Griffin, A. A.

Events: Union Occupation 3/1862 - 6/1862

Category: Prisoner of War Accounts
Origin: A.A. Griffin
Location: Reelfoot Lake

Description: A.A. Griffin gives account of his capture and then escape at Reelfoot Lake The following article was written by the late lamented A. A. Griffin just a short time before his death and he gave instructions that it be published in The Monitor after his death. It is the last message from a gallant soldier and a true gentleman and is replete with historian interest. The Monitor will publish it in installments each week until finished.

I will give you something about my war history of Island Number Ten, and our escape after we surrendered. We were camped near Tiptonville, on the south side of Madrid Bend. We guarded a ferry that led across Reelfoot Lake and I with 5 others was detailed to stand picket at this ferry, where we stood on duty 3 days and nights.

When we were released we rode up to our camp and before I dismounted I was detailed as a courier. I told the Sargent I was sick and he told me to report to Captain Wheeler if I wanted to be excused. I told the Captain I had a bad cold and fever. He said I was not a soldier if I grumbled at that. This made me mad and that was my first and last excuse. I went on duty and in a few days we moved up on the river near Island No. 10.

The Yankee gunboats would come down the river every day for 20 days shoot their bombs and shells on the island. We had one little gunboat named Grampus. She kept them back until one Saturday night, it was very dark and also raining. The Yankees took advantage of the dark night and floated their gunboats by the Island. As it was raining hard and nearly every man was asleep, they passed unmolested. Only one man saw the boat at the last and it had gotten by before he discovered it.

On Sunday morning the gunboat left New Madrid went down the river to Tiptonville and spiked all our batteries as she went. On Monday morning the Yankees commenced transporting troops across the river from New Madrid. Capt. Wheeler detailed Billie McGuoirk and me to ride up in a bend and report the movements of the Yankees. We rode up within a short distance of where they were landing troops on our side.

It was but a short time until the Yankee army was advancing on us. By this time all of our infantry were marched south from Tiptonville. We had only two companies of cavalry in the bend, so we formed our lines and as they would advance we would fire on them and fall back and form a line of battle. We carried up the rear of our army and fought all day. We had one man killed, our third Lieutenant, Duff. The army fell back below Tiptonville in the edge of Reelfoot Lake bottom. There we remained until morning. We marched back in the rear of the infantry. We were ordered to dismount and we lay down by our horses with the bridles in our hand, but we did not sleep a great deal.

Next Morning I saw General Grant walk out and tell one of his Captains to have that firing stopped. I knew then that we were surrendered. It was not long until they were stacking arms.
When we had volunteered in our Company we had requested our Captain to never surrender if there was any chance to fight or run out. When I saw we had surrendered four or five of us went to the Captain and told him that if he was not going to take us out we would break arms and leave, although the chances looked gloomy for we were cut off by Real Foot Lake. The water was all over the bottom. The lake was called six miles wide at that time.

We insisted until the Captain went to General Grant and told him what he had promised his men. The General told him that he could not give him any permission to leave but that if he did move out to be very quiet. When the Captain came up he said "men mount your horses and cap your guns." That was good news to us, for we expected to have to fight through the lines.
He gave the orders to left wheel into column and march, we traveled only a short distance until we struck the public road that led to the ferry on Reelfoot Lake. We struck a gallop when we came to the road, for we saw a squadron of yankee soldiers coming toward the road. They were placing the pickets around the army, but they did not fire on us.

We made good time to the ferry but alas Colonel Miller had charge of the ferry to transport his men across the lake, but he told us when he crossed his men we could take charge of it but our Captain knew very well that the yankees would soon overhaul us so he procured a pilot and marched down the lake about six miles. It was a trail most all the way through back water and switch cain, after travelling six miles west, we turned south toward the main lake. This was a very dim road half of the time we were marching single file. We had a great deal of water to contend with all the way sometime we would leave to swim sloughs and low places till we came to a knoll or a small island of about two acres above water.

The guide told us that when we left the knoll we would have to swim 75 yards and then our horses could stand and rest but from there we would have to swim 1 to 2 miles and no place to rest. We made the start and when we stopped to rest nearly every man said "Captain go onward and we will follow", from here we could see the main channel of the lake and it was high, it had a swift current. The Captain saw the great danger that lay in front of us and he turned in his saddle and made a speech about twenty-five minutes long. He told the Company that we would drown if we tried to swim the lake. He said that if we would swim back to the knoll he would make a way for our escape.

Microfilm Roll 2162 - Calhoun Monitor - Pittsboro, MS - December 12, 1912

Previous issue available October 10, 1912. [Missing issues as noted]
A War Story - A. A. Griffin
(continued from last week)
We had 40 rounds of cartridges for our guns and it would be impossible for us to undertake to swim the lake. He claimed that the yankees had only a dim trail to follow us through the water, and that we could whip all that came. This hole was called Beef Camp.
There was a small house on the noll, [sic] we tore the house down and tied three logs together and our guide and two men made their way across the lake to get dugouts to transport the Company across the lake. They were gone 2 days and nights before they returned with the dugouts and help. We had no rations for a day and night before we stopped at this Island.
Capt. Wheeler called for two men to go back and get some rations. So Bill McGuoirk and myself volunteered to go. We traveled about three miles through water and came to a house on the public road in about half a mile of Tiptonville. This was where the yankees were stationed. I called to the man of the house and told him our condition, and said we wanted a bushel of meal, a side of meat and some dinner. He said it would not be safe for us to dismount as the yankees were passing every hour in the day. Ii told him if he would stand in the hall and watch we would take the chances, for we were mounted on good horses and Ii knew if we could get a little start they could never overtake us.

So we dismounted and the good lady set her cold dinner for us. You can imagine how we ate as we had not eaten any thing in two days and nights. After we finished our meal the good man brought out the meal and meat, we thanked him for his kindness paid him for his meal and meat, mounted our horses and made good time going back.

Our company rejoiced when he [we] returned, for we numbered 150 men and they were hungrey. We did not have cooking utensils, so we cleaned some cypress boards and managed to make the dough, spread it on a board and set it up by the fire to cook. Then we would take a stick and hang a slice of meat on it and let it broil. the grease would fall on the dough, this made a good Johnnie cake.

Our two men and guide returned after two days with several dugouts and some help. During this time our horses had nothing to eat but cane.

We commenced crossing and as I had been raised on the river could handle a boat I went to work. One man and one horse went with each boat and one man to paddle the boat. The saddle, gun and cartridge were put in the boat and the horse was led by the side of the boat. We kept this up for two days and nights before we all crossed. The men would go out to Gen. Tipton's near the bottom and rations were cooked for them as they arrived.

As I had charge of a boat my horse and Billie Mitchell's were the last to go over. We were both young and fearless so we aggreed [sic] to swim our horses over. I turned my boat over to another man and we put our guns and saddles in the boat and mounted our horses to swim across, but alas we hardly got half way until our horses gave out, so we held to our bridles and swam to the boats and floated our horses across.

It proved to all that Captain Wheeler saved the company from being drowned when he turned back to the Island. As we were crossing, when we arrived at Gen. Tiptons all the cooked meat was out, but there was plenty of bread and they set out a middling of raw meat, as we had but little time to tarry we ate of the raw meat as though it had been cooked. By this time it was night and as we had heard the yankees would cut us off at Forkedeer [Forked Deer] we lost no time getting out.

We had to travel east for several miles parrell [sic] with the lake as there were no roads running south until we struck this little town. There we expected to have to fight the yankees. Captain Wheeler haulted [sic] his men about half a mile from town and ordered them to cap their guns and be very quiet. The moon was shining very bright when we came to the town but everthing [sic] was quiet and to our delight we found no yankees. after we had passed through the main town we struck a bridge that was about 150 yards long. The bridge was not more than 10 feet high but it seemed as it could have been heard frive miles when our hourses struck the bridge. We traveled the rest of the night toward Jackson Tennessee.

Events: Union Occupation 3/1862 - 6/1862

Category: Prisoner of War Accounts
Origin: A.A. Griffin
Location: Fort Delaware
Description: A. A Griffin tells some of his war experiences, including the horrors of military prisons.
As my days are short here on this earth having cancer that will kill me sooner or later, I feel like I want to write something about my Prison life during the late war.

I and five others of my company, which was Company E. 1st Mississippi Calvary, consisting of Mart Hollis, Lafayeete Hollis, R. K. Williams, West McKnight and Tom Lockhart, were captured near Vicksburg, Miss. We were carried to Gaines' Landing, where we were called out one by one to our rendesvoose (sic), near where the boat was, which was to take us to Memphis.

When my name was called I walked out and a Yankee soldier from Illinois walked up to me and asked if I was named A. A. Griffin. I told him I was and that I was from Mississippi. He said that was his name too, and we decided that from our history, we were kinfolks. He begged me like a brother to take the oath of Allegiance and he would send me to his home and let me go to school. At this time I was only a boy, being sixteen years old. He assured me that when the war was over I could then come home, and he kept persistently at me trying to get me to do it until the boat began to move. He also informed me that I would be carried to Alton, Ill. and how bad I would be treated. He said the prisoners were dying like sheep there as it had formerly been a State Prison, but since turned into a Military prison, it was awful sickly and the prisoners had every disease known I told him No, I could not afford to do what he asked, and we parted. It was late in the evening when our boat started out for Memphis. Four of us tried to bribe the guard that night, but we had nothing but Confederate money and that would not go with him.

We stayed in Memphis several days and during this time I sold all my Confederate money at 20 cents on the dollar, hoping that I would be able to make my escape from the boat. I failed in this, for we were guarded by some dutch soldiers who watched us close. We arrived at Alton, Illi. the 5th day of July, 1863, and remained there until the last day of February, 1864. Two of my companions died there. R. K. Williams died Sept. 6, 1863 and L. Hollis died Nov. 2,1863. I was taken sick in a few days after we arrived with fever and lay in the hospital for a while. I recovered and a short while after this I was afflicted with an eye disease, which rendered my eyes almost blind. The doctor said I had the small pox and I was immediately sent to a small island in the Mississippi River, where there were others with the same malady. The river was frozen over and the ice was 4 feet deep so thick that wagons traveled across it. I stayed there one month, during which time my feet were frost-bitten. I begged the doctor to let me go back to the hospital, but he said I was not able. When he finally consented, I stepped down on the ice and stumbled and fell on it; I knew nothing until the next day. The Yankees carried me a mile to the hospital and it was said I was frozen stiff but the doctors restored me. For several months I lay in the hospital being treated for consumption. I was told that if I did not take the oath and get out I would die. One morning the Doctor told me to eat anything I wanted as I was going to die anyway. A Yankee convict sent me a piece of mutton for dinner. The next day I sent out a fifty dollar bill I had left and bought a chicken that served us several meals. I began to improve and after a thorough examination the doctors put me on another treatment. I soon got well.

I have seen at least 30 men with a ball and chain to their legs, the balls weighing from 60 to 100 pounds. This was punishment for some violation such as trying to escape. Some times our men would try to escape by tunneling under the walls. It was a slow process and the Yankees would always find it out before they were ready to escape. One night several of our men tried to get out over the walls with a ladder but the Yankees saw them and fired into them, killing two men.
There was an average of 8 deaths per day. Small pox killed more men than anything else. One morning 4 men went into the dead house and took 2 dead men out of the coffins and got into their places and their friends fastened them down. They intended to escape on their way to the burying grounds, but the doctors and nurse got into a dispute about being carried out with a pair of hospital socks on and went and opened the coffin. Imagine their surprise to find that the coffin contained a live man. The Yankees said since the men wished it they should be burried alive, they started with them but the men inside the coffins bursted out and started to run but were re-captured and forcd to wear a ball and chain and live on bread and water for 20 days in a cell.
There were about 30 Yankee convicts, mean men, in this prison and one day 4 of them got after one of our men, a nice quiet gentleman, who according to rumor fired the first gun of the war, and ran him into the hospital with their knives and killed him and walked out laughing and wiping the blood from their knives.

Finally on account of the prison being crowded, the officer received orders to transport 500 men to Fort Delaware. The officer told us that he had received orders to send 500 men to be exchanged and all of us wanted to go. Three men from Kentucky, who had some money, told him they would pay him $500 to put their names on the exchange list, so he charged every man $5 before he would put his name down, but he assured them that they would be exchanged. I paid my five dollars. We were carried out the last day of February, 1864, and arrived at Fort Delaware on the 4th of March and were kept there until the 12th of June, 1865, making 24 months I was in prison.
Fort Delaware was the worst prison in the North. We were marched by our states to our meals and often we got 3 crackers and a cup of soup for dinner. Once each week we got a piece of meat an inch square and an Irish potato cut in half.

If a man made a motion for another ration he was knocked down and drug out and hung up by the thumbs for 2 hours. I have seen men hung up this way until blood ran out of their ears and nose. If two or more persons collected together, they were shot at. If you threw anything or even spit out of the window you were shot at.

A plan was laid to escape by swimming the Delaware Bay, three miles wide. About 30 of us with a case knife for a saw, sawed pieces of plank from our bunks, bored holes in the end and tied two canteens to it. This would keep a man afloat. We cut a hole through the closet built over the bay and on a dark drizzly night made the attempt. The noise of getting into the water and the rush of men trying to get in first aroused the guard and most of the 30 who had gotten into the water were picked up. Some were never heard from. A man from my regiment got into within two hundred yards of the opposite shore and became so numb he could go no further and was picked up the next day.

After this we were marched out and searched every other day. This consumed the entire day, since there were 8,000 prisoners there. If you had two garments you had to pull one off. We were allowed one blanket if you had an overcoat and a blanket, you had to give one up. We were not allowed straw to lie on, just the hard floor, one blanket to the man. Very few of the doors and windows had any shutters. We were allowed 1 bushel of coal every 24 hours for every 200 men. All that kept us from freezing was lying close to one another and the animal kept us alive.
I believe that this is the worst punishment for men, giving him just enough to keep him alive and just enough clothes to keep him from freezing. I saw many men die begging for something to eat. When Forrest killed so many Yankees and negroes at Ft. Pillow, we were kept on 3 crackers a day for 20 days, and had to drink salt water.

They had a fine fort with 450 cannon, 150 on each floor. When the signal gun was fired at 9 o'clock at night all lights had to go out, if not they were shot at. Many were killed that way. If 3 or more men gathered together in day time on the yard they were fired on and at night if two stopped on the yard they were shot at. We were in more danger all in all, than if we were fighting.

We were in the battles at Corinth, Holly Springs, Franklin, Tombstation, Denmark and a great many others. I have a complete history of my war experience, but it is too long to publish.
A. A. Griffin