view, this was the better policy, shocking as it was
to humanity.

At one time it was considered in the Confederate Congress the
propriety of turning loose and sending home as early as practicable
these thousands of prisoners, trusting alone to their honor the
observance of the parole. It was thought by the majority that the
indiscriminate mingling and mixing of these fanatical agitators with
the peaceable slaves in the country might incite insurrection and a
bloody social war break out should the prisoners be released at the
prison pens. Under all the varying circumstances the South was still
busily engaged in mobilizing these prisoners in certain quarters, to
protect them as far as possible from liberation by raiding parties.
At Andersonville, Ga., there were twenty-two thousand; at Florence,
S.C., two thousand; Salisbury, N.C., ten thousand; several hundred in
Columbia, and detached numbers scattered along at various points
on the railroads, at such places where convenient quarters could be
secured and properly guarded. Quite a large number were at Bell Isle,
on the James River, as well as at the Liby Prison, in Richmond. These
prisoners were sometimes guarded by the State militia and disabled
veterans. Those at Florence were guarded by boy companies, under
command of Colonel Williams, the former commander of the Third South
Carolina. The stockades, as the prison pens were called, consisted of
tall pine trees set into the ground some six or eight feet, standing
upright and adjoining. The space thus enclosed covered several acres
or as much more as there were prisoners or troops to guard them. The
stockade fence was about fifteen feet above the level of the ground,
with a walk way three feet from the top, on which the guards watched.
There was a "dead line" some fifteen or twenty paces from the inside
of the wall, over which no prisoner was allowed to cross, on penalty
of being shot. And to prevent any collusion between the prisoners and
the guard, none were permitted to speak to the sentinels under any
circumstances. To better carry out these orders, the soldier Who
detected a prisoner speaking to a guard and shot him, a thirty days'
furlough was given as an acknowledgment of his faithful observance of
orders. On more occasions than one the prisoners in their attempt to
draw inexperienced guards into a conversation, and perhaps offer a
bribe, met their death instantly. Inside the enclosure some of the
prisoners hud