PRISON LIFE.

DURING those terrible four years of civil war there was much of suffering and privation on the march -- disease and death were frequent visitors in the camp and the hospital -- there was danger on the battle field. But all these evils were fearfully intensified in the experience of those of our comrades who were so unfortunate as to fall into rebel hands as prisoners of war. We will now turn aside for a short time in order to follow the fortunes of our Seventy-Seventh boys who were captured at Mansfield, and who spent more than thirteen long weary months in a rebel stockade at Camp Ford, Tyler, Texas. Before doing so, however, we will give the list of prisoners, as officially reported by Colonel Grier.

FIELD AND STAFF.

Charles Winnie, Major and Surgeon.
John S. McCulloch, Captain and Chaplain.

COMPANY "A."

Captain. -- Gardner G. Stearns.
Sergeants. -- William H. Wilcox, John X. Griffith, Henry Wilson.
Corporal. -- Henry A. Barber.
Privates. -- A. J. Abraham, Henry G. Arms, James S. Coe, Daniel B. Cutler, Isaac Conner, Henry Crow, Benjamin F. Downard, Thomas Edson, Edward F. Green, Conrad J. Haller, Charles C. Hope, W. H. Kroessen, Thomas Lynch, James M. McGraw, James Mather, T. W. Neander, William Ott, Theodore Perkins, Joseph Rambo (wounded), John S. Rambo, Julius Rambo, John P. Randall, Luther G. Russell, Alfred Russell, William Smith, James H. Tarlton, William S. Tree, Mason M. White, George Woodmansee, Benjamin T. Wills.
 

COMPANY "B."

Captain. -- Joe H. Stevison.
Sergeant. -- Lyman S. Calkins.
Corporal. -- Augustus Schermeman.
Privates. -- John Alexander, Hiram Kroft, John A. Roberts (wounded), David Simpson, George N. Woodring (wounded), Allen Woodring, William A. West.
 

COMPANY "C."

Captain. -- Joseph M. McCulloch.
Second Lieutenant. -- Charles F. McCulloch.
Sergeant. -- Alfred G. Thom.
Privates. -- Philo W. Gallup, C. L. Gennoway, John Kennedy, T. H. McCulloch, Joseph T. Sims.
 

COMPANY "D."

Corporals. -- James Scoon, Samuel Hadlock, Joseph Wills.
Privates. -- George W. Brewer, George W. De Long, Thomas Davis, Frederick W. Hake, Benjamin J. Jackson, Apollos Laughlin, William Wilson.
 

COMPANY "E."

Second Lieutenant. -- Henry L. Bushnell.
Sergeant. -- Henry E. Slough.
Corporals. -- Leonard T. White, Robert W. Summers.
Privates. -- John Buttrick, John Cook, Joseph Fulton, Thomas Forbes, Frederick Gutting, John S. Hammerbacher, Joseph T. Mills, Jacob Mankle, Cheney W. Thurston.
 

COMPANY "F."

Sergeants. -- Lewis Hamrick, George Lawrence, Ephraim S. Stoddard.
Corporals. -- William Fowler, Francis Hatton, William Ald.
Privates. -- Charles Ald, John Arrowsmith, Joseph Buckman, Jesse Crossen, John D. Hamrick, Solomon Johnson, David B. Macey, James Miner, Allen T. Mitchell, George W. Norman, David Nighswonger, Harmon Seifert, Alfred Snell, Alonzo D. Stoddard, Marshall Smiley (wounded), Thomas Thurman, John Trump, William H. West, Richard R. Wilkinson.
 

COMPANY "G."

First Lieutenant. -- Henry J. Wyman.
Corporal. -- Gaylord Robinson.
Privates. -- Daniel Beck, William Collister, Stephen J. Cook, John S. Hirst, Elias Martin (wounded), Daniel W. Shinmell, Jesse J. Purcell (wounded).
 

COMPANY  "H."

Sergeants. -- Valentine P. Peabody, Hiram Livingston.
Corporal. -- Henry Smith.
Privates. -- Leo Julg, Alfred B. Poage, Norman D. Richards, John M. Spandeau, John M. Smith, William Swendeman.
 

COMPANY "I."

Sergeant. -- Rufus Atherton.
Corporals. -- George M. Dixon, Eli H. Plowman.
Privates. -- Isaac Brown, Asa A. Cook, Richard Cowley, Alexander A. Thurman.
 

COMPANY "K."

First Lieutenant. -- Sylvester S. Edwards.
Second Lieutenant. -- Marcus O. Harkness.
Sergeants. -- Servetus Holt, Andrew J. Vleit (wounded).
Corporals. -- Ephraim R. Shepard (wounded), Lawrence Ibeck, William Race, James M. Moody.
Privates. -- John Greenhalgh, John Haynes, John Ibeck, Madison Largent, Jacob Lafollett, Edward R. White, Joseph Yerbey.

        These men -- one hundred and forty-three in number -- were captured at different times during the progress of the battle. Those who were first taken were marched to the rebel rear, and placed under guard in an open field about a mile from Mansfield, where they remained during the night, while those who were taken later in the day were marched into the town and placed in the court-house and the yard surrounding it. While here, they had an opportunity of learning something about the rebel losses in that sanguinary battle. During the whole night, wagon loads of dead and wounded arrived in town, and great lamentation was heard among the friends of the fallen. A regiment of Louisiana troops, numbering twelve hundred men, and many of them citizens of the town and vicinity, was almost annihilated. It was evidently a dearly bought victory.
        On the morning after the battle, the prisoners were ordered to fall in, and were started off in the direction of Shreveport. In all, they numbered about eleven hundred men. After marching sixteen miles, they were halted and went into camp for the night, and for the first time since their capture, they had rations issued to them. These consisted of corn meal and salt beef, with no vessels of any kind to cook them in. The rations were bad enough, but the cooking arrangements were worse.
        After the second night, an arrangement was made by which a better state of things prevailed. The guards left a detail of their own number in camp every morning to do the cooking for themselves, and then, overtaking the guards and prisoners before camping time in the evening, would give their cooking utensils to the prisoners, who would cook by turns during the whole night, and thus they managed to prepare their scanty rations.
        A day or two after leaving Mansfield, a courier arrived with orders to change the line of march in the direction of Marshall, Texas, and they arrived at that place on the 13th. There was great curiosity among the people to see the captured "Yankees," and the whole population of the city and surrounding country, seemed to be present to see the circus. As our boys marched through the streets of the city, they treated the citizens to the music of that stirring battle-song:

"The Union forever, hurrah, boys, hurrah,
Down with the traitors, up with the stars,
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom."

        Some of the ladies protested loudly against what they considered a profanation of the atmosphere surrounding their sacred persons, and called upon the officer of the guard to stop the music. But that worthy paid no attention to their demands, and the show continued, much to the satisfaction of the guard and the prisoners, and the vexation and annoyance of the spectators.
        While on this march the boys saw many of the planters of Louisiana with groups of slaves, hurrying to the interior of Texas, in order to be at a safe distance from the Union army. As the Seventy-Seventh had no love for slavery or slaveholders, they would generally salute these taskmasters as they passed on the road with this appropriate chorus:

"De massa run, ha! ha!
De darkey stay, ho! ho!
It must be now de kingdom's comin',
And de year ob jubilo."

        No matter in what situation the boys might be placed, they were always equal to the emergency.
        At length, after a laborious march of seven days, the prisoners reached Camp Ford, near Tyler, Smith County, Texas. This was a stockade, that is, an enclosure formed by heavy timbers split in halves and set firmly in the ground on end. Originally, it contained only three acres, but had recently been enlarged to six or seven, in order to accommodate fresh arrivals. At this time it contained about six hundred prisoners. The new-comers were detained the first night and a part of the succeeding day, outside the stockade. Here they were turned over to the guard on duty at this place, and their escort returned to the front.
        When the prisoners arrived in sight of the stockade, they were anxious to get a view of their new residence, and were not very favorably impressed by the surroundings. Inside the pen there were a few log cabins and "dugouts," crowded closely together in one corner, while the balance of the enclosed space was but recently cleared of timber, full of stumps and brush heaps, This was to be the home of these brave men until some indefinite time in the future.
        The prisoners already in the stockade were anxious to see the army of General Banks, which the rebels had reported to them as having been captured. Dressed in all kinds of clothing, a motley crew, they mounted the roofs of the cabins and occupied the highest points of ground in order to get a good view. Perhaps they had formerly met with a similar reception. As soon as they had marched into the prison-pen, the prisoners were formed into parallel lines, to listen to an address by Colonel Allen, the commandant of the prison. That dignitary gave them a formal introduction to their new quarters. He stated that each Regiment would be allowed the length of ground it occupied, and fifteen or twenty feet in width, and in conclusion, he extended a cordial invitation to them to feel perfectly at home, and make themselves as comfortable as possible. Whether this invitation was given in sincerity or intended as a joke, was never ascertained. But in either case, the boys could see very little prospect of comfort with no shelter, with no bed but the bare ground, and no covering but the starry heavens.
        For some time after their arrival, a few guards were detailed each day to take out small parties to the timber to carry in poles and brush to make a shelter from the sun by day and the dew by night. But this was slow and tedious work, and only the most determined succeeded in the enterprise, and for many months most of the men were without shelter of any kind, and during the cool nights they were compelled to keep in motion, or huddle closely together around their scanty fire to keep warm.
        The officers were allowed special privileges to go out in parties under guard, and they were not long in securing timber enough to build log cabins. It was a refreshing sight to see a line of shoulder straps -- the emblems of authority -- marching into the stockade with timbers on their shoulders, and surrounded by a guard of butternuts. And then they would gather around their mush-pots, and with pine paddles, stir the mush for their evening meal.
        Fresh arrivals of prisoners came in frequently during the summer. On the 9th of July, six hundred of those who had been longest in prison, were sent forward for exchange, and again on the first of October, about the same number. Major Mann, of the 19th Kentucky, was one of these. He had been in command of the prisoners and of the internal arrangements of the camp up to this time. After his departure, Captain J. M. McCulloch, of the 77th, was appointed to succeed him. As chief executive of the inside of the stockade, he had limited power to regulate the domestic institutions of the camp, and to be a medium of communication between the prisoners and the Commandant. For this purpose he was allowed, on parole of honor, to go outside the stockade to the headquarters of the commander, and to range at will within a circle of half a mile.
        Captain McCulloch went to work with characteristic energy and foresight. He made suggestions to the commanding officer in regard to the defective sanitary condition of the camp. Having obtained permission, he procured some implements, and under his direction the men cleaned up the prison, made a ball-alley, and more system was introduced into the internal arrangements of the camp. As the winter was then approaching, he appealed to the commander for better shelter for the men, stating that to pass the winter in that condition would insure the death of one-half of the prisoners.
        The commanding officer wrote to Kirby Smith, the Department Commander, setting forth the facts in the case, and asking for facilities for building additional quarters. Receiving no reply, he wrote again, but still no answer came. It seemed to be the deliberate purpose of the rebel authorities to murder the prisoners in their hands by the slow but sure process of starvation and exposure, and this is one of the dark spots on the bloody history of the "Lost Cause."
        Captain McCulloch then suggested that the men would do the work themselves if the commander would furnish guards for a sufficient number of working parties. This be consented to do, and allowed four parties of eight or ten men each to go out in the forenoon and afternoon, and these men cut and carried timbers on their shoulders more than half a mile to build their cabins. This laborious work continued for about two months, when all the men had tolerably good winter quarters, and the appearance of the inside of the stockade was very much improved.
        The mail facilities at Camp Ford were not first-class. The prisoners were not often permitted to communicate by letter with the outside world. Only when a flag of truce passed between the lines could letters be sent or received. It was six months after their capture before they received any tidings from the loved ones at home. The letters were all examined by the officials to see that they contained nothing objectionable.  During the last six months of their imprisonment, however, the mail arrived and departed more frequently, on an average about once a month. The arrival of the mail was a notable event at the stockade. A man from an eminence would call out the names, and the letters would be passed over the heads of the crowd until they reached the parties to whom they were addressed. As Camp Ford was not a healthy place for the paymaster, that gentleman failed to make his half-yearly visits as formerly.
        The rations consisted for the most part of cornmeal, beef and salt. The ration for one man was a pint of corn-meal and from half a pound to a pound of beef, with nearly enough salt to season it. This was rather slim living, but slim as it was, they were sometimes put on "short rations." Is it any wonder that men starved to death in the prison-pens of the South? When the supply of corn-meal failed, shelled corn was substituted. The rations were issued in bulk. The beef was brought into the camp in quarters and thrown on the ground until Yankee ingenuity invented a platform made of puncheons. An officer was detailed from the prisoners to superintend the distribution of the rations. This difficult position was filled by Captain Joe H. Stevison, of Company "B," for the last six months of their imprisonment. But the rations were wholly insufficient, and day after day the pinchings of hunger were keenly felt.
        Human nature presented many different phases among the prisoners. Those who had a fancy for such things would indulge in gambling and cheating and stealing and fighting. These were almost daily occurrences. Others, who had a taste for business, would endeavor to turn an honest penny in the way of trade. Some would manufacture fancy combs and trinkets from the horns of the cattle which were slaughtered. One firm of four persons made and sold nearly six hundred dollars' worth of these articles. The barber, the tailor and the shoemaker plied their avocations. The baker sold his biscuits at twenty-five cents each and his sweet potato pies for a dollar apiece! War prices! The banker did a loan and exchange business. The editor published the "Camp Ford News" occasionally, which afforded a good deal of amusement. Then there was a band of minstrels with violins and banjos of their own construction, and music and dancing was the order of the night.
        The men were not without religious instruction. The social prayer meeting was held almost every evening when the weather was favorable. Captured Chaplains would preach on the Sabbath, and these meetings were well attended. But as these officers were considered non-combatants, they were sent forward to our lines at the first opportunity. There was one exception to this rule, the Rev. H. B. Lamb. He was Chaplain of a colored regiment, and for that reason was held a prisoner and treated with great indignity.
        Through the influence of Captain McCulloch, the Chaplain of the guard was permitted to preach to the prisoners on two different occasions. He was reverently listened to by an audience of a thousand men. He was much surprised at this, believing that the prisoners were no better than a horde of barbarians. But the Captain remarked to him that the men were at least partially civilized.
        With but few exceptions, the farmers in the vicinity were very bitter against the prisoners. And yet, if they could make money out of them, well and good. They would overcome their conscientious scruples for the time being. One of these fellows came to the gate on one occasion with a load of "truck" and demanded permission to go inside and sell to the prisoners. After some discussion with the officers, he was allowed to enter. He was offered a guard for protection, but this he declined, as he "was not afraid of the Yankees." He took his position on Main street and was soon surrounded by a large crowd. But his prices did not suit his customers, and but few sales were made. He asked forty dollars for a brace of chickens, from ten to twenty dollars for a melon, and other things in proportion. Confederate money was worth twenty cents on the dollar as compared with greenbacks. The boys had not money enough to spare to pay these prices. It was not long, however, until they became quite familiar with the products of his farm. This conduct he resented by flourishing a large hickory cane.
        While this was transpiring, some of the boys took the harness off the horses, while others took the hind wheels off the axle, and the farmer tumbled into a crowd of hungry, demoralized and unscrupulous prisoners. He showed fight, but it was no use. He was soon relieved of his merchandise, revolver, pocket-book and all his loose valuables. He finally emerged from the crowd with his coat tail partly torn off, and the rest of his garments in a sadly demoralized condition.
        A great many plans were devised, and some of them successfully carried out, for making their escape from the stockade. The hospital was outside and when the sick were taken out they had to procure passes from the commander. A great many passed out on forged passes, and thus gained their freedom. Sometimes bribery was resorted to, and the guard, for a consideration, would allow them to pass out. Digging out was another method employed, but this plan met with indifferent success. A far more successful plan than any of these was adopted. There was a dump-cart drawn by an old horse in charge of a young soldier.  This was employed in carting out the dirt and rubbish from the camp. The driver of this rig was easily prevailed upon to remain in the vicinity of the gate and trade jack-knives, or anything else, with the "Yanks," while some of the prisoners would take the cart inside and load it. One or two of the boys would then climb in and lie down in the bottom of the cart, and the others would cover them over with rubbish. Thus loaded, the cart was returned to the driver, who, pretending to be ignorant of the whole transaction, went out and dumped the load over the brow of a hill not far distant. The boys would then conceal themselves until dark, when they would spread their sails for more congenial climes.
        But it was one thing to get outside the stockade, and quite another to reach the Union lines, three hundred miles distant. Very few succeeded in the undertaking. Every white man in that country, between the ages of eighteen and sixty, was a soldier. And besides this, bloodhounds were put on the trail of the fugitives. They were soon captured and brought back, and then severe punishments were inflicted. Some were tied up by the thumbs, standing on a barrel, bare-headed, in the hot, broiling sun, for eight hours a day. Others were compelled to stand on a stump, cut with a right and left slope, for two hours at a time, while a guard stood near by with instructions to shoot the prisoner if he moved a foot. And the guard was only too willing to comply with these orders, as he would be rewarded by a furlough for so doing.
        Sometimes the recaptured prisoners were treated to a roping-in process. One party in crossing the Sabine River, had ropes tied around their necks, while the other end was tied to the saddle of their escort. In this way they were compelled to cross the river as best they could, behind the swimming horses. This roping was a favorite resort of one Captain Montgomery, who deserves an immortality of infamy. He commanded an escort between Shreveport and the stockade. When his prisoners would show signs of giving out on the march, he would rope them to the saddles of their escort, and in this way they were dragged along, until nature was completely exhausted, and the prisoners fell by the way. From such treatment as this large numbers were consigned to a premature grave.
        During the winter a Regiment of Texas Cavalry had been on guard at Camp Ford, but on the 14th of March, they were relieved by a detachment of the Reserve Corps, who, either by way of derision or of compliment, were termed "lop-ears." They were commanded by Lieut. Col. Jamison, and while they were on duty the prisoners received better treatment than at any other time during their imprisonment.
        Scurvy had been making fearful ravages among the men, and it became worse as the spring advanced. The hospital was full to overflowing, and had to be enlarged. There were no sanitary supplies, and very little medicine. Under this state of things, Col. Jamison allowed large parties to go out each day, on parole of honor, to gather greens and secure vegetables. Permission was also given to a party from the 77th, one from the 130th Illinois, and one from the 120th Ohio, to fence and cultivate a garden in a field near the stockade. These parties carried rails and fenced about six acres of ground. The Commandant furnished the seed. But they had no team to plow the ground. As a substitute, about a dozen Yankees were hitched to the plow, and thus prepared the ground, independent of horses or mules. Gardening was good exercise and beneficial to the men. And besides that, they had the pleasure of eating "garden sass" of their own raising before they left the camp, and their health was very much improved.
        After waiting and watching anxiously for weeks in hopes of exchange, the men became restless, and thought it would be a good idea to exchange themselves. The guards on duty at that time were not very zealous in the performance of their duties, and it was no trouble to make arrangements with them for the necessary "passes." And within a week one hundred or more had left very abruptly between two days. This gave great annoyance to the Commandant, as he knew that his own guards were active agents in the new system of exchange. After consultation with Col. Bradfute, the Post Commandant, the following order was issued and posted in a conspicuous place in the stockade:

OFFICE POST COMMANDANT,
TYLER TEXAS, April 30, 1865.

Special Order, No. --
        I. Hereafter no Federal prisoners at Camp Ford, neither officer nor soldier, will be paroled or allowed to leave the stockade for any purpose whatever, except by authority from this office. Wood parties will be sent out under strong guard.
        II. In the future, the Federal prisoners at Camp Ford, will be required to go into their houses or shanties, at sunset of each day, and remain within them until daylight the next morning.
        III. No lights will be allowed in the houses or shanties of the prisoners at Camp Ford, after eight o'clock of each night, and the patrol will fire at any prisoner violating the foregoing orders. (Signed.)                 W. P. BRADFUTE,
Colonel Commanding Post.

COL. J. C. JAMISON, Com'd'g Camp Ford.
            [Official.]
            JOHN C. MORRIS, Lieut. and Adj't General.

        Shortly after this order was issued, one of the prisoners was shot for an alleged violation of it. The circumstances surrounding the case may be gathered from the following letter:

CAMP FORD PRISON,
May 6, 1865.

COL. JAMISON.
        Sir: __ I deem it my duty to inform you of the circumstances of the tragedy perpetrated in the stockade last night, by the patrol guard, as related by the victim and his mess-mates. Two guards passed by the door of his shanty, from whom he asked permission to step outside to urinate. Their answer he understood to be permission to do so, and stepped out a few steps from the door, when a third came along and ordered him inside. This order he complied with, and while in the act of stepping over the door-sill, was shot in the back. Now, that a man be killed under such circumstances, is, in my opinion, downright murder. Fortunately, the man was not killed, but this does not detract anything from the act. Being prisoners, we must of course, endure such things if they are inflicted, but being in the position I am, I must clear my skirts by entering my solemn protest against such violence.

Respectfully,

J. M. MCCULLOCH,
Capt. 77th Ill. Vol. Inf. U. S. A.

        But the end was now drawing near. About this time rumors reached the prisoners of the assassination of President Lincoln -- of the surrender of Lee's army and the general collapse of the "Confederacy." The assurance was given that within a week they would all be liberated. Then ensued several days of intense anxiety and suspense. The papers containing the news of these important events were kept from them, so that they could obtain no reliable information from the outside, and the most extravagant rumors were afloat. In the mean time, about fifty of the prisoners who had recently escaped were captured and returned to the stockade, having been tracked and "treed" by the bloodhounds.
        On the 13th of May, Captain Birchett, the paroling officer, came to the camp with a large mail and late Northern papers, confirming all the wild rumors they had heard.  He informed them that they were to proceed at once to the mouth of Red River. Then a scene of joyous excitement was witnessed at Camp Ford. The war was at an end, their sufferings and privations were about to terminate. On the night of the 14th most of the men in the Reserve Corps discharged themselves and started for home, and the next day the rest of them left, leaving only a few men of the 15th Texas Cavalry to guard the prisoners. In fact they were not guarded at all. Liquor was sold freely to the men and they went where they pleased. It was feared by the officers that acts of violence would be committed, but to the credit of the men it must be said, nothing of the kind occurred.
        In this unsettled state of affairs, it looked as if the prisoners would have to find their way out of "Dixie's Land" as best they could. But at length a train of nine wagons put in an appearance, and the remnant of the 15th Texas was ordered to escort them to Marshall, and there report to General Churchill. On the 17th of May they started. Seven of the wagons were used for carrying the sick; the other two were sent to Tyler for rations, to be issued on the way.
        Although out of prison and in a measure free men, their troubles were not ended. They trudged along wearily for two or three days but the promised rations did not come. The men threatened to break ranks and make the best of their way to Shreveport on their own account; but this would have been dangerous in the unsettled state of the country at that time. The officers prevailed upon the men to remain together awhile longer, and that night Lieut. Naylor, who was in command of the Texans, sent a courier to Marshall to inform the authorities there of the situation. The next morning they started at three o'clock, and marched twenty-five miles in a very orderly manner. In the evening they camped by a pleasant stream within six miles of Marshall. At this point the courier, true to his trust, returned with the much-needed rations. Here they killed the last of the beeves, and the men had a very good supper, considering the situation.
        The next morning they reached Marshall, and the Texans were relieved by a detachment of an Arkansas regiment of infantry in command of Major Stuart. This officer did all he could for the comfort of the men. He procured rations for them and sent the sick by railroad to Greenwood, within fourteen miles of Shreveport. He held the wagon-train to carry the sick from the terminus of the railroad. On the second night out from Marshall, however, the wagon-train left them, fearing confiscation by the rebel soldiers, who were appropriating such property to their own use. Under these circumstances the sick were left behind for the time being. Soon after reaching Shreveport wagons were sent back for the sick, and they were brought forward in time to embark on the boat with the rest of the men.
        It was a difficult matter to find boats for transportation, unless they could be assured of their pay. This assurance was given in the shape of cotton belonging to the defunct Confederacy. About 950 men, including those belonging to the 77th, took passage on the "General Quitman," a very large steamer, too large, in fact, for the crooks and turns of Red River. They broke their wheels and met with other mishaps on the way, until finally, on the 27th they caught sight of the Union gunboats at the mouth of the river. They greeted the Father of Waters with as much enthusiasm as De Soto had done centuries before.
        The greatest number of prisoners at Camp Ford at one time was about 4,700. This number was reduced by exchanges from time to time, until only 1,700 remained, and these constituted the  "rear guard" of Federal prisoners held by the Confederate authorities.
        Before leaving their prison-pen, a volunteer detail of twenty men in charge of Lieutenants H. J. Wyman and C. F. McCulloch, built a substantial post and rail fence around the graveyard containing the remains of their comrades. There was about an acre of ground in the enclosure and it contained two hundred and eighty-two graves.
        From the mouth of Red River the prisoners proceeded to New Orleans, where they were quartered in cotton presses, awaiting orders from the authorities. Clothing was issued to them, but they received no pay. There was not much sympathy in this, for the men who had fought so gallantly at Mansfield and suffered so much at Camp Ford.
        On the 5th of June an order came from General Canby for the officers and men of certain Regiments -- paroled prisoners -- to proceed to Benton Barracks, at St. Louis, Mo., in charge of the senior officer of the detachments. There were eight hundred and twenty-two men and twenty-two officers, and they belonged to the following Regiments: 77th and 130th Illinois,
120th Ohio, 162d, 165th and 173d New York, 23d Wisconsin, 18th, 28th, 32d, 33d, and 36th Iowa. They arrived at St. Louis on the 12th of June, where they received pay as commutation for rations while prisoners. The members of the 77th were ordered to Springfield, and on the 17th of June were mustered out of the service, and received pay in full from the date of the last payment up to the time of their discharge.
        Thus after an imprisonment of thirteen months and nineteen days they were again free men, living under the protecting folds of the starry flag. From Springfield they went to their homes, where they arrived on the 8th of July, about two weeks in advance of the balance of the Regiment.