Water in the stream
is very foul from so many using, and the refuse thrown in it from Rebel cook
houses and camps that floats down, and drainage from offal that covers portions
of the banks. Notwithstanding we practice bathing before sunrise, we always
find the water foul. Men with blotches, putrid sores, gnawed by lice and worms,
squalid from weakness, scurvy and wasting diseases go there to drink, wash
clothing and bathe. They are obliged to step into the stream the banks being
two to three feet high, slippery, nasty. Daily lice are seen floating while
clothing is being washed.
Excitement this
morning is about a fellow caught last night and cut loose by a fellow raider;
retaken, knocked down three times, sopped in the filthy swamp, then marched
about camp as a warning, after which he is given seven lashes on his bare back
that brings blood. Mob law is our only recourse. Neither friends or foes
outside protect us. He is an inferior looking man. A search follows among known
thieves for articles lost. Several things have been found when a dozen savage
fellows came with clubs. A few fought them with their hands, were badly beaten
and forced to yield.
A rally was made to
release one who had been knocked down, and one raider was captured, who was
administered a course of punishment to exact promises of better conduct. Raiders
are on the good side of our keepers. They sell articles they steal, or exchange
them for food and things which help to keep them in strong physical condition.
They are allowed favors not accorded others, are continually fawning to Wirz
and his subordinates.
Some are excited
over a report of the fall of Atlanta, Richmond and Charleston, which I see no
reason to credit. Considerable excitement manifested in the Rebel garrison;
troops being arrayed for a show, or a fight for two hours this afternoon. I
learn that three tunnels have been found which led to the belief that an
outbreak was contemplated. Every day squads of men explore the ground inside
and outside of the stockade with feeling rods which they punch into the ground.
As a contrast to the
scenes of the day Thompson and I have been reading Milton's description of Eden
in the days of Adam and Eve's primal purity. No rations granted today. The
stench from the lagoon is very disagreeable every night in the south part of
the stockade.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 64
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