Lights and Shadows in Confederate Prisons by Homer B. Sprague

Author:Homer B. Sprague [Sprague, Homer B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, Civil War Period (1850-1877)
ISBN: 9781508615774
Google: mVr_rQEACAAJ
Publisher: Createspace Independent Pub
Published: 2015-02-25T00:31:57+00:00

he answered, "I swear I can't do it!" One November morning, as we were rehearsing and shivering on the windy first floor, he ejaculated with some emphasis, and with ungentle expletives not found in the original text,

The air bites shrewdly; it is very cold;

"I move, Colonel, that we 'bust up' this theatre." So the "legitimate drama" vanished from Danville.

About this time my copy of the Greek New Testament was stolen from me, an instance, perhaps, of piety run mad.

A week or two before this, the lower room, in which I then lodged, containing about a hundred and seventy officers, was getting into such a condition that I felt it my duty to call a meeting to see what measures could be adopted to promote comfort and decency. I was not the senior in rank, but Colonel Carle did not feel himself authorized to issue orders. Some sort of government must be instituted at once. Nearly all recognized the necessity of prompt action and strict discipline. A committee was appointed consisting of myself, Major John W. Byron, 88th N. Y., and another officer whose name escapes me, to draw up rules and regulations. We presented the following:

RULES UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED IN THE LOWER ROOM,

DANVILLE, VA., PRISON, OCT. 26, 1864:

The room shall be thoroughly policed (swept, etc.) four times each day by the messes in succession; viz., at sunrise and sunset, and immediately after breakfast and dinner.

There shall be no washing in this room.

No emptying slops into spittoons.

No washing in the soup buckets or water buckets.

No shaking of clothes or blankets in this room.

No cooking inside the stoves.

No loitering in the yard to the inconvenience of others.

No person shall be evidently filthy or infested with vermin.

No indecent, profane, or ungentlemanly language in this room.

No conduct unbecoming an officer and gentleman about these premises.

No talking aloud at night after nine o'clock.

An officer of the day shall be appointed daily by the senior officer, whose duty shall be to see that these rules are strictly enforced, and to report to the senior officer any violation thereof.

In case of any alleged violation of any of these rules, the senior officer of the room shall appoint a Court[7] to consist of thirteen disinterested officers, who shall fairly try and determine the matter, and in case of conviction the offender's rations shall be stopped, or the commander of the prison be requested to confine the offender in a cell according to the sentence of the Court; and it shall be the duty of every officer to have such offender court-martialed after rejoining his command.

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