oney; they gives me three hundred dollars bounty,
and I bees soldier." Then he remarked, "Our company all voted for
McClellan; Lincoln loves the Nigger too much."

ON THE WHARF DETAIL AND WANTING TO STEAL SOMETHING FROM UNCLE SAM'S
PLENTIFUL STORES.

Several of us were in the big commissary prying around to get into the
bean and potato barrels, when a wagon drove up and a Negro commanded us,
saying, "Four you men go upstairs and bring down some cracker boxes and
load dis wagon." I got in the push and, as soon as we reached the cracker
boxes we give a box a fling from the top of the pack and bursted it, when
we all began eating like hogs. In a minute here came the Negro. "What
you-ens doin' dar? Dems our rations youse eatin'." "A box fell and
bursted, and we are gathering them up as fast as we can." "Well, dat's all
right, but don't you-ens eat no mo'." "Can't we have these scraps." "Yes,
you may; you may have dem scraps." We already had our pockets stuffed.

At another time, working around the commissary, I filled my pockets with
beans and potatoes. These were the only full messes I got while in prison.
The largest detail was known as the Fort detail, building and sodding a
fort on the Potomac side. About three hundred men were worked on it. They
got about three square inches or five cents worth of plug tobacco and a
little drink of whiskey per day. The other details only give one pound of
salt pork and a pint of vinegar for ten days' work. Working ten days for a
pound of pork was rather low wages, but most of us were glad to get such
an opportunity to get out. If we could pick up as much as the staves of a
flour barrel we could sell it for ten or fifteen cents inside of prison,
and a little money went a long way. Mackerel sold at five cents per pound,
and a pound and a half loaf of bread for ten cents. The cheapest tobacco
sold at one dollar per pound, and the men suffered as much for tobacco as
for bread. The most of the users of tobacco would swap a piece of bread
for a chew of tobacco. Tobacco retailed mostly by the chew. Tobacco was
the most common medium of exchange. All of the smaller gambling concerns
used pieces of tobacco cut up in chews, the larger cuts passing for five
or ten chews. Rev. Morgan, the Confederate agent, conducted a school,
which I attended some. Several preachers came in and preached to us, and
the Catholic priests visited us occasionally, besides our local preachers
held open air exercises