February 8, 2023
Thirteen Months in Dixie, or,
The Adventures of a Federal Prisoner in Texas
Steven Knowlton
Librarian, Department of History and of African American Studies,
Princeton University
George Bustin ( introducer)/ Steven Knowlton ( speaker)
Minutes of the 18th Meeting of the 81st Year
George Bustin, Old Guard Vice-President and Program Committee Chair, opened and presided over the Zoom meeting. Priscilla Roosevelt read the minutes from the February 1 meeting, a presentation by Dean Gene Jarrett about the 19th century poet Paul Dunbar, which included his early collaboration with Orville Wright in Dayton, Ohio. Mr. Bustin noted that the next speaker will be Stanley Corngold, Emeritus Professor of German at Princeton, with a talk entitled The Mind in Exile: Thomas Mann in Princeton and Thomas Mann and the Kohler Circle in Princeton.
Dermot Gately reported there were six guests: Jeannine Honstein (guest of the speaker Steven Knowlton and co-author of the book on which the talk is based), Anton and Alison Lahnston (guests of Ralph Widner), Lucius Clay (guest of Daniel Shapiro), John Higgins (guest of David Fulmer and applicant for Old Guard membership) and Audrey Cohen (guest of Manny Kaplan). Greg Dobbs reported 113 unique viewers present via Zoom.
Oscar Federhen's extraordinary but true Civil War adventure came to light because Jeaninne Honstein, inherited the original family heirloom manuscript written in long hand by Oscar himself. He first drafted the manuscript around 1877 but later revised and expanded it. It remained in the family unnoticed until Jeannine, a Princeton native, transcribed the document and worked with Princeton University Librarian Steven Knowlton in 2017-2018 to annotate and confirm the historical record, resulting in its 2022 publication.
Oscar Federhen is a middle class Boston man age 20 who enlisted in the 13th Independent Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery on March 25, 1864. He was shipped out to Louisiana via steamer to participate in the Red River Campaign, arriving in New Orleans on April 21. He boarded the steamer Rob Roy up the Mississippi River to Alexandria, La to rendezvous with his unit. He left the boat on April 30 for a short shore leave but missed the return. Then on May 3, he was captured by Confederate soldiers who took all his best provisions and equipment: gun, watch, money, shoes, clothes. Now he experienced POW life, marching from May 5 - 16, 1864, to arrive in Shreveport, La, then on to Tyler TX to the Camp Ford Confederate stockade, filled with over 4000 prisoners. Camp Ford was the largest Civil War POW camp west of the Mississippi River.
Oscar describes the miseries of Civil War POW life in vivid detail while in Camp Ford from May to October 1864. However, the US Sanitary Commission did send boxes of clothing for prisoners: blouse, shirt, pair of shoes, blanket (much like the modern-day Red Cross). By the time Oscar had arrived in Camp Ford, prisoner exchanges had ceased. Thus, he made several attempts to escape, but blood hounds always found him. Schemes included hiding in dirt pile trucks and tunneling. The Camp was originally open air with no tents or cottages until a new camp commander came. Then the POWs were able to build their own cabins of six. There continued to be constant disease, with the need to boil one's clothes.
Finally Oscar escaped with a party of four by using turpentine to kill the scent so the dogs could not follow. They left and headed west to Sherman, TX but he soon lost two in his party. Throughout this odyssey, Oscar noted extreme poverty throughout East Texas, wherever they stopped to beg for food or shelter.
Oscar had many more adventures, eventually travelling alone. He ended up imprisoned again in Bonham Tx with Gen. McCulloch's party. Here Oscar was placed in painful leg irons, which would cause him life-long problems. He continued to make escape attempts, finally obtaining a donkey to ride partway to Shreveport. There he boarded a steamboat heading down the Red River to Alexandria and the Union Army.
Although Oscar had no papers, he successfully relayed his stories and upriver observations, especially after he was cleaned up and appropriately dressed, and reunited with his Union unit on June 6, 1865. After being mustered out on July 28, 1865, Oscar led a long and uneventful life, dying at age 88.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry
Dermot Gately reported there were six guests: Jeannine Honstein (guest of the speaker Steven Knowlton and co-author of the book on which the talk is based), Anton and Alison Lahnston (guests of Ralph Widner), Lucius Clay (guest of Daniel Shapiro), John Higgins (guest of David Fulmer and applicant for Old Guard membership) and Audrey Cohen (guest of Manny Kaplan). Greg Dobbs reported 113 unique viewers present via Zoom.
Oscar Federhen's extraordinary but true Civil War adventure came to light because Jeaninne Honstein, inherited the original family heirloom manuscript written in long hand by Oscar himself. He first drafted the manuscript around 1877 but later revised and expanded it. It remained in the family unnoticed until Jeannine, a Princeton native, transcribed the document and worked with Princeton University Librarian Steven Knowlton in 2017-2018 to annotate and confirm the historical record, resulting in its 2022 publication.
Oscar Federhen is a middle class Boston man age 20 who enlisted in the 13th Independent Battery, Massachusetts Light Artillery on March 25, 1864. He was shipped out to Louisiana via steamer to participate in the Red River Campaign, arriving in New Orleans on April 21. He boarded the steamer Rob Roy up the Mississippi River to Alexandria, La to rendezvous with his unit. He left the boat on April 30 for a short shore leave but missed the return. Then on May 3, he was captured by Confederate soldiers who took all his best provisions and equipment: gun, watch, money, shoes, clothes. Now he experienced POW life, marching from May 5 - 16, 1864, to arrive in Shreveport, La, then on to Tyler TX to the Camp Ford Confederate stockade, filled with over 4000 prisoners. Camp Ford was the largest Civil War POW camp west of the Mississippi River.
Oscar describes the miseries of Civil War POW life in vivid detail while in Camp Ford from May to October 1864. However, the US Sanitary Commission did send boxes of clothing for prisoners: blouse, shirt, pair of shoes, blanket (much like the modern-day Red Cross). By the time Oscar had arrived in Camp Ford, prisoner exchanges had ceased. Thus, he made several attempts to escape, but blood hounds always found him. Schemes included hiding in dirt pile trucks and tunneling. The Camp was originally open air with no tents or cottages until a new camp commander came. Then the POWs were able to build their own cabins of six. There continued to be constant disease, with the need to boil one's clothes.
Finally Oscar escaped with a party of four by using turpentine to kill the scent so the dogs could not follow. They left and headed west to Sherman, TX but he soon lost two in his party. Throughout this odyssey, Oscar noted extreme poverty throughout East Texas, wherever they stopped to beg for food or shelter.
Oscar had many more adventures, eventually travelling alone. He ended up imprisoned again in Bonham Tx with Gen. McCulloch's party. Here Oscar was placed in painful leg irons, which would cause him life-long problems. He continued to make escape attempts, finally obtaining a donkey to ride partway to Shreveport. There he boarded a steamboat heading down the Red River to Alexandria and the Union Army.
Although Oscar had no papers, he successfully relayed his stories and upriver observations, especially after he was cleaned up and appropriately dressed, and reunited with his Union unit on June 6, 1865. After being mustered out on July 28, 1865, Oscar led a long and uneventful life, dying at age 88.
Respectfully submitted,
Julianne Elward-Berry