Editor Campfire: I was taken prisoner
Nov 27th, 1863
at the battle of Locust Grove near the Wilderness, Va., paroled
February 27th 1865
at
Northeast Cape Fear River, ten miles north of
Wilmington, N. C., was held as a prisoner of war at the following places: Libby,
Belle
Island,
Pemberton
Castle,
Andersonville, Miller, Blackshear, Charleston, Florence
and Goldsboro. For the nourishment of Comrade A. F. Dalton, I would add to his bug soup the
following chip of a beef bone:I was
on that desolate Belle
Island
from
the 10th of December 1863
until
February 18, 1864.Well do I remember Lieut. Boisseux,
the commander of the post.His
beloved, fat, white bull terrier strolled into the prison camp about the 10th of February, 1864,
and was decoyed into the tent of some Germans who belonged to a New York
regiment.He was covered with a
blanket and his throat cut within a rod of my tent.He was immediately skinned, cut up and cooked into a fine savory soup.I saw them eat the soup and I had secured one paw and a part of his skin,
which I carried through all my prison life, and while being washed preparatory
to entering St. John’s Hospital, Annapolis, Md., my wardrobe, consisting of
only an army blouse and drawers, which were very filthy and in full possession
of the loathsome grey-backs, my clothes containing prison life relics, including
that of Boisseux’s bull terrier, were taken from me and burnt.Comrade Dalton, I also remember the red-headed rebel Sergeant Hight, who
so unmercifully wielded his cudgel upon the heads and backs of feeble and sickly
prisoners.I also remember the
Yankee Frenchman on parole upon the island, etc., and it makes me sad to think
of cold and chilly yet beautiful moonlight nights of December 1863.How close we used to spoon by day and by night, while the cold, biting
winds were blowing up the frozen James River from the ocean, and while many of
the prisoners, clad only in army shirts and pants, constantly pattering in their
already frozen bare feet up and down the hard-beaten ground of Market Street.I stand in order to retain the little vitality yet remaining within their
already starved anatomy, and in the morning, it was quite common to see a number
of huddled together in the ditch, frozen to death.They were paroled, they passed out of the jars of death, out of the mouth
of hell.No one has ever adequately
told one-half the sufferings the boys had to endure upon that island in that
bleaky winter of 1863-’64 - H. J. Peter, corporal company E, 120th
O. V. I., Rogersville, O.
Notes by Richard Cole, transcriber, made
October 21, 2001
In the 1880’s, the Toledo Blade newspaper had a regular
feature called The Camp Fire, which consisted of articles pertaining to the
Civil War, typically letters submitted by veterans recounting specific events or
actions.The above letter,
transcribed verbatim, evidently was in response to a previous published
submission by an A. F. Dalton.I
have refrained from correcting obvious mistakes, such as Millen for Miller and
Belle Isle for Belle
Island.Also, the sentence beginning “I
stand in order to retain…” makes no sense grammatically, but I think the
meaning is clear.
Official Roster of the
Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion does not list the
author’s name as a member of the 120th OVI.Also, this unit fought in the west during its term of service.However, the Official Roster lists the 126th OVI as
fighting at Mine Run,
Va.
from
November 26-28, 1863
and concurrently at Locust Grove,
Va.
on
November 27, 1863.The roster for the 126th
does list, under Company E, a Herman J. Peters, Corporal, as being “captured
Nov. 27, 1863
, at battle of Mine Run, Va.
”He was mustered out with
his unit, indicating that he survived the war.
Thus, I think typographical
errors resulted in the discrepancy in the author’s name and unit of service.
