The soldier's story of his captivity at Andersonville, Belle Isle, and other Rebel prisons . rymouths were ready to take upon themselves, and butvery few qualified to fill in an honorable, impartialmanner. When men are cut down to very low rations,they are not always discriminating in attaching blameto the proper source, which made the place all the moredifficult to fill with credit. This I early foresaw,and, therefore, left the position to some one anxiousto fill it. During the first month of our imprisonment therations were better than at any subsequent period,except wood, of which by chance
The soldier's story of his captivity at Andersonville, Belle Isle, and other Rebel prisons . rymouths were ready to take upon themselves, and butvery few qualified to fill in an honorable, impartialmanner. When men are cut down to very low rations,they are not always discriminating in attaching blameto the proper source, which made the place all the moredifficult to fill with credit. This I early foresaw,and, therefore, left the position to some one anxiousto fill it. During the first month of our imprisonment therations were better than at any subsequent period,except wood, of which by chance we got none. Yeteven at this time the rations were miserably inadequateto anything like a healthy organization. Our rationsper day, during the first month, were a little over apint of Indian meal, partly of cob ground with themeal, which was made into mush, and which we calledby the appropriate name of chicken feed. Once in twodays we got about a teaspbonful of salt. At first,bacon was issued in small quantities of fifteen to t\s enty 47 KS lAfounds of unknown «0. FLAN OF FRIS ON BAKERY MODES OF COOKING. 79 pounds to ninety men, but, after the first of July, thiawas dropped almost entirely from prison rations. Some-times, instead of Indian meal, we got rice or beans;but each bean had had an occupant in the shape of agrub or worm. Our modes of cooking were entirelyprimitive. The meal was stirred into water, makinga thick dough; then a little meal was sprinkled on thebottom of a plate or half of a canteen, to keep thedough from sticking. The dough was then placed in aplate or canteen, which was set up at an angle of forty-five degrees, to be cooked before a fire. When thefront of the cake was done brown, the plate wasfixed upon a split stick, and held over the coals untilit was baked or burned upon the bottom. Our mealwas sometimes sifted through ti split half of a canteen,in which holes had been punched with a sixpenny even this coarse sieve left us
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectandersonvilleprison
