The Civil War in America was a harrowing experience for those who lived through it, especially those who served in the armed forces. While the war has been extensively documented in writing and photographs, for our family, the writings of my great-great-grandfather, Benjamin Cruiser McWilliams, reveal more suffering than glory.
The McWilliams family, originally Scots-Irish from County Armagh, Ireland, settled in the northern Appalachian Mountains of Pennsylvania after arriving in the American colonies. The early generations of the McWilliams family, along with the German families they married into, have been extensively researched by my cousin Cindy Cruz (starting here).
Benjamin was born on October 18, 1843, and grew up on the family farm in Chillesquaque, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania. Inspired by patriotism following the Battle of Gettysburg, he enlisted in the 16th Pennsylvania Cavalry in the summer of 1863. However, in October of that year, his horse went lame, and he, along with other dismounted soldiers, was captured by the Confederates.
His first stop was Libby Prison in Richmond, where his group of prisoners encountered a notorious gang:
Here was the first start of the ‘Raider’ of which 6 was hung afterwards for murder in Andersonville in 1864. I will trace them from prison to prison as I go along.
Shortly after his time at Libby, McWilliams was transferred to Belle Isle Prison, also in Richmond, where he described his first experience with hunger:
We was issued bean soup of the famous shick pear with more bugs than pear. Well, we had never had enough to eat since captured and we was ravenous with hunger so that the half loaf of bread we received tasted sweeter than any sugar we had ever tasted. We all felt curious to know if they would get enough to fill up on; filling was what we was after now.
In early 1864, he was sent south to the infamous Andersonville Prison in Georgia:
After 8 days we finally brought up at Andersonville. It was in the daytime and we had a chance to see as poor a country as ever layed out of doors. The timber came up nearly to the station and consisted of nine of the long leaf varieties. … A man by the name of White had charge of all who came there and we were turned into the stockade made of logs hewed on 4 sides and cut 20 feet long; set 5 feet in the ground leaving 15 feet out. … There was some stragglers there who was captured different places and sent there, perhaps 20 men when we got there. So we were the first lot of prisoners who arrived there.
At Andersonville, he again encountered the Raiders:
I drew my rations among the rowdies and cut-throats who were most all in the first squad, thinking they could get out first and if anyone came in for any cause, they were the first to know. They were most all Catholics and all the six who were hung were. I spent little time there, attended roll call, drew my rations and went back. My name being Mc they thought I was a Catholic and I never told them better. After about 6 weeks, when I went down for my rations, my sergeant, whose name was Jimmy, says, "Mc, there's no grub for you here. You played it fine but they have caught you. Don't blame you." So that confined me to one ration besides the toll from our sifter. I was in a shape to know who the Raiders were as I had come in contact with the "Molly McGuires"of the coal region and knew how they worked and it did not take me long to tell them.
From Andersonville, McWilliams was transferred to prisons in Millen and then Savannah, where he was fortunate to be present at the conclusion of Sherman’s March to the Sea. Like other Civil War veterans in my family, he eventually settled in Barton County, Missouri. He married Mary Ann Cloud (from an earlier blog post) and became a respected member of the community.
Much more of his writings have been transcribed, offering insight into the unimaginable hardships these prisoners endured, their interactions with enemy soldiers and guards, and the clever ways they used their wits to survive.
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