Diary of Henry H. Ladd
Prisoner at Belle Isle and Salisbury
Friday. August 19, 1864
- I am a prisoner; marched to Petersburg and lodged in gaol.
Saturday August 20, 1864
- Start for Richmond. Escorted to a tobacco warehouse near
Libby Prison.
Sunday, August 21, 1864
- Feel rather rough after sleeping on the hard floor with wet
clothes on. Move into Libby Prison. All are searched for the
third time. Marched to Belle Isle.
Monday, August 22, 1864
- Slept on the ground without a rag under or over me. No tents
on the island. Had one meal to-day, half a cup of bean soup and
corn bead. Rained all the afternoon and night. No tents nor blankets.
Tuesday, August 23, 1864
- A cool morning. Spend my time reading my testament. Had two
meals. Lay on ground.
Wednesday, August 24, 1864
- A hot day. Don't feel well.
Thursday, August 25, 1864
- Up and ready for my corn dodger. Wish I was home to have
a good meal. There are 4,500 prisoners on about two and one-half
acres here. Bought a loaf of bread for $1.50.
Friday, August 26, 1864
- Lay on the wet ground. Paid twelve shillings for a piece
of bread for breakfast. Got no rations till night. Shall attend
prayer-meeting to-night.
Saturday, August 27, 1864
- Rained last night. No breakfast. One of our boys was shot
last night by the guard. Bought two loaves of bread for two dollars.
Sunday, August 28, 1864
- Dreamed of home last night. How I wish that it was so. I
would attend church in old Dearborn. Had a cup of bean soup and
one-quarter pound corn dodger to-day.
Monday, August 29, 1864
- Rained last night. Cool this morning. Have all been counted.
Two thousand more prisoners arrived to-day.
Tuesday, August 30, 1864
- Had a cup of coffee made from grounds. Buy three small biscuits
for a dollar. Wish I could hear from home.
Wednesday, August 31, 1864
- Cold last night. Bought three loaves of bread for two dollars.
Thursday, September 1, 1864
- Our Government refuses to parole us. The men think it hard.
Saturday September 3, 1864
- Did not sleep half an hour all night.
Sunday, September 4, 1864
- Rained last night. All were counted today. No grub. Paid
fifty cents for some bread. Have spent my last shilling. Sold
my wallet for three loaves of bread. Had prayer meeting tonight.
Monday, September 5, 1864
- Heard good news by the rebel papers that Atlanta is ours.
Have a loaf left for breakfast. Rained in the night.
Tuesday, September 6, 1864
- All counted again. Sold my canteen for two loaves of bread.
Rained again at night.
Wednesday, September 7, 1864
- No grub. If I were on the Island of Juan Fernandez, I could
have something to eat, but alas, Belle Isle is barren.
Thursday, September 8, 1864
- Nearly froze last night. Am hungry but nothing to eat.
Friday, September 9, 1864
- Sold my knife for six loaves of bread.
Saturday, September 10, 1864
- The day closes with a row and calls for tents.
Sunday, September 11, 1864
- Got half a loaf for this day's ration. Have an old bag for
a bed.
Monday, September 12, 1864
- Did not sleep any last night on account of cold. Nothing
to eat. Not well enough to go to prayer meeting.
Tuesday, September 13, 1864
- Sold my haversack for two loaves and ate them for breakfast.
Had a good prayer meeting with large attendance.
Wednesday, September 14, 1864
- Dreamed of home. Hear heavy cannonading. All called out.
Thursday, September 15, 1864
- Sick with fever. Sold my ring for a loaf of bread.
Friday, September 16, 1864
- Fever all night. Wrote home.
Saturday, September 17, 1864
- Ration of bread for breakfast.
Sunday, September 18, 1864
- Headache and fever all night.
Thursday, September 22, 1864
- Rained through the night. Have a bad cold.
Friday, September 232, 1864
Saturday, September 24, 1864
- Have a tip-top appetite but nothing to eat.
Sunday, September 25, 1864
- How hard to be a prisoner. Wish I was home to dinner.
Monday, September 26, 1864
- Slept cold last night. Out to be counted to-day.
Tuesday, September 27, 1864
- Nothing to eat till noon. Hear of Early's defeat in the Valley.
Thursday, September 29, 1864
- Two of our boys retaken who attempted to escape. Did not
get any grub until 3 o'clock; nearly famished.
Friday, September 30, 1864
- Over 650 prisoners came from Libby.
Saturday, October 1, 1864
- Nothing to eat till noon. Very hungry and cold. Rained all
day.
Sunday, October 2, 1864
- Slept hard last night; head aches. Am getting thin and poor.
Another man shot by the guard last night.
Monday, October 3, 1864
Tuesday, October 4, 1864
- This is a hard life to live and starve, but hope for better
days. 1,000 men went south to North Carolina today from Belle
Island.
Wednesday, October 5, 1864
- About 950 men left for Southern prisons to-day.
Thursday, October 6, 1864
- Left Belle Island to-day and reached Danville at 5 p.m. Sixty
men in one cattle car. Such a crowd and such a time! Sell my
ink bottle for bread. Good-bye Belle Isle, may I never see it
again. Have ate all of my bread. Still hungry.
Friday, October 7, 1864
- No rations. Sell my eye-glass for two apples.
Saturday, October 8, 1864
- Slept in an open field. Arrived at Salisbury, North Carolina.
No rations. Staid all night in an open field. Have not slept
for four nights.
Sunday, October 9, 1864
- We are in an inclosure of twelve acres. Got two meals to-day.
Am shivering with cold.
Monday, October 10, 1864
- Got half a loaf of bread for to-day's ration. Am getting
very thin in body.
Tuesday, October 11, 1864
- Two men died last night of exposure.
Wednesday, October 12, 1864
- Wish I could hear from home or get a letter to my friends.
Thursday, October 13, 1864
- Got some soup and 5 hard tack to-day. Flour is $225 a barrel,
Confederate money. Pies and cakes three dollars each.
Friday, October 14, 1864
- Had a cup of crust coffee and half a cake for breakfast.
Hope God in his Providence will deliver us from here. Half a
dozen die daily from starvation.
Saturday, October 15, 1864
- Drew some bread and molasses to eat to-day.
Sunday, October 16, 1864
- Wish that I was home to go to church in Dearborn. Home, sweet
home - will I ever see you again? Shall keep up the good cheer
and trust in Providence. One of our officers was shot to-day
while hanging his clothes on a tree.
Monday, October 17, 1864
- Sold some buttons and bought half a corn dodger.
Tuesday, October 18, 1864
- How hard to be here starving and suffering cold when one
has a home with plenty. Could I only have the crumbs
of my table I would not complain.
Wednesday, October 19, 1864
- The officers leave to-day for another prison.
Thursday, October 20, 1864
- No news yet from home. Eighty a week are dying here. Boys
digging and making earth shanties. The hospital is overflowing.
Diarrhea and black fever prevail, caused by starvation.
Friday, October 21, 1864
- Grub came at 9 a.m. Have a severe headache
Saturday, October 22, 1864
- No tents or barracks and many must perish. Think of my dear
old home daily.
Sunday, October 23, 1864
- Up and ready for my half loaf. It can't be colder in Michigan.
Monday, October 24, 1864
- Got a cup of flour and molasses to eat to-day. Got one tent
for 100 men to-day.
Tuesday, October 25, 1864
- Sold my hat band for a loaf of bread. Two loads of dead went
out. They bury our men without coffins or straw.
Wednesday, October 26, 1864
- Noon and no rations. Discouraged. Ten died last night. Oh,
will our government leave us here to perish.
Thursday, October 27, 1864
- Cloudy and rainy, How our men suffer. Will get no provisions
till to-morrow. Will not the Almighty punish men for such treatment
of prisoners?
Friday, October 28, 1864
- Twenty-two died last night. No rations to-day. Starvation
stares us all in the face.
Saturday, October 29, 1864
- No food for 36 hours. Will get no bread to-day. Almost famished.
The men are about to raise a mob and break out. Twelve died this
morning and others dying every hour.
Sunday, October 30, 1864
- Sixty hours and only one quart of rice and two small pieces
of meat to eat. Twenty died this morning. Hear we are to be paroled.
God grant it.
Monday, October 31, 1864
- Got half a loaf of bread to-day. Eighteen dead hauled out
to-day.
Tuesday, November 1, 1864
- Sold my hat for a loaf of bread and $500 Confederate
money.
Wednesday, November 2, 1864
- No rations till dark and then drew flour. Rains and cannot
cook it.
Thursday, November 3, 1864
- Cloudy and awful cold. Thirty died last night. Drew half
a pint of flour today.
Saturday, November 5, 1864
- A few of our men are enlisting in the Confederate army hoping
to escape death here. The men are forced to it by starvation.
Language nor pen can describe the suffering we undergo. Men die
every hour.
Sunday, November 6, 1864
- Drew meal and tripe for rations.
Monday, November 7, 1864
- How I wish I was back to my old Wayne County home. God has
kept me thus far, and I will rely on his mercy. Six hundred came
from Richmond last night.
Tuesday, November 8, 1864
Wednesday, November 9, 1864
- Trade pantaloons and get half a loaf of bread to boot. Traded
boots and gave half a loaf of bread worth five dollars.
Thursday, November 10, 1864
- Rainy. Slept only half the night.
Friday, November 11, 1864
- saw a piece in the Raleigh Standard that the Governor of
Georgia favors peace.
Sunday, November 13, 1864
- What a cheerless sabbath; about eighteen die daily.
Monday, November 14, 1864
- Hear that Lincoln is elected. Bourassas of Company F, Twenty-fourth
Michigan is dead.
Wednesday, November 16, 1864
- Half a loaf of corn bread for this day.
Thursday, November 17, 1864
- Hear that letters will go North. Must write to my friends.
Friday, November 18, 1864
Saturday, November 19, 1864
- Lay abed all day to keep warm. Cold and Stormy. Got half
a loaf of poor corn bread. Men are dying like sheep with the
rot.
Sunday, November 20, 1864
- It still rains. Cold and muddy. In bed to keep warm. Got
half a loaf of sour corn bread.
Monday, November 21, 1864
- Rained all night and all day. Mud knee deep
Tuesday, November 22, 1864
- Awful cold day, one freezes to stir out long enough to draw
rations. Willaird of Company A, Twenty-Fourth Michigan died last
night.
Wednesday, November 23, 1864
- Too cold to take off our clothes to skirmish for "greybacks."
Thursday, November 24, 1864
- Thanksgiving day at home. We get only a quarter loaf of bread.
Hardly enough to live on. Forty die daily.
Friday, November 25, 1864
- I write with sad heart. Only got four ounces of bread
today. Suffering with cold. Nearly naked. Covered with lice.
Oh, what a fate! Must we die? Will not God deliver us from this
hell?
Saturday, November 26, 1864.
- Yesterday the mob secured the guard and rallied to get out.
We lost in killed and wounded about ninety.
Sunday, November 27, 1864
- Drew half a loaf. One hundred colored soldiers came in to-day.
Monday, November 28, 1864
- Got two ounces of meat. There is plenty of bread in the cook
house but C.S.A. would rather have us starve fifty a day.
Wednesday, November 30, 1864
- Saw a man drop dead from starvation.
Monday, December 5, 1864
- No hope of parole. Half a loaf and a potato for to-day's
ration.
Thursday, December 8, 1864
- Chapman, of Company K, Twenty-fourth Michigan died this morning,
Saturday, December 10, 1864
- Seventy-five men have died since yesterday.
Sunday, December 11, 1864
- Men still dying over fifty a day. Hear that Sherman is twenty-five
miles of Savannah. Hope something will turn up.
Tuesday, December 13, 1864
- Slept none last night it was so cold.
Thursday, December 15, 1864
- On quarter rations. Hear that we are to go to South Carolina.
Hope that we will get out of this accursed place. Shall I ever
see home again?
Saturday, December 17, 1864
- Bought an onion for a dollar.
Sunday, December 18, 1864
- Had a cup of good soup made from a bone.
Tuesday, December 20, 1864
- In bed all day. Rain at night run in on our bed.
Wednesday, December 21, 1864
- Cold and muddy. Still stick to our beds to keep from freezing.
Got only half a loaf of bread to-day. Disease and death doing
their work as usual.
Thursday, December 22, 1864
Friday, December 23, 1864
- Nearly frozen. No fire. Only a piece of raw corn bread to
eat. How long must we suffer so?
Sunday, December 25, 1864
- Had a loaf of bread and rice soup for Christmas dinner.
Monday, December 26, 1864
- The Catholic prisoners about 200 left for a new camp.
Wednesday, December 28, 1864
- Clark W. Butler of Company H, Twenty-fourth Michigan died
to-day.
Friday, December 30, 1864
- Half a loaf only. Getting discouraged. Men still dying like
sheep. No relief. Our government has forsaken us! God forgive
but we never can.
Sunday, January 1, 1865
- Sergeant Nardin of Company I, Twenty-fourth Michigan, died
last night.
Monday, January 2, 1865
- Living in bed to keep warm. Oh, how dreary is such a life.
Will we ever get out of this place?
Tuesday, January 3, 1865
- Drew salt meat and bread.
Wednesday, January 4, 1865
- The men still sicken and die.
Thursday, January 5, 1865
- In bed to keep warm. Will it ever be my lot to see home again?
Friday, January 6, 1865
Sunday, January 8, 1865
- Too cold to look over my clothing for lice. Got half a loaf.
Burnett of Company H, Twenty-fourth Michigan is dead.
Monday, January 9, 1865
- Sitting in bed all shivering with the cold.
Tuesday, January 10, 1865
- Rained all night. mud too deep to stir outside. John A Sherwood
of Company C, Twenty-Fourth Michigan has also died here.
Wednesday, January 11, 1865
- Only some molasses to eat today.
Thursday, January 12, 1865
Friday, January 13, 1865
- Hunted lice on my shirt all day. Oh what a life!
Saturday, January 14, 1865
- No rations in camp; 100 of us go out to work on R.R. Got
half a loaf for our day's work.
Friday, January 20, 1865
- Been in bed six days to keep warm.
Sunday January 22, 1865
Monday, January 23, 1865
- Men dying like sheep every hour. Oh, what a horrid place!
Such a stench and lice. One can hardly live.
Tuesday, January 24, 1865
- Still in bed to keep warm.
Wednesday, January 25, 1865
- Hundreds are sick and dying goes on all the time.
Thursday, January 26, 1865
- Nearly frozen to death. No fire, no clothing, nor anything
to keep warm. One can lie down and die of despair. Hope is all
that is left.
Friday, January 27, 1865
- Still awful cold. One of the boys by my side died
last night.
Saturday, January 28, 1865
- Still in bed shivering from cold. It breaks the stoutest
heart.
Sunday, January, 29, 1865
Monday, January 30, 1865
- Get less to eat every day. Am poor; will not weigh ninety
pounds.
Tuesday, January 31, 1865
- Things look dreary, but hope to see home again.
Wednesday, February 1, 1865
- Sold my last article, my housewife, for two onions.
Sunday, February 5, 1865
- Bread and molasses for rations today. Men dying as usual.
Tuesday, February 7, 1865
- My diary is kept only weekly now for want of space. Snow
and sleet. Lie abed all day. Could not sleep for hunger last
night.
Sunday, February 12, 1865
- Bruskie of Company E, Twenty-fourth Michigan, died last night.
This makes the eighth man of our regiment that has died here
who were captured on Aug. 19th last.
Sunday, February 19, 1865
- Parole papers are made out and we are to start for our lines.
Thank God, the day of deliverance has come. One thousand left
last night. There have died in this prison 5,019 prisoners since
I came here last October.
Wednesday, February 22, 1865
- Left Salisbury prison for the north at noon, (Diary filled)
Last Updated: 07/02/99
Webmaster: Rob Richardson
robr@advnet.net
All original material © Copyright 1997, 1999 Rob Richardson
