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 A user-friendly reference guide

HTM L5
& CSS3
Rob Crowther

M AN N I N G
www.it-ebooks.info
Hello! HTML5 & CSS3

www.it-ebooks.info
www.it-ebooks.info
Hello! HTML5 & CSS3
A user-friendly reference guide

Rob Crowther

MANNING
SHELTER ISLAND

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For online information and ordering of this and other Manning books, please visit
www.manning.com. The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in
quantity. For more information, please contact:
Special Sales Department
Manning Publications Co.
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©2013 by Manning Publications Co. All rights reserved.

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in any form or by means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without
prior written permission of the publisher.

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are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in the book, and Manning
Publications was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in initial
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User Friendly artwork, characters, and strips used by permission from UserFriendly.Org.
All Rights Reserved.

Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, it is Manning’s policy to
have the books we publish printed on acid-free paper, and we exert our best efforts to that
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ISBN: 9781935182894

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – MAL – 17 16 15 14 13 12

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brief contents

PART 1 LEARNING HTML5 1

1 Introducing HTML5 markup 3
2 HTML5 forms 38
3 Dynamic graphics 73
4 Audio and video 119
5 Browser-based APIs 153
6 Network and location APIs 191

PART 2 LEARNING CSS3 231

7 New CSS language features 233
8 Layout with CSS3 271
9 Motion and color 313
10 Borders and backgrounds with CSS3 351
11 Text and fonts 392

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www.it-ebooks.info
contents

preface xv
acknowledgments xvii
about this book xix

PART 1 LEARNING HTML5 1

1 Introducing HTML5 markup 3
Why do we need new elements? 4
New elements for page structure 7
Sectioning content 7 ❍ Headings, headers, and the outlining
algorithm 9 ❍ Common page elements 15
The HTML DOCTYPE 17
New elements for content 18
Time 18 ❍ Images and diagrams with <figure> and
<figcaption> 21 ❍ Emphasizing words and phrases 22
HTML5’s new global attributes 23
Accessibility with ARIA 24 ❍ Extending HTML with custom
attributes 26 ❍ Expressing more than just document
semantics with microdata 28
The HTML5 content model 29
Browser support 32
Supporting Internet Explorer 35 ❍ Enabling HTML5 support
in Internet Explorer with html5.js 36
Summary 36

vii

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viii contents

2 HTML5 forms 38
The limitations of HTML4 forms 39
Numbers, ranges, dates, and times 42
Validation 46
The required attribute 47 ❍ The min, max, and pattern
attributes 47 ❍ Taking advantage of validation with
CSS 49 ❍ Turning off validation 50
Email and URLs 51
Email addresses 51 ❍ Web addresses 53
Elements for user feedback 53
The <output> element 53 ❍ The <progress> element 55
The <meter> element 56
Less-common form controls 57
Telephone numbers 57 ❍ Color pickers 58
<keygen> 59
New attributes for the <input> element 59
Placeholder text 59 ❍ Form autofocus 61 ❍ Protecting
private information with the autocomplete attribute 61
Extending forms with JavaScript 62
Customizing the validation messages 62 ❍ Triggering
validation with JavaScript 64 ❍ Responding to any
changes in value 64 ❍ Creating combo boxes with
<datalist> 65 ❍ Easy ways to work with form
values in JavaScript 67
Browser support and detecting HTML5 features 68
Browser inconsistencies 69 ❍ Detecting supported
features 69 ❍ The html5-now library 71
Summary 72

3 Dynamic graphics 73
Getting started with <canvas>: shapes, images, and text 74
Drawing shapes 76 ❍ Placing images 82 ❍ Drawing
text 84
Advanced <canvas>: gradients, shadows, and animation 87
Creating gradients 88 ❍ Drawing drop shadows 91
Transformations 92 ❍ Animation 94

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 contents ix

Getting started with SVG 96

Applying styles to SVG 98 ❍ Drawing common shapes 99
Images, text, and embedded content 101 ❍ Transforms,
gradients, patterns, and declarative animation 105
SVG vs. <canvas> 112
Browser support 114
Supporting <canvas> in older versions of IE with
explorercanvas 114 ❍ SVG in XML vs. SVG in HTML 115
Embedding SVG as an image 115 ❍ Referencing an SVG
image from CSS 116 ❍ Embedding SVG as an object 116
SVG support in older browsers with SVG Web and Raphaël 116
Summary 118

4 Audio and video 119

Audio and video on the modern web 119
The <audio> element 123
Common attributes: controls, autoplay, loop, and preload 124
Codecs and license issues 129 ❍ Using multiple sources 133
The <video> element 134
<video> element attributes 135 ❍ Containers, codecs,
and license issues 138 ❍ Easy encoding with Miro Video
Converter 139 ❍ Advanced encoding with FFmpeg 140
Using multiple sources 142
Controlling audio and video with JavaScript 144
Integrating media with other content 146
Browser support 150
Web server configuration for audio and video 151
Supporting legacy browsers with Flash video 152
Summary 152

5 Browser-based APIs 153

Rich-text editing with the contenteditable attribute 154
Basic text editing 155 ❍ The spellcheck attribute 157
Applying formatting to the editable text 160
Natural user interaction with drag-and-drop 164
Basic drag-and-drop 167 ❍ Drag-and-drop in all
browsers 169

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x contents

Managing the Back button with the history API 173

Updating page state 175 ❍ Using location.hash 176
Example: Implementing an undo feature 177
Getting semantic with the microdata API 179
Using a single microdata format 180 ❍ Using multiple
microdata formats 183
Lag-free interfaces with web workers 185
Browser support 189
Summary 189

6 Network and location APIs 191

Finding yourself with the Geolocation API 192
Finding your location 193 ❍ Finding your location more
accurately 194 ❍ Finding your location continuously 195
Practical uses for geolocation 196
Communication in HTML5 200
Enabling more secure integration with cross-document
messaging 201 ❍ Real-time communication with the
WebSocket API 205
Offline web applications 208
Setting up a development environment 209
The application cache 211 ❍ Managing network
connectivity in offline apps 215
Storing data for offline use 222
Local storage 223 ❍ Session storage 227 ❍ Putting
it all together 228
Browser support 229
Summary 229

PART 2 LEARNING CSS3 231

7 New CSS language features 233
Choosing elements through their relationships 234
Selecting sets of elements with combinators 235
Selecting among a set of elements with
pseudo-classes 240

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 contents xi

Choosing elements by their attributes 251

Choosing what isn’t 255 ❍ Pseudo-elements 257
Choosing elements based on user interaction 261
Styling form elements based on state 262 ❍ Styling the
page based on the target of the URL 265
Browser support 267
Using jQuery to support older browsers 269
Summary 270

8 Layout with CSS3 271

Underused CSS2 layout features 272
Placing elements on a line with inline-block 272 ❍ Grouping
element dimensions with display: table 275
CSS3 improvements to CSS2 approaches 279
Mixing different length units with calc 279 ❍ Controlling
the box model 284
Using media queries for flexible layout 285
Resolution detection 287 ❍ Changing layout based on
orientation and aspect ratio 291 ❍ Additional
device-detection features 292
The future of CSS layout 293
Using flexible boxes for nested layout 294 ❍ Using the
CSS3 Grid Alignment module 298 ❍ Controlling content
flow with CSS3 Regions 303 ❍ Making complex shapes
with CSS3 Exclusions and Shapes 305
Browser support 308
inline-block in IE6 and IE7 309 ❍ calc in Chrome and
Firefox 310 ❍ box-sizing in Firefox and Safari 5 310
Flexboxes in Chrome, Firefox, IE, and Safari 310
Media queries and old browsers 311 ❍ Regions and
exclusions 311
Summary 311

9 Motion and color 313

Colors and opacity 314
Opacity 314 ❍ RGBA 318 ❍ HSL and HSLA 320

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xii contents

CSS transforms 323

2D transforms 324 ❍ 3D transforms 328
CSS transitions 330
Transition timing functions 334 ❍ Transition
property 337 ❍ Transition delay 338 ❍ Triggering
transitions with JavaScript 339
CSS Animation 343
Browser support 346
Opacity in IE8 and earlier 346 ❍ Transforms, transitions,
and animations in current browsers 346 ❍ Using
modernizr.js and jQuery for animation in older
browsers 349
Summary 350

10 Borders and backgrounds with CSS3 351

Drop shadows with CSS3 352
Box shadows 352 ❍ Text shadows 356
Easy rounded corners 358
New features for background images 361
Background size 361 ❍ Multiple backgrounds 365
Background origin and clipping 369
Selective background scaling with border images 371
Basic border-image 372 ❍ Stretching and repeating
border-image sections 374 ❍ Using border-image to
create common effects 377
Creating gradients with CSS 378
Browser support 384
Cross-browser drop shadows 385 ❍ Cross-browser
CSS3 gradients 386 ❍ Cross-browser backgrounds and
border-image 387 ❍ Supporting old versions of Internet
Explorer 388 ❍ CSS3 PIE for easy IE support 390
Summary 391

11 Text and fonts 392

Basic web fonts 393
Gaining control of fonts with the @font-face rule 394
Font formats: EOT, TTF/OTF, and WOFF 398
Browser support for downloadable fonts 399

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 contents xiii

Making your life easier with font services 400

Downloadable kits: FontSquirrel 400 ❍ Free font services:
Google Web Fonts 403 ❍ Subscription font services:
Fontdeck 405
Advanced web typography 407
font-size-adjust 407 ❍ Advanced font control 409
Text columns 416
Column count and width 416 ❍ Column spans 418
Gaps and rules 419
Wrapping and overflow 420
Word wrap 420 ❍ Text overflow 422
Browser support 423
Summary 423

Appendix A A history of web standards 425

Appendix B HTML basics 441
Appendix C CSS basics 467
Appendix D JavaScript 491

Index 523

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xiv contents

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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
Tuesday, April 7.—Went to Petersburg with Barnes, Wrenn and
Biggins. Got plate of ham and eggs (two eggs and a piece of bacon),
$1.25.
George Richardson, Gus Williams, Cooke, J. Mills and Benjamin F.
Bowles left camp and went to Richmond. Williams, in bidding us
good-bye, said he expected to be back in the Old Capitol within a
week after leaving Richmond. He said this was the fourth time he
had been a prisoner; that his two daughters and one son, about ten
or twelve years of age, were arrested at the instigation of Union
men and imprisoned three months.
Some of the Confederate officers from the Old Capitol Prison came
down last night and reported at camp this morning: Captain
Sherman, Major Breckenridge, Lieutenants Smith, Bixler and others.
William M. Mills leaves camp to-morrow.
Thursday, April 9.—One of the prisoners from Camp Douglas told me
that there was great mortality among the Confederate prisoners
there. A large number were in the hospital, and the morning he left
there were thirty corpses in the dead house. “It is no wonder they
die off,” said he; “hundreds were frost-bitten and suffered terribly
from the cold last winter. Fuel was given out so sparingly, that we
had to treasure every little piece of wood and coal as if it was
precious metal we were hoarding. Our rations were cut down so that
we were never able to satisfy the craving of hunger. So long as we
were allowed to receive food from benevolent persons outside of the
prison some of the prisoners fared tolerably well, but when the order
came prohibiting this we really suffered. Many poor fellows, broken
down and emaciated by disease, passed away in the silence of the
night and their companions in misery were in ignorance of the fact
until the dawning of day exposed to their view the pale corpse in
their midst.
“Our barracks were miserable, dilapidated buildings, and our prison
guards were brutal in the extreme; they had never been to the front,
nor within sight or sound of a battle. Kicks and curses were liberally
dealt out, and prisoners were shot without any real provocation. Men
were hung up by the thumbs until they fainted. One half-starved
prisoner was shot while fishing bones out of a slop-barrel.”
Sunday, April 12.—Fine day. Yesterday I was passed out by
Lieutenant Smith. Gathered some broom-sage and made a bed of it,
so I slept more comfortably last night. Heavy cannonading heard
yesterday.
About four o’clock this afternoon I was regularly mustered into the
Confederate service, to serve under Mosby, now operating in the
borderland of Virginia.
Lindsay, of Washington, went to Richmond, to be sent to Company
K, Tenth Louisiana Regiment.
There have been so many prisoners brought here to Camp Parole
lately that we are getting overcrowded. Coming from the prison pens
of Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Johnson’s Island, and other
Northern prisons, where they have been confined for months, they
are all more or less infested with vermin. It is a common sight to see
an old soldier quietly seat himself in a line of unfortunates, on the
sunny side of a fence or building sheltered from the cold wind, and
deliberately drawing his shirt over his head, set to work industriously
searching for vampires—picking them out from their hiding places in
the folds and creases. Skirmishing, the boys term this occupation,
though it might be called picketing. To kill the tiny creatures who
seek to conceal themselves along the seams of the pants, and to
destroy the eggs, two round stones are taken in the hands, and by
clapping them together up and down the seams on the side of the
legs of the pants the life is crushed out of a goodly number of the
bloodthirsty crew.
 COLONEL JOHN SINGLETON MOSBY, C. S. A.

Expecting now to leave the camp in a day or two, we—that is, our
mess (and we certainly were a sorry mess)—went up the
Appomattox to Elk Licking Creek and took a bath. We had gotten so
stocked up with vermin, that the only way we could see to rid
ourselves of the pest was to buy new outfits in Petersburg and go to
the Creek, take a good scrubbing, throw away all our old clothes and
put on the new ones.
Monday, April 13.—William McK. Perry, who was a room-mate in the
Old Capitol Prison, sent there from Camp Chase, left Parole Camp to-
day for his home in Missouri.
 FROM PAROLE CAMP TO
UPPERVILLE
Tuesday, April 14.—Left Model Farm Barracks, Camp Parole, in
company with John H. Barnes, Albert Wrenn, Frank Fox, Philip and
Thomas Lee, and Charles W. Radcliffe.[J] About 4 o’clock left
Petersburg for Richmond, where we arrived at 6:30 p.m. Along the
road to Richmond are lines of rifle pits and intrenchments
commanding the approaches to the city. When we reached the
outposts at Richmond we were challenged by a guard, and after
showing our papers, were permitted to proceed to the hotel. We put
up at the Powhatan House, corner of Eleventh and Broad Streets.
Our supper consisted of tough beef, bread and rye coffee—no butter.
Wednesday, April 15.—Settled my bill at the Powhatan, $8. Terms:
$8 per day; $2 each for breakfast and supper; $3 for dinner; $2 for
lodging.
Beef is selling in Richmond at $1.25 per pound; butter, $3; coffee,
$4 to $5; eggs, $1.50 per dozen. Expected to go to the
transportation office at night, but went to the theater and then back
to the hotel.
 LIEUTENANT FRANK FOX

Thursday, April 16.—At 7:30 left Richmond and arrived at

Gordonsville at 1 p.m.; stopped at Mann’s Hotel. Gordonsville is a
miserable looking place now. There has been so much rain lately,
and the roads have been cut up with the travel and passing of army
teams and trains, so that it is little else than a mud-hole.
Saturday, April 18.—Paid Mann’s bill, $7.50. There are but six of us
now, as Frank Fox left us and remained at Barboursville. MacWooster
hitched up a wagon, agreeing to take us to Madison Court House for
$5 each. We reached Madison Court House about dark and went to a
hotel kept by Mr. Seal. Here we were very comfortable—good beds
and an excellent table.
Sunday, April 19.—Madison Court House is a very pretty little place,
well situated, and commanding a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge
and surrounding country. There are two or three churches and a fine
court house. The houses are neat and comfortable. After dinner paid
Mr. Seal. Our bill for supper, breakfast and dinner, was $4.50.
MacWooster said he would carry us as far as Criglersville, about six
miles distant, and there leave us to foot it. The drive along the road
was very pleasant, particularly after striking Robertson River, a
beautiful clear stream with a swift current, which comes down from
the mountains.
“Now, boys,” said Mac, as he bid us good-bye at a ford on the
Robertson River, “you’ve got a rough road before you, and a poor
country to travel through. Take my advice and stop for the night at
Matt. Graves’s. His house is near the foot of the mountain. He is one
of the finest men in the country. He will treat you well and give you
the best he has in his house.” We afterward found good reason to be
thankful for having taken this friendly advice.
When we reached the house which we supposed was to be our
haven of rest, we saw a man riding up to the stable, and on
accosting him found he was Mr. Graves. He invited us to his house,
where he regaled us with a good drink and a bottle for our day’s
journey on the morrow. This he said we would find needful before
we got far on our road, for he not only repeated MacWooster’s
warning as to the hardships awaiting us, but also said he feared the
weather would prove unfavorable and add to our discomfort.
Monday, April 20.—At Mr. Graves’s there is a little fellow about the
size, age and appearance of my youngest son, Bernardin. Seeing
him playing around and fondling on his father it brought to mind
thoughts of home—thoughts of home and its comforts; of the dear
ones there; of the sad hearts I left, and of the glad hearts to greet
me on my return. I could hardly resist the temptation to pick up the
little one without saying a word, but I feared he would cry, so I
made friends with him by showing him a ring on my finger, and so
coaxed him on until I had banished any fears he might have. All the
time I was there I could scarcely keep my eyes off him.
Paid Mr. Graves $2 each for supper, bed and breakfast, and started
to cross the mountain at Milani’s Gap. We were told it was ten miles
from Mr. Graves’s to the top of the ridge and six miles to the foot on
the other side. Rain set in last night and this morning the clouds are
very heavy, enveloping the mountains completely. The road takes a
zigzag course up the slope, which is quite steep in many places. A
great portion of the way we followed along the Robertson River. The
scenery, as well as we could see it through the mist, appeared
grand. It was mountains piled on mountains—an ocean of ridges. In
some places we could travel for a long distance and then throw a
stone to the place we started from. A number of huts are scattered
through this mountain region, but the people are almost as wild as
Indians, and it was impossible to obtain refreshments of any kind
along the road.
When about four miles from the top rain again set in, and we
tramped along through the driving storm. In some places,
endeavoring to save distance, we would leave the main road and
climb up the steep sides until we struck into the road at some point
higher up. We had to ford the swift mountain streams, or cross on
an old log or fallen tree, where, as also in clambering along the
narrow footpath, a false step, the turning of a stone or the breaking
of a limb, and one would have been precipitated into the foaming
current which dashed on among the rocks. In those mountain
storms a tiny stream which winds along like a silvery thread in fair
weather, is in less than an hour transformed into a raging torrent,
sweeping off everything in its course.
On nearing the top we fell in with a man who was traveling through
the country buying up cattle and forage for the Confederate
Government. He kept in company with us until we reached
Marksville. Hearing a noise which sounded like the rumbling of a
wagon train coming down the road, we listened and finally
concluded it either proceeded from a subterranean stream which
flowed through the mountains or that roaring which usually precedes
a mountain storm.
Seeing a hut near the roadside, we stopped, and a youth came out
to the fence, followed by a squad of unkempt redheaded children.
We asked if we could get anything to eat. He had nothing. Seeing
some chickens roaming around, Barnes said he would give him
$1.50 for a dozen eggs. He replied that he had none; no meal—
nothing edible, and it was a half mile to the top of the mountain.
We passed through Dismal Hollow, a wild, romantic-looking place.
The road was sometimes hidden by the overhanging foliage. We saw
the snow piled up on the side of the road and through the hemlock
thickets, where it remains far into the summer. On reaching the top
of the mountain we uncorked our bottle and drank that the Yankees
might never cross the Blue Ridge.
Then commenced our descent, and it is hard to say whether it was
easier to go up or down hill. Had it not been for the rain our
traveling would have been less difficult. After getting to the foot we
proceeded on until we came to the house of a man named Kite. He
had a fine house and farm, but refused to accommodate us. He said
he was eaten out and had not enough for his own family. We jogged
on through the rain until we reached Marksville, on the Hawksbill
Creek, where we stopped a few minutes to rest, and then walked
along until within about four miles of Luray.
We inquired at every house along the road, but could neither get a
mouthful to eat nor a place to shelter us from the rain, though we
told them all we were not asking charity, but were willing to pay
liberally for all we received. After so many rebuffs we were about
giving up the attempt to get food or shelter, when Barnes and
Wrenn stopped at the house of Reuben Long. He said he would take
three of us and the other three could get accommodated at the next
house—a Mr. Spitter. We tried there and he had a sick family. We
then went to the house of Ambrose Varner, who received us kindly,
built a big fire to warm us and dry our wet clothes, and prepared a
good substantial supper for us. Charles Ratcliffe had become
disgusted with our receptions and made arrangements to build a fire
and pass the night in an old shanty, while a negro was to furnish
bread and meat for his supper. He afterward came to Varner’s,
where we spent the night.
Tuesday, April 21.—After a good breakfast we prepared for a start.
On asking what our bill was, Mr. Varner said he would make no
charge, but if we chose to give his wife anything for her trouble, he
would leave it altogether with us. We gave him $2 each, and he put
up a nice lunch to take along with us. We called at Long’s, where
Barnes and Wrenn joined us, and then pushed on to Luray.
Yesterday we walked a little more than twenty-one miles across the
mountains, through mud and rain.
At Luray, while Barnes and Wrenn stopped at Modisett’s Hotel for
dinner, I went in search of a druggist, as I had been unwell for
several days. He gave me some powders. I took one, which made
me very sick. I lay down for a while, but felt no better, and we
started off on the road to Front Royal. Along the road I was burning
with fever—my head so dizzy that I staggered like a person drunk. I
had an excessive thirst and drank at every spring or stream we came
to, but even water would not remain on my stomach—soon after
drinking I would be taken with vomiting. After going about six miles
we turned off from the road into a lane, and thence to the house of
Mr. Hoffman, where we obtained supper, bed and breakfast. The
good lady of the house made me a cup of tea, which I drank, but
could eat no supper. Went to bed early, and after I got in bed Mr.
Hoffman brought me a glass of toddy.
Wednesday, April 22.—Felt somewhat better this morning; got
breakfast. Settled bill, $1 each. Mr. Hoffman brought us a plate of
biscuits to carry along and we started for Front Royal. We met
parties along the route, each with a different story to tell about the
approach of the Yankees. Some said they were in force at
Middletown, about 12 miles from Front Royal. Others, that they were
expected in Front Royal at any moment, and advising us not to stop
there. Indeed, had we heeded half the reports we would have
retraced our steps.
A few miles from Front Royal we met a carriage going toward Luray.
In it was a young man in Confederate uniform and two young ladies.
Barnes spoke to them and one immediately recognized him. She was
Miss Belle Ford, a cousin to Miss Antonia Ford, who was arrested and
confined in the Old Capitol Prison after Mosby’s raid into Fairfax
Court House and capture of General Stoughton, charged with giving
Mosby information which led to the raid and capture.[K] After leaving
them we proceeded about another mile, when we were halted by a
patrol of Confederate Cavalry, who demanded to know where we
were from, where we were going, etc. One of them said he had seen
the Yankees at Middletown—cavalry, infantry and artillery—and
cautioned us about stopping at Front Royal. Our road ran a great
distance along the Shenandoah River. On the one side we had the
river banks, and on the other towering rocks and rugged mountains.
In some places there was a gradual slope, while in others they rose
perpendicular, forming a complete wall, but without its uniformity—
massive and broken, showing occasionally large fissures which,
viewed from the ground, resembled windows.
 BRIGADIER-GENERAL EDWIN H. STOUGHTON, U. S. A.

On reaching Front Royal we went to the hotel. There are two in

town, but only one occupied. Here a very nice supper was set out
for us, but I was content with a dish of boiled milk. There were but
two beds in the house, and as there were six of us we slept three in
a bed.
Thursday, April 23.—Good breakfast this morning. It was raining
very hard when we started on toward Markham. Our route led us
down the old Manassas Railroad. The track had been torn up, the
sleepers and all woodwork burnt, the rails bent and in many cases
twisted around the trunks of trees. The road in some places was so
muddy we sunk five or six inches at every step, and in other places
we were slipping over sharp broken stones. Finding the road so bad,
our clothing completely saturated with rain, and there being no
appearance of the rain ceasing, we halted by the roadside at an old
deserted shanty, which had at one time been occupied by workmen
on the railroad. We gathered some wood, built a fire and tried to
make ourselves as comfortable as possible. We bought seven
pounds of flour from an old Irishman living near by, but could get
neither meat nor eggs. The man baked us some bread and with it
brought us a pot of coffee. At night slept on a bunch of wet straw
thrown on the floor of the shanty—that is, on the place where the
flooring should be, but in this instance it was dirt, the same as
outside, except that it was sheltered from the rain.
Friday, April 24.—Still raining. Made another start, but stopped at Mr.
Lee’s, about a mile from our last halting place, and got breakfast.
We then struck out through rain and mud, our boots soaking wet
and our clothes hanging limp. Stopped at Bush Thompson’s and
bought some apple brandy. Passed through Markham and on to
Piedmont (now called Delaplane). We crossed Goose Creek three
times: first, on charred logs, the remains of what was once the
railroad bridge; second, on a fallen tree, and, third, on a bridge
similar to the first. The burnt logs, broken and bent down, looked as
if ready to give way under our weight in crossing. From Piedmont
took the road to Upperville, where we arrived early in the evening.
Barnes and Ratcliffe went to the house of a friend near town. Philip
Lee, Thomas Lee, Wrenn and myself went to Lunchford’s, where we
got a very poor supper, no fire, and sat until bedtime shivering in our
wet boots and clothes.
Saturday, April 25.—On opening my valise to get out dry clothes, I
was surprised to find that the water had leaked in and everything in
it was soaked with water. I was compelled to put on wet socks and
underclothes.
 CERTIFICATE OF MEMBERSHIP

As there were men wearing Confederate uniforms

(either deserters or absent from their commands
without leave), roaming about the country,
claiming to belong to Mosby’s command, the men
were furnished with certificates of this kind.

There was a meeting of Mosby’s men in Upperville on this day and

they were coming in town singly and in small squads from different
directions. I saw Mosby and made myself known to him and my
purpose in coming to Virginia. He said he would furnish me a horse,
and told me to come to the next meeting of the command.
I met a number of men who had been prisoners in the Old Capitol
with me. I was introduced to William Ayre and rode with him to the
home of his brother George S. Ayre, at Ayreshire, who had been a
room-mate with me in the Old Capitol Prison. He welcomed me to
his home and told me to make his house my headquarters. When I
got my horse and equipments I was ready to enter upon my career
as a Partisan Ranger.

INMATES OF ROOM NO. 16, DURING MY TERM

OF IMPRISONMENT
 [The Missourians named were held here awaiting transportation
South for exchange.]
Adreon, George S., Baltimore.
Armand, William, Louisiana.
Ayre, George S., Loudoun County, Virginia.
Barnes, John H., Fairfax County, Virginia.
Barrett, Boyd.
Bennett, .........., Maryland.
Brawner, Redmond F., Prince William County, Virginia.
Carr, John, Fauquier County, Virginia.
Carter, H. Fitzhugh, Fauquier County, Virginia.
Chandler, .........., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Clift, .........., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Comastri, Marco, Italy. Arrested coming from the South.
Davis, ..........
Delano, Philemon.
Dula, Lowring, Missouri.
Eorio, Pietro, Brusnengo, Piemonte, Italia.
Ewell, James, Accomac County, Virginia.
Fitzgerald, Edward.
Flaherty, John, Baltimore.
Flaherty, Peter, Baltimore.
Ford, John.
Gardner, ..........
George, ..........
Goldsmith, John M., St. Mary’s County, Md.
Green, .........., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Hagan, .........., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Hammett, George.
Hertzog, .......... (From Camp Chase.)
Holbrook, Thomas H., Baltimore.
Hollenbaugh, William T., Pennsylvania.
Hoyle, George, Maryland.
Hunter, John B., Virginia. (Held as a Hostage.)
Hurst, Thomas, Baltimore.
Jenkins, ..........
Johnson, James, Clarke County, Virginia.
Keleher, John, Baltimore.
Kerfoot, James F., Clarke County, Virginia.
Key, J., Maryland.
King, Aaron J.
Lackey, .........., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Lewis, Aaron.
Littlepage, William T., Baltimore.
Love, Henry, Dumfries, Virginia.
Love, Llewellyn, Dumfries, Virginia.
Marchland, Judge. (From Camp Chase.)
Martin, .......... (From Camp Chase.)
Minor, Fairfax, Virginia.
Mitchell, Captain, Baltimore.
Mitchell, Lieutenant Hugh.
Montgomery, ..........
Mount, Stephen R., Loudoun County, Virginia.
O’Brien, Edward H., Maryland. (First Md. Regiment.)
Pentz, John, Baltimore.
Perry, William McK., Missouri. (From Camp Chase.)
Phillips, Captain Thomas. (Captured running the blockade into
Wilmington, N. C.)
Phillips, Captain Wesley, Baltimore. (Captain of schooner carrying
stores to the Army of the Potomac.)
Purcell, Volney, Loudoun County, Virginia.
Randolph, .........., Virginia.
Reilly, ..........
Richardson, George, Fairfax County, Virginia.
Rinaldi, Raphael, Italy. (Arrested coming from the South.)
Russell, .........., Baltimore.
Short, .........., Virginia.
Simmons, Albert, Baltimore.
Smith, John C.
Spence, William A., Westmoreland County, Virginia.
Stant, James, Accomac County, Virginia.
Storm, R. B., Baltimore.
Tansell, James, Washington, D. C.
Taylor, George, Accomac County, Virginia.
Taylor, James, Accomac County, Virginia.
Taylor, John W., Accomac County, Virginia.
Taylor, Samuel, Accomac County, Virginia.
Thornton, Frank, Baltimore.
Thornton, William.
Ward, Charles.
Ward, Walter W., Baltimore. (Stuart’s Horse Artillery.)
Weiler, Emanuel, Richmond, Virginia.
Williams, Augustus, Vienna, Virginia.
Williams, W. F., Maryland.
Williamson, James J., Washington, D. C.
Wright, J.
 TREATMENT OF PRISONERS OF
WAR
Hon. Jefferson Davis, in a letter written from Beauvoir, December,
1888, said:
“Nearly a quarter of a century has elapsed since war
between the States ceased. Has the prejudice fed on the
passions of that period ceased with the physical strife?
Shall it descend from sire to son, hardened by its
transmission? Or shall it be destroyed by the full
development of the truth, the exposure of the guilty, and
the vindication of the innocent?”
In the North a general impression was produced, and exists to a
certain extent even at this late day, that Northern prisoners
incarcerated in Southern prisons during the war, were brutally
treated, starved, frozen, neglected and inhumanly treated in
sickness, and even murdered, and that this was done in accordance
with a wilful and deliberate plan, inaugurated by the Confederate
Government and carried out by its officers and soldiers. And no
other subject has tended more to keep alive a bitter and hostile
feeling between the sections.
It is not so much among soldiers who fought through the war that
the intenseness of this feeling is shown as among those whose
fighting has been done since the war. In most cases it is the result of
prejudice or through ignorance of the real facts.
The Confederate authorities made every effort possible to alleviate
the sufferings of prisoners in Southern prisons. Finding it impossible
to effect exchange man for man, and aware of their inability to
properly care for the sick and wounded, they offered to deliver to
the United States authorities the sick and wounded without insisting
on the delivery of any equivalent in return. It was nearly four
months after this offer was made by the Confederate authorities
before it was accepted by the United States authorities, who had
been informed of the frightful mortality among their soldiers in
Southern prisons and urged to send speedy transportation to take
them away.
Robert Ould, Confederate Agent of Exchange, offered to purchase
medicines from the United States authorities, to be used exclusively
for the relief of United States prisoners—to pay in gold, cotton or
tobacco—two or three prices even—such medicines to be brought
into the Confederate lines and dispensed by United States surgeons.
The following letter will show the persistent efforts made by the
Confederate authorities for the relief of prisoners in their hands:
Confederate States of America,
War Department, Richmond, Va., Jan. 24, 1864.
Major-General E. A. Hitchcock,
Agent of Exchange.
Sir:—In view of the present difficulties attending the
exchange and release of prisoners, I propose that all such
on each side shall be attended by a proper number of
their own surgeons, who, under rules to be established,
shall be permitted to take charge of their health and
comfort.
I also propose that these surgeons shall act as
commissaries, with power to receive and distribute such
contributions of money, food, clothing and medicines as
may be forwarded for the relief of prisoners. I further
propose that these surgeons be selected by their own
governments, and that they shall have full liberty at any
and all times, through the agents of exchange, to make
reports not only of their own acts, but of any matters
relating to the welfare of the prisoners.
 Respectfully, your obedient servant,
Ro. Ould, Agent of Exchange.
Could anything be fairer and more humane than this proposal?
In a letter to the editor of the National Intelligencer, dated August
17, 1868, Robert Ould says:
“The cartel of exchange bears date July 22, 1862. The
fourth article provided that all prisoners of war should be
discharged on parole in ten days after capture. From the
date of the cartel until the summer of 1863, the
Confederate authorities had the excess of prisoners.
During that interval deliveries were made as fast as the
Federal Government furnished transportation.... As long as
the Confederate Government had the excess of prisoners
matters went on smoothly enough; but as soon as the
posture of affairs in that respect was changed the cartel
could no longer be observed.
“More than once I urged the mortality at Andersonville as
a reason for haste on the part of the United States
authorities. I know personally it was the purpose of the
Confederate Government to send off from its prisons all
the sick and wounded, and to continue to do the same
from time to time, without requiring any equivalents.”
The War Department at Washington, on July 3, 1863, issued General
Order No. 209, which states that “it is understood captured officers
and men and sick and wounded in hospitals have been paroled and
released,” and concludes: “Any officer or soldier who gives such
parole will be returned to duty without exchange, and, moreover, will
be punished for disobedience to orders.”
General J. A. Early, commenting on this order, said: “But
for that order all the prisoners captured by us at
Gettysburg, amounting to fully six thousand, would have
been paroled, and, in fact, the proper staff officers were
proceeding to parole them, and had actually paroled and
 released a large number of them, when news came of the
order referred to. Why did Mr. Stanton object to the
paroling of those prisoners? And why did he prefer that
they should be confined in prisons in the South—‘prison
pens,’ as Northern Republicans are pleased to call them....
If any of the prisoners brought from Gettysburg, or
subsequently captured, lost their lives at Andersonville, or
any other Southern prison, is it not palpable that the
responsibility for their deaths rested on Edwin M.
Stanton?”
The fact is, the authorities at Washington were willing to allow their
soldiers to languish and die in Southern prisons rather than consent
to exchange. Would rather have them kept and starved that they
might make capital out of it. When they consented to receive the
sick and wounded, they did it—not for the purpose of ameliorating
their sufferings, but that they might take the worst looking of the
sick and starved prisoners and make an exhibition of their pictures to
arouse a feeling of resentment among the Northern people, cover up
their own infamy and place the South in a false light before the
powers of the world.
In August, 1864, Brigadier-Generals Wessells and Seymour were
sent South to look into the condition and treatment of Union
prisoners. From a report of General Seymour to Colonel Hoffman,
Commissary-General of Prisoners, Washington, D. C., I take the
following extract, which proves how little the United States
authorities were concerned on account of the sufferings of their
soldiers who were held as prisoners of war:
“The Southern authorities are exceedingly desirous of an
exchange of prisoners. General Wessells and myself had
an interview with General Ripley at Charleston, S. C., on
this point. Their urgency is unbounded, but we asserted
that it was the poorest possible policy for our Government
to deliver to them 40,000 prisoners, better fed and clothed
than ever before in their lives, in good condition for the
 field, while the United States receives in return an equal
number of men worn out with privations and neglect,
barely able to walk, often drawing their last breath, and
utterly unfit to take the field as soldiers.”
Major-General Ben Butler, referring to the frustration of his efforts,
while in command at Fortress Monroe, to bring about an exchange
of prisoners, says in his book:
“His (Grant’s) proposition was to make an aggressive fight
upon Lee, trusting to the superiority of numbers and to
the practical impossibility of Lee getting any considerable
reinforcements to keep up his army. We had 26,000
Confederate prisoners, and if they were exchanged it
would give the Confederates a corps larger than any in
Lee’s army, of disciplined veterans, better able to stand
the hardships of a campaign and more capable than any
other,” etc.
At the last session of the Confederate Congress a joint committee of
the two Houses was appointed to take up and investigate the
“Condition and Treatment of Prisoners of War.” This committee took
a vast amount of testimony—sworn depositions of witnesses—
surgeons, officers and soldiers, private citizens and Federal
prisoners.
The object of this was to correct the unjust statements and
misrepresentations which were circulated, and to remove false
impressions and unfounded prejudices—to present to the world “a
vindication of their country and relieve her authorities from the
injurious slanders brought against her by her enemies.”
From the extremely lengthy Report of this committee I give here a
few extracts:
“This Report is rendered especially important by reason of
persistent efforts lately made by the Government of the
United States and by associations and individuals
connected or co-operating with it, to asperse the honor of
the Confederate authorities and to charge them with
deliberate and wilful cruelty to prisoners of war. Two
publications have been issued at the North within the past
year and have been circulated not only in the United
States but in some parts of the South and in Europe. One
of these is the Report of the joint select committee of the
Northern Congress on the Conduct of the War, known as
‘Report No. 67.’ It is accompanied by eight pictures or
photographs alleged to represent United States prisoners
of war returned from Richmond in a sad state of
emaciation and suffering.
“The intent and spirit of this report may be gathered from
the following extract: ‘The evidence proves beyond all
manner of doubt, a determination on the part of the rebel
authorities, deliberately and persistently practised for a
long time past, to subject those of our soldiers who have
been so unfortunate as to fall into their hands to a system
of treatment which has resulted in reducing many of those
who have survived and been permitted to return to us to a
condition both physically and mentally which no language
we can use can adequately describe.’—Rep. p. 1.
“The other (Report) purports to be a ‘Narrative of the
Privations and Sufferings of United States Officers and
Soldiers while Prisoners of War,’ and is issued as a Report
of a Commission of Inquiry appointed by the United States
Sanitary Commission.
“The disingenuous attempt is made in both these
publications to produce the impression that these sick and
emaciated men were fair representatives of the general
state of the prisoners held by the South, and that all their
prisoners were being rapidly reduced to the same state by
starvation and cruelty, and by neglect, ill-treatment and
denial of proper food, stimulants and medicines in the
Confederate hospitals. The facts are simply these:
“The Federal authorities, in violation of the cartel, having
for a long time refused exchange of prisoners, finally
consented to a partial exchange of the sick and wounded
on both sides. Accordingly a number of such prisoners
were sent from the hospitals in Richmond. General
directions had been given that none should be sent,
except those who might be expected to endure the
removal and passage with safety to their lives; but in
some cases the surgeons were induced to depart from this
rule by the entreaties of some officers and men in the last
stages of emaciation, suffering not only with excessive
debility, but with ‘nostalgia,’ or home-sickness, whose
cases were regarded as desperate, who could not live if
they remained, and might possibly improve if carried
home. Thus it happened that some very sick and
emaciated men were carried to Annapolis, but their illness
was not the result of ill-treatment or neglect. Such cases
might be found in any large hospital North or South. They
might even be found in private families, where the
sufferer would be surrounded by every comfort that love
could bestow. Yet these are the cases which, with hideous
violation of decency, the Northern Committee have
paraded in pictures and photographs. They have taken
their own sick and enfeebled soldiers, have stripped them
naked; have exposed them before a daguerrean
apparatus, have pictured every shrunken limb and muscle,
and all for the purpose, not of relieving their sufferings,
but of bringing a false and slanderous charge against the
South.
“A candid reader of these publications will not fail to
discover that, whether the statements they make be true
or not, their spirit is not adapted to promote a better
feeling between the hostile powers. They are not intended
for the humane purpose of ameliorating the condition of
the unhappy prisoners held in captivity. They are designed
to inflame the evil passions of the North; to keep up the
war spirit among their own people; to represent the South
as acting under the dominion of a spirit of cruelty,
inhumanity and interested malice, and thus to vilify her
people in the eyes of all on whom these publications can
work.
“But even now enough is known to vindicate the South,
and to furnish an overwhelming answer to all complaints
on the part of the United States Government or people,
that their prisoners were stinted in food or supplies. Their
own savage warfare has wrought the evil. They have
blockaded our ports; have excluded from us food, clothing
and medicines; have even declared medicines contraband
of war, and have repeatedly destroyed the contents of
drug stores, and the supplies of private physicians in the
country; have ravaged our country, burned our houses
and destroyed growing crops and farming implements.
One of their officers—(General Sheridan)—has boasted in
his official report that in the Shenandoah Valley alone he
burned 2,000 barns filled with wheat and corn; that he
burned all the mills in the whole tract of country,
destroyed all the factories of cloth, and killed or drove off
every animal, even to the poultry, that could contribute to
human sustenance. These desolations have been repeated
again and again in different parts of the South. Thousands
of our families have been driven from their homes, as
helpless and destitute refugees. Our enemies have
destroyed our railroads and other means of transportation,
by which food could be supplied from abundant districts to
those without it. While thus desolating our country in
violation of the usages of civilized warfare, they have
refused to exchange prisoners; have forced us to keep
50,000 of their men in captivity, and yet have attempted
to attribute to us the sufferings and privations caused by
their own acts.”
The report also contains a great amount of testimony concerning the
cruel treatment of Confederate prisoners in Northern prisons.
Pollard, in his history of the “Lost Cause,” after reciting the
extraordinary efforts made by the Confederate authorities to relieve
the sufferings at Andersonville, says:
“Who was responsible for the sufferings of the sick and
wounded prisoners at Andersonville, from August to
December, 1864? The world will ask with amazement if it
was possible that thousands of prisoners were left to die
in inadequate places of confinement, merely to make a
case against the South—merely for romance! The simple
fact gives the clue to the whole story of the deception and
inhuman cruelty of the authorities at Washington with
reference to their prisoners of war—the key to a chapter
of horrors that even the hardy hand of history shakes to
unlock. To blacken the reputation of an honorable enemy;
to make a false appeal to the sensibilities of the world; to
gratify an inhuman revenge, Mr. Stanton, the saturnine
and malignant Secretary of War at Washington, did not
hesitate to doom to death thousands of his countrymen,
and then to smear their sentinels with accusing blood.”

ABOUT DEAD-LINES
Much has been written and spoken of the “dead-lines” in Southern
prisons. One would suppose they were unknown in Northern prisons.
The fact is, they were as common at the North as in the South.
There was not a Northern prison-camp but had its “dead-line,” and
at all these prisons men were shot at and many killed for passing
over them. And there was no reason to complain of this, for the lines
were plainly marked, and it was known that anyone attempting to
cross them would be shot. So, any man—no matter whether North
or South—killed in violating this regulation did not deserve any
sympathy.
Even in the Old Capitol Prison guards with loaded guns were
stationed around the prison, within and without, and any prisoner
attempting to escape, or overstepping the bounds, was liable to be
shot. Two men, at least, were killed there—Wharton and Stewart, as
described in my Prison Diary, page 36. And this in the city of
Washington, a fortified city, within the Union lines, surrounded by
camps, with thousands of soldiers, and the prisoners confined in a
walled prison-house heavily guarded.
 MAJOR HENRY WIRZ, C. S. A.
The True History of the Wirz Case.
I was living in Washington at the time Captain Wirz underwent the
travesty of a trial—a farce which ended in a tragedy.
I frequently met and conversed with Louis Schade, his counsel, and
his associate, Judge Hughes. I also met and conversed with
witnesses on the trial.
Rev. Father Boyle and Father Wiget, who attended Wirz during his
imprisonment and ministered to him in his last moments on the
scaffold, were both warm personal friends of mine—Father Wiget
particularly. I not only regarded him as a spiritual father, as he was,
but with all the respect and affection which a devoted son would
have for a kind, loving father. Had I any doubts in the matter of the
guilt or innocence of Wirz, I would take the word of either of these
good and true men before that of the whole tribe of hired perjurers
who testified against him.
There are many persons at the present day who know nothing as to
the truth or falsity of the record of events which took place during
and immediately after the Civil War, except what they have heard or
perhaps read in histories written in the heat of passion, with
prejudice and malice, and their minds are often poisoned and their
judgments warped by the misrepresentations and sensational stories
invented at the time to exasperate the people of the North.
Major Henry Wirz was a native of Switzerland. He came to this
country, and in 1861 was a physician practising his profession in
Western Louisiana.
He entered the Confederate Army at the beginning of the war, was
wounded—his right arm shattered by a ball, so that he remained a
cripple permanently. As his right arm was powerless he did not have
the physical ability to ill-treat prisoners as some of the witnesses
testified at his trial. Even if this charge had been true, that he
exercised undue severity toward some of the prisoners, he might
have been justified in so doing, when their fellow-prisoners were
compelled to hang a half a dozen in self-defense.

MAJOR HENRY WIRZ, C. S. A.

In 1862 he was promoted to the rank of Captain “for bravery on the

field of battle,” and to that of Major a few months before the close of
the war.
He was an impulsive man—some said he was rough in his manner.
This apparent roughness in persons of foreign birth sometimes
proceeds from difference in language and their mode of expression,
which may only need a little prejudice or ill-will to distort into
something offensive. But that he was a man kind at heart is shown
by his earnest endeavors to relieve the sufferings of the prisoners
under his charge.
In the Official Records of the Rebellion, published by the United
States Government, will be found letters of Wirz to Captain R. D.
Chapman, Acting Adjutant of Post, and Colonel D. S. Chandler,
Assistant Adjutant and Inspector-General, showing his efforts to
better the condition of the prisoners, both with regard to rations and
hygiene.
In the Southern Historical Society Papers is a letter from General
John D. Imboden, written in 1876, from which the following extracts
are taken:
“I have already alluded to Captain Wirz’s recommendation
to put up more shelter. I ordered it, and thereafter, daily, a
hundred or more prisoners were paroled and set to work
in the neighboring forest. In the course of a fortnight
comfortable log-houses, with floors and good chimneys—
for which the prisoners made and burnt the brick—were
erected for twelve or fifteen hundred men.
“This same man (Captain Wirz) who was tried and hung
as a murderer, warmly urged the establishment of a
tannery and shoemaker’s shop, informing me that there
were many men among the prisoners skilled in these
trades, and that some of them knew a process of very
rapidly converting hides into tolerably good leather. There
were thousands of hides at Andersonville from the young
cattle butchered during the previous summer and fall,
whilst the country yet contained such animals. A few
weeks later many of the barefooted prisoners were
supplied with rough, but comfortable shoes. Another
suggestion came from the medical staff of the post, that I
ordered to be at once put into practice: It was to brew
corn beer for those suffering from scorbutic taint. Captain
 Wirz entered warmly into this enterprise. I mention these
facts to show that he was not the monster he was
afterward represented to be, when his blood was called
for by infuriated fanaticism. I would have proved these
facts if I had been permitted to testify on his trial, after I
was summoned before the Court by the United States,
and have substantiated them by the records of the prison
and of my own headquarters.”
When the Federal troops were sent to Georgia Major Wirz was
placed under guard and taken to the Old Capitol Prison, in
Washington, D. C., where he remained from the 10th of May, 1865,
until November 10th, 1865, when he was hung.
For three weary months he was kept a close prisoner, and then he
was taken before a Military Commission for trial (?).
In the case of Major Wirz the usual course of procedure was
reversed—he was first condemned, then tried, and finally executed.
Yet this was not the final act, for the malignity of his persecutors
followed him even after death. When Father Boyle and others sought
to give the body of Wirz Christian burial in consecrated ground the
request was denied and the body deposited beside those executed
for the assassination of President Lincoln, in the yard of the old
arsenal.
The regard for law and justice which usually governs in a Civil Court
had no holding in the proceedings of a Military Commission, where
the decisions of the Court were rendered in accordance with the
opinions of the Judge Advocate, who admitted or rejected testimony
as he thought it affected the case. Consequently persons whose
testimony was considered vital for the defense, were not allowed to
testify, while witnesses for the prosecution were permitted to give
their evidence, no matter how inconsistent or manifestly false it was.
In a letter dated August 17th, 1868, to the National Intelligencer,
Robert Ould, who was Confederate States Agent of Exchange, says:
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