Sgt. James T. Wells, Co. A, 2nd S.C. Infantry

Sgt. James T. Wells, Co. A, 2nd S.C. Infantry. . , … Our tents were miserable affairs, being full of holes and very rotten. They were of the "Sibley pattern," and into each one of these sixteen men were crowded. In order to lay down at night, the men were compelled to lay so close together as to exclude sleep. On the 9th of November, snow fell and there was not a stick of wood in the camp. The day was bitter cold, most of us were but poorly clad and very few of had shoes of any description., The supply of blankets was very scant, and "bunk" were unknown. The cold ground was our bed. To add to out discomforts, the tide from the bay occasionally backed into the camp, and compelled those, whose tents had been flooded to stand all night., …The intense cold weather at this season induced the authorities to give us some wood and for this purpose a detail of four men from each one hundred was allowed to go under a guard to a point about a quarter of a mile above camp for it. An idea can thus be obtained from the quantity of wood each company obtained as much as four men could carry a quarter of a mile., …The health of the men began to fail rapidly and soon the prisoners' hospital was crowded. Fever in every shape abounded and smallpox was epidemic. …The hospital could not accommodate all the sick, and they were left in their tents, many of them with a blanket only to protect them from the damp ground and entirely destitute of proper nourishment. Men who were seen in the morning, apparently in health, were taken to the "Dead House" in the afternoon and some have been known to drop in the street and died before they could be carried to the tents., Southern Historical Society Papers Vol. VII Richmond, Va. Jan-Dec 1879 No. 7.