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LETTERS & DIARIES

We were first taken to Rossville Springs where a strong guard was put around us. This was a very beautiful place. We arrived here in time to see Longstreet attacking Moccasin Point. This was protected by Rosecrans with artillery. The Rebels put fifty thousand men before the deadly fire of our men, in the rifle pits, and from the heavy artillery. But they were compelled to soon give way in the face of the awful fire of our men, leaving about three thousand dead and wounded on the field. They retired to Lookout Mountain at which they at once proceeded to fortify.

We stayed at Rossville Springs until about four o'clock the following day when we were taken to Ringgold by about fifty infantry. From there we were taken to Buzzard's Roost by about the same number of Wheeler's cavalry. They took clothes and everything that was worth taking from us. They took my boots and gave me an old pair of canvas shoes which were a mile too big for me. At that time it was a disgrace to wear canvas shoes. We traveled all day, and into the night, without anything to eat. Upon arriving at Buzzard's Roost, our fast was broken by a chunk of corn bread and cup of cold water. We were turned into a bull pen or a stockade. There were about as many in our crowd in the pen when we were dumped in.

Here we stayed until the middle of the next day when we were started to Richmond by railroad. We stopped every night and were put in bull pens for safe keeping. We were in route for Richmond from October 22nd to November 1st. We were put into Libby Prison for one night, but that was so much overcrowded we were moved to the Royster Building which had been a tobacco warehouse. In this building there were about five hundred of us prisoners combined, one hundred on each floor, as close as we could lie together. We had drawn only three days rations during the journey, so were quite ready for a decent meal. We had some Confederate money, which we hadn't been relieved of, and with this we managed to buy some food while in route.

LETTERS & DIARIES

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