No sick call; the
poor fellows are disappointed. Well dressed officers ride out the street and
back. Passing near us they inquire of a fellow who is whittling a bone:
"What State you from, young man?"
"Massachusetts."
"Do you rather
live here than in Massachusetts?"
"No, sir."
"Well, you'll
be apt to live out your days here, for there'll be no exchange till the war
closes and that won't be in ten years if Lincoln is your next President."
"There'll not
be a corporal's guard left of this crowd before that time, Colonel,"
remarked the other.
Before they reached
the gate they halted to buy a watch, and a few of us followed up and I asked:
"Colonel, will
you come back into the Union if Lincoln is not elected?"
"Ho, ho! You
Yankees are not fighting for the Union; that's your mistake. It's the nigger
you want."
"If McClellan
is elected will the South come into the Union?" I repeated.
"Ah, the Union!
The Union's gone up!"
By this time the
Major had got the watch by paying $100 in "Confed" and they spurred
up. We are often taunted by the slur that we are no better than niggers. They
say:
"You fight with
niggers; you think it's all right to fight us with niggers."
We retort by saying
that it is no worse for a nigger to fight with us than to work for them, and
that they would put a gun in his hands if they dared. It is not so bad for them
to be hunted by niggers as it is for us to be hunted helpless and half starved,
by blood hounds.
A little after noon
a man shot and killed. I hastened and learned that he was dipping water from
the brook. The sentinel had been observed to be closely watching. The ball
passed through the forehead, tearing out his brains. The guard was immediately
relieved by the officer of the day as they all are when they make a sure fire.
It is a story never denied that for every Yankee killed a furlough is granted.
In a few minutes a stretcher smeared with blood and brains bore another Yankee
to the dead house.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 102
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