ar from home, but they seemed mad and asked very few
questions that night. But we soon learned that talking was not allowed
after dark, as white guards walked the streets inside, while negro
sentinels were on the outside parapet. We were always interested in the
new-comers, who continued to come for two or three weeks, until the number
was increased to twenty-three thousand. Point Lookout lays between
Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River, and is nearly surrounded by water. The
prison on the Chesapeake side was drained into that bay, and was an ideal
place for a military prison, and was considered one of the most healthful
prisons. It was enclosed by a high plank fence with two gates, opening to
bay and one for entrance on southeast corner. It was divided into ten or
twelve divisions, with nearly as many cook-houses, one chapel and
school-house, eight wells, no two of which contains the same kind of
water. The water was strong coperas, alum, and some nearly fair freestone.
The Confederate government had an agent there, a Methodist preacher by the
name of Morgan and a South Carolinian. His business was to look after the
welfare of the prisoners, to distribute clothing, etc., very little of
which was distributed after we got there. He ran the schools and regulated
religious worship in the chapel. We got for a day's ration three-quarters
of a pound of loaf bread and six crackers, one pint of soup with a
spoonful or two of beans and potatoes in it. About one-quarter pound of
fat boiled pork two days, one-half pound fresh beef or mutton one day, and
one-half pound of fish (mackeral or codfish) four days in each week. We
had no fuel and had to eat fish raw. We got plenty of soap, but nothing to
warm water with to wash. We had access to the bay for washing and bathing.
There were several details to work on outside of prison, for which we got
tobacco and some extra rations. When outside about the wharves we could
get a little wood, such as barrel staves, chips and pieces of planks.
There were two or three hundred men taken out every fair day to work, and
I got out a good deal, was on a regular detail for two or three weeks,
which was a great help. The hospital grounds adjoined the prison, and many
were in the hospital. It was reported that the death rate some days was
more than twenty. Only one of our company died there--Benjamin Jenkins.

Lee's surrender was celebrated by firing signal guns for twenty-four
hours. Then Lincoln's death