and when we had gotten some "bandages andpatched him up he looked ludicrously odd.
Before we entered Williamsport a correspondent,whom the Confederates had decided to let go, tookthe names of those who chose to give them to him,that their friends might learn their fate from thepapers. I gave him mine, and though it wasprinted in a leading Philadelphia paper, I wasafterward mortified to learn that only one of allmy friends in that city had seen it. A dozen othersthere with whom I had correspondence supposedI had been killed.
At Williamsport all was crowded and in con-fusion. The Confederates were throwing up weakdefenses in expectation of an attack. Our cavalryhad cut their way in and destroyed the only bridgethat Lee had left in his rear. Some of the poorfellows that must always get left on such occa-sions cheered us by telling us how they did it.Three regiments charged in,— one fought to theright, another to the left, while the third, suppliedwith straw and turpentine, dashed at the bridge,set fire to it, then cut it loose from its mooringsand let it float down the river, a burning wreck.“ Score another for the cavalry,” we cried.
My hopes rose with the river, which was aseething flood, boiling over its banks; it seemedimpossible to get us across the Potomac now.Rigging up a rope ferry, and getting the prison-ers across on flat-boats was the work of two orthree days, and then they encamped us on ahill a few days more, waiting for their army tofollow. I think they feared an advance by Har-per’s Ferry and Martinsburg. The cavalry and fly-ing artillery came from that direction ; Iinboden’smen told us so, and I never gave up hope until wehad passed Winchester. A brigade composed ofinfantry, cavalry, and artillery under General Im-boden guarded us from this point to Staunton, adistance of over 120 miles, I think. It seemedfive hundred miles to me, for I was barefooted andthe pike had been recently repaired.
The mode of marching us was now for the firsttime systematic. We numbered at least four thou-sand men, and were divided into divisions, march-ing by columns of fours. The cavalry and artillerymarched en masse between the divisions, while theinfantry marched in two files, one at each side ofthe column. Imboden’s brigade did not seem tohave seen much hard service, at least I thought sobecause their clothes were new, yet the generalhad a new suit of gray on, and certainly he hadseen plenty of hard service. The men were as kindto us as could be expected; only one unpleasantaffair came under my observation all the way.In the heat of a discussion a guard clubbed hismusket and struck a wounded man on the head.I have no doubt that the latter had his tongueto blame for it; but he was a prisoner and awounded man, and the guard was promptly placedunder arrest.
I have said nothing so far of the commissary ar-rangements simply because there was nothing tobe said. I do not now remember getting any-thing to eat until we crossed the Potomac, exceptfrom Stuart’s cavalry the first day of my captivity.
But my memory must fail me, for I could not havelived unless I had gotten something occasionally.After we left Williamsport the arrangements wereregular—in their meagerness, too regular. Wegot about a pint of flour every other day, andwith it now and then a piece of rusty flitch. Someof the men tried to make bread of the flour as wecamped, but the greater number stirred it up inwater, and drank the paste, saying that “it stuckto their ribs longer” that way. We got an extraration at Martinsburg, that, out of compliment tothe ladies, I ought not to forget. As we marchedthrough the town the whole populace turned outto greet us, not as enemies but as friends and sym-pathizers. They cried out to us, to cheer up — notto be downhearted — that we had won a greatvictory at Gettysburg , and though we were beingmarched to prison we were already avenged by thethousands of rebels that were left dead or prison-ers in Pennsylvania . They appeared to bo wellposted by the Northern newspapers, and right inthe teeth of the guards they upbraided the Confed-erates for theft and violence north of the Potomac.It must have been very galling to Imboden’s com-mand to be reviled that way by their country-women, but they bore it with cast-down heads, andmade no reply. We could not have done it, I fear,had we been the guards, and in Pennsylvania . Atlast some of our men, in reply to questions on thesubject, said they did not give us anything to eat.There was a sudden rush for the houses, and in afew seconds the street was lined with women withdishes of cake, bread, and everything they couldlay hands on with so short a notice.
The sight of the food threw our column into dis-order. Some men tried to break out of the ranks,and this being resisted, the women tried to break in.In the confusion that followed a few women werepushed back to the street-curb and fell down. Thefalls were, I think, accidental; but the prisonersbecame furious when they saw them fall, theystruck at the guards right and loft, and overpoweredmany of them, bearing them to the ground. Itlooked for the moment as if there would bo a gen-eral fight, which must result in the death of manyprisoners and the escape of others; but this wasprevented by the prompt action of the cavalry andartillery, marching near the scene of the revolt.Then the general, or some one for him, promisedthe people and the prisoners that the latter wouldbe halted outsido the town to receive the contribu-tions. Tn an open wood by the roadside we werohalted, and the guards themselves soon broughtus the coveted food. The sly rascals must havetossed the dainties up in the blankets as theybrought them along so that every man of us at asingle grab could get a sample of all they sent. Igot one good handful only, but it was a mixture ofginger-bread, cookies, cake, corn-bread, and every-thing else that the people of Martinsburg ate. Bwuis here that the Barbara Frietcliies lived. Afterthe battle of Antietam these women had laid plankson a torn up bridge for us, so that we could crossand drive Stuart’s cavalry out of the town.
But notwithstanding this extra food at Martins-burg the low diet and the sharp stones soon told