October 2.—We are very busy, trying to get clothes made for the exchanged prisoners. They are in a dreadful state for want of them; many of them have not changed their clothes for more than a mouth. Some of the ladies of the place promised to help us, but we have as yet seen nothing of them; they do not assist us in any way. This is not a wealthy place, and our army has been here for some time, which has impoverished it still more.
The prisoners complain bitterly of their treatment while in Jackson, Miss. Some of them told me that if they had been convicts they could not have been worse treated. This is something I can not understand. Who could forget Fort Donelson, and the hardships our poor men endured there! Every time I think of it a cold shudder runs through me; and then, to think what these poor fellows have endured since, during nearly one long year, in a cold northern prison! I hope that the patriotic state of Mississippi “has not tired of well-doing.”
