THE IMMORTAL SIX HUNDRED
drove our men to catching and. eating dogs, cats, and rats. Now, when I can calmly think over the terrible ordeal, I wonder why we did not eat each other. How one man of the Immortal Six Hundred came out of Fort Pulaski and Hilton Head prisons alive is beyond the ken of man. God only knows. Our men became as expert as cats at catching rats. If a rodent poked his nose out of his hole some fellow would nab him like a cat. We had cleaned out all the cats about the fort but one. He was a pet of Colonel Brown's wife; she begged us not to disturb him, so Tom came in our prison perfectly free from danger, although I must say that about Christmas day the temptation was very great to make a Christmas roast of Tom. We went through Christmas week dreaming and talking of the good things our people must have at home in Dixie, and we would wonder if our loved ones and comrades had anything to eat beyond their army rations. On the first day of January, 1865, the
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