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قراءة كتاب Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons A Personal Experience, 1864-5
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Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons A Personal Experience, 1864-5
Lights and Shadows in
Confederate Prisons
1864-5
Homer B. Sprague, Ph.D.
of North Dakota
Author of "History of the 13th Conn. Inf. Vols.," "Right
and Wrong in our War between the States," and
"The European War, Its Cause and Cure"
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1915
Copyright, 1915
BY
HOMER B. SPRAGUE
the ALUMNI of
the UNIVERSITIES of
YALE, CORNELL, and NORTH DAKOTA
in which respectively the author was
student, professor, president;
to
thousands of his pupils yet living;
to
his companions of the loyal legion,
comrades of the grand army of the republic,
all surviving officers and soldiers
union or confederate;
all who cherish the memory of the patriot dead
and all who HATE WAR,
this record is affectionately
dedicated
PREFACE
This narrative of prison life differs from all others that I have seen, in that it is careful to put the best possible construction upon the treatment of Union prisoners by the Confederates, and to state and emphasize kindnesses and courtesies received by us from them.
For the accuracy of the facts stated I am indebted to a diary kept from day to day during the whole of my imprisonment, and to the best obtainable records. The exact language of conversations cannot of course always be remembered, but I aim always to give correctly the substance.
I am aware that the opinions I express in regard to Sheridan's strategy at the Battle of Winchester are not those generally entertained. But I give reasons. His own account of the battle is sadly imperfect. To capture but five guns and nine battle flags at a cost of four thousand six hundred and eighty killed and wounded, and leave almost the entire rebel army in shape to fight two great battles within a month, was not the programme he had planned. Early said "Sheridan should have been cashiered."
I shall be blamed more for venturing to question Lincoln's policy of subjugation. He had proclaimed with great power and in the most unmistakable language in Congress that "any portion of any people had a perfect right to throw off their old government and establish a new one." But now, instead of standing strictly on the defensive, or attempting by diplomacy to settle the conflict which had become virtually international, he entered upon a war of conquest.
I do not blame him for refusing to exchange prisoners, nor President Davis for allowing them to starve and freeze. Both were right, if war is right. It was expedient that thirty, fifty, or a hundred thousand of us should perish, or be rendered physically incapable of bearing arms again. The "deep damnation of the taking off" was due not to individual depravity but to military necessity.
Brighton, Mass., U. S. A.,
1915.
CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| Preface | v |
| CHAPTER I | |
| The First, or Forenoon, Battle of Winchester, Indecisive—Sheridan's and Early's Mistakes—The Capture | 1 |
| CHAPTER II | |
| At Winchester—On the Road thence to Tom's Brook, New Market, and Staunton | 17 |
| CHAPTER III | |
| At Staunton—Thence to Waynesboro, Meacham's, and Richmond | 32 |
| CHAPTER IV | |
| At Libby—Thence to Clover, Danville, Greensboro, and Salisbury—Effort to Pledge us not to Attempt Escape | 43 |
| CHAPTER V | |
| At Salisbury—Great Plot to Escape—How Frustrated | 60 |
| CHAPTER VI | |
| From Salisbury to Danville—The Forlorn Situation—Effort to "Extract Sunshine from Cucumbers"—The Vermin—The Prison Commandant a Yale Man—Proposed Theatricals—Rules Adopted—Studies—Vote in Prison for Lincoln and McClellan—Killing Time | 77 |
| CHAPTER VII | |
| Exact Record of Rations in Danville—Opportunity to Cook—Daily Routine of Proceedings from Early Dawn till Late at Night | 93 |
| CHAPTER VIII | |
| Continual Hope of Exchange of Prisoners—"Flag-of-Truce Fever!"—Attempted Escape by Tunneling—Repeated Escapes by Members of Water Parties, and how we Made the Roll-Call Sergeant's Count Come Out all Right every Time—Plot to Break Out by Violence, and its Tragic End | 106 |
| CHAPTER IX | |
| Kind Clergymen Visit us and Preach Excellent Discourses—Colonel Smith's Personal Good Will to me—His Offer—John F. Ficklin's Charity—My Good Fortune—Supplies of Clothing Distributed—Deaths in Prison | 120 |
| CHAPTER X | |
| Results and Reflections—The Right and the Wrong of it All | public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@24385@[email protected]#Page_138" |