Latest / Prison Life in Andersonville / 007 - Ch6 - Unsealing of the Spring

Transcript

007 - Ch6 - Unsealing of the Spring · Prison Life in Andersonville

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter six of prison Life in Andersonville by John Lee
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: by Miley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Recording by Jeffrey Smith, New Orleans, Louisiana, unseiling of the spring.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: On Friday morning, an ominous stillness pervaded nature. By the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: middle of the forenoon, a dense dark cloud was noticed
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in the southwest quarter of the horizon. Slowly creeping upward,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: it rose above the tree tops, majestic and awful in appearance.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: A troop of small, scurrying, angry looking clouds seemed to
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: form an advancing line to the vast mass of storm cloud.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: The onward movement quickened, and soon the front of the
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: mountain of approaching cloud assumed a gray appearance, caused by
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the mighty downpour of water, which, more nearly than anything else,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: seemed a continuous cloud burst. Crashes of thunder broke over
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: our heads, and flashes of lightning swished around us, as
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: if the air was filled with short circuits. The awful
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: moving wall came towards us rapidly, and we understood what
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: was happening. As the mighty deluge swept through the clearing
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: west of the prison. We bowed our heads in preparation
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: of submersion in the advancing water spout. When it came
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: upon us, the sensation was as if a million buckets
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of water were being poured upon us at once. The
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: air was so filled with the roaring, hissing flood that
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: we could not look up, but bent forward to protect
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: our faces, covering our nostrils with our head hands to
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: preserve a little breathing space. Instantly, rivulets of water poured
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: down over our bodies, as if a hose were discharging
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: its stream on our shoulders, and the surface of the
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: filthy ground was soon covered with a rush of muddy water.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: The swamp space as quickly filled with great swirling eddies.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: The upper stockade served as a dam across the creek,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: which in a few minutes became swollen into the dimensions
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: of a river. Driftwood bore down upon the stockade, causing
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: it to give way with a mighty crash. The heavy
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: timbers were whirled across the prison as if they were
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: mere straws, and by the force of their impact, carried
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: away the rear stockade. From the batteries, solid shot was
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: fired over our heads to warn us that if we
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: attempted to escape through the opening in the wall, we
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: would be swept by the cannon. The roar of the
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: guns chimed harmoniously with the thundering of the storm. In
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the awful suspense of such overwhelming conditions, the progress of
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: time could not be measured. The downpour may have continued
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes, perhaps half an hour, or possibly longer. So
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: great was its fury that we felt it must soon end,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: or it would end us. Fortunately it ceased as suddenly
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: as it came. Looking up, we saw the great water
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: wall retreating. The sun burst forth with unwonted vigor, and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: shone with brilliant effect upon the receding rain. A dense
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: fog arose from the drying garments of thirty five thousand
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: human bodies and from the exhalations of sounding surfaces. As
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: the heavy mist cleared away, the drenched and forlorn prisoners
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: tried to be merry. They viewed with complacency the breach
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: in the walls of the infamous pen, and wished that
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: every timber had been leveled to the earth. A witty
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: comrade on the south hill of the prison, thinking to
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: convey desired information to the north side, shouted at the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: top of his voice. Water water men on the north side,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: as by a common impulse, answered back, and the two
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: great companies in turn shouted the magic word, much as
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the opposite hosts on Ebal and Jeroziine alternately responded Amen.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: Immediately after this antifhanal outburst, a voice was heard from
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: the north gate, ringing out in clear tones the thrilling
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: words a spring, A spring is broken out? Where where
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: was the eager inquiry, which arose at once from many lips.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: The rider tried to press his way toward the north gate,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: but the crowd was so dense that no progress could
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: be made. The excitement of the moment was indescribable. During
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: a lull, someone sang out, you fellows over by the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: north gate, tell Us has a spring broken out? Yes?
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Was the reply, and emphatic yes then was further shouted
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: the explanation where the trench was dug. The flood has
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: torn up the earth and a spring has gushed out.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: As soon as opportunity afforded, we pressed our way to
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: the spot, and there, just below the north gate, in
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the center of the space between the stockade and the deadline,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: at the point where the earth had been most deeply excavated,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the sloping surfaces had gathered the waters of the flood.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: The bottom of the trench was torn up some twenty inches,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: uncovering the vent of a spring of purest crystal water,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: which shot up into the air in a column, and,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: falling in a fan like spray, went babbling down the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: grade into the noxious brook. Looking across the deadline, we
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: beheld with wondering eyes and grateful hearts the fountain spring.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: But our relief was not yet realized. The question which
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: now concerned us was how to bring its cooling waters
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: within reach of our lips. In the afternoon and evening
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: of that eventful Friday, we prayed that God would so
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: turn the heart of Captain Wurtz that he would allow
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: the precious water to be conveyed within our lines. We
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: waded in suspense for the answer, and on Saturday morning,
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: to our delight, we saw the quartermaster again enter the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: gate with a gang of slaves, bringing fence boards, hammers, nails, axes,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: and stakes. A double row of the latter was driven
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: so that the direction crossed the deadline at a slight
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: angle down the hill. A strip was nailed across each
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: pair of stakes, and in the aperture rested a trough
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: made of two fence boards nailed together. At the lower
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: end of this chute, in an excavation, was set a
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: sugar hogshead, around which clay was tamped so as to
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: aid in making it water tight. When all was ready,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: the upper end of the chute was thrust under the
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: falling column of water, which swiftly ran down and filled
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: to overflowing the large barrel. From this the men by
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: clouds dipped freely of the refreshing, life giving water. Laughter, songs,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: and thanksgiving abounded. Thus was wrought before our eyes a
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: gracious work of providence, which to many of us was
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: quite as wonderful and quite as manifestly the work of
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the All Father, as was the smitten rock in the
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: Palestine desert, from which the thirst of the fainting hosts
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: of Israel was slacked in their desert wanderings. End of
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Chapter six