passing through his lungs. He staggered a few steps, fell, and died within a few minutes.

"Not only did Major Griswold refuse to investigate the matter, but after the murderer had been relieved by the officer of the day, he sent him back on duty that afternoon on the front line, and also into camp the next morning, surrounded by a body guard, for fear the officers would do violence to him—an insult of the blackest dye."

CHAPTER XX.

SALISBURY PRISON.

THE prison at Salisbury, North Carolina, which became so notorious during the war as one of the most loathsome dungeons in Rebeldom, was at first intended as a place of punishment for southern soldiers guilty of military offences, and as a place of committal for hostages, who where usually sentenced to hard labor. It more recently came into general use, and hundreds of unfortunate victims said their last farewell in that miserable den. In order that we may obtain a better view of this horrible abode, I will transcribe the testimony of Messrs. Richardson and Brown, both widely known as correspondents for the public press.

The following statement was made by the former, before the Committee on the Conduct of the War:

"I was captured on a hay-bale in the Mississippi River, opposite Vicksburg, on the third of May, 1863, at midnight. After a varied experience in six different prisons, I was sent to Salisbury on the third of February, 1864, from which place I escaped on the eighteenth of December following.

"For months, Salisbury was the most endurable prison I had seen; there were six hundred inmates.

They were exercised in the open air, comparatively well fed, and kindly treated. Early in October ten thousand regular prisoners of war arrived. It immediately changed into a scene of cruelty and horror; it was densely crowded, rations were cut down and issued very irregularly; friends outside could not even send in a plate of food.

RATIONS.

"The prisoners suffered considerably, and often intensely, for the want of bread and shelter; those who had to live or die on prison rations, always suffered from hunger; very frequently one or more divisions of one thousand men would receive no rations for twenty-four hours; sometimes they were without food for forty-eight hours. A few, who had money, would pay from five to twenty dollars in Rebel currency for a little loaf of bread. Many, though the weather was inclement and snow frequent, sold the coats from their backs and shoes from their feet. I was assured, on authority entirely trustworthy, that a great commissary warehouse near the prison was filled with provisions. The commissary found it difficult to find storage for his corn and meal; and when a subordinate asked the post commandant, Major John H. Gee, 'Shall I give the prisoners full rations?' he replied, with an oath, 'No! give them quarter rations.'

"I know from personal observation, that corn and pork are very abundant in the region about Salisbury.

"For weeks the prisoners had no shelter whatever; they were all thinly clad, thousands were bare

footed, not one in twenty had an overcoat or blanket, many hundreds were without shirts, and hundreds were without blouses. One Sibley tent and one A 'tent were furnished to each squad of one hundred; with the closest crowding, these sheltered about half the prisoners. The rest burrowed in the ground, crept under the buildings, or shivered through the night in the open air upon the frozen ground.

"If the Rebels at the time of our capture had not stolen our shelter-tents, blankets, clothing, and money, they would have suffered very little from cold. If the prison authorities had permitted them, either on parole or under guard, to cut logs within two miles of the prison, the men would have built comfortable and ample barracks in one week; but the commandant would not consent, he did not even furnish one half of the fuel needed.

HORRIBLE CONDITION OF THE HOSPITALS.

"The hospitals were in a horrible condition. More than half who entered them died in a few days. The deceased, always without coffins, were loaded into the dead-carts, piled on each other like logs of wood, and so driven out to be thrown in a trench and covered with earth.

"The Rebel surgeons were generally humane and attentive, and endeavored to improve the shocking condition of the hospitals; but the Salisbury and Richmond authorities disregarded their protests.

THE ATTEMPTED OUTBREAK.

"On the twenty-fifth of November, many of the prisoners had been without food for forty-eight hours,

and were desperate, without any matured plan. A few of them said, 'We may as well die in one way as another; let us break out of this horrible place.' Some of them wrested the guns from a relief of fifteen Rebel soldiers, just entering the yard, killing two who resisted, and wounding five or six others, and attempted to open the fence; but they had neither adequate tools nor concert of action. Before they could effect a breach, every gun of the garrison was turned on them. The field-pieces opened with grape and canister, and they dispersed to their quarters. In five minutes from its beginning the attempt was quelled, and hardly a prisoner was to be seen in the yard. The Rebels killed sixteen in all, and wounded sixty. Not one-tenth of the prisoners had taken part in the attempt; and many of them were ignorant of it until they heard the guns. Deliberate, cold-blooded murders of peaceable men, where there was no pretence that they were breaking any prison regulation, were very frequent.

"Our lives were never safe for one moment. Any sentinel, at any hour of the day or night, could deliberately shoot down any prisoner, or fire into a group of them, black or white, and never be taken off his post for it.

"I left about six thousand and five hundred remaining in garrison on the day of my escape, and they were then dying at the average rate of twentyeight per day, or thirteen per cent. a month. The simple truth is, that the Rebel authorities are murdering our soldiers at Salisbury by cold and hunger, while they might easily supply them with ample food