Edwin Powell

As printed in 1881

POWELL EDWIN, White Eyes township; farmer; born September 3, 3843; sen of Thomas H. and Margaret (Howell) PoT\'ell, who were natives of England. Edwin Powell's home was a depot on the “underground railroad,” and he was his father's principal help in assisting the colored emigrants from a land of bondage to freedom. His father was a strong union man and abolitionist, his son inherited Ihe same principles, and when the war broke out he manifested his patriotism by going to the front in the defense of his country. He enlisted August 13, 1861, when hut eighteen years of age, in Company G, One Hundred and Twenty-second 0. V. I, Second Brigade, Third Division and Sixth Corps. He was taken prisoner at Winchester, June 15, 1863, confined at Belle Island and Libby, and was paroled October 1, 1863. After he was captured at Winchester he, with some other prisoners, were marched ninety miles to Staunton, guarded by a detachment of rebel cavalry who had seen service in the front. They treated the prisoners very kindly, and when they reached Staunton, where the prisoners took the railroad for Richmond, the rebels warned them that they would receive rough usage from the “Home Guard” at Richmond, whom they characterized as cowardly wretches.

He was ni ordinary health, when captured, but was treated so badly, -while in prison, that he was nothing but a wreck when released; he weighed but ninety pounds, an average weight, when in good health, being about 145 pounds. Eations were issued twice a day, and were of an inferior quality, consisting of bean soup and mule meat. They were so nearly starved, at one time, that he and some others killed the lieutenant's dog, and eat it. This was thought to deserve severe punishment, and the authorities refused to issue rations until the name of him who had killed the dog was revealed. At the end of two days, their craving for food was so great that they gave up the guilty Yank, and he was bucked and begged, and left in that condition for twenty-four hours. The rebels rifled Mr. Powell's pockets, when he entered Belle Island, and again in Libby, and took everything of value he had about him, except 26 he had concealed in his cap; one ten-dollar bill he had chewed up, and put in a blouse-button, and a twenty-dollar bill, concealed in the same way, in another button.

The prison discipline was arbitrary and strict, and new prisoners who were but little acquainted with lhe regulations would sometimes step across the dead line, and all such were shot without ceremony. Some one was shot nearly every day, and the boys.believed that the guard was promised a furlough for every Yankee he shot. The apartments and clothes of Mr. Powell and his feUow-prisoners were allowed to become so filthy that they were compelled to fight the graybacks whole days at a time until they were covered with blood. He entered the service as a private, was made third corporal and was promoted to fifth duty sargent. He served till the close of the war, was mustered out at Baily's Cross Eoads, near Washington, June, 1665, and was discharged at Columbus. His regiment was in over eighty engagements. While at Winchester he was visited by his mother, who was taken prisoner with him, and she was put in Castle Thunder. (See Thomas H. Powell's sketch). After the war he lived at home with his parents until 1869, when he went to Independence, Montgomery county, Kansas, and entered 160 acres of land. He lived on it two years, returned to White Eyes, and traded his Kansas land for a large farm in White Eyes, on which he now resides. His first-vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln, while in the Shenandoah valley.

As printed in History of Coshocton County, Ohio: its past and present, 1740-1881. Containing a comprehensive history of Ohio; a complete history of Coshocton County ... a history of its soldiers in the late war ... (1881). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.