Still getting better fast, and doctor says too fast. Now do
nearly all the diary writing. Hardly seems possible that our own Yankee
gunboats are so near us, so near that we can hear them fire off their guns, but
such is the case Reports have it that the Johnny Rebels are about worsted. Has
been a hard war and cruel one. Mike does all my cooking now, although an
invalid. He trades a sweet potato for vinegar, which tastes the best of
anything, also have other things suitable for the sick, and this morning had an
egg. My gold rings will put me in good health again. All the time medicine,
that is, three or four times a day; and sores on my body are healing up now for
the first time. Mouth, which was one mass of black bloody swellings on the
inside, is now white and inflamation gone, teeth however, loose, and have lost
four through scurvy, having come out themselves. My eyes, which had been trying
to get in out of sight, are now coming out again and look more respectable.
Battese was taken prisoner with eighteen other Indians; they all died but one
beside himself.
SOURCE: John L. Ransom, Andersonville Diary, p.
103
