“Now,” said I, “Captain, as long as I am a prisoner of war, I wish to stay with you, or under your command.  This is my reason for running away yesterday, when I felt confident that if I did not do so I would be returned under Wirz’s command, and, if I had been so returned, I would have killed myself rather than submit to the untold tortures which he would have put me to, for having the audacity to attempt an escape from him.”

The Captain’s attention was here called to some other matters in hand, and I was sent back into the Stockade with a command very pleasantly given, that I should stay there until ordered out, which I very gratefully promised to do, and did.  This was the last chance I ever had to talk to Captain Hurtrell, to my great sorrow, for I had really formed a liking for the man, notwithstanding the fact that he was a Rebel, and a commander of prisoners.

The next day we all had to leave Macon.  Whether we were able or not, the order was imperative.  Great was my joy when I learned that we were on the way to Savannah and not to Andersonville.  We traveled over the same road, so well described in one of your articles on Andersonville, and arrived in Savannah sometime in the afternoon of the 21st day of November, 1864.  Our squad was placed in some barracks and confined there until the next day.  I was sick at the time, so sick in fact, that I could hardly hold my head up.  Soon after, we were taken to the Florida depot, as they told us, to be shipped to some prison in those dismal swamps.  I came near fainting when this was told to us, for I was confident that I could not survive another siege of prison life, if it was anything to compare to-what I had already suffered.  When we arrived at the depot, it was raining.  The officer in charge of us wanted to know what train to put us on, for there were two, if not three, trains waiting orders to start.  He was told to march us on to a certain flat car, near by, but before giving the order he demanded a receipt for us, which the train officer refused.  We were accordingly taken back to our quarters, which proved to be a most fortunate circumstance.

On the 23d day of November, to our great relief, we were called upon to sign a parole preparatory to being sent down the river on the flat-boat to our exchange ships, then lying in the harbor.  When I say we, I mean those of us that had recently come from Macon, and a few others, who had also been fortunate in reaching Savannah in small squads.  The other poor fellows, who had already been loaded on the trains, were taken away to Florida, and many of them never lived to return.  On the 24th those of us who had been paroled were taken on board our ships, and were once more safely housed under that great, glorious and beautiful Star Spangled Banner.  Long may she wave.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Dreary weather—­the cold rains distress all and kill hundreds—­exchange of ten thousand sick—­Captain Bowes turns A pretty, but not very honest, penny.