f Boston, and had spent a portion of a summer with several
families at that pleasant watering place, Nahant. One of my most
esteemed friends--Mrs. L.--with the charity of a noble and Christian
heart, wrote to me as soon as she learned that I was a prisoner; but she
was too loyal to the flag not to express regret and distress at what she
believed to be a mistaken sense of duty. The reader may remember the
definition once given of "Orthodoxy" by a dignitary of the church of
England to an inquiring nobleman. "Orthodoxy, my Lord, is _my_ doxy,
heterodoxy is _your_ doxy if you differ from me." The same authority, it
has always appeared to me, was assumed by a large portion of the
Northern people. They demanded a Government to suit their ideas, and
disloyalty consisted in opposing them.

We were permitted to write once a month to our friends in the
Confederacy; the letters being left open for inspection. There were a
few Northerners among us, but I know of only a single case where the
individual concerned so far yielded to the persuasion of his friends
outside, as to renounce the cause which he had sworn to defend.

Aside from the confinement, and the earnest desire to be doing our part
in the war, there could be no cause to repine at our lot. We were
allowed, at our own expense, to supply our tables from the Boston
market, not only abundantly, but luxuriously; the Government furnishing
the usual rations; and the prisoners grew robust upon the good fare and
the bracing climate. A tug plied daily between Boston and the island on
which Fort Warren is situated. We were permitted to receive the daily
papers and to purchase clothing and other necessaries, either from the
sutler, or from outside; and many of the prisoners were indebted to a
noble charity for the means of supplying many of these needs; of
clothing especially, which was chiefly furnished by the firm of Noah
Walker & Co. of Baltimore. The firm itself was said to be most liberal,
not merely dispensing the donations received in Baltimore and elsewhere,
but supplying a large amount of clothing gratuitously. The policy of
retaliation had not then been adopted. It is conceded that the United
States Government, towards the close of the war, subjected the
Confederate prisoners in their hands to harsh treatment in pursuance of
this policy; but in justice to the Confederate authorities it should be
borne in mind that they repeatedly proposed an exchange of prisoners
upon the