Springer makes entries until November 20, at which time an unidentified comrade makes the entries until Springer's death on the 29th. He describes his capture at the battle of Weldon Railroad, his captivity in Belle Isle Prison, Richmond, Va., the journey to N.C., and prison life in Salisbury, N.C. Mentions trading and selling clothes and possessions for food; weather and quantity and content of daily rations; increasing sickness and mortality in the camp ("They haul them out every [day] by the Wagon loads"); his own illness, the "shake"; speculation over thePresidential election; and the deaths of named comrades from his regiment. The unknown diary writer describes his care of Sgt. Springer; cheering for Lincoln's victory; Confederate recritment of starving prisoners; an attempted prison break in which 28 men killed; and Springer's last hours. The diary also contains rolls of the Company, and of Co. G, 8 Penn. Reserve Veterans; a list of the number of prisoners who die each day at Salisbury from November 7, 1864-February 28, 1865; names of re-enlisters, names of the prisoners, names of those who died in prison, and the names of three deserters; and some financial records. The diary is accompanied by a lithograph of a Confederate prison.
