and unflinchingly, he had,
now, ransomed from the enemy, men who would have consented to undergo
any ordeal for that boon. The citizens of Charleston hastened to offer
us the traditional hospitality of their city. General Jones had informed
them of the names of our party, and they had settled among themselves
where each man was to be taken care of. If that party of "ransomed
sinners" shall ever become "praying members" the Charlestonians will
have a large share in their petitions.

But the recollection of our gallant comrades left behind would intrude
itself and make us sad, ever in the midst of our good fortune. Some of
them were not released until the summer after the close of the war.

No men deserve more praise for constancy than the Confederate prisoners,
_especially_ the private soldiers, who in the trials to which they were
subjected steadfastly resisted every inducement to violate the faith
they had pledged to the cause.

A statistical item may not come amiss, in concluding this chapter. There
were, in all during the war, 261,000 Northern prisoners in Southern
prisons, and 200,000 Confederate prisoners in Northern prisons; 22,576
Northern prisoners died, and 22,535 Confederate prisoners died; or two
Federals died out of every twenty-three, and two Confederates died out
of every fifteen.

CHAPTER XVI.

The men who made their escape from Ohio, after the disastrous fight at
Buffington, marched for many a weary mile through the mountains of
Virginia. At last, worn down and half famished, they gained the
Confederate lines, and first found rest at the beautiful village of
Wytheville, in Southwestern Virginia.

Thence they passed leisurely down the fair valley, not then scarred by
the cruel ravages of war, to the vicinity of Knoxville. Colonel Adam R.
Johnson then endeavored to collect and organize them all. "On the--of
August, 1863," says an officer who was a valuable assistant in this
work, "Colonel Johnson issued orders, under instructions from General
Buckner, Department Commander, for all men belonging to Morgan's command
to report to him (Colonel J.) at Morristown, in East Tennessee. These
orders were published in the Knoxville papers, and upon it becoming
known that there was a place of rendezvous, every man who had been left
behind when General Morgan started on the Ohio raid now pushed forward
eagerly to the point designated. When that expedition was undertaken,
many had been sent back from Alba