Identifier: andersonvilles00mcel (find matches)
Title: Andersonville : a story of Rebel military prisons, fifteen months a guest of the so-called southern confederacy : a private soldier's experience in Richmond, Andersonville, Savannah, Millen, Blackshear, and Florence
Year: 1879 (1870s)
Authors: McElroy, John, 1846-1929
Subjects: Andersonville Prison United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865
Publisher: Toledo : D. R. Locke
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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weathermade important accessories to our comfort. Other prisoners kept coming in. Those we left behind atSavannah followed us, and the prison there was broken up.Quite a number also came in from Andersonville, so that in alittle while we had between six and seven thousand in the Stock-ade. The last comers found all the material for tents and allthe fuel used up, and consequently did not fare so well as theearlier arrivals. The commandant of the prison — one Captain Bowes — wasthe best of his class it was my fortune to meet. Compared withthe senseless brutality of Wirz, the reckless deviltry of Davis,or the stupid malignance of Barrett, at Florence, his adminis-tration was mildness and wisdom itself. A STORY OF KEBEL MILITAItY PRISONS. 457 He enforced discipline better than any of those named, buthad what they all lacked — executive ability — and he securedresults that they could not possibly attain, and without any-thing like the friction that attended their efforts. I do not
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A HOrSE BTTILDED WIIH OUR OWN HANDS. remember that any one was shot during our six weeks stay atMillen—-a circumstance simply remarkable, since I do notrecall a single week passed anywhere else without at least onemurder by the guards. One instance will illustrate the difference of his administra-tion from that of other prison commandants. He came uponthe grounds of our division one morning, accompanied by apleasant-faced, intelligent-appearing lad of about fifteen orsixteen. He said to us: Gentlemen: (The only instance during our imprisonmentwhen we received so pohte a designation.) This is my son, who 458 ANDEESONVILLE. will hereafter call your roll. He will treat you as gentlemen,and I know you will do the same to him. This understanding was observed to the letter on both sides.Young Bowes invariably spoke civilly to us, and we obeyed hisorders with a prompt cheerfulness that left him nothing tocomplain of. The only charge I have to make against Bowes is made morein detail in ano

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