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14 “i am getting ready to feel quite happy” exchange and Release on february 6, 1865, Gen. John h. Winder entered the prison compound at florence to begin an inspection. he had taken only a few steps inside when he collapsed , dead of a heart attack. his tenure as commissary general of prisoners had been just over two months.1 Word of Winder’s death reached the officers at Columbia the same day. The news did not exact sympathy from the yankee captives. “no prisoner expressed regret at the demise of this cruel and tyranical old man,” one wrote. Added another , “Great rejoicing among the prisoners over the confirmation of his death.” one diarist even insisted, “his last words were give the prisoners no meat cut their sorghum down and give them the siftings of corn-meal.”2 had those same prisoners read some of Winder’s messages to Richmond, they might have moderated their views. They show an exasperated officer begging an unresponsive Confederate bureaucracy to ameliorate the condition of the prisoners . “i most respectfully ask the attention of the Department to the destitute condition of the prisoners of war at all prisons in regard to clothing and blankets,” he had written on December 15. “They are suffering very much for want of them. i hope some measures may be immediately taken to supply the want.” When nothing was done, he repeated virtually the same message on January 26.3 Winder also refused to lend thirty prisoners to Gen. Beauregard, who wanted to use them to remove torpedoes, primitive land mines, from a Confederate railroad line. Beauregard huffed that Union generals had utilized Confederate captives for the same purpose, but Winder was not moved. “i don’t think this is legitimate work for prisoners of war,” he wrote, and Richmond sustained him.4 Winder’s greatest effort on behalf of the prisoners was his attempt to get the 228 • Chapter 14 Confederate government to begin paroling the yankees unilaterally. he first proposed it on December 31, suggesting that there was no safe place to keep them in a shrinking Confederacy.Those whose terms of service had expired should go first, he suggested. Winder repeated the request on January 20. “i am at a loss to know where to send prisoners from florence,” he informed inspector General samuel Cooper. “in one direction the enemy are in the way. in the other the question of supplies presents an insuperable barrier.”5 limited exchanges had actually begun in early november. Butler and ould, commissioners of exchange, had reached an agreement to begin exchanging sick prisoners who would likely be unfit for duty for at least sixty days. on november 4 ould instructed Winder, then still at millen, to begin forwarding prisoners for exchange.6 news of the impending exchange reached florence on november 26.The next day samuel Grosvenor wrote, “At an early hour . . . the exchange excitement became intense. The first thousand went out for examination & the sick & convalescents were taken for exchange.” A number of prisoners tried to “flank” their way out, he added, but received nothing more than a set of handcuffs for their trouble. By the 28th the Confederates were shipping out prisoners from the second group of one thousand, and samuel Gibson reported, “The hospital is nearly cleaned out.”7 Because of the inability to secure transportation, many of the men who left florence soon found themselves back inside the stockade. By December 5 the Confederates were again sending prisoners away. Despite Grosvenor’s earlier claims, both James Bradd, who left on the 8th, and George hegeman, who was paroled on the 13th, “flanked” their way into groups of departing prisoners. Grosvenor received his parole on the 8th and “went out with a broad grin on my countenance.” he and his contingent had to wait four days for transportation. As they lay outside the compound, bitter cold and winds descended upon them. “i never suffered so much in one night in my life,” he wrote on the 12th. A number of parolees died of exposure while awaiting the trains.8 The departing florence prisoners all took the trains to Charleston, where they boarded Confederate transports, which delivered them to Union steamers. “The sight of the dear old flag revived our weak lungs and such a shout went up that was heard for many a mile around on the still bay,” George hegeman wrote. he added that he was so excited that he fainted for the first time in his...

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