home and his household gods. Ought we to have fought as homeless wanderers with no place to receive us after our victory? ”