From the National Tribune,
1/10/1884
The First Prisoner at Belle Isle.
To the Editor,
NATIONAL TRIBUNE:
In your issue of
the 3d inst., I saw a quotation from the Pittsburg Leader to the effect that Mr.
George M. Meadville, a locomotive engineer on the P.R.R. was the first Union
soldier to enter as a prisoner the rebel prisons at Belle Isle, Va., and
Andersonville
,
Ga.
There must be some mistake about this. The Ledger says Mr. Meadville
enlisted
August 26, 1861
, and was in active service for over two
years before he was taken prisoner. If that was the case, he could not have gone
to Belle Isle prior to the fall of 1863, and I certainly have some recollection
of being myself a prisoner there from the 16th of July to
the 5th of August, 1862
, and at that time there were several
thousand prisoners at Belle Isle.
D. P. K. LAVAN,
Co.
K., 11th Reg’t P. R. V. C.
SOMERSET
,
PA
Page
last updated on
07/24/2009
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