Page:The Immortal Six Hundred.djvu/136

   was stretched an inch rope, the rope being supported on pickets driven into the sand. This was designated the dead line. For a prisoner to approach this line, on any pretext, was sure death; the sentinels were ordered to shoot him without hesitation or challenge. The space between the dead line and fence curtailed the space in our stockade prison very much. At the head of the middle street was placed a Mitrailleuse Requa gun, loaded and ready to open upon our camp at a moment's notice. All this precaution was taken for fear we would overpower the negro guards and capture the island. After we had been arranged in companies and assigned to tents Colonel Hallowell, commandant of the 54th Massachusetts (negro) Regiment, our guards, had read to each company of prisoners the rules for government of the stockade prison. One rule provided for the shooting of any prisoner that touched the dead line rope; another rule was, that if ten or more prisoners were assembled together