ILLUSTRATIONS.

Captain S. A. Swiggett, [Frontispiece.]
General F. M. Drake, [18]
Lieutenant Walter S. Johnson, [39]
Adjutant S. K. Mahon, [69]
Captain J. B. Gedney, [79]
Captain Thomas M. Fee, [89]
Captain Charles Burnbaum, [94]
Captain J. P. Rummel, [115]
Captain B. F. Miller, [167]
Sergeant E. B. Rocket, [189]


The Bright Side of Prison Life.

CHAPTER I.

PRELIMINARIES.

My first appearance in the United States was made on the 19th of May, A. D. 1834. I have no recollection of this important event, but am reliably informed that the given date is correct, and that Dorchester county, Maryland, was the locality. At that time I had no premonition of my future life in a rebel prison, and if anyone had told me of the fourteen months which were to be spent mostly in such a manner I should have paid no attention whatever.

The year 1855 found me in Blakesburg, Iowa, after having lived in Indiana during the three years following my removal from Maryland.