Hot, showery day, renders the condition of the sick more appalling. It
is believed that more than two-thirds of the 700 men at the gate in response to
the sick call, are victims of starvation. Healthful action of the stomach and
other organs of the body is destroyed; the food supplied imparts no nutriment
though appetite craves it. Men eat whole rations ravenously, while unable to
walk, which is not retained, sometime two minutes,—if it is, it is an internal
fire and blood and decayed flesh come with temporary relief. Others loathe it,
strain to vomit at sight, and so remain till death. Those not so afflicted are
more or less infected with scurvy, dropsy, urinary disorders or these combined.
It is announced tonight that six raiders have been convicted and
condemned to death and are to be hanged tomorrow in the prison shortly after
noon. The names of these convicts are Cary Sullivan, of 76th N. Y. regiment;
William Collins, alias Moseby, 88th Pennsylvania; Charles Curtis, 5th Rhode
Island artillery; John Sarsfield, 144th N. Y.; Patrick Delaney, 83rd
Pennsylvania; A. Muir, alias Jack the Sailor, U. S. navy. Sullivan's given
name, announced by the regulators as Terrence, was carried on the company roll
as Cary. It is understood that these men were professional bounty jumpers,
going out for the money they could get, and were captured outside of the line
of duty. We know Sullivan deserted our regiment while it was forming for
expected battle, on the night of October 10th, 1863, and was captured by Rebel
cavalry that was flanking our infantry a few hours prior to the beginning of Meade's
great retreat to Centerville, Va. To carry out this grim project Sergeant Keys
and immediate assistants have got the use of timbers and tools and secured a
few carpenters to build a scaffold.
SOURCE: John Worrell Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a
War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864,
p. 87
No comments:
Post a Comment