From Part 4: "The process was to loop the cord over the two thumbs, and then with the use of the pulley to draw up the victim until his toes barely touched the earth. In this agonizing strain he would be suspended for hours. This was a daily occurrence, and I have seen six or eight prisoners suspended at a time…. There were numerous instances of dislocated shoulders and joints, thumbs would be cut to the bone by the tight cords, and in some cases would have to be amputated."

Confederate Col. Moffett at Camp Chase, Ohio

Col. George H. Moffett continues his description of life as a Confederate prisoner in the Union prison camps, Camp Chase, Ohio, and Fort Delaware:

"There were other modes of punishment, but the variety was so great and the victims so numerous that if I undertook to tell all it would fill volumes. Yet there was one instance in which the ludicrous was so closely allied to the pathetic that I cannot refrain from making mention of it. Occasionally a bunch of prisoners would be taken out to do menial service on the island or around the fort. While this in a way was humiliating, yet there was always some glad enough to avail of this opportunity for an 'outing' and to breathe an atmosphere beyond prison walls.

"One day a batch of prisoners was taken out to assist in unloading a steamer lying at the wharf and to carry the cargo of commissary supplies into the fort. In this batch was a bright-faced, curly-haired boy of eighteen years of age, whose home, as I remember, was down about Lynchburg, Va., and who had been captured at Spotsylvania. When he got to the wharf, he was loaded up with an armload of bacon hams to carry into the fort. As he traversed the steep ascent leading to the fortress, pressed by the urgency of hunger, he dug out with his thumb and fingers little scraps of bacon, which he ate.

"He was detected by a guard, who reported him to the officer in charge, and the sentence for this petty offense on the part of the starving lad was that he should be given one of the raw hams and be compelled to eat it all. Hence, there can be no mistake in my recollection. The prisoner was made to pace a sentinel's beat, under charge of successive sentinels, until he had eaten the whole of it. There was to be no rest, no stop, no relaxation until all the ham had been devoured. The boy performed his task bravely, for under the surveillance of an armed guard he trampled along that beat the remainder of the day, through the night, and into the next day, gnawing away at the raw ham until nothing was left but the bone. It is unnecessary to add that the cruelty of this method of punishment was as fantastic as it was fatal.

"We endeavored to buoy up our spirits with the hope of a speedy exchange, for we had not yet learned of the 'non-exchange' policy adopted by the Federal Government as a means of depleting the Southern armies. If a Northern soldier was captured, they could readily fill his place by the enlistment of a foreign recruit. If a Southern soldier was taken prisoner and held, he would be as good as dead, for there was no one to take his place in the field. It may have been an effective policy; nevertheless it was barbarous.

"Instead of an exchange, there came a transfer from bad to worse. Early in March there were rumors that John Morgan was out on another raid, and was expected to make a dash to release the prisoners at Camp Chase. A part of the prisoners were shipped to Johnson's Island, while the remainder of us, about five hundred in number, was shipped to Fort Delaware.

"After our arrival at Fort Delaware it did not take long to realize that we had indeed come from bad to worse. The conditions at Camp Chase were bad enough, but infinitely worse at Fort Delaware. At Camp Chase the commander, Col. Webber, was a soldier with gentlemanly instincts, and, although hampered by instructions from the War Department, I have always believed he did the best for us that he could under his instructions. At Fort Delaware the commanding officer was of a different type. He was a Hessian brute.

"I now come to the most mournful part of my story and the most tragical. Taking all the circumstances into consideration, to my mind it has never had a parallel in fiendish atrocity. I refer to their system of killing prisoners of war by a process of slow starvation.

"Upon entering the prison enclosure at Fort Delaware one of the first sights that greeted my eyes was a posted order, or bulletin, emanating from the War Department at Washington. After this lapse of time I will not undertake to recite the exact words of that remarkable order, but I do undertake to give its exact substance. I read it, then reread it again and again until its contents so blistered themselves upon my memory that the scars are still [there].

"It began by reciting that it was a 'retaliatory measure' in retaliation for hardships imposed upon the Union soldiers confined in Rebel prisons, and then proceeded with instructions to commanders of Federal Prison posts to reduce the diet of rebel prisoners under their charge to one fourth of the regulation allowance for army rations, and to allow no luxuries nor permit surplus comforts. The order was signed 'E.M. Stanton, Secretary of War' and was attested by 'A. Schoepf, Brigadier General Commanding' and by 'G.W. Ahl, Assistant Adjutant General.'"

In the next column, Col. Moffett describes the Federal War Department directive and the brutal treatment inflicted upon Confederate prisoners by the Union commander of Ft. Delaware.

Bill Ward lives in Salisbury and is a historian, writer, and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Contact him at wardwriters@bellsouth.net