Private CHARLES F. PFOUNSTIEL, sworn and examined: —
I am a German; enlisted in 2d Maryland, September 24, 1862; captured in Tennessee; imprisoned in Belle Island; reached there January 21st; remained till 6th of March.
They took my blankets, sixty dollars in money, and a watch worth thirty dollars.
For two days had no shelter; then I got in the tents; air came in on every side; many men without tents; two hundred men went in with me; the greater part had no tents; some had a blanket or old coat.
Some froze to death; could not keep warm; one out of my regiment froze to death; he reported to the doctor that he was sick but he paid him no attention, perhaps because the man could not speak English.
Every morning we carried out some men froze to death, and from starvation some four or five men.
We did not get enough to eat; ten or twelve ounces of corn bread and two spoons of beans almost rotten; sometimes we had soup—not fit to eat, yet had to eat it; had meat only three or four times while I was there; two or three ounces each time; I was hungry all the time.
I could not sleep for hunger and cold, dirt and lice; I washed twice a day in the James river; strength kept up till last eight days; then I felt sick in my bowels; had no diarrhœa; did not go to the hospital; left with the 9th Maryland.
I saw a good many cases carried in a blanket to the doctor, and when they got there many of them were dead; had my feet frozen.
There might be many deaths I did not see; I have reason to believe there was. I have stated what I saw—three or four a night.
The men would dig holes in the ground to lie in at night to protect them from the air.
CHAS. F. PFOUNSTIEL.
Sworn to and subscribed before me,
June 1st, 1864.
D. P. BROWN, JR.,
United States Commissioner.
Certification for statements taken May 31 and June 1, 1864 (There was only one certification in the document; however it is being included here on the web-page for each applicable statement - MpG ):
I certify that the foregoing testimony was taken and reduced to writing in the presence of the respective witnesses, and by them sworn to in my presence, at the times, places, and in the manner set forth.
D. P. BROWN, JR., United States Commissioner.
Evidence of Officers and Soldiers of the United States Army Returned after Confinement in Rebel Prisons.
Testimony taken at Annapolis, Maryland, at United Slates Army General Hospital, June 1, 1864.