Prisons/Prisoners
Andersonville Depositions
I Alson H. Blake of Milton in the county of Chittenden and State of Vermont on oath depose and say that I have been until recently a corporal in Copmany F 9th Regiment Vermont Vols in the United States service, while in the line of my duty in said company and regiment I was taken prisoner by the Rebels at the Battle of Newport Barracks (so called) in the State of North Carolina on the 2nd day of February AD 1864 and on or about the 22nd day of June following I was detailed Steward in Ward 5 Sumpter Hospital attached to Andersonville prison in the State of Georgia in which capacity I acted until on or about the 20th day of February AD 1865, at which time I was appointed by H.H. Clayton Surgeon in charge of said Hospital to keep the Book of Record of said prison and Hospital and from that time until the 17th day of April following I kept a book in which all the names of the Soldiers who died were recorded daily with date cause of death and number of grave in which the same belonged And I further say that on said 17th day of April said Death Record disappeared from said Hospital I further say that while said Record was in my custody I made a copy of all the entries in said Book of Record connected with and appertaining to Soldiers of Vermont Regiments which copy I secreted about my person and when released on the 18th day of April AD 1865 I brought away the same and now have it in my possession and know that the same is an accurate copy from Said Death Record which record I have reason to believe and do believe was accurately kept In said copy is an entry of which the following is a copy “Hiriam Laraway Company A 5th Regiment Vermont Volunteers Died Aug 3, 1864 of Diarrhea Buried in Grave No 4664” I am not interested in the claim of the said Hiram Laraway nor am I concerned in the prosecution thereof Alson H. Blake (Signed) (This deposition was taken 22 November 1865 in Georgia by C.W. Witters)
Source: Pension application papers; Mary, widow of Hiram Laraway, Berkshire, Co. A, 5th Vermont Infantry, taken prisoner May 10, 1864, died at Andersonville, August 3, 1864; courtesy of Erica Jacobson.