[Beginning of letter relates the author’s capture at
Gettysburg and subsequent journey to Richmond.]… The men could hardly be got
along and a great many had fallen out exhausted. The guards would hallo:
"You, Yanks, go along dare! get in ranks! doggon, you Yanks!" On the
17th, we reached Mt. Sidney, and on the 18th, Staunton;
having marched in thirteen days 168 miles, over a turn-pike, the majority of the
men barefoot, no blankets, and no hats in some cases. At Staunton, they took all
the India-rubber blankets from the men, and on the 19th, we took the
train for Richmond, arriving there on the morning of the 20th.
Daylight, they marched us to Libby – 700 of us – and kept us three hours.
While here, we got a ration of bread and meat (rather small), and one of the
chivalry shot a Kentucky soldier, who was deaf, in the arm – since died –
for looking out of the window. After this, they searched us; took all our money,
writing-paper, haversacks, etc., allowing us only our blankets and caps. We were
then marched over to Belle Island, a miserable, hot place, an acre of ground,
about 4,000 men in it, and full of lice and vermin. Here we lived on ten ounces
of bread and two ounces of fresh meat per day. Breakfast at 9, 10, 11 and 12
o'clock, just as it suited the Quartermaster; dinner at 3½, slop rice soup and
bread. Almost two and three times a week we were turned out and counted, and put
in messes of a hundred each. On the 10th of August, they played a
sharp game upon the Yanks. A citizen came over from Richmond, and offered $8 in
silver for $10 greenbacks. A great many of the boys having large bills - 10's
and 20's - got them changed; and I suppose, $500 so exchanged. The next day, the
men were all turned out and searched, and the silver confiscated. On the 14th,
they deliberately murdered a member of the Ninety-first Pennsylvania. He had
just come in, and was sitting near the bank inside, when the guard ordered him
up. He simply asked him, "Where will I go? I have no tent." "You
Yankee son of a b---" leveling his piece, and shot him dead, wounding two
others. The brute and murderer was taken before the officer in command of the
post, nothing was done to him, and the Union soldier lies buried on Belle Isle
unavenged. A great deal of trading with the guard at nights was done. They
seemed perfectly crazy for greenbacks, offering $10 of their money for $1 of
ours; for $7 of our money would buy as much as $10 of their money. Those that
had money speculated considerable, and, I must say, a great many of our men
completely robbed the boys by selling a small five cent loaf for $1; pies they
would buy for twenty-five cents a-piece, they would charge $1 for; tobacco, a
plug for fifty cents, worth 10 cents; and a canteen full of whiskey, $5-cost
them $1! The camp had any quantity of these speculators, who would sit up all
night, buy off the guards, and sell to our own men, some realizing a small
fortune-one man having $1,000 in greenbacks.
We were subjected to all kinds of
treatment while we were in the Rebel clutches and thank God we were released
from their hands on Friday, August 28, leaving Richmond at daylight, August 29,
stopping two hours at Petersburg, arriving at City Point at 11, delivered upon
the flag-of-truce boat City of New York. Once more under the good old flag, the
Stars and Stripes, we arrived at Fortress Monroe at 4½ P.M., and reached
Annapolis Sunday morning, August 31. Upon the free soil of the United States, we
received our clean clothes, of which we were very much in need, got our dinner,
wrote to our friends and relations, thank Almighty God for our safe deliverance
to our homes and firesides. We are now in the new barracks, Camp Parole. I will
drop you a line, in my next, about this place. It is under the control of
Colonel [Adrian] Root, and all we want is Uncle Sam to pay us two months' pay,
give us a furlough until we get exchanged, which, by the way, is very doubtful,
as the Rebels will not exchange negro soldiers. However, I hope that this will
find you well, and I remain yours truly,
J. F. W.
P.S. - I forgot to mention what I
have seen of the inside of Rebeldom. The bogus Confederacy is nearly played out;
then, provisions they have none; their large, boasted armies are all fudge.
Vicksburg and Port
Hudson stunned them; Charleston,
Mobile, and Savannah, will kill them; and our Government ought and can take
Richmond any day, if they have a mind to; no soldiers around there nearer
Fredericksburg. The city militia does not amount to anything, and the people of
Richmond will help us as soon as our forces near the city. J. F. W.
John F White, Jr., age 28, enlisted in the 9th
New York State Militia (83rd N. Y. Infantry) on Sept. 18, 1861. He
was promoted to corporal on Oct. 21, 1863 and served until his discharge on Jan.
10, 1865. In 1867, he enlisted in the 31st U. S Infantry and was
discharged at Fort Stevenson, Dakota Territory in 1870. He died in Kansas City
on February 8, 1902. From Writing
& Fighting the Civil War : Soldier Correspondence to the New York Sunday
Mercury, by William B. Styple, et al., 2000.
