sion, Third Corps, who wore a red diamond. They were mainly
captured at Gettysburg and Mine Eun. Besides these there was a



A 8TOEY OF BEBEL MUJTABY PKI80N8. 85

considerable number from the Eighth Corps, captured at "Win-
chester, and a large infusion of Cavalry First, Second and Third
West Virginia taken in Averill's desperate raid up the Vir-
ginia Valley, with the Wytheville Salt Works as an objective.
On the third floor were about two hundred sailors and ma-
rines, taken in the gallant but luckless assault upon the ruins of
Fort Sumter, in the September previous. They retained the
discipline of the ship in their quarters, kept themselves trim and
clean, and their floor as white as a ship's deck. They did not
court the society of the " sojers " below, whose camp ideas of
neatness differed from theirs. A few old barnacle-backs always
sat on guard around the head of the steps leading from the
lower rooms. They chewed tobacco enormously, and kept their
mouths filled with the extracted juice. Any luckless " sojer "
who attempted to ascend the stairs usually returned in haste,
to avoid the deluge of the filthy liquid.
For convenience in issuing rations we were divided into
messes of twenty, each mess electing a Sergeant as its head,
and each floor electing a Sergeant-of-the-Floor, who drew
rations and enforced what little discipline was observed.
