Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War Part 65

Franklin Dinsmore, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. Where did you enlist?

Answer. At Camp Nelson, Kentucky.

Question. To what State do you belong?

Answer. Eastern Tennessee.

Question. How long have you been in the army?

Answer. I enlisted on the 11th or 12th of last July; I do not remember which day.

Question. To what regiment do you belong?

Answer. Eighth Tennessee cavalry.

Question. Who was your colonel?

Answer. Colonel Strickland.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. At Zollicoffer, near the East Tennessee and Virginia line.

Question. Where were you then carried?

Answer. Right straight on to Richmond. I was taken on the line of the railroad. We were burning bridges there to keep the enemy out.

Question. How did you fare after you got to Richmond?

Answer. They just starved us.

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. For forty-eight hours after we got there they gave us only just what we could breathe; then they gave us a little piece of white bread and just three bites of beef. A man could take it all decently at three bites. That is the way we lived until we went to Danville, and then we had meat enough to make half a dozen bites, with bugs in it.

Question. What brought on your sickness?

Answer. Starvation. I was so starved there that when I was down I could not get up without catching hold of something to pull myself up by.

Question. What did you live in?

Answer. In a brick building, without any fire, or anything to cover us with.

Question. Had you no blankets?

Answer. No, sir; we had not. They even took our coats from us, and part of us had to lie there on the floor in our shirt sleeves.

Question. In the winter?

Answer. Yes, sir.

Question. Did any of the men freeze?

Answer. Yes, sir; many a man just fell dead walking around trying to keep himself warm, or, as he was lying on the floor, died during the night; and if you looked out of a window, a sentinel would shoot you.

They shot some five or six of our boys who were looking out. Some of our boys would work for the guards to get more to eat, just to keep them from starving. There would be pieces of cobs in our bread, left there by the grinding machine, half as long as my finger, and the bread itself looked just as if you had taken a parcel of dough and let it bake in the sun. It was all full of cracks where it had dried, and the inside was all raw.

Question. Were you hungry all the time?

Answer. Hungry! I could eat anything in the world that came before us.

Some of the boys would get boxes from the north with meat of different kinds in them, and, after they had picked the meat off, they would throw the bones away into the spit-boxes, and we would pick the bones out of the spit-boxes and gnaw them over again.

Question. Did they have any more to give you?

Answer. They had plenty. They were just doing it for their own gratification. They said Seward had put old Beast Butler in there, and they did not care how they treated us.

Question. Did you complain about not having enough?

Answer. Certainly we complained, but they said we had plenty. They cursed us, and said we had a sight more than their men had who were prisoners in our lines.

Question. Do you feel any better now since you have been here?

Answer. A great deal better; like a new man now. I am gaining flesh now.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. What was your occupation before you went into the army?

Answer. I was a farmer.

By Mr. Julian:

Question. Do you know how they treated their own sick?

Answer. No, sir.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. Were other Tennesseeans taken prisoners the same time you were?