The soldier's story of his captivity at Andersonville, Belle Isle, and other Rebel prisons . ad gathered in hillocks andridges over the floor. These apartments were inde-scribably foul. They had been filled with prisonerswho had but just been removed to make room for us,and had left behind them all the offal of mortal mal-adies, weakness, and wounds. There had been nosweeping or cleaning, but into these rooms we wereforced, compelled to drink in the suffocating ah*, thefirst breath of which caused one to shudder. The room in which I, with about two hundred of mycompanions, was placed, was too
The soldier's story of his captivity at Andersonville, Belle Isle, and other Rebel prisons . ad gathered in hillocks andridges over the floor. These apartments were inde-scribably foul. They had been filled with prisonerswho had but just been removed to make room for us,and had left behind them all the offal of mortal mal-adies, weakness, and wounds. There had been nosweeping or cleaning, but into these rooms we wereforced, compelled to drink in the suffocating ah*, thefirst breath of which caused one to shudder. The room in which I, with about two hundred of mycompanions, was placed, was too filthy for , for five days, almost suffocating from want ofair, and crowded for room, I remained, having rationsissued to me only twice during the five days, and thosepoor in quality, and insufficient in quantity for a sickman. So with all the sick and wounded. No medicalattention was given, and the horror of our situationseemed more than could be borne. To such a degreewere we crowded, that we were obliged to arrange our-selves in tiers, like pins on paper, when we slepi. LIBBY PEISON. 27 at night. And even with this precaution we werecrowded for sleeping-room. Constant interference ofsome ones feet with anothers head or shins causedsuch continued wrangling as to make night and daymore like an abode of fiends than one of human beings. At last I was taken from this place, and sent toLibby*Prison, which has often been described; and yetfrom the description given, no adequate idea of thesufferings endured can be formed. The filth and heatwere greater than even the place I had left. Withsome five hundred others I was crowded into the garret,next the roof, of the prison. The hot sim, beatingdown upon the roof, made the filthy garret, crowdedwith men clamoring for standing-room, suffocating ina degree which one cannot well understand who neverexperienced it. During the day, in the corners of ourgarret the dead remained among the living, and fromthese through all the
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectandersonvilleprison
