Written by Genealogical Society volunteer Beth Mitchell for the Wilmington News Journal.
This month I am using portions of a letter written by Lieutenant John Austin while he was a prisoner in Confederate prisons. His father was D. S. Austin of Clinton County. Lieut. Austin was captured November 24, 1863 at Mission Ridge and was taken to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Libby was a terrible place but was supposed to be “better” than Andersonville. He was kept at Libby until May 7, 1864 and was then moved to Macon, Georgia and later to Columbia, South Carolina. This letter was posted as: Military Prison, Columbia, S.C. November 30, 1864. Please note that only portions are used but we have the entire letter at the Clinton County Genealogical Library.
My Dear Father: I take the present opportunity to write a few lines, hoping I may shortly have a chance to send by private conveyance. As I have not heard from home since yours of May 16th, 1864, and do not know whether you have heard from me since I left Libby, I scarcely know what to write. I wrote twice from Macon, Ga. Last Summer, but from what I can learn, they never went farther than the prison office.
July 27th, 600 of us were started from Macon to Charleston, where we arrived the 29th. (I hope some time to tell you of the “Knights of the Red Lamp” or the 600 who took a train.) At Charleston they confined us two weeks in the jail yard. It was next to a hell on earth. August 13th they gave us the Roper and Marine Hospitals – the best quarters we have had since we have been prisoners of war. I was in the Roper.
The trip from Richmond to Macon last Spring came near being my last. When we were sent to Charleston, my health was improving slowly, but lying in the jail yard nearly used me up. After we had been in the Roper about two weeks, I had a severe attack of the Cholera Morbus. I was sent to a hospital at Rickersville on Charleston Neck and remained there until September 29th.
The way our batteries (the Union) on Morris Island sometimes shelled the city was sublimely awful; but I did not fear them in the least, nor did any of the prisoners, although the Roper buildings were struck twice, and the day before we left, a 200 pounder passed directly over us.
Since I commenced this sheet, we have received an old mail that had been lying back somewhere for a month or more. I received yours of August 14th and September 23rd. The $20.00 you sent me was taken our before it reached me – probably at Charleston.
We can buy a substitute for Northern articles at the following prices: Shoes – $35.00 per pair, Socks – $10.00 per pair, bacon – $7.00 per pound, butter – $12.00 per pound, sweet potatoes – $20.00 per bushel, corn meal – 24 cents per pound, sorghum – $7.00 per gallon. They have not issued us one ounce of meat since we left Charleston October 5th. Our rations for five days now consists of two quarts of meal, one to one and a half pints of very poor flour, a pint of rice, and a quart of sorghum with about two spoonfuls of salt.
A prisoner’s life is a hard one. So full of cares, anxiety, and disappointment. About 200 left on the way up from Charleston but most of them were recaptured. Some are being brought in and more are going out, and the beauty of it is the rebs have been unable to discover the leak. Three of us remain for we are unable for the trip, even if we had shoes and sufficient clothing.
The hospital accommodations are very poor. My health is better now than for eight months previous. I feel thankful that I am still on the land of the living and still have hope of seeing home and friends again on earth; yet our lives are in danger at all times, not from only disease, but the guards sometimes shoot into camp and they have a battery bearing on us which they are excitable enough to open upon us if they fear an outbreak.
I try to bear my imprisonment with patience and hope all is for the best. Do not be uneasy about me, but commit me to the care of a kind and merciful providence. I expect to send this by Lieut. D. W. Tower, 17th Iowa. Remember me to all inquiring friends. Your son, John W. Austin
Please remember we have the entire letter if you are interested.