CORPORAL F. A. GLINES' DIARY.
Of the foregoing list, Glines, Horton and Locke, all of "E," kept diaries or some form of record, as did Corp. E. H. Lewis of "B," the first two until a few days before their deaths; Private Locke, after the war, embodied his recollections in a very interesting lecture, delivered by him many times. From all of these sources items have been gleaned through the body of the history and especially in the following pages. From the carefully preserved diary of Corporal F. A. Glines extracts are made as follows:—
Fri., August 19, 1864—Lay in line all night; moved a little to the right; were attacked and flanked and I, with the greater part of my reg't, was taken prisoner; were taken to Petersburg under guard; very rainy and muddy.
Sat., 20—Lay in a field all night; very wet, cold and uncomfortable; were taken through the town and put on an island, at the north side of the Appomattox.
Sun., 21—Lay on the island all day; drew rations for one day; I had bread and a small piece of pork, full of worms.
Mon., 22—Were called up at 2 a. m.; left the island at 4; were put aboard the cars and sent to Richmond; are quartered in Libby Prison; drew rations for one day, half loaf corn-bread and a small piece fresh meat.
Tues., 23—Were sent across the street to another prison; were searched and all articles of any value were taken from us; were sent to Belle Isle this afternoon; met John Davis (H) here; am in the Forty-fifth Squad.
Wed., 24—Very hot; are having tents put up for us; we have two meals a day; quarter loaf of corn bread at 10 a. m. and corn bread and soup at 3 p. m.; have to sleep on the ground with no covering.
Thurs., 25—Very hot and uncomfortable; signs of rain to-night; had only one meal to-day.
Fri., 26—Very heavy thunder-shower; last evening several men tried to escape; do not know how many succeeded; several shots fired at them; one man killed and three wounded.
Sat., 27—Sergt. French, Co. G., shot by the guard, one other man wounded; got our tents to-day.
Sun., 28—Very hot; were counted this morning.
Mon., 29—2000 more prisoners sent here this afternoon; enlarging the space for prisoners.
Thurs., Sept. 8—My twenty-first birthday; pleasant weather.
Fri., 9—Were counted to-day; the squads, filled up, stayed outside nearly all day; took different tents when we came in.
Sat., 10—Great fire in Manchester last night; great deal of dispute about tents.
Thurs., Sept. 15—Those men whose terms of service have expired were sent for to-day and their names taken; there was quite a large number of them from nearly all the states.
Fri., 16—Slept cold last night; a warm day; the guard which has been guarding us has been relieved by a lot of old cocks who hardly know a gun from a broomstick; the old guard went off last night.
Thurs., 22—A Dutch reb lieutenant in here this afternoon, trying to enlist Germans in the reb. service; met with poor success, the boys were too loyal for him; the guard-tents on the hill removed.
Sun., 25—A lot of our men went out to-day to work for the reb government as coopers, carpenters and shoemakers; they are a small loss to us; the fewer such men the government has, the better for us.
Mon., 26—Some of our men building breastworks for the rebs opposite the camp; it is a pity that they cannot be made to charge on them with rebs behind the works; did not get anything to eat till about 2 p. m.
Tues., 27—John Davis sent to the hospital; a boat load of tents came over this morning.
Wed., 28—Counted this morning; two men buried themselves outside with the intention of escaping, but one of our men told the Lieutenant, who has kept them in their hole all day buried up to their necks.
Thurs., 29—Heavy cannonading in the direction of Fort Darling; some excitement in Richmond; a battery planted opposite us, across the river; counted to-day; had to stay out nearly all day; got nothing to eat till evening; was very hungry and faint; new tents put in place of the old ones.
Fri., 30—It is six weeks to-day since we were "gobbled" and about as miserable a six weeks as ever I passed, but "nil desperandum"; 670 prisoners sent here to-day, the greater part captured at Winchester.
Sat., October 1—Very heavy cannonading in the direction of Fort Darling; a great deal of excitement in Richmond; the guards have orders to shoot us if we make any cheering or noisy demonstration; rained all day, passed a cold, miserable and comfortless day.
Sun., 2—Rained nearly all last night; some cannonading this morning; a man shot by the guard last night; cloudy nearly all day; the quartermaster and quartermaster sergeant of the island sent to Castle Thunder for selling rations.
Mon., 3—Another man shot by the guard this morning; about 200 more prisoners were sent over here this evening from Libby.
Tues., 4—1100 men were sent away from here this morning; said to be going further south; they were furnished with two days' rations.
Wed., 5—600 more men sent off this morning.
Thurs., 6—900 of us were turned out at 2 a. m. and furnished with two days' rations; marched off the island and lay till four o'clock just off the island, got aboard the cars on the Richmond and Danville R. R. and started en route for Salisbury, N. C.
Fri., 7—Rode on the cars all night, reaching Danville at 10 a. m., a most painful ride; we were packed in like herrings; changed cars and reached Greensboro, N. C, at 10 p. m.; were marched out into a field for the night; very cold and windy.
Sat., 8—A very cold night, slept very little; left Greensboro this morning and reached Salisbury this evening, a very cold ride; 100 men were packed into each car; have drawn no rations since Thursday morning.
Sun., 9—We are in a field of about ten acres, we have no shelter and have to sleep on the ground with no covering, drew rations this morning. Saw Captain Kinsley and the rest of the officers; they are in the field with us in log houses, separated from us by a guard.
Mon., 10—Did not sleep any last night, it was so cold; drew rations of half loaf of bread and a pint of boiled rice; 2000 more men sent here from Belle Isle.
Tues., 11—Slept in the house last night, quite comfortable; drew only half loaf of bread to-day; two men died last night; strong talk of paroling; guess it's only "chin."
Wed., 12—Water very scarce, went outside to-day with some dippers after water.
Thurs., 13—Slept in the house last night, slept very cold; drew rations of hard bread and rice soup to-day; the best rations we have drawn since we came here.
Sun., 16—During the night Captain Davis of the 155th New York Regiment was shot by the guard through the head, he was killed almost instantly.
Wed., 19—All the officers sent away this afternoon; 500 more prisoners sent here this evening from Danville, Va. Have been a prisoner two months to-day.
Thurs., Nov. 10—One of our squad fell into the well to-day and escaped almost miraculously with a sprained shoulder.
Wed., 23—Cleared off this morning; pleasant but very cold; Charley Jones died this morning at eight o'clock; Allen died at 2 a. m.
Thurs., 24—Thanksgiving Day at home; we are on half rations to-day; a hard Thanksgiving day for us, but better times are coming, boys, "Wait a little longer!"
Fri., 25—Made a grand rush for freedom this noon, but we were driven back by the guard and about twenty-five or thirty were killed and wounded; we are on half rations again to-day.
Sat., 26—Phillips died this morning; received a letter from home this evening. It seems good to hear from the dear ones at home; it was written Sept. 27.
Mon., 28—146 colored prisoners came in yesterday from Richmond; they have been captured about two months.
Tues., 29—A large number of our men going out to enlist in the rebel service. I am pretty hard up, but I am bound to stick to Uncle Sam.
Fri., December 2—Rather cloudy but comfortable day; full rations again to-day, bread, meat and rice soup, so I satisfied my hunger for the first time in a long time.
Tues., 6—400 more prisoners arrived here yesterday, mostly cavalry captured in the Valley; 525 men enlisted in the reb service.
Tues., 13—350 men enlisted in the reb service to-day; Thompson of our company went with them; he is the first man to enlist from our company.
Wed., 14—Slept in the hospital last night.
Fri., 16—30 men from our Corps sent in here to-day; three are from our regiment and bring interesting news from the boys.
The entry for the 16th was the last made by the young man, whose Somerville home was as pleasant and comfortable as any which that most attractive place afforded; whose father was fretting at the absence of his son, yet the latter, putting duty to his country before all others, was faithful to the end and died on the 6th of January following, his body sleeping with nearly 13,000 others in a nameless grave.