I have plenty to eat. Go outside every day whether clothing
is issued or not. To explain the manner of issuing clothing: The men are called
outside by squads, that is, one squad of a hundred men at a time; all stand in
a row in front of the boxes of clothing. The officer in charge, Col. Sanderson,
begins with the first at the head of the column, looks him over, and says to us
paroled men: “Here, give this man a pair of pants,” or coat, or such clothing
as he may stand in need of. In this way he gets through with a hundred men in
about half an hour. Us boys often manage to give three or four articles where
only one has been ordered. There seems to be plenty of clothing here, and we
can see no reason why it should not be given away. Have to be very careful, though,
for if we are caught at these tricks are sent inside to stay. Officers stay on
the island only two or three hours, and clothe four or five hundred men, when
they could just as well do three or four times as much. It is comical the notes
that come in some of the good warm woolen stockings. These have evidently been
knit by the good mothers, wives and sisters at the North, and some of the
romantic sort have written letters and placed inside, asking the receiver to
let them know about himself, his name, etc , etc. Most of them come from the
New England states, and they cheer the boys up a great deal.
SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p.
18-9
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