Hiram J. Neal, Private, 4th Maine Infantry

Private HIRAM J. NEAL sworn and examined:

            I am from Maine; enlisted in the 4th Maine Regiment; taken prisoner at Bristow Station, in October, 1863; taken to the Pemberton prison, from there to Belle Island, which I reached 24th February remained until January 18th, blankets taken from me; nothing given in their place; after eight days, we had tents at Belle Island.

            At first the men had to lay out till they could find tents; had nothing to sleep upon.

            About one-fifth of the men were permitted by the rebels to retain their blankets; had no straw or board to lie on; tents old and rotten —full of holes; those in the tents managed to keep warm, though they couldn’t sleep; those out of the tents, from three to six hundred, tried to run about to keep warm..

            Saw many with frozen feet carried off; in one morning saw eleven corpses, three frozen stiff. Near first of January, deaths occurred eight or ten in twenty-four hours, principally in the night;  I deem the causes of those deaths to have been exposure and starvation.

            When I left, January 18th, there were five thousand men there; I was transferred to the hospital for diarrhœa and disability.

            Rations not sufficient to satisfy hunger; waked up one night and found myself gnawing my coat sleeve; used to dream of having something good to eat.

            I had a pain in my chest and bowels; had the diarrhœa when I was captured; had a pain in my bowels then; had about four movements of the bowels a day before captured; not able to do duty all the time; I had been thirty-six hours on the march with one night’s rest just before I was captured; was in the fight about an hour.

HIRAM J. NEAL.

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.