tchcock's _Elementary Geology_. It was not quite up to date, having
been published about twenty-five years before, but I found the study
interesting. Grieved at having lost from my books three years in
military service, I endeavored with three or four companions to make up
for the deficiency by taking lessons in French. Our teacher was Captain
Cook, already mentioned as teaching us French at Salisbury. As we had no
books, the instruction was oral. I was delighted to observe how much a
knowledge of Latin facilitated the acquisition of the modern tongue. A
few weeks later upon the arrival of Major George Haven Putnam, Adjutant
at that time of the 176th N. Y., several of us commenced under him the
study of German. Here too the teaching was oral; but I was able to buy
Oehlschlaeger's _German Reader_; took special pleasure in memorizing some
of the selections, particularly from the poets Gleim, Claudius, Goethe,
Schiller, and Uhland; and I was already familiar with some stanzas of
Arndt's noble _The German Fatherland_, sung so often to me by my
Lieutenant Meisner, slain by my side in battle. Some of those songs
still ring in my ears. General Hayes, Major Putnam, and two or three
others took lessons in Spanish from a native of Mexico, 2d Lieut. John
Gayetti (I think that was his name), of Battery B, 2d Pa. Artillery.

Checkerboards and chessboards were prepared from the rudest materials,
and many were the games with which some of our comrades sought to
beguile the weary hours. Capt. Frank H. Mason of the 12th Cavalry had
the reputation of being our best chess player and young Adjutant Putnam
was his most persistent opponent.

No one needs to be told that old soldiers are great story-tellers,
drawing upon their imagination for facts. This talent was assiduously
cultivated in our prison.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] See Appendix.

CHAPTER VII

Exact Record of Rations in Danville--Opportunity to Cook--Daily
Routine of Proceedings from Early Dawn till Late at Night.

Our imprisonment at Danville lasted from October 20, '64, to February
17, '65, one hundred and twenty days. I kept a careful daily record of
the rations issued to us, as did also Lieut. Watson W. Bush, 2d N. Y.
"Mounted Rifles." After our removal from Danville to Richmond for
exchange, we compared our memoranda, and found they substantially
agreed. During the one hundred and twenty days the issues were as
follows:

_Bread._ A loaf every morning. It