pen grounds. The subsequent
sufferings of these men are known to the country, a parallel
to those of Andersonville, as the eternal infamy of Wirtz is
shared by his _confrere_ at Salisbury--McGee.

"'The weakness, and still more, the appalling ferocity of
the guards, stimulated the desire to escape; but when this
had become a plan it was discovered, and the commissioned
prisoners were at once hurried off to Danville, Va., and
there assigned the two upper floors of an abandoned tobacco
warehouse, which formed one side of an open square. Here an
organization into messes was effected, from ten to eighteen
in each--to facilitate the issue of rations. The latter
consisted of corn-bread and boiled beef, but gradually the
issues of meat became like angels' visits, and then for
several months ceased altogether. It was the art of feeding
as practised by the Hibernian on his horse--only their
exchange deprived the prisoners of testing the one straw per
day.

"Among the democracy of hungry bellies there were a few
aristocrats, with a Division General of the Fifth Corps as
Grand Mogul, whose Masonic or family connections in the
South procured them special privileges. On the upper floor
these envied few erected a cooking stove, around which they
might be found at all hours of the day, preparing savory
dishes, while encircled by a triple and quadruple row of
jealous noses, eagerly inhailing the escaping vapors, so
conducive to day-dreams of future banquets. The social
equilibrium was, however, bi-diurnally restored by a common
pursuit--a general warfare under the black flag against a
common enemy, as insignificant individually as he was
collectively formidable--an insect, in short, whose
domesticity on the human body is, according to some
naturalists, one of the differences between our species and
the rest of creation. This operation, technically,
'skirmishing,' happened twice a day, according as the sun
illumined the east or west sides of the apartments, along
which the line was deployed in its beams.

"Eating, sleeping, smelling and skirmishing formed the
routine of prison-life, broken once in a while by a walk,
under escort, to the Dan river, some eighty yards distant,
for a water supply. Generally, some ten or twelve prisoners