ield, the
casualties among the rebel troops must have been enormous. A
rebel surgeon was heard to say that "the damned Yankees had
killed and wounded one-third of their whole force, and he hoped
that no mercy would be shown the cursed Yankees." The gunboat
Whitehead went on a reconnoissance, on Wednesday, a short
distance above Plymouth, and the officers and crew observed
about three hundred rebel troops engaged in burying the dead.
From a steeple on the town church, overlooking a large tract of
land, it was found that the field of Asa Johnson (about sixty
acres), was completely filled with dead and dying rebels. The
entire rebel force could not have been short of from fifteen to
twenty thousand men, of whom one-third are unfit for future
service.

_The Fort Pillow Massacre Re-enacted._ My informant also
acquainted me with the fact that all the negroes found after the
surrender, were stripped of their clothing and brutally murdered
in cold blood. It must be understood that General Wessels had no
colored troops at Plymouth, save a few recruits for North
Carolina regiments, and the poor unfortunate blacks thus
butchered were merely laborers for the government. The negroes
were formed into line, in a nude state, and fired at by the
brutal soldiery, purporting to represent Southern chivalry.
Nature revolts at these facts; and the plan apparently adopted
by the Rebels for the future disposition of the negroes is
emancipation _from_, and not _for_, life."

CHAPTER VII.

1864.

PRISON LIFE OF THE OFFICERS.

I shall not in this chapter pretend to give a complete history of
Prison Life in the South, only a part. As I look back over the great
mass of events that were continually occurring during all hours of the
day and night of less than one year, I give up in despair. The inhuman
treatment, and fearful atrocities of our brutal keepers are
heart-rending, and I can poorly illustrate them. Language is unable to
describe the real condition of affairs in southern prisons. No one can
present in its true light the fearful suffering experienced in them.
Others have contributed sketches for the dark picture. I shall
therefore be very brief.

By noon of the 20th of April, the entire garrison of Plymouth was in
the hands of the rebels, and all the captured were concentrated on the
Washington road. During the afternoon, the