LIBBY LIFE: Experiences of A Prisoner of War in
Richmond, VA, 1863-64
By F.F. Cavada
PREFACE.
THE following notes were written, and the sketches which illustrate them
were drawn, not with the object of presenting a sensational picture of
the military prisons of the Confederacy, but simply to while away the idle
hours of a tedious and protracted captivity. Such scenes were therefore
preferred as, owing to their entertaining character, were best calculated
to dispel the gloom of the prison, and those were treated as briefly as
possible, which would have only added to that gloom; by a prolonged contemplation
of their miseries. A journal, or connected narrative, would have proved
too monotonous; I have endeavored, however, so to arrange the order of
events described, as to preserve a sufficient degree of chronological consistency.
My chief aim in these humble pages has been to perpetuate for my companions
in captivity, a compliance with their request, a truthful record of our
prison experiences,-a record which, while it cannot fail to bring back
upon our hearts some of the gloomy shadows which once darkened them in
the prisonhouse, may also renew upon our lips the irrepressible smiles
which were wont to wreathe them at times, in spite of hunger, suffering
and despair.
F. F. C.
CONTINENTAL HOTEL. PHILADELPHIA,
May, 1864.