reb sutler named Cashmeyer, who
was allowed to come into the enclosure, accompanied by a guard and
attended by a negro, driving a mule hitched to a cart. The cart would be
loaded with beef, bacon, potatoes, onions, cabbage, tobacco, cigars, soap,
etc., which had been ordered the day previous. We also had two or three
sutlers of our own number, who bought of the reb sutler in large
quantities, and then retailed it out at a small profit, say about two
hundred per cent, to those whose means were too limited to buy at
wholesale.

Our mess, consisting of Capt. R. B. Hock, 12th New York Cavalry, Capt.
Cady, 24th New York Independent Battery, and myself, was probably as well
supplied with funds as any in the camp; and as I was caterer and cook, and
unrestricted in my expenditures by Capt. Hock, who supplied most of the
funds, our table was usually as well supplied as the scanty market would
allow. I would send out by this reb sutler for fifty or seventy-five
dollars' worth of provisions at a time, and by thus buying in large
quantities, get the lowest rates. I have spoken about buying our
provisions in large quantities--I mean by this a half peck of potatoes, a
dozen eggs, a couple of loaves of soft bread, a whole ham which down there
would weigh, perhaps, ten or twelve pounds, a quart of onions, etc. Now a
small quantity as sold by our sutler inside would mean a couple of
potatoes, an onion, a pint of corn meal, and half a pound of meat of some
kind. This, in addition to the rations we drew, would suffice for a day
very well. We drew three or four days' rations at a time. These rations
consisted of two ounces of bacon, half a pint of rice, a pint of corn
meal, and a teaspoonful of salt a day per man; but when Capt. W. Kemp Tabb
took command of the prison camp he at once cut these down one-third. Capt.
Tabb took command the 18th of May, relieving Major Turner (not Dick
Turner), who was a gentleman and a soldier, and who seemed to try to make
our imprisonment as endurable as possible. On the other hand, Tabb was a
cowardly rascal, who seemed to delight in nothing so much as in adding
to our discomfort and annoyance.

[Illustration: CAPT. IRSH BUCKED AND GAGGED BY CAPT. TABB, AT MACON, GA.]

He did not hesitate to plunder or rob the prisoners under his charge, and
if any one reposed confidence enough in him, to let him have anything of
value to sell for them, they were just out that amount. Captain Francis
Irsh, of the 45t