Private Rainey Luster’s Sad End
Rainey Luster was born in Buchanan County, Virginia (probably Tazewell),
somewhere around the year 1841. He was the son of Edward and Sally Luster, both from
Kentucky. Their neighbors were the Justices, Blankenships, Bakers, Smiths, and Stacys, so
that places Private Luster’s home somewhere in the Guesses Fork of Knox Creek or the Paw
Paw area of Buchanan County. At the time of his enlistment, he was described as being 22
years old, six feet tall, fair-haired and fair-complexioned, and with blue eyes. His occupation
was listed as “farmer.” He joined the 39th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Company H, at Peach
Orchard, Lawrence County, Kentucky, on February 3rd, 1863. He was accompanied on that
day by Pleasant Prator, Frederick Charles, John Layne, Jackson Mounts, John Maynard, John
McCoy, Daniel Prator, and five Hatfields.
On January 9th, 1864, Private Luster was with his company at Turman’s Ferry, Boyd
County, Kentucky, when it was attacked and routed by Confederate forces. He was captured
and sent to prison in Richmond, Virginia, on January 25th, 1864. He was admitted to Hospital
Number 21 on February 3rd, 1864, “with debilities.” Later that month, he was returned to
quarters. On March 4th, 1864, he was sent to the prison at Americus, Georgia. On April 11,
1864, he was admitted to the hospital in Andersonville, Georgia. He died of dysentery on April
17th, 1864.
Private Luster’s dysentery was probably caused by drinking fouled or tainted water
while he was incarcerated at Richmond. It is possible that he was held at Libby Prison, but it is
more likely that he was held at Belle Isle which was reserved for Federal enlisted prisoners.
The reasons for his transfers to the prison at Americus in March and later to the concentration
camp at Andersonville, Georgia, are not apparent from the records.
Even if Private Luster’s health was good, the sparse diet and harsh conditions of his
incarceration would have made his day-to-day survival difficult. The prisoner’s diet at Belle
Isle consisted of a two-inch thick by four-inch long “brick” of cornbread, a small slab of bacon,
and a cup of pea soup. After a while, the ration of bacon was cut out of their diets. The
cornbread was difficult for the prisoners to digest, and the soup was filled with bugs (Speer
204). And, as mentioned above, the water sources were often fouled by the prison latrines and
other runoff, and were therefore unsafe to drink. The conditions at Americus and
Andersonville were probably not much better.
Private Luster was captured not too far from his home in Buchanan County, Virginia.
However, he died a long way away from his home in the mountains. According to his Prisoner
of War Records, he is buried in grave 590, one of probably hundreds of anonymous graves
outside of Andersonville Prison.
Robert M. Baker
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