Portly Gentleman.—At one time a portly gentleman passed through camp and as soon as he came in sight a soldier cried out, “Here he comes: and here he comes” was repeated along the line. Finally the old gentleman chagrined, stopped, pulled off his hat and politely asked the boys what he had done, they promptly told him that he had stolen their big bass drum and swallowed it. The good natured old fellow caught on to the joke and told the boys that their drum should be returned and he was permitted to pass on enjoying the laugh as much as any of them.
Lady Visitors.—A lady visiting in the camp always had a refining influence upon the soldiers who were pleased to have an opportunity to treat such a visitor as an honored guest. The mere announcement that lady visitors were expected would cause soldiers to get busy and police the camp making everything around the tents look tidy and attractive. The conduct and conversation of the soldiers were always improved by visits of the ladies. Unfortunately though their visits were few and far between times. There was in the valley of Virginia a beautiful young lady who acted as a courier for some of the officers and was said to sometimes pass through the lines where a man would not be allowed to go, and to return bringing valuable information. She was a graceful horseback rider and created a sensation when she rode along the lines.
CHAPTER IX.
INCIDENTS OF CAMP AND PRISON LIFE.
Soldiers in Prison.—A soldier belonging to an army in war times necessarily lives a strenuous life, and if unfortunately captured by the enemy and has to be incarcerated in prison it makes life to the average soldier almost unendurable. A soldier obliged to obey strictly army rules and regulations enforced by officers fighting for the same cause he is contending for surrenders seemingly about all of his liberties, but when reduced to the humiliation of having a sentinel standing over him all of the time to see that he does not violate orders given by an enemy reduces him to the most abject slavery. Many Northern and Southern soldiers were captured and placed in prison, and a judicious and rapid system of exchange of prisoners would have alleviated much suffering among these poor fellows.
Exchange of Prisoners.—The Federal authorities perhaps were dilatory in effecting exchanges because their captured men could be replaced by others, and they had not only the Northern states but the world to draw from, and knew the soldiers taken out of line in the Southern army could not be replaced with others on account of the scarcity of men.
It is said that everything is fair in war, but the peremptory demands of war ought not to suppress every vestige of feeling of humanity. An experience in prison however humiliating that experience may be, cannot fail to convince anyone that implicit obedience to orders from the powers that be is the only safeguard as a shelter or protection from unreasonable punishment.
Punishment.—Severe punishment such as bucking and gagging, hanging up by the thumbs, walking the beat carrying heavy loads, sometimes whipping and even shooting, to the death practiced in the army and prison almost invariably falls to the lot of a soldier who wilfully disobeys known rules and regulations, but these punishments are sometimes administered by tyrannical officers, puffed up with a little brief authority, to gratify their own personal spites and prejudices. Strict adherence to discipline will nearly always screen the victim from such suffering. In prison officers may be exacting, but from their arbitrary rulings there is really no appeal.
Rations.—Much complaint was made by soldiers in Southern prisons about the scarcity and quality of rations, perhaps these complaints in some instances were well founded, for the Southern soldier in camp or on the march did not have an abundant supply. The same complaint was made against the Northern prison and it was argued that the Federal authorities had the means to provide more and had no moral right to retaliate upon the South for a deficiency in prison that was unavoidable. Many Southern soldiers in Northern prisons went to bed of nights and could not sleep on account of being hungry. Prisoners captured a short time before the surrender of Lee, soon heard of the surrender, and of the assassination of Lincoln and were frightened by a report circulated in the prison camp that Southern soldiers would be kept as hostages and perhaps executed in retaliations for the assassination of the president. The personal experience of soldiers incarcerated in the prisons of the late war would make interesting reading to coming generations but perhaps it is better to let this part of the history pass into oblivion. Contending armies engaged in battle would fight to the finish, damaging each other in every honorable way they could even to extermination, but when a soldier surrendered and became a prisoner he was treated courteously by his captors on either side. A soldier that would offer an insult or indignity to a prisoner was looked upon with contempt and his conduct regarded as cowardly by his own comrades.
Camp Life.—To undertake to portray the multiplicity of phases of soldier life as exhibited in the Southern army would be a herculean task from which the stoutest heart, best equipped mind and most experienced hand would shrink. It is enough for one to record the doings, transactions, incidents, and reflections drawn from historical facts connected with the section and army, the one undertaking the task was familiar with, on account of being present to witness much that occurred, and in a position to gather items of information from parties who were eye witnesses. Every day on the march, in camp, on the battlefield or in prison was replete with thrilling, interesting, ludicrous or pathetic scenes which were worthy of notice and ought to be handed down to posterity in a more durable way than by tradition. Duty, patriotism and an earnest desire to rescue from oblivion much of the war history ought to appeal to the few old soldiers now living whose passing from the stage of action must necessarily cut out forever any chance of a correct history. The certainty that they will soon be gone ought to be an incentive to induce each one to contribute his part. An army like our Southern army presents to the mind of the curious an inviting field for study and investigation.
In camp the home life of the soldier is clearly delineated and by associating in the camp soldiers learn more about each other than anywhere else.