said; but Gardner is alleged to have whispered the officer thus: "I have
been a gardener myself; and if Major Gee will parole me and give me good
clothes and something to eat, I wouldn't mind becoming again a gardener
in his employ." I recollect distinctly that the officer grew impatient
and he finally asked me, "Do you say on your honor, Colonel, that you
don't know a Lieut. Wm. O. Gardner in this house?" I answered, "I do";
but I left him to guess whether I meant "I do _know_" or "I do _say_!" I
quieted my conscientious scruples by remembering that the lieutenant's
true name was not Wm. O. but Wm. C.! The baffled officer left very
angry, and "_Where's Gardner at?_" passed into a conundrum.

Late that afternoon, as I was engaged in the delightful employment of
washing my fall-and-winter shirt, having for the first time since our
arrival in Salisbury obtained sufficient water for that purpose, the
order came for all officers to fall in and take the cars for Danville,
Va. The juxtaposition of three or four hundred Yankee officers with
eight thousand of their enlisted comrades-in-arms was getting
dangerous.

FOOTNOTES:

[5] He had killed three men with his sword at the time of his capture.

[6] "We run the boy into one of the houses, clipped his hair, shaved
him, and placed a new robe on him."--_Letter_ of Capt. Wesley C. Howe to
Colonel Sprague, Jan. 30, 1914.

CHAPTER VI

From Salisbury to Danville--The Forlorn Situation--Effort to "Extract
Sunshine from Cucumbers"--The Vermin--The Prison Commandant a Yale
Man--Proposed Theatricals--Rules Adopted--Studies--Vote in Prison
for Lincoln and McClellan--Killing Time.

At six o'clock, Wednesday evening, October 19, 1864, we officers, about
350 in number, were packed in five freight cars, and the train was
started for Danville, Va. The tops of the cars were covered with armed
guards, two or three being also stationed within at the side door of
each car. In the darkness about half-past nine Lieut. Joseph B. Simpson
of the 11th Indiana slyly stole all the food from the haversacks of the
guards at the door of our car and passed it round to us, while we loudly
"cussed and discussed" slavery and secession! About midnight Captain
Lockwood, Lieutenant Driscoll, and eight or ten other officers leaped
from the cars. The guards opened fire upon them. Lockwood was shot dead.
Several were recaptured, and some probably reached the Union lines in
safety. We