Question. Did you suffer from cold. Question. Was your money taken from you? Answer. Those of us that had money had it pretty much all taken away, or scared out of us. Question. What kind of food had you after you reached Richmond? Answer. We got, I should judge, about six ounces of light bread, and in the afternoon about two spoonfuls of black beans-worm-eaten beans. Question. Was that all you had for the day? Answer. I think we got, once a day, about two ounces of meat. Question. What was the character of the meat and bread? Answer. The character of the meat was pretty tolerably rough. I cannot exactly describe it. I never did eat any beef like some of it; and the first dose of medicine I took since I was in the army, was when I was put in the hospital at Danville. About six or seven weeks ago, before that, I was always a hearty, healthy man. Question. Have you had any disease or sickness except that occasioned by want of proper food and clothing? Answer. No, sir; I think not. [The surgeon here remarked: "His disease is the result of starvation, privation, and exposure."] Question. When were you exchanged? Answer. We left Richmond on the first of May, I think. I have more of a life-like feeling about me now than I had when I left Richmond. Question. Do you think you are in a better condition now? Answer. Yes, sir; I know I am. The authorities did not think it safe for me to start; but I told them if I was going to die, I would rather die on the Chesapeake than die there. Question. After you grew so very sick, was your food improved any? Answer. Very little. The last food I received was light diet. When I left the hospital to go on board the flag-of-truce boat, I received about a gill of what they call soup, though in fact it was just nothing; I should say it was only a little starch and water; and then I got a little piece of corn-bread, about that large, (measuring on his fingers about two inches square,) and we got a piece of meat, once a day, about the same size. Question. Were the other men treated as you were, so far as you know? Answer. He said that was the way it was issued to him. Question. Did he give any reason for mixing it altogether in that way? Answer. No, sir; and there were a great many of our own men who treated us as bad as the secesh, because those there acting as nurses, if there was any little delicacy for the sick, would just gobble it up. Question. Were all of our men suffering for want of food. Answer. Yes, sir, all of them. In the winter time these secesh got so they would haul up loads of cabbages, all full of lice, and throw them raw into the room for us to eat. Answer. On the twenty-second of last September. Question. State what happened then to you? Answer. When they took me prisoner they took me right on to Richmond, kept me there a while, then sent me to Danville and kept me there a while. I got sick at Danville and was put in the hospital, and then they sent me back to Richmond and paroled me and sent me here. Question. How did they treat you while you were a prisoner? Answer. Pretty bad. They gave us corn-bread, and not very much of it; and we had to lie right down on the floor, without any blankets, until a long while about Christmas. We had just to lie as thick on the floor as we could get. Question. How were you treated when you were taken sick? Answer. A little better. We then had a sort of bed to lie on. Question. Did you have all the food you want ed? Answer. No, sir. Question. What kind of food did you get? Answer. Yes, sir. I wish to speak of one thing. After this food was issued out, what was called the ward-master would go round in the evening with a little mush made of meal, and give some of us a table-spoonful of it. Say there were sixty or eighty patients, and there would be six or eight, may be ten of those patients would get a little spoonful of this mush; and then he would come round a little while after-you went to the hospital? ward and pour a table-spoonful of molasses over it; and just as likely as not, in a few minutes after that he would come around with some vinegar and pour a spoonful of vinegar over that. Question. Why did he do that? Answer. Corn-bread, a little piece of meat, sometimes a little rice-soup, and sometimes a few beans. Question. How often did you get meat? Answer. Along through the winter we got a little bit of fresh beef, (perhaps once a day,) and then from about March a little pork. Question. What was the matter with you when Answer. I got a cough which settled on me, and I had a pain in my breast. Question. Were there any other prisoners at Danville? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did they suffer at all from want? Answer. No, sir; it would not have made any difference. They said there that we got every ounce that was allowed to us. Question. Did you make your wants known to any one? Answer. Yes, sir; but they would not give us any more. They would come in and give you a half a loaf of bread, and tell you that was your day's rations; you could take that or nothing. By the Chairman : Isaiah G. Booker, sworn and examined. Question. How old are you? Question. Did he give you any medicine? Question. What was their manner toward you after you were taken sick and in the hospital? Were they kind or rough? Answer. They were neither kind nor rough, but indifferent. The corn-bread I got seemed to burn my very insides. When I would go down to the river of mornings to wash myself, as I put the water to my face it seemed as though I wanted to sup the water, and to sup it, and sup it, and sup it all the time. Question. Did you make no complaint to the officers on Belle Isle of your food? Answer. No, sir. Question. Did you ask them for any more? Answer. No, sir; I knew there was no use. I do not think I spoke to an officer while I was Answer. Twenty-one on the thirteenth of this there. month. Question. Where did you enlist? Question. How long were in the army before you were taken prisoner? Answer. I enlisted on the fifth of September, 1861, and was taken prisoner last July. Question. Where were you taken prisoner? Answer. On Morris Island, Charleston, SouthCarolina. Question. Where were you then sent ? Answer. I was sent to Columbia, South-Carolina, where we were kept about two months, and then we were sent to Richmond, put on Belle Isle, and staid there the remainder of the time. Question. How were you treated at Columbia? Answer. I was treated a great deal better there than I was at Belle Isle. We got meat twice a a day, rice once, and Indian bread once. We got very near as much as we wanted to eat. Question. How were you treated at Richmond? Answer. I suffered there terribly with hunger. I could eat any thing. Question. Can you tell us what kind of food you got there? Answer. Dry Indian bread, and when I first went there, a very little meat. Question. When were you taken sick? Answer. I was taken sick-I was sick with the diarrhoea a fortnight before I went to the hospital, and I was in the hospital a little over a week before I was exchanged. I was released on the seventh of March, and got here the ninth. Question. How were you treated while in the hospital? Question. Did you ever tell those who furnished you with the food you did get, of the insufficiency of it? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. What answer did they give you? Answer. That was all we were allowed, they said. Question. Did you have blankets while you were on Belle Isle ? Answer. I had no blanket until our Government sent us some. Question. How did you sleep before you received those blankets? Answer. We used to get together just as close as we could, and sleep spoon-fashion, so that when one turned over we all had to turn over. Question. Did they furnish you any clothing while you were there? Answer. No, sir; the rebs did not furnish us a bit. It was very warm weather when I was taken prisoner, and I had nothing on me but my pants, shirt, gloves, shoes, stockings, and cap; and I received no more clothing until our Government sent us some in December, I think. We had to lie right down on the cold ground. Question. Did you not have a tent? Answer. I had none when I first went there. After a while we had one, but it was a very poor affair; the rain would come right through it. Question. Were you exposed to the dew and rain, and wind and snow? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. And before you got the tent you lay in the open air? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did they fare the same as you? Question. After you went into the hospital, did you receive the same treatment as their own sick received who were in the hospital with you, or did they have any of their sick in there? Answer. I think none of their sick were in there. I suffered a great deal with hunger when I was on Belle Isle. When I first went there I had no passage of the bowels for eighteen days, and when I did have one it was just as dry as meal. Question. Did you have any medicine at that time? I Answer. No, sir; I took no medicine until I went to the hospital. About the middle of last February (somewhere about there) I took a very severe cold. It seemed to settle all over me. was as stiff in all my joints as I could be. Question. Did your strength decrease much before you were taken sick in February? Answer. Yes, sir; I stood it very well until about the first of February. After that I commenced to go down pretty fast. I know that one day I undertook to wash my shirt, and got it about half washed, when I was so weak I had to give it up. Question. Do you think you had any other disease or sickness than what was caused by exposure and starvation at that time? Answer. No, sir. When I was taken prisoner, I weighed about one hundred and seventy pounds, I think. I had always been a very hearty, stout man-could eat any thing, and stand almost any thing. Isaac H. Lewis, sworn and examined. By Mr. Julian : Question. To what company and regiment do you belong? Answer. Company K, First Vermont cavalry. Question. When were you taken prisoner? Answer. I was taken prisoner on the twentysecond of March, on Kilpatrick's raid. Question. Where were you then carried? Answer. They carried me to Richmond, and put me in a tobacco-house there. Question. How did they treat you there? Answer. Well, they did not treat me as well as they might. Question. What did they give you to eat? Question. Did they give you any meat? Question. What kind of meat? Answer. Beef. Question. Could you eat it? Answer. No, sir. [The witness here was evidently so weak and exhausted that the Committee suspended his examination.] Mortimer F. Brown, sworn and examined. Question. Where are you from, and to what company and regiment do you belong? Answer. I am from Steubenville, Ohio; I was in the Second Ohio; Colonel McCook was our Colonel when I was taken prisoner. Question. Where were you taken prisoner? Question. Where were you then carried? Answer. From Chickamauga to Richmond. Question. How did you fare while in Richmond ? Answer. We lived very scantily, and hardly any thing to eat. Some of the boys, in order to get enough to live on, had to trade away what clothing they could to the guard for bread, etc. Question. What did they allow you to eat? Answer. When we first went to Richmond our rations were bacon and wheat-bread. We did very well at first, but they went on cutting it down. Question. How was it finally? Answer. We received corn-bread once or twice Danville we fared a great deal better in regard to a day I think it was twice. After we went to rations. Question. Did you have enough to eat, such as it was? Answer. I did, at Danville. Question. How was it at Richmond? far as I was concerned, I was hungry most all Answer. Well, some had plenty to eat, but, as the time. From the time we left Richmond until we drew our meat at Danville-say ten dayswe had with us to eat only what they called Graham bread-nothing but bread and water for those ten days. After we got to Danville it was better. They issued us pork and beef sometimes. There, there would be times when we would be without meat for a couple of days. ment toward you, aside from your food? Question. What was their bearing and treat until we commenced our tunnelling operations; Answer. We were treated tolerably kindly then they treated us very harshly; then they took the prisoners that had occupied three floors and put them all on two floors, and would only allow from three to six to go to the rear at one time. Question. What is the matter with you now? Answer. Nothing at all but scurvy. I am getting along very well now since I got here. The treatment at Danville was a palace alongside of that at Richmond. Franklin Dinsmore, sworn and examined. Question. Where did you enlist? Answer. At Camp Nelson, Kentucky. Question. To what State do you belong? Answer. Eastern Tennessee. Question. How long have you been in the army? Answer. I enlisted on the eleventh or twelfth of last July; I do not remember which day. Question. To what regiment do you belong? Answer. Eighth Tennessee cavalry. Question. Who was your Colonel? Answer. Colonel Strickland. Answer. Where were you taken prisoner? Answer. At Zollicoffer, near the East-Tennessee and Virginia line. I Question. Where were you then carried? Answer. Right straight on to Richmond. was taken on the line of the railroad. We were burning bridges there to keep the enemy out. Question. How did you fare after you got to Richmond? Answer. They just starved us. Question. What did they give you to eat? Answer. For forty-eight hours after we got there they gave us only just what we could breathe; then they gave us a little piece of white bread, and just three bites of beef. A man could take it all decently at three bites. That is the way we lived until we went to Danville, and then we had meat enough to make half a dozen bites, with bugs in it. Question. What brought on your sickness? Answer. Starvation. I was so starved there that when I was down I could not get up without catching hold of something to pull myself up by. Question. What did you live in? Question. Did they have any more to give you? Answer. They had plenty. They were just doing it for their own gratification. They said Seward had put old Beast Butler in there, and they did not care how they treated us. Question. Did you complain about not having enough? Answer. Certainly we complained, but they said we had plenty. They cursed us, and said we had a sight more than their men had who were prisoners in our lines. Question. Do you feel any better now since you have been here? Answer. A great deal better; like a new man I am gaining flesh now. now. By Mr. Odell: Question. Were other Tennesseeans taken prisoners the same time you were? Answer. Yes, sir; there were twenty-four of us taken prisoners. The small-pox was very severe among us. Our own men said that they were just trying to kill the Tennesseeans and Kentuckians. Out of the twenty-four, there were ten of us left when they started for Georgia. No man can tell precisely how we were treated, Answer. In a brick building, without any fire, and say just how it was. or any thing to cover us with. Question. Had you no blankets? Answer. No, sir; we had not. They even took our coats from us, and part of us had to lie there on the floor in our shirt-sleeves. Question. In the winter? Answer. Yes, sir. Question. Did any of the men freeze? Answer. Yes, sir; many a man just fell dead walking around, or trying to keep himself warm, or, as he was lying on the floor, died during the night; and if you looked out of a window, a sentinel would shoot you. They shot some five or six of our boys who were looking out. Some of our boys would work for the guards to get more to eat, just to keep them from starving. There would be pieces of cobs in our bread, left there by the grinding-machine, half as long as my finger, and the bread itself looked just as if you had taken a parcel of dough and let it bake in the sun. It was all full of cracks where it had dried, and the inside was all raw. Question. Were you hungry all the time? Answer. Hungry! I could eat any thing in the world that came before us. Some of the boys would get boxes from the North, with meat of different kinds in them, and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes, and gnaw them over again. L. H. Parhan, sworn and examined. Question. From what State are you? Question. To what regiment do you belong? Answer. The Third West-Tennessee cavalry. Question. Where were you taken prisoner? Answer. In Henry County, West-Tennessee. Question. From there where were you carried? Answer. From there they marched us on foot, some three hundred and fifty odd miles, to Decatur. Question. What were you given to eat? Answer. Sometimes for twenty-four or thirty hours we would have a little piece of beef and some corn-bread. Question. Were you a well man when you were taken prisoner? Answer. Yes, sir; a stout man for a little man. I was very stout. Question. Were you brought to your present condition by want of food? Answer. Yes, sir; and sleeping in the cold. They took my money and clothes and every thing else away from me, even my pocket-comb and knife, and my finger-ring that my sister gave me. They were taken away when I was captured. [The witness, who was so weak that he could not raise his head, appeared to be so much ex about twenty sticks of wood, and in order to cut that up we would have to pay a man for the use of an axe by giving him a piece of the stick for splitting up the rest. We lay right on the ground in the snow. Twenty of us together would lay with our feet so close to the fire that the soles of our boots would be all drawn, and we would get up in the morning all shivering, and I could not eat what little food I did get. Question. What is the cause of your sickness? Answer. Just the food we got there, and this exposure. Eating this corn-bread continually gave me the diarrhoea. We would get thirsty, and drink that river-water. We had little bits of beef sometimes; generally it was tough, more like a piece of india-rubber you would rub pencil-marks out with. What little food we did get was so bad we could not eat it. At first, for five or six days, we could eat it pretty well, but afterward I could not eat it. Question. Have you been brought to your present condition by your treatment there? Answer. Yes, sir; by the want of proper food, and exposure to the cold? John C. Burcham, sworn and examined. Question. Where did you enlist, and in what regiment? Answer. I enlisted in Indianapolis, in the Seventy-fifth Indiana regiment, Colonel Robinson. Question. When were you taken prisoner, and where ? Answer. I was taken prisoner at Chickamauga, on the twentieth of September. Question. Where were you carried then? Answer. The next day they took us to Atlanta, and then on to Richmond. Question. What prison were you put in? Answer. I was on Belle Isle five or six days and nights, and then they put me in a prison over in town. Answer. We had no breakfast that day. We started out early in the morning-the One Hundred and Thirty-second New-York was with us— without any thing to eat. We had nothing to eat all that day, and they made us sleep out all that night without any thing to eat. It rained that night; then they marched us the next day thirty miles, to Kingston, without any thing to cat, except it was, about twelve o'clock, one of the regular captains, who had some crackers in his haversack, gave us about one each, and some of the boys managed to get an ear of corn from the wagons, but the rest of them were pushed back by the guns of the guard; then we were kept in the streets of Kingston until about nine o'clock, when we had a little pork and three barrels of crackers for about two hundred of us. I got three or four crackers. Then they put us in freight cars that they had carried hogs in, all filthy and dirty, and we were nearly frozen by the time we got to Goldsborough; and near Weldon they camped us in a field all day long, like a spectacle for the people to look at, and when we got to Richmond they put us in a common for a while, and then we were taken to prison. About eleven o'clock that day they brought us some corn-bread. They gave me about three quarters of a small loaf, and a dip- Question. Did they leave you your property? per of hard black beans with worms in them. Answer. They took every thing we had before We were kept there all night. If we went ever we got to Richmond; my hat, blankets, near the window, bullets were fired at us. Two knife. We did not do very well until we got or three hundred men lay on the floor. I was some blankets from our Government; afterward kept between three and four weeks on Belle Isle. we did better. Before that we slept right on the Question. How was it for food there? floor, with nothing over us except a little old blanket one of us had. Answer. That night they gave us a piece of corn-bread about an inch thick, two or three inches long. Some nights we would have a couple of spoonfuls, may be, of raw rice or raw beans; other nights they would not give us that. squad of one hundred men of us would have A Question. How did they treat you there? Question. What did they give you to eat? Answer. A small bit of bread and a little piece of meat; black beans full of worms. Sometimes meat pretty good; sometimes the meat was so rotten that you could smell it as soon as you got it in the house. We were used rough, I can tell you. Question. What was their manner toward you? Answer. I call it pretty rough. If a man did not walk just right up to the mark, they were down on him, and not a man of us dared to put his head out of the window, for he would be |