Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War Part 62

Question. How long have you been in the service?

Answer. Pretty nearly three years.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Chickamauga.

Question. When?

Answer. On the 22d of last September.

Question. State what happened then to you.

Answer. When they took me prisoner they took me right on to Richmond, kept me there awhile, then sent me to Danville and kept me there awhile.

I got sick at Danville and was put in the hospital, and then they sent me back to Richmond and paroled me and sent me here.

Question. How did they treat you while you were a prisoner?

Answer. Pretty bad. They gave us corn-bread, and not very much of it; and we had to lie right down on the floor, without any blankets, until a long while about Christmas. We had just to lie as thick on the floor as we could get.

Question. How were you treated when you were taken sick?

Answer. A little better. We then had a sort of bed to lie on.

Question. Did you have all the food you wanted?

Answer. No, sir.

Question. What kind of food did you get?

Answer. Corn-bread, a little piece of meat, sometimes a little rice-soup, and sometimes a few beans.

Question. How often did you get meat?

Answer. Along through the winter we got a little bit of fresh beef, (perhaps once a day,) and then from about March a little pork.

Question. What was the matter with you when you went to the hospital?

Answer. I got a cough which settled on me, and I had pain in my breast.

Question. Were there any other prisoners at Danville?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did they suffer at all from want?

Answer. They were pretty hungry.

Question. Did you complain to the authorities that you did not get food enough?

Answer. No, sir; it would not have made any difference. They said there that we got every ounce that was allowed to us.

Question. Did you make your wants known to any one?

Answer. Yes, sir; but they would not give us any more. They would come in and give you a half a loaf of bread, and tell you that was your day's rations; you could take that or nothing.

By the chairman:

Question. Did they give you as much as their own soldiers for rations?

Answer. No, sir; their own soldiers got a great deal more.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. What was your treatment aside from your supply of food? Was it kind?

Answer. No, sir. They just came in and shoved us round; finally, they run us all up from one floor to the second floor, and only let one go down at a time. When he got back they let another go down.

Isaiah G. Booker, sworn and examined.

By Mr. Harding:

Question. How old are you?

Answer. Twenty-one on the 13th of this month.

Question. Where did you enlist?

Answer. Bath, Maine.

Question. How long were you in the army before you were taken prisoner?

Answer. I enlisted on the 5th of September, 1861, and was taken prisoner last July.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. On Morris island, Charleston, South Carolina.

Question. Where were you then sent?

Answer. I was sent to Columbia, South Carolina, where we were kept about two months, and then we were sent to Richmond, put on Belle Isle, and staid there the remainder of the time.

Question. How were you treated at Columbia?