Reports of the Committee on the Conduct of the War Part 67

Answer. The next day they took us to Atlanta, and then on to Richmond.

Question. What prison were you put in?

Answer. I was on Belle Isle five or six days and nights, and then they put me in a prison over in town.

Question. How did they treat you there?

Answer. Rough, rough, rough.

Question. What did they give you to eat?

Answer. A small bit of bread and a little piece of meat; black beans full of worms. Sometimes meat pretty good, sometimes the meat was so rotten that you could smell it as soon as you got it in the house. We were used rough, I can tell you.

Question. Did they leave you your property?

Answer. They took everything we had before ever we got to Richmond; my hat, blankets, knife. We did not do very well until we got some blankets from our government; afterwards we did better. Before that we slept right on the floor, with nothing over us except a little old blanket one of us had.

Question. What was their manner towards you?

Answer. I call it pretty rough. If a man did not walk just right up to the mark they were down on him, and not a man of us dared to put his head out of the window, for he would be shot if he did. Several were shot just for that.

Question. What is the cause of your sickness?

Answer. Nothing but exposure and the kind of food we had there. I was a tolerably stout man before I got into their hands; after that I was starved nearly to death.

Daniel Gentis, sworn and examined.

By the chairman:

Question. What State are you from?

Answer. Indiana.

Question. When did you enlist, and in what company and regiment?

Answer. I enlisted on the 6th of August, 1861, in company I, 2d New York regiment.

Question. Where were you taken prisoner?

Answer. I was taken prisoner at Stevensville, Virginia; I was there with Colonel Dahlgren, on Kilpatrick's expedition.

Question. Were you taken prisoner at the same time that Colonel Dahlgren was killed?

Answer. I was there when he was killed, but I was taken prisoner the next morning.

Question. What do you know about the manner of his death and the treatment his body received?

Answer. He was shot within a foot and a half or two feet of me. I got wounded that same night. The next morning I was taken prisoner, and as we came along we saw his body, with his clothes all off. He was entirely naked, and he was put into a hole and covered up.

Question. Buried naked in that way?

Answer. Yes, sir; no coffin at all. Afterwards his body was taken up and carried to a slue and washed off, and then sent off to Richmond. A despatch came from Richmond for his body, and it was sent there.

Question. It has been said they cut off his finger?

Answer. Yes, sir; his little finger was cut off, and his ring taken off.

By Mr. Odell:

Question. How do you know there was a ring on his finger?

Answer. I saw the fellow who had it, and who said he took it off. When they took his body to a slue and washed it off they put on it a shirt and drawers, and then put it in a box and sent it to Richmond.

Question. How far was that from Richmond?

Answer. It was about 40 miles from Richmond, and about 10 miles from West Point.

Question. How were you treated yourself?

Answer. I fared first-rate. I staid at the house of a Dr. Walker, of Virginia, and Dr. Walker told me that a private of the 9th Virginia cavalry took off Colonel Dahlgren's artificial leg, and that General Ewell, I think it was, or some general in the southern army who had but one leg, gave the private $2,000 for it, (confederate currency.) I saw the private who took it, and saw him have the leg.

By the chairman:

Question. How do you know they received a despatch from Richmond to have the body sent there?

Answer. All the information I got about the despatch was from Dr.

Walker, who said they were going to take the body to Richmond and bury it where no one could find it.

Question. Did Colonel Dahlgren make any speech or read any papers to his command?

Answer. No, sir; not that I ever heard of. They questioned me a great deal about that. The colonel of the 9th Virginia cavalry questioned me about it. I told him just all I knew about it. I told him I had heard no papers read, nor anything else.

Question. Did you ever hear any of your fellow-soldiers say they ever heard any such thing at all?

Answer. No, sir; and when I started I had no idea where I was going.

Question. Were you in prison at Richmond?

Answer. I was there for four days, but I was at Dr. Walker's pretty nearly a month and a half.

Question. During the four days you were in prison did you see any of our other soldiers in prison there?

Answer. Yes, sir.