On the twenty-ninth of April an order came from General Magruder to send all commissioned officers to the State Penitentiary at Huntsville, there to be kept in close confinement until further orders. This order, so it was stated, came from Richmond, and was to place in confinement all captured officers that were in General Butler’s army, and was said to be in retaliation for a similar act of the Federal authorities. None of the officers came from Butler’s army; General Banks had superseded him, and the 42d Mass. was acting under Banks’ orders. Without any regular order from General Banks in his possession, Colonel Burrell was unable to make the authorities understand this fact, or more likely they chose not to understand it. All colored men in the captured crews of the Harriet Lane and Morning Light had previously been sent to this prison, to do convict duty. An intimation of some proceeding like this was given on the nineteenth.
Under escort of a cavalry detachment the officers proceeded to the Texas Central Railroad depot to take a special freight car, at nine o’clock A.M. Dinner was eaten at Cypress City, twenty-five miles from Houston, and at half-past four P.M. they reached Navasota, where quarters were provided for nineteen officers in one room eighteen feet square, at the Morning Star Hotel. Supper and breakfast cost them two dollars each. After breakfast next morning, and a friendly shake of the hand by General Sam. Houston, who promised to call at their new quarters and see them, at quarter-past six o’clock they took four wagons, with mule teams, provided to make the journey to their destination, forty-five miles distant, and arrived at the prison about noon May 1st, where the information was imparted that they were to be confined in separate cells. A protest was drawn up, signed by all, and Surgeon Cummings, with Frank Veazie, non-combatants, returned with the same to Houston. This was not a May-day festival for the prisoners.
In this old-fashioned prison, with none of the conveniences now in use, convicts were employed at the shop in manufacturing cotton cloth for the Confederate Government, a Mr. Chandler, from Massachusetts, acting as superintendent of the factory. Life was enjoyed somewhat after this routine: after the convicts had gone to work, the officers were released from their cells and allowed to do as they pleased in the yard until dinner hour, when they returned to their cells, to be released again after the convicts had eaten their dinner and returned to work. This rule was in force for nine days only, when Colonel Carruthers obtained a supply of lumber, had cots made in a room in the upper story of the prison building facing the street, and this room, on and after May 9th, was occupied by all of the officers for a sleeping apartment. Regular prison fare was provided on the first day, when Colonel Carruthers, in charge of the prison, a humane man, informed his military prisoners he would shoulder the responsibility and give them meals at his own table, although without authority to do so. After this no complaint could be made on that score. Confined a few nights in small, hot cells, afterwards in the large room, was the extent of their inconvenience until released from prison June 27th, nearly two months from the day they entered prison walls. General Houston, Mrs. Houston, their two daughters and son, Andrew Jackson Houston, frequently visited the officers and entertained them so far as lay in their power. Old Sam, seventy years old, straight as an arrow, was a very interesting entertainer, with enlivening conversation of his experience in the United States Senate.
The officers subjected to the indignity of a prison confinement by the Confederate officials were: Colonel Burrell, Captains Sherive, Proctor and Savage, Lieutenants Cowdin, White, Eddy, Newcomb, Bartlett and Stowell, 42d Mass. Vols.; Masters Hamilton and Hannum, Engineers Plunkett and Stone, of the Harriet Lane; Masters Dillingham, Fowler and Washburn, Masters-Mates Chambers and Rice, Purser’s Clerk Van Wycke, of the Morning Light; Captain Hammond, of the Velocity. The three last-named were not brought to prison until May 14th.
Engineers Plunkett and Stone were taken to court, held in Houston June 10th, to testify in the case of a man who was on trial for repairing the boilers of the Harriet Lane while she lay in front of Galveston. Plunkett refused to testify and was placed in jail for contempt of court, but soon after released.
After Magruder sent these officers to Huntsville prison, with orders to have them treated as prisoners of war in confinement and not as felons, a controversy arose between the State and military authorities over the right of the latter to send prisoners of war to the penitentiary. The result was their transfer to a new camp established for war prisoners at Hempstead, called Camp Groce.
Leaving behind Colonel Burrell, sick with rheumatism, under care of Captain Sherive, the other officers left Huntsville June 27th for Camp Groce, under escort of a cavalry guard commanded by Captain Cundiff. Transportation back to Navasota was in wagons, with three extra wagons, hired at ten dollars a day from each man, to carry their baggage. Twelve miles were made on the first day, and sleeping accommodations found at night in an old school-house, having dinner and supper from rations provided by kind Mrs. Carruthers. Twenty-one miles were travelled the second day, at night bivouacking under trees in a splendid moonlight, and Navasota was reached on the twenty-ninth, about noon. There they remained until the thirtieth, when cars were taken for Camp Groce, which place was reached at eleven o’clock in the forenoon.
Until removed to Camp Groce the few enlisted men 42d Mass., left behind at Houston, were quartered in a large warehouse used for storage of general merchandise, in company with sailors composing the Morning Light crew. These sailors were a motley crowd, comprising men from nearly every nation: Irish, English, Dutch, Spanish, Greek, Italian, and two South Sea Islanders. They did not mind captivity, apparently thought of nothing beyond amusement. Occasionally they got put in irons for some misdemeanor or violation of rules, but no sooner were the irons riveted upon their ankles than off they were filed by comrades, to be again put on when an officer of the day came around to call the roll. One night three of these rollicking sailors broke away from the building and went on a spree, with some of Captain Clipper’s men. While on a raid through the city, mounted on horses, they all rode into a bar-room and were captured by the provost-guard, brought back to quarters, and placed in irons that had no terrors for them.
Several prisoners recently captured in Louisiana were brought in June 1st, and three more June 9th, taken at Franklin, La. One of these new prisoners, Hugh Dolan, became a great favorite with the sailors immediately on arrival on account of his wonderful vocal abilities, so they thought, and light-hearted manner. One of his favorite songs was “Bowld Jack Donahoe,” and whenever he sang this song his nautical audience would listen with the most profound attention.
What the “boys” considered an affliction was the removal of their kind-hearted and friendly “old guard,” Captain Clipper’s company, ordered to Galveston June 9th. Another company, commanded by Captain Buster, had for some time assisted Captain Clipper in guarding the prisoners, and remained to do that duty. The men of this company were not liked very much by any of their charge; none of that cordial feeling existed as had been the case with the “old guard.” They were a despicable set of fellows. Captain Buster, a mild, pleasant man, lacked energy and was too indolent to pay much attention to the discipline of his men. His first-lieutenant, Morgan, was a bombastic and disagreeable man, who paid little attention to his prisoners. This guard remained on duty until September 18th, when militia relieved them.