Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 03.djvu/135

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Diary of Captain Robert E. Park.
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repair the natural waste of the system. Nearly one out of every six died from this inhuman treatment, and on their arrival at Fort Delaware, for the second time, over one hundred out of five hundred were sent to the hospital. The feet and legs of many were so drawn by the fearful disease as to compel them to walk on their toes, their heels being unable to touch the ground, and they used either sticks in each hand, or a rude crutch, sometimes two of them, to aid them in hobbling along. Several, unable to walk at all, were carried on stretchers to the hospital. Our hard fare and rough treatment at Fort Delaware has been princely compared with that inflicted upon these scurvy-afflicted Fort Pulaski sufferers. Captain Thomas W. Harris, a Methodist minister, of the Twelfth Georgia infantry; Lieutenant W. H. Chew, of Seventh Georgia cavalry—both old collegemates of mine; Captain A. C. Gibson, of the Fourth Georgia; Captain J. W. Fannin, of the Sixty-first Alabama, formerly a private in my company, and Captain L. S. Chitwood, of Fifth Alabama, among the new arrivals, are all old acquaintances and friends of mine. Fifty-nine officers and several hundred men, belonging to Wharton's command in the Valley of Virginia, captured by Sheridan, were brought to the fort, and several officers from Fort La Fayette, including General R. L. Page, arrived soon after. The latter were captured at Fort Morgan, near Mobile.

March 16th—Miss Eliza Jamison, my fair unknown friend of Baltimore, sent me five dollars, promised to correspond with me herself, and enclosed a bright, sparkling letter, full of wit and humor, from a young lady friend of hers, signed "Mamie," offering to "write to me once in awhile to cheer me in my prison life." Miss Eliza Jamison thus describes "Mamie": "She is full of mischief and fun, but very discreet and particular. She is small, has very dark hair, beautiful black and very expressive eyes, small and pretty. Her nose is large and her worst feature. She is smart and entertaining, and I think one of the nicest little bodies in the world; I am sure you will think the same." "Mamie" writes fluently and elegantly, and tells me she recently lost her youngest brother, twenty years old, in the Southern army. She will not allow Miss Jamison to give me her address, which is really tantalizing. Mr. J. W. Fellows, of Manchester, New Hampshire, writes he has sent me twenty-five dollars, but it has never been received. Such a handsome remittance would be a God-send to me now. I suppose the letter examiner pocketed it.