Confederate Veteran

The Story of the Six Hundred

Volume 5, March 1897, page 148

Part II

The arrival at Fort Pulaski, an attempted escape through a hole cut in the ship's stern, and the comparative kindness of Col. P. P. Brown and the 157th New York.

Signed “By Judge Henry Howe Cook, Franklin, Tenn.” Headed “(Continued from last month.) Part II.”

Cite as

Henry Howe Cook, “The Story of the Six Hundred,” Confederate Veteran 5, no. 3 (March 1897)*: 148.

Published
March 1897issue inferred
Volume
5, no. 3
Pages
148
Author
Henry Howe Cook

The instalment opens mid-sentence: the paragraph beginning “ment. My friends were all young men…” is the tail of the previous month's column, carried over by the scanner.

THE STORY OF THE SIX HUNDRED,

BY JUDGE HENRY HOWE COOK, FRANKLIN, TENN.;

ment. My friends were all young men from Middle Tennessee, with no knowledge of commercial affairs, and none of us asked or received credit, though it was "known that the sutler, Mr. Bell, was one of the kindest of men. I had a.common little silver watch which a

(Continued from last month.)

Parr II. {

We reached Fort Pulaski about midnight, and while

at anchor several of the party made a most reckless at- '

tempt to escape. During the passage down some of them had cut a hole in the stern of the vessel, and when we reached anchor six or seven lowered themselves into the water. They were soon discovered, fished out, and brought back into the ship. It would have been impossible for them to escape, as there are nothing but little barren islands on the coast, and had they reached one of these they would have starved to death. The mainland was too far off to be reached.

The next morning we landed and were conducted to the interior of the fort, and here we went to sleep on the brick floor. The following morning we met Col. P. P. Brown, Lieut.-Col. Carmichael, and many of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York Regiment. Never during the war did I meet better looking and better discliplined or a kinder Federal regiment of men. Col. Brown addressed us ina kind manner. He promised all in his power for our comfort, not contrary to orders from headquarters. Lumber was furnished, and, with the assistance of the carpenters of the regiment, in two days we had bunks and tables. Provisions were supplied in quantity and quality as good as we could reasonably expect, and we began to improve in health and appearance.

The scan

What the scanner made of this page, and what it is in the printed original.

  • “discliplined” is “disciplined”; “ina kind manner” is “in a kind manner.”

Editorial notes

Statements in this article that are wrong, doubtful, or worth setting beside another account. The article’s own text is left as printed.

  1. “Col. P. P. Brown … of the One Hundred and Fifty-seventh New York Regiment”

    Col. Philip P. Brown Jr., 157th New York Infantry, who commanded at Fort Pulaski. Cook's good opinion of him is echoed in other prisoners' accounts; the starvation ration at Pulaski was imposed over Brown's head, by order from the Department of the South.