Prison bunking & sleeping arrangements?

[Spinster]

And now, since you bring up the barracks beds in the prison, I'm wondering about another facet of the 19th century ideas of personal space.

We occassionally occupy an early 19th cabin setting with beds that are a generous twin, or a scant 3/4 bed, where sleeping space is in short supply, and the alternative is climbing up the ladder to the roach infested loft. Thus, everyone is doubled up. Some choose to sleep side by side, others head to toe. Children we just stack like cordwood after they fall asleep, and put ropes around the top bunk to hold them in.

Do we have any references on the preferred configurations when prison bunks or winter quarters bunks were shared?

[FloridaConfederate]

Do we have any references on the preferred configurations when prison bunks or winter quarters bunks were shared?


The Libby Chronicle

DEVOTED TO FACTS AND FUN.

EDITOR- IN- CHIEF, LOUIS N. BEAUDRY, CHAPLAIN FIFTH N. Y. VOL. CAVALRY.

VOL. I. LIBBY PRISON, RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER 18, 1863. No. 5.



The water we are compelled to drink is from the James river, which on account of the recent rains, is warm and muddy. Add to all this the filth and nauseating stench of these apartments, which decency forbids us to describe. All our rooms are overcrowded, so that in sections the sleepers are like sardines in a box. They are consequently compelled to lie spoon-fashion. Occasionally throughout the night, as poor fellows feel shoulder and hip, bones ache, we hear them cry, "Spoon over to the right," or "Spoon over to the left," when a turn-over of a whole broadside of sleepers has to be effected.


I have more still digging.


Chris Rideout
Tampa, FL

[FloridaConfederate]

The Libby Chronicle

Devoted to Facts and Fun.

Editor-in-Chief, LOUIS N. BEAUDRY, CHAPLAIN FIFTH N. Y. VOL. CAVALRY.

VOL. I. LIBBY PRISON, RICHMOND, VA., SEPTEMBER 25, 1863. NO. 6.

NOTES AND NOTICES.



Taking this young disciple by the arm we will saunter through the different wards or rooms of the prison for exercise, conversation and observation. A few flickering candles, bought by the prisoners, light our way. Objects of interest meet us on every hand. Here are the noisy and the quiet, the studious and the careless, the sad and the comparatively happy. We are led to exclaim, “How mysteriously are the lights and shades, the joys and sorrows, the good and bad, of this world mingled in one great mass!” Already at this early hour of the night lies a man upon the dirty floor for a bed, with, perhaps, a poor vermin-covered blanket under him. At his side are those who sing loudly or whistle to keep their courage up, or for amusement. Yonder is a group, like soldiers around a bivouac fire, engaged in conversation. Here an individual is striving to study by the pale light of a distant candle.

Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[FloridaConfederate]

Richmond Examiner, Saturday, 7/12/1862, p. 2

COTS FOR THE WOUNDED. - A large number of cots for the wounded prisoners are being manufactured at the Libby prison. They are of plank, raised about two feet from the ground, with a head support, and, with a blanket covering, are quite comfortable.

It is expected that a large number will be sent to Belle Isle, in the James River, where they will have the benefit of fine water and fresh air.


Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[FloridaConfederate]

O.R.--SERIES II--VOLUME VI [S# 119]
UNION AND CONFEDERATE CORRESPONDENCE, ORDERS, ETC., RELATING TO PRISONERS OF WAR AND STATE FROM JUNE 11, 1863, TO MARCH 31, 1864.--#13

LIBBY PRISON, Richmond, September 18, 1863


Five hundred and seventy-one officers are at present confined here in four rooms, containing by actual measurement 16,936 square feet, or twenty-nine square feet--less than six feet square--to each individual These rooms are used for sleeping, cooking, eating, and for all other purposes. From the barred windows of these rooms we can look on the world outside, but are never permitted to go into the pure air or walk upon "Mother Earth." One room is furnished with bunks for some of its occupants: in the others prisoners lie huddled in groups upon the floor during the night, with the allowance of one blanket each; some have no blankets at all. No seats are provided, and any one found seated upon his blanket during the day has it rudely dragged from him; the sickness of the possessor of the blanket will not save it for him


I will sit back wait for Thielmann to berate me for wasting bytes.

Chris Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[FloridaConfederate]

Richmond Enquirer, 2/2/1864
THE LIBBY PRISON AND ITS CONTENTS.
In the same manner the Libby takes in the captured Federals by scores, but lets none out; they are huddled up and jammed into every nook and corner; at the bathing troughs, around the cooking stoves, everywhere there is a wrangling, jostling crowd; at night the floor of every room they occupy in the building is covered, every square inch of it, by uneasy slumberers, lying side by side, and heel to head, as tightly packed as if the prison were a huge, improbable box of nocturnal sardines.

CJ Rideout
Tampa, Florida

[FloridaConfederate]

LIBBY’S BRIGHT SIDE.

The Silver Lining in the Dark Cloud That Overhung Federal Prisoners.

ANTICS OF A STAGE ELEPHANT

A Reduced Fac-Simile of a Famous Christmas Eve Playbill.

PASTIMES AND AMUSEMENTS

Annals of the War of the Rebellion - Chapters o Unwritten History.

BY FRANK E. MORAN,

Late Captain in the Seventy-third N. Y. Volunteers


NIGHT INCIDENT.

In each of the large rooms at night the prisoners covered the floor completely, lying in straight rows like prostrate lines of battle. It was, of course, inevitable that among such a large number of sleepers there should appear the usual affliction of loud snorers, whose involuntary discord at times drew a terrific broadside of boots, tin-cans and other convenient missiles, which invariably struck the wrong man with the most deadly precision. Among our number was one particular officer, whose unfortunate habit of grinding his teeth secured him a larger share of room at night than was commonly allowed to a single prisoner, and inspired his comrades with the unanimous hope that a special exchange might restore him to his family, for certainly he was a man who would be missed from wherever he had lived, certainly wherever he had lodged. On one memorable night, when this gentleman was entertaining us with his customary tooth solo, one of our comrades who had been kept awake for the previous three nights, after vainly and repeatedly shouting to the nocturnal minstrel to “Shut up, for God’s sake,” arose in his wrath and picking his step in the dark among his prostrate comrades, arrived at last near a form which he felt certain was that of the disturber of his peace, and with one mighty effort he bestowed a kick in the ribs of the victim that was distinctly heard in every part of the room and hurriedly retreated to his place. Then arose the kicked officer, who was not the grinder, and amid the silence of the night made an eloquent address to his invisible assailant, employing terms and vigorous adjectives that I certainly do not remember to have seen in the revised edition of the New Testament, and vehemently declaring in his brilliant peroration that he’d be “blank-blanked if it was not outrage enough to be compelled to spend wakeful nights beside a man who made his life a burden to him and his nights hideous with tooth serenades, but it was a little too much to be kicked for him,” and resumed his hard bed amid thunderous applause, during which the grinder was awakened and was for the first time made aware of the cause of the enthusiasm.

[Artyman]

Those of you who, like myself, have been to Fort Niagra and have seen the enlisted mens billets will recall the reconstructed bunks that run along the wall, slightly sloped, where upon a dozen sleepers my rest upon the hard planks, spooned or what ever, but none the less leaving nothing more than the man's blanket to seperate him from his fellow sleeper. You will also recall that the officer bunks in the upper rooms are quite small, not long enough or wide enough to fully stretch out upon without having some part hanging over the edge. I shared one of the small bunks one night with a lady friend, where upon we rested quite well, in spite of the incessant cold breeze blowing into the room through the window, from the Lake, slightly burdoned with snow, but warm enough in the bunk not to complain about the cramped nature of the bed. The crashing of the waves against the rocks below the wall serve as a fine lullabye, and a natural and quite powerful aphrodisiac. Such nights don't come very often but are remembered forever.

I'd have not offered a man the same accomodation, nor him me! But I'd have found room for still another lady, or two, had the need presented itself.

Harry

[hanktrent]

Here's a description (http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA70&dq=bed+pumpkin+pillow+missouri&lr=&id=YWQAAAAAYAAJ&as_brr=0&as_pt=ALLTYPES&output=html)of a situation similar to what Mrs. Lawson described, though it doesn't specify whether the people slept feet-to-head or head-to-head. It's 1840s western, and pretty funny. You can see by the highlighted search terms what stuck in my mind enough to search to find it again.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

[Spinster]

:p

No longer can folks insist that I should not use the dish pan for a foot tub. I have documentation!!! And Hank, I think the most we ever managed to sleep in what most folks would consider 4 generous single bunks was 12, to include children and a turkey who considered it to be his home too. Not for one night either, but for the better part of a week. We've since lost use of those quarters as more soldiers now populate the site. We whine on a regular basis, as spacious canvas is never as warm as snug chinked timbers.

Chris, no matter the place or time, prison conditions are always heart-rending to read.