At 7 o'clock,
another man had been shot, lay near the creek. Brisk showers in the night; the
day is steadily hot. Rumor that 4,000 are to be sent to Cahawba, Ala. Some of
Siegel's men arrived reporting a fight with Breckenridge, in the Shenandoah
Valley, in which we got the worst. Another sentinel fires into camp this
morning with what effect I do not learn.
About 125 negroes
are here who were taken in the battle of Oolustee, Fla. When brought here there
were 200, 75 of whom have died since March. Five hundred white Union soldiers
were taken at the same time. The white officers commanding the negroes were not
allowed the usual courtesies of war and were turned in here. The most prominent
of these was Albert Bogle, a major in the 8th U. S. colored regiment to which
they belonged. He was severely wounded. No attention was paid to the wound by
Confederate surgeons who claimed to be acting under military orders. While on
his way, between here and Macon in a box car, suffering from his wound, at one
of the stations a Confederate officer fired two shots into the car seemingly
designed for him. He is an intelligent young man and bears these abuses with a
dignified composure; is still suffering from his wound, but is now improving.
He regards their attitude towards him as a fair exhibition of the insane
vindicativeness of some Southerners and their extreme rashness on the negro
question. These 200 colored men were put into squads and put under charge of
white Unionists taken at the same time and had been doing Rebel work outside,
which, it is claimed, was to keep up the prison, but some of which is said to
be on fortifications. Major Oberly says that none of the negroes who were
wounded when taken, received medical attention, and died rapidly after being
put in. The Confederates boast a fine rifle battery planted on the ridge
commanding this prison, captured at the same time. A few days ago a white
sergeant, while waiting at the gate to go out with a squad of negroes on Rebel
detail, was shot by the guard, and immediately killed, the guard pressing his
gun against his victim's breast, there being no apparent provocation for the
outrage.
This Southern
insanity on the color question is their sole reason for refusing exchange of
prisoners. These negroes appear to have an intelligent understanding of the
issues involved in this contest, often more so than some of our own people; for
I must confess that here are men of every type of ignorance, vicious and
innocent, that can exist under Northern civilization, as well as the better
class; some of the meanest outlaws found in our cities, renegades from Canada,
a plenty who are fit tools in the hands of scoundrels at the head of raiding
gangs who seek to perpetuate damnable careers; some who are naturally good but
are easily duped, under existing conditions, to join in evil pursuits. In an
assemblage like this, promiscuously drawn from a large country, if all were
honest men it would be strange indeed. But as I have thus spoken I will say
that in no community of like number is there more patriotic zeal, manhood,
virtue and intelligence than exist here.
The raiders are out
tonight before dark; assaulted a man near the gate and robbed him, it is said,
of a $100. Others interfere in his behalf and a desperate fight ensues which is
checked by the guard who threatened to fire into the crowd and the thieves got
away with the cash. Another hub-bub soon occurs.
A fellow is caught
stealing a pair of shoes and after a squabble, is tied up. No rations today.
SOURCE: John Worrell
Northrop, Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville
and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864, p. 62-4
