| Summary: | Detailed account of the Civil War service and experiences of Sergeant Isaac P. Tedrow of Clermont County, Ohio. Tedrow served in Company F of the 89th O.V.I. His company was engaged in the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia in 1863. He was one of 369 men taken prisoner by Confederate troops. Tedrow was transported between various prisons and consistently starved. He spent time on Bell Island in Virginia and at Andersonville Prison in Georgia. He was eventually transferred to a prison in Florence, South Carolina where he remained until the close of the war. He served as Chief Ward Master at the prison hospital in Florence. [Page 309] Supplementary War Sketches Isaac P Tedrow Was born the 2d day of May 1832 in Clermont County state of Ohio and lived on a farm until the age of 16 at which time he began teaching School which occupation I followed spending my summer vacation on the farm and attending private Schools until the “Fireing upon Ft Sumpter” Was with the 11 OVI in Camp Dennison, Assisted in recruiting Co “A” 71 OVI. Enlisted in Co F 89 OVI on August 16 1862 in Camp Dennison Ohio, was appointed Sergeant the same day and mustered in With Regiment same date for the term of 3 years_ Was detailed as Ordinance Sergeant Aug-17 1862 Had charge of all ordinance stores of the Regiment until July 1863 at which time I was ordered to my company for duty Was engaged in the Battle of Chickamauga Georgia from Sept 14 to 20th 1863 The Regiment having been detached from Brigade we took position on Sunday Sept 20th with Genl Gordon Grangers Reserve Corps on the extreem right of our line of Battle at what is known as Snodgrass Hill, About 6 oclock pm Sept 20, 1863 we was ordered to hold that point at all Hazzards, We did and at Ten oclock were surrounded on front and rear flanked at both ends by a superior force and were compelled to surrender Three hundred and sixty nine (369) officers and enlisted men lay down their armes and were Prisoners of war By a misterious Providence I made my escape and followed the retreating army untill I was exhausted and lay down to rest & sleepe. Slept among the dead wounded and dieing in “White House” used as a Hospital, Awoke at sunrise inside the lines of the victorious enemy was detailed for fourteen days on the field assisting in Burying the ded careing for the wounded and sick of my fallen and unfortunate comrades After which I with about three hundred others were marched to the Railway Station nearby & placed in “Hog Cars” packed like Sardines in a box [?]ouley we were in a perpendicular position, Carted thus to Atlanta Ga, Put in an enclosure for four days They here began the starving process so successfully practiced later on From Atlanta GA we were transfered in same method to Charlotte NC where we remained in an old Cotton Mill Barn & Ware House long enough to have the Smallpox well inocculated throughout our ranks There by the same method of Transportation we were hustled off for Richmond Va arriving there was taken to an old Barracks, Searched and robbed of every thing we had except our clothing which were by now full to overflowing with that little insect so well remembred by the old soldier as the Army “Gray Back” After being robbed we were sent to the celestial Sand pile Known as Bell Island in the James River opposite Richmond After remaining here for a few weeks starving were taken to Richmond and distributed among the various Tobacco Factories Converted temporally to Prisoners with the Small pox, Diarhea, Camp & fever prevailing we lost by death a large number and by a systemized system of starvation an equal number of our unfortunate comrades When the Union Army appeared to be marching toward Richmond in the fall of 63 We were hastely transfered to Danville Va and Stowed in Tobbaco Factories (six in number) In February 1864 we were ordered to get ready to be exchanged We got ready without waste of time we were loaded on Flat Cars for Willmington NC to be exchanged Our hopes was were high only to be lowered & all hopes blasted when a few days we arrived at Camp Sumpter Ga where a place had been carefully prepared for our reception The place became noted the world over as “Andersonville Prison” “The Hell” of the Southern Conferderacy, Death by slow starvation semed to have been written on every separate piece of timber in the trio of walls that Prison Hell reigned; Above; Beneath; and Abou; that “God Cursed Spot;” Horrors by day and by night reigned throughout the Camp Death: Starving: Dieing by the (Continued on page 310)
|
|---|