



Produced by David Widger




                             ANDERSONVILLE
                   A STORY OF REBEL MILITARY PRISONS

                FIFTEEN MONTHS A GUEST OF THE SO-CALLED
                          SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY

                     A PRIVATE SOLDIERS EXPERIENCE
                                   IN
               RICHMOND, ANDERSONVILLE, SAVANNAH, MILLEN
                        BLACKSHEAR AND FLORENCE


                            BY JOHN McELROY
                      Late of Co. L. 16th Ill Cav.
                                  1879




TO THE HONORABLE

                             NOAH H. SWAYNE.

           JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES,
        A JURIST OF DISTINGUISHED TALENTS AND EXALTED CHARACTER;
                        ONE OF THE LAST OF THAT
       ADMIRABLE ARRAY OF PURE PATRIOTS AND SAGACIOUS COUNSELORS,
                                WHO, IN
                    THE YEARS OF THE NATION'S TRIAL,
               FAITHFULLY SURROUNDED THE GREAT PRESIDENT,
                     AND, WITH HIM, BORE THE BURDEN
                                   OF
                         THOSE MOMENTOUS DAYS;
         AND WHOSE WISDOM AND FAIRNESS HAVE DONE SO MUCH SINCE
                                   TO
                      CONSERVE WHAT WAS THEN WON,
         THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED WITH RESPECT AND APPRECIATION,

                              BY THE AUTHOR.



INTRODUCTION.

The fifth part of a century almost has sped with the flight of time since
the outbreak of the Slaveholder's Rebellion against the United States.
The young men of to-day were then babes in their cradles, or, if more
than that, too young to be appalled by the terror of the times.  Those
now graduating from our schools of learning to be teachers of youth and
leaders of public thought, if they are ever prepared to teach the history
of the war for the Union so as to render adequate honor to its martyrs
and heroes, and at the same time impress the obvious moral to be drawn
from it, must derive their knowledge from authors who can each one say of
the thrilling story he is spared to tell: "All of which I saw, and part
of which I was."

The writer is honored with the privilege of introducing to the reader a
volume written by an author who was an actor and a sufferer in the scenes
he has so vividly and faithfully described, and sent forth to the public
by a publisher whose literary contributions in support of the loyal cause
entitle him to the highest appreciation.  Both author and publisher have
had an honorable and efficient part in the great struggle, and are
therefore worthy to hand down to the future a record of the perils
encountered and the sufferings endured by patriotic soldiers in the
prisons of the enemy.  The publisher, at the beginning of the war,
entered, with zeal and ardor upon the work of raising a company of men,
intending to lead them to the field.  Prevented from carrying out this
design, his energies were directed to a more effective service.  His
famous "Nasby Letters" exposed the absurd and sophistical argumentations
of rebels and their sympathisers, in such broad, attractive and admirable
burlesque, as to direct against them the "loud, long laughter of a
world!"  The unique and telling satire of these papers became a power and
inspiration to our armies in the field and to their anxious friends at
home, more than equal to the might of whole battalions poured in upon the
enemy.  An athlete in logic may lay an error writhing at his feet, and
after all it may recover to do great mischief.  But the sharp wit of the
humorist drives it before the world's derision into shame and everlasting
contempt.  These letters were read and shouted over gleefully at every
camp-fire in the Union Army, and eagerly devoured by crowds of listeners
when mails were opened at country post-offices.  Other humorists were
content when they simply amused the reader, but "Nasby's" jests were
arguments--they had a meaningthey were suggested by the necessities and
emergencies of the Nation's peril, and written to support, with all
earnestness, a most sacred cause.

The author, when very young, engaged in journalistic work, until the drum
of the recruiting officer called him to join the ranks of his country's
defenders.  As the reader is told, he was made a prisoner.  He took with
him into the terrible prison enclosure not only a brave, vigorous,
youthful spirit, but invaluable habits of mind and thought for storing up
the incidents and experiences of his prison life.  As a journalist he had
acquired the habit of noticing and memorizing every striking or thrilling
incident, and the experiences of his prison life were adapted to enstamp
themselves indelibly on both feeling and memory.  He speaks from personal
experience and from the stand-paint of tender and complete sympathy with
those of his comrades who suffered more than he did himself.  Of his
qualifications, the writer of these introductory words need not speak.
The sketches themselves testify to his ability with such force that no
commendation is required.

This work is needed.  A generation is arising who do not know what the
preservation of our free government cost in blood and suffering.  Even
the men of the passing generation begin to be forgetful, if we may judge
from the recklessness or carelessness of their political action.  The
soldier is not always remembered nor honored as he should be.  But, what
to the future of the great Republic is more important, there is great
danger of our people under-estimating the bitter animus and terrible
malignity to the Union and its defenders cherished by those who made war
upon it.  This is a point we can not afford to be mistaken about.  And
yet, right at this point this volume will meet its severest criticism,
and at this point its testimony is most vital and necessary.

Many will be slow to believe all that is here told most truthfully of the
tyranny and cruelty of the captors of our brave boys in blue.  There are
no parallels to the cruelties and malignities here described in