f injustice and cruelty to the prisoners
of both sides. It was, moreover, an undesigned but exalted testimony to
the valor of Southern soldiers, for it was as if Mr. Stanton, the
secretary of war, had said to every man in the Federal armies: "If in
the fortunes of war you should be captured, you must run the risk of
death in a rebel prison. I will not give a Southern soldier for
you,--you are not worth the exchange." Gen. Grant said: "Our men must
suffer for the good of those who are contending with the terrible Lee;"
and ignoring the claims of humanity and the usages of honorable
warfare, he lowered the question to a cold commercial level when he
declared that it was "cheaper to feed rebel prisoners than to fight
them."

CHAPTER XII

But now we are in prison and likely long to stay,
The Yankees they are guarding us, no hope to get away;
Our rations they are scanty, 'tis cold enough to freeze,--
I wish I was in Georgia, eating goober peas.
Peas, peas, peas, peas,
Eating goober peas;
I wish I was in Georgia, eating goober peas.
--_Stanza of a Prison Song_.

Only about two weeks did we abide in the Old Capitol, the officers being
transported to Johnson's Island, and the privates to other prisons. Our
route was by Harrisburg, and as the train was leaving the city it jumped
the track, jolting horribly on the cross-ties, but inflicting no serious
injury.

The Sandusky river before it passes through its narrow mouth into Lake
Erie widens into a beautiful bay about four miles wide. In this bay is
situated Johnson's Island, low and level, and containing three hundred
acres. It is not in the middle of the bay, but is on the north side,
half a mile from the main land, while on the other side it is three or
more miles from the city of Sandusky across the water.

The prison walls enclosed a quadrangular space of several acres, the
southern wall running along the margin of the bay and facing Sandusky.
They were framed of wooden beams, on the outer side of which, three feet
from the top, there was a narrow platform on which the guard kept
continual watch. Thirty feet from the wall all around on the inside
there was driven a row of whitewashed stobs, beyond which no prisoner
was allowed to go on pain of being shot by the sentinels. At night the
entire space within was illuminated by lamps and reflectors fixed
against the walls.