PRISON LIFE "Each barrack was capable of accommodating 150 men.  One's peculiar quarters was a bunk usually shared with a comrade, and in winter, for the animal heat, the bunk was occupied by a company of three, but the designs of the Federal government were liberal.  We were well supplied with coal and two stoves were continuously kept glowingly hot at all hours of severe weather, around which would cluster the half clad prisoners.  Each barrack governed itself.  In the fall and winter of 1863 there were about 10,000 prisoners on the island, so that about 100 barracks were occupied.  There was quite a difference in the efficiency of government in each barrack.  In some the laws were numerous and stringent.  In others much freedom and hilarity prevailed, and in others were factions and consequent discontent.  The buildings were frame and the long seams in the wall were uncovered; but some occupants were negligent and others provident, so that in one barrack could be found the crevices all filled with a cement of mud and another quite cheerless.  Some of the bunks were cosy; the walls were decorated with illustrated prints and many little tokens from home would be found, and not unfrequently a Bible under the pillow.  Comfort or discomfort was more a personal matter than something for which the government was responsible.  The kitchen was formed from a portion of the rear of the barrack.  Boiling was the only preparation required for the food furnished, and the only cooking was done in an immense kettle attached to a small stove.  In the better days of life there the bill of fare was generous-coffee, sugar, rice, molasses, boiled meats and bread in the loaf.  After the Andersonville excitement rations were reduced and the state of affairs began to be painful.  A wicked commissary tried a little private retaliation and corn beef got to be abominable.  Considerable talent was required in the management of the kitchen-that important department of state.  To be chief cook and butler was a crown of glory.  The position of bottle washer and scavenger was dignified and no city election ever witnessed more intriguing.  Men who had won their spurs in civil life and noted lawyers now on the bench canvassed in vain for office and sued for the honor of ladling out beef soup.  Classic gentlemen who were familiar with the mode of cooking beef according to the best epicurean description fruitlessly presented their claims.  The cook's was a fat office, with perquisites of bits of liver and scraps of choice bits.  Thus the govenment was democratic but subject to central power on the outside.  The representative of that power was as a rule a dilapidated veteran of the Federal army whose duties were simply to muster his barrack twice a day to hear complaints and see to the wants of its occupants.  Some of those sergeants were sympathetic and acted as mediums of communication with the outer world-carring letters, bringing newspapers and other forbidden articles. Debbie Clough G-erischer G-erischer Family Web Site http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/ Assistant CC, Iowa Gen Web, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ List Manager for: IASCOTT-L * G-erischer-L * D-encker-L Fitzpatirck-L * V-lerebome-L * Huntington-L * Otis-L * Algar-L EIGS-L * Pickens-L * McNab-L * Patris-L - Rankin-L FAMILY="SANSSERIF" F