Through May, June, and up to July 9th, it cannot be said the death rate was large, received as the men were in all conditions of health and sickness. Six privates died in May, and one was killed by a sentry; five died in June; five died July 1st.
With the prisoners were Chaplains Robb, 46th Indiana Vols., Hare, —th Iowa Vols., and McCulloch, 19th Kentucky Vols., who labored hard among the men to excite a religious sentiment, holding frequent prayer meetings, and administered the rites of baptism to several, among them Lieutenant Brown P. Stowell, 42d Mass., on May 22d. These religious services met with the approval of Colonel Allen, who was a devout Free Will Baptist.
Some talk was made about overpowering the guard, nearly one thousand men, composed of poor material. An insurmountable difficulty was to provide a store of food, for use when free, and a sufficient supply of arms and ammunition, for they were nearly three hundred miles from any safe place. Nothing was done, as it was useless to try it. Next to parole or exchange the idea of escape occupied the most attention. Naturally officers in command of guards were always on the lookout for anything tending towards preparations in that direction. In February about one hundred officers were drilled in the sabre exercise by Major Anthony, 2d R. I. Cavalry, for instruction and pleasure, using sticks in lieu of swords, but the post-commander summarily put a stop to it within a few days after these drills commenced.
Attempts to escape commenced again with fresh arrivals; five men got away at night June 9th, to be recaptured and returned next day. Several officers succeeded in making a break for freedom at night, July 2d, but were discovered and fired on by the guard. Nearly all of them were recaptured next day. Captain Reed, Missouri Vols., was made to stand bare-headed upon a stump near the guard-house for several hours in the hot sun, as punishment for his attempted escape.
Early in June rumors of parole and exchange again began to be circulated within the stockade. Confederate officers from Shreveport visited the prison camp more frequently than they had heretofore done, to make out lists and rolls of prisoners and time of capture. News brought by Colonel Allen and the tenor of letters received from surgeons, gone forward for exchange, raised a hope within the breasts of those long confined that there would not be a disappointment this time. When the chaplains, surgeons, and citizens not connected with the army, were paroled and started for Shreveport June 19th, hope grew into certainty. On the fifth of July, after what was termed a glorious Fourth-of-July celebration, the joyful news was brought in the stockade, by Colonel Burrell, that a paroling officer had arrived, and their day of deliverance was at hand.
Through this captivity letters from home came at long intervals, with news they were anxious to receive. Dates when letters were received by the 42d officers are as follows: March 12th, July 29th and August 26th, 1863; March 18th, June 10th, 13th and 23d, 1864. Letters received June 10th were for Captain Savage and Lieutenant Newcomb, dated February 28th and March 4th. Captain Proctor had letters from his father and wife dated May 12th and 23d, 1863, over a year old, as they were not delivered to him until June 13th, 1864. After men arrived from Banks’ army, men who belonged in Boston and vicinity made themselves known to Colonel Burrell and brother officers, some of whom had within a few months arrived from home and could give them tolerably late news from that section.
Clothing was furnished once by Confederate officers, at Hempstead, October 17th, 1863; from that time onward what the prisoners wore had to stand the wear and tear of time and use. Previous to July, in anticipation another winter would not be passed as prisoners, whoever had overcoats and extra clothing sold the garments for high prices in Confederate money, and thus obtained means to purchase extra supplies for their messes.
One thing should not be forgotten in connection with this long, tedious imprisonment: the love of country existing in every manly heart, despite his feeling at times the Government did neglect him. This patriotism was not the kind flaunted before audiences by spread-eagle political orators, all froth and no substance, but an honest, earnest, deep-seated love, ready to suffer for her cause at all times, resenting any flings or insults to its flag, giving voice to sentiments within them by singing national songs and celebrations of important days in her history.
July 7th and 8th were devoted to baking hard bread, for use on the march, and at last the prisoners, who were up at three o’clock in the morning preparing breakfast and getting their few “traps” ready, left the stockade to march for Shreveport, homeward bound. There were nine hundred and thirty officers and men, divided into one column of officers and two columns of enlisted men, with a kind and considerate Confederate cavalry guard, commanded by Major Smith and Captain Tucker. Guard and prisoners fared alike in food and slept in the open air at night: tents were not carried with them. Extreme hot weather prevailed, yet the prisoners managed to cover a respectable number of miles each day, crossing the Sabine River on the first day and sleeping upon its banks at night, with a record of twenty-one miles. The marching column reached Shreveport about noon on the thirteenth, without the loss of a man by death, having made nineteen miles July 10th, twenty-three miles on the eleventh, twenty-four miles on the twelfth, and sixteen miles on the thirteenth. Sick and worn-out men were sent by the Marshall and Shreveport Railroad on the twelfth, and this railroad also transported a portion of the prisoners on the thirteenth. About twenty officers hired a six-mule team for five hundred Confederate dollars, to carry them on the last day’s journey, and rode into camp in great style. Each morning the men were up between three and four o’clock, commenced the march within an hour after, plodding steadily along until eleven, when a rest was taken until two o’clock, then the march again resumed until evening.
At Mugginsville, one mile from Shreveport, the prisoners remained until July 16th, when they were sent on board steamers Osceola, General Hodges and B. L. Hodge, bound for Alexandria, where they arrived at dusk July 18th, above the dam built by Federals to save their naval vessels in April and May, 1864, and were disembarked to camp in woods by the river side until the twenty-first, when steamers were ready below the dam to carry them on to the journey’s end. Three men died July 18th, and were buried near a spot upon the banks where lay the remains of several Federal sailors.