Nice POW Diary, ANDERSONVILLE CAPTIVITY, Florence, Prison, CSA, Civil War

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Nice POW Diary, ANDERSONVILLE CAPTIVITY, Florence, Prison, CSA, Civil War:
$17.50

Transcription of Original ANDERSONVILLE PRISON Civil War Journal Written by Massachusetts Soldier......Captured at Spottsylvania& Imprisoned in ANDERSONVILLE

DESCRIPTION: ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC first-hand TRANSCRIPTIONof an original hand written journal by a Massachusetts soldier during theCivil War, starting from his involvement during the battle of the Wildernesson May 3, 1864, his capture at Spottsylvania, his transport to and imprisonmentas a POW in the infamous ANDERSONVILLE PRISON, transfer to another POW campnear Florence, and his eventual release on May 22, 1865. The original journal is in my personal collection.

Written by George W. Farr, Color Cpl of Co. D, 15thMass. He was born in New Hampshire in 1838 and enlisted Aug. 25, 1861 inWorcester, Mass. He served with the Army of the Potomac, in the 1st Brigade,2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps. He was captured May 12, 1864 at SpottsylvaniaCourthouse, Va. and confined in ANDERSONVILLE for 5 months and the FlorencePOW camp for 5 months. He was exchanged on March 27, 1865. He died Oct. 1,1891 in New York, and is buried in Worcester, Mass. The journal is missing the last page, but it covers his entire time of captivity.

This is not a diary with daily entries, but periodicupdates (every day to every few days or so) as well as a detailed generalnarrative about life and conditions in the prison. It is better than a diaryin many ways as he writes about events in much greater detail than a diarywould allow. It is obviously also much better than a letter, as it was NOTSUBJECT TO CENSOR, and it also contains stark details that he might not haveconveyed to the folks back home in a letter.

This is a FIRST HAND ACCOUNT, in remarkable detail,of this subject and has more details about ANDERSONVILLE than I have everseen before, including details about front line fighting, living conditions,and daily life at this terrible place over a period of almost a year. I havenever seen anything written in such detail, or covering such a wide varietyof everyday activity, occurrances, and anecdotes.... Compiled while stillfresh in his mind, probably in the recovery hospital or after he returnedhome in 1865. The metal binder of paper that it is written on is stamped\"patent 1856\", and many dates and specific days are mentioned so that itwas written very soon after while still very fresh in his mind. He also keptnewspaper clippings about Andersonville and the Wirtz trial over the followingyear and glued them to the back of the journal pages.

Every page of this journal is dripping with incredibledescription and detail. As a very brief indication, starting on the firstday he discusses their specific troop movements, etc. throughout the Battleof the Wilderness, the Rebel attacks and repulses, describing their breastworks,and the fires that resulted (and that have been well documented during thisbattle). \"...the color of the Reb\'s clothing were such that they could approachvery near to us under cover of the thick underbrush....when the order toadvance was given, many of our boys instead of going forward, hung back,and during the excitement, shot their friends who are in front....\". \"May12: ....we were given the order to charge....went over walls and ditches,through briars and woods...we opened fire and in a short time they surrenderedand came flocking into our lines like sheep...held this place as long aswe could, when the enemy rallied and came down upon us and took usprisoners...taken back under guard about 3 miles to Gen. Lee\'s headquarterswhere our sufferings as prisoners first began...\". Many details about thesefirst days and transport, e.g. interaction with the Rebel guards, trading,etc....details about very limited rations during transport (2 rations in5 days) and details about how they were cooked...how they were joined withother prisoners (1200 total) and headed for Richmond....put under chargeof the Home Guard...\"had another uncomfortable night\'s rest in mud....takenby train through Danville....arrived at ANDERSONVILLE at 11 am on Saturday,May 29.....on Sunday the 29th, brought to Capt. Wirtz Headquarters, counted,names taken, and turned into the stockade like so many cattle...Capt Wirtzor the Dutch Captain as he was often called, told us if one many is absentat daily roll call, next morning the whole squad would go without rations...\".Several pages of description of the stockade, the Dead Line, the generallayout, 2 subsequent additions to the prison due to overcrowding, new prisonersarriving every day (until 30 - 35 thousand in stockade)....\"rained for first22 days of June, many compelled to be out in open without shelter...foodwas of worst kind...(full page of description)...on July 1, addition to stockadecompleted, but newcomers filled full as before....all kind of trade carriedon inside the pen....anyone possessed with a razor would set himself up fora barber...a needle full of thread would answer for a tailor shop....buildinga mud oven and buying flour off the Rebels, you could bake biscuits to sell...aman with an ax was prized and could rent it for 50 cents/hour...\" Hedetails availability and prices of various goods and provisions....tellshow the camp was full of robbers...\"our own men who had gotten so depravedas to rob their fellow POWs....Wirtz said no rations until the raiders deliveredthem to him....after arrested, a judge and jury from the Yankee ranks waschosen and the raiders were tried and sentenced....6 found guilty of murderand robbery and sentenced to death, and a variety of other punishments forthe others.... \"(Full typed page of description of the whole affair includingbuilding of scaffold and hanging). Incredible scarcity of firewood....descriptionof clothing repair....details of fresh water quality...\"...grease floatedon water in quantities sufficient to grease boots....this was the only wateravailable for washing, drinking, and cooking.... a Spring appeared outsidethe Dead Line....pole with string and cup fashioned to get better water,lines of men 10 - 20 rods long to get water in turn....\" . A 2 page descriptionof various wells dug as deep as 60 - 70 feet, the work to cover up a varietyof tunnelling attempts and successes/failures, again in great detail....Hedescribes in great detail the many men shot during transport to the prisonand in the stockade... mentions that the average number of daily deaths inAugust was said to be 150, mostly from exposure, starvation, and disease....longdescription of the 9 o\'clock sick call, with 1 to 5000 men daily....mentionsgraveyard with bodies usually buried naked in long trenches....on Sept 1st,fresh rumors of an exchange began to circulate out of fear of Sherman\'s forcesand closeness....after 13 days of waiting it was his turn, but they wereloaded onto trains to Charleston and other places .... (several pages ofdetails of this, escape attempts, additional privations, men shot, etc).Instead of going home they were brought to another POW camp nearFlorence....\"...Lt. Barrett had charge of this stockade, and was a worseman than Captain Wirtz if that can be imagined....a real tyrant...reliefboxes sent by US Sanitary Commission in October...supposedly enough for entirecamp....turned out to be 5 blankets for every 100 men....(all described indetail plus procedures for distributing clothing)....Rebel officers wouldcome into camp and buy anything offered for sale, preferring watches andrings to convert CSA money into something that would have value after theclose of the war...guards were old men from 45 - 65 and boys from 10 - 18...theyhad orders not to converse with prisoners and to shoot anyone who spoke tothem...one time a prisoner asked a sentry for a chew of Tobacco and he raisedhis gun and shot him dead.....someone was shot nearly every day....cut offbottoms of trousers to reinforce seat and afterwards sewed on a knapsackwhich lasted for some time....lice and fleas increased rather than decreasedwith cold weather....an average of at least 100 was found on the person dailyand often as many as 300 - 400.....December and January were very cold andthe number of deaths larger in proortion than in summer....many men foundfrozen stiff every morning....\" The camp was emptied in February andhe describes the deprivations of the trip to Wilmington and beyond, including4 weeks spent in the Union exchange hospital in Annapolis, all in greatdetail.

You get the idea. The above is just a taste. This guywas there, and I mean THERE. One of the lucky survivers of this hell-hole.He was very literate and accurate in his observations and recorded it allin fantastic detail. It is virtually complete, only missing the last journalpage (the last couple of typed paragraphs at the end). If you want to knowwhat it was like and how these guys suffered, here it is first hand. Anincredibly complete and detailed description of every aspect of ConfederatePOW life over the entire period. .

24 typed pages, single spaced, just loaded with firsthand information and details by someone who was THERE. Again, please note that this is a typedtranscription of the original journal that is a treasured part of my collection,not the original journal itself (both pictured). It has never been published or offered forsale before. You will not see something like this again.

Buyer to add $3.85 for postage. You will not bedissappointed with it.

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