Reminiscences of Point Lookout Prison.
When we got there, the 27th of March, 1865, Negro troops guarded the outside walls and white men patrolled inside after night, and I saw nothing to criticise in the prison management; but those who had spent the winter there told some horrible and ludicrous stories of outrageous treatment by the Negro guard which, for awhile, guarded both outside and inside. A Negro guard would hear some one say, “Lay over or let me have some more cover.” If the Negro guard heard it he would say, “Who dat talking in dar. Send him out here quick or I’ll make you all come out.” Then, after double-quicking him around and making him mark time with his bare feet on the snow for a while, he would say, “Now pray for Abraham Lincoln. Now cuss Jeff. Davis. Now pray that some colored gemmen may marry your sister—den I let you go back.” Some of these men said they could never die satisfied after they got out until they killed some Negroes on general principles.