Weather severely hot
as it has been learned that a break by the prisoners is planned, and warns them
for three weeks. A supply of sumach buds must have arrived and are given out
freely to be steeped and drank for scurvy. A sergeant belonging to a work squad
outside was shot by a guard, wounding him in the arm and hip and wounding
another man, He took hold of the guard's gun. Some on parole get too intimate
with Rebels; value principles less than extra rations. That such men have to be
shot to remind them that they are dealing with traitors does not so much
matter. While washing my shirt at the creek this afternoon the centry [sic] fired, the shot whizzing by my head
as I stooped, striking in the bank and spattering mud in the faces of four of
us. Lots of shooting has been done by guards for over a week and several men
have been killed and wounded. Limbs are amputated at the hospital for slight
injuries, The arm of one of our men hit by a sentry a few days ago was promptly
sawed off. Another tunnel found; dogs are seeking a trail. New forts are
plainly to be seen. Negroes work all night. Reported fighting at Atlanta and
that some of our forces are expected at Macon.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, pp. 92-3
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