About 75% of the 70 pages have handwriting on them and he writes a lot on each page. It is a remarkable journal.
Here is a small sample of the contents. North, Jones, and Cohn were arrested by Military Police Oct 27, 1864 and at once placed in separate close confinement in Old Capitol Prison.
The cells were close and sultry during the day but the nights were cold and chillyOne day I burned a broom handle slowly nearly from end to end for fear of entirely losing fire to kindle withWhile in the cells we were not allowed to look out of the small windows not even to place our faces to the lower part of the window. Several times when I had my face close to the lower end of the window trying to inhale a little fresh air, did I see a musket pointed at my head with the order from the sentinel to get away from that windseveral of our soldiers being shot for looking out of the windows of the prison. The windows were the death line and if a prisoner could be seen looking out the order or the practice was to shoot him. My wife was one of the most fearless women I had ever knownshe could assist in an amputation of a soldiers limb with as much coolness as any surgeon in the army while all the tender sympathies of the mother, wife and sister combined. Soon after our imprisonment Col Foster told my wife she might as well go home, that she could do her husband no good by staying in Washington and he would be convicted and sent to state prisonwhenever she went in the street was under the surveillance of male and female spies and detectives.Her private baggage and clothing was searched several times once by men with shoulder straps, she told these that her husband had been an officer. He suspected someone was preparing to attempt to escape that evening and if he saw anyone trying to get out there his orders were to shoot him.
The attempt was made and the prisoner was shot dead and then Wood after telling the story would laugh at ti as a good joke. Bill Wood superintendent of Old Capitol, Atheist and generally a brute as he was sometimes had good streaks in him, at one of the times when North, Jones and Cohn had been taken from their cells and put int he large favored room with some 20 to 30 other gentlemen, he said to us you damned New York ballot box stuffers have no business heredidnt do half as bad things as I did at Baltimore on Election day for I and the other fellows I took with me voted early and often. One prisoner by a bold reckless effort escaped in broad daylight although the prisoner was surrounded by 3 lines of sentinels. One day an old man and his daughter a good and respectable looking young woman were brought tot he prison from West Virginia as hostages for a son and brother who was accused of a crime and with being in the rebel service.
The girl was placed in one end of the block alone and there were seldom any but very few females prisoners in that part of the building. Wood used to visit her room ostensively to obtain some state secrets but it was well known that he was a beast in his passions, soon it was known that the girls was very ill of brain fever and was a raving maniac, about a week after the body of the poor girl was carried from the prison in a rough box, the father was weeping in the prison yard he had not been allowed to visit her during her illness nor was he allowed to see her remains and all of this within almost stones throw of the Capitol of the United states. At one time a colored soldier was brought to the prison under sentence of death by court martial for shooting his wife. He was to be hanged.This was the first he had heard of his sentence. He was placed in a cell close by where I was and a colored preacher was sent to prepare him for his doom.
Bill Wood said it looked too damned bad that if his death could be put off for a week he would find whiskey and beef steak and the nigger preacher could pray the poor devil right straight into Father Abrahams bosom. Wood said no one could keep him out of the White House and he and the preacher started putting the horse to his speedsaying the President would very likely interfere and compel them to come again that it would be just as well to hang the man that morning. Wood came back jubilant over his success in seeing the President Lincoln and told the preacher to do his best and pray the nigger in Abrahams bosom. A prison official opened my cell door and ordered to proceed to the prison office as I did with a guard of a soldier with a fixed bayonetOn our trial we called for the order for our arrest and it was then By Order of Abraham Lincoln President by HA Stanton Secretary of War a forged or substituted order died the next day after we were in prison.
My wife and self with Dr Coventry and Merit Peckham started for Washington on a telegram from JF Seymour this was soon after the slaughter of the WildernessMy wife and myself devoted our time and strength to he 50,000 wounded and sick soldiers in the hospitals at Washington. They died there by thousands many recovered or were removed to distant hospitals or were sent home discharged but the places were filled from the battlefield the 50000 cots were full.This was true while Republican soldiers in the hospitals in Washington had no difficulty in having their voting papers certified by officers detailed of the purpose every obstacle was thrown int eh way of Democratic soldiersAn Oswego Captain whose arm was shattered so that he could but barely write his name and that with much pain and difficulty being a Democrat came from his hospital to the NY agency and for a day or two and took a few votes. For this he was at once dismissed from the service without any ceremony only for helping some wounded democratic soldiers to send home their votes for the old Gen Little Mac and Gov Seymour. Jones and his traps were taken to cell No 8 where he was put in with a Cincinnati engraver arrested on a charge of counterfeitingin a few days Jones was taken from No 8 and put in cell No 6 where he found Col North alone and Sick. The next day Wood called for Cohn and invited him to take a ride took him to the Treasury where they stopped fora few minutes and then drove on to the White House, with as much freedom as tho he had owned the White House, Bill Wood invited Cohn upstairs to see Old Abe, they were shown into a small room and there Cohn found the President, Col Foster the Judge Advocate and Clephane the recorder of the military court, the two men who had imposed themselves upon Jones in the Prison Office 25 days before.
The whole trick and conspiracy were apparent at a glance. After an Introduction President Lincoln with Foster, Clephane and Wood present, says President Lincoln, you Mr Cohn are one of these New York prisoners arrested for fraud as to soldiers votes, now if you will make a full statement of all you know about those matters you need not go back to prison but shall be discharged from this moment. Cohn replied that he knew nothing in regard to those matters but what he was willing to tell there or anywhere.
Press Lincoln then repeated what he had said that if Mr Cohn would then state what he knew he should then and there be dischargedMr Cohn then gave a history of all he had known or see with regard to voting at the NY Agency and elsewhere. When Mr Cohn had completed his statement, President Lincoln said, Mr Cohn I dont see as you have hurt anybody, nor could I if I told the truth, was Mr Cohns reply. The President then dismissed Cohn and Wood and Cohn started downstairs supposing that he was free according to Pres Lincolns promise, Oh No, says Wood you will have to go back to prison until your statement is written out for you to sign and then you will be discharged.The McClellan meetings seemed to be the largest and most enthusiastic, a large portion of the soldiers were for little Macon one evening the Republicans had a very large torch procession helped greatly by niggers and as it passed up Pennsylvania Avenue one of the helpers at Old Capitol Prison set fire to and burned the large National Flag hanging across the avenue in front of the Democratic HeadquartersToward the latter part of Oct President Lincoln became quite confident of carrying New York. In cases of outrage in cases calling for sympathy or investigation President Lincoln heard and ears were more open than any member of his cabinet and yet no one democrat nor republican was allowed to approach him in regard to NorthPresident Lincoln was made to see and feel how much he was indebted to the Sewards, Fenton and the few other arch conspirators and to be made a tool of as in Cohns casebringing down the dignity of the Presidency to the dirty work of a detective. The President and those below him made such efforts to find or invent something which might be used in getting out of the dilemma.
The prosecution had sent its spies all over the state of New York to find if possible some weak point in the characters or records of the Deftsit would be policy not to produce before a court of decent Army officers had stakes its reputation upon being able to prove monstrous frauds as to soldiers votes.. One the day the trial was concluded Maj General Doubleday President of the court pronounced the whole thing a farce. Half of Grants army would have been transferred from Petersburg to Albany, the plans were formed to capture Gov Seymour and only failed in execution, the object was to carry the state for Lincoln and Fenton. Suspicion and doubts were thrown around the democratic soldiers votes sent home.
I then took passage for Fortress Monroe with one assistant feeling disposed to fight out the question of a NY agency on that line if it took all summer arriving in James River. We were all stopped by Gen Butlers orders. After being arrested by a lot of drakes as a Virginia rebel because I wore a light gray suit I made my way back to Washingtonw.
With six physicians and four assistants and over six hundred dollars in hospital stores I started for City Point intending to establish an agency where New York soldiers would be looked after and cared for some as soldiers of other stateson arriving at City Point obstacles were immediately thrown in the way of landing my good s and storing them. The next morning all of the physicians were ordered to duty as common nurses in various corps hospitals and our six physicians were assigned to duty as such.
Our guards kindly marched us aboard the steamboat and with many curses against those who had treated us in that mannerat that time it was decided that I was drunk and sutured the camp and that was the reason for my expulsion. Check out my other items. Be sure to add me to your favorites list.
The item "1865 Diary Civil War Old Capitol Prison Rape Negro Soldiers Talked to Lincoln" is in sale since Thursday, February 18, 2016. This item is in the category "Antiques\Books & Manuscripts\American".
The seller is "weehaveit" and is located in Evington, Virginia. This item can be shipped to United States, to Canada, to United Kingdom, DK, RO, SK, BG, CZ, FI, HU, LV, LT, MT, EE, to Australia, GR, PT, CY, SI, to Japan, SE, KR, ID, to Taiwan, ZA, to Belgium, to France, to Hong Kong, to Ireland, to Netherlands, PL, to Spain, to Italy, to Germany, to Austria, RU, IL, to Mexico, to New Zealand, SG, NO, SA, UA, AE, QA, KW, BH, HR, MY, TR, BR, CL, CO, CR, DO, PA, TT, GT, SV, HN, JM.