Immortal Captives by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, page 101
At Morris Island.
Sept 10th-- As the Yankees are continually boasting about how well they feed us, I will attempt to give account of each meal. Roll call one and one half hours by sun for breakfast, three crackers issued, one tablespoon of rice........ Rations for dinner, one half pint bean soup, two crackers, wormy and full of bugs. Rations for Supper, two ounces of bacon, two crackers, wormy as usual Sept 11 ....... water full of wiggle tails today. Rations old salt beef, two ounces, one cracker, wormy as usual. Sept 12 .... Rations for breakfast two ounces old salt beef, so badly spoiled that we could not eat half of it. Three crackers, musty and full of worms --- not fit for hogs. One of our officers showed his rations of crackers to the Colonel in charge of us (Col Howell, 54th Mass.) His reply was "do you know are now in Charleston on Bread and water?" The prisoners wished to know the reason. His reply "because they are Yankees".... I am well but feel very weak and hungry, falling off fast. Sept. 15..... Wrote to my wife, very hungry, never any other way. Sept 16...... Am very hungry, every time I sleep I dream of something to eat. The crackers we get will not make two good mouthfulls, they arte so thin and small.