floor hard for sleeping, though later we
procured some cots; the covering insufficient, and the vermin
ineffaceable pests. We had almost no books, nothing to help pass the
time. We took daily walks by reliefs, up and down one side of our
scanty quarters. There was a daily roll call, when chaffing the Officer
of the Day gave slight amusement. At one time three or four of our
companions escaped from prison, passing the guard by a show of
authority. The wearing of Federal uniforms secured on the field of
battle was so common in the streets, that the guards could hardly tell
friends from foe.

At that time the whole Rebel Army was encamped near Richmond, and in
consequence it availed nothing to be outside the walls of the prison.
The escaped prisoners were in a day or two brought back and put in
irons. While they were gone we had with some success answered for their
names at Roll Call from a distant part of the room. We devised a way of
unlocking the irons, and by putting a detail of our men to give warning
of the approach of officials, were able to give some relief to the
sufferers.

The Commander of the Prison was the notorious Wirtz, afterwards hung
for cruelty to prisoners by the United States Government. One of his
juniors was a Lieutenant Todd, said to be a brother of Mrs. Abraham
Lincoln. He was always abusing Lincoln, and was especially strict and
disagreeable, even more so than his superior, Wirtz.

We formed a society, and held meetings, at which speeches were made and
stories told, more or less accurate. When any new officers, taken on
the various battlefields, came, we initiated them, and, in the openness
of their confidence, got from them the story of their early lives and
loves, which afforded us amusement, until they discovered a way to be
brief in their statements.

The privates, who were mostly intelligent volunteers, had similar
difficulty in passing time. They had, however, one successful thing
which interested them for a time. The money then in circulation in
Richmond consisted entirely of paper money, in the form of Corporation
notes, and those of business firms, plank roads, or private bankers,
etc.

Our men discovered in their quarters a half barrel of such material,
needing only to be signed and issued. This was readily accomplished,
and as they took care to have the issue in fractional amounts, it was
never questioned, and served its purpose of increasing the Currency of
the Realm. Through th