Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 18.djvu/332

332 men in fair condition. Ask any one of these legislators if he stopped to raise the ragged blanket of one of these wretches, or look into his sunken eyes, and he will tell you that they simply passed them in review.

This was the only way an outsider ever saw us. No visitor could speak to us without an order from the President. My uncle, I. B. Curran, of Springfield, Illinois, came to the prison, but was not permitted to see me. Thanks to his and other friends' generosity, I was supplied with as much money, in the shape of sutler's tickets, as I needed, and all the clothes and blankets allowed by the prison rules. This enabled my comrades, Cyrus Spraggins, of Mississippi, and John Moore, of Selma, Alabama, and myself to buy the much sought-after top bunk, and to live in comparative comfort. I was also visited by General John Love, of the United States army, who was denied the privilege of seeing me. This shows that no one was permitted to see the prisoners; therefore, the citizens of Indianapolis can know nothing of what happened in their midst. I agree with you, sir, that the cruelties suffered by the prisoners of both armies should not have been laid before the public; but since our friends on the other side have done so much to show how cruel the South was, and still continue to publish these sad and horrible facts, and even move the prison buildings to northern cities to keep these facts fresh in the minds of each succeeding generation, it is but fair that we of the South should let the world know that the prison-pens of the North were no whit better than the worst in the South.

A few words about myself and I am done. At the time of my capture I was a private in Company F, Fifty-third Alabama cavalry. Shortly after the war, in 1868, I was employed by the Pensacola Lumber Company, at their mills near Pensacola, Florida, first as clerk in their store, from which place I was promoted to be superintendent of their log department and other places of trust. I remained with them six years, and when I resigned to go into business on my own account, I had the confidence of the officers of the company, and refer to W. A. Parke, of New York, who was cashier of the company at the time. I have, up to five years ago, been employed either by timber firms of Mobile or shipping timber and lumber on my own account. I refer to Edwin W. Adam & Co., of New York, and George McInestin & Co., of Boston, who were correspondents