CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| [CHAPTER I.] | |
| I Enter the Army.—Taken Prisoner.—Sufferings on the Road to and at Richmond.—Leave Richmond for Danville.—OurSojourn at the Latter Place.—The Small-pox.—Removal to Andersonville | [13] |
| [CHAPTER II.] | |
| Entrance into Andersonville Prison.—Horrible Sights.—The Belle Islanders.—The Kind of Treatment for first fewMonths.—Condition of Things generally during that Time.—New Prisoners.—Inauguration of Cruel Treatment.—Goingout for Fuel and Shelter Prohibited.—Rations Diminished.—The Philosophy of Southern Prison Discipline.—Severities of Climate and Dreadful Suffering | [19] |
| [CHAPTER III.] | |
| The Chickamauga Men.—Personal Experiences and Sufferings.—Merchandisingat Andersonville.—The Plymouth Men.—A God-send to the Old Residents.—“Popular Prices” | [28] |
| [CHAPTER IV.] | |
| Ravages of the Scurvy among the Chickamauga Prisoners.—Too long without Fruit and Vegetables.—The Horrors of theScurvy.—Certain Death.—Frightful Mortality.—Fortunate Removal from Andersonville.—Arrival at Charleston, S. C.—Transferredto Florence, S. C.—Description of the latter Prison.—Shortest Rations everIssued.—Certain Starvation on the Rations.—Efforts for more Food.—Providential Success.—ThreeDays without Rations.—Prison-Keepers Cruel and Inhuman.—Terrible Sufferings during the Winter.—UnparalleledMortality.—Raw Rations and Insufficient Fuel.—Life under Ground.—Swamp Fever.—Taken with theFever.—Flight from Florence.—Wilmington.—Goldsboro’.—Hard Times of a Sick Man.—Prison Exchange Foolery.—Back to Wilmington | [34] |
| [CHAPTER V.] | |
| Return to Goldsboro’.—Drunk with Fever.—Too Sick to Walk.—Left Behind.—God Bless the Ladies of Goldsboro’.—PersonalExperiences.—Negotiations for a Friend.—An Improvised Hospital.—Sick unto Death.—Semi-Consciousness.—More Kindness from the Ladiesof Goldsboro’.—Paroled.—Passed into our Lines near Wilmington.—At Wilmington in the Hands of the Blue Coats.—Friend Lost.—Still verySick with Fever.—Determined to go North.—Efforts to get North.—On board Ship.—Ho, for Annapolis.—Incidents of theVoyage.—Annapolis.—Getting Better.—Stomach Trouble.—Sent to Baltimore.—Furloughed Home | [44] |
| [CHAPTER VI.] | |
| At Home.—Nothing but a Skeleton.—A good Imitation of Lazarus.—A digression upon the Subject of Sleeplessness.—Awell-intended Fraud on a Hospital Nurse.—Return of Sleep.—Improvement in Health.—Stomach the only Difficulty.—A Yearpasses.—Stomach Worse.—Constant Headache.—Much Debilitated.—Awful Suffering.—Bodily Agony Debilitates the Mind.—SufferingsIntolerable.—Physicians and Remedies Tried without Avail.—Forlorn Hope and Last Resort.—Better.—Doubts as to Treatment.—SuspicionsConfirmed.—Uncomplimentary Remarks concerning an M. D.—Uncomfortable Discoveries and Reflections | [50] |
| [CHAPTER VII.] | |
| The War Begins.—Struggles to Renounce Opium.—Physical Phenomena Observed in attempting to Leave Off the Drug.—Difficulty in Abjuring theFiend.—I Fail Absolutely.—Some Difference with De Quincey regarding the Effects of Opium.—A Preliminary Foresight into the Horrors of Opium | [61] |
| [CHAPTER VIII.] | |
| De Quincey’s Life rather than his Writings the Best Evidence of the Effect of Opium upon Him.—Disapproval of his Manner of Treatment of theSubject in His “Confessions.”—From First to Last the Effect of Opium is to Produce Unhappiness.—The Difference between the Effect of the Drugtaken Hypodermically and Otherwise, Explained.—The various Effects of Opium, Stimulative and Narcotic, Described.—The Effect of my First Doseat the beginning of Habit.—Remarks of De Quincey on his First Dose.—My own Remarks as to First Dose.—Difference between Opium andLiquor.—Stimulation is followed by Collapse.—Melancholy from the Beginning.—Nervousness and Distraction of the IntellectualPowers.—Sleeplessness.—Different and Peculiar Influences of the Drug Detailed.—Pressure upon the Brain from Excessive Use ofOpium.—Distress in the Epigastrium.—The Working of the Brain Impeded | [70] |
| [CHAPTER IX.] | |
| De Quincey versus Coleridge.—Stimulation and Collapse Considered.—The Use of Opium always to be Condemned.—ColeridgeDefended.—Wretched State of the Opium Eater.—An Explanatory Remark | [77] |
| [CHAPTER X.] | |
| The Delusions and Miseries of the First Stages of Opium Eating | [82] |
| [CHAPTER XI.] | |
| Later Stages.—The Opium Appetite.—Circean Power of Opium.—As a Medicine.—Difference between Condition ofVictim in Primary and Secondary Stages | [91] |
| [CHAPTER XII.] | |
| The Address of the Opium Eater.—How he Occupies his Time.—The Refuge of Solitude and Silence.—Indifferenceto Society or Company.—Disposition, Predilections, and General Conduct | [96] |
| [CHAPTER XIII.] | |
| On Energy and Ambition as Affected by the Opium Habit | [98] |
| [CHAPTER XIV.] | |
| Opium versus Sleep.—Manner of Taking Opium.—Different Considerations Relating to the Habit.—A Prophetic Warning | [105] |
| [CHAPTER XV.] | |
| Difficulties of Writing this Book.—An Attempt to Renounce Opium in the Later Stages of the Habit Described.—Coleridgeand De Quincey.—Animadversions upon De Quincey’s “Confessions” | [115] |
| [CHAPTER XVI.] | |
| Conclusion | [129] |
| [APPENDIX.] | |
| Note No. 1.—Coleridge and the Critics | [131] |
| ""2.—Coleridge and Plagiarism | [132] |
| ""3.—A Mare’s Nest | [134] |
| ""4.—Second note on Coleridge and Plagiarism | [136] |
| ""5.—On De Quincey’s Style of Writing | [138] |
| ""6.—Third Note on Coleridge and Plagiarism | [140] |
OPIUM EATING.
CHAPTER I.
I Enter the Army.—Taken Prisoner.—Sufferings on the Road to and at Richmond.—Leave Richmond for Danville.—Our Sojourn at the Latter Place.—The Small-pox.—Removal to Andersonville.
In the year 1861, a well and hearty boy of sixteen, I enlisted in the army as a drummer. This was my only possibility of entering the service, as I was too young to be accepted as a private soldier. Though but a drummer, I fought with a gun in all the battles in which our regiment was engaged. It generally so happened that I had no drum about the time of a battle, and being too small to carry off the wounded, and feeling that I was not fulfilling my duty to my country unless I did “the State some service,” I participated in the battle of Stone River, and doing tolerably well there, when the battle of Chickamauga drew nigh, the colonel of our regiment told me, casually, that he would like to see me along; and I did not fail him. He did not command me; he had no authority to do that; it was not necessary; I would have been on hand without his referring to the matter at all, as such was my intention. As it was, I took a sick man’s gun and accoutrements and marched with my company. On the first day of the battle—the 19th of September, 1863—I was captured. Not being wounded, I was taken with about five thousand other prisoners to Richmond, Va., and confined there in the tobacco-factory prisons. On the way to Richmond we had but little to eat, and suffered considerably. At Richmond, our allowance of food was so small, that during the two and one-half months we were there we became miserably weak, and suffered terribly. It is no doubt a fact, that although hard enough to bear at any time, gradual starvation sets harder upon a man at first than when he has become somewhat accustomed to it. Perhaps this is reasonable enough; the stomach and body being stronger at first, the pangs are more fierce and exhausting.
After being at Richmond three weeks, we could not rise to our feet without crawling up gradually by holding to the wall. Any sudden attempt to rise usually resulted in what is called “blind staggers,”—a fearful, floating, blinding sensation in the head.