of the best drilled officers in the service, appears unconcerned on the subject of grape, trusting his material future to the rising star of the Confederacy. Lieutenant Hiram Lewter, from Mississippi, is one of my messmates, and is the most jovial youth in the room, he is quite seriously affected with the exchange fever, and only accepts consolation in whortleberry pies, and sundry games one cent poker.

Some

All our prisoners are affected by the news. express their feelings in excess of sobriety, others of hilarity. Yet as we judge the entire campus, by the characters given, it is seen how the news of exchange affects a prisoner.

Among the arrivals, to-day, are three officers, who distinguished themselves at the memorable battle of Shiloh, fought April the 6th, 1862, Captain Palmer, formerly of the "Crocket Rangers," one of the_gamest companies ever organized within the bounds of the Confederacy. Palmer is a regular game cock, always spurred for a muss, no matter how questionable its character. Lieutenant Shep. Webb, First Lieutentant of the Beauregards. Lieutenant Webb, with this company, was in the battle of Shiloh, and performed the duties assigned him, with nerve and ability. At the time he was captured he was acting upon the staff of General Nelson. Lieutenant Webb is a citizen of Memphis, Tennessee, respected by all who know him, is an efficient officer, and considering his youth, one of the best in the service. Lieutenant F. D. Moore, of McNairy county, Tennessee, One Hundred and Fifty-Fourth Sen. regiment, Tennessee Volunteers, is a spirited young officer, of much wit and humor. He was captured while in company with his sister, driving within the enemy's lines, while on leave from his command. Lieutenant Moore bears his imprisonment well, solacing himself with his violin, on which instrument he performs admirably. "Foss," as he is familiarly called, is popular at home and abroad, and as a brave soldier, is missed by the service, that he, by his good behaviour and soldierly bearing, reflected credit upon whilst in the front rank at Shiloh and other fields.

and

Breakfast, six A. M., tin cup of water and coffee, and a piece, too frequently, of sour bread, in a tin plate, and the boiled meat of the day before. About this time, the ice man comes in; the milkman, who rarely gets in until after breakfast. This arrival creates some excitement, as the supply rarely equals the demand, and all those who desire the fluid, are compelled to place their vessels in a line, beginning at the post at the guard-line, in front of the big gate. The vessels present an amusing spectacle, canteens, preserve jars, bottles, jugs, cups, pitchers, bowls and crocks, of all shapes and size; each officer on the alert to see that some other individual's vessel is not slipped nearer the milk-cart. At 8 A. M., the vegetable man comes in, with a dray load of onions, beets and potatoes. He is immediately surrounded by the prisoners, who have the money to buy with, and sells out by nine. Then the newspapers come in, the "Sandusky Register," a dirty, falsifying sheet, as black with Abolitionism as Erebus; "New York Herald," "Cincinnati Enquirer," the latter having claims to gentility of journalism; the former a time-serving engine, mighty for evil, but powerless for good. The rush for papers is quite exciting, several hundred prisoners at double quick, yelling out, papers, cursing the vendor for his slowness; the lighted up countenance on the receipt of good news, the blank ones when it is bad, or the dull ones when it is indifferent, is an excitement that amuses us 'till the mail comes in. At twelve M., the mail-boy arrives, then all are keenly alive to hear the news from home and the loved ones. Some are made happy, others go back to their rooms disappointed. The chief of each mess receives the 'mail for his mess, and as he stands at the foot of the stairs, calling out the letters, with the anxious faces above peering into his own, the scene is an interesting one. The sutler comes in twice a day, morning with clothing, etc., in the evening with edibles. These are the only excitements furnished us by our enemies, (shooting excepted.) Our own excitements, ball playing, card playing, whittling, and reading, those who have books-sleeping, filling up the intervals.

CHAPTER V.

EXCURSION ala AFRICANA.-ANNIVERSARY.-EMANCIPATION IN WEST INDIES.-FUNERAL IN PRISON. THE DEAD LINE.-PETTY MALICE. -REGULATIONS OF THE PRISON.-LONDON PHILOSOPHY.-INCIDENT OF BALAKLAVA, BY A PRISONER.-DEATHS IN PRISON.POETS AND POETRY.-THE WRECK.-THE LAKE STEAMER.-THE ROLL-CALLER OF OUR MESS.-ST. CLAIR MORGAN, OF TENNESSEE. -OUR BUSINESS AFFAIRS.-GENERAL JEFF. THOMPSON.-GRAPEVINE LINE.-GOOD NEWS.-MAN A CREATURE OF HABIT.-OUR MILK MAN.-JACK HANDY.-OUR POST SURGEON.-CONFEDERATE SURGEONS.-PROMENADE REFLECTIONS.-NEW ARRIVAL.

WE were meble zw, to tapasing steamer, that some

E were made aware, to-day, by the odor borne upon

66

thing unusual was agitating the atmosphere, on inspection with an opera glass, exhibited a motly grouping of black kinks and ugly specimens of the "pale face," something like the display of currants in a plum cake. 'Tis true that all the extracts of Lubin, Bazin, and Phalon's rarest compounds, were scenting the air, yet the sweet perfume of Afric's fairest flowers expressed through their excretories, annihilated all opposition, leaving the smell of Nigger" triumphant, as they passed the island, the wool of Nigger kinked tighter, the sleek face shone sleeker, and the scent rose stronger, and Nigger was Nigger, at least for one day, in Sandusky bay. They had a band that discoursed Yankee Doodle, they waved highly scented handkerchiefs, and passing slowly out of sight, leaving us to our reflections. The Federals have Cuffee, they are welcome to him and his exhalations, there is no legislation, or social regulation, that will change the African, or his descent. Nigger will be

Nigger, the world over; he is destined to fill the positions of boot black and scullion, and at any intellectual employment, he is at sea. He cannot comprehend intellectual effort and how the professional can ride in his carriage, without exhibiting any physical attempt to earn his wealth, is a mystery, and arouses within him, that radical Abolition emotion, "Down with the indolent aristocracy," not willing to accord to them the credit of the years of intellectual toil employed, to attain the position that alone can fit them, for the walks of their calling. The line of demarkation, has been drawn by nature, between white and black society, and is as impassible as a gulf of fire. Northern Negro philanthropy is reaping its reward, and like the man who won the elephant, they have got Cuffee, now what will they do with him? The boat is out of sight, with its freight of sables, who are suffering from both friend and foe. Alas! poor African, an object of pity and commiseration, thou mayest well exclaim, "Save me from my (so called) friends."

A funeral at sea is a melancholy spectacle, the gloomy looks of the crew, the dejected air of the passengers, and the agonized expression of weeping relatives seem to fill the imagination with all that is distressing and heartrending, yet the freshness of the ocean breeze, new scenes, the excitements of storm, and "sail ho!" with the whirl of life midst the hundreds on shipboard, softens, if not efaces, death's shadows at sea. 'Tis not so in prison, the soldier dies and is confined in a common pine coffin, a little wagon is sent in, that is daily used by the sutler, the coffin placed in it, the driver cracks his whip, as if his animal had stalled with a load of wood, and the vehicle rattles over the ruts and clods of the campus. To-day we buried poor Hodges. He was from Memphis, Tennesee, and died from a wound received from a copper ball from a Mexican escopet, while acting gallantly in Mexico, which the irritation of his imprisonment, added to a fall, caused to break out afresh, resulting in death. The death of Captain Hodges has been alluded to in another "scrap," yet mention is made in this connection, as addi

tional evidence of the inhumanity of our custodians, his friends requested to attend his funeral, but were denied, the reply, as mentioned previous, being, that none, excepting those belonging to his regiment, could attend his funeral. We were not of the number, and the torturing Pierson let his cartman drive out the body, without the attendance of his friends, an unheard-of barbarity, for which there is no excuse. It was a sad sight to see all that remained of our friend driven out, like the carcass of some dumb brute, and buried without the ministration of friends, all of this under the eye of that eagle whose wings are supposed to enfold the "best government the world ever saw," with the most damnable representatives. Pierson's trestle board is discolored by dark and treacherous spots, and how he can serenely stand beneath the arch, without viewing it as the sword of Damocles, is beyond the comprehension of a pillar of the arch, but his temple will be one of Babel, and not of Solomon, as his moral tools are rusty, and as "he soweth, so shall he also reap.

Thirty feet from the wall around the entire prison, is an imaginary line, called the dead-line, yet on one side the sinks are not ten feet from the wall, and it was while going to his quarters from one of them, that Captain Meadows was shot down, an account of which is given in another "scrap." To step across this line is death, a heavy penalty for a slight offence. Genghis Khan, or Timour could not have been more severe; only the sack or bowstring is more revolting to the feelings, and is not as prompt as a quietus, as the old Springfield," with its charge doubled, and the finger of its merciless (because cowardly) owner upon a trigger, itching to respond to the call of the sentinel sheart, that secure in its home-guard battalion, burns, to gloat over the murder of a rebel. the war continues, and we are held in durance, we may have yet to choose between the "gnout," "bastinado,"* or "ropes end," for slight direlections, and between the garote, gallows, or musket, for graver ones.

If

*They are now whipping negroes in the free State of Illinois, (see scrap), and why not apply the lash to white men, which they will surely do, if fanaticism triumphs in the present struggle.