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padlocked, thus fastening them permanently, and the Venetian doors were padlocked also. The keys were kept by the Sergeant, who was the deputy, or assistant, of the Provost Marshal, and, in his absence, no one had access to our rooms. In consequence of this, we were often put to serious inconvenience, and on several occasions, our meals, which were trundled up from the hotel on a wheelbarrow, remained for an hour or two outside of the door, awaiting the pleasure of the Sergeant. After the closing of the doors and shutters, our situation was of course, far more irksome than ever. — The Venetian doors were not quite so high as the solid doors, and by standing on anything that elevated us a few inches, we could manage to look out over them. Through these furtive and unsatisfactory glimpses only, could we obtain any sight of the outer world on that side of our prison. From the back rooms we had a limited view of the river, and of some of the shipping; and of this prospect it was impossible by the exercise of any ingenuity to deprive us. — A day or two before we left, we were allowed, at intervals during the day, the use of an adjoining casemate. Sanitary considerations, I presume, compelled our keepers to grant us a privilege, which it was sheer brutality to have so long denied us. A door communicated between our quarters and this new casemate, at which a sentinel was stationed, who permitted two persons to pass at one time. The more disgusting and painful details of our imprisonment, I must abstain from dwelling on. Our rooms were swept each morning, and such other personal services as were absolutely necessary, were hurriedly performed by two filthy negro boys, under the supervision of the Sergeant of the Guard.
We were permitted to correspond with our families and friends, all our letters undergoing the scrutiny of one of General Wool's officers. But we were not allowed to make any public statements, nor even to correct the falsehoods or slanders which were circulated about us in the newspapers. On one occasion, a paragraph appeared in the Baltimore American, which by way of justifying our arrest, alleged that the Government had in its possession
