To return to the 21st men, consolidated with the 36th Massachusetts. The regiment remained during the winter, and until April, in the lines in front of Petersburg, doing garrison duty at Fort Rice and picket duty in its front. They were not engaged in the memorable assault on the 2d of April, but kept their own front and skirmished with the enemy on the picket line, with a loss of one man killed and four wounded, one of the latter being a 21st man, Private Frank Gravlin, of Company K, who was shot through the body by a musket ball. Colonel Thaddeus L. Barker, commanding the 36th, wrote me as follows as to this casualty: "One of the 21st men was severely wounded on the 2d of April, while trying to check the stampede of a line in our front."

Only one other 21st man was wounded during the winter, and he had a hand badly injured by the bursting of his gun while on picket exchanging shots with the enemy. I regret that I have been unable to learn his name. The regiment followed up the Union army in the last great campaign, arriving at Farmville on April 9th, the day of the surrender. During the month it marched back through Petersburg to City Point, where it took the steamer "Vidette" for Alexandria, and remained near Fort Lyons, in front of Alexandria, from the 28th of April until mustered out on the 8th of June.

The last casualty among the veterans of the 21st was the death of Private James Dolligan, of Company F, who was killed in his tent April 30, 1865, by the fire of a colored regiment, who were discharging their pieces with murderous carelessness.

On muster out of the 36th the reënlisted veterans of the 21st were again transferred to the 56th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, and finally were mustered out of the United States service with that regiment on the 12th day of July,

1865.

Thanks mainly to the persistent efforts of our ever faithful Captain W. H. Sawyer, a corporal detailed from the 21st men was allowed to carry the old flag presented to the regi

ment by the ladies of Worcester beside the colors of the 36th. The 21st men also retained the flag while in the 56th, and on their final muster out it was returned to the custody of the patriotic ladies who presented it.

On the 2d of June the following congratulatory address was issued to the Union armies:

WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE,
WASHINGTON, D. C., June 2, 1865.

GENERAL ORDERS No. 108.

Soldiers of the Armies of the United States: By your patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of danger and alarm, and by your magnificent fighting, bravery, and endurance, you have maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution, overthrown all armed opposition to the enforcement of the laws and of the proclamations forever abolishing slavery, the cause and pretext of the rebellion, and opened the way to the rightful authorities to restore order and inaugurate peace on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot of American soil.

Your marches, sieges, and battles, in distance, duration, resolution, and brilliancy of results, dim the lustre of the world's past military achievements, and will be the patriot's precedent in defense of liberty and right in all time to come.

In obedience to your country's call you left your homes and families and volunteered in its defense. Victory has crowned your valor and secured the purpose of your patriotic hearts; and with the gratitude of your countrymen and the highest honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and families, conscious of having discharged the highest duty of American citizens.

To achieve the glorious triumphs and secure to yourselves, your fellow-countrymen, and posterity the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless legacy with their lives. The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors their memories, and will ever cherish and support their stricken families.

(Signed)

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE 21ST IN REBEL PRISONS.

DE

LIST OF MEMBERS OF THE 21ST CONFINED IN REBEL PRISONS. SCRIPTION OF ANDERSONVILLE PRISON, AND STATISTICS AS TO NUMBER OF PRISONERS THERE AND DEATHS. -PRISON NARRATIVES OF WILBUR A. POTTER, MARCUS M. COLLIS, P. FRANK GETHINGS, ALVIN S. GRATON, JOHN E. SHORT, AND GEORGE A. HITCHCOCK.— RESPONSIBILITY FOR NON-EXCHANGE OF PRISONERS.

IN recording the experiences and sufferings of our comrades in the foul and infamous rebel prison pens during the summer of 1864 and following winter, I have added nothing to the simple and manly statements of the men themselves, given to me by them soon after their release, or as recorded by them from day to day in their prison diaries.

In reading and considering these accounts I have been very strongly impressed by the fact that these men waste no paper to comment on their sufferings from hunger, heat and cold, and the other horrid and disgusting outrages of which they were the victims. Our tough and gallant comrades (with not a single "bummer among them) never yielded to despair, but, making the best of everything, helped each other all they could; and nearly all survived the barbarous and inhuman treatment which caused the death of many thousands of their companions. I say nothing of the few prisoners from the regiment who were captured early in the war, as they were paroled immediately after capture, and, so far as is known, were not subjected to cruel treatment.

The following is believed to be a correct list of the members of the 21st who were imprisoned at Andersonville, Salisbury,

Florence, and Danville. I have compiled it mainly from information furnished me by Sergeant-Major P. F. Gethings; Privates Wilbur A. Potter and George A. Hitchcock, of Company A; Corporal Vincent Barker and Private John E. Short, of Company B; Corporal Alvin S. Graton, of Company C; and 1st Sergeant Marcus M. Collis, of Company H, prisoners at the places above named. Some valuable information relative to them has also been obtained from the published rebel prison records, and also from the records in the office of the adjutant-general of Massachusetts.

MEMBERS OF THE 21ST IN REBEL PRISONS AT ANDERSONVILLE, DANVILLE, FLORENCE, MILLEN, AND SALISBURY, WITH DATE OF DEATH OF THOSE WHO DIED IN PRISON.

Company A. Sergeant J. Albert Osgood, captured in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864; Corporal James A. Miller, captured in the battle of Bethesda Church, June 2, 1864; Private Wilbur A. Potter, captured in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864; Private George A. Hitchcock, captured in the battle of Bethesda Church, June 2, 1864.

Company B. Sergeant George O. Emerson, captured in the battle of Bethesda Church, June 2, 1864,- died at Andersonville Prison October 8, 1864: number of grave, 10,542 ; Sergeant Thomas Stevens, captured near Petersburg, June 17, 1864; Sergeant Charles Miller, captured in the battle of Poplar Spring Church, September 30, 1864; Corporal George V. Barker, captured in the battle of the Mine, July 30, 1864; Private James Cane, captured in the battle of Bethesda Church, June 2, 1864; Private Nathaniel F. Knox, captured in the battle of Poplar Spring Church, September 30, 1864, -died at Salisbury Prison about November 1, 1864; Private John E. Short, captured in the battle of Poplar Spring Church, September 30, 1864.

Company C. Corporal Alvin S. Graton, captured in the battle of Bethesda Church, June 2, 1864; Private Francis E. Clark, captured in the battle of the Wilderness, May 6, 1864; Private Thomas Farrell, captured in the battle of Spottsylva

The brook shown in the sketch runs from the direction of the house through the stockade.