FAMOUS ADVENTURES AND PEISON 
 ESCAPES OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
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FAMOUS ADVENTURES 
 AND PRISON ESCAPES 
 OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1911 
 
Copyright, 1885, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893, by 
 THE CENTURA Co. 
 
 THE DEVINNE PRESS. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 1 
 
 THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 83 
 
 MOSBY S " PARTIZAN RANGERS" 102 
 
 A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 116 
 
 COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 184 
 
 A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 243 
 
 ESCAPE OF GENERAL BRECKINRIDGE . . 298 
 
 242333 
 
ILLUSTEATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 QUESTIONING A PRISONER Frontispiece 
 
 THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE 85 
 
 GENERAL JOHN H. MORGAN 117 
 
 MAP OF THE MORGAN RAID 118 
 
 THE FARMER FROM CALFKILLER CREEK 123 
 
 GENERAL DUKE TESTS THE PIES 125 
 
 HOSPITALITIES OF THE FARM 131 
 
 LOOKING FOR THE FOOTPRINTS OF THE VAN 137 
 
 CORRIDOR AND CELLS IN THE OHIO STATE PENITENTIARY 
 
 CAPTAIN HINES S CELL 161 
 
 EXTERIOR OF THE PRISON EXIT FROM TUNNEL 163 
 
 WITHIN THE WOODEN GATE 167 
 
 OVER THE PRISON WALL 171 
 
 "HURRY UP, MAJOR!" 175 
 
 CAPTAIN HINES OBJECTS 178 
 
 COLONEL THOMAS E. ROSE 185 
 
 A CORNER OF LIBBY PRISON 187 
 
 LIBBY PRISON IN 1865 189 
 
 MAJOR A. G. HAMILTON 191 
 
 LIBBY PRISON IN 1884 197 
 
 LIBERTY ! 223 
 
 FIGHTING THE RATS 230 
 
 SECTION OF INTERIOR OF LIBBY PRISON AND TUNNEL 233 
 
x ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 GROUND-PLAN OF LIBBY PRISON AND SURROUNDINGS 235 
 
 LIEUTENANTS E. E. SILL AND A. T. LAMSON 255 
 
 WE ARRIVE AT HEADEN S 263 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF HEADEN 271 
 
 GREENVILLE JAIL 277 
 
 PINK BISHOP AT THE STILL 283 
 
 ARRIVAL HOME OF THE BAPTIST MINISTER 285 
 
 SURPRISED AT MRS. KITCHEN S 291 
 
 THE MEETING WITH THE SECOND OHIO HEAVY ARTILLERY.. . 295 
 
 SAND AS A DEFENSE AGAINST MOSQUITOS 307 
 
 SEARCHING FOR TURTLES EGGS 310 
 
 THROUGH A SHALLOW LAGOON 313 
 
 EXCHANGING THE BOAT FOR THE SLOOP 315 
 
 OVER A CORAL-REEF 325 
 
 A ROUGH NIGHT IN THE GULF STREAM.. . 331 
 
FAMOUS ADVENTURES AND PRISON 
 ESCAPES OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
FAMOUS ADVENTURES AND PEISON 
 ESCAPES OF THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 
 
 EDITED BY G. W. CABLE 
 
 THE following diary was originally written in lead- 
 pencil and in a book the leaves of which were too soft 
 to take ink legibly. I have it direct from the hands of 
 its writer, a lady whom I have had the honor to know 
 for nearly thirty years. For good reasons the author s 
 name is omitted, and the initials of people and the 
 names of places are sometimes fictitiously given. 
 Many of the persons mentioned were my own acquain 
 tances and friends. When, some twenty years after 
 ward, she first resolved to publish it, she brought 
 me a clear, complete copy in ink. It had cost much 
 trouble, she said; for much of the pencil writing had 
 been made under such disadvantages and was so faint 
 that at times she could decipher it only under direct 
 sunlight. She had succeeded, however, in making a 
 copy, verbatim except for occasional improvement in 
 the grammatical form of a sentence, or now and then 
 
 the omission, for brevity s sake, of something unessen- 
 
 i i 
 
2 i ^VENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 tiki: : Tile - naiTr at ive has since been severely abridged 
 to bring it within magazine limits. 
 
 In reading this diary one is much charmed with its 
 constant understatement of romantic and perilous in 
 cidents and conditions. But the original penciled 
 pages show that, even in copying, the strong bent of 
 the writer to be brief has often led to the exclusion of 
 facts that enhance the interest of exciting situations, 
 and sometimes the omission robs her own heroism of 
 due emphasis. I have restored one example of this in 
 a foot-note following the perilous voyage down the 
 Mississippi. Gr. W. CABLE. 
 
 SECESSION 
 
 New Orleans, Dec. 1, 1860. I understand it now. 
 Keeping journals is for those who cannot, or dare not, 
 speak out. So I shall set up a journal, being only a 
 rather lonely young girl in a very small and hated mi 
 nority. On my return here in November, after a foreign 
 voyage and absence of many months, I found myself 
 behind in knowledge of the political conflict, but heard 
 the dread sounds of disunion and war muttered in 
 threatening tones. Surely no native-born woman loves 
 her country better than I love America. The blood of 
 one of its Eevolutionary patriots flows in my veins, 
 and it is the Union for which he pledged his "life, 
 fortune, and sacred honor" that I love, not any divided 
 or special section of it. So I have been reading atten- 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 3 
 
 tively and seeking light from foreigners and natives 
 on all questions at issue. Living from birth in slave 
 countries, both foreign and American, and passing 
 through one slave insurrection in early childhood, the 
 saddest and also the pleasantest features of slavery 
 have been familiar. If the South goes to war for 
 slavery, slavery is doomed in this country. To say so 
 is like opposing one drop to a roaring torrent. 
 
 Sunday, Dec. , 1860. In this season for peace I had 
 hoped for a lull in the excitement, yet this day has been 
 full of bitterness. " Come, G.," said Mrs. at break 
 fast, " leave your church for to-day and come with us 
 
 to hear Dr. on the situation. He will convince 
 
 you." "It is good to be convinced," I said; "I will 
 go." The church was crowded to suffocation with the 
 elite of New Orleans. The preacher s text was, " Shall 
 we have fellowship with the stool of iniquity which 
 frameth mischief as a law 1 " . . . The sermon was over 
 at last, and then followed a prayer. . . . Forever blessed 
 be the fathers of the Episcopal Church for giving us 
 a fixed liturgy ! When we met at dinner Mrs. F. ex 
 claimed, "Now, G., you heard him prove from the 
 Bible that slavery is right and that therefore secession 
 is. Were you not convinced 1 " I said, " I was so busy 
 thinking how completely it proved too that Brigham 
 Young is right about polygamy that it quite weakened 
 the force of the argument for me." This raised a laugh, 
 and covered my retreat. 
 
 Jan. 26, 1861. The solemn boom of cannon to-day 
 announced that the convention have passed the ordi 
 nance of secession. We must take a reef in our 
 patriotism and narrow it down to State limits. Mine 
 
4 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 still sticks out all around the borders of the State. It 
 will be bad if New Orleans should secede from Loui 
 siana and set up for herself. Then indeed I would be 
 "cabined, cribbed, confined." The faces in the house 
 are jubilant to-day. Why is it so easy for them and 
 not for me to "ring out the old, ring in the new"? I 
 am out of place. 
 
 Jan. 28, Monday. Sunday has now got to be a day 
 of special excitement. The gentlemen save all the 
 sensational papers to regale us with at the late Sunday 
 breakfast. Eob opened the battle yesterday morning 
 by saying to me in his most aggressive manner, " GK, I 
 believe these are your sentiments " ; and then he read 
 aloud an article from the "Journal des Debats" ex 
 pressing in rather contemptuous terms the fact that 
 France will follow the policy of non-intervention. 
 When I answered, "Well, what do you expect? This 
 is not their quarrel," he raved at me, ending by a 
 declaration that he would willingly pay my passage to 
 foreign parts if I would like to go. "Eob," said his 
 father, "keep cool; don t let that threat excite you. 
 Cotton is king. Just wait till they feel the pinch a 
 little; their tone will change." I went to Trinity 
 Church. Some Union people who are not Episco 
 palians go there now because the pastor has not so 
 much chance to rail at the Lord when things are not 
 going to suit. But yesterday was a marked Sunday. 
 The usual prayer for the President and Congress was 
 changed to the "governor and people of this com 
 monwealth and their representatives in convention 
 assembled." 
 
 The city was very lively and noisy this evening with 
 
WAE DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 5 
 
 rockets and lights in honor of secession. Mrs. F., in 
 common with the neighbors, illuminated. We walked 
 out to see the houses of others gleaming amid the dark 
 shrubbery like a fairy scene. The perfect stillness 
 added to the effect, while the moon rose slowly with 
 calm splendor. We hastened home to dress for a 
 soiree, but on the stairs Edith said, "G., first come and 
 help me dress Phoebe and Chloe [the negro servants]. 
 There is a ball to-night in aristocratic colored society. 
 This is Chloe s first introduction to New Orleans circles, 
 and Henry Judson, Phoebe s husband, gave five dollars 
 for a ticket for her." Chloe is a recent purchase from 
 Georgia. We superintended their very stylish toilets, 
 and Edith said, "G., run into your room, please, and 
 write a pass for Henry. Put Mr. D. s name to it." 
 "Why, Henry is free," I said. "That makes no differ 
 ence; all colored people must have a pass if out late. 
 They choose a master for protection, and always carry 
 his pass. Henry chose Mr. D., but he >s lost the pass 
 he had." 
 
 ii 
 
 THE VOLUNTEERS FOET SUMTEE 
 
 Feb. 24, 1861. The toil of the week is ended. Nearly 
 a month has passed since I wrote here. Events have 
 crowded upon one another. On the 4th the cannon 
 boomed in honor of Jefferson Da vis s election, and day 
 before yesterday Washington s birthday was made the 
 occasion of another grand display and illumination, in 
 honor of the birth of a new nation and the breaking 
 
6 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 of that Union which he labored to cement. We drove 
 to the race-course to see the review of troops. A flag 
 was presented to the Washington Artillery by ladies. 
 Senator Judah Benjamin made an impassioned speech. 
 The banner was orange satin on one side, crimson silk 
 on the other, the pelican and brood embroidered in 
 pale green and gold. Silver crossed cannon surmounted 
 it, orange-colored fringe surrounded it, and crimson 
 tassels drooped from it. It was a brilliant, unreal 
 scene; with military bands clashing triumphant mu 
 sic, elegant vehicles, high-stepping horses, and lovely 
 women richly appareled. 
 
 Wedding-cards have been pouring in till the conta 
 gion has reached us ; Edith will be married next Thurs 
 day. The wedding-dress is being fashioned, and the 
 bridesmaids and groomsmen have arrived. Edith has 
 requested me to be special mistress of ceremonies on 
 Thursday evening, and I have told this terrible little 
 rebel, who talks nothing but blood and thunder, yet 
 faints at the sight of a worm, that if I fill that office 
 no one shall mention war or politics during the whole 
 evening, on pain of expulsion. 
 
 March 10, 1861. The excitement in this house has 
 risen to fever-heat during the past week. The four 
 gentlemen have each a different plan for saving the 
 country, and now that the bridal bouquets have faded, 
 the three ladies have again turned to public affairs; 
 Lincoln s inauguration and the story of the disguise 
 in which he traveled to Washington is a never-ending 
 source of gossip. The family board being the common 
 forum, each gentleman as he appears first unloads his 
 pockets of papers from all the Southern States, and 
 
WAK DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 7 
 
 then his overflowing heart to his eager female listeners, 
 who in turn relate, inquire, sympathize, or cheer. If I 
 dare express a doubt that the path to victory will be 
 a flowery one, eyes flash, cheeks burn, and tongues 
 clatter, till all are checked up suddenly by a warning 
 rap for "Order, order!" from the amiable lady presid 
 ing. Thus we swallow politics with every meal. We 
 take a mouthful and read a telegram, one eye on table, 
 the other on the paper. One must be made of cool 
 stuff to keep calm and collected, but I say but little. 
 This war fever has banished small talk. Through all 
 the black servants move about quietly, never seeming 
 to notice that this is all about them. 
 
 "How can you speak so plainly before them?" I say. 
 
 "Why, what matter! They know that we shall keep 
 the whip-handle." 
 
 April 13, 1861. More than a month has passed since 
 the last date here. This afternoon I was seated on the 
 floor covered with loveliest flowers, arranging a floral 
 offering for the fair, when the gentlemen arrived and 
 with papers bearing news of the fall of Fort Sumter, 
 which, at her request, I read to Mrs. F. 
 
 April 20. The last few days have glided away in a 
 halo of beauty. But nobody has time or will to enjoy 
 it. War, war ! is the one idea. The children play only 
 with toy cannons and soldiers; the oldest inhabitant 
 goes by every day with his rifle to practice; the public 
 squares are full of companies drilling, and are now the 
 fashionable resorts. We have been told that it is best 
 for women to learn how to shoot too, so as to protect 
 themselves when the men have all gone to battle. 
 Every evening after dinner we adjourn to the back lot 
 
8 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 and fire at a target with pistols. Yesterday I dined at 
 Uncle Ralph s. Some members of the bar were present, 
 and were jubilant about their brand-new Confederacy. 
 It would soon be the grandest government ever known. 
 Uncle Ralph said solemnly, " No, gentlemen ; the day 
 we seceded the star of our glory set." The words sunk 
 into my mind like a knell, and made me wonder at the 
 mind that could recognize that and yet adhere to the 
 doctrine of secession. 
 
 In the evening I attended a farewell gathering at 
 a friend s whose brothers are to leave this week for 
 Richmond. There was music. No minor chord was 
 permitted. 
 
 ra 
 
 TRIBULATION 
 
 April 25. Yesterday I went with Cousin E. to have 
 her picture taken. The picture-galleries are doing a 
 thriving business. Many companies are ordered off to 
 take possession of Fort Pickens (Florida), and all seem 
 to be leaving sweethearts behind them. The crowd 
 was in high spirits ; they don t dream that any destinies 
 will be spoiled. When I got home Edith was reading 
 from the daily paper of the dismissal of Miss Gr. from 
 her place as teacher for expressing abolition senti 
 ments, and that she would be ordered to leave the city. 
 Soon a lady came with a paper setting forth that she 
 has established a "company" we are nothing if not 
 military for making lint and getting stores of linen 
 to supply the hospitals. 
 
WAR DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 9 
 
 My name went down. If it had n t, my spirit would 
 have been wounded as with sharp spears before night. 
 Next came a little girl with a subscription paper to get 
 a flag for a certain company. The little girls, especially 
 the pretty ones, are kept busy trotting around with 
 subscription lists. Latest of all came little Guy, Mr. 
 F. s youngest clerk, the pet of the firm as well as of his 
 home, a mere boy of sixteen. Such senseless sacrifices 
 seem a sin. He chattered brightly, but lingered about, 
 saying good-by. He got through it bravely until 
 Edith s husband incautiously said, " You did n t kiss 
 your little sweetheart," as he always called Ellie, who 
 had been allowed to sit up. He turned and suddenly 
 broke into agonizing sobs and then ran down the steps. 
 
 May 10. I am tired and ashamed of myself. Last 
 week I attended a meeting of the lint society to hand 
 in the small contribution of linen I had been able to 
 gather. We scraped lint till it was dark. A paper was 
 shown, entitled the " Volunteer s Friend," started by the 
 girls of the high school, and I was asked to help the 
 girls with it. I positively declined. To-day I was 
 pressed into service to make red flannel cartridge-bags 
 for ten-inch columbiads. I basted while Mrs. S. sewed, 
 and I felt ashamed to think that I had not the moral 
 courage to say, " I don t approve of your war and won t 
 help you, particularly in the murderous part of it." 
 
 May 27. This has been a scenic Sabbath. Various 
 companies about to depart for Virginia occupied the 
 prominent churches to have their flags consecrated. 
 The streets were resonant with the clangor of drums 
 and trumpets. E. and myself went to Christ Church 
 because the Washington Artillery were to be there. 
 
10 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 June 13. To-day has been appointed a Fast Day. I 
 spent the morning writing a letter on which I put my 
 first Confederate postage-stamp. It is of a brown 
 color and has a large 5 in the center. To-morrow must 
 be devoted to all my foreign correspondents before the 
 expected blockade cuts us off. 
 
 June 29. I attended a fine luncheon yesterday at 
 one of the public schools. A lady remarked to a school 
 official that the cost of provisions in the Confederacy 
 was getting very high, butter, especially, being scarce 
 and costly. "Never fear, my dear madam," he re 
 plied. "Texas alone can furnish butter enough to 
 supply the whole Confederacy ; we 11 soon be getting 
 it from there." It s just as well to have this sublime 
 confidence. 
 
 July 15. The quiet of midsummer reigns, but ripples 
 of excitement break around us as the papers tell of 
 skirmishes and attacks here and there in Virginia. 
 "Eich Mountain" and "Carrick s Ford" were the last. 
 "You see," said Mrs. D. at breakfast to-day, "my 
 prophecy is coming true that Virginia will be the seat 
 of war." " Indeed," I burst out, forgetting my resolu 
 tion not to argue, " you may think yourselves lucky if 
 this war turns out to have any seat in particular." 
 
 So far, no one especially connected with me has gone 
 to fight. How glad I am for his mother s sake that 
 Bob s lameness will keep him at home. Mr. F., Mr. S., 
 and Uncle Ealph are beyond the age for active service, 
 and Edith says Mr. D. can t go now. She is very 
 enthusiastic about other people s husbands being en 
 rolled, and regrets that her Alex is not strong enough 
 to defend his country and his rights. 
 
WAR DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 11 
 
 July 22. What a day ! I feel like one who has been 
 out in a high wind, and cannot get my breath. The 
 newsboys are still shouting with their extras, " Battle 
 of Bull s Run ! List of the killed ! Battle of Manassas ! 
 List of the wounded ! " Tender-hearted Mrs. F. was 
 sobbing so she could not serve the tea; but nobody 
 cared for tea. " Gr. ! " she said, " three thousand of 
 our own, dear Southern boys are lying out there." 
 "My dear Fannie," spoke Mr. F., " they are heroes now. 
 They died in a glorious cause, and it is not in vain. 
 This will end it. The sacrifice had to be made, but 
 those killed have gained immortal names." Then Rob 
 rushed in with a new extra, reading of the spoils cap 
 tured, and grief was forgotten. Words cannot paint 
 the excitement. Rob capered about and cheered; 
 Edith danced around ringing the dinner-bell and 
 shouting, "Victory!" Mrs. F. waved a small Con 
 federate flag, while she wiped her eyes, and Mr. D. 
 hastened to the piano and in his most brilliant style 
 struck up "Dixie," followed by "My Maryland" and 
 the " Bonnie Blue Flag." 
 
 " Do not look so gloomy, Gr.," whispered Mr. S. "You 
 should be happy to-night ; for, as Mr. F. says, now we 
 shall have peace." 
 
 " And is that the way you think of the men of your 
 own blood and race?" I replied. But an utter scorn 
 came over me and choked me, and I walked out of the 
 room. What proof is there in this dark hour that they 
 are not right ! Only the emphatic answer of my own 
 soul. To-morrow I will pack my trunk and accept the 
 invitation to visit at Uncle Ralph s country house. 
 
 Sept. 25. When I opened the door of Mrs. F. s room 
 
12 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 on my return, the rattle of two sewing-machines and a 
 blaze of color met me. 
 
 "Ah, Gr., you are just in time to help us; these are 
 coats for Jeff Thompson s men. All the cloth in the 
 city is exhausted; these flannel-lined oil-cloth table- 
 covers are all we could obtain to make overcoats for 
 Thompson s poor boys. They will be very warm and 
 serviceable." 
 
 " Serviceable yes ! The Federal army will fly when 
 they see those coats ! I only wish I could be with the 
 regiment when these are shared around." Yet I helped 
 make them. 
 
 Seriously, I wonder if any soldiers will ever wear 
 these remarkable coats the most bewildering com 
 bination of brilliant, intense reds, greens, yellows, and 
 blues in big flowers meandering over as vivid grounds ; 
 and as no table-cover was large enough to make a coat, 
 the sleeves of each were of a different color and pat 
 tern. However, the coats were duly finished. Then 
 we set to work on gray pantaloons, and I have just 
 carried a bundle to an ardent young lady who wishes 
 to assist. A slight gloom is settling down, and the 
 inmates here are not quite so cheerfully confident as 
 in July. 
 
 IV 
 
 A BELEAGUERED CITY 
 
 Oct. 22. When I came to breakfast this morning 
 Eob was capering over another victory Ball s Bluff. 
 He would read me, " We pitched the Yankees over the 
 
WAE DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 13 
 
 bluff," and ask me in the next breath to go to the 
 theater this evening. I turned on the poor fellow. 
 "Don t tell me about your victories. You vowed by 
 all your idols that the blockade would be raised by 
 October 1, and I notice the ships are still serenely 
 anchored below the city." 
 
 "GL, you are just as pertinacious yourself in cham 
 pioning your opinions. What sustains you when 
 nobody agrees with you?" 
 
 Oct. 28. When I dropped in at Uncle Ralph s last 
 evening to welcome them back, the whole family were 
 busy at a great center-table copying sequestration acts 
 for the Confederate Government. The property of all 
 Northerners and Unionists is to be sequestrated, and 
 Uncle Ealph can hardly get the work done fast enough. 
 My aunt apologized for the rooms looking chilly ; she 
 feared to put the carpets down, as the city might be 
 taken and burned by the Federals. "We are living as 
 much packed up as possible. A signal has been agreed 
 upon, and the instant the army approaches we shall be 
 off to the country again." 
 
 Great preparations are being made for defense. At 
 several other places where I called the women were al 
 most hysterical. They seemed to look forward to being 
 blown up with shot and shell, finished with cold steel, 
 or whisked off to some Northern prison. When I got 
 home Edith and Mr. D. had just returned also. 
 
 "Alex," said Edith, "I was up at your orange-lots 
 to-day, and the sour oranges are dropping to the 
 ground, while they cannot get lemons for our sick 
 soldiers." 
 
 " That s my kind, considerate wife," replied Mr. D. 
 
14 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 "Why did n t I think of that before? Jim shall fill 
 some barrels to-morrow and take them to the hospitals 
 as a present from you." 
 
 Nov. 10. Surely this year will ever be memorable 
 to me for its perfection of natural beauty. Never was 
 sunshine such pure gold, or moonlight such transparent 
 silver. The beautiful custom prevalent here of deck 
 ing the graves with flowers on All Saints day was well 
 fulfilled, so profuse and rich were the blossoms. On 
 All-hallow eve Mrs. S. and myself visited a large ceme 
 tery. The chrysanthemums lay like great masses of 
 snow and flame and gold in every garden we passed, 
 and were piled on every costly tomb and lowly grave. 
 The battle of Manassas robed many of our women in 
 mourning, and some of those who had no graves to 
 deck were weeping silently as they walked through the 
 scented avenues. 
 
 A few days ago Mrs. E. arrived here. She is a widow, 
 of Natchez, a friend of Mrs. F. s, and is traveling home 
 with the dead body of her eldest son, killed at Manas 
 sas. She stopped two days waiting for a boat, and 
 begged me to share her room and read her to sleep, 
 saying she could n t be alone since he was killed; she 
 feared her mind would give way. So I read all the 
 comforting chapters to be found till she dropped into 
 forgetfulness, but the recollection of those weeping 
 mothers in the cemetery banished sleep for me. 
 
 Nov. 26. The lingering summer is passing into those 
 misty autumn days I love so well, when there is gold 
 and fire above and around us. But the glory of the 
 natural and the gloom of the moral world agree not 
 well together. This morning Mrs. F. came to my room 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 15 
 
 in dire distress. "You see," she said, "cold weather is 
 coming on fast, and our poor fellows are lying out at 
 night with nothing to cover them. There is a wail for 
 blankets, but there is not a blanket in town. I have 
 gathered up all the spare bed-clothing, and now want 
 every available rug or table-cover in the house. Can t 
 I have yours, GL ? We must make these small sacrifices 
 of comfort and elegance, you know, to secure indepen 
 dence and freedom." 
 
 " Very well," I said, denuding the table. " This may 
 do for a drummer boy." 
 
 Dec. 26, 1861. The foul weather cleared off bright 
 and cool in time for Christmas. There is a midwinter 
 lull in the movement of troops. In the evening we 
 went to the grand bazaar in the St. Louis Hotel, got 
 up to clothe the soldiers. This bazaar has furnished 
 the gayest, most fashionable war-work yet, and has 
 kept social circles in a flutter of pleasant, heroic excite 
 ment all through December. Everything beautiful or 
 rare garnered in the homes of the rich was given for 
 exhibition, and in some cases for raffle and sale. There 
 were many fine paintings, statues, bronzes, engravings, 
 gems, laces in fact, heirlooms and bric-a-brac of all 
 sorts. There were many lovely Creole girls present, in 
 exquisite toilets, passing to and fro through the deco 
 rated rooms, listening to the band clash out the Anvil 
 Chorus. 
 
 Jan. 2, 1862. I am glad enough to bid 61 good-by. 
 Most miserable year of my life ! What ages of thought 
 and experience have I not lived in it ! 
 
 The city authorities have been searching houses for 
 firearms. It is a good way to get more guns, and the 
 
16 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 homes of those men suspected of being Unionists were 
 searched first. Of course they went to Dr. B. s. He 
 met them with his own delightful courtesy. "Wish to 
 search for arms? Certainly, gentlemen." He con 
 ducted them all through the house with smiling readi 
 ness, and after what seemed a very thorough search 
 bowed them politely out. His gun was all the time 
 safely reposing between the canvas folds of a cot-bed 
 which leaned folded up together against the wall, in 
 the very room where they had ransacked the closets. 
 Queerly, the rebel families have been the ones most 
 anxious to conceal all weapons. They have dug graves 
 quietly at night in the back yards, and carefully wrap 
 ping the weapons, buried them out of sight. Every 
 man seems to think he will have some private fighting 
 to do to protect his family. 
 
 MABEIED 
 
 Friday, Jan. 24, 1862. (On Steamboat W., Missis 
 sippi Ewer.) With a changed name I open you once 
 more, my journal. It was a sad time to wed, when 
 one knew not how long the expected conscription 
 would spare the bridegroom. The women-folk knew 
 how to sympathize with a girl expected to prepare for 
 her wedding in three days, in a blockaded city, and 
 about to go far from any base of supplies. They all 
 rallied round me with tokens of love and consideration, 
 and sewed, shopped, mended, and packed, as if sewing 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 17 
 
 soldier clothes. And they decked the whole house 
 and the church with flowers. Music breathed, wine 
 sparkled, friends came and went. It seemed a dream, 
 and comes up now again out of the afternoon sunshine 
 where I sit on deck. The steamboat slowly plows its 
 way through lumps of floating ice, a novel sight to 
 me, and I look forward wondering whether the new 
 people I shall meet will be as fierce about the war as 
 those in New Orleans. That past is to be all forgotten 
 and forgiven; I understood thus the kindly acts that 
 sought to brighten the threshold of a new life. 
 
 Feb. 15. (Village of X.) We reached Arkansas 
 Landing at nightfall. Mr. Y., the planter who owns 
 the landing, took us right up to his residence. He 
 ushered me into a large room where a couple of candles 
 gave a dim light, and close to them, and sewing as if 
 on a race with Time, sat Mrs. Y. and a little negro girl, 
 who was so black and sat so stiff and straight she 
 looked like an ebony image. This was a large planta 
 tion; the Y. s knew H. very well, and were very kind 
 and cordial in their welcome and congratulations. Mrs. 
 Y. apologized for continuing her work; the war had 
 pushed them this year in getting the negroes clothed, 
 and she had to sew by dim candles, as they could ob 
 tain no more oil. She asked if there were any new 
 fashions in New Orleans. 
 
 Next morning we drove over to our home in this 
 village. It is the county-seat, and was, till now, a good 
 place for the practice of H. s profession. It lies on the 
 edge of a lovely lake. The adjacent planters count 
 their slaves by the hundreds. Some of them live with 
 a good deal of magnificence, using service of plate, 
 
18 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 having smoking-rooms for the gentlemen built off the 
 house, and entertaining with great hospitality. The 
 Baptists, Episcopalians, and Methodists hold services 
 on alternate Sundays in the court-house. All the 
 planters and many others near the lake shore keep a 
 boat at their landing, and a raft for crossing vehicles 
 and horses. It seemed very piquant at first, this tak 
 ing our boat to go visiting, and on moonlight nights 
 it was charming. The woods around are lovelier than 
 those in Louisiana, though one misses the moaning of 
 the pines. There is fine fishing and hunting, but these 
 cotton estates are not so pleasant to visit as sugar 
 plantations. 
 
 But nothing else has been so delightful as, one morn 
 ing, my first sight of snow and a wonderful new, white 
 world. 
 
 Feb. 27. The people here have hardly felt the war 
 yet. There are but two classes. The planters and the 
 professional men form one ; the very poor villagers the 
 other. There is no middle class. Ducks and par 
 tridges, squirrels and fish, are to be had. H. has bought 
 me a nice pony, and cantering along the shore of the 
 lake in the sunset is a panacea for mental worry. 
 
 VI 
 HOW IT WAS IN AKKANSAS 
 
 March 11, 1862. The serpent has entered our Eden. 
 The rancor and excitement of New Orleans have in 
 vaded this place. If an incautious word betrays any 
 
WAR DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 19 
 
 want of sympathy with popular plans, one is " traitor 
 ous," " ungrateful," " crazy." If one remains silent and 
 controlled, then one is "phlegmatic," "cool-blooded," 
 "unpatriotic." Cool-blooded! Heavens! if they only 
 knew. It is very painful to see lovable and intelligent 
 women rave till the blood mounts to face and brain. 
 The immediate cause of this access of war fever has 
 been the battle of Pea Ridge. They scout the idea 
 that Price and Van Dorn have been completely worsted. 
 Those who brought the news were speedily told what 
 they ought to say. "No, it is only a serious check; 
 they must have more men sent forward at once. This 
 country must do its duty." So the women say another 
 company must be raised. 
 
 We were guests at a dinner-party yesterday. Mrs. 
 A. was very talkative. " Now, ladies, you must all join 
 in with a vim and help equip another company." 
 
 "Mrs. L.," she said, turning to me, "are you not 
 going to send your husband 1 Now use a young bride s 
 influence and persuade him ; he would be elected one 
 of the officers." " Mrs. A.," I replied, longing to spring 
 up and throttle her, " the Bible says, When a man 
 hath married a new wife, he shall not go to war for 
 one year, but remain at home and cheer up his wife. 1 " 
 
 "Well, H.," I questioned, as we walked home after 
 crossing the lake, "can you stand the pressure, or 
 shall you be forced into volunteering ? " " Indeed," he 
 replied, " I will not be bullied into enlisting by women, 
 or by men. I will sooner take my chance of conscrip 
 tion and feel honest about it. You know my attach 
 ments, my interests are here ; these are my people. I 
 could never fight against them; but my judgment 
 
20 ADVENTURES AlND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 disapproves their course, and the result will inevitably 
 be against us." 
 
 This morning the only Irishman left in the village 
 presented himself to H. He has been our wood-sawyer, 
 gardener, and factotum, but having joined the new 
 company, his time recently has been taken up with 
 drilling. H. and Mr. E. feel that an extensive vegetable 
 garden must be prepared while he is here to assist, or we 
 shall be short of food, and they sent for him yesterday. 
 
 " So, Mike, you are really going to be a soldier 1 " 
 
 " Yes, sor ; but faith, Mr. L., I don t see the use of me 
 going to shtop a bullet when sure an I m willin for it 
 to go where it plazes." 
 
 March 18, 1862. There has been unusual gaiety in 
 this little village the past few days. The ladies from 
 the surrounding plantations went to work to get up a 
 festival to equip the new company. As Annie and 
 myself are both brides recently from the city, requisi 
 tion was made upon us for engravings, costumes, music, 
 garlands, and so forth. Annie s heart was in the work; 
 not so with me. Nevertheless, my pretty things were 
 captured, and shone with just as good a grace last 
 evening as if willingly lent. The ball was a merry one. 
 One of the songs sung was "Nellie Gray," in which the 
 most distressing feature of slavery is bewailed so piti 
 fully. To sing this at a festival for raising money to 
 clothe soldiers fighting to perpetuate that very thing 
 was strange. 
 
 March 20, 1862. A man professing to act by General 
 Hindrnan s orders is going through the country im 
 pressing horses and mules. The overseer of a certain 
 estate came to inquire of H. if he had not a legal right 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 21 
 
 to protect the property from seizure. Mr. L. said yes, 
 unless the agent could show some better credentials 
 than his bare word. This answer soon spread about, 
 and the overseer returned to report that it excited 
 great indignation, especially among the company of 
 new volunteers. H. was pronounced a traitor, and they 
 declared that no one so untrue to the Confederacy 
 should live there. When H. related the circumstance 
 at dinner, his partner, Mr. R., became very angry, being 
 ignorant of H. s real opinions. He jumped up in a 
 rage and marched away to the village thoroughfare. 
 There he met a batch of the volunteers, and said, "We 
 know what you have said of us, and I have come to 
 tell you that you are liars, and you know where to 
 find us." 
 
 Of course I expected a difficulty; but the evening 
 passed, and we retired undisturbed. Not long after 
 ward a series of indescribable sounds broke the still 
 ness of the night, and the tramp of feet was heard out 
 side the house. Mr. R. called out, " It s a serenade, H. 
 Get up and bring out all the wine you have." Annie 
 and I peeped through the parlor window, and lo ! it 
 was the company of volunteers and a diabolical band 
 composed of bones and broken-winded brass instru 
 ments. They piped and clattered and whined for some 
 time, and then swarmed in, while we ladies retreated 
 and listened to the clink of glasses. 
 
 March 22. H., Mr. R., and Mike have been very 
 busy the last few days getting the acre of kitchen-gar 
 den plowed and planted. The stay-law has stopped all 
 legal business, and they have welcomed this work. 
 But to-day a thunderbolt foil in our household. Mr. 
 
22 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 E. came in and announced that he had agreed to join 
 the company of volunteers. Annie s Confederate prin 
 ciples would not permit her to make much resistance, 
 and she has been sewing and mending as fast as pos 
 sible to get his clothes ready, stopping now and then to 
 wipe her eyes. Poor Annie ! She and Max have been 
 married only a few months longer than we have ; but 
 a noble sense of duty animates and sustains her. 
 
 VII 
 THE FIGHT FOR FOOD AND CLOTHING 
 
 April 1. The last ten days have brought changes in 
 the house. Max E. left with the company to be mus 
 tered in, leaving with us his weeping Annie. Hardly 
 were her spirits somewhat composed when her brother 
 arrived from Natchez to take her home. This morn 
 ing he, Annie, and Eeeney, the black handmaiden, 
 posted off. Out of seven of us only H., myself, and 
 Aunt Judy are left. The absence of Eeeney will be not 
 the least noted. She was as precious an imp as any 
 Topsy ever was. Her tricks were endless and her 
 innocence of them amazing. When sent out to bring 
 in eggs she would take them from nests where hens 
 were hatching, and embryo chickens would be served 
 up at breakfast, while Eeeney stood by grinning to see 
 them opened; but when accused she was imperturb 
 able. "Laws, Mis L., I nebber done bin nigh dem 
 hens. Mis Annie, you can go count dem dere eggs." 
 That when counted they were found minus the num- 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 23 
 
 ber she had brought had no effect on her stolid denial. 
 H. has plenty to do finishing the garden all by himself, 
 but the time rather drags for me. 
 
 April 13, 1862. This morning I was sewing up a 
 rent in H. s garden coat, when Aunt Judy rushed in. 
 
 " Laws ! Mis L., here ? s Mr. Max and Mis Annie done 
 come back!" A buggy was coming up with Max, 
 Annie, and Reeney. 
 
 " Well, is the war over 1 " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, I got sick ! " replied our returned soldier, get 
 ting slowly out of the buggy. 
 
 He was very thin and pale, and explained that he 
 took a severe cold almost at once, had a mild attack of 
 pneumonia, and the surgeon got him his discharge as 
 unfit for service. He succeeded in reaching Annie, and 
 a few days of good care made him strong enough to 
 travel back home. 
 
 " I suppose, H., you ? ve heard that Island No. 10 is 
 gone 1 " 
 
 Yes, we had heard that much, but Max had the par 
 ticulars, and an exciting talk followed. At night H. 
 said to me, " GL, New Orleans will be the next to go, 
 you 11 see, and I want to get there first ; this stagna 
 tion here will kill me." 
 
 April 28. This evening has been very lovely, but 
 full of a sad disappointment. H. invited me to drive. 
 As we turned homeward he said : 
 
 " Well, my arrangements are completed. You can 
 begin to pack your trunks to-morrow, and I shall have 
 a talk with Max." 
 
 Mr. R. and Annie were sitting on the gallery as I ran 
 up the steps. 
 
24 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 " Heard the news I " they cried. 
 
 "No. What news?" 
 
 "New Orleans is taken! All the boats have been 
 run up the river to save them. No more mails." 
 
 How little they knew what plans of ours this dashed 
 away. But our disappointment is truly an infinitesi 
 mal drop in the great waves of triumph and despair 
 surging to-night in thousands of hearts. 
 
 April 30. The last two weeks have glided quietly 
 away without incident except the arrival of new neigh 
 bors Dr. Y., his wife, two children, and servants. 
 That a professional man prospering in Vicksburg 
 should come now to settle in this retired place looks 
 queer. Max said : 
 
 " H., that man has come here to hide from the con 
 script officers. He has brought no end of provisions, 
 and is here for the war. He has chosen well, for this 
 county is so cleaned of men it won t pay to send the 
 conscript officers here." 
 
 Our stores are diminishing and cannot be replenished 
 from without ; ingenuity and labor must evoke them. 
 We have a fine garden in growth, plenty of chickens, 
 and hives of bees to furnish honey in lieu of sugar. A 
 good deal of salt meat has been stored in the smoke 
 house, and, with fish from the lake, we expect to keep 
 the wolf from the door. The season for game is about 
 over, but an occasional squirrel or duck comes to the 
 larder, though the question of ammunition has to be 
 considered. What we have may be all we can have, if 
 the war lasts five years longer ; and they say they are 
 prepared to hold out till the crack of doom. Food, 
 however, is not the only want. I never realized before 
 the varied needs of civilization. Every day something 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 25 
 
 is out. Last week but two bars of soap remained, so 
 we began to save bones and ashes. Annie said: 
 " Now, if we only had some china-berry trees here, we 
 should n t need any other grease. They are making 
 splendid soap at Vicksburg with china-balls. They 
 just put the berries into the lye and it eats them right 
 up and makes a fine soap." I did long for some china- 
 berries to make this experiment. H. had laid in what 
 seemed a good supply of kerosene, but it is nearly gone, 
 and we are down to two candles kept for an emergency. 
 Annie brought a receipt from Natchez for making 
 candles of rosin and wax, and with great forethought 
 brought also the wick and rosin. So yesterday we 
 tried making candles. We had no molds, but Annie 
 said the latest style in Natchez was to make a waxen 
 rope by dipping, then wrap it round a corn-cob. But 
 H. cut smooth blocks of wood about four inches 
 square, into which he set a polished cylinder about 
 four inches high. The waxen ropes were coiled round 
 the cylinder like a serpent, with the head raised about 
 two inches ; as the light burned down to the cylinder, 
 more of the rope was unwound. To-day the vinegar 
 was found to be all gone, and we have started to make 
 some. For tyros we succeed pretty well. 
 
 VIII 
 DROWNED OUT AND STARVED OUT 
 
 May 9. A great misfortune has come upon us all. 
 For several days every one has been uneasy about the 
 unusual rise of the Mississippi and about a rumor that 
 
26 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the Federal forces had cut levees above to swamp the 
 country. There is a slight levee back of the village, 
 and H. went yesterday to examine it. It looked strong, 
 and we hoped for the best. About dawn this morning 
 a strange gurgle woke me. It had a pleasing, lulling 
 effect. I could not fully rouse at first, but curiosity 
 conquered at last, and I called H. 
 
 " Listen to that running water. What is it ? n 
 He sprung up, listened a second, and shouted: "Max, 
 get up ! The water is on us ! " They both rushed off 
 to the lake for the skiff. The levee had not broken. 
 The water was running clean over it and through the 
 garden fence so rapidly that by the time I dressed and 
 got outside Max was paddling the pirogue they had 
 brought in among the pea-vines, gathering all the ripe 
 peas left above the water. We had enjoyed one mess, 
 and he vowed we should have another. 
 
 H. was busy nailing a raft together while he had a 
 dry place to stand on. Annie and I, with Reeney, had 
 to secure the chickens, and the back piazza was given 
 up to them. By the time a hasty breakfast was eaten 
 the water was in the kitchen. The stove and every 
 thing there had to be put up in the dining-room. 
 Aunt Judy and Eeeney had likewise to move into the 
 house, their floor also being covered with water. The 
 raft had to be floated to the storehouse and a plat 
 form built, on which everything was elevated. At 
 evening we looked around and counted the cost. The 
 garden was utterly gone. Last evening we had walked 
 round the strawberry-beds that fringed the whole acre 
 and tasted a few just ripe. The hives were swamped. 
 Many of the chickens were drowned. Sancho had 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 27 
 
 been sent to high ground, where he could get grass. 
 In the village everything green was swept away. Yet 
 we were better off than many others; for this house, 
 being raised, we have escaped the water indoors. It 
 just laves the edge of the galleries. 
 
 May 26. During the past week we have lived some 
 what like Venetians, with a boat at the front steps and a 
 raft at the back. Sunday H. and I took skiff to church. 
 The clergyman, who is also tutor at a planter s across 
 the lake, preached to the few who had arrived in skiffs. 
 We shall not try it again, it is so troublesome getting 
 in and out at the court-house steps. The imprison 
 ment is hard to endure. It threatened to make me 
 really ill, so every evening H. lays a thick wrap in the 
 pirogue, I sit on it, and we row off to the ridge of dry 
 land running along the lake-shore and branching off 
 to a strip of wood also out of water. Here we dis 
 embark and march up and down till dusk. A great 
 deal of the wood got wet and had to be laid out to dry 
 on the galleries, with clothing, and everything that 
 must be dried. One s own trials are intensified by 
 the worse suffering around that we can do nothing 
 to relieve. 
 
 Max has a puppy named after General Price. The 
 gentlemen had both gone up-town yesterday in the 
 skiff when Annie and I heard little Price s despairing 
 cries from under the house, and we got on the raft to 
 find and save him. We wore light morning dresses 
 and slippers, for shoes are becoming precious. Annie 
 donned a Shaker and I a broad hat. We got the raft 
 pushed out to the center of the grounds opposite the 
 house, and could see Price clinging to a post; the next 
 
28 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 move must be to navigate the raft up to the side of the 
 house and reach for Price. It sounds easy; but poke 
 around with our poles as wildly or as scientifically as 
 we might, the raft would not budge. The noonday sun 
 was blazing right overhead, and the muddy water run 
 ning all over slippered feet and dainty dresses. How 
 long we stayed praying for rescue, yet wincing already 
 at the laugh that would come with it, I shall never 
 know. It seemed like a day before the welcome boat 
 and the "Ha, ha!" of H. and Max were heard. The 
 confinement tells severely on all the animal life about 
 us. Half the chickens are dead and the other half sick. 
 The days drag slowly. We have to depend mainly 
 on books to relieve the tedium, for we have no piano ; 
 none of us like cards ; we are very poor chess-players, 
 and the chess-set is incomplete. When we gather 
 round the one lamp we dare not light any more 
 each one exchanges the gems of thought or mirthful 
 ideas he finds. Frequently the gnats and the mos- 
 quitos are so bad we cannot read at all. This even 
 ing, till a strong breeze blew them away, they were in 
 tolerable. Aunt Judy goes about in a dignified silence, 
 too full for words, only asking two or three times, 
 " W at I done tole you fum de fust ? " The food is a 
 trial. This evening the snaky candles lighted the glass 
 and silver on the supper-table with a pale gleam, and 
 disclosed a frugal supper indeed tea without milk 
 (for all the cows are gone), honey, and bread. A faint 
 ray twinkled on the water swishing against the house 
 and stretching away into the dark woods. It looked 
 like civilization and barbarism met together. Just as 
 we sat down to it, some one passing in a boat shouted 
 
WAK DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 29 
 
 that Confederates and Federals were fighting at Yicks- 
 burg. 
 
 Monday, June 2. On last Friday morning, just three 
 weeks from the day the water rose, signs of its falling 
 began. Yesterday the ground appeared, and a hard 
 rain coming down at the same time washed off much 
 of the unwholesome debris. To-day is fine, and we 
 went out without a boat for a long walk. 
 
 June 13. Since the water ran off, we have, of 
 course, been attacked by swamp fever. H. succumbed 
 first, then Annie, Max next, and then I. Luckily, the 
 new Dr. Y. had brought quinine with him, and we 
 took heroic doses. Such fever never burned in my 
 veins before or sapped strength so rapidly, though 
 probably the want of good food was a factor. The two 
 or three other professional men have left. Dr. Y. 
 alone remains. The roads now being dry enough, H. 
 and Max started on horseback, in different directions, 
 to make an exhaustive search for food supplies. H. 
 got back this evening with no supplies. 
 
 June 15. Max got back to-day. He started right 
 off again to cross the lake and interview the planters 
 on that side, for they had not suffered from overflow. 
 
 June 16. Max got back this morning. H. and he 
 were in the parlor talking and examining maps together 
 till dinner-time. When that was over they laid the mat 
 ter before us. To buy provisions had proved impossible. 
 The planters across the lake had decided to issue 
 rations of corn-meal and pease to the villagers whose 
 men had all gone to war, but they utterly refused to 
 sell anything. " They told me," said Max, " i We will 
 not see your family starve, Mr. E. ; but with such 
 
30 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 numbers of slaves and the village poor to feed, we can 
 spare nothing for sale. 7 " "Well, of course," said H., 
 " we do not purpose to stay here and live on charity 
 rations. We must leave the place at all hazards. We 
 have studied out every route and made inquiries every 
 where we went. We shall have to go down the Missis 
 sippi in an open boat as far as Fetler s Landing (on the 
 eastern bank). There we can cross by land and put 
 the boat into Steele s Bayou, pass thence to the Yazoo 
 River, from there to Chickasaw Bayou, into McNutt s 
 Lake, and land near my uncle s in Warren County." 
 
 June 20. As soon as our intended departure was 
 announced, we were besieged by requests for all sorts 
 of things wanted in every family pins, matches, gun 
 powder, and ink. One of the last cases H. and Max 
 had before the stay-law stopped legal business was the 
 settlement of an estate that included a country store. 
 The heirs had paid in chattels of the store. These had 
 remained packed in the office. The main contents of 
 the cases were hardware; but we found treasure in 
 deed a keg of powder, a case of matches, a paper of 
 pins, a bottle of ink. Eed ink is now made out of 
 pokeberries. Pins are made by capping thorns with 
 sealing-wax, or using them as nature made them. 
 These were articles money could not get for us. We 
 would give our friends a few matches to save for the 
 hour of tribulation. The paper of pins we divided 
 evenly, and filled a bank-box each with the matches. H. 
 filled a tight tin case apiece with powder for Max and 
 himself and sold the rest, as we could not carry any 
 more on such a trip. Those who did not hear of this 
 in time offered fabulous prices afterward for a single 
 
WAS DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 31 
 
 pound. But money has not its old attractions. Our 
 preparations were delayed by Aunt Judy falling sick 
 of swamp fever. 
 
 Friday, June 27. As soon as the cook was up again, 
 we resumed preparations. We put all the clothing in 
 order, and had it nicely done up with the last of the 
 soap and starch. "I wonder," said Annie, "when I 
 shall ever have nicely starched clothes after these? 
 They had no starch in Natchez or Yicksburg when I 
 was there." We are now furbishing up dresses suit 
 able for such rough summer travel. While we sat at 
 work yesterday, the quiet of the clear, calm noon was 
 broken by a low, continuous roar like distant thunder. 
 To-day we are told it was probably cannon at Vicks- 
 burg. This is a great distance, I think, to have heard 
 it over a hundred miles. 
 
 H. and Max have bought a large yawl and are busy 
 on the lake-bank repairing it and fitting it with lockers. 
 Aunt Judy s master has been notified when to send for 
 her ; a home for the cat Jeff has been engaged ; Price 
 is dead, and Sancho sold. Nearly all the furniture is 
 disposed of, except things valued from association, 
 which will be packed in H. s office and left with some 
 one likely to stay through the war. It is hardest to 
 leave the books. 
 
 Tuesday, July 8. We start to-morrow. Packing the 
 trunks was a problem. Annie and I are allowed one 
 large trunk apiece, the gentlemen a smaller one each, 
 and we a light carpet-sack apiece for toilet articles. I 
 arrived with six trunks and leave with one ! We went 
 over everything carefully twice, rejecting, trying to 
 shake off the bonds of custom and get down to primi- 
 
32 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tive needs. At last we made a judicious selection. 
 Everything old or worn was left; everything merely 
 ornamental, except good lace, which was light. Gossa 
 mer evening dresses were all left. I calculated on taking 
 two or three books that would bear the most reading if 
 we were again shut up where none could be had, and 
 so, of course, took Shakspere first. Here I was inter 
 rupted to go and pay a farewell visit, and when we re 
 turned Max had packed and nailed the cases of books 
 to be left. Chance thus limited my choice to those that 
 happened to be in my room " Paradise Lost," the 
 "Arabian Nights," a volume of Macaulay s History I 
 was reading, and my prayer-book. To-day the provi 
 sions for the trip were cooked : the last of the flour was 
 made into large loaves of bread; a ham and several 
 dozen eggs were boiled ; the few chickens that have 
 survived the overflow were fried ; the last of the coffee 
 was parched and ground ; and the modicum of the tea 
 was well corked up. Our friends across the lake added 
 a jar of butter and two of preserves. H. rode off to X. 
 after dinner to conclude some business there, and I sat 
 down before a table to tie bundles of things to be left. 
 The sunset glowed and faded, and the quiet evening 
 came on calm and starry. I sat by the window till 
 evening deepened into night, and as the moon rose I 
 still looked a reluctant farewell to the lovely lake and 
 the grand woods, till the sound of H. s horse at the gate 
 broke the spell. 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 33 
 
 IX 
 
 HOMELESS AND SHELTERLESS 
 
 Thursday, July 10. ( Plantation.) Yesterday 
 
 about four o clock we walked to the lake and embarked. 
 Provisions and utensils were packed in the lockers, and 
 a large trunk was stowed at each end. The blankets 
 and cushions were placed against one of them, and 
 Annie and I sat on them Turkish fashion. Near the 
 center the two smaller trunks made a place for Beeney. 
 Max and H. were to take turns at the rudder and oars. 
 The last word was a fervent God-speed from Mr. E., 
 who is left in charge of all our affairs. We believe him 
 to be a Union man, but have never spoken of it to him. 
 We were gloomy enough crossing the lake, for it was 
 evident the heavily laden boat would be difficult to 
 manage. Last night we stayed at this plantation, and 
 from the window of my room I see the men unloading 
 the boat to place it on the cart, which a team of oxen 
 will haul to the river. These hospitable people are 
 kindness itself, till you mention the war. 
 
 Saturday, July 12. ( Under a cotton-shed on the bank of 
 the Mississippi Eiver.) Thursday was a lovely day, and 
 the sight of the broad river exhilarating. The negroes 
 launched and reloaded the boat, and when we had paid 
 them and spoken good-by to them we felt we were 
 really off. Every one had said that if we kept in the 
 current the boat would almost go of itself, but in fact 
 the current seemed to throw it about, and hard pulling 
 was necessary. The heat of the sun was very severe, 
 and it proved impossible to use an umbrella or any kind 
 
34 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 of shade, as it made steering more difficult. Snags and 
 floating timbers were very troublesome. Twice we hur 
 ried up to the bank out of the way of passing gunboats, 
 but they took no notice of us. When we got thirsty, 
 it was found that Max had set the jug of water in the 
 shade of a tree and left it there. We must dip up the 
 river water or go without. When it got too dark to 
 travel safely we disembarked. Eeeney gathered wood, 
 made a fire and some tea, and we had a good supper. 
 We then divided, H. and I remaining to watch the boat, 
 Max and Annie on shore. She hung up a mosquito-bar 
 to the trees and went to bed comfortably. In the boat 
 the mosquitos were horrible, but I fell asleep and slept 
 till voices on the bank woke me. Annie was wander 
 ing disconsolate round her bed, and when I asked the 
 trouble, said, " Oh, I can t sleep there ! I found a toad 
 and a lizard in the bed." When dropping off again, H. 
 woke me to say he was very sick ; he thought it was 
 from drinking the river water. With difficulty I got a 
 trunk opened to find some medicine. While doing so a 
 gunboat loomed up vast and gloomy, and we gave each 
 other a good fright. Our voices doubtless reached her, 
 for instantly every one of her lights disappeared and 
 she ran for a few minutes along the opposite bank. We 
 momently expected a shell as a feeler. 
 
 At dawn next morning we made coffee and a hasty 
 breakfast, fixed up as well as we could in our sylvan 
 dressing-rooms, and pushed on; for it is settled that 
 traveling between eleven and two will have to be given 
 up unless we want to be roasted alive. H. grew worse. 
 He suffered terribly, and the rest of us as much to see 
 him pulling in such a state of exhaustion. Max would 
 
WAR DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 35 
 
 not trust either of us to steer. About eleven we 
 reached the landing of a plantation. Max walked up 
 to the house and returned with the owner, an old 
 gentleman living alone with his slaves. The house 
 keeper, a young colored girl, could not be surpassed 
 in her graceful efforts to make us comfortable and 
 anticipate every want. I was so anxious about H. that 
 I remember nothing except that the cold drinking- 
 water taken from a cistern beneath the building, into 
 which only the winter rains were allowed to fall, was 
 like an elixir. They offered luscious peaches that, with 
 such water, were nectar and ambrosia to our parched 
 lips. At night the housekeeper said she was sorry they 
 had no mosquito-bars ready, and hoped the mosquitos 
 would not be thick, but they came out in legions. I 
 knew that on sleep that night depended recovery or 
 illness for H., and all possibility of proceeding next 
 day. So I sat up fanning away mosquitos that he 
 might sleep, toppling over now and then on the pillows 
 till roused by his stirring. I contrived to keep this up 
 till, as the chill before dawn came, they abated and I 
 got a short sleep. Then, with the aid of cold water, 
 a fresh toilet, and a good breakfast, I braced up for 
 another day s baking in the boat. 
 
 If I had been well and strong as usual, the discom 
 forts of such a journey would not have seemed so 
 much to me; but I was still weak from the effects of 
 the fever, and annoyed by a worrying toothache which 
 there had been no dentist to rid me of in our village. 
 
 Having paid and dismissed the boat s watchman, we 
 started and traveled till eleven to-day, when we stopped 
 at this cotton-shed. When our dais was spread and 
 
36 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 lunch laid out in the cool breeze, it seemed a blessed 
 spot. A good many negroes came offering chickens 
 and milk in exchange for tobacco, which we had not. 
 We bought some milk with money. 
 
 A United States transport just now steamed by, and 
 the men on the guards cheered and waved to us. We 
 all replied but Annie. Even Max was surprised into 
 an answering cheer, and I waved my handkerchief 
 with a very full heart as the dear old flag we had 
 not seen for so long floated by; but Annie turned 
 her back. 
 
 Sunday, July 13. (Under a tree on the east lank of the 
 Mississippi.) Late on Saturday evening we reached a 
 plantation whose owner invited us to spend the night 
 at his house. What a delightful thing is courtesy! 
 The first tone of our host s welcome indicated the true 
 gentleman. We never leave the oars with the watch 
 man; Max takes these, Annie and I each take a band 
 box, H. takes my carpet-sack, and Eeeney brings up 
 the rear with Annie s. It is a funny procession. Mr. 
 B. s family were absent, and as we sat on the gallery 
 talking, it needed only a few minutes to show this was 
 a "Union man." His home was elegant and tasteful, 
 but even here there was neither tea nor coffee. 
 
 About eleven we stopped here in this shady place. 
 While eating lunch the negroes again came imploring 
 for tobacco. Soon an invitation came from the house 
 for us to come and rest. We gratefully accepted, but 
 found their idea of rest for warm, tired travelers was 
 to sit in the parlor on stiff chairs while the whole 
 family trooped in, cool and clean in fresh toilets, to 
 stare and question. We soon returned to the trees; 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 37 
 
 however, they kindly offered corn-meal pound-cake and 
 beer, which were excellent. 
 
 Eight gunboats and one transport have passed us. 
 Getting out of their way has been troublesome. Our 
 gentlemen s hands are badly blistered. 
 
 Tuesday, July 15. Sunday night about ten we 
 reached the place where, according to our map, Steele s 
 Bayou conies nearest to the Mississippi, and where the 
 landing should be; but when we climbed the steep bank 
 there was no sign of habitation. Max walked off into 
 the woods on a search, and was gone so long we feared 
 he had lost his way. He could find no road. H. sug 
 gested shouting, and both began. At last a distant 
 halloo replied, and by cries the answerer was guided 
 to us. A negro came forward and said that was the 
 right place, his master kept the landing, and he would 
 watch the boat for five dollars. He showed the road, 
 and said his master s house was one mile off and 
 another house two miles. We mistook, and went to 
 the one two miles off. At one o clock we reached Mr. 
 Fetler s, who was pleasant, and said we should have 
 the best he had. The bed into whose grateful softness 
 I sank was piled with mattresses to within two or three 
 feet of the ceiling ; and, with no step-ladder, getting in 
 and out was a problem. This morning we noticed the 
 high-water mark, four feet above the lower floor. Mrs. 
 Petler said they had lived up-stairs several weeks. 
 
38 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 FEIGHTS AND PERILS IN STEELE S BAYOU 
 
 Wednesday, July 16. (Under a tree on the lank of 
 Steele s Bayou.) Early this morning our boat was taken 
 out of the Mississippi and put on Mr. Fetler s ox-cart. 
 After breakfast we followed on foot. The walk in the 
 woods was so delightful that all were disappointed when 
 a silvery gleam through the trees showed the bayou 
 sweeping along, full to the banks, with dense forest 
 trees almost meeting over it. The boat was launched, 
 calked, and reloaded, and we were off again. Toward 
 noon the sound of distant cannon began to echo around, 
 probably from Vicksburg again. About the same time 
 we began to encounter rafts. To get around them re 
 quired us to push through brush so thick that we had 
 to lie down in the boat. The banks were steep and the 
 land on each side a bog. About one o clock we reached 
 this clear space with dry shelving banks, and disem 
 barked to eat lunch. To our surprise a neatly dressed 
 woman came tripping down the declivity, bringing a 
 basket. She said she lived above and had seen our 
 boat. Her husband was in the army, and we were the 
 first white people she had talked to for a long while. 
 She offered some corn-meal pound-cake and beer, and as 
 she climbed back told us to " look out for the rapids." 
 H. is putting the boat in order for our start, and says 
 she is waving good-by from the bluff above. 
 
 Thursday, July 17. (On a raft in Steeled Bayou.} 
 Yesterday we went on nicely awhile, and at afternoon 
 came to a strange region of rafts, extending about three 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 39 
 
 miles, on which persons were living. Many saluted us, 
 saying they had run away from Vicksburg at the first 
 attempt of the fleet to shell it. On one of these rafts, 
 about twelve feet square, 1 bagging had been hung up to 
 form three sides of a tent. A bed was in one corner, 
 and on a low chair, with her provisions in jars and 
 boxes grouped round her, sat an old woman feeding a 
 lot of chickens. 
 
 Having moonlight, we had intended to travel till late. 
 But about ten o clock, the boat beginning to go with 
 great speed, H., who was steering, called to Max : 
 
 " Don t row so fast ; we may run against something." 
 
 " I m hardly pulling at all." 
 
 " Then we re in what she called the rapids ! " 
 
 The stream seemed indeed to slope downward, and in 
 a minute a dark line was visible ahead. Max tried to 
 turn, but could not, and in a second more we dashed 
 against this immense raft, only saved from breaking 
 up by the men s quickness. We got out upon it and 
 ate supper. Then, as the boat was leaking and the 
 current swinging it against the raft, H. and Max thought 
 it safer to watch all night, but told us to go to sleep. It 
 was a strange spot to sleep in a raft in the middle of 
 a boiling stream, with a wilderness stretching on either 
 side. The moon made ghostly shadows, and showed H., 
 sitting still as a ghost, in the stern of the boat, while 
 mingled with the gurgle of the water round the raft 
 beneath was the boom of cannon in the air, solemnly 
 breaking the silence of night. It drizzled now and then, 
 and the mosquitos swarmed over us. My fan and 
 umbrella had been knocked overboard, so I had no 
 
 l More likely twelve yards. G. W. C. 
 
40 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 weapon against them. Fatigue, however, overcomes 
 everything, and I contrived to sleep. 
 
 H. roused us at dawn. Reeney found lightwood 
 enough on the raft to make a good fire for coffee, which 
 never tasted better. Then all hands assisted in unload 
 ing; a rope was fastened to the boat, Max got in, H. 
 held the rope on the raft, and, by much pulling and 
 pushing, it was forced through a narrow passage to the 
 farther side. Here it had to be calked, and while that 
 was being done we improvised a dressing-room in the 
 shadow of our big trunks. During the trip I had to 
 keep the time, therefore properly to secure belt and 
 watch was always an anxious part of my toilet. The 
 boat is now repacked, and while Annie and Reeney are 
 washing cups I have scribbled, wishing much that mine 
 were the hand of an artist. 
 
 Friday morn, July 18. (House of Colonel K., on Yazoo 
 Ewer.) After leaving the raft yesterday all went well 
 till noon, when we came to a narrow place where an 
 immense tree lay clear across the stream. It seemed 
 the insurmountable obstacle at last. We sat despairing 
 what to do, when a man appeared beside us in a pirogue. 
 So sudden, so silent was his arrival that we were thrilled 
 with surprise. He said if we had a hatchet he could 
 help us. His fairy bark floated in among the branches 
 like a bubble, and he soon chopped a path for us, and 
 was delighted to get some matches in return. He said 
 the cannon we heard yesterday were in an engagement 
 with the ram Arkansas, which ran out of the Yazoo 
 that morning. We did not stop for dinner to-day, but 
 ate a hasty lunch in the boat, after which nothing but 
 a small piece of bread was left. About two we reached 
 
WAK DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 41 
 
 the forks, one of which ran to the Yazoo, the other to 
 the Old River. Max said the right fork was our road ; 
 H. said the left, that there was an error in Max s map ; 
 but Max steered into the right fork. After pulling about 
 three miles he admitted his mistake and turned back ; 
 but I shall never forget Old River. It was the vision 
 of a drowned world, an illimitable waste of dead waters, 
 stretching into a great, silent, desolate forest. 
 
 Just as we turned into the right way, down came the 
 rain so hard and fast we had to stop on the bank. It 
 defied trees or umbrellas, and nearly took away the 
 breath. The boat began to fill, and all five of us had 
 to bail as fast as possible for the half -hour the sheet of 
 water was pouring down. As it abated a cold breeze 
 sprang up that, striking our clothes, chilled us to the 
 bone. All were shivering and blue no, I was green. 
 Before leaving Mr. Fetler s Wednesday morning I had 
 donned a dark-green calico. I wiped my face with a 
 handkerchief out of my pocket, and face and hands 
 were all dyed a deep green. When Annie turned round 
 and looked at me she screamed, and I realized how I 
 looked ; but she was not much better, for of all dejected 
 things wet feathers are the worst, and the plumes in 
 her hat were painful. 
 
 About five we reached Colonel K. s house, right 
 where Steele s Bayou empties into the Yazoo. We had 
 both to be fairly dragged out of the boat, so cramped 
 and weighted were we by wet skirts. The family were 
 absent, and the house was headquarters for a squad of 
 Confederate cavalry, which was also absent. The old 
 colored housekeeper received us kindly, and lighted 
 fires in our rooms to dry the clothing. My trunk had 
 
42 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 got cracked on top, and all the clothing to be got 
 at was wet. H. had dropped his in the river while 
 lifting it out, and his clothes were wet. A spoonful of 
 brandy apiece was left in the little flask, and I felt that 
 mine saved me from being ill. Warm blankets and the 
 brandy revived us, and by supper-time we got into 
 some dry clothes. 
 
 Just then the squad of cavalry returned ; they were 
 only a dozen, but they made much uproar, being in 
 great excitement. Some of them were known to Max 
 and H., who learned from them that a gunboat was 
 coming to shell them out of this house. Then ensued 
 a clatter such as twelve men surely never made be 
 fore rattling about the halls and galleries in heavy 
 boots and spurs, feeding horses, calling for supper, 
 clanking swords, buckling and unbuckling belts and 
 pistols. At last supper was despatched, and they 
 mounted and were gone like the wind. We had a quiet 
 supper and a good night s rest in spite of the expected 
 shells, and did not wake till ten to-day to realize we 
 were not killed. About eleven breakfast was furnished. 
 Now we are waiting till the rest of our things are dried 
 to start on our last day of travel by water. 
 
 Sunday, July 20. A little way down the Yazoo on 
 Friday we ran into McNutt s Lake, thence into Chicka- 
 saw Bayou, and at dark landed at Mrs. C. 7 s farm, the 
 nearest neighbors of H. s uncle. The house was full of 
 Confederate sick, friends from Vicksburg, and while 
 we ate supper all present poured out the story of the 
 shelling and all that was to be done at Vicksburg. 
 Then our stuff was taken from the boat, and we finally 
 abandoned the stanch little craft that had carried us 
 
WAK DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 43 
 
 for over one hundred and twenty-five miles in a trip 
 occupying nine days. The luggage in a wagon, and 
 ourselves packed in a buggy, were driven for four or 
 five miles, over the roughest road I ever traveled, to 
 the farm of Mr. B., H. s uncle, where we arrived at mid 
 night and hastened to hide in bed the utter exhaustion 
 of mind and body. Yesterday we were too tired to 
 think, or to do anything but eat peaches. 
 
 XI 
 
 WILD TIMES IN MISSISSIPPI 
 
 THIS morning there was a most painful scene. 
 Annie s father came into Vicksburg, ten miles from 
 here, and learned of our arrival from Mrs. C. s messen 
 ger. He sent out a carriage to bring Annie and Max 
 to town that they might go home with him, and with it 
 came a letter for me from friends on the Jackson Rail 
 road, written many weeks before. They had heard that 
 our village home was under water, and invited us to 
 visit them. The letter had been sent to Annie s people 
 to forward, and thus had reached us. This decided H., 
 as the place was near New Orleans, to go there and 
 wait the chance of getting into that city. Max, when 
 he heard this from H., lost all self-control and cried like 
 a baby. He stalked about the garden in the most 
 tragic manner, exclaiming : 
 
 " Oh ! my soul s brother from youth up is a traitor ! 
 A traitor to his country ! " 
 
 Then H. got angry and said, " Max, don t be a fool." 
 
44 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 "Who has done this?" bawled Max. "You felt 
 with the South at first ; who has changed you 1 " 
 
 " Of course I feeler the South now, and nobody has 
 changed me but the logic of events, though the twenty- 
 negro law has intensified my opinions. I can t see why 
 I, who have no slaves, must go to fight for them, while 
 every man who has twenty may stay at home." 
 
 I also tried to reason with Max and pour oil on his 
 wound. "Max, what interest has a man like you, 
 without slaves, in a war for slavery ? Even if you had 
 them, they would not be your best property. That lies 
 in your country and its resources. Nearly all the world 
 has given up slavery ; why can t the South do the same 
 and end the struggle. It has shown you what the 
 South needs, and if all went to work with united 
 hands the South would soon be the greatest country on 
 earth. You have no right to call H. a traitor ; it is we 
 who are the true patriots and lovers of the South." 
 
 This had to come, but it has upset us both. H. is 
 deeply attached to Max, and I can t bear to see a cloud 
 between them. Max, with Annie and Reeney, drove 
 off an hour ago, Annie so glad at the prospect of 
 again seeing her mother that nothing could cloud her 
 day. And so the close companionship of six months, 
 and of dangers, trials, and pleasures shared together, 
 is over. 
 
 Oak Ridge, July 26, Saturday. It was not till Wed 
 nesday that H. could get into Vicksburg, ten miles 
 distant, for a passport, without which we could not go 
 on the cars. We started Thursday morning. I had to 
 ride seven miles on a hard-trotting horse to the nearest 
 station. The day was burning at white heat. When 
 
WAR DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 45 
 
 the station was reached my hair was down, my hat on 
 my neck, and my feelings were indescribable. 
 
 On the train one seemed to be right in the stream of 
 war, among officers, soldiers, sick men and cripples, 
 adieus, tears, laughter, constant chatter, and, strangest 
 of all, sentinels posted at the locked car doors demand 
 ing passports. There was no train south from Jackson 
 that day, so we put up at the Bowman House. The 
 excitement was indescribable. All the world appeared 
 to be traveling through Jackson. People were besieg 
 ing the two hotels, offering enormous prices for the 
 privilege of sleeping anywhere under a roof. There 
 were many refugees from New Orleans, among them 
 some acquaintances of mine. The peculiar styles of 
 [women s] dress necessitated by the exigencies of war 
 gave the crowd a very striking appearance. In single 
 suits I saw sleeves of one color, the waist of another, 
 the skirt of another; scarlet jackets and gray skirts; 
 black waists and blue skirts; black skirts and gray 
 waists; the trimming chiefly gold braid and buttons, 
 to give a military air. The gray and gold uniforms of 
 the officers, glittering between, made up a carnival of 
 color. Every moment we saw strange meetings and 
 partings of people from all over the South. Conditions 
 of time, space, locality, and estate were all loosened; 
 everybody seemed floating he knew not whither, but 
 determined to be jolly, and keep up an excitement. At 
 supper we had tough steak, heavy, dirty-looking bread, 
 Confederate coffee. The coffee was made of either 
 parched rye or corn-meal, or of sweet potatoes cut in 
 small cubes and roasted. This was the favorite. When 
 flavored with "coffee essence," sweetened with sor- 
 
46 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL, WAB 
 
 ghum, and tinctured with chalky milk, it made a 
 curious beverage which, after tasting, I preferred not 
 to drink. Every one else was drinking it, and an 
 acquaintance said, "Oh, you 11 get bravely over that. 
 I used to be a Jewess about pork, but now we just 
 kill a hog and eat it, and kill another and do the same. 
 It s all we have." 
 
 Friday morning we took the down train for the 
 station near my friend s house. At every station we 
 had to go through the examination of passes, as if in a 
 foreign country. 
 
 The conscript camp was at Brookhaven, and every 
 man had been ordered to report there or to be treated 
 as a deserter. At every station I shivered mentally, 
 expecting H. to be dragged off. Brookhaven was also 
 the station for dinner. I choked mine down, feeling 
 the sword hanging over me by a single hair. At sunset 
 we reached our station. The landlady was pouring 
 tea when we took our seats, and I expected a treat, but 
 when I tasted it was sassafras tea, the very odor of 
 which sickens me. There was a general surprise when 
 I asked to exchange it for a glass of water; every one 
 was drinking it as if it were nectar. This morning we 
 drove out here. 
 
 My friend s little nest is calm in contrast to the 
 tumult not far off. Yet the trials of war are here too. 
 Having no matches, they keep fire, carefully covering 
 it at night, for Mr. Gr. has no powder, arid cannot flash 
 the gun into combustibles as some do. One day they 
 had to go with the children to the village, and the 
 servant let the fire go out. When they returned at 
 nightfall, wet and hungry, there was neither fire nor 
 
WAK DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 47 
 
 food. Mr. Gr. had to saddle the tired mule and ride 
 three miles for a pan of coals, and blow them, all the 
 way back, to keep them alight. Crockery has gradually 
 been broken and tin cups rusted out, and a visitor told 
 me they had made tumblers out of clear glass bottles 
 by cutting them smooth with a heated wire, and that 
 they had nothing else to drink from. 
 
 Aug. 11. We cannot get to New Orleans. A special 
 passport must be shown, and we are told that to apply 
 for it would render H. very likely to be conscripted. 
 I begged him not to try; and as we hear that active 
 hostilities have ceased at Vicksburg, he left me this 
 morning to return to his uncle s and see what the pros 
 pects are there. I shall be in misery about conscription 
 till he returns. 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 1. (Vicksburg, Washington Hotel.) H. 
 did not return for three weeks. An epidemic disease 
 broke out in his uncle s family and two children died. 
 He stayed to assist them in their trouble. Tuesday 
 evening he returned for me, and we reached Vicksburg 
 yesterday. It was my first sight of the "Gibraltar of 
 the South." Looking at it from a slight elevation 
 suggests the idea that the fragments left from world- 
 building had tumbled into a confused mass of hills, 
 hollows, hillocks, banks, ditches, and ravines, and that 
 the houses had rained down afterward. Over all there 
 was dust impossible to conceive. The bombardment 
 has done little injury. People have returned and re 
 sumed business. A gentleman asked H. if he knew of 
 a nice girl for sale. I asked if he did not think it 
 impolitic to buy slaves now. 
 
 " Oh, not young ones. Old ones might run off when 
 
48 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 the enemy s lines approach ours, but with young ones 
 there is no danger." 
 
 "We had not been many hours in town before a posi 
 tion was offered to H. which seemed providential. The 
 chief of a certain department was in ill health and 
 wanted a deputy. It secures him from conscription, 
 requires no oath, and pays a good salary. A mountain 
 seemed lifted off my heart. 
 
 Thursday, Sept. 18. (Thanksgiving Day.)~We stayed 
 three days at the Washington Hotel ; then a friend of 
 H. s called and told him to come to his house till he 
 could find a home. Boarding-houses have all been 
 broken up, and the army has occupied the few houses 
 that were for rent. To-day H. secured a vacant room 
 for two weeks in the only boarding-house. 
 
 Oak Haven, Oct. 3. To get a house in V. proved im 
 possible, so we agreed to part for a time till H. could 
 find one. A friend recommended this quiet farm, six 
 miles from - [a station on the Jackson Railroad]. 
 On last Saturday H. came with me as far as Jackson 
 and put me on the other train for the station. 
 
 On my way hither a lady, whom I judged to be a 
 Confederate u blockade-runner," told me of the tricks 
 resorted to to get things out of New Orleans, including 
 this : A very large doll was emptied of its bran, filled 
 with quinine, and elaborately dressed. When the 
 owner s trunk was opened, she declared with tears that 
 the doll was for a poor crippled girl, and it was passed. 
 
 This farm of Mr. W. s 1 is kept with about forty ne- 
 
 this plantation, and in this domestic circle, I myself afterward 
 sojourned, and from them enlisted in the army. The initials are fictitious, 
 but the description is perfect. G. W. C. 
 
WAK DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 49 
 
 groes. Mr. W., nearly sixty, is the only white man on it. 
 He seems to have been wiser in the beginning than most 
 others, and curtailed his cotton to make room for rye, 
 rice, and corn. There is a large vegetable-garden and 
 orchard; he has bought plenty of stock for beef and 
 mutton, and laid in a large supply of sugar. He must 
 also have plenty of ammunition, for a man is kept 
 hunting and supplies the table with delicious wild tur 
 keys and other game. There is abundance of milk and 
 butter, hives for honey, and no end of pigs. Chickens 
 seem to be kept like game in parks, for I never see any, 
 but the hunter shoots them, and eggs are plentiful. 
 We have chicken for breakfast, dinner, and supper, 
 fried, stewed, broiled, and in soup, and there is a family 
 of ten. Luckily I never tire of it. They make starch 
 out of corn-meal by washing the meal repeatedly, 
 pouring off the water, and drying the sediment. Truly 
 the uses of corn in the Confederacy are varied. It 
 makes coffee, beer, whisky, starch, cake, bread. The 
 only privations here are the lack of coffee, tea, salt, 
 matches, and good candles. Mr. W. is now having the 
 dirt floor of his smoke-house dug up and boiling from 
 it the salt that has dripped into it for years. To-day 
 Mrs. W. made tea out of dried blackberry leaves, but 
 no one liked it. The beds, made out of equal parts of 
 cotton and corn-shucks, are the most elastic I ever 
 slept in. The servants are dressed in gray homespun. 
 Hester, the chambermaid, has a gray gown so pretty 
 that I covet one like it. Mrs. W. is now arranging 
 dyes for the thread to be woven into dresses for herself 
 and the girls. Sometimes her hands are a curiosity. 
 The school at the nearest town is broken up, and 
 
50 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Mrs. W. says the children are growing up heathens. 
 Mr. W. has offered me a liberal price to give the chil 
 dren lessons in English and French, and I have 
 accepted transiently. 
 
 Oct. 28. It is a month to-day since I came here. I 
 only wish H. could share these benefits the nourish 
 ing food, the pure aromatic air, the sound sleep away 
 from the fevered life of Vicksburg. He sends me all 
 the papers he can get hold of, and we both watch care 
 fully the movements reported lest an army should get 
 between us. The days are full of useful work, and in 
 the lovely afternoons I take long walks with a big dog 
 for company. The girls do not care for walking. In 
 the evening Mr. W. begs me to read aloud all the war 
 news. He is fond of the "Memphis Appeal," which 
 has moved from town to town so much that they call 
 it the " Moving Appeal." I sit in a low chair by the 
 fire, as we have no other light to read by. Sometimes 
 traveling soldiers stop here, but that is rare. 
 
 Oct. 31. Mr. W. said last night the farmers felt un 
 easy about the " Emancipation Proclamation " to take 
 effect in December. The slaves have found it out, 
 though it had been carefully kept from them. 
 
 " Do yours know it ? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes. Finding it to be known elsewhere, I told 
 it to mine with fair warning what to expect if they 
 tried to run away. The hounds are not far off." 
 
 The need of clothing for their armies is worrying 
 them too. I never saw Mrs. W. so excited as on last 
 evening. She said the provost-marshal at the next 
 town had ordered the women to knit so many pairs of 
 socks. 
 
WAR DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 51 
 
 " Just let him try to enforce it and they will cowhide 
 him. He 11 get none from me. I 11 take care of my 
 own friends without an order from him." 
 
 "Well," said Mr. W., "if the South is defeated and 
 the slaves set free, the Southern people will all become 
 atheists; for the Bible justifies slavery and says it shall 
 be perpetual." 
 
 "You mean, if the Lord does not agree with you, 
 you 11 repudiate him." 
 
 " Well, we 11 feel it s no use to believe in anything." 
 
 At night the large sitting-room makes a striking 
 picture. Mr. W., spare, erect, gray-headed, patriarchal, 
 sits in his big chair by the odorous fire of pine logs 
 and knots roaring up the vast fireplace. His driver 
 brings to him the report of the day s picking and a 
 basket of snowy cotton for the spinning. The hunter 
 brings in the game. I sit on the other side to read. 
 The great spinning-wheels stand at the other end of 
 the room, and Mrs. W. and her black satellites, the 
 elderly women with their heads in bright bandanas, are 
 hard at work. Slender and auburn-haired, she steps 
 back and forth out of shadow into shine following 
 the thread with graceful movements. Some card the 
 cotton, some reel it into hanks. Over all the firelight 
 glances, now touching the golden curls of little John 
 toddling about, now the brown heads of the girls stoop 
 ing over their books, now the shadowy figure of little 
 Jule, the girl whose duty it is to supply the fire with 
 rich pine to keep up the vivid light. If they would 
 only let the child sit down! But that is not allowed, 
 and she gets sleepy and stumbles and knocks her head 
 against the wall and then straightens up again. When 
 
52 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 that happens often it drives me off. Sometimes while 
 I read the bright room fades and a vision rises of 
 figures clad in gray and blue lying pale and stiff on 
 the blood-sprinkled ground. 
 
 Nov. 15. Yesterday a letter was handed me from H. 
 Grant s army was moving, he wrote, steadily down the 
 Mississippi Central, and might cut the road at Jack 
 son. He has a house and will meet me in Jackson 
 to-morrow. 
 
 Nov. 20. (Vicksburg.) A fair morning for my jour 
 ney back to Vicksburg. On the train was the gentle 
 man who in New Orleans had told us we should have 
 all the butter we wanted from Texas. On the cars, as 
 elsewhere, the question of food alternated with news 
 of the war. 
 
 When we ran into the Jackson station, H. was on the 
 platform, and I gladly learned that we could go right 
 on. A runaway negro, an old man, ashy-colored from 
 fright and exhaustion, with his hands chained, was 
 being dragged along by a common-looking man. Just 
 as we started out of Jackson the conductor led in a 
 young woman sobbing in a heartbroken manner. Her 
 grief seemed so overpowering, and she was so young 
 and helpless, that every one was interested. Her hus 
 band went into the army in the opening of the war, 
 just after their marriage, and she had never heard from 
 him since. After months of weary searching she 
 learned he had been heard of at Jackson, and came 
 full of hope, but found no clue. The sudden breaking 
 down of her hope was terrible. The conductor placed 
 her in care of a gentleman going her way and left her 
 sobbing. At the next station the conductor came to 
 
WAE DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 53 
 
 ask her about her baggage. She raised her head to try 
 and answer. "Don t cry so; you 11 find him yet." She 
 gave a start, jumped from her seat with arms flung out 
 and eyes staring. " There he is now!" she cried. Her 
 husband stood before her. 
 
 The gentleman beside her yielded his seat, and as 
 hand grasped hand a hysterical gurgle gave place to a 
 look like Heaven s peace. The low murmur of their 
 talk began, and when I looked around at the next 
 station they had bought pies and were eating them 
 together like happy children. 
 
 Midway between Jackson and Yicksburg we reached 
 the station near where Annie s parents were staying. 
 I looked out, and there stood Annie with a little sister 
 on each side of her, brightly smiling at us. Max had 
 written to H., but we had not seen them since our 
 parting. There was only time for a word and the train 
 flashed away. 
 
 XII 
 
 VICKSBUKG 
 
 WE reached Vicksburg that night and went to H. s 
 room. Next morning the cook he had engaged arrived, 
 and we moved into this house. Martha s ignorance 
 keeps me busy, and H. is kept close at his office. 
 
 January 7, 1863. I have had little to record here 
 recently, for we have lived to ourselves, not visiting or 
 visited. Every one H. knows is absent, and I know 
 no one but the family we stayed with at first, and they 
 are now absent. H. tells me of the added triumph 
 
54 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 since the repulse of Sherman in December, and the 
 one paper published here shouts victory as much as 
 its gradually diminishing size will allow. Paper is a 
 serious want. There is a great demand for envelops 
 in the office where H. is. He found and bought a lot 
 of thick and smooth colored paper, cut a tin pattern, 
 and we have whiled away some long evenings cutting 
 envelops and making them up. I have put away a 
 package of the best to look at when we are old. The 
 books I brought from Arkansas have proved a trea 
 sure, but we can get no more. I went to the only 
 book-store open; there were none but Mrs. Stowe s 
 " Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands." The clerk said 
 I could have that cheap, because he could n t sell her 
 books, so I got it and am reading it now. The monot 
 ony has only been broken by letters from friends here 
 and there in the Confederacy. One of these letters 
 tells of a Federal raid to their place, and says: "But 
 the worst thing was, they would take every tooth 
 brush in the house, because we can t buy any more; 
 and one cavalryman put my sister s new bonnet on 
 his horse, and said, Gret up, Jack, and her bonnet 
 was gone." 
 
 February 25. A long gap in my journal, because H. 
 has been ill unto death with typhoid fever, and I 
 nearly broke down from loss of sleep, there being no 
 one to relieve me. I never understood before how 
 terrible it was to be alone at night with a patient in 
 delirium, and no one within call. To wake Martha 
 was simply impossible. I got the best doctor here, 
 but when convalescence began the question of food 
 was a trial. I got with great difficulty two chickens. 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 55 
 
 The doctor made the drug-store sell two of their six 
 bottles of port; he said his patient s life depended 
 on it. An egg is a rare and precious thing. Mean 
 while the Federal fleet has been gathering, has anchored 
 at the bend, and shells are thrown in at intervals. 
 
 March 20. The slow shelling of Vicksburg goes on 
 all the time, and we have grown indifferent. It does 
 not at present interrupt or interfere with daily avoca 
 tions, but I suspect they are only getting the range of 
 different points; and when they have them all com 
 plete, showers of shot will rain on us all at once. Non- 
 combatants have been ordered to leave or prepare 
 accordingly. Those who are to stay are having caves 
 built. Cave-digging has become a regular business; 
 prices range from twenty to fifty dollars, according to 
 size of cave. Two diggers worked at ours a week and 
 charged thirty dollars. It is well made in the hill that 
 slopes just in the rear of the house, and well propped 
 with thick posts, as they all are. It has a shelf also, 
 for holding a light or water. When we went in this 
 evening and sat down, the earthy, suffocating feeling, 
 as of a living tomb, was dreadful to me. I fear I 
 shall risk death outside rather than melt in that dark 
 furnace. The hills are so honeycombed with caves 
 that the streets look like avenues in a cemetery. The 
 hill called the Sky-parlor has become quite a fashion 
 able resort for the few upper-circle families left here. 
 Some officers are quartered there, and there is a band 
 and a field-glass. Last evening we also climbed the 
 hill to watch the shelling, but found the view not so 
 good as on a quiet hill nearer home. Soon a lady 
 began to talk to one of the officers: "It is such folly 
 
56 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 for them to waste their ammunition like that. How 
 can they ever take a town that has such advantages 
 for defense and protection as this? We 11 just burrow 
 into these hills and let them batter away as hard as 
 they please." 
 
 " You are right, madam ; and besides, when our 
 women are so willing to brave death and endure dis 
 comfort, how can we ever be conquered ? " 
 
 Soon she looked over with significant glances to 
 where we stood, and began to talk at H. 
 
 " The only drawback," she said, " are the contempt 
 ible men who are staying at home in comfort, when 
 they ought to be in the army if they had a spark of 
 honor." 
 
 I cannot repeat all, but it was the usual tirade. It is 
 strange I have met no one yet who seems to compre 
 hend an honest difference of opinion, and stranger yet 
 that the ordinary rules of good breeding are now so 
 entirely ignored. As the spring comes one has the 
 craving for fresh, green food that a monotonous diet 
 produces. There was a bed of radishes and onions in 
 the garden that were a real blessing. An onion salad, 
 dressed only with salt, vinegar, and pepper, seemed a 
 dish fit for a king; but last night the soldiers quartered 
 near made a raid on the garden and took them all. 
 
 April 2. We have had to move, and thus lost our 
 cave. The owner of the house suddenly returned and 
 notified us that he intended to bring his family back ; 
 did n t think there d be any siege. The cost of the 
 cave could go for the rent. That means he has got 
 tired of the Confederacy and means to stay here and 
 thus get out of it. This house was the only one to be 
 
WAE DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 57 
 
 had. It was built by ex-Senator G., and ij so large 
 our tiny household is lost in it. We use only the lower 
 floor. The bell is often rung by persons who take it for 
 a hotel and come beseeching food at any price. To-day 
 one came who would not be denied. "We do not keep 
 a hotel, but would willingly feed hungry soldiers if we 
 had the food." "I have been traveling all night, and 
 am starving; will pay any price for just bread." I 
 went to the dining-room and found some biscuits, and 
 set out two, with a large piece of corn-bread, a small 
 piece of bacon, some nice syrup, and a pitcher of water. 
 I locked the door of the safe and left him to enjoy his 
 lunch. After he left I found he had broken open the 
 safe and taken the remaining biscuits. 
 
 April 28. I never understood before the full force 
 of those questions What shall we eat 1 what shall we 
 drink? and wherewithal shall we be clothed? We 
 have no prophet of the Lord at whose prayer the meal 
 and oil will not waste. Such minute attention must be 
 given the wardrobe to preserve it that I have learned 
 to darn like an artist. Making shoes is now another 
 accomplishment. Mine were in tatters. H. came 
 across a moth-eaten pair that he bought me, giving ten 
 dollars, I think, and they fell into rags when I tried to 
 wear them ; but the soles were good, and that has 
 helped me to shoes. A pair of old coat-sleeves saved 
 nothing is thrown away now was in my trunk. I cut 
 an exact pattern from my old shoes, laid it on the 
 sleeves, and cut out thus good uppers and sewed them 
 carefully ; then soaked the soles and sewed the cloth to 
 them. I am so proud of these home-made shoes, think 
 I 11 put them in a glass case when the war is over, as 
 
58 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 an heirloom. H. says he has coine to have an abiding 
 faith that everything he needs to wear will come out 
 of that trunk while the war lasts. It is like a fairy 
 casket. I have but a dozen pins remaining, so many 
 I gave away. Every time these are used they are 
 straightened and kept from rust. All these curious 
 labors are performed while the shells are leisurely 
 screaming through the air ; but as long as we are out 
 of range we don t worry. For many nights we have 
 had but little sleep, because the Federal gunboats have 
 been running past the batteries. The uproar when this 
 is happening is phenomenal. The first night the thun 
 dering artillery burst the bars of sleep, we thought it an 
 attack by the river. To get into garments and rush 
 up-stairs was the work of a moment. From the upper 
 gallery we have a fine view of the river, and soon a red 
 glare lit up the scene and showed a small boat, towing 
 two large barges, gliding by. The Confederates had 
 set fire to a house near the bank. Another night, eight 
 boats ran by, throwing a shower of shot, and two burn 
 ing houses made the river clear as day. One of the 
 batteries has a remarkable gun they call " Whistling 
 Dick," because of the screeching, whistling sound it 
 gives, and certainly it does sound like a tortured thing. 
 Added to all this is the indescribable Confederate yell, 
 which is a soul-harrowing sound to hear. I have 
 gained respect for the mechanism of the human ear, 
 which stands it all without injury. The streets are 
 seldom quiet at night; even the dragging about of 
 cannon makes a din in these echoing gullies. The 
 other night we were on the gallery till the last of the 
 eight boats got by. Next day a friend said to H., " It 
 
WAK DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 59 
 
 was a wonder you did n t have your heads taken off 
 last night. I passed and saw them stretched over the 
 gallery, and grape-shot were whizzing up the street 
 just on a level with you." The double roar of batteries 
 and boats was so great, we never noticed the whizzing. 
 Yesterday the Cincinnati attempted to go by in day 
 light, but was disabled and sunk. It was a pitiful 
 sight; we could not see the finale, though we saw her 
 rendered helpless. 
 
 XIII 
 PREPARATIONS FOR THE SIEGE 
 
 Vicksburg, May 1, 1863. It is settled at last that we 
 shall spend the time of siege in Vicksburg. Ever since 
 we were deprived of our cave, I had been dreading that 
 H. would suggest sending me to the country, where his 
 relatives lived. As he could not leave his position and 
 go also without being conscripted, and as I felt certain 
 an army would get between us, it was no part of my 
 plan to be obedient. A shell from one of the practis 
 ing mortars brought the point to an issue yesterday 
 and settled it. Sitting at work as usual, listening to 
 the distant sound of bursting shells, apparently aimed 
 at the court-house, there suddenly came a Dearer ex 
 plosion; the house shook, and a tearing sound was 
 followed by terrified screams from the kitchen. I 
 rushed thither, but met in the hall the cook s little girl 
 America, bleeding from a wound in the forehead, and 
 fairly dancing with fright and pain, while she uttered 
 fearful yells. I stopped to examine the wound, and her 
 
60 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 mother bounded in, her black face ashy from terror. 
 " Oh ! Miss V., my child is killed and the kitchen tore 
 up." Seeing America was too lively to be a killed sub 
 ject, I consoled Martha and hastened to the kitchen. 
 Evidently a shell had exploded just outside, sending 
 three or four pieces through. When order was restored 
 I endeavored to impress on Martha s mind the necessity 
 for calmness and the uselessness of such excitement. 
 Looking round at the close of the lecture, there stood a 
 group of Confederate soldiers laughing heartily at my 
 sermon and the promising audience I had. They chimed 
 in with a parting chorus : 
 
 " Yes, it s no use hollerin , old lady." 
 
 "Oh! EL," I exclaimed, as he entered soon after, 
 "America is wounded." 
 
 " That is no news ; she has been wounded by traitors 
 long ago." 
 
 " Oh, this is real, living, little black America. I am 
 not talking in symbols. Here are the pieces of shell, 
 the first bolt of the coming siege." 
 
 "Now you see," he replied, "that this house will 
 be but paper to mortar-shells. You must go in the 
 country." 
 
 The argument was long, but when a woman is ob 
 stinate and eloquent, she generally conquers. I came 
 off victorious, and we finished preparations for the 
 siege to-day. Hiring a man to assist, we descended 
 to the wine-cellar, where the accumulated bottles told 
 of the " banquet-hall deserted," the spirit and glow of 
 the festive hours whose lights and garlands were dead, 
 and the last guest long since departed. To empty 
 this cellar was the work of many hours. Then in the 
 safest corner a platform was laid for our bed, and in 
 
WAR DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 61 
 
 another portion one arranged for Martha. The dun 
 geon, as I call it, is lighted only by a trap-door, and is 
 so damp it will be necessary to remove the bedding 
 and mosquito-bars every day. The next question was 
 of supplies. I had nothing left but a sack of rice-flour, 
 and no manner of cooking I had heard or invented 
 contrived to make it eatable. A column of recipes for 
 making delicious preparations of it had been going the 
 rounds of Confederate papers. I tried them all; they 
 resulted only in brick-bats or sticky paste. H. sallied 
 out on a hunt for provisions, and when he returned 
 the disproportionate quantity of the different articles 
 obtained provoked a smile. There was a hogshead of 
 sugar, a barrel of syrup, ten pounds of bacon and peas, 
 four pounds of wheat-flour, and a small sack of corn- 
 meal, a little vinegar, and actually some spice ! The 
 wheat-flour he purchased for ten dollars as a special 
 favor from the sole remaining barrel for sale. We 
 decided that must be left for sickness. The sack of 
 meal, he said, was a case of corruption, through a 
 special providence to us. There is no more for sale at 
 any price; but, said he, "a soldier who was hauling 
 some of the Government sacks to the hospital offered 
 me this for five dollars, if I could keep a secret. When 
 the meal is exhausted, perhaps we can keep alive on 
 sugar. Here are some wax candles ; hoard them like 
 gold." He handed me a parcel containing about two 
 pounds of candles, and left me to arrange my treasures. 
 It would be hard for me to picture the memories those 
 candles called up. The long years melted away, and I 
 
 Trod again my childhood s track, 
 And felt its very gladness. 
 
62 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 In those childish days, whenever came dreams of 
 household splendor or festal rooms or gay illumina 
 tions, the lights in my vision were always wax candles 
 burning with a soft radiance that enchanted every 
 scene. . . . And, lo ! here on this spring day of 63, 
 with war raging through the land, I was in a fine 
 house, and had my wax candles sure enough ; but, alas ! 
 they were neither cerulean blue nor rose-tinted, but 
 dirty brown ; and when I lighted one, it spluttered and 
 wasted like any vulgar tallow thing, and lighted only 
 a desolate scene in the vast handsome room. They 
 were not so good as the waxen rope we had made in 
 Arkansas. So, with a long sigh for the dreams of 
 youth, I return to the stern present in this besieged 
 town my only consolation to remember the old axiom, 
 "A city besieged is a city taken," so if we live 
 through it we shall be out of the Confederacy. H. is 
 very tired of having to carry a pass around in his 
 pocket and go every now and then to have it renewed. 
 We have been so very free in America, these restric 
 tions are irksome. 
 
 May 9. This morning the door-bell rang a startling 
 peal. Martha being busy, I answered it. An orderly 
 in gray stood with an official envelop in his hand. 
 
 " Who lives here ? " 
 
 "Mr. L. 
 
 Very imperiously "Which Mr. L.?" 
 
 "Mr. H.L." 
 
 " Is he here ? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Where can he be found ? " 
 
 "At the office of Deputy 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 63 
 
 " I m not going there. This is an order from Gen 
 eral Pemberton for you to move out of this house in 
 two hours. He has selected it for headquarters. He 
 will furnish you with wagons." 
 
 " Will he furnish another house also I " 
 
 " Of course not." 
 
 " Has the owner been consulted ? " 
 
 " He has not ; that is of no consequence ; it has been 
 taken. Take this order." 
 
 " I shall not take it, and I shall not move, as there is 
 no place to move to but the street." 
 
 " Then I 11 take it to Mr. L." 
 
 "Very well; do so." 
 
 As soon as Mr. Impertine walked off, I locked, bolted, 
 and barred every door and window. In ten minutes 
 H. came home. 
 
 " Hold the fort till I ve seen the owner and the gen 
 eral," he said, as I locked him out. 
 
 Then Dr. B. s remark in New Orleans about the effect 
 of Dr. C. s fine presence on the Confederate officials 
 there came to mind. They are just the people to be 
 influenced in that way, I thought. I look rather shabby 
 now ; I will dress. I made an elaborate toilet, put on 
 the best and most becoming dress I had, the richest 
 lace, the handsomest ornaments, taking care that all 
 should be appropriate to a morning visit ; dressed my 
 hair in the stateliest braids, and took a seat in the par 
 lor ready for the fray. H. came to the window and said : 
 
 " Landlord says, Keep them out. Would n t let 
 them have his house at any price. He is just riding 
 off to the country and can t help us now. Now I in 
 going to see Major C., who sent the order." 
 
64 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 Next came an officer, banged at the door till tired, 
 and walked away. Then the orderly came again and 
 beat the door same result. Next, four officers with 
 bundles and lunch-baskets, followed by a wagon-load 
 of furniture. They went round the house, tried every 
 door, peeped in the windows, pounded and rapped, 
 while I watched them through the blind-slats. Pres 
 ently the fattest one, a real Falstaffian man, came back 
 to the front door and rang a thundering peal. I saw the 
 chance for fun and for putting on their own grandilo 
 quent style. Stealing on tiptoe to the door, I turned 
 the key and bolt noiselessly, and suddenly threw wide 
 back the door and appeared behind it. He had been 
 leaning on it, and nearly pitched forward with an " Oh ! 
 what s this ! " Then seeing me as he straightened up, 
 "Ah, madam!" almost stuttering from surprise and 
 anger, " are you aware I had the right to break down 
 this door if you had n t opened it ? " 
 
 " That would make no difference to me. I m not the 
 owner. You or the landlord would pay the bill for the 
 repairs." 
 
 " Why did n t you open the door ? " 
 
 " Have I not done so as soon as you rung ? A lady 
 does not open the door to men who beat on it. Grentle- 
 men usually ring; I thought it might be stragglers 
 pounding." 
 
 "Well," growing much blander, "we are going 
 to send you some wagons to move; you must get 
 ready." 
 
 " With pleasure, if you have selected a house for me. 
 This is too large ; it does not suit me." 
 
 " No, I did n t find a house for you." 
 
WAR DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 65 
 
 " You surely don t expect me to run about in the 
 dust and shelling to look for it, and Mr. L. is too 
 busy." 
 
 " Well, madam, then we must share the house. We 
 will take the lower floor." 
 
 " I prefer to keep the lower floor myself ; you surely 
 don t expect me to go up and down stairs when you are 
 so light and more able to do it." 
 
 He walked through the hall, trying the doors. " What 
 room is that I " " The parlor." "And this f " " My 
 bedroom." "And this ? " " The dining-room." 
 
 " Well, madam, we 11 find you a house and then come 
 and take this." 
 
 " Thank you, colonel ; I shall be ready when you find 
 the house. Good-morning, sir." 
 
 I heard him say as he ran down the steps, " We must 
 go back, captain; you see I did n t know they were 
 this kind of people." 
 
 Of course the orderly had lied in the beginning to 
 scare me, for General P. is too far away from Vicks- 
 burg to send an order. He is looking about for General 
 Grant. We are told he has gone out to meet John 
 ston ; and together they expect to annihilate Grant s 
 army and free Vicksburg forever. There is now a 
 general hospital opposite this house, and a smallpox 
 hospital next door. War, famine, pestilence, and fire 
 surround us. Every day the band plays in front of the 
 smallpox hospital. I wonder if it is to keep up their 
 spirits? One would suppose quiet would be more 
 cheering. 
 
 May 17. Hardly was our scanty breakfast over this 
 morning when a hurried ring drew us both to the door. 
 
66 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 Mr. J., one of H. s assistants, stood there in high ex 
 citement. 
 
 " Well, Mr. L., they are upon us; the Yankees will be 
 here by this evening." 
 
 "What do you mean?" 
 
 "That Pemberton has been whipped at Baker s 
 Creek and Big Black, and his army are running back 
 here as fast as they can come, and the Yanks after 
 them, in such numbers nothing can stop them. Has n t 
 Pemberton acted like a fool?" 
 
 "He may not be the only one to blame," replied H. 
 
 "They re coming* along the Big B. road, and my 
 folks went down there to be safe, you know; now 
 they re right in it. I hear you can t see the armies 
 for the dust; never was anything else known like it. 
 But I must go and try to bring my folks back here." 
 
 What struck us both was the absence of that con 
 cern to be expected, and a sort of relief or suppressed 
 pleasure. After twelve some worn-out-looking men 
 sat down under the window. 
 
 " What is the news ? " I inquired. 
 
 "Ritreat, ritreat!" they said, in broken English 
 they were Louisiana Acadians. 
 
 About three o clock the rush began. I shall never 
 forget that woeful sight of a beaten, demoralized army 
 that came rushing back, humanity in the last throes 
 of endurance. Wan, hollow-eyed, ragged, foot-sore, 
 bloody, the men limped along unarmed, but followed 
 by siege-guns, ambulances, gun-carriages, and wagons 
 in aimless confusion. At twilight two or three bands 
 on the court-house hill and other points began playing 
 "Dixie," "Bonnie Blue Flag," and so on, and drums 
 
WAR DIAK^ OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 67 
 
 began to beat all about ; I suppose they were rallying 
 the scattered army. 
 
 May 28. Since that day the regular siege has con 
 tinued. We are utterly cut off from the world, sur 
 rounded by a circle of fire. Would it be wise like the 
 scorpion to sting ourselves to death? The fiery shower 
 of shells goes on day and night. H. s occupation, of 
 course, is gone; his office closed. Every man has to 
 carry a pass in his pocket. People do nothing but eat 
 what they can get, sleep when they can, and dodge 
 the shells. There are three intervals when the shelling 
 stops, either for the guns to cool or for the gunners 
 meals, I suppose, about eight in the morning, the 
 same in the evening, and at noon. In that time we 
 have both to prepare and eat ours. Clothing cannot be 
 washed or anything else done. On the 19th and 22d, 
 when the assaults were made on the lines, I watched 
 the soldiers cooking on the green opposite. The half- 
 spent balls coming all the way from those lines were 
 flying so thick that they were obliged to dodge at every 
 turn. At all the caves I could see from my high perch, 
 people were sitting, eating their poor suppers at the 
 cave doors, ready to plunge in again. As the first shell 
 again flew they dived, and not a human being was 
 visible. The sharp crackle of the musketry-firing was 
 a strong contrast to the scream of the bombs. I think 
 all the dogs and cats must be killed or starved: we 
 don t see any more pitiful animals prowling around. 
 . . . The cellar is so damp and musty the bedding 
 has to be carried out and laid in the sun every day, 
 with the forecast that it may be demolished at any 
 moment. The confinement is dreadful. To sit and 
 
68 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 listen as if waiting for death in a horrible manner 
 would drive me insane. I don t know what others do, 
 but we read when I am not scribbling in this. H. 
 borrowed somewhere a lot of Dickens s novels, and we 
 reread them by the dim light in the cellar. When the 
 shelling abates, H. goes to walk about a little or get 
 the "Daily Citizen," which is still issuing a tiny sheet 
 at twenty-five and fifty cents a copy. It is, of course, 
 but a rehash of speculations which amuses a half 
 hour. To-day he heard while out that expert swim 
 mers are crossing the Mississippi on logs at night to 
 bring and carry news to Johnston. I am so tired of 
 corn-bread, which I never liked, that I eat it with 
 tears in my eyes. We are lucky to get a quart of milk 
 daily from a family near who have a cow they hourly 
 expect to be killed. I send five dollars to market each 
 morning, and it buys a small piece of mule-meat. 
 Eice and milk is my main food; I can t eat the mule- 
 meat. We boil the rice and eat it cold with milk for 
 supper. Martha runs the gauntlet to buy the meat 
 and milk once a day in a perfect terror. The shells 
 seem to have many different names: I hear the sol 
 diers say, "That s a mortar-shell. There goes a Par- 
 rott. That s a rifle- shell." They are all equally 
 terrible. A pair of chimney-swallows have built in 
 the parlor chimney. The concussion of the house 
 often sends down parts of their nest, which they 
 patiently pick up and reascend with. 
 
 Friday, June 5. In the cellar. Wednesday evening 
 H. said he must take a little walk, and went while the 
 shelling had stopped. He never leaves me alone for 
 long, and when an hour had passed without his return 
 
WAE DIAKY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 69 
 
 I grew anxious; and when two hours, and the shelling 
 had grown terrific, I momentarily expected to see his 
 mangled body. All sorts of horrors fill the mind now, 
 and I am so desolate here; not a friend. When he 
 came he said that, passing a cave where there were no 
 others near, he heard groans, and found a shell had 
 struck above and caused the cave to fall in on the 
 man within. He could not extricate him alone, and 
 had to get help and dig him out. He was badly hurt, 
 but not mortally, and I felt fairly sick from the 
 suspense. 
 
 Yesterday morning a note was brought H. from a 
 bachelor uncle out in the trenches, saying he had been 
 taken ill with fever, and could we receive him if he 
 came? H. sent to tell him to come, and I arranged 
 one of the parlors as a dressing-room for him, and laid 
 a pallet that he could move back and forth to the 
 cellar. He did not arrive, however. It is our custom 
 in the evening to sit in the front room a little while in 
 the dark, with matches and candle held ready in hand, 
 and watch the shells, whose course at night is shown 
 by the fuse. H. was at the window and suddenly 
 sprang up, crying, " Run ! " " Where ? " "Back ! " 
 
 I started through the back room, H. after me. I was 
 just within the door when the crash came that threw 
 me to the floor. It was the most appalling sensation 
 I d ever known worse than an earthquake, which 
 I ve also experienced. Shaken and deafened, I picked 
 myself up; H. had struck a light to find me. I lighted 
 mine, and the smoke guided us to the parlor I had 
 fixed for Uncle J. The candles were useless in the 
 dense smoke, and it was many minutes before we 
 
70 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 could see. Then we found the entire side of the room 
 torn out. The soldiers who had rushed in said, " This 
 is an eighty-pound Parrott." It had entered through 
 the front, burst on the pallet-bed, which was in tatters; 
 the toilet service and everything else in the room 
 smashed. The soldiers assisted H. to board up the 
 break with planks to keep out prowlers, and we went 
 to bed in the cellar as usual. This morning the yard is 
 partially plowed by a couple that fell there in the 
 night. I think this house, so large and prominent 
 from the river, is perhaps taken for headquarters and 
 specially shelled. As we descend at night to the lower 
 regions, I think of the evening hymn that grandmother 
 taught me when a child : 
 
 Lord, keep us safe this night, 
 
 Secure from all our fears ; 
 May angels guard us while we sleep, 
 
 Till morning light appears. 
 
 Surely, if there are heavenly guardians, we need 
 them now. 
 
 June 7. (In the cellar.) There is one thing I feel 
 especially grateful for, that amid these horrors we 
 have been spared that of suffering for water. The 
 weather has been dry a long time, and we hear of 
 others dipping up the water from ditches and mud- 
 holes. This place has two large underground cisterns 
 of good cool water, and every night in my subterra 
 nean dressing-room a tub of cold water is the nerve- 
 calmer that sends me to sleep in spite of the roar. One 
 cistern I had to give up to the soldiers, who swarm 
 about like hungry animals seeking something to de- 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 71 
 
 vour. Poor fellows ! my heart bleeds for them. They 
 have nothing but spoiled, greasy bacon, and bread 
 made of musty pea-flour, and but little of that. The 
 sick ones can t bolt it. They come into the kitchen 
 when Martha puts the pan of corn-bread in the stove, 
 and beg for the bowl she mixed it in. They shake up 
 the scrapings with water, put in their bacon, and boil 
 the mixture into a kind of soup, which is easier to 
 swallow than pea-bread. When I happen in, they look 
 so ashamed of their poor clothes. I know we saved 
 the lives of two by giving a few meals. To-day one 
 crawled on the gallery to lie in the breeze. He looked 
 as if shells had lost their terrors for his dumb and 
 famished misery. I ve taught Martha to make first- 
 rate corn-meal gruel, because I can eat meal easier that 
 way than in hoe-cake, and I fixed him a saucerful, put 
 milk and sugar and nutmeg I ve actually got a nut 
 meg! When he ate it the tears ran from his eyes. 
 " Oh, madam, there was never anything so good ! I 
 shall get better." 
 
 June 9. The churches are a great resort for those 
 who have no caves. People fancy they are not shelled 
 so much, and they are substantial and the pews good 
 to sleep in. We had to leave this house last night, 
 they were shelling our quarter so heavily. The night 
 before, Martha forsook the cellar for a church. We 
 went to H. s office, which was comparatively quiet last 
 night. H. carried the bank-box; I the case of matches; 
 Martha the blankets and pillows, keeping an eye on 
 the shells. We slept on piles of old newspapers. In 
 the streets the roar seems so much more confusing, I 
 feel sure I shall run right in the way of a shell. They 
 
72 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 seem to have five different sounds from the second of 
 throwing them to the hollow echo wandering among 
 the hills, and that sounds the most blood-curdling of all. 
 
 June 13. Shell burst just over the roof this morn 
 ing. Pieces tore through both floors down into the 
 dining-room. The entire ceiling of that room fell in a 
 mass. We had just left it. Every piece of crockery on 
 the table was smashed up. The "Daily Citizen " to-day 
 is a foot and a half long and six inches wide. It has a 
 long letter from a Federal officer, P. P. Hill, who was 
 on the gunboat Cincinnati, that was sunk May 27. 
 Says it was found in his floating trunk. The editorial 
 says, " The utmost confidence is felt that we can main 
 tain our position until succor comes from outside. The 
 undaunted Johnston is at hand." 
 
 June 18. To-day the " Citizen" is printed on wall 
 paper ; therefore has grown a little in size. It says, 
 " But a few days more and Johnston will be here"; 
 also that " Kirby Smith has driven Banks from Port 
 Hudson," and that "the enemy are throwing incendiary 
 shells in." 
 
 June 20. The gentleman who took our cave came 
 yesterday to invite us to come to it, because, he said, 
 "it s going to be very bad to-day." I don t know why 
 he thought so. We went, and found his own and 
 another family in it; sat outside and watched the 
 shells till we concluded the cellar was as good a place 
 as that hillside. I fear the want of good food is 
 breaking down H. I know from my own feelings of 
 weakness, but mine is not an American constitution 
 and has a recuperative power that his has not. 
 
 June 21. I had gone up-stairs to-day during the inter- 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 73 
 
 regnum to enjoy a rest on my bed, and read the reliable 
 items in the " Citizen," when a shell burst right outside 
 the window in front of me. Pieces flew in, striking all 
 around me, tearing down masses of plaster that came 
 tumbling over me. When H. rushed in I was crawling 
 out of the plaster, digging it out of my eyes and hair. 
 When he picked up a piece as large as a saucer beside 
 my pillow, I realized my narrow escape. The window- 
 frame began to smoke, and we saw the house was on 
 fire. H. ran for a hatchet and I for water, and we put 
 it out. Another [shell] came crashing near, and I 
 snatched up my comb and brush and ran down here. 
 It has taken all the afternoon to get the plaster out of 
 my hair, for my hands were rather shaky. 
 
 June 25. A horrible day. The most horrible yet to 
 me, because I ve lost my nerve. We were all in the 
 cellar, when a shell came tearing through the roof, 
 burst up-stairs, tore up that room, and the pieces 
 coming through both floors down into the cellar, one 
 of them tore open the leg of H. s pantaloons. This 
 was tangible proof the cellar was no place of protec 
 tion from them. On the heels of this came Mr. J. to 
 tell us that young Mrs. P. had had her thigh-bone 
 crushed. When Martha went for the milk she came 
 back horror-stricken to tell us the black girl there had 
 her arm taken off by a shell. For the first time I 
 quailed. I do not think people who are physically 
 brave deserve much credit for it; it is a matter of 
 nerves. In this way I am constitutionally brave, 
 and seldom think of danger till it is over; and death 
 has not the terrors for me it has for some others. 
 Every night I had lain down expecting death, and 
 
74 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 every morning rose to the same prospect, without 
 being unnerved. It was for H. I trembled. But now 
 I first seemed to realize that something worse than 
 death might come: I might be crippled, and not killed. 
 Life, without all one s powers and limbs, was a thought 
 that broke down my courage. I said to H., "You 
 must get me out of this horrible place; I cannot stay; 
 I know I shall be crippled." Now the regret comes 
 that I lost control, because H. is worried, and has lost 
 his composure, because my coolness has broken down. 
 July 1. Some months ago, thinking it might be 
 useful, I obtained from the consul of my birthplace, 
 by sending to another town, a passport for foreign 
 parts. H. said if we went out to the lines we might 
 be permitted to get through on that. So we packed 
 the trunks, got a carriage, and on the 30th drove out 
 there. General Y. offered us seats in his tent. The 
 rifle-bullets were whizzing so zip, zip from the sharp 
 shooters on the Federal lines that involuntarily I 
 moved on my chair. He said, "Don t be alarmed; you 
 are out of range. They are firing at our mules yon 
 der." His horse, tied by the tent door, was quivering 
 all over, the most intense exhibition of fear I d ever 
 seen in an animal. General Y. sent out a flag of truce 
 to the Federal headquarters, and while we waited wrote 
 on a piece of silk paper a few words. Then he said, 
 "My wife is in Tennessee. If you get through the 
 lines, send her this. They will search you, so I will 
 put it in this toothpick." He crammed the silk paper 
 into a quill toothpick, and handed it to H. It was 
 completely concealed. The flag-of-truce officer came 
 back flushed and angry. "General Grant says no 
 
WAE DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 75 
 
 human being shall pass out of Vicksburg; but the lady 
 may feel sure danger will soon be over. Vicksburg 
 will surrender on the 4th." 
 
 "Is that so, general?" inquired H. "Are arrange 
 ments for surrender made!" 
 
 "We know nothing of the kind. Vicksburg will not 
 surrender." 
 
 "Those were Greneral Grant s exact words, sir," said 
 the flag-officer. "Of course it is nothing but their 
 brag." 
 
 We went back sadly enough, but to-day H. says he 
 will cross the river to Greneral Porter s lines and try 
 there; I shall not be disappointed. 
 
 July 3. H. was going to headquarters for the re 
 quisite pass, and he saw General Pemberton crawling 
 out of a cave, for the shelling had been as hot as ever. 
 He got the pass, but did not act with his usual caution, 
 for the boat he secured was a miserable, leaky one a 
 mere trough. Leaving Martha in charge, we went to 
 the river, had our trunks put in the boat, and em 
 barked; but the boat became utterly unmanageable, 
 and began to fill with water rapidly. H. saw that we 
 could not cross in it, and turned to come back; yet in 
 spite of that the pickets at the battery fired on us. H. 
 raised the white flag he had, yet they fired again, and 
 I gave a cry of horror that none of these dreadful 
 things had wrung from me. I thought H. was struck. 
 When we landed H. showed the pass, and said that the 
 officer had told him the battery would be notified we 
 were to cross. The officer apologized and said they 
 were not notified. He furnished a cart to get home, 
 and to-day we are down in the cellar again, shells 
 
76 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 flying as thick as ever; provisions so nearly gone, 
 except the hogshead of sugar, that a few more days 
 will bring us to starvation indeed. Martha says rats 
 are hanging dressed in the market for sale with mule- 
 meat: there is nothing else. The officer at the battery 
 told me he had eaten one yesterday. We have tried to 
 leave this Tophet and failed, and if the siege continues 
 I must summon that higher kind of courage moral 
 bravery to subdue my fears of possible mutilation. 
 
 July 4. It is evening. All is still. Silence and night 
 are once more united. I can sit at the table in the par 
 lor and write. Two candles are lighted. I would like 
 a dozen. We have had wheat supper and wheat bread 
 once more. H. is leaning back in the rocking-chair; 
 he says : 
 
 " GL, it seems to me I can hear the silence, and feel it, 
 too. It wraps me like a soft garment ; how else can I 
 express this peace ? " 
 
 But I must write the history of the last twenty-four 
 hours. About five yesterday afternoon, Mr. J., H. s as 
 sistant, who, having no wife to keep him in, dodges 
 about at every change and brings us the news, came to 
 H. and said : 
 
 " Mr. L., you must both come to our cave to-night. I 
 hear that to-night the shelling is to surpass everything 
 yet. An assault will be made in front and rear. You 
 know we have a double cave ; there is room for you in 
 mine, and mother and sister will make a place for Mrs. 
 L. Come right up ; the ball will open about seven." 
 
 We got ready, shut up the house, told Martha to go 
 to the church again if she preferred it to the cellar, and 
 walked up to Mr. J. s. When supper was eaten, all se- 
 
WAK DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 77 
 
 cure, and ladies in their cave night toilet, it was just 
 six, and we crossed the street to the cave opposite. As 
 I crossed a mighty shell flew screaming right over my 
 head. It was the last thrown into Vicksburg. We lay 
 on our pallets waiting for the expected roar, but no 
 sound came except the chatter from neighboring caves, 
 and at last we dropped asleep. I woke at dawn stiff. 
 A draft from the funnel-shaped opening had been 
 blowing on me all night. Every one was expressing 
 surprise at the quiet. We started for home and met 
 the editor of the " Daily Citizen." H. said : 
 
 " This is strangely quiet, Mr. L." 
 
 "Ah, sir," shaking his head gloomily, "I m afraid (?) 
 the last shell has been thrown into Vicksburg." 
 
 " Why do you fear so ? " 
 
 "It is surrender. At six last evening a man went 
 down to the river and blew a truce signal ; the shelling 
 stopped at once." 
 
 When I entered the kitchen a soldier was there wait 
 ing for the bowl of scrapings (they took turns for it). 
 
 " Good morning, madam," he said ; " we won t bother 
 you much longer. We can t thank you enough for let 
 ting us come, for getting this soup boiled has helped 
 some of us to keep alive; but now all this is over." 
 
 " Is it true about the surrender ? " 
 
 "Yes; we have had no official notice, but they are 
 paroling out at the lines now, and the men in Vicks 
 burg will never forgive Pemberton. An old granny ! 
 A child would have known better than to shut men up 
 in this cursed trap to starve to death like useless ver 
 min." His eyes flashed with an insane fire as he spoke. 
 " Have n t I seen my friends carried out three or four 
 
78 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 in a box, that had died of starvation! Nothing else, 
 madam ! Starved to death because we had a fool for a 
 general." 
 
 " Don t you think you re rather hard on Pemberton ? 
 He thought it his duty to wait for Johnston." 
 
 " Some people may excuse him, ma am ; but we 11 
 curse him to our dying day. Anyhow, you 11 see the 
 blue-coats directly." 
 
 Breakfast despatched, we went on the upper gallery. 
 What I expected to see was files of soldiers marching 
 in, but it was very different. The street was deserted, 
 save by a few people carrying home bedding from 
 their caves. Among these was a group taking home 
 a little creature born in a cave a few days previous, 
 and its wan-looking mother. About eleven o clock 
 a soldier in blue came sauntering along, who looked 
 about curiously. Then two more followed him, and 
 then another. 
 
 "H., do you think these can be the Federal sol 
 diers ? " 
 
 " Why, yes ; here come more up the street." 
 
 Soon a group appeared on the court-house hill, and 
 the flag began slowly to rise to the top of the staff. 
 As the breeze caught it, and it sprang out like a live 
 thing exultant, H. drew a long breath of contentment. 
 
 " Now I feel once more at home in mine own country." 
 
 In an hour more a grand rush of people setting 
 toward the river began, foremost among them the 
 gentleman who took our cave; all were flying as if 
 for life. 
 
 " What can this mean, H.? Are the populace turn 
 ing out to greet the despised conquerors!" 
 
WAR DIAEY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 79 
 
 " Oh," said H., springing up, " look ! It is the boats 
 coming around the bend." 
 
 Truly, it was a fine spectacle to see that fleet of 
 transports sweep around the curve and anchor in the 
 teeth of the battery so lately vomiting fire. Presently 
 Mr. J. passed and called : 
 
 " Are n t you coming, Mr. L. I There s provisions 
 on those boats: coffee and flour. * First come, first 
 served, you know." 
 
 " Yes, I 11 be there pretty soon," replied H. 
 
 But now the newcomers began to swarm into our 
 yard, asking H. if he had coin to sell for greenbacks. 
 He had some, and a little bartering went on with the 
 new greenbacks. H. went out to get provisions. When 
 he returned a Confederate officer came with him. H. 
 went to the box of Confederate money and took out 
 four hundred dollars, and the officer took off his watch, 
 a plain gold one, and laid it on the table, saying, " We 
 have not been paid, and I must get home to my family." 
 H. added a five-dollar greenback to the pile, and 
 wished him a happy meeting. The townsfolk continued 
 to dash through the streets with their arms full, 
 canned goods predominating. Toward five, Mr. J. 
 passed again. " Keep on the lookout," he said ; " the 
 army of occupation is coming along," and in a few 
 minutes the head of the column appeared. What a 
 contrast to the suffering creatures we had seen so long 
 were these stalwart, well-fed men, so splendidly set up 
 and accoutred! Sleek horses, polished arms, bright 
 plumes, this was the pride and panoply of war! 
 Civilization, discipline, and order seemed to enter with 
 the measured tramp of those marching columns ; and 
 
80 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the heart turned with throbs of added pity to the worn 
 men in gray, who were being blindly dashed against 
 this embodiment of modern power. And now this 
 "silence that is golden" indeed is over all, and my 
 limbs are unhurt, and I suppose if I were a Catholic, in 
 my fervent gratitude I would hie me with a rich offer 
 ing to the shrine of " our Lady of Mercy." 
 
 July 7. I did not enjoy quiet long. First came 
 Martha, who announced her intention of going to 
 search for her sons, as she was free now. I was hardly 
 able to stand since the severe cold taken in the cave 
 that night ; but she would not wait a day. A colored 
 woman came in and said she had asked her mistress 
 for wages and she had turned her out (wanting a 
 place). I was in no condition to stand upon ceremony 
 then, and engaged her at once, but hear to-day that I 
 am thoroughly pulled to pieces in Vicksburg circles ; 
 there is no more salvation for me. Next came two 
 Federal officers and wanted rooms and board. To have 
 some protection was a necessity ; both armies were 
 still in town, and for the past three days every Confed 
 erate soldier I see has a cracker in his hand. There is 
 hardly any water in town, no prospect of rain, and the 
 soldiers have emptied one cistern in the yard already 
 and begun on the other. The colonel put a guard at 
 the gate to limit the water given. Next came the 
 owner of the house and said we must move; he 
 wanted the house, but it was so big he d just bring 
 his family in ; we could stay till we got one. They 
 brought boarders with them too, and children. Men 
 are at work all over the house shoveling up the plaster 
 before repairing. Up-stairs they are pouring it by 
 
WAR DIARY OF A UNION WOMAN IN THE SOUTH 81 
 
 bucketfuls through, the windows. Colonel D. brought 
 work for H. to help with from headquarters. Making 
 out the paroles and copying them has taken so long 
 they wanted help. I am surprised and mortified to 
 find that two thirds of all the men who have signed 
 made their mark ; they cannot write. I never thought 
 there was so much ignorance in the South. One of the 
 men at headquarters took a fancy to H., and presented 
 him with a portfolio that he said he had captured 
 when the Confederates evacuated their headquarters at 
 Jackson. It contained mostly family letters written in 
 French, and a few official papers. Among them was 
 the following note, which I will copy here, and file 
 away the original as a curiosity when the war is over. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS DEPT. OF TENN. 
 
 TUPELO, Aug. 6, 1862. 
 
 CAPT : The Major- General Commanding directs me to say that he 
 submits it altogether to your own discretion whether you make the 
 attempt to capture General Grant or not. While the exploit would 
 be very brilliant if successful, you must remember that failure would 
 be disastrous to you and your men. The General commends your 
 activity and energy, and expects you to continue to show these 
 
 qualities. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, yr. obt. svt. 
 
 THOMAS L. SNEAD, A. A. G. 
 CAPT. GEO. L. BAXTER, 
 
 Commanding Beauregard Scouts. 
 
 I would like to know if he tried it and came to grief 
 or abandoned the project. As letters can now get 
 through to New Orleans, I wrote there. 
 
 July 14. Moved yesterday into a house I call "Fair 
 Rosamond s bower " because it would take a clue of 
 
82 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 thread to go through it without getting lost. One 
 room has five doors opening into the house, and no 
 windows. The stairs are like ladders, and the 
 colonel s contraband valet won t risk his neck taking 
 down water, but pours it through the windows on 
 people s heads. We sha n t stay in it. Men are at 
 work closing up the caves ; they had become hiding- 
 places for trash. Vicksburg is now like one vast 
 hospital every one is getting sick or is sick. My cook 
 was taken to-day with bilious fever, and nothing but 
 will keeps me up. 
 
 July 23. We moved again two days ago. 
 
 Aug, 20. Sitting in my easy-chair to-day, looking 
 out upon a grassy slope of the hill in the rear of this 
 house, I have looked over this journal as if in a dream ; 
 for since the last date sickness and sorrow have been 
 with me. I feel as if an angry wave had passed over 
 me, bearing away strength and treasure. For on one 
 day there came to me from New Orleans the news of 
 Mrs. B. s death, a friend whom no tie of blood could 
 have made nearer. The next day my beautiful boy 
 ended his brief life of ten days, and died in my arms. 
 My own illness caused him to perish ; the fatal cold in 
 the cave was the last straw that broke down strength. 
 The colonel s sweet wife has come, and I do not lack 
 now for womanly companionship. She says that with 
 such a prenatal experience perhaps death was the best 
 for him. I try to think so, and to be glad that H. has 
 not been ill, though I see the effects. This book is ex 
 hausted, and I wonder whether there will be more ad 
 ventures by flood and field to cause me to begin 
 another. 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 
 
 BY WILLIAM PITTENGER 
 
 TT^HE railroad raid to Georgia, in the spring of 1862, 
 JL has always been considered to rank high among 
 the striking and novel incidents of the civil war. At 
 that time G-eneral 0. M. Mitchel, under whose authority 
 it was organized, commanded Union forces in middle 
 Tennessee, consisting of a division of BuelPs army. 
 The Confederates were concentrating at Corinth, 
 Mississippi, and Grant and Buell were advancing by 
 different routes toward that point. Mitchel s orders 
 required him to protect Nashville and the country 
 around, but allowed him great latitude in the dispo 
 sition of his division, which, with detachments and 
 garrisons, numbered nearly seventeen thousand men. 
 His attention had long been strongly turned toward 
 the liberation of east Tennessee, which he knew that 
 President Lincoln also earnestly desired, and which 
 would, if achieved, strike a most damaging blow at 
 the resources of the rebellion. A Union army once in 
 possession of east Tennessee would have the inestim 
 able advantage, found nowhere else in the South, of 
 operating in the midst of a friendly population, and 
 having at hand abundant supplies of all kinds. 
 Mitchel had no reason to believe that Corinth would 
 
84 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 detain the Union armies much longer than Fort Donel- 
 son had done, and was satisfied that as soon as that 
 position had been captured the next movement would 
 be eastward toward Chattanooga, thus throwing his 
 own division in advance. He determined, therefore, to 
 press into the heart of the enemy s country as far as 
 possible, occupying strategical points before they were 
 adequately defended and assured of speedy and power 
 ful reinforcement. To this end his measures were 
 vigorous and well chosen. 
 
 On the 8th of April, 1862, the day after the battle 
 of Pittsburg Landing, of which, however, Mitchel had 
 received no intelligence, he marched swiftly south 
 ward from Shelby ville, and seized Hunts ville in 
 Alabama on the llth of April, and then sent a detach 
 ment westward over the Memphis and Charleston 
 Railroad to open railway communication with the 
 Union army at Pittsburg Landing. Another detach 
 ment, commanded by Mitchel in person, advanced on 
 the same day seventy miles by rail directly into the 
 enemy s territory, arriving unchecked with two thou 
 sand men within thirty miles of Chattanooga, in two 
 hours time he could now reach that point, the most 
 important position in the West. Why did he not go 
 on? The story of the railroad raid is the answer. The 
 night before breaking camp at Shelby ville, Mitchel sent 
 an expedition secretly into the heart of Georgia to cut 
 the railroad communications of Chattanooga to the 
 south and east. The fortune of this attempt had a 
 most important bearing upon his movements, and will 
 now be narrated. 
 
 In the employ of General Buell was a spy named 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 
 
 85 
 
 Jarnes J. Andrews, who had rendered valuable services 
 in the first year of the war, and had secured the full 
 confidence of the Union commanders. In March, 1862, 
 Buell had sent him secretly with eight men to burn 
 the bridges west of Chattanooga; but the failure of 
 expected cooperation defeated the plan, and Andrews, 
 after visiting Atlanta, and inspecting the whole of the 
 
 enemy s lines in that vicinity and northward, had re 
 turned, ambitious to make another attempt. His plans 
 for the second raid were submitted to Mitchel, and on 
 the eve of the movement from Shelbyville to Hunts- 
 ville Mitchel authorized him to take twenty-four men, 
 secretly enter the enemy s territory, and, by means of 
 capturing a train, burn the bridges on the northern 
 part of the Georgia State Railroad, and also one on 
 on the East Tennessee Railroad where it approaches 
 the Georgia State line, thus completely isolating 
 Chattanooga, which was virtually ungarrisoned. 
 
 The soldiers for this expedition, of whom the writer 
 was one, were selected from the three Ohio regiments 
 belonging to General J. W. Sill s brigade, being simply 
 
86 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 told that they were wanted for secret and very dan 
 gerous service. So far as known, not a man chosen 
 declined the perilous honor. Our uniforms were ex 
 changed for ordinary Southern dress, and all arms 
 except revolvers were left in camp. On the 7th of 
 April, by the roadside about a mile east of Shelbyville, 
 in the late evening twilight, we met our leader. Tak 
 ing us a little way from the road, he quietly placed 
 before us the outlines of the romantic and adventurous 
 plan, which was: to break into small detachments of 
 three or four, journey eastward into the Cumberland 
 Mountains, then work southward, traveling by rail after 
 we were well within the Confederate lines, and finally, 
 the evening of the third day after the start, meet 
 Andrews at Marietta, Georgia, more than two hundred 
 miles away. When questioned, we were to profess 
 ourselves Kentuckians going to join the Southern army. 
 
 On the journey we were a good deal annoyed by the 
 swollen streams and the muddy roads consequent on 
 three days of almost ceaseless rain. Andrews was led 
 to believe that Mitchel s column would be inevitably 
 delayed; and as we were expected to destroy the 
 bridges the very day that Huntsville was entered, he 
 took the responsibility of sending word to our different 
 groups that our attempt would be postponed one 
 day from Friday to Saturday, April 12. This was a 
 natural but a most lamentable error of judgment. 
 
 One of the men detailed was belated, and did not join 
 us at all. Two others were very soon captured by the 
 enemy; and though their true character was not 
 detected, they were forced into the Southern army, 
 and two reached Marietta, but failed to report at the 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEOKGIA 87 
 
 rendezvous. Thus, when we assembled very early in 
 the morning in Andrews s room at the Marietta Hotel 
 for final consultation before the blow was struck we 
 were but twenty, including our leader. All preliminary 
 difficulties had been easily overcome, and we were in 
 good spirits. But some serious obstacles had been 
 revealed on our ride from Chattanooga to Marietta the 
 previous evening. 1 The railroad was found to be 
 crowded with trains, and many soldiers were among 
 the passengers. Then the station Big Shanty at 
 which the capture was to be effected had recently been 
 made a Confederate camp. To succeed in our enter 
 prise it would be necessary first to capture the engine 
 in a guarded camp with soldiers standing around as 
 spectators, and then to run it from one to two hundred 
 miles through the enemy s country, and to deceive or 
 overpower all trains that should be met a large con 
 tract for twenty men. Some of our party thought the 
 chances of success so slight, under existing circum 
 stances, that they urged the abandonment of the whole 
 enterprise. But Andrews declared his purpose to 
 succeed or die, offering to each man, however, the 
 privilege of withdrawing from the attempt an offer 
 no one was in the least disposed to accept. Final 
 instructions were then given, and we hurried to the 
 ticket-office in time for the northward-bound mail- 
 train, and purchased tickets for different stations along 
 the line in the direction of Chattanooga. 
 
 Our ride, as passengers, was but eight miles. We 
 
 i The different detachments reached the Georgia State Railroad at 
 Chattanooga, and traveled as ordinary passengers on trains running 
 southward. EDITOR. 
 
88 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 swept swiftly around the base of Kenesaw Mountain, 
 and soon saw the tents of the Confederate forces 
 camped at Big Shanty gleam white in the morning 
 mist. Here we were to stop for breakfast, and attempt 
 the seizure of the train. The morning was raw and 
 gloomy, and a rain, which fell all day, had already 
 begun. It was a painfully thrilling moment. We were 
 but twenty, with an army about us, and a long and 
 difficult road before us, crowded with enemies. In an 
 instant we were to throw off the disguise which had 
 been our only protection, and trust to our leader s genius 
 and our own efforts for safety and success. Fortun 
 ately we had no time for giving way to reflections and 
 conjectures which could only unfit us for the stern 
 task ahead. 
 
 When we stopped, the conductor, the engineer, and 
 many of the passengers hurried to breakfast, leaving 
 the train unguarded. Now was the moment of action. 
 Ascertaining that there was nothing to prevent a 
 rapid start, Andrews, our two engineers, Brown and 
 Knight, and the firemen hurried forward, uncoupling a 
 section of the train consisting of three empty baggage 
 or box-cars, the locomotive, and the tender. The 
 engineers and the firemen sprang into the cab of the 
 engine, while Andrews, with hand on the rail and foot 
 on the step, waited to see that the remainder of the 
 party had gained entrance into the rear box-car. This 
 seemed difficult and slow, though it really consumed 
 but a few seconds, for the car stood on a considerable 
 bank, and the first who came were pitched in by their 
 comrades, while these in turn dragged in the others, 
 and the door was instantly closed. A sentinel, with 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEOKGIA 89 
 
 musket in hand, stood not a dozen feet from the 
 engine, watching the whole proceeding ; but before he 
 or any of the soldiers or guards around could make up 
 their minds to interfere all was done, and Andrews, 
 with a nod to his engineer, stepped on board. The 
 valve was pulled wide open, and for a moment the 
 wheels slipped round in rapid, ineffective revolutions ; 
 then, with a bound that jerked the soldiers in the box 
 car from their feet, the little train darted away, leaving 
 the camp and the station in the wildest uproar and 
 confusion. The first step of the enterprise was 
 triumphantly accomplished. 
 
 According to the time-table, of which Andrews had 
 secured a copy, there were two trains to be met. 
 These presented no serious hindrance to our attaining 
 high speed, for we could tell just where to expect 
 them. There was also a local freight not down on the 
 time-table, but which could not be far distant. Any 
 danger of collision with it could be avoided by running 
 according to the schedule of the captured train until 
 it was passed; then at the highest possible speed we 
 could run to the Oostenaula and Chickamauga bridges, 
 lay them in ashes, and pass on through Chattanooga 
 to Mitchel at Huntsville, or wherever eastward of that 
 point he might be found, arriving long before the close 
 of the day. It was a brilliant prospect, and so far as 
 human estimates can determine it would have been 
 realized had the day been Friday instead of Saturday. 
 On Friday every train had been on time, the day dry, 
 and the road in perfect order. Now the road was in 
 disorder, every train far behind time, and two "extras" 
 were approaching us. But of these unfavorable condi- 
 
90 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tions we knew nothing, and pressed confidently for 
 ward. 
 
 We stopped frequently, and at one point tore up the 
 track, cut telegraph wires, and loaded on cross-ties to 
 be used in bridge-burning. Wood and water were 
 taken without difficulty, Andrews very coolly telling 
 the story to which he adhered throughout the run 
 namely, that he was one of General Beauregard s offi 
 cers, running an impressed powder-train through to 
 that commander at Corinth. We had no good instru 
 ments for track-raising, as we had intended rather to 
 depend upon fire; but the amount of time spent in tak 
 ing up a rail was not material at this stage of our jour 
 ney, as we easily kept on the time of our captured 
 train. There was a wonderful exhilaration in passing 
 swiftly by towns and stations through the heart of an 
 enemy s country in this manner. It possessed just 
 enough of the spice of danger, in this part of the run, 
 to render it thoroughly enjoyable. The slightest acci 
 dent to our engine, however, or a miscarriage in any 
 part of our program, would have completely changed 
 the conditions. 
 
 At Etowah we found the " Yonah," an old locomotive 
 owned by an iron company, standing with steam up; 
 but not wishing to alarm the enemy till the local 
 freight had been safely met, we left it unharmed. 
 Kingston, thirty miles from the starting-point, was 
 safely reached. A train from Rome, Georgia, on a 
 branch road, had just arrived and was waiting for 
 the morning mail our train. We learned that the 
 local freight would soon come also, and, taking the 
 side-track, waited for it. When it arrived, however, 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEOKGIA 91 
 
 Andrews saw, to Ms surprise and chagrin, that it bore 
 a red flag, indicating another train not far behind. 
 Stepping over to the conductor, he boldly asked: 
 "What does it mean that the road is blocked in this 
 manner when I have orders to take this powder to 
 Beauregard without a minute s delay?" The answer 
 was interesting, but not reassuring: "Mitchel has cap 
 tured Huntsville, and is said to be coming to Chatta 
 nooga, and we are getting everything out of there." 
 He was asked by Andrews to pull his train a long way 
 down the track out of the way, and promptly obeyed. 
 
 It seemed an exceedingly long time before the ex 
 pected " extra " arrived, and when it did come it bore 
 another red flag. The reason given was that the 
 "local," being too great for one engine, had been made 
 up in two sections, and the second section would 
 doubtless be along in a short time. This was terribly 
 vexatious ; yet there seemed nothing to do but to wait. 
 To start out between the sections of an extra train 
 would be to court destruction. There were already 
 three trains around us, and their many passengers and 
 others were all growing very curious about the mys 
 terious train, manned by strangers, which had arrived 
 on the time of the morning mail. For an hour and 
 five minutes from the time of arrival at Kingston we 
 remained in this most critical position. The sixteen of 
 us who were shut up tightly in a box-car, person 
 ating Beauregard s ammunition, hearing sounds out 
 side, but unable to distinguish words, had perhaps the 
 most trying position. Andrews sent us, by one of the 
 engineers, a cautious warning to be ready to fight in 
 case the uneasiness of the crowd around led them to 
 
92 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 make any investigation, while he himself kept near the 
 station to prevent the sending off of any alarming 
 telegram. So intolerable was our suspense, that the 
 order for a deadly conflict would have been felt as a 
 relief. But the assurance of Andrews quieted the 
 crowd until the whistle of the expected train from the 
 north was heard; then as it glided up to the depot, 
 past the end of our side-track, we were off without 
 more words. 
 
 But unexpected danger had arisen behind us. Out 
 of the panic at Big Shanty two men emerged, deter 
 mined, if possible, to foil the unknown captors of their 
 train. There was no telegraph station, and no loco 
 motive at hand with which to follow ; but the conduc 
 tor of the train, W. A. Fuller, and Anthony Murphy, 
 foreman of the Atlanta railway machine-shops, who 
 happened to be on board of Fuller s train, started on 
 foot after us as hard as they could run. Finding a 
 hand-car they mounted it and pushed forward till 
 they neared Etowah, where they ran on the break we 
 had made in the road, and were precipitated down the 
 embankment into the ditch. Continuing with more 
 caution, they reached Etowah and found the "Yonah," 
 which was at once pressed into service, loaded with 
 soldiers who were at hand, and hurried with flying 
 wheels toward Kingston. Fuller prepared to fight at 
 that point, for he knew of the tangle of extra trains, 
 and of the lateness of the regular trains, and did not 
 think we should be able to pass. We had been gone 
 only four minutes when he arrived and found himself 
 stopped by three long, heavy trains of cars, headed in 
 the wrong direction. To move them out of the way so 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 93 
 
 as to pass would cause a delay lie was little inclined to 
 afford would, indeed, have almost certainly given us 
 the victory. So, abandoning his engine, he with Mur 
 phy ran across to the Rome train, and, uncoupling the 
 engine and one car, pushed forward with about forty 
 armed men. As the Rome branch connected with the 
 main road above the depot, he encountered no hin 
 drance, and it was now a fair race. We were not many 
 minutes ahead. 
 
 Four miles from Kingston we again stopped and 
 cut the telegraph. While trying to take up a rail at 
 this point we were greatly startled. One end of the 
 rail was loosened, and eight of us were pulling at it, 
 when in the distance we distinctly heard the whistle 
 of a pursuing engine. With a frantic effort we broke 
 the rail, and all tumbled over the embankment with 
 the effort. We moved on, and at Adairsville we found 
 a mixed train (freight and passenger) waiting, but 
 there was an express on the road that had not yet 
 arrived. We could afford no more delay, and set out 
 for the next station, Calhoun, at terrible speed, hoping 
 to reach that point before the express, which was be 
 hind time, should arrive. The nine miles which we 
 had to travel were left behind in less than the same 
 number of minutes. The express was just pulling out, 
 but, hearing our whistle, backed before us until we 
 were able to take the side-track. It stopped, however, 
 in such a manner as completely to close up the other 
 end of the switch. The two trains, side by side, almost 
 touched each other, and our precipitate arrival caused 
 natural suspicion. Many searching questions were 
 asked, which had to be answered before we could get the 
 
94 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 opportunity of proceeding. We in the box-car could 
 hear the altercation, and were almost sure that a fight 
 would be necessary before the conductor would con 
 sent to "pull up" in order to let us out. Here again 
 our position was most critical, for the pursuers were 
 rapidly approaching. 
 
 Fuller and Murphy saw the obstruction of the 
 broken rail in time, by reversing their engine, to pre 
 vent wreck, but the hindrance was for the present 
 insuperable. Leaving all their men behind, they 
 started for a second foot-race. Before they had gone 
 far they met the train we had passed at Adairsville, 
 and turned it back after us. At Adairsville they 
 dropped the cars, and with locomotive and tender 
 loaded with armed men, they drove forward at the 
 highest speed possible. They knew that we were not 
 many minutes ahead, and trusted to overhaul us before 
 the express train could be safely passed. 
 
 But Andrews had told the powder story again with 
 all his skill, and added a direct request in peremptory 
 form to have the way opened before him, which the 
 Confederate conductor did not see fit to resist; and 
 just before the pursuers arrived at Calhoun we were 
 again under way. Stopping once more to cut wires 
 and tear up the track, we felt a thrill of exhilaration 
 to which we had long been strangers. The track was 
 now clear before us to Chattanooga; and even west 
 of that city we had good reason to believe that we 
 should find no other train in the way till we had 
 reached Mitch ePs lines. If one rail could now be 
 lifted we would be in a few minutes at the Oostenaula 
 bridge ; and that burned, the rest of the task would be 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEOKGIA 95 
 
 little more than simple manual labor, with the enemy 
 absolutely powerless. We worked with a will. 
 
 But in a moment the tables were turned. Not far 
 behind we heard the scream of a locomotive bearing 
 down upon us at lightning speed. The men on board 
 were in plain sight and well armed. Two minutes 
 perhaps one would have removed the rail at which 
 we were toiling; then the game would have been in 
 our own hands, for there was no other locomotive 
 beyond that could be turned back after us. But the 
 most desperate efforts were in vain. The rail was 
 simply bent, and we hurried to our engine and darted 
 away, while remorselessly after us thundered the 
 enemy. 
 
 Now the contestants were in clear view, and a race 
 followed unparalleled in the annals of war. Wishing 
 to gain a little time for the burning of the Oostenaula 
 bridge, we dropped one car, and, shortly after, another; 
 but they were "picked up" and pushed ahead to Resaca. 
 We were obliged to run over the high trestles and 
 covered bridge at that point without a pause. This 
 was the first failure in the work assigned us. 
 
 The Confederates could not overtake and stop us on 
 the road; but their aim was to keep close behind, so 
 that we might not be able to damage the road or take 
 in wood or water. In the former they succeeded, but 
 not in the latter. Both engines were put at the highest 
 rate of speed. We were obliged to cut the wire after 
 every station passed, in order that an alarm might not 
 be sent ahead; and we constantly strove to throw our 
 pursuers off the track, or to obstruct the road perma 
 nently in some way, so that we might be able to burn 
 
96 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 the Chickamauga bridges, still ahead. The chances 
 seemed good that Fuller and Murphy would be wrecked. 
 We broke out the end of our last box-car and dropped 
 cross-ties on the track as we ran, thus checking their 
 progress and getting far enough ahead to take in wood 
 and water at two separate stations. Several times we 
 almost lifted a rail, but each time the coming of the 
 Confederates within rifle-range compelled us to desist 
 and speed on. Our worst hindrance was the rain. 
 The previous day (Friday) had been clear, with a high 
 wind, and on such a day fire would have been easily 
 and tremendously effective. But to-day a bridge could 
 be burned only with abundance of fuel and careful 
 nursing. 
 
 Thus we sped on, mile after mile, in this fearful 
 chase, round curves and past stations in seemingly 
 endless perspective. Whenever we lost sight of the 
 enemy beyond a curve, we hoped that some of our 
 obstructions had been effective in throwing him from 
 the track, and that we should see him no more; but at 
 each long reach backward the smoke was again seen, 
 and the shrill whistle was like the scream of a bird of 
 prey. The time could not have been so very long, for 
 the terrible speed was rapidly devouring the distance; 
 but with our nerves strained to the highest tension 
 each minute seemed an hour. On several occasions 
 the escape of the enemy from wreck was little less 
 than miraculous. At one point a rail was placed across 
 the track on a curve so skilfully that it was not seen 
 till the train ran upon it at full speed. Fuller says 
 that they were terribly jolted, and seemed to bounce 
 altogether from the track, but lighted on the rails in 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 97 
 
 safety. Some of the Confederates wished to leave a 
 train which was driven at such a reckless rate, but 
 their wishes were not gratified. 
 
 Before reaching Dalton we urged Andrews to turn 
 and attack the enemy, laying an ambush so as to get 
 into close quarters, that our revolvers might be on 
 equal terms with their guns. I have little doubt that 
 if this had been carried out it would have succeeded. 
 But either because he thought the chance of wrecking 
 or obstructing the enemy still good, or feared that the 
 country ahead had been alarmed by a telegram around 
 the Confederacy by the way of Richmond, Andrews 
 merely gave the plan his sanction without making any 
 attempt to carry it into execution. 
 
 Dalton was passed without difficulty, and beyond 
 we stopped again to cut wires and to obstruct the 
 track. It happened that a regiment was encamped not 
 a hundred yards away, but they did not molest us. 
 Fuller had written a despatch to Chattanooga, and 
 dropped a man with orders to have it forwarded in 
 stantly, while he pushed on to save the bridges. Part 
 of the message got through and created a wild panic 
 in Chattanooga, although it did not materially influ 
 ence our fortunes. Our supply of fuel was now very 
 short, and without getting rid of our pursuers long 
 enough to take in more, it was evident that we could 
 not run as far as Chattanooga. 
 
 While cutting the wire we made an attempt to get 
 up another rail; but the enemy, as usual, were too 
 quick for us. We had no tool for this purpose except 
 a wedge-pointed iron bar. Two or three bent iron 
 claws for pulling out spikes would have given us such 
 
08 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 incontestable superiority that, down to almost the last 
 of our run, we should have been able to escape and 
 even to burn all the Chickamauga bridges. But it had 
 not been our intention to rely on this mode of obstruc 
 tion an emergency only rendered necessary by our 
 unexpected delay and the pouring rain. 
 
 We made no attempt to damage the long tunnel 
 north of Dalton, as our enemies had greatly dreaded. 
 The last hope of the raid was now staked upon an 
 effort of a kind different from any that we had yet 
 made, but which, if successful, would still enable us to 
 destroy the bridges nearest Chattanooga. But, on the 
 other hand, its failure would terminate the chase. 
 Life and success were put upon one throw. 
 
 A few more obstructions were dropped on the track, 
 and our own speed increased so that we soon forged 
 a considerable distance ahead. The side and end 
 boards of the last car were torn into shreds, all avail 
 able fuel was piled upon it, and blazing brands were 
 brought back from the engine. By the time we ap 
 proached a long, covered bridge a fire in the car 
 was fairly started. We uncoupled it in the middle 
 of the bridge, and with painful suspense waited the 
 issue. Oh for a few minutes till the work of conflagra 
 tion was fairly begun ! There was still steam pressure 
 enough in our boiler to carry us to the next wood-yard, 
 where we could have replenished our fuel by force, if 
 necessary, so as to run as near to Chattanooga as was 
 deemed prudent. We did not know of the telegraph 
 message which the pursuers had sent ahead. But, 
 alas! the minutes were not given. Before the bridge 
 was extensively fired the enemy was upon us, and we 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 99 
 
 moved slowly onward, looking back to see what they 
 would do next. We had not long to conjecture. The 
 Confederates pushed right into the smoke, and drove 
 the burning car before them to the next side-track. 
 
 With no car left, and no fuel, the last scrap having 
 been thrown into the engine or upon the burning car, 
 and with no obstruction to drop on the track, our 
 situation was indeed desperate. A few minutes only 
 remained until our steed of iron which had so well 
 served us would be powerless. 
 
 But it might still be possible to save ourselves. If 
 we left the train in a body, and, taking a direct course 
 toward the Union lines, hurried over the mountains at 
 right angles with their course, we could not, from the 
 nature of the country, be followed by cavalry, and 
 could easily travel athletic young men as we were, 
 and fleeing for life as rapidly as any pursuers. There 
 was no telegraph in the mountainous districts west 
 and northwest of us, and the prospect of reaching the 
 Union lines seemed to me then, and has always since 
 seemed, very fair. Confederate pursuers with whom I 
 have since conversed freely have agreed on two points 
 that we could have escaped in the manner here 
 pointed out, and that an attack on the pursuing train 
 would likely have been successful. But Andrews 
 thought otherwise, at least in relation to the former 
 plan, and ordered us to jump from the locomotive one 
 by one, and, dispersing in the woods, each endeavor to 
 save himself. Thus ended the Andrews railroad raid. 
 
 It is easy now to understand why Mitchel paused 
 thirty miles west of Chattanooga. The Andrews 
 raiders had been forced to stop eighteen miles south of 
 
100 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the same town, and no flying train met him with the 
 expected tidings that all railroad communications of 
 Chattanooga were destroyed, and that the town was in 
 a panic and undefended. He dared advance no farther 
 without heavy reinforcements from. Pittsburg Landing 
 or the north ; and he probably believed to the day of 
 his death, six months later, that the whole Andrews 
 party had perished without accomplishing anything. 
 
 A few words will give the sequel to this remarkable 
 enterprise. There was great excitement in Chattanooga 
 and in the whole of the surrounding Confederate 
 territory for scores of miles. The hunt for the fugitive 
 raiders was prompt, energetic, and completely success 
 ful. Ignorant of the country, disorganized, and far 
 from the Union lines, they strove in vain to escape. 
 Several were captured the same day on which they 
 left the cars, and all but two within a week. Even 
 these two were overtaken and brought back when they 
 supposed that they were virtually out of danger. Two 
 of those who had failed to be on the train were 
 identified and added to the band of prisoners. 
 
 Now follows the saddest part of the story. Being in 
 citizens dress within an enemy s lines, the whole party 
 were held as spies, and closely and vigorously guarded. 
 A court-martial was convened, and the leader and 
 seven others out of the twenty-two were condemned 
 and executed. The remainder were never brought to 
 trial, probably because of the advance of Union forces, 
 and the consequent confusion into which the affairs of 
 the departments of east Tennessee and Georgia were 
 thrown. Of the remaining fourteen, eight succeeded 
 by a bold effort attacking their guard in broad day- 
 
THE LOCOMOTIVE CHASE IN GEORGIA 
 
 101 
 
 light in making their escape from Atlanta, Georgia, 
 and ultimately in reaching the North. The other six 
 who shared in this effort, but were recaptured, re 
 mained prisoners until the latter part of March, 1863, 
 when they were exchanged through a special arrange 
 ment made with Secretary Stanton. All the survivors 
 of this expedition received medals and promotion. 1 
 The pursuers also received expressions of gratitude 
 from their fellow-Confederates, notably from the gov 
 ernor and the legislature of Georgia. 
 
 1 Below is a list of the partici 
 pants in the raid: 
 
 James J. Andrews,* leader ; Wil 
 liam Campbell,* a civilian who 
 volunteered to accompany the 
 raiders; George D. Wilson,* Com 
 pany B, 2d Ohio Volunteers ; Marion 
 A. Ross,* Company A, 2d Ohio 
 Volunteers; Perry G. Shadraek,* 
 Company K, 2d Ohio Volunteers ; 
 Samuel Slavens,* 33d Ohio Volun 
 teers ; Samuel Robinson,* Company 
 G, 33d Ohio Volunteers ; John Scott, * 
 Company K, 21st Ohio Volunteers; 
 Wilson W. Brown,t Company F, 21st 
 Ohio Volunteers; William Knight, t 
 Company E, 21st Ohio Volunteers; 
 Mark Wood,t Company C, 21st Ohio 
 Volunteers; James A. Wilson, t 
 Company C, 21st Ohio Volunteers ; 
 
 John Wollam,t Company C, 33d Ohio 
 Volunteers ; D. A. Dorsey,f Company 
 H, 33d Ohio Volunteers; Jacob 
 Parrott,i Company K, 33d Ohio 
 Volunteers ; Robert Buffum,t Com 
 pany H, 21st Ohio Volunteers; 
 William Benzinger,t Company G, 
 21st Ohio Volunteers ; William Red- 
 dick,J Company B, 33d Ohio Volun 
 teers ; E. H. Mason, t Company K, 
 21st Ohio Volunteers ; William Pit- 
 tenger,} Company G, 2d Ohio Vol 
 unteers. 
 
 J.R. Porter, Company C, 21st Ohio, 
 and Martin J. Hawkins, Company 
 A, 33d Ohio, reached Marietta, but 
 did not get on board of the train. 
 They were captured and imprisoned 
 with their comrades. 
 * Executed, t Escaped. J Exchanged. 
 
MOSBY S "PARTIZAN RANGERS 
 
 BY A. E. EICHAKDS 
 
 DUBING the early stages of the war between the 
 States, the Confederate Congress enacted a statute 
 known as the Partizan Eanger Act, which provided for 
 independent bodies of cavalry to be organized as other 
 government troops. The officers were to be regularly 
 commissioned and the men to be paid like other 
 soldiers. The distinctive features were, that the 
 rangers should operate independently of the regular 
 army and be entitled to the legitimate spoil captured 
 from the enemy. 
 
 While John S. Mosby was employed as a scout by 
 General J. E. B. Stuart, he had concluded that a com 
 mand organized and operated as contemplated by this 
 act could do great damage to the enemy guarding that 
 portion of Northern Virginia abandoned by the Con 
 federate armies. But the partizan branch of the service 
 having been brought into disrepute by the worse than 
 futile efforts of others, his superior officers at first 
 refused him permission to engage in so questionable 
 an enterprise. Finally, however, General Stuart gave 
 Mosby a detail of nine men from the regular cavalry 
 with which to experiment. 
 
 At that time the two main armies operating in 
 Virginia were confronting each other near Fredericks- 
 
 102 
 
MOSBY S "PABTIZAN KAN GEES" 103 
 
 burg. To protect their lines of communication with 
 Washington, the Federals had stationed a considerable 
 force across the Potomac, with headquarters at Fairfax 
 Court-house. They also established a complete cordon 
 of pickets from a point on the river above Washington 
 to a point below, thus encompassing many square miles 
 of Virginia territory. Upon these outposts Mosby 
 commenced his operations. The size of his command 
 compelled him to confine his attacks to the small 
 details made nightly for picket duty. But he was so 
 uniformly successful that when the time came for him 
 to report back to General Stuart, that officer was so 
 pleased with the experiment that he allowed Mosby 
 to select fifteen men from his old regiment and re 
 turn, for an indefinite period, to his chosen field of 
 operations. 
 
 His first exploits had been so noised abroad that the 
 young men from the neighboring counties and the sol 
 diers at home on furloughs would request permission to 
 join in his raids. He could easily muster fifty of these, 
 known as "Mosby s Conglomerates," for any expedition. 
 The opportunity for developing his ideas of border 
 warfare was thus presented. With great vigor he 
 renewed his attacks upon the Federal outposts. As a 
 recognition of one of his successful exploits, the Con 
 federate government sent him a captain s commission 
 with authority to raise a company of partlzan rangers. 
 The material for this was already at hand, and on 
 June 10, 1862, he organized his first company. This 
 was the nucleus around which he subsequently shaped 
 his ideal command. The fame of his achievements had 
 already spread throughout Virginia and Maryland, and 
 
104 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 attracted to his standard many kindred spirits from 
 both States. No conscripting was necessary. Those 
 for whom this mode of warfare possessed a charm 
 would brave hardship and danger for the privilege of 
 enlisting under his banner. His recruits from Mary 
 land, and many of those from Virginia, were compelled 
 to pass through the Federal pickets in order to join his 
 command. Yet great care had to be exercised in the 
 selection of his men, and not every applicant was 
 received. If an unworthy soldier procured admission, 
 so soon as the mistake was discovered he was sent 
 under guard as a conscript to the regular service. 
 
 Mosby reserved the right to select all of his officers, 
 who were invariably chosen from those who had 
 already demonstrated their fitness for this particular 
 service. It has been said of a great military hero that 
 the surest proof of his genius was his skill in finding 
 out genius in others, and his promptness in calling it 
 into action. Mosby, in his limited sphere, displayed 
 a similar talent, and to this faculty, almost as much 
 as any one thing, may be attributed his success 
 with his enlarged command. When a sufficient num 
 ber of men had enlisted to form a new company, he 
 would have them drawn up in line and his adjutant 
 would read to them the names of those selected for 
 officers, with the announcement that all who were not 
 in favor of their election could step out of the ranks 
 and go to the regular service. Of course no one ever 
 left. In order to comply with the law, the form of an 
 election was then gone through with, and their com 
 mander s choice ratified. In no other body of troops 
 were all the officers thus unanimously electedo 
 
MOSBY S "PARTIZAN RANGERS" 105 
 
 Mosby s command, as finally organized, consisted of 
 eight companies of cavalry and one of mounted artil 
 lery, officered by a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, and a 
 major, with the usual complement of company officers. 
 But the entire force was seldom combined. Instead of 
 this, they would be divided into two or more detach 
 ments operating in different places. So it was not at all 
 unusual for an attack to be made the same night upon 
 Sheridan s line of transportation in the valley, upon 
 the pickets guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
 upon the outposts in Fairfax County, and upon the 
 rear of the army manoeuvering against Lee. This 
 explains what at the time seemed to many of the 
 readers of the Northern newspapers a mystery how 
 Mosby s men could be in so many different places at 
 the same time. The safety and success of the Rangers 
 were enhanced by these subdivisions, the Federals 
 having become so alert as to make it extremely diffi 
 cult for a large command either to evade their pickets 
 or manceuver within their lines. From fifty to one 
 hundred men were all that were usually marched 
 together, and many of their most brilliant successes 
 were achieved with even a smaller force. Mosby had 
 only twenty men with him when he captured Brig 
 adier-General Edwin H. Stoughton. With these he 
 penetrated the heart of the Federal camp, and carried 
 off its commander. General Stoughton was in charge 
 of an army of cavalry, infantry, and artillery, with 
 headquarters at Fairfax Court-house. One dark night 
 in March, 1863, Mosby, with this small detachment, 
 evaded the Federal pickets, passed through the sleep 
 ing army, and with their camp-fires gleaming all 
 
106 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 around him, and their sentinels on duty, aroused their 
 general from his slumbers, and took him captive with 
 thirty-seven of his comrades. 
 
 But the novelty of Mosby s mode of warfare con 
 sisted chiefly in the manner of subsisting, quartering, 
 and protecting his men. The upper portion of Lou- 
 doun and Fauquier counties, embracing a circuit of 
 about thirty miles in diameter, was then known as 
 "Mosby s Confederacy." By a glance at the map it 
 will be observed that it bordered upon the Blue 
 Eidge Mountains on the west, and the Bull Eun Moun 
 tains on the east. The valley between is one of the 
 richest, most beautiful, and highly cultivated in the 
 State of Virginia. It was thickly inhabited with old 
 Virginia families, who were loyal arid true to the 
 Southern cause. These people received Mosby s men 
 into their houses as their guests, and neither danger 
 nor want could tempt their betrayal. Eobin Hood s 
 band sought safety in the solitudes of Sherwood 
 Forest, Marion s men secreted themselves "in the 
 pleasant wilds of Snow s Island" and other South 
 Carolina swamps, but the Partizan Eangers of Vir 
 ginia protected themselves by dispersing in an open 
 country among a sympathizing people. They never 
 established a camp ; to have done so would have 
 invited capture. Each soldier had his boarding-house, 
 where he lived when off duty, as a member of the 
 family. From these they would come, singly or in 
 groups, bringing their rations with them to some 
 designated rendezvous, march rapidly to arid from the 
 point of attack, send their prisoners under guard to 
 the nearest Confederate post, divide the spoil, and dis- 
 
MOSBY S "PABTIZAN RANGERS" 107 
 
 perse. If they were pursued by an overwhelming 
 force, as was frequently the case, the evening found 
 them scattered to the four winds, where each man, 
 mounted upon his own fleet steed, could protect him 
 self from capture. If the Federals attempted to follow 
 the chase in small parties, the Eangers, from behind 
 every hill and grove, would concentrate and dash upon 
 them. If they marched in solid column, the Eangers 
 would hang upon their flanks, firing upon them from 
 behind trees, fences, and hilltops. In this -way, General 
 Julius Stahel, who had invaded Mosby s Confederacy 
 with two brigades of cavalry and four pieces of artil 
 lery for the avowed purpose of utterly demolishing the 
 Eangers, was so annoyed that he retired, thoroughly 
 disgusted with an enemy " who only fought when 
 they got their foe at a disadvantage." 
 
 As there were no civil officers commissioned by 
 either party in all that section of Virginia, the people 
 naturally turned to Mosby as their only representative 
 of law and order. It was not unusual for them to sub 
 mit their property controversies to him for decision. 
 In this way he acquired a civil jurisdiction in connec 
 tion with his military dictatorship. Being a lawyer by 
 profession, educated at the University of Virginia, his 
 civil administration became as remarkable for its pru 
 dence and justice as his military leadership was for 
 magnanimity and dash. I heard an old citizen remark, 
 "For two years Mosby was our ruler, and the country 
 never was better governed." He protected the people 
 from stragglers and deserters, who pillaged friend and 
 foe alike. Every captured horse-thief was promptly 
 executed. He required his own men to treat the citi- 
 
108 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 zens with fairness and courtesy, and any violation of 
 this rule was punished by sending the offender to the 
 regular service. Its observance was more easily en 
 forced than would appear possible at first glance. The 
 men were scarcely ever off duty, except for neces 
 sary rest. The officers were then distributed among 
 them, and by their example and authority controlled, 
 when necessary, the deportment of their men. The 
 citizens with whom they lived also exercised a healthy 
 influence over them. These relations engendered many 
 attachments that ran like golden threads through the 
 soldier s life and outlived the rough usages of war. 
 
 It thus became no easy matter to drive the Eangers 
 from a territory so dear to them, and in which they 
 were befriended by all. On two occasions the entire 
 Federal army operating against General Lee passed 
 through Mosby s Confederacy, and yet his men did not 
 abandon it. They hid themselves in the mountains 
 during the day, and descended upon the enemy at night. 
 They thus observed every movement of the Federal 
 army, and all valuable information was promptly sent to 
 the Confederate general. On one of these occasions, 
 June 17, 1863, Mosby found himself at ten o clock at 
 night between the infantry and cavalry commands 
 of General Hooker s army. Observing three horses 
 hitched hear a house, with an orderly standing by, he 
 left his command with the prisoners already captured, 
 and taking with him three men, rode up to the orderly 
 and was informed by him that the horses belonged to 
 Major William E. Sterling and another officer. In a 
 whisper he said to the orderly: 
 
 " My name is Mosby. Keep quiet ! " 
 
MOSBY S "PARTIZAN RANGERS" 109 
 
 The man understood him to say that he (the orderly) 
 was " Mosby," and very indignantly replied : 
 
 " No, sir, I am as good a Union man as ever walked 
 the earth." 
 
 " Those are just the sort I am after," said Mosby. 
 
 Just then the two officers emerged from the house. 
 As they approached, one of the Rangers stretched out 
 his hand to disarm the major. Supposing him to 
 be an acquaintance, Major Sterling offered his hand 
 in return, but was overwhelmed with surprise when 
 informed that he was a prisoner. Upon examination 
 he was found to be the bearer of important despatches 
 from General Hooker to his chief of cavalry, General 
 Pleasonton. These despatches, which developed the 
 contemplated movements of the army and directed the 
 cooperation of the cavalry, were placed in General 
 Stuart s hands by dawn of day. On this and many 
 similar occasions information furnished by the Rangers 
 proved invaluable to the Confederate generals. 
 
 But furnishing information was not the most im 
 portant service they rendered. It has been fairly 
 estimated that they detained on guard duty thirty 
 thousand Federal soldiers, who otherwise might have 
 been employed at the front. Even then the Federal 
 lines of transportation were constantly being attacked, 
 with more or less success. It was impossible to protect 
 them against such reckless activity as the Rangers were 
 constantly displaying. No matter how vigilant the 
 Federals were, Mosby was sure to find an opportunity 
 for attacking. Sometimes his success would lie in the 
 very boldness of the attempt. This was never more 
 strikingly illustrated than in one of his attacks upon 
 
110 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Sheridan s line of transportation. The Federal army 
 which had driven General Early up the valley beyond 
 Winchester was drawing its supplies over the turnpike 
 from Harper s Ferry. Mosby, taking a command of 
 five companies of cavalry and two mountain how 
 itzers, numbering two hundred and fifty men, 
 passed at night across the Blue Ridge, and fording the 
 Shenandoah, halted a few miles below Berryville. 
 Riding out to the turnpike, he discovered in his imme 
 diate front two large trains parked for the night one 
 going toward the army loaded, the other returning 
 empty. He determined to capture the former, com 
 posed of one hundred and fifty wagons. At daybreak 
 it commenced to move, guarded by a brigade of in 
 fantry and two hundred and fifty cavalry. The train 
 and its guard were soon strung along the turnpike. 
 The cavalry rode on the flank near the center, a 
 company of infantry marched in front of each tenth 
 wagon, and the remaining force was distributed be 
 tween the rear- and advance-guards. It was a bright 
 summer morning, and just as the sun was rising the 
 Rangers marched across the open fields and halted 
 about four hundred yards from the road, and within 
 full view of the moving train. Observing the Fed 
 eral cavalry dismounted across the road a quarter of 
 a mile to his left, Mosby sent two companies of his 
 cavalry and one howitzer, with orders to take a position 
 immediately opposite them and there await the sig 
 nal of attack, which was to be three shots fired from 
 the howitzer left behind. This detachment did not 
 halt until it was within seventy-five yards of the 
 moving train. Of course the Federals observed all 
 
MOSBY S "PARTIZAN RANGERS" 1J I 
 
 these manoeuvers, but were misled by their very bold 
 ness; they never imagined but what this new force 
 was a part of their own army. So when the first shot, 
 which fell short, was fired from the howitzer, several of 
 their officers rode to the eminence not more than thirty 
 steps in front of the detached Confederate squadron, 
 and lifting their glasses to their eyes, prepared to wit 
 ness what they supposed to be artillery practice. Just 
 then the second shell from the howitzer burst in the 
 midst of their cavalry, who, supposing it had been fired 
 in that direction through mistake, hastily prepared to 
 move beyond range. Immediately the rebel yell was 
 raised, and the squadron dashed at the Federals, 
 scattering them in every direction, and capturing the 
 officers with their glasses still in their hands. Turning 
 abruptly to the left, the Rangers charged along the 
 road, riding over company after company of infantry 
 until checked by a volley from the advance-guard. At 
 the same time another squadron had struck the turn 
 pike immediately in front of their first position, and 
 turning to the right, had ridden down everything 
 between them and the rear-guard. Then, with one 
 howitzer playing upon the advance- and the other upon 
 the rear-guard, the Rangers rapidly collected their 
 prisoners, unhitched the teams, and burned the wagons. 
 When reinforcements reached the Federals they de 
 ployed their skirmishers and advanced in line of battle, 
 only to see the Rangers riding over the hills in the dis 
 tance, taking with them three hundred prisoners, seven 
 hundred mules and horses, and two hundred and thirty 
 beef-cattle. But the rejoicing of the Rangers was 
 almost turned into chagrin when they learned from the 
 
112 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Northern papers that one of the wagons from which 
 they had taken the mules was loaded with an iron safe 
 containing one million dollars to pay off the army. 
 Upon reading it, Mosby dropped the paper with a sigh, 
 exclaiming, " There s a cool million gone after it was 
 fairly earned! What other man could sustain such 
 losses with so little embarrassment?" 
 
 But this failure of the Eangers to secure their 
 "earnings" did not always attend them. Shortly after 
 that they collected a sufficient amount of "dues" to 
 enable them to determine upon greenbacks as the 
 future currency of their Confederacy. It happened 
 in this wise. Taking with him seventy-five men, 
 Mosby crossed, at an early hour of the night, in rear 
 of Sheridan s army, and struck the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Railroad above Harper s Ferry, near Duffield 
 Station. Here they prized up one side of the track 
 to a height of four feet, placing a secure foundation 
 under it. Soon the night express came rushing along. 
 The engine upset, and the train came to a stand 
 without serious injury to the passengers. Immediately 
 the cars were boarded, and every one in Federal 
 uniform captured. Among the prisoners were two 
 paymasters, Majors Moore and Ruggles, who had in 
 a satchel and tin box $168,000, in greenbacks, to pay 
 off the troops stationed along the road. Securing 
 this rich booty, the Rangers burned the cars and re- 
 passed Sheridan s pickets before the day had dawned. 
 The money was divided upon reaching their Con 
 federacy, each man receiving something over two 
 thousand dollars, Mosby taking nothing. 
 
 Only the men who participated in a particular raid 
 
MOSBY S "PAKTIZAN KANGEES" U3 
 
 were allowed to share in its spoil. The officer who 
 commanded the expedition always controlled the dis 
 tribution. It was seldom there was anything to divide 
 except horses and their equipments. Those who had 
 distinguished themselves in the fight were allowed the 
 first choice as a reward for their gallantry, the shares 
 of the others being divided by lot. This system, by 
 rewarding individual merit, encouraged a healthy ri 
 valry among the men, and at the same time removed 
 all inducement to leave the fight for plunder. Often 
 when a charge was ordered, a genuine horse-race fol 
 lowed, the swiftest steeds leading the way. 
 
 In this manner the men were mounted and equipped 
 without expense to themselves or the Confederate Gov 
 ernment. On the contrary, the army quartermaster 
 kept an agent in Mosby s Confederacy, to purchase 
 from the Rangers their surplus stock and arms. 
 His standing price for a horse was forty dollars 
 in gold. But each Eanger retained two or more of 
 the best for his own use. In this way they were 
 always splendidly mounted. I once heard a Federal 
 officer say he was not surprised that Mosby s men 
 rode such fine horses, as they had both armies to pick 
 from. The cavalry was armed with pistols alone, 
 of which each man carried at least two. Their supe 
 riority over all other arms for this branch of the ser 
 vice was frequently demonstrated. It is a weapon 
 that can be used with one hand, leaving the other to 
 guide the horse. Cavalry is never really efficient 
 unless trained to rush into close contact with the 
 enemy. To see the whites of their eyes is not suffi 
 cient; they must ride over the foe. In the rapid 
 
114 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 charge the carbine is not only useless, but a positive 
 incumbrance. The saber is comparatively harmless; 
 it serves to frighten the timid, but rarely ever deals 
 a death-wound. Let two men encounter each other 
 in the charge, one relying upon his pistol, the other 
 upon his saber, and the former, though an ordinary 
 tnarksman, will almost invariably get the better of 
 his antagonist. The Bangers realized their advan 
 tage in this respect. It encouraged them to rush into 
 close quarters, where the rapid discharge of their 
 pistols soon told upon the enemy, no matter how 
 bravely they had withstood the onset. I have seen 
 the victory decided alone by the superiority of the 
 pistol over the saber, where the opposing columns 
 had crossed each other in the charge and, wheeling, 
 had mingled in the fight. 
 
 But the Rangers were compelled to discard the car 
 bine and the saber for other reasons than their in 
 feriority in the hand-to-hand conflict. It was always 
 their policy to take the enemy by surprise if possible. 
 Their favorite plan was to wind their way through the 
 Federal pickets during the night, and make the attack 
 at break of day. The rattling of the carbine and saber 
 would have made it impossible to execute these move 
 ments with the silence necessary to success. To the 
 uninitiated it would be surprising to see with what 
 noiseless secrecy these manceuvers could be accom 
 plished. Only whispered commands were necessary 
 from the officers, and the presence of danger insured 
 silence in the ranks. This silence, which was observed 
 so long as silence was proper, served to make the 
 charge, with its shout and its cheer, the more terrible 
 to the foe. 
 
MOSBY S "PAKTIZAN BANGEKS" 115 
 
 But it must not be imagined the Eangers were 
 always successful. They were themselves sometimes 
 surprised, sometimes repulsed. Nothing else could 
 be expected from almost daily encounters in a country 
 abandoned to the enemy. There were occasions when 
 they were saved from total ruin only by their know 
 ledge of the country and the swiftness of their steeds. 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 THE BALD, THE CAPTURE, AND THE ESCAPE 
 
 I. THE RAID 
 
 BY BASIL W. DUKE 
 
 IN the summer of 1863, when, at Tullahoma, Ten 
 nessee, General Bragg s army was menaced by 
 superior numbers in flank and rear, he determined to 
 send a body of cavalry into Kentucky, which should 
 operate upon Rosecrans s communications between 
 Nashville and Louisville, break the railroads, capture 
 or threaten all the minor depots of supplies, intercept 
 and defeat all detachments not too strong to be 
 engaged, and keep the enemy so on the alert in his 
 own rear that he would lose or neglect his opportunity 
 to embarrass or endanger the march of the army when 
 its retrograde movement began. He even hoped that 
 a part of the hostile forces before him might be thus 
 detained long enough to prevent their participation in 
 the battle which he expected to fight when he had 
 crossed the Tennessee. 
 
 The officer whom he selected to accomplish this 
 diversion was General John H. Morgan, whose division 
 of mounted riflemen was well fitted for the work in 
 
 116 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 117 
 
 hand. Equal in courage, dash, and discipline to the 
 other fine cavalry commands which General Bragg 
 had at his disposal, it had passed a longer apprentice 
 ship in expeditionary service than had any other. Its 
 rank and file was of that mettle which finds its natural 
 element in active and auda 
 cious enterprise, and was yet 
 thrilled with the fire of youth ; 
 for there were few men in 
 the division over twenty-five 
 years of age. It was imbued 
 with the spirit of its com 
 mander, and confided in his 
 skill and fortune; no endeavor 
 was deemed impossible or 
 even hazardous when he led. 
 
 GENERAL JOHN H. MORGAN. 
 
 It was inured to constant, 
 
 almost daily, combat with the enemy, of all arms and 
 under every possible contingency. During its four 
 years of service the 2d Kentucky Cavalry, of which 
 General Morgan was the first colonel, lost sixty-three 
 commissioned officers killed and wounded; Company 
 A of that regiment, of which Morgan was the first 
 captain, losing duriog the war seventy-five men killed. 
 It had on its muster-roll, from first to last, nearly 
 two hundred and fifty men. The history of this com 
 pany and regiment was scarcely exceptional in the 
 command. 
 
 Morgan was beyond all men adapted to independent 
 command of this nature. His energy never flagged, 
 and his invention was always equal to the emergency. 
 Boldness and caution were united in all that he un- 
 
118 ADVENTUBES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 dertook. He had a most remarkable aptitude for 
 promptly acquiring a knowledge of any country in 
 which he was operating ; and as he kept it, so to speak, 
 " in his head," he was enabled easily to extricate him 
 self from difficulties. The celerity with which he 
 marched, the promptness 
 with which he attacked or 
 eluded a foe, intensified 
 the confidence of his fol 
 lowers, and kept his an 
 tagonists always in doubt 
 and apprehension. 
 
 In his conference with 
 General Bragg, Morgan 
 differed with his chief re 
 garding the full effect of 
 a raid that should not be 
 extended beyond the Ohio. 
 General Bragg desired it 
 to be confined to Ken 
 tucky. He gave Morgan 
 carte blanche to go where he 
 pleased in that State and 
 stay as long as he pleased ; 
 suggesting, among other 
 things, that he capture 
 Louisville. Morgan urged 
 that while by such a raid he might so divert to him 
 self the attention of General Henry M. Judah and 
 the cavalry of Rosecrans that they would not molest 
 General Bragg s retreat, he could do nothing, in this 
 way, in behalf of the other equally important feature 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 110 
 
 of the plan the deten 
 tion of troops that would 
 otherwise strengthen Rose- 
 crans in the decisive bat 
 tle to be fought south of 
 
 flA ** ^ " 
 
 ^> * - J_ 
 
 THE 
 MORGAN RAID. 
 
 t/ULY, 1863. 
 
 SCALE OP M I LETS 
 10 20 30 40 5O 
 
 the Tennessee. He contended, moreover, that a raid 
 into Indiana and Ohio, the more especially as im 
 portant political elections were pending there, would 
 cause troops to be withdrawn from Eosecrans and 
 Burnside for the protection of those States. But 
 General Bragg refused permission to cross the Ohio, 
 and instructed Morgan to make the raid as originally 
 designed. 
 
 Some weeks previous to this conference, by Morgan s 
 direction I had sent competent men to examine the 
 fords of the upper Ohio. He had even then contem 
 plated such an expedition. It had long been his 
 conviction that the Confederacy could maintain the 
 struggle only by transferring hostilities and waging 
 
120 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL \VAll 
 
 war, whenever opportunity offered, on Northern soil, 
 Upon his return from this interview he told me what 
 had been discussed, and what were General Bragg s 
 instructions. He said that he meant to disobey them ; 
 that the emergency, he believed, justified disobedience. 
 He was resolved to cross the Ohio River and invade 
 Indiana and Ohio. His command would probably be 
 captured, he said; but in no other way could he give sub 
 stantial aid to the army. General Bragg had directed 
 Morgan to detail two thousand men for the expedition. 
 From the two brigades commanded respectively by 
 myself and Colonel Adam B. Johnson, Morgan selected 
 twenty-four hundred and sixty of the best-mounted 
 and most effective. He took with him four pieces of 
 artillery two 3-inch Parrotts, attached to the First 
 Brigade, and two 12-pounder howitzers, attached to 
 the Second. 
 
 I should state that Morgan had thoroughly planned 
 the raid before he marched from Tennessee. He meant 
 to cross the Cumberland in the vicinity of Burkesville, 
 and to march directly across Kentucky to the nearest 
 point at which he could reach the Ohio west of Louis 
 ville, so closely approaching Louisville as to compel 
 belief that he meant to attempt its capture. Turning 
 to the right after entering Indiana, and marching as 
 nearly due east as possible, he would reduce to a mini 
 mum the distance necessary to be covered, and yet 
 threaten and alarm the population of the two States as 
 completely as by penetrating deeply into them; more 
 so, indeed, for pursuing this line he would reach the 
 immediate vicinity of Cincinnati and excite fears for 
 the safety of that city. While he intended to prolong 
 
A KOMANCE OF MOEGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 121 
 
 the raid to the uttermost, he proposed to be at no time 
 far from the Ohio, so that he might avail himself of 
 an opportunity to recross. On reaching the borders of 
 Pennsylvania, he intended, if General Lee should be in 
 that State, to make every effort to join him; failing in 
 that, to make his escape through West Virginia. In 
 formation he had gotten about the fords of the upper 
 Ohio had induced him to indicate Buffington s Island 
 as the point where he would attempt to recross that 
 stream. Ha deemed the passage of the Cumberland 
 one of the four chief difficulties of the expedition that 
 might prove really dangerous and insuperable ; the 
 other three were the passage of the Ohio, the circuit 
 around Cincinnati, and the recrossing of the Ohio. 
 
 Before noon on the 2d of July my brigade began to 
 cross the Cumberland at Burke sville and at Scott s 
 Ferry, two miles higher up the stream. The river, 
 swollen by heavy and long-continued rains, was pour 
 ing down a volume of water which overspread its 
 banks and rushed with a velocity that seemed to defy 
 any attempt to stem it. Two or three canoes lashed 
 together and two small flats served to transport the 
 men and the field-pieces, while the horses were made 
 to swim. Many of them were swept far down by the 
 boiling flood. .This process was necessarily slow, as 
 well as precarious. Colonel Johnson, whose brigade 
 was crossing at Turkey Neck Bend, several miles below 
 Burkes ville, was scarcely so well provided with the 
 means of ferriage as myself. About 3 p. M. the enemy 
 began to threaten both brigades. Had these demon 
 strations been made earlier, and vigorously, we could 
 not have gotten over the river. Fortunately by this 
 
122 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 time we had taken over the 6th Kentucky and 9th 
 Tennessee of rny brigade aggregating nearly six hun 
 dred men and also the two pieces of artillery. These 
 regiments were moved beyond Burkesville and placed 
 in a position which served all the purposes of an am 
 buscade. When the enemy approached, one or two 
 volleys caused his column to recoil in confusion. Gen 
 eral Morgan instantly charged it with Quirk s scouts 
 and some companies of the 9th Tennessee, and not 
 only prevented it from rallying, but drove it all the 
 way back to Marrowbone, entering the encampment 
 there with the troops he was pursuing in a pell-mell 
 dash. He was soon driven back, however, by the 
 enemy s infantry and artillery. 
 
 The effect of this blow was to keep the enemy quiet 
 for the rest of the day and night. The forces threaten 
 ing Colonel Johnson were also withdrawn, and we both 
 accomplished the passage of the river without further 
 molestation. That night the division marched out on 
 the Columbia road and encamped about two miles 
 from Burkesville. On the next day Judah concentrated 
 the three brigades of his cavalry command in that 
 region, while orders were sent to all the other Federal 
 detachments in Kentucky to close in upon our line 
 of march. 
 
 General Bragg had sent with the expedition a large 
 party of commissaries of subsistence, who were directed 
 to collect cattle north of the Cumberland and drive 
 them, guarded by one of our regiments, to Tullahoma. 
 I have never understood how he expected us to be able, 
 under the circumstances, to collect the cattle, or the 
 foragers to drive them out. The commissaries did not 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 123 
 
 attempt to carry out their instructions, but followed 
 us the entire distance and pulled up in prison. They 
 were gallant fellows and made no complaint of danger 
 or hardship, seeming rather to enjoy it. 
 
 THE FARMER FROM CALFKILLER CREEK. 
 
 There was one case, however, which excited uni 
 versal pity. An old farmer and excellent man, who 
 lived near Sparta, had accompanied us to Burkesville ; 
 that is, he meant to go no farther, and thought we 
 
124 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 would not. He wished to procure a barrel of salt, as 
 the supply of that commodity was exhausted in his 
 part of the country. He readily purchased the salt, 
 but learned, to his consternation, that the march to 
 Burkesville was a mere preliminary canter. He was 
 confronted with the alternative of going on a dan 
 gerous raid or of returning alone through a region 
 swarming with the fierce bushwhackers of " Tinker 
 Dave" Beattie, who never gave quarter to Confederate 
 soldier or Southern sympathizer. He knew that if 
 he fell into their hands they would pickle him with 
 his own salt. So this old man sadly yet wisely re 
 solved to follow the fortunes of Morgan. He made 
 the grand tour, was hurried along day after day 
 through battle and ambush, dragged night after night 
 on the remorseless march, ferried over the broad Ohio 
 under fire of the militia and gunboats, and lodged 
 at last in a "loathsome dungeon." On one occasion, 
 in Ohio, when the home guards were peppering us in 
 rather livelier fashion than usual, he said to Captain 
 C. H. Morgan, with tears in his voice: "I sw ar if I 
 would n t give all the salt in Kaintucky to stand once 
 more safe and sound on the banks of Calfkiller Creek." 
 Pushing on before dawn of the 3d, we reached Co 
 lumbia in the afternoon. The place was occupied by 
 a detachment of Colonel Frank Wolford s brigade, 
 which was quickly driven out. Encamping that 
 evening some eight miles from Columbia, we could 
 hear all night the ringing of the axes near Green 
 River bridge, on the road from Columbia to Campbells- 
 ville. Three or four hundred of the 25th Michigan 
 Infantry were stationed at the bridge to protect it; 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S BOUGH-EIDERS 125 
 
126 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 but the commander, Colonel Orlando H. Moore, de 
 liberately quitting the elaborate stockade erected near 
 the bridge, in which nine officers out of ten would 
 have remained, but where we could have shelled him 
 into surrender without losing a man ourselves, se 
 lected one of the strongest natural positions I ever saw, 
 and fortified it skilfully although simply. The Green 
 River makes here an immense horseshoe sweep, with 
 the bridge at the toe of the horseshoe ; and more than 
 a mile south of it was the point where Colonel Moore 
 elected to make his fight. The river there wound back 
 so nearly upon its previous course that the peninsula, 
 or "neck," was scarcely a hundred yards wide. This 
 narrow neck was also very short, the river bending 
 almost immediately to the west again. At that time 
 it was thickly covered with trees and undergrowth, and 
 Colonel Moore, felling the heaviest timber, had con 
 structed a formidable abatis across the narrowest part 
 of it. Just in front of the abatis there was open 
 ground for perhaps two hundred yards. South of the 
 open was a deep ravine. The road ran on the east side 
 of the cleared place, and the banks of the river were 
 high and precipitous. The center of the open space 
 rose into a swell, sloping gently away both to the 
 north and south. On the crest of the swell Moore had 
 thrown up a slight earthwork, which was manned 
 when we approached. An officer was promptly de 
 spatched with a flag to demand his surrender. Colonel 
 Moore responded that an officer of the United States 
 ought not to surrender on the Fourth of July, and 
 he must therefore decline. Captain "Ed" Byrne had 
 planted one of the Parrott guns about six hundred 
 
A KOMANCE OF MORGAN S BOUGH-RIDERS 127 
 
 yards from the earthwork, and on the return of the 
 bearer of the flag opened fire, probing the work with 
 a round shot. One man in the trench was killed by 
 this shot, and the others ran back to the abatis. 
 
 Colonel Johnson, whose brigade was in advance, 
 immediately dashed forward with the 3d and llth 
 Kentucky to attack the main position. Artillery could 
 not be used, for the guns could bear upon the abatis 
 only from the crest of which I have spoken, and if 
 posted there the cannoneers, at the very short range, 
 would not have been able to serve their pieces. The 
 position could be won only by direct assault. The 
 men rushed up to the fallen timber, but became en 
 tangled in the network of trunks and branches, and 
 were shot down while trying to climb over or push 
 through them. I reinforced Johnson with a part of 
 Smith s regiment, the 5th Kentucky, but the jam and 
 confusion incident to moving in so circumscribed an 
 area and through the dense undergrowth broke the 
 force of the charge. The enemy was quite numerous 
 enough to defend a line so short and strong and 
 perfectly protected on both flanks. We had not more 
 than six hundred men actually engaged, and the 
 fighting lasted not longer than fifteen or twenty min 
 utes. Our loss was about ninety, nearly as many 
 killed as wounded. Afterward we learned that Colonel 
 Moore s loss was six killed and twenty-three wounded. 
 When General Morgan ordered the attack he was not 
 aware of the strength of the position; nor had he 
 anticipated a resistance so spirited and so skilfully 
 planned. He reluctantly drew off without another 
 assault, convinced that to capture the abatis and its 
 
128 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 defenders would cost him half his command. Among 
 the killed were Colonel D. W. Chenault and Captain 
 Alexander Treble of the llth Kentucky, Lieutenant 
 Robert Cowan of the 3d, and Major Thomas Y. Brent, 
 Jr., and Lieutenants Holloway and Ferguson of the 
 5th. These officers were all killed literally at the 
 muzzles of the rifles. 
 
 Colonel Moore s position might easily have been 
 avoided; indeed, we passed around it immediately 
 afterward, crossing the river at a ford about two miles 
 below the bridge. Morgan assailed it merely in accor- 
 dance with his habitual policy when advancing of at 
 tacking all in his path except very superior forces. __ 
 
 On the same afternoon Captain William M. Magenis, 
 assistant adjutant-general of the division, a valuable 
 officer, was murdered by a Captain Murphy, whom he 
 had placed under arrest for robbing a citizen. Murphy 
 made his escape from the guard two or three days sub 
 sequently, just as the court-martial which was to have 
 tried him was convening. 
 
 On the morning of July 5th the column reached Leb 
 anon, which was garrisoned by the 20th Kentucky In 
 fantry, commanded by Colonel Charles S. Hanson. 
 The 8th and 9th Michigan Cavalry and the llth Michi 
 gan Battery, under command of Colonel James I. 
 David, were approaching by the Danville road to rein 
 force the garrison, necessitating a large detachment to 
 observe them. Morgan s demand for surrender having 
 been refused, artillery fire was directed upon the rail 
 road depot and other buildings in which the enemy 
 had established himself; but, as the Federals endured 
 it with great firmness, it became necessary to carry the 
 
A BOMANCE OF MOEGAN S ROUGH-EIDEKS 129 
 
 town by assault. Our loss was some forty in killed 
 and wounded, including several excellent officers. One 
 death universally deplored was that of the General s 
 brother, Lieutenant Thomas H. Morgan. He was a 
 bright, handsome, and very gallant lad of nineteen, 
 the favorite of the division. He was killed in front of 
 the 2d Kentucky in the charge upon the depot. The 
 Federal loss was three killed and sixteen wounded, and 
 three hundred and eighty were prisoners. 
 
 Without delay we passed through Springfield and 
 Bardstown, crossing the Louisville and Nashville Eail- 
 road at Lebanon Junction, thirty miles from Louisville, 
 on the evening of the 6th. At Springfield two com 
 panies of about ninety men were sent toward Har- 
 rodsburg and Danville to occupy the attention of the 
 Federal cavalry in that quarter. From Bardstown, Cap 
 tain W. C. Davis, acting assistant adjutant-general of 
 the First Brigade, was sent with a detachment of one 
 hundred and thirty men to scout in the vicinity of 
 Louisville, to produce the impression that the city was 
 about to be attacked, and to divert attention from the 
 passage of the Ohio by the main body at Brandenburg. 
 He was instructed to cross the river somewhere east 
 of Louisville and to rejoin the column on its line of 
 march through Indiana. He executed the first part 
 of the program perfectly, but was unable to get across 
 the river. Tapping the wires at Lebanon Junction, 
 we learned from intercepted despatches that the garri 
 son at Louisville was much alarmed, and in expecta 
 tion of an immediate attack. 
 
 The detachments I have just mentioned, with some 
 smaller ones previously sent off on similar service, 
 
130 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAIt 
 
 aggregated not less than two hundred and sixty men 
 permanently separated from the division ; which, with a 
 loss in killed and wounded, in Kentucky, of about one 
 hundred and fifty, had reduced our effective strength, 
 at the Ohio, by more than four hundred. 
 
 The rapid and constant marching already began to 
 tell upon both horses and men, but we reached the 
 Ohio at Brandenburg at 9 A. M. on the 8th. Captains 
 Samuel Taylor and H. C. Meriwether of the 10th Ken 
 tucky had been sent forward the day before, with 
 their companies, to capture steamboats. "We found 
 them in possession of two large craft. One had been 
 surprised at the wharf, and steaming out on her, they 
 had captured the other. Preparations for crossing 
 were begun; but, just as the first boat was about to 
 push off, an unexpected musketry fire was opened 
 from the Indiana side by a party of home-guards col 
 lected behind some houses and haystacks. They were 
 in pursuit of Captain Thomas H. Hines, who had that 
 morning returned from Indiana to Kentucky, after 
 having undertaken a brief expedition of his own. 
 This fire did no harm, the river here being eight hun 
 dred or a thousand yards wide. But in a few minutes 
 the bright gleam of a field-piece spouted through the 
 low-hanging mist on the farther bank. Its shell 
 pitched into a group near the wharf, severely wound 
 ing Captain W. H. Wilson, acting quartermaster of 
 the First Brigade. Several shots from this piece fol 
 lowed in quick succession, but it was silenced by 
 Lieutenant Lawrence with his Parrotts. The 2d Ken 
 tucky and 9th Tennessee were speedily ferried over 
 without their horses, and forming under the bluff 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S KOUGH-BIDEBS 131 
 
132 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 they advanced upon the militia, which had retired 
 to a wooded ridge some six hundred yards from the 
 river-bank, abandoning the gun. The two regiments 
 were moving across some open ground, toward the 
 ridge, sustaining no loss from the volleys fired at 
 them, and the boats had scarcely returned for further 
 service when a more formidable enemy appeared. A 
 gunboat, the Elk, steamed rapidly round the bend, and 
 began firing alternately upon the troops in the town 
 and those already across. The situation was now ex 
 tremely critical. We could not continue the ferriage 
 while this little vixen remained, for one well-directed 
 shot would have sent either of the boats to the bottom. 
 Delay was exceedingly hazardous, affording the enemy 
 opportunity to cut off the regiments we had already 
 sent over, and giving the cavalry in pursuit of us time 
 to come up. If forced to give up the attempt to cross 
 the river, we must also abandon our comrades on the 
 other side. So every piece of artillery was planted 
 and opened on the gunboat, and after an hour or two 
 of vigorous cannonading she was driven off. By mid 
 night all our troops were over. 
 
 About noon of the 9th the column reached the little 
 town of Corydon, Indiana, which proved not nearly so 
 gentle as its name. Our advance-guard, commanded 
 by Colonel R-. C. Morgan, found a body of militia there, 
 ensconced behind stout barricades of fence rails, 
 stretching for some distance on each side of the road. 
 Colonel Morgan charged the barricade, his horses could 
 not leap it, the militia stood resolutely, and he lost six 
 teen men. A few dismounted skirmishers thrown 
 upon the flanks, and a shot or two from one of the 
 
A KOMANCE OF MORGAN S BOUGH-RIDERS 133 
 
 pieces which accompanied the advance-guard, quickly 
 dispersed them, however, and we entered the town 
 without further resistance. 
 
 Our progress, quite rapid in Kentucky, was now 
 accelerated, and we were habitually twenty-one hours 
 out of the twenty-four in the saddle, very frequently 
 not halting at night or going into camp at all. For 
 the first three or four days we saw nothing of the 
 inhabitants save in their character as militia, when 
 they forced themselves on our attention much more 
 frequently than we desired. The houses were entirely 
 deserted. Often w r e found the kitchen fire blazing, the 
 keys hanging in the cupboard lock, and the chickens 
 sauntering about the yard with a confidence which 
 proved that they had never before seen soldiers. 
 
 As the first scare wore off, however, we found the 
 women and children remaining at home, while the men 
 went to the muster. When a thirsty cavalryman rode 
 up to a house to inquire for buttermilk, he was gen 
 erally met by a buxom dame, with a half-dozen or 
 more small children peeping out from her volumi 
 nous skirts, who, in response to a question about 
 the "old man," would say: "The men hev all gone to 
 the rally ; you 11 see em soon." We experienced lit 
 tle difficulty in procuring food for man and horse. 
 Usually upon our raids it was much easier to obtain 
 meat than bread. But in Indiana and Ohio we always 
 found bread ready baked at every house. In Ohio, 
 on more than one occasion, in deserted houses we 
 found pies, hot from the oven, displayed upon tables 
 conveniently spread. The first time that I witnessed 
 this sort of hospitality was when I rode up to a house 
 
134 ADVENTUBES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 where a party of my men were standing around a 
 table garnished as I have described, eyeing the pies 
 hungrily, but showing no disposition to touch them. 
 I asked, in astonishment, why they were so abstinent. 
 One of them replied that they feared the pies might 
 be poisoned. I was quite sure, on the contrary, that 
 they were intended as a propitiatory offering. I have 
 always been fond of pies, these were of luscious 
 apples, so I made the spokesman hand me one of the 
 largest, and proceeded to eat it. The men watched me 
 vigilantly for two or three minutes, and then, as I 
 seemed much better after my repast, they took hold 
 ravenously. 
 
 The severe marching made an exchange of horses a 
 necessity, though as a rule the horses we took were 
 very inferior to the Kentucky and Tennessee stock we 
 had brought with us, and which had generally a large 
 infusion of thoroughbred blood. The horses we im 
 pressed were for the most part heavy, sluggish beasts, 
 barefooted and grass-fed, and gave out after a day or 
 two, sometimes in a few hours. A strong provost 
 guard, under Major Steele of the 3d Kentucky, had 
 been organized to prevent the two practices most pre 
 judicial to discipline and efficiency straggling and 
 pillage. There were very good reasons, independent of 
 the provost guard, why the men should not straggle 
 far from the line of march ; but the well-filled stores 
 and gaudy shop-windows of the Indiana and Ohio 
 towns seemed to stimulate, in men accustomed to im 
 poverished and unpretentious Dixie, the propensity to 
 appropriate beyond limit or restraint. I had never 
 before seen anything like this disposition to plunder. 
 
A KOMANCE OF MORGAN S EOUGH-EIDEES 135 
 
 Our perilous situation only seemed to render the men 
 more reckless. At the same time, anything more 
 ludicrous than the manner in which they indulged 
 their predatory tastes can scarcely be imagined. The 
 weather was intensely warm, the hot July sun 
 burned the earth to powder, and we were breathing 
 superheated dust, yet one man rode for three days 
 with seven pairs of skates slung about his neck; 
 another loaded himself with sleigh-bells. A large chaf 
 ing-dish, a medium-sized Dutch clock, a green glass 
 decanter with goblets to match, a bag of horn buttons, 
 a chandelier, and a bird-cage containing three canaries 
 were some of the articles I saw borne off and jealously 
 fondled. The officers usually waited a reasonable pe 
 riod, until the novelty had worn off, and then had this 
 rubbish thrown away. Baby shoes and calico, how 
 ever, were the staple articles of appropriation. A 
 fellow would procure a bolt of calico, carry it carefully 
 for a day or two, then cast it aside and get another. 
 
 From Cory don our route was via Salem, Vienna, 
 Lexington, Paris, Vernon, Dupont, and Sumanville to 
 Harrison, near the Ohio State line and twenty-five 
 miles from Cincinnati. Detachments were sent to 
 Madison, Versailles, and other points, to burn bridges, 
 bewilder and confuse those before and behind us, and 
 keep bodies of military stationary that might other 
 wise give trouble. All were drawn in before we 
 reached Harrison. At this point Morgan began dem 
 onstrations intended to convey the impression that he 
 would cross the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Rail 
 road at Hamilton. He had always anticipated difficulty 
 in getting over this road ; fearing that the troops from 
 
136 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 Kentucky would be concentrated at or near Cincinnati, 
 and that every effort would be made to intercept him 
 there. If these troops lined the railroad and were judi 
 ciously posted, he knew it would be extremely difficult 
 to elude them or cut his way through them. He be 
 lieved that if he could pass this ordeal safely, the suc 
 cess of the expedition would be assured, unless the 
 river should be so high that the boats would be able 
 to transport troops to intercept him at the upper 
 fords. 
 
 After remaining at Harrison two or three hours, and 
 sending detachments in the direction of Hamilton, he 
 moved with the entire column on the Hamilton road. 
 But as soon as he was clear of the town, he cut the 
 telegraph-wires previously left intact with the hope 
 that they might be used to convey intelligence of his 
 apparent movement toward Hamilton and, turning 
 across the country, gained the direct road to Cincin 
 nati. He hoped that, deceived by his demonstrations 
 at Harrison, the larger part of the troops at Cincinnati 
 would be sent to Hamilton, and that it would be too 
 late to recall them when his movement toward Cin 
 cinnati was discovered. He trusted that those re 
 maining would be drawn into the city, under the 
 impression that he meant to attack, leaving the way 
 clear for his rapid transit. He has been criticized 
 for not attempting the capture of Cincinnati, but he 
 had no mind to involve his handful of wearied men in 
 a labyrinth of streets. We felt very much more at 
 home amid rural surroundings. But if he had taken 
 Cincinnati, and had safely crossed the river there, the 
 raid would have been so much briefer, and its principal 
 
A KOMANCE OF MOEGAN S BOUGH-BIDEKS 137 
 
138 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 object to that extent defeated by the release of the 
 troops pursuing us. 
 
 We reached the environs of Cincinnati about ten 
 o clock at night, and were not clear of them until after 
 daybreak. My brigade was marching in the rear, and 
 the guides were with General Morgan in the front. 
 The continual straggling of some companies in the 
 rear of Johnson s brigade caused me to become sepa 
 rated from the remainder of the column by a wide gap, 
 and I was for some time entirely ignorant of what di 
 rection I should take. The night was pitch-dark, and I 
 was compelled to light torches and seek the track of 
 the column by the foam dropped from the mouths of 
 the horses and the dust kicked up by their feet. At 
 every halt which this groping search necessitated, 
 scores of tired men would fall asleep and drop out of 
 their saddles. Daylight appeared after we had crossed 
 all of the principal suburban roads, and were near the 
 Little Miami Railroad. I never welcomed the fresh, 
 invigorating air of morning more gratefully. That 
 afternoon we reached Williamsburg, twenty-eight 
 miles east of Cincinnati. 
 
 The Ohio militia were more numerous and aggres 
 sive than those of Indiana. We had frequent skir 
 mishes with them daily, and although hundreds were 
 captured, they resumed operations as soon as they 
 were turned loose. What excited in us more astonish 
 ment than all else we saw were the crowds of able- 
 bodied men. The contrast with the South, drained of 
 adult males to recruit her armies, was striking, and 
 suggestive of anything but confidence on our part in 
 the result of the struggle. 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 139 
 
 At Piketon we learned that Vicksburg had fallen, 
 and that General Lee, having been repulsed at Gettys 
 burg, had retreated across the Potomac. Under the 
 circumstances this information was peculiarly disheart 
 ening. As we approached Pomeroy the militia began 
 to embarrass our march by felling trees and erecting 
 barricades across the roads. In passing near that town 
 we were assailed by regular troops, as we called the 
 volunteers, in contradistinction to the militia, and 
 forced a passage only by some sharp fighting. At 1 
 p. M. on the 18th we reached Chester, eighteen miles 
 from Buffington s Island. A halt here of nearly two 
 hours proved disastrous, as it caused us to arrive at 
 the river after nightfall, and delayed any attempt at 
 crossing until the next morning. Morgan thoroughly 
 appreciated the importance of crossing the river at 
 once, but it was impossible. The darkness was intense, 
 we were ignorant of the ford and without guides, and 
 were encumbered with nearly two hundred wounded, 
 whom we were unwilling to abandon. By instruction 
 I placed the 5th and 6th Kentucky in position to 
 attack, as soon as day broke, an earthwork command 
 ing the ford, and which we learned was mounted with 
 two guns and manned by three hundred infantry. At 
 dawn I moved upon the work, and found it had been 
 evacuated and the guns thrown over the bluff. Press- 
 ing on a few hundred yards to reconnoiter the Pome 
 roy road, we suddenly encountered the enemy. It 
 proved to be General Judah s advance. The 5th and 
 6th Kentucky instantly attacked and dispersed it, 
 taking a piece of artillery and forty or fifty prisoners, 
 and inflicting some loss in killed and wounded. 
 
140 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The position in which we found ourselves, now that 
 we had light enough to examine the ground, was any 
 thing but favorable. The valley we had entered, about 
 a mile long and perhaps eight hundred yards wide at 
 its southern extremity, the river running here nearly 
 due north and south, gradually narrows, as the ridge 
 which is its western boundary closely approaches the 
 river-bank, until it becomes a mere ravine. The 
 Chester road enters the valley at a point about equi 
 distant from either end. As the 5th Kentucky fell 
 back that it might be aligned on the 6th Kentucky, 
 across the southern end of the valley, into which 
 Judah s whole force was now pouring, it was charged 
 by the 8th and 9th Michigan and a detachment of the 
 5th Indiana. A part of the 5th Kentucky was cut off 
 by this charge, the gun we had taken was recaptured, 
 and our Parrotts also fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 They were so clogged with dust, however, as to be 
 almost unserviceable, and their ammunition was ex 
 pended. Bringing up a part of the 2d Kentucky, 
 I succeeded in checking and driving back the regi 
 ments that first bore down on us, but they were 
 quickly reinforced and immediately returned to the 
 attack. In the mean time Colonel Johnson s videttes 
 on the Chester road had been driven in, and the cav 
 alry under Hobson, which had followed us throughout 
 our long march, deployed on the ridge, and attacked on 
 that side. I sent a courier to General Morgan, advis 
 ing that he retreat up the river and out of the valley 
 with all the men he could extricate, while Colonel 
 Johnson and I, with the troops already engaged, would 
 endeavor to hold the enemy in check. The action was 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 141 
 
 soon hot from both directions, and the gunboats, 
 steaming up the river abreast of us, commenced shell 
 ing vigorously. We were now between three assail 
 ants. A sharp artillery fire was opened by each, and 
 the peculiar formation we were compelled to adopt 
 exposed us to a severe cross-fire of small arms. 
 
 We w r ere in 110 condition to make a successful or 
 energetic resistance. The men were worn out and de 
 moralized by the tremendous march, and the fatigue 
 and lack of sleep for the ten days that had elapsed 
 since they had crossed the Ohio. Having had no op 
 portunity to replenish their cartridge-boxes, they were 
 almost destitute of ammunition, and after firing two or 
 three rounds were virtually unarmed. To this fact is 
 attributable the very small loss our assailants sustained. 
 Broken down as we were, if we had been supplied with 
 cartridges we could have piled the ground with Judah s 
 men as they advanced over the open plain into the 
 valley. As the line, seeking to cover the withdrawal 
 of the troops taken off by General Morgan, was rolled 
 back by the repeated charges of the enemy, the strag 
 glers were rushing wildly about the valley, with bolts 
 of calico streaming from their saddles, and changing 
 direction with every shrieking shell. When the rear 
 guard neared the northern end of the valley, out of 
 which General Morgan with the greater part of the 
 command had now passed, and perceived that the 
 only avenue of escape was through a narrow gorge, a 
 general rush was made for it. The Michigan regi 
 ments dashed into the mass of fugitives, and the gun 
 boats swept the narrow pass with grape. All order 
 was lost in a wild tide of flight. 
 
142 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 About seven hundred were captured here, and per 
 haps a hundred and twenty killed and wounded. 
 Probably a thousand men got out with General Mor 
 gan. Of these some three hundred succeeded in 
 swimming the river at a point twenty miles above 
 Buffington, while many were drowned in the attempt. 
 The arrival of the gunboats prevented others from 
 crossing. General Morgan had gotten nearly over, 
 when, seeing that the bulk of his command must 
 remain on the Ohio side, he returned. For six more 
 days Morgan taxed energy and ingenuity to the ut 
 most to escape the toils. Absolutely exhausted, he 
 surrendered near the Pennsylvania line, on the 26th 
 day of July, with three hundred and sixty-four men. 
 
 The expedition was of immediate benefit, since a 
 part of the forces that would otherwise have harassed 
 Bragg s retreat and swollen Rosecrans s muster-roll at 
 Chickamauga were carried by the pursuit of Morgan so 
 far northward that they were kept from participating 
 in that battle. 
 
 But Morgan s cavalry was almost destroyed, and his 
 prestige impaired. Much the larger number of the 
 captured men lingered in the Northern prisons until 
 the close of the war. That portion of his command 
 which had remained in Tennessee became disinte 
 grated ; the men either were incorporated in other 
 organizations, or, attracted by the fascinations of 
 irregular warfare, were virtually lost to the service. 
 Morgan, after four or five months imprisonment in 
 the Ohio penitentiary, effected an escape which has 
 scarcely a parallel for ingenuity and daring. He 
 was received in the South enthusiastically. The 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 143 
 
 authorities at Richmond seemed at first to share the 
 popular sympathy and admiration. But it soon be 
 came apparent that his infraction of discipline in 
 crossing the Ohio was not forgiven. Placed for a short 
 time in practical command of the Department of South 
 western Virginia, he was given inadequate means for 
 its defense, and bound with instructions which ac 
 corded neither with his temperament nor with his sit 
 uation. The troops he commanded were not, like his 
 old riders, accustomed to his methods, confident in his 
 genius, and devoted to his fortunes. He attempted 
 aggressive operations with his former energy and self- 
 reliance, but not with his former success. He drove 
 out of West Virginia two invading columns, and then 
 made an incursion into the heart of Kentucky known 
 as his last Kentucky raid in the hope of anticipat 
 ing and deterring a movement into his own territory. 
 Very successful at first, this raid ended, too, in disaster. 
 After capturing and dispersing Federal forces in the 
 aggregate much larger than his own, he encountered 
 at Cynthiana a vastly superior force, and was defeated. 
 Two months later, September 4, 1864, he was killed at 
 Greeneville, Tennessee, while advancing to attack the 
 Federal detachments stationed in front of Knoxville. l 
 
 !E. W. Doran of Greeneville, residence in town. At this time 
 
 Tenn., gives the following partic- Captain Robert C. Carter, in com- 
 
 ulars of General Morgan s death : mand of a company of Colonel 
 
 Crawford s regiment, was stationed 
 
 General Morgan came to Greene- three or four miles north of the 
 
 ville on September 3, and stationed town. He got accurate information 
 
 his troops on a hill overlooking the of Morgan s whereabouts, and sent 
 
 town from the east, while he and a messenger at once to General A. 
 
 his staff were entertained at the C. Gillem, at Bull s Gap, sixteen 
 
 " Williams Mansion," the finest miles distant. This message was 
 
144 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The remnant of his old command served during the 
 gloomy winter of 1864-65 in the region where their 
 leader met death, fighting often on the same ground. 
 When Eichmond fell, and Lee surrendered, they 
 marched to join Joseph E. Johnston. After his capit 
 ulation they were part of the escort that guarded 
 Jefferson Davis in his aimless retreat from Charlotte, 
 and laid down their arms at Woodville, Georgia, by 
 order of John C. Breckinridge, when the armies of the 
 Confederacy were disbanded, and its President became 
 a fugitive. 
 
 II. THE CAPTURE 
 
 BY OKLANDO B. WILLCOX 
 
 WHEN it was known at Indianapolis that Gen 
 eral Morgan, with a large force, had crossed 
 the Ohio, the city was panic-stricken. The State had 
 
 intrusted to John Davis and two they arrived about daylight, and 
 
 other young men of his company, surrounded the house where Morgan 
 
 who rode through a fearful storm, was. He ran out, without waiting 
 
 picking their way by the lightning- to dress, to conceal himself in the 
 
 flashes and arriving there some time shrubbery and grape arbors, but 
 
 before midnight. Other messages was seen from the street and shot 
 
 were probably sent to Gillem that by Andrew G. Campbell, a private 
 
 night from Greene ville, but this in the 13th Tennessee. Campbell 
 
 was the first received. The report was promoted to a lieutenancy, 
 
 usually given in the histories to the Morgan s body was afterward se- 
 
 effect that Mrs. Joseph Williams cured by his friends and given 
 
 carried the news is not correct, as decent burial. But little firing was 
 
 she was known to be in an opposite done by either array; and after 
 
 direction several miles, and knew Morgan was killed his forces 
 
 nothing of the affair. In an hour marched out of town while the 
 
 after the message was delivered Union forces marched in, in easy 
 
 Gillem s forces were hurrying on range of each other, yet not a shot 
 
 their way to Greerieville, where was fired on either side. 
 
145 
 
 been literally depleted of troops to assist Kentucky, 
 and everybody knew it. The very worst was appre 
 hended that railways would be cut up, passenger 
 and freight trains robbed, bridges and depots burned, 
 our arsenal pillaged, two thousand Confederate prison 
 ers at Camp Morton liberated, and Jefferson ville, with 
 all its Government stores, and possibly Indianapolis 
 itself, destroyed. 
 
 Nor was this all. It had been reported, and partly 
 believed, as afterward indeed proved to be the fact, 
 that the State was literally undermined with rebel 
 sympathizers banded together in secret organizations. 
 The coming of Morgan had been looked for, and his 
 progress through Kentucky watched with consider 
 able anxiety. It was gloomily predicted that hun 
 dreds, perhaps thousands, of u Knights of the Golden 
 Circle" and of "Sons of Liberty" would flock to his 
 standard and endeavor to carry the State over to the 
 Confederacy. 
 
 Morgan probably had fair reason to believe that 
 his ranks would be at least largely recruited in the 
 southern counties of Indiana. The governor of In 
 diana, Oliver P. Morton, went to work with all his 
 tremendous energy and indomitable will, in the face 
 of the greatest opposition that had been encountered 
 in any Northern State, amounting, just before, almost 
 to open rebellion. He proclaimed martial law, 
 though not in express terms, and ordered out the 
 "Legion," or militia, and called upon the loyal citi 
 zens of the State to enroll themselves as minute-men, 
 to organize and report for arms and for martial duty. 
 Thousands responded to the call within twenty-four 
 
 10 
 
146 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 hours many within two hours. 1 Everything possible 
 was done by telegraph, until the lines were cut. Some 
 arms were found in the State Arsenal, and more, with 
 accoutrements and ammunition, together with whole 
 batteries of artillery, were procured from Chicago and 
 St. Louis. 
 
 The disposition of the State levies that came throng 
 ing in was left to me as fast as they were armed. The 
 three great junctions of the Ohio and Mississippi Rail 
 road in Indiana, over which troops and supplies were 
 shipped from all points to Rosecrans at Chattanooga, 
 viz., Mitchell, Seymour, and Yernon, were first to be 
 made secure; for surely Morgan must have some mili 
 tary objectives, and these appeared to be the most 
 likely. The westerly junction was Mitchell. This 
 was quickly occupied and guarded by General James 
 Hughes, with Legion men, reinforced by the new 
 organizations rising in that quarter. Seymour was 
 the most central, and lay directly on the road to Cin 
 cinnati and Indianapolis from Louisville; and at Sey 
 mour a brigade was assembled from the center of 
 the State, with General John Love, a skilful old army 
 officer, to command it, with instructions to have an 
 eye to Vernon likewise. To this last point Burnside 
 ordered a battery from Cincinnati; and what few 
 
 l According to the report of the out; many of them refused pay, yet 
 
 adjutant-general of Indiana, 30,000 $232,000 were disbursed for services 
 
 militia assembled within thirty-six during the raid. It would appear, 
 
 hours, and about the time Morgan therefore, that 120,000 militia took 
 
 was leaving the State 65,000 men the field against Morgan, in addi- 
 
 were in the field. In Ohio, accord- (ion to the three brigades of General 
 
 ing to a report made to the adju- Judah s United States cavalry. 
 
 tant-general, 55,000 militia turned EDITOR. 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S BOUGH-RIDERS 147 
 
 troops I had in Michigan, though half organized, came 
 down to Yernon and to General Love. Besides these 
 thus rendezvoused, the people of the southern counties 
 were called upon to bushwhack the enemy, to obstruct 
 roads, to guard trains, bridges, etc., and to make them 
 selves generally useful and pestiferous. 
 
 Our militia first came in contact with the enemy 
 opposite Brandenburg, where he crossed; but it made 
 the stand at Corydon Junction, where the road runs 
 between two abrupt hills, across which Colonel Lewis 
 Jordan threw up some light intrenchments. Morgan s 
 advance attempted to ride over these "rail-piles" rough 
 shod, but lost some twenty troopers unhorsed. They 
 brought up their reserve and artillery, flanked, and 
 finally surrounded Colonel Jordan, who, after an hour s 
 resolute resistance, surrendered. 
 
 This gave the raiders the town, and the citizens the 
 first taste of Morgan s style, which somewhat disgusted 
 the numerous class of Southern sympathizers. The 
 shops were given up to plunder, and the ladies levied 
 on for meals for the whole command. 
 
 Throwing out columns in various directions, Morgan 
 pushed for Mitchell, where no doubt he expected to 
 cut the Ohio and Mississippi Eailroad, got as far as 
 Salem in that direction, captured or dispersed a few 
 squads of badly armed minute-men who were guarding 
 depots and bridges, which he burned, and doubtless 
 hearing from his scouts, sent out in citizens clothes, 
 of Hughes s force collected at Mitchell, he discreetly 
 turned off northeastward, apparently aiming next for 
 Seymour. This I heard with great satisfaction. 
 
 The panic at Indianapolis began to subside. Still I 
 
148 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 felt uneasy for Seymour, as I next heard of Morgan 
 at Vienna, where he tapped the telegraph-lines and 
 learned what he could of all our plans to catch him. 
 He came within nine miles of Seymour. General Love 
 sent out a reconnaissance of sharpshooters under 
 Colonel C. Y. De Land, with a couple of field-pieces. 
 They found that Morgan had turned off eastward. 
 Love divined his object, and started De Land and two 
 Indiana regiments of militia for Yernon. Here Morgan 
 next turned up, planted his Parrotts, and demanded 
 surrender. He was defied until Love s arrival with 
 the rest of his militia, and then he swept off in a hurry 
 from Yernon, followed by our men, who captured his 
 pickets and rear-guard, but who, having no cavalry, 
 were soon outmarched. 
 
 Morgan secured a great advantage by seizing all the 
 horses within reach, 1 leaving none for the militia or 
 for General E. H. Hobson, which enabled him to gain 
 on his pursuers, and he would then have left Hobson 
 far out of sight but for the home guard, who ob 
 structed the roads somewhat, and bushwhacked his 
 men from every hedge, hill, or tree, when it could be 
 done. But the trouble was that we could not attack 
 him with sufficient organized numbers. 
 
 After he left Yernon we felt safe at Indianapolis. 
 "Defensive sites" were abandoned, and the banks 
 
 1 General J. M. Schackelford says head of each regiment, on each side 
 
 in his official report : " Our pursuit of the road, to go five miles into 
 
 was much retarded by the enemy s the country, seizing every horse, 
 
 burning all the bridges in our front, and then fall in at the rear of the 
 
 He had every advantage. His sys- column. In this way he swept 
 
 tern of horse-stealing was perfect, the country for ten miles of all 
 
 He would despatch men from the the horses." EDITOR. 
 
A ROMANCE OP MORGAN S BOUGH-RIDERS 149 
 
 brought back their deposits which they had sent off 
 by express to Chicago and the North. Some fears, or 
 hopes, were entertained as to Madison, toward which 
 Morgan next bent his way fears for the safety of 
 that city, and hopes that, with the help of Judah s 
 troops and the gunboats now on the way up the river, 
 we might put an end to the raid. From Indianapolis 
 we started General Lew Wallace with a good brigade 
 of minute-men, and with high hopes that at either 
 Madison or Lawrenceburg, farther up the river, he 
 might " capture them." The people ahead were asked 
 by telegraph to cooperate. But after going down that 
 line as far as Dupont, Morgan turned northeast for Ver 
 sailles, where we next heard of him threatening the Cin 
 cinnati and Indianapolis Railway. This was a nice bit 
 of work. He baffled all our calculations, and did some 
 damage on both the Ohio and Mississippi and Cincinnati 
 railroads, sending off flying columns in a dozen direc 
 tions at a time for the purpose, as well as to throw 
 Ilobson off the scent. Some of these columns looked 
 like traveling circuses adorned with useless plunder 
 and an excess of clowns. Thus they went through 
 Pierceville and Milan to Harrison, on White Eiver, 
 and on the Ohio line. Here Hobson s advance came 
 upon them, but unfortunately it paused to plant artil 
 lery, instead of dashing across the bridge and engaging 
 the raiders until the main body should arrive. This 
 lost us the bridge, which was burned before our eyes, 
 and many hours delay, marching round by the ford. 
 Their next demonstration was toward Hamilton. Here 
 there was a fine railway bridge over the Big Miami. 
 Hobson followed in such close pursuit through New 
 
150 ADVENTUllES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 Baltimore, Glendale, and Miamiville that the raiders 
 did little damage. Their attempt to burn a bridge at 
 Miamiville was repulsed by the home guard. My last 
 troops were despatched from Indianapolis to head 
 them off at Hamilton, after five hours delay caused 
 by the intoxication of their commander. His suc 
 cessor in command was General Hascall, who swore 
 like a trooper to find himself "just in time to be too 
 late." He proceeded through Hamilton, Ohio, as far 
 as Loveland. But Morgan had sent only a detachment 
 toward Hamilton to divert attention from Cincinnati, 
 toward which he made a rapid march with his whole 
 united force. 
 
 Governor Tod of Ohio had already called out the 
 militia and proclaimed martial law. He raised men 
 enough, but Burnside had to organize and arm them. 
 Morgan found the great city guarded, but he passed 
 through the very suburbs by a night march around 
 it, unmolested. He crossed the Little Miami Railroad 
 at daylight, and came north in sight of Camp Denni- 
 son, where Colonel Neff half armed his convalescents, 
 threw out pickets, dug rifle-pits, and threw up in- 
 trenchments. His fiery old veterans saved a railway 
 bridge, and actually captured a lieutenant and others 
 before they sheered off and went some ten miles 
 northward to Williamsburg. From that point they 
 seemed to be steering for the great bend of the Ohio 
 at Pomeroy. 
 
 In the vicinity of Cincinnati, Colonel "W. P. Sanders, 
 the splendid raider of East Tennessee, came up from 
 Kentucky with some Michigan cavalry, and joined 
 Hobson in pursuit, and these were about the only 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 151 
 
 fresh horses in the chase. Sanders had come by 
 steamer, and, landing at Cincinnati, had been thrown 
 out from there, it was hoped, ahead of Morgan, who, 
 however, was too quick for him. They met later on. 
 
 Under the good management of Colonel A. V. Kautz 
 in advance, with his brigade, and of Sanders, the 
 men now marched more steadily and gained ground. 
 Kautz had observed how the other brigade comman 
 ders had lost distance and blown their horses by follow 
 ing false leads, halting and closing up rapidly at the 
 frequent reports of " enemy in front," and by stopping 
 to plant artillery. Marching in his own way, at a 
 steady walk, his brigade forming the rear-guard, he 
 had arrived at Batavia two hours before the main 
 body, that had been " cavorting round the country " 
 all day, "misled by two citizen guides" possibly Mor 
 gan s own men. 
 
 Not stopping to draw the rations sent out to him 
 from Cincinnati, Hobson urged his jaded horses 
 through Brown, Adams, and Pike counties, now under 
 the lead of Kautz, and reached Jasper, on the Scioto, 
 at midnight of the 16th, Morgan having passed there 
 at sundown. The next day they raced through Jack 
 son. On the 18th, Hobson, at Rutland, learned that 
 Morgan had been turned off by the militia at Pomeroy, 
 and had taken the Chester road for Portland and 
 the fords of the Ohio. The chase became animated. 
 Our troopers made a march of fifty miles that day and 
 still had twenty-five miles to reach Chester. They 
 arrived there without a halt at eleven at night, and had 
 still fifteen miles to reach the ford. They kept on, and 
 at dawn of the 19th struck the enemy s pickets. Two 
 
152 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 miles out from Portland, Morgan was brought to bay 
 and not by Hobson alone. First came the militia, 
 then came Judah. His division had pushed up the 
 river in steamers parallel with Morgan s course. Lieu 
 tenant John O Neil, afterward of Fenian fame, with a 
 troop of Indiana cavalry, kept up the touch on Mor 
 gan s right flank by a running fight, stinging it at 
 every vulnerable point, and reporting Morgan s course 
 to Judah in the neck-and-neck race. Aided by the 
 local militia, O Neil now dashed ahead and fearlessly 
 skirmished with the enemy s flankers from every 
 coign of vantage. He reached the last descent to the 
 river-bottom near Buffington Bar, and near the his 
 torical Blennerhasset s Island, early on the morning 
 of the 19th. 
 
 The Ohio River was up. It had risen unexpectedly. 
 But here Morgan must cross, if at all. It could not be 
 forded by night, when he got here. He tried the ford 
 at Blennerh asset. Failing in this, his men collected 
 flatboats, and set to work calking them, meantime 
 sending a party to Buffington Bar, where they found 
 a small earthwork and captured its guard; and these 
 things delayed them until morning. General Judah 
 attempted a reconnaissance, resulting in a fight, which 
 he describes as follows in his report : 
 
 Before leaving Pomeroy I despatched a courier to General Hob- 
 son, apprising him of my direction, and requesting him to press the 
 enemy s rear with all the forces he could bring up. Traveling all 
 night, I reached the last descent to the river-bottom at Buffington 
 Bar at 5.30 A. M. on the 19th. Here, halting my force, and placing 
 my artillery in a commanding position, I determined to make a 
 reconnaissance in person, for the purpose of ascertaining if a report 
 
A EOMANCE OF MORGAN S HOUGH-EIDERS 153 
 
 just made to me that the gunboats had left on a previous even 
 ing, the home guards had retreated, and that the enemy had 
 been crossing all night was true. A very dense fog enveloped 
 everything, confining the view of surrounding objects to a radius of 
 about fifty yards. I was accompanied by a small advance-guard, 
 my escort, and one piece of Henshaw s battery, a section of which, 
 under Captain Henshaw, I had ordered to join my force. I 
 advanced slowly and cautiously along a road leading toward the 
 river, . . . when my little force found itself enveloped on three 
 sides front and both flanks by three regiments, dismounted, 
 and led by Colonel Basil [W.] Duke, just discernible through the 
 fog, at a distance of from fifty to a hundred yards. This force, 
 as I afterward learned, had been disposed for the capture of 
 the home guards, intrenched on the bank of the river. To 
 use Colonel Duke s own expression after his capture, " He could 
 not have been more surprised at the presence of my force if 
 it had been dropped from the clouds." As soon as discovered, 
 the enemy opened a heavy fire, advancing so rapidly that before 
 the piece of artillery could be brought into battery it was 
 captured, as were also Captain R. C. Kise, my assistant adjutant- 
 general, Captain Grafton, volunteer aide-de-camp, and between 
 twenty and thirty of my men. Two privates were killed. 
 Major McCook (since dead), paymaster and volunteer aide- 
 de-camp, 1 Lieutenant F. G. Price, aide-de-camp, and ten men 
 were wounded. Searching in vain for an opening through which 
 to charge and temporarily beat back the enemy, I was compelled 
 to fall back upon the main body, which I rapidly brought up into 
 position, and opened a rapid and beautifully accurate artillery fire 
 from the pieces of the 5th Indiana upon a battery of two pieces 
 which the enemy had opened upon me, as well as upon his deployed 
 dismounted force in line. Obstructing fences prevented a charge 
 by my cavalry. In less than half an hour the enemy s lines were 
 broken and in retreat. The advance of my artillery, and a charge 
 of cavalry made by Lieutenant O Neil, 5th Indiana Cavalry, with 
 
 i Major Daniel McCook, father of strance, to find the slayer of his son 
 the famous fighting family, who (General Robert L. McCook), re- 
 pushed himself in, against remon- ported to be with Morgan. 
 
154 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 only fifty men, converted his retreat into a rout, and drove him 
 upon General Hobson s forces, which had engaged him upon the 
 other road. His prisoners, the piece of artillery lost by me, all of 
 his own artillery (five pieces), his camp equipage, and transporta 
 tion and plunder of all kinds, were abandoned and captured. We 
 also captured large numbers of prisoners, including Colonels Basil 
 [W.] Duke, Dick [R. C.] Morgan, and Allen [Ward?], and the most 
 of General Morgan s staff. 
 
 Yet with a considerable force Morgan succeeded in 
 making his escape, and started into the interior like a 
 fox for cover. Passing around the advanced column 
 of his enemy, he suddenly came upon the end of 
 Shackelford s column, under Wolford, whom he at 
 once attacked with his usual audacity. Shackelford 
 reversed his column, selected his best horses, and 
 gave pursuit. He overtook the enemy at Backum 
 Church, where Wolford s Kentucky fellows rushed 
 upon Morgan s men with drawn sabers and Ken 
 tucky yells, and chased them until next afternoon, 
 when they were found collected on a high bluff, 
 where some hundreds surrendered; but Morgan again 
 escaped, and with over six hundred horsemen gave 
 our fellows a long chase yet by the dirt road and 
 by rail. Continuing north through several counties, 
 he veered northwest toward the Pennsylvania line, 
 even now burning buildings, car-loads of freight, 
 and bridges by the way, though hotly hounded by 
 Shackelford, and flanked and headed off by troops 
 in cars. 
 
 Among the latter was Major "W. B. Way, of the 9th 
 Michigan, with a battalion of his regiment. Way had 
 left the cars at Mingo and marched over near to 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 155 
 
 Steubenville, 1 where he began a skirmish which lasted 
 over twenty-five miles toward Salineville, away up in 
 Columbiana County. Here he brought Morgan to 
 bay. The latter still fought desperately, losing 200 
 prisoners, and over 70 of his men killed or wounded, 
 and skipped away. Another Union detachment came 
 up by rail under Major George W. Rue, of the 9th 
 Kentucky Cavalry, joined Shackelford at Hamrnonds- 
 ville, and took the advance with 300 men. 
 
 IMr. E. E. Day makes the fol 
 lowing statement in regard to 
 Morgan s brief stay at Winters- 
 ville : 
 
 Defeated at Buffington Bar, Morgan 
 abandoned his plan of making a water 
 ing trough of Lake Erie, and fled north 
 through the tier of river counties, 
 keeping within a few miles of the Ohio. 
 The river was low, but not fordable 
 except at Coxe s Riffle, a few miles be 
 low Steubenville. Headed at this point 
 also, he struck across the country and 
 passed through Wintersville, a small 
 village five miles west of Steubenville. 
 That was a memorable Saturday in 
 Wintersville. Morgan s progress across 
 the State had been watched with the 
 most feverish anxiety, and the dread 
 that the village might lie in his path 
 filled the hearts of many. The wildest 
 rumors passed current. Morgan and 
 his " guerrillas," it was said, would kill 
 all the men, lay the village in ashes, 
 and carry off the women and children. 
 The militia, or " hundred-day men," 
 who lived in or near the village, drilled 
 in the village streets, and fired rattling 
 volleys of blank cartridges at a board 
 fence, in preparation for the coming 
 conflict. On Friday evening word 
 came that Morgan would attempt to 
 force a passage at Coxe s Riffle the next 
 morning, and the militia marched to 
 
 Steubenville to help intercept him. A 
 bloody battle was expected. About the 
 middle of the forenoon a horseman 
 dashed into the village shouting, 
 " Morgan s coining ! He s just down 
 at John Hanna s ! " and galloped on to 
 warn others. Mr. Hanna was a farmer 
 living about a mile south of the village. 
 He had shouldered his musket and 
 gone with the militia, leaving his wife 
 and two children at home. About ten 
 o clock Morgan s men were seen coming 
 up the road. Mrs. Hanna with her 
 children attempted to reach a neigh 
 bor s house, but they were overtaken 
 and ordered to the house, which they 
 found full of soldiers. Morgan and his 
 officers were stretched, dusty clothes, 
 boots, and all, upon her beds, and a 
 negro was getting dinner. While the 
 third table was eating, a squad of mili 
 tiamen appeared on a neighboring hill. 
 Morgan ordered their capture, saying, 
 "What will those Yankees do with the 
 thousand men I have ? " A number of 
 Morgan s men started to carry out their 
 chief s command, but the militia made 
 good their escape. Soon after, word 
 came that Shackelford s men were 
 near, and Morgan left so hurriedly that 
 he neglected to take the quilts and 
 blankets his men had selected. 
 
 In the village all was consternation. 
 Many of the women and children 
 gathered at the Maxwell Tavern. Their 
 
156 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 At Saline ville he found Morgan, pursued by Major 
 Way, pushing for Smith s Ford on the Ohio. Break 
 ing into trot and gallop, he outmarched and inter 
 cepted the fugitives at the cross-roads near Beaver 
 Creek, and had gained the enemy s front and flank 
 when a flag of truce was raised, and Morgan coolly 
 demanded his surrender. Rue s threat to open fire 
 brought Morgan to terms, when another issue was 
 
 terror upon hearing that Morgan was 
 "just down at Hanna s " cannot be de 
 scribed. Word had been sent to Steu- 
 benville, and Colonel James Collier 
 marched out with a force of about 
 eight hundred militia, sending a squad 
 under command of Captain Prentiss to 
 reconnoiter. They galloped through 
 the village, and as Morgan s advance 
 came in sight began firing. The fire 
 was returned, and a private named 
 Parks, from Steuben ville, was wounded. 
 Morgan s men charged the scouting 
 party, sending them through the vil 
 lage back to the main body in a very 
 demoralized condition. The frightened 
 women, and still worse frightened chil 
 dren, no sooner saw the "dust-brown 
 ranks " of the head of Morgan s column 
 than they beat a hasty retreat down 
 the alley to the house of Dr. Markle, 
 the village physician. This change of 
 base was made under fire, as Morgan s 
 men were shooting at the retreating 
 militia, and also at a house owned by 
 William Fisher, in which they had 
 heard there were a number of militia 
 men. At the doctor s house all crowded 
 into one room, and were led in prayer 
 by the minister s wife. The retreat of 
 the scouting party did not have a very 
 cheering effect upon the advancing 
 militia. As they passed a field of 
 broom-corn several men suddenly dis 
 appeared, their swift course through 
 the cane being easily followed by the 
 
 swaying of the tassels. The militia 
 were met by rumors that the village 
 was in ashes. Morgan did not set fire 
 to the village, but his men found time 
 to explore the village store, and to 
 search the Fisher house, in the second 
 story of which they found a flag. Mor 
 gan s men were hardly out of sight on 
 the Richmond road when Colonel Col 
 lier and the militia appeared. They 
 formed line of battle on a hill east of 
 the village just in time to see Shackel- 
 ford s advance coming along the road 
 over which they were expecting Mor 
 gan. The colonel at once opened fire 
 with his six-pounder loaded with scrap- 
 iron. The first shot did little damage. 
 One piece of scrap-iron found its way 
 to the right, and struck with a resound 
 ing thwack against the end of the Max 
 well Tavern. The second shot did not 
 hit anything. One of Shackelford s 
 officers rode across the field and in 
 quired, "What are you fools shooting 
 at ? " The colonel then learned, to his 
 astonishment, that Morgan was at least 
 two miles out on the Richmond road. 
 Many who had been conspicuously ab 
 sent then showed themselves, and the 
 daring deeds and hairbreadth escapes 
 which came to light are not to be 
 lightly referred to. At least a dozen 
 dead rebels, it was said, would be dis 
 covered in the fields when the farmers 
 came to cut their oats, but for some 
 reason the bodies were never found. 
 
A KOMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 raised. It was now claimed that Morgan had already 
 surrendered, namely, to a militia officer, and had been 
 by him paroled. This " officer " turned out to be " Cap 
 tain" James Burbick, of the home guard. 1 Rue held 
 Morgan, with 364 officers and men and 400 horses, till 
 Greneral Shackelford came up, who held them as pris 
 oners of war. 
 
 And thus ended the greatest of Morgan s raids. By 
 it Bragg lost a fine large division of cavalry, that, if 
 added to Buckner s force, already equal to Burnside s 
 in East Tennessee, might have defeated Burnside; 
 or, if thrown across Rosecrans s flanks or long lines of 
 supply and communication, or used in reconnaissance 
 on the Tennessee River, might have baffled Rosecrans s 
 plans altogether. As it was, Rosecrans was able to 
 deceive Bragg by counterfeit movements that could 
 easily have been detected by Morgan. 
 
 l General W. T. H. Brooks says 
 in his report : 
 
 Morgan had passed a company of 
 citizens from New Lisbon, and agreed 
 not to fire upon them if they would not 
 fire upon him. He had taken two or 
 three of their men prisoners, and was 
 using them as guides. Among them 
 was a Mr. Burbick, of New Lisbon, who 
 had gone out at the head of a small 
 squad of mounted men. When Morgan 
 saw that his advance was about to be 
 cut off by Major Rue, he said to this 
 Captain Burbick: "I would prefer to 
 surrender to the militia rather than to 
 United States troops. I will surrender 
 to you if you will agree to respect pri 
 vate property and parole the officers 
 and men as soon as we get to Cincin 
 nati." Burbick replied that he knew 
 nothing about this business. Morgan 
 
 said, " Give me an answer, yes or no." 
 Burbick, evidently in confusion, said, 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 James Burbick sent a statement 
 to Governor Tod, in which lie said 
 that he was not a prisoner with Mor 
 gan, but that he was guiding him 
 voluntarily away from the vicinity 
 of New Lisbon, after Morgan had 
 agreed not to pass through that 
 town. Burbick reported that he 
 accepted Morgan s surrender, and 
 started for the rear with a handker 
 chief tied to a stick to intercept the 
 advancing troops, while Lieutenant 
 C. D. Maus, a prisoner with Mor 
 gan, was sent with another flag of 
 truce across the fields. 
 
158 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 III. THE ESCAPE 1 
 
 BY THOMAS H. HINES 
 
 ON the 31st of July and the 1st of August, 1863, 
 General John H. Morgan, G-eneral Basil W. Duke, 
 and sixty-eight other officers of Morgan s command, 
 were, by order of General Burnside, confined in the Ohio 
 State Penitentiary at Columbus. Before entering the 
 main prison we were searched and relieved of our 
 pocket-knives, money, and of all other articles of value, 
 subjected to a bath, the shaving of our faces, and the 
 cutting of our hair. We were placed each in a separate 
 cell in the first and second tiers on the south side in 
 the east wing of the prison. General Morgan and 
 General Duke were on the second range, General Mor 
 gan being confined in the last cell at the east end, 
 those who escaped with General Morgan having their 
 cells in the first range. 
 
 From five o clock in the evening until seven o clock 
 in the morning we were locked into our cells, with no 
 possible means of communication with one another; 
 but in the day, between these hours, we were permitted 
 to mingle together in the narrow hall, twelve feet wide 
 and one hundred and sixty long, which was cut off 
 from the other portion of the building, occupied by the 
 convicts, by a plank partition, in one end of which was 
 a wooden door. At each end of the hall, and within 
 the partitions, was an armed military sentinel, while 
 the civil guards of the prison passed at irregular inter- 
 
 1 Condensed from "The Bivouac-" of June, 1885. 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 159 
 
 vals among us, and very frequently the warden or his 
 deputy came through in order to see that we were 
 secure and not violating the prison rules. We were 
 not permitted to talk with or in any way to commu 
 nicate with the convicts, nor were we permitted to see 
 any of our relatives or friends that might come from a 
 distance to see us, except upon the written order of 
 General Burnside, and then only in the presence of a 
 guard. Our correspondence underwent the censor 
 ship of the warden, we receiving and he sending only 
 such as met his approbation ; we were not permitted to 
 have newspapers, or to receive information of what 
 was going on in the outside busy world. 
 
 Many plans for escape, ingenious and desperate, 
 were suggested, discussed, and rejected because 
 deemed impracticable. Among them was bribery of 
 the guards. This was thought not feasible because of 
 the double set of guards, military and civil, who were 
 jealous and watchful of each other, so that it was 
 never attempted, although we could have commanded, 
 through our friends in Kentucky and elsewhere, an 
 almost unlimited amount of money. 
 
 On a morning in the last days of October I was 
 rudely treated, without cause, by the deputy warden. 
 There was no means of redress, and it was not wise to 
 seek relief by retort, since I knew, from the experience 
 of my comrades, that it would result in my confine 
 ment in a dark dungeon, with bread and water for 
 diet. I retired to my cell, and closed the door with the 
 determination that I would neither eat nor sleep until 
 I had devised some means of escape. I ate nothing 
 and drank nothing during the day, and by nine o clock 
 
160 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 I had matured the plan that we carried into execution. 
 It may be that I owed something to the fact that 
 I had just completed the reading of Victor Hugo s 
 "Les Miserables," containing such vivid delineations 
 of the wonderful escapes of Jean Valjean, and of the 
 subterranean passages of the city of Paris. This may 
 have led me to the line of thought that terminated in 
 the plan of escape adopted. It was this: I had ob 
 served that the floor of my cell was upon a level with 
 the ground upon the outside of the building, which 
 was low and flat, and also that the floor of the cell was 
 perfectly dry and free from mold. It occurred to me 
 that, as the rear of the cell was to a great extent ex 
 cluded from the light and air, this dryness and free 
 dom from mold could not exist unless there was 
 underneath something in the nature of an air-chamber 
 to prevent the dampness from rising up the walls and 
 through the floor. If this chamber should be found to 
 exist, and could be reached, a tunnel might be run 
 through the foundations into the yard, from which we 
 might escape by scaling the outer wall, the air-chamber 
 furnishing a receptacle for the earth and stone to be 
 taken out in running the tunnel. The next morning, 
 when our cells were unlocked, and we were permitted 
 to assemble in the hall, I went to General Morgan s 
 cell, he having been for several days quite unwell, 
 and laid before him the plan as I have sketched it. 
 Its feasibility appeared to him unquestioned, and to it 
 he gave a hearty and unqualified approval. If, then, 
 our supposition was correct as to the existence of the 
 air-chamber beneath the lower range of cells, a limited 
 number of those occupying that range could escape, 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-EIDERS 
 
 161 
 
 and only a limited number, because the greater the 
 number the longer the time required to complete the 
 work, and the greater the danger of discovery while 
 prosecuting it, in making our way over the outer wall, 
 and in escaping afterward. 
 
 With these considerations in view, General Morgan 
 and myself agreed upon the following officers, whose 
 cells were nearest the point at which the tunnel was to 
 begin, to join us in the enterprise : Captain J. C. Ben 
 nett, Captain L. D. Hockersmith, Captain C. 
 S. Magee, Captain Ealph Sheldon, and Cap 
 tain Samuel B. Taylor. The plan was then 
 laid before these gentlemen, and received 
 their approval. It was agreed that work 
 should begin in my cell, and continue 
 from there until completed. In 
 order, however, to do this 
 without detection, it was nec 
 essary that some means should 
 be found to prevent the daily 
 inspection of that cell, it being 
 the custom of the deputy 
 warden, with the guards, to 
 visit and have each cell swept 
 every morning. This end 
 was accomplished by my ob 
 taining permission from the 
 warden to furnish a broom 
 
 and sweep my own cell. For a few mornings thereafter 
 the deputy warden would pass, glance into my cell, 
 compliment me on its neatness, and go on to the in 
 spection of the other cells. After a few days my cell 
 
 CORRIDOR AND CELLS IN THE EAST 
 WING. A, CAPTAIN HINES S CELL. 
 
162 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 was allowed to go without any inspection whatever, 
 and then we were ready to begin work, having ob 
 tained, through some of our associates who had been 
 sent to the hospital, some table-knives made of flat 
 steel files. In my cell, as in the others, there was a 
 narrow iron cot, which could be folded and propped 
 up to the cell wall. I thought the work could be com 
 pleted within a month. 
 
 On the 4th of November work was begun in the 
 back part of my cell, under the rear end of my cot. 
 We cut through six inches of cement, and took out six 
 layers of brick put in and cemented with the ends up. 
 Here we came to the air-chamber, as I had calculated, 
 and found it six feet wide by four feet high, and run 
 ning the entire length of the range of cells. The ce 
 ment and brick taken out in effecting an entrance to 
 the chamber were placed in my bed-tick, upon which 
 I slept during the progress of this portion of the work, 
 after which the material was removed to the chamber. 
 We found the chamber heavily grated at the end, 
 against which a large quantity of coal had been 
 heaped, cutting off any chance of exit in that way. 
 We then began a tunnel, running it at right angles 
 from the side of the chamber, and almost directly be 
 neath my cell. We cut through the foundation wall, 
 five feet thick, of the cell block ; through twelve feet 
 of grouting, to the outer wall of the east wing of the 
 prison ; through this wall, six feet in thickness ; and 
 four feet up near the surface of the yard, in an un 
 frequented place between this wing and the female 
 department of the prison. 
 
 During the progress of the work, in which we were 
 
A EOMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-KIDEKS 
 
 163 
 
 greatly assisted by several of our comrades who were 
 not to go out, notably among them Captain Thomas 
 W. Bullitt of Louisville, Kentucky, I sat at the en 
 trance to my cell studiously engaged on Gibbon s 
 Eome and in trying to master French. By this device 
 
 EXTERIOR OF THE PRISON. B EXIT FROM TUNNEL. 
 
 I was enabled to be constantly on guard without be 
 ing suspected, as I had pursued the same course 
 during the whole period of my imprisonment. Those 
 who did the work were relieved every hour. This was 
 accomplished, and the danger of the guards overhear 
 ing the work as they passed obviated, by adopting a 
 system of signals, which consisted in giving taps on 
 the floor over the chamber. One knock was to sus 
 pend work, two to proceed, and three to come out. 
 On one occasion, by oversight, we came near being 
 
104 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 discovered. The prisoners were taken out to their 
 meals by ranges, and on this day those confined in the 
 first range were called for dinner while Captain Hock- 
 ersmith was in the tunnel. The deputy warden, on 
 calling the roll, missed Hockersmith, and came back 
 to inquire for him. General Morgan engaged the at 
 tention of the warden by asking his opinion as to 
 the propriety of a remonstrance that the general had 
 prepared to be sent to General Burnside. Flattered by 
 the deference shown to his opinion by General Morgan, 
 the warden unwittingly gave Captain Hockersmith 
 time to get out and fall into line for dinner. While 
 the tunnel was being run, Colonel R. C. Morgan, a 
 brother of General Morgan, made a rope, in links, of 
 bed-ticking, thirty-five feet in length, and from the 
 iron poker of the hall stove we made a hook, in the 
 nature of a grappling-iron, to attach to the end of 
 the rope. 
 
 The work was now complete with the exception of 
 making an entrance from each of the cells of those 
 who were to go out. This could be done with safety 
 only by working from the chamber upward, as the 
 cells were daily inspected. The difficulty presented in 
 doing this was the fact that we did not know at what 
 point to begin in order to open the holes in the cells at 
 the proper place. To accomplish this a measurement 
 was necessary, but we had nothing to measure with. 
 Fortunately the deputy warden again ignorantly aided 
 us. I got into a discussion with him as to the length of 
 the hall, and to convince me of my error he sent for his 
 measuring-line, and after the hall had been measured, 
 and Ms statement verified, General Morgan occupied 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 105 
 
 his attention, while I took the line, measured the dis 
 tance from center to center of the cells, all being of 
 uniform size, and marked it upon the stick used in 
 my cell for propping up my cot. With this stick, 
 measuring from the middle of the hole in my cell, the 
 proper distance was marked off in the chamber for the 
 holes in the other cells. The chamber was quite dark, 
 and light being necessary for the work, we had ob 
 tained candles and matches through our sick comrades 
 in the hospital. The hole in my cell during the pro 
 gress of the work was kept covered with a large hand- 
 satchel containing my change of clothing. We cut 
 from underneath upward until there was only a thin 
 crust of the cement left in each of the cells. Money 
 was necessary to pay expenses of transportation and 
 for other contingencies as they might arise. General 
 Morgan had some money that the search had not dis 
 covered, but it was not enough. Shortly after we began 
 work I wrote to my sister in Kentucky a letter, which 
 through a trusted convict I sent out and mailed, 
 requesting her to go to my library and get certain 
 books, and in the back of a designated one, which she 
 was to open with a thin knife, place a certain amount 
 of Federal money, repaste the back, write my name 
 across the inside of the back where the money was 
 concealed, and send the box by express. In due course 
 of time the books with the money came to hand. It 
 only remained now to get information as to the time 
 of the running of the trains and to await a cloudy 
 night, as it was then full moon. Our trusty convict 
 was again found useful. He was quite an old man, 
 called Heavy, had been in the penitentiary for many 
 
166 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAll 
 
 years, and as he had been so faithful, and his time 
 having almost expired, he was permitted to go on 
 errands for the officials to the city. I gave him ten 
 dollars to bring us a daily paper and six ounces of 
 French brandy. Neither he nor any one within the 
 prison or on the outside had any intimation of our 
 contemplated escape. 
 
 It was our first thought to make our way to the Con 
 federacy by way of Canada; but, on inspecting the 
 time-table in the paper, it was seen that a knowledge 
 of the escape would necessarily come to the prison 
 officials before we could reach the Canadian border. 
 There was nothing left, then, but to take the train 
 south, which we found, if on time, would reach Cincin 
 nati, Ohio, before the cells were opened in the morning, 
 at which time we expected our absence to be discov 
 ered. One thing more remained to be done, and that 
 was to ascertain the easiest and safest place at which 
 to scale the outside wall of the prison. The windows 
 opening outward were so high that we could not see 
 the wall. In the hall was a ladder resting against the 
 wall, fifty feet long, that had been used for sweeping 
 down the wall. A view from the top of the ladder 
 would give us a correct idea of the outside, but the diffi 
 culty was to get that view without exciting suspicion. 
 
 Fortunately the warden came in while we were dis 
 cussing the great strength and activity of Captain 
 Samuel B. Taylor, who was very small of stature, 
 when it was suggested that Taylor could go hand over 
 hand on the under side of the ladder to the top, and, 
 with a moment s rest, return in the same way. To the 
 warden this seemed impossible, and, to convince him, 
 
A EOMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-EIDERS 
 
 167 
 
 WITHIN THE WOODEN GATE. 
 
 Taylor was permitted to make the trial, which he did 
 successfully. At the top of the ladder he rested for 
 a minute and took a mental photograph of the wall. 
 When the warden had left, Taylor communicated the 
 fa,ct that directly 
 south of and at 
 almost right angles 
 from the east end of 
 the block in which 
 we were confined 
 there was a double 
 gate to the outer 
 wall, the inside one 
 being of wooden up 
 rights four inches 
 apart, and the out 
 side one as solid as 
 
 the wall ; the wooden gate being supported by the 
 wing wall of the female department, which joined to 
 the main outer wall. 
 
 On the evening of the 27th of November the cloudy 
 weather so anxiously waited for came; and prior to 
 being locked in our cells it was agreed to make the 
 attempt at escape that night. Cell No. 21, next to my 
 cell, No. 20, on the first range, was occupied by Colonel 
 R. C. Morgan, a brother of General Morgan. That cell 
 had been prepared for General Morgan by opening a 
 hole to the clrmiber, and when the hour for locking up 
 came, General Morgan stepped into Cell 21, and Colonel 
 Morgan into General Morgan s cell in the second 
 range. The guard did not discover the exchange, as 
 General Morgan and Colonel Morgan were of about the 
 
168 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 same physical proportions, and each stood with his 
 back to the cell door when it was being locked. 
 
 At intervals of two hours every night, beginning at 
 eight, the guards came around to each cell and passed 
 a light through the grating to see that all was well 
 with the prisoners. The approach of the guard was 
 often so stealthily made that a knowledge of his pres 
 ence was first had by seeing him at the door of the cell. 
 To avoid a surprise of this kind we sprinkled fine coal 
 along in front of the cells, walking upon which would 
 give us warning. By a singular coincidence that might 
 have been a fatality, on the day we had determined 
 upon for the escape General Morgan received a let 
 ter from Lexington, Kentucky, begging and warning 
 him not to attempt to escape, and by the same mail I 
 received a letter from a member of my family saying 
 that it was rumored and generally believed at home 
 that I had escaped. Fortunately these letters did not 
 put the officials on their guard. We ascertained from 
 the paper we had procured that a train left for Cincin 
 nati at 1.15 A. M., and as the regular time for the guard 
 to make his round of the cells was twelve o clock, we 
 arranged to descend to the chamber immediately there 
 after. Captain Taylor was to descend first, and, pass 
 ing under each cell, notify the others. General Morgan 
 had been permitted to keep his watch, and this he gave 
 to Taylor that he might not mistake the time to go. 
 
 At the appointed hour Taylor gave the signal, each 
 of us arranged his cot with the seat in his cell so as to 
 represent a sleeping prisoner, and, easily breaking the 
 thin layer of cement, descended to the chamber, passed 
 through the tunnel, breaking through the thin stratum 
 
A KOMANCE OF MOKGAN S EOUGH-KIDEIIS 169 
 
 of earth at the end. We came out near the wall of 
 the female prison, it was raining slightly, crawled 
 by the side of the wall to the wooden gate, cast our 
 grappling-iron attached to the rope over the gate, 
 made it fast, ascended the rope to the top of the gate, 
 drew up the rope, and made our way by the wing wall 
 to the outside wall, where we entered a sentry-box 
 and divested ourselves of our soiled outer garments. 
 In the daytime sentinels were placed on this wall, but 
 at night they were on the inside of the walls and at 
 the main entrance to the prison. On the top of the 
 wall we found a cord running along the outer edge 
 and connecting with a bell in the office of the prison. 
 This cord General Morgan cut with one of the knives 
 we had used in tunneling. Before leaving my cell I 
 wrote and left, addressed to N. Merion, the warden, 
 the following : 
 
 CASTLE MERION, CELL No. 20, November 27, 1863. Commence 
 ment, November 4, 1863 j conclusion, November 24, 1863 ; number 
 of hours for labor per day, five ; tools, two small knives. La 
 patience est amere, mais son fruit est doux. By order of my six honor 
 able Confederates. THOMAS H. HINES, Captain, C. S. A. 
 
 Having removed all trace of soil from our clothes 
 and persons, we attached the iron hook to the railing 
 on the outer edge of the wall, and descended to the 
 ground within sixty yards of where the prison guards 
 were sitting round a fire and conversing. Here we 
 separated, General Morgan and myself going to the 
 depot, about a quarter of a mile from the prison, 
 where I purchased two tickets for Cincinnati, and 
 entered the car that just then came in. General Mor- 
 
170 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 gan took a seat beside a Federal major in uniform, 
 and I sat immediately in their rear. The general 
 entered into conversation with the major, who was 
 made the more talkative by a copious drink of my 
 French brandy. As the train passed near the prison- 
 wall where we had descended, the major remarked, 
 "There is where the rebel General Morgan and his 
 officers are put for safe-keeping." The general replied, 
 "I hope they will keep him as safe as he is now." 
 Our train passed through Dayton, Ohio, and there, 
 for some unknown reason, we were delayed an hour. 
 This rendered it extra hazardous to go to the depot 
 in the city of Cincinnati, since by that time the prison 
 officials would, in all probability, know of our escape, 
 and telegraph to intercept us. In fact, they did tele 
 graph in every direction, and offered a reward for 
 our recapture. Instead, then, of going to the depot 
 in Cincinnati, we got off, while the train was moving 
 slowly, in the outskirts of the city, near Ludlow 
 Ferry, on the Ohio River. Going directly to the ferry 
 we were crossed over in a skiff and landed immedi 
 ately in front of the residence of Mrs. Ludlow. We 
 rang the door-bell, a servant came, and General Mor 
 gan wrote upon a visiting-card, " General Morgan and 
 Captain Hines, escaped." We were warmly received, 
 took a cup of coffee with the family, were furnished 
 a guide, and walked some three miles in the country, 
 where we were furnished horses. Thence we went 
 through Florence to Union, in Boone County, Ken 
 tucky, where we took supper with Daniel Piatt. On 
 making ourselves known to Mr. Piatt, who had two 
 sons in our command, we were treated with the most 
 
A KOMANCE OF MOEGAN S KOUGH-RIDEKS 171 
 
 OVER THE PRISON WALL. 
 
 cordial hospitality and kindness by the entire family. 
 We there met Dr. John J. Dulaney of Florence, Ken 
 tucky, who was of great benefit in giving us informa 
 tion as to the best route. That night we went to Mr. 
 Corbin s, near Union, who also had gallant sons in 
 our command, where we remained concealed until 
 
172 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the next night, and where friends supplied us with 
 fresh horses and a pair of pistols each. 
 
 On the evening of the 29th of November we left 
 Union with a voluntary guide, passed through the 
 eastern edge of Gallatin County, and after traveling 
 all night spent the day of the 30th at the house of 
 a friend on the Owen County line. Passing through 
 New Liberty, in Owen County, and crossing the Ken 
 tucky River at the ferry on the road to New Castle, 
 in Henry County, we stopped at the house of Mr. 
 Pollard at 2 A. M., December 1. Our guide did not 
 know the people nor the roads farther than the ferry, 
 at which point he turned back. Not knowing the 
 politics of Mr. Pollard, it was necessary to proceed 
 with caution. On reaching his house we aroused him 
 and made known our desire to spend the remainder 
 of the night with him. He admitted us and took us 
 into the family room, where there was a lamp dimly 
 burning on a center-table. On the light being turned 
 up I discovered a Cincinnati "Enquirer" with large 
 displayed head-lines, announcing the escape of General 
 Morgan, Captain Hines, and five other officers from 
 the Ohio penitentiary. The fact that this newspaper 
 was taken by Mr. Pollard was to me sufficient evidence 
 that he was a Southern sympathizer. Glancing at the 
 paper, I looked up and remarked, "I see that General 
 Morgan, Hines, and other officers have escaped from 
 the penitentiary." He responded, " Yes ; and you are 
 Captain Hines, are you not!" I replied, "Yes; and 
 what is your name?" "Pollard," he answered. "Allow 
 me, then, to introduce General Morgan." I found that 
 I had not made a mistake. 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 173 
 
 After rest and a late breakfast and a discussion of 
 the situation, it was deemed inexpedient to remain 
 during the day, as the house was immediately on a 
 public highway, besides the danger of such unex 
 plained delay exciting the suspicion of the negroes on 
 the place. We assumed the character of cattle-buyers, 
 Mr. Pollard furnishing us with cattle-whips to make 
 the assumption plausible. Our first objective point 
 was the residence of Judge W. 8. Pry or, in the out 
 skirts of New Castle. After dinner Judge Pryor rode 
 with us some distance, and put us in charge of a guide, 
 who conducted us that night to Major Helm s, near 
 Shelbyville, where we remained during the day of the 
 2d, and were there joined by four of our command 
 in citizen s dress. That night we passed through 
 Taylorsville, and stopped on the morning of the 3d 
 near Bardstown. 
 
 The night of the 4th we resumed our journey, and 
 stopped on the morning of the 5th at Mr. McCormack s 
 at Boiling Fork Creek, in Nelson County, thence 
 through Taylor, Green (passing near Greensburg), 
 Adair, and Cumberland counties, crossing Cumberland 
 River some nine miles below Burkes ville. We crossed 
 the Cumberland, which was quite high, by swimming 
 our horses by the side of a canoe. Near the place of 
 crossing, on the south side, we stopped overnight with 
 a private in Colonel R. T. Jacob s Federal cavalry, 
 passing ourselves as citizens on the lookout for stolen 
 horses. Next morning, in approaching the road from 
 Burkesville to Sparta, Tennessee, we came out of a 
 byway immediately in thn roar of and some hundred 
 yards from a dwelling fronting on the Burkesville- 
 
174 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Sparta road, and screening us from view on the 
 Burkesville end. As we emerged from the woodland 
 a woman appeared at the back door of the dwelling 
 and motioned us back. We withdrew from view, but 
 kept in sight of the door from which the signal to 
 retire was given, when after a few minutes the woman 
 again appeared and signaled us to come forward. She 
 informed us that a body of Federal cavalry had just 
 passed, going in the direction of Burkesville, and that 
 the officer in command informed her that he was try 
 ing to intercept General Morgan. We followed the 
 Burkesville road something like a mile, and in sight 
 of the rear-guard. We crossed Obey s River near the 
 mouth of Wolf, and halted for two days in the hills of 
 Overton County, where we came upon forty of our 
 men, who had been separated from the force on the 
 expedition into Indiana and Ohio. These men were 
 placed under my command, and thence we moved di 
 rectly toward the Tennessee River, striking it about 
 fifteen miles below Kingston, at Bridges Ferry, De 
 cember 13. There was no boat to be used in crossing, 
 and the river was very high and angry, and about one 
 hundred and fifty yards wide. We obtained an ax 
 from a house near by, and proceeded to split logs and 
 make a raft on which to cross, and by which to swim 
 our horses. We had learned that two miles and a half 
 below us was a Federal cavalry camp. This stimulated 
 us to the utmost, but notwithstanding our greatest ef 
 forts we were three hours in crossing over five horses 
 and twenty-five men. At this juncture the enemy 
 appeared opposite, and began to fire on our men. 
 Here General Morgan gave characteristic evidence 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 
 
 175 
 
 of devotion to his men. When the firing began he 
 insisted on staying with the dismounted men and 
 
 taking their chances, and was dissuaded only by my 
 earnest appeal and representation that such a course 
 would endanger the men as well as ourselves. The 
 
176 AD VEN TUBES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 men, by scattering in the mountains, did ultimately 
 make their way to the Confederacy. 
 
 Greneral Morgan, myself, and the four mounted men 
 crossed over a spur of the mountains and descended 
 by a bridle-path to a ravine or gulch upon the op 
 posite side, and halted in some thick underbrush about 
 ten steps from a path passing along the ravine. Not 
 knowing the country, it was necessary to have infor 
 mation or a guide, and observing a log cabin about 
 a hundred yards up the ravine, I rode there to get 
 directions, leaving Greneral Morgan and the others on 
 their horses near the path. I found at the house a 
 woman and some children. She could not direct me 
 over the other spur of the mountain, but consented 
 that her ten-year-old son might go with me and show 
 the way. He mounted behind me, and by the time 
 he was seated I heard the clatter of hoofs down the 
 ravine, and, looking, I saw a body of about seventy- 
 five cavalry coming directly toward me, and passing 
 within ten steps of where the general and his men 
 were sitting on their horses. I saw that my own 
 escape was doubtful, and that any halt or delay of the 
 cavalry would certainly result in the discovery and 
 capture of General Morgan. I lifted the boy from 
 behind me and dashed to the head of the column, 
 exclaiming, " Hurry up, Major, or the rebels will 
 escape ! n He responded, " Who are you ? " I answered, 
 " I belong to the home-guard company in the bend : 
 hurry, or they are gone." We dashed on, I riding by 
 the major at the head of the column about half a 
 mile, when we came to where a dry branch crossed 
 the road, and, as it had been raining that day, it was 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-EIDERS 177 
 
 easily seen from the soil that had washed down from 
 the side of the mountain that no one had passed there 
 since the rain. Seeing this, the command was halted, 
 and the major again demanded to know who I was. 
 I replied that I was a member of General Morgan s 
 
 command. " Yes, you ! You have led me off 
 
 from Morgan; I have a notion to hang you for it." 
 "No, that was not General Morgan. I have served 
 under him two years arid know him well, and have 
 no object in deceiving you; for if it was Morgan, he 
 is now safe." " You lie, for he was recognized at the 
 house where you got the ax. I would not have missed 
 getting him for ten thousand dollars. It would have 
 been a brigadier s commission to me. I will hang you 
 for it." Up to this time I had taken the situation 
 smilingly and pleasantly, because I did not apprehend 
 violence; but the officer, livid with rage from disap 
 pointment, directed one of his men to take the halter 
 from his horse and hang me to a designated limb of 
 a tree. The halter was adjusted around my neck, 
 and thrown over the limb. Seeing that the officer 
 was desperately in earnest, I said, " Major, before you 
 perform this operation, allow me to make a sugges 
 tion." " Be quick about it, then." " Suppose that 
 was General Morgan, as you insist, and I have led 
 you astray, as you insist, would n t I, being a member 
 of his command, deserve to be hung if I had not 
 done what you charge me with?" He dropped his 
 head for a moment, looked up with a more pleasant 
 expression, and said, " Boys, he is right ; let him 
 alone." 
 I was placed under guard of two soldiers and sent 
 
178 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 across the river to camp, while the officer in com 
 mand took his men over the mountain in search of 
 
 General Morgan, who succeeded in making good his 
 escape. The next evening the major returned with 
 his command from his unsuccessful pursuit. He 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 179 
 
 questioned me closely, wanting to know my name, 
 and if I was a private in the command, as I had 
 stated to him at the time of my capture. Remember 
 ing that in prison the underclothing of Captain Bullitt 
 had been exchanged for mine, and that I then had 
 on his with his name in ink, I assumed the name 
 of Bullitt, 
 
 On the evening of the second day in this camp the 
 major invited me to go with him and take supper at 
 the house of a Unionist half a mile away. We spent 
 the evening with the family until nine o clock, when 
 the major suggested that we should go back to camp. 
 On reaching the front gate, twenty steps from the 
 front veranda, he found that he had left his shawl in 
 the house, and returned to get it, requesting me to 
 await his return. A young lady of the family was 
 standing in the door, and when he went in to get the 
 shawl, she closed the door. I was then perfectly free, 
 but I could not get my consent to go. For a moment 
 of time while thus at liberty I suffered intensely in the 
 effort to determine what was the proper thing to do. 
 Upon the one hand was the tempting offer of freedom, 
 that was very sweet to me after so many months of 
 close confinement ; while on the other hand was the 
 fact that the officer had treated me with great kind 
 ness, more as a comrade than as a prisoner, that the 
 acceptance of his hospitality was a tacit parole and my 
 escape would involve him in trouble. I remained 
 until his return. He was greatly agitated, evidently 
 realizing for the first time the extent of his indiscretion, 
 and surprised undoubtedly at finding me quietly await 
 ing him. I had determined not to return to prison, 
 
180 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 but rather than break faith I awaited some other occa 
 sion for escape. Notwithstanding all this, something 
 excited suspicion of me; for the next morning, while 
 lying in the tent apparently asleep, I heard the officer 
 direct the sergeant to detail ten men and guard me to 
 Kingston, and he said to the sergeant, " Put him on 
 the meanest horse you have and be watchful or he 
 will escape." I was taken to Kingston and placed in 
 jail, and there met three of our party who had been 
 captured on the north side of the Tennessee River at 
 the time we attempted to cross. They were R. C. 
 
 Church, William Church, and Smith. After two 
 
 days confinement there, we were sent under guard of 
 twelve soldiers to the camp of the 3d Kentucky Federal 
 Infantry, under command of Colonel Henry C. Dunlap. 
 The camp was opposite the town of London, and was 
 prepared for winter quarters. The large forest trees 
 had been felled for a quarter of a mile around the 
 camp, and log huts built in regular lines for the occu 
 pation of the troops. We were placed in one of these 
 huts with three guards on the inside, while the guards 
 who delivered us there were located around a camp- 
 fire some ten steps in front of the only door to our hut, 
 and around the whole encampment was the regular 
 camp guard. The next day, as we had learned, we 
 were to be sent to Knoxville, Tennessee, which was 
 then General Burnside s headquarters; and as I knew 
 I would there be recognized, and, on account of my 
 previous escape, that my chances for freedom would be 
 reduced to a minimum, we determined to escape that 
 night. 
 
 It was perfectly clear, the moon about full, making 
 the camp almost as light as day; and as the moon did 
 
A ROMANCE OF MORGAN S ROUGH-RIDERS 181 
 
 not go down until a short time before daylight, we con 
 cluded to await its setting. The door of the cabin was 
 fastened by a latch on the inside. The night was cold. 
 We had only pretended to sleep, awaiting our oppor 
 tunity. When the moon was down we arose, one after 
 another, from our couches, and went to the fire to warm 
 us. We engaged the guards in pleasant conversation, 
 detailing incidents of the war. I stood with my right 
 next the door, facing the fire and the three guards, and 
 my comrades standing immediately on my left. While 
 narrating some incident in which the guards were ab 
 sorbed, I placed my right hand upon the latch of the 
 door, with a signal to the other prisoners, and, without 
 breaking the thread of the narrative, bade the guards 
 good night, threw the door open, ran through the guards 
 in front of the door, passed the sentinel at the camp 
 limits, and followed the road we had been brought in 
 to the mountains. The guards in front of the door 
 fired upon me, as did the sentinel on his beat, the last 
 shot being so close to me that I felt the fire from the 
 gun. Unfortunately and unwittingly I threw the door 
 open with such force that it rebounded and caught my 
 comrades on the inside. The guards assaulted them 
 and attempted to bayonet them, but they grappled, 
 overpowered, and disarmed the guards, and made 
 terms with them before they would let them up. All 
 three of these prisoners, by great daring, escaped 
 before they were taken North to prison. 
 
 In running from the camp to the mountains I passed 
 two sentinel fires, and was pursued some distance at 
 the point of the bayonet of the soldier who had last 
 fired at me. All was hurry and confusion in the camp. 
 The horses were bridled, saddled, and mounted, and 
 
182 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAH 
 
 rapidly ridden out on the road I had taken ; but by the 
 time the pursuers reached the timber I was high up 
 the mountain side, and complacently watched them as 
 they hurried by. As I ran from my prison-house I 
 fixed my eye upon Venus, the morning star, as my 
 guide, and traveled until daylight, when I reached the 
 summit of the mountain, where I found a sedge-grass 
 field of about twenty acres, in the middle of which I 
 lay down on the frozen ground and remained until the 
 sun had gone down and darkness was gathering. Dur 
 ing the day the soldiers in search of me frequently 
 passed within thirty steps, so close that I could hear 
 their conjectures as to where I was most likely to be 
 found. I remained so long in one position that I 
 thawed into the frozen earth ; but the cool of the even 
 ing coming on, the soil around me froze again, and I 
 had some difficulty in releasing myself. 
 
 As it grew dark I descended the mountain, and 
 cautiously approached a humble dwelling. Seeing no 
 one but a woman and some children, I entered and 
 asked for supper. While my supper was being pre 
 pared, no little to my disappointment, the husband, 
 a strapping, manly-looking fellow, with his rifle on 
 his shoulder, walked in. I had already assumed a 
 character, and that was as agent to purchase horses 
 for the Federal Government. I had come down that 
 evening on the train from Knoxville, and was anxious 
 to get a canoe and some one to paddle me down to 
 Kingston, where I had an engagement for the next 
 day to meet some gentlemen who were to have 
 horses there, by agreement with me, for sale. Could 
 the gentleman tell me where I could get a canoe and 
 some one to go with me? He said the rebels were 
 
A KOMANCE OF MOHGAK s HOUGH-RIDERS 183 
 
 so annoying that all boats and canoes had been de 
 stroyed to keep them from crossing. He knew of 
 but one canoe, owned by a good Union man some 
 two miles down the river. Would he be kind enough 
 to show me the way there, that I might get an early 
 start and keep my engagement? 
 
 After supper my hospitable entertainer walked with 
 me to the residence of the owner of the canoe. The 
 family had retired, and when the owner of the prem 
 ises came out, there came with him a Federal soldier 
 who was staying overnight with him. This was not 
 encouraging. After making my business known and 
 offering large compensation, the owner of the canoe 
 agreed to start with me by daylight. During my 
 walk down there, my guide had mentioned that a 
 certain person living opposite the place where the 
 canoe was owned had several horses that he would 
 like to sell. I suggested that, in order to save time 
 and get as early a start as possible for Kingston, the 
 canoe-owner should take me over to see to the pur 
 chase of these horses that night. The river was high 
 and dangerous to cross at night, but by promises 
 of compensation I was taken over and landed some 
 quarter of a mile from the house. With an injunc 
 tion to await me, when the canoe landed I started 
 toward the house ; but when out of sight I changed 
 my course and took to the mountains. 
 
 For eight days I traveled by night, taking my 
 course by the stars, lying up in the mountains by 
 day, and getting food early in the evening wherever 
 I could find a place where there were no men. On 
 the 27th of December I reached the Confederate lines 
 near Dalton, Georgia. 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 
 
 BY FKANK E. MOHAN 
 
 A MONO all the thrilling incidents in the history of 
 JL\. Libby Prison, none exceeds in interest the cele 
 brated tunnel escape which occurred on the night of 
 February 9, 1864. I was one of the 109 Union officers 
 who passed through the tunnel, and one of the ill-fated 
 48 that were retaken. I and two companions Lieu 
 tenant Charles H. Morgan of the 21st "Wisconsin 
 regiment, who has since served several terms in Con 
 gress from Missouri, and Lieutenant William L. Watson 
 of the same company and regiment when recaptured 
 by the Confederate cavalry were in sight of the Union 
 picket posts. Strange as it may appear, no accurate 
 and complete account has ever been given to the pub 
 lic of this, the most ingenious and daring escape made 
 on either side during the civil war. Twelve of the 
 party of fifteen who dug the tunnel are still living, 
 including their leader. 
 
 Thomas E. Eose, colonel of the 77th Pennsylva 
 nia Volunteers, the engineer and leader in the plot 
 throughout, now a captain in the 16th United States 
 Infantry, was taken prisoner at the battle of Chicka- 
 mauga, September 20, 1863. On his way to Eichmond 
 he escaped from his guards at Weldon, N. C., but, after 
 a day s wandering about the pine forests with a broken 
 
 184 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 185 
 
 foot, was retaken by a detachment of Confederate cav 
 alry and sent to Libby Prison, Kichmond, where he 
 arrived October 1, 1863. 
 
 Libby Prison fronts on Carey street, Kichmond, and 
 stands upon a hill which descends abruptly to the 
 
 COLONEL THOMAS E. ROSE. 
 
 canal, from which its southern wall is divided only by 
 a street, and having a vacant lot on the east. The 
 building was wholly detached, making it a compar 
 atively easy matter to guard the prison securely with 
 a small force and keep every door and window in full 
 view from without. As an additional measure of 
 safety, prisoners were not allowed on the ground-floor, 
 except that in the daytime they were permitted to use 
 
186 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 the first floor of the middle section for a cook-room. 
 The interior embraced nine large warehouse-rooms, 
 105 x 45, with eight feet from each floor to ceiling, 
 except the upper floor, which gave more room, owing 
 to the pitch of the gable roof. The abrupt slant of the 
 hill gives the building an additional story on the south 
 side. The whole building really embraces three sec 
 tions, and these were originally separated by heavy 
 blank walls. The Confederates cut doors through the 
 walls of the two upper floors, which comprised the 
 prisoners quarters, and they were thus permitted to 
 mingle freely with each, other ; but there was no com 
 munication whatever between the three large rooms 
 on the first floor. Beneath these floors were three 
 cellars of the same dimensions as the rooms above 
 them, and, like them, divided from each other by 
 massive blank walls. For ready comprehension, let 
 these be designated the east, middle, and west cel 
 lars. Except in the lofts known as " Streight s room " 
 and "Milroy s room," which were occupied by the 
 earliest inmates of Libby in 1863, there was no fur 
 niture in the building, and only a few of the early 
 comers possessed such a luxury as an old army blanket 
 or a knife, cup, and tin plate. As a rule, the prisoner, 
 by the time he reached Libby, found himself devoid 
 of earthly goods save the meager and dust-begrimed 
 summer garb in which he had made his unlucky 
 campaign. 
 
 At night the six large lofts presented strange 
 war-pictures, over which a single tallow candle wept 
 copious and greasy tears that ran down over the petri 
 fied loaf of corn-broad, Borden s condensed-milk can, 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 
 
 18 
 
 or bottle in which it was set. The candle flickered 
 on until "taps," when the guards, with unconscious 
 irony shouted, "Lights out!" at which signal it 
 usually disappeared amid a shower of boots and such 
 other missiles as were at hand. The sleepers covered 
 
 
 the six floors, lying in ranks, head to head and foot to 
 foot, like prostrate lines of battle. For the general 
 good, and to preserve something like military preci 
 sion, these ranks (especially when cold weather com 
 pelled them to lie close for better warmth) were 
 subdivided into convenient squads under charge of a 
 "captain," who was invested with authority to see 
 that every man lay " spoon fashion." 
 
 No consideration of personal convenience was per 
 mitted to interfere with the general comfort of the 
 " squad." Thus, when the hard floor could no longer be 
 endured on the right side, especially by the thin men, 
 -the captain gave the command, "Attention, Squad 
 Number Four ! Prepare to spoon ! One two spoon ! " 
 And the whole squad flopped over on the left side. 
 
188 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 The first floor on the west of the building was used 
 by the Confederates as an office and for sleeping-quar 
 ters for the prison officials, and a stairway guarded by 
 sentinels led from this to Milroy s room just above 
 it. As before explained, the middle room was shut off 
 from the office by a heavy blank wall. This room, 
 known as the " kitchen," had two stoves in it, one of 
 which stood about ten feet from the heavy door that 
 opened on Carey street sidewalk, and behind the door 
 was a fireplace. The room contained also several long 
 pine tables with permanent seats attached, such as 
 may be commonly seen at picnic grounds. The floor 
 was constantly inundated here by several defective 
 and overworked water-faucets and a leaky trough. 
 
 A stairway without banisters led up on the south 
 west end of the floor, above which was a room known 
 as the " Chickamauga room," being chiefly occupied by 
 Chickamauga prisoners. The sentinel who had formerly 
 been placed at this stairway at night, to prevent the 
 prisoners from entering the kitchen, had been with 
 drawn when, in the fall of 1863, the horrible condition 
 of the floor made it untenable for sleeping purposes. 
 
 The uses to which the large ground-floor room east of 
 the kitchen was put varied during the first two years 
 of the war; but early in October of 1863, and there 
 after, it was permanently used and known as the hos 
 pital, and it contained a large number of cots, which 
 were never unoccupied. An apartment had been made 
 at the north or front of the room, which served as a 
 doctor s office and laboratory. Like those adjoining it 
 on the west, this room had a large door opening on 
 Carey street, which was heavily bolted and guarded on 
 the outside. 
 
COLONEL KOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 
 
 189 
 
 The arrival of the Chickamauga prisoners greatly 
 crowded the upper floors, and compelled the Confed- 
 
 
 erates to board up a small portion of the east cellar 
 at its southeast corner as an additional cook-room, 
 several large caldrons having been set in a rudely built 
 
190 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 furnace; so, for a short period, the prisoners were 
 allowed down there in the daytime to cook. A stair 
 way led from this cellar to the room above, which 
 subsequently became the hospital. 
 
 Such, in brief, was the condition of things when 
 Colonel Rose arrived at the prison. From the hour of 
 his coming, a means of escape became his constant 
 and eager study ; and, with this purpose in view, he 
 made a careful and minute survey of the entire 
 premises. 
 
 From the windows of the upper east or " Gettysburg 
 room " he could look across the vacant lot on the east 
 and get a glimpse of the yard between two adjacent 
 buildings which faced the canal and Carey street re 
 spectively, and he estimated the intervening space at 
 about seventy feet. From the south windows he 
 looked out across a street upon the canal and James 
 Eiver, running parallel with each other, the two 
 streams at this point being separated by a low and 
 narrow strip of land. This strip periodically disap 
 peared when protracted seasons of heavy rain came, or 
 when spring floods so rapidly swelled the river that 
 the latter invaded the cellars of Libby. At such times 
 it was common to see enormous swarms of rats come 
 out from the lower doors and windows of the prison 
 and make head for dry land in swimming platoons 
 amid the cheers of the prisoners in the upper windows. 
 On one or two occasions Rose observed workmen de 
 scending from the middle of the south-side street into 
 a sewer running through its center, and concluded 
 that this sewer must have various openings to the 
 canal both to the east and west of the prison. 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 191 
 
 The north portion of the cellar contained a large 
 quantity of loose packing-straw, covering the floor to 
 an average depth of two feet ; and this straw afforded 
 
 MAJOR A. G. HAMILTON. 
 
 shelter, especially at night, for a large colony of rats, 
 which gave the place the name of " Rat Hell." 
 
 In one afternoon s inspection of this dark end, Rose 
 suddenly encountered a fellow-prisoner, Major A. G-. 
 Hamilton, of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry. A confiding 
 friendship followed, and the two men entered at once 
 upon the plan of gaining their liberty. They agreed 
 that the most feasible scheme was a tunnel, to bogin 
 in the rear of the little kitchen-apartment at the 
 southeast corner of Rat Hell. Without more edo 
 
192 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 they secured a broken shovel and two case-knives 
 and began operations. 
 
 Within a few days the Confederates decided upon 
 certain changes in the prison for the greater security 
 of their captives. A week afterward the cook-room 
 was abandoned, the stairway nailed up, the prisoners 
 sent to the upper floors, and all communication with 
 the east cellar was cut off. This was a sore misfortune, 
 for this apartment was the only possible base of suc 
 cessful tunnel operations. Colonel Rose now began to 
 study other practicable means of escape, and spent 
 night after night examining the posts and watching the 
 movements of the sentinels on the four sides of Libby. 
 One very dark night, during a howling storm, Rose 
 again unexpectedly met Hamilton in a place where 
 no prisoner could reasonably be looked for at such 
 an hour. For an instant the impenetrable darkness 
 made it impossible for either to determine whether he 
 had met a friend or foe: neither had a weapon, yet each 
 involuntarily felt for one, and each made ready to 
 spring at the other s throat, when a flash of lightning 
 revealed their identity. The two men had availed 
 themselves of the darkness of the night and the roar 
 of the storm to attempt an escape from a window of 
 the upper west room to a platform that ran along the 
 west outer wall of the prison, from which they hoped 
 to reach the ground and elude the sentinels, whom 
 they conjectured would be crouched in the shelter of 
 some doorway or other partial refuge that might be 
 available; but so vivid and frequent were the lightning 
 flashes that the attempt was seen to be extremely 
 hazardous. 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 193 
 
 Rose now spoke of the entrance from the south-side 
 street to the middle cellar, having frequently noticed 
 the entrance and exit of workmen at that point, and 
 expressed his belief that if an entrance could be 
 effected to this cellar it would afford them the only 
 chance of slipping past the sentinels. 
 
 He hunted up a bit of pine-wood which he whittled 
 into a sort of wedge, and the two men went down into 
 the dark, vacant kitchen directly over this cellar. With 
 the wedge Rose pried a floor-board out of its place, 
 and made an opening large enough to let himself 
 through. He had never been in this middle cellar, 
 and was wholly ignorant of its contents or whether it 
 was occupied by Confederates or workmen ; but as he 
 had made no noise, and the place was in profound 
 darkness, he decided to go down and reconnoiter. 
 
 He wrenched off one of the long boards that formed 
 a table-seat in the kitchen, and found that it was long 
 enough to touch the cellar base and protrude a foot or 
 so above the kitchen floor. By this means he easily 
 descended, leaving Hamilton to keep watch above. 
 
 The storm still raged fiercely, and the faint beams of 
 a street-lamp revealed the muffled form of the sentinel 
 slowly pacing his beat and carrying his musket at 
 " secure " arms. Creeping softly toward him along the 
 cellar wall, he now saw that what he had supposed was 
 a door was simply a naked opening to the street ; and 
 further inspection disclosed the fact that there was 
 but one sentinel on the south side of the prison. 
 Standing in the dark shadow, he could easily have 
 touched this man with his hand as he repeatedly 
 passed him. Groping about, he found various appurte- 
 
 13 
 
194 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 nances indicating that the south end of this cellar was 
 nsed for a carpenter s shop, and that the north end 
 was partitioned off into a series of small cells with 
 padlocked doors, and that through each door a square 
 hole, a foot in diameter, was cut. Subsequently it 
 was learned that these dismal cages were alternately 
 used for the confinement of " troublesome prisoners" 
 i. e., those who had distinguished themselves by ingeni 
 ous attempts to escape and also for runaway slaves, 
 and Union spies under sentence of death. 
 
 At the date of Rose s first reconnaissance to this 
 cellar, these cells were vacant and unguarded. The 
 night was far spent, and Rose proceeded to return 
 to the kitchen, where Hamilton was patiently waiting 
 for him. 
 
 The very next day a rare good fortune befell Rose. 
 By an agreement between the commissioners of ex 
 change, several bales of clothing and blankets had 
 been sent by our government to the famishing Union 
 prisoners on Belle Isle, a number of whom had already 
 frozen to death. A committee of Union officers then 
 confined in Libby, consisting of General Neal Dow, 
 Colonel Alexander von Shrader, Lieut.-Colonel Joseph 
 F. Boyd, and Colonel Harry White, having been se 
 lected by the Confederates to supervise the distribu 
 tion of the donation, Colonel White had, by a shrewd 
 bit of finesse, " confiscated " a fine rope by which one 
 of the bales was tied, and this he now presented to 
 Colonel Rose. It was nearly a hundred feet long, an 
 inch thick, and almost new. <* 
 
 It was hardly dark the following night before Rose 
 and Hamilton were again in the kitchen, and as soon 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 195 
 
 as all was quiet Eose fastened his rope to one of the 
 supporting posts, took up the floor-plank as before, 
 and both men descended to the middle cellar. They 
 were not a little disappointed to discover that where 
 there had been but one sentinel on the south side 
 there were now two. On this and for several nights 
 they contented themselves with sly visits of observa 
 tion to this cellar, during which Rose found and se 
 creted various tools, among which were a broad-ax, a 
 saw, two chisels, several files, and a carpenter s square. 
 One dark night both men went down and determined 
 to try their luck at passing the guards. Rose made 
 the attempt and succeeded in passing the first man, 
 but unluckily was seen by the second. The latter 
 called lustily for the corporal of the guard, and the 
 first excitedly cocked his gun and peered into the dark 
 door through which Rose swiftly retreated. The 
 guard called, " Who goes there I " but did not enter the 
 dark cellar. Rose and Hamilton mounted the rope 
 and had just succeeded in replacing the plank when 
 the corporal and a file of men entered the cellar with a 
 lantern. They looked into every barrel and under 
 every bench, but no sign of Yankees appeared ; and as 
 on this night it happened that several workmen were 
 sleeping in an apartment at the north end, the cor 
 poral concluded that the man seen by the sentinel 
 was one of these, notwithstanding their denial when 
 awakened and questioned. After a long parley the 
 Confederates withdrew, and Hamilton and Rose, de 
 pressed in spirits, went to bed, Rose as usual conceal 
 ing his rope. 
 
 Before the week was out they were at it again. On 
 
196 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAH 
 
 one of these nights Rose suddenly came upon one of 
 the workmen, and, swift as thought, seized the hid 
 den broad-ax with the intention of braining him if he 
 attempted an alarm ; but the poor fellow was too much 
 paralyzed to cry out, and when finally he did recover 
 his voice and his wits, it was to beg Rose, " for God s 
 sake," not to come in there again at night. Evidently 
 the man never mentioned the circumstance, for Rose s 
 subsequent visits, which were soon resumed, disclosed 
 no evidence of a discovery by the Confederates. 
 
 Hamilton agreed with Rose that there remained ap 
 parently but one means of escape, and that was by 
 force. To overpower the two sentinels on the south 
 side would have been an easy matter, but how to do it 
 and not alarm the rest of the guard, and, in conse 
 quence, the whole city, was the problem. To secure 
 these sentinels, without alarming their comrades on 
 the east, west, and north sides of the prison, would re 
 quire the swift action of several men of nerve acting 
 in concert. Precious time was passing, and possibly 
 further alterations might be decided upon that would 
 shut them off from the middle cellar, as they had 
 already been from their original base of operations. 
 Moreover, a new cause of anxiety now appeared. It 
 soon transpired that their nocturnal prowlings and 
 close conferences together had already aroused the be 
 lief among many observant prisoners that a plan of 
 escape was afoot, and both men were soon eagerly 
 plied with guarded inquiries, and besought by their 
 questioners to admit them to their confidence. 
 
 Hamilton and Rose now decided to organize an escap 
 ing party. A number of men were then sworn to 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 197 
 
 secrecy and obedience by Colonel Rose, who was the 
 only recognized leader in all operations that followed. 
 
 This party soon numbered seventy men. The band 
 was then taken down by Rose in convenient details to 
 
198 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 the middle cellar or carpenter s shop on many nights, 
 to familiarize each man with the place and with his 
 special part in the plot, and also to take advantage of 
 any favoring circumstances that might arise. 
 
 When all had by frequent visits become familiar with 
 the rendezvous, Eose and the whole party descended 
 one night with the determination to escape at whatever 
 hazard. The men were assigned to their several sta 
 tions as usual, and a selected few were placed by the 
 leader close to the entrance, in front of which the sen 
 tinel was regularly passing. Rose commanded strict 
 silence, and placed himself near the exit preparatory 
 to giving the signal. It was an exciting moment, and 
 the bravest heart beat fast. A signal came, but not the 
 one they looked for. At the very moment of action, 
 the man whom Rose had left at the floor-opening in 
 the kitchen gave the danger-signal ! The alert leader 
 had, with consummate care, told every man beforehand 
 that he must never be surprised by this signal, it 
 was a thing to be counted upon, and that noise and 
 panic were of all things to be avoided as fatal folly in 
 their operations. As a consequence, when this signal 
 came, Rose quietly directed the men to fall in line and 
 reascend to the kitchen rapidly, but without noise, 
 which they did by the long rope which now formed the 
 easy means of communication from the kitchen to the 
 cellar. 
 
 Rose remained below to cover the retreat, and when 
 the last man got up he followed him, replaced the board 
 in the floor, and concealed the rope. He had barely 
 done so when a detail of Confederate guards entered 
 the kitchen from the Carey street door, and, headed by 
 
COLONEL KOBE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PKISON 199 
 
 an officer, marched straight in his direction. Meantime 
 the party had disappeared up the stairway and swiftly 
 made their way over their prostrate comrades forms to 
 their proper sleeping-places. Rose, being the last up, 
 and having the floor to fix, had now no time to disap 
 pear like his companions, at least without suspicious 
 haste. He accordingly took a seat at one of the tables, 
 and, putting an old pipe in his mouth, coolly awaited 
 the approach of the Confederates. The officer of the 
 guard came along, swinging his lantern almost in his 
 face, stared at him. for a second, and without a remark 
 or a halt marched past him and ascended with his 
 escort to the Chickamauga room. The entrance of a 
 guard and their march around the prison, although 
 afterward common enough after taps, was then an un 
 usual thing, causing much talk among the prisoners, 
 and to the mind of Eose and his fellow-plotters was 
 indicative of aroused suspicion on the part of the 
 Confederates. 
 
 The whispering groups of men next day, and the 
 number of his eager questioners, gave the leader con 
 siderable concern ; and Hamilton suggested, as a 
 measure of safety rather than choice, that some of 
 the mischievous talk of escape would be suppressed by 
 increasing the party. This was acted upon ; the men, 
 like the rest, were put under oath by Rose, and the 
 party was thus increased to four hundred and twenty. 
 This force would have been enough to overpower the 
 prison guard in a few minutes, but the swift alarm cer 
 tain to ensue in the streets and spread like wild-fire 
 over Richmond, the meager information possessed by 
 the prisoners as to the strength and position of the 
 
200 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 nearest Federal troops, the strongly guarded labyrinth 
 of breastworks that encircled the city, and the easy 
 facilities for instant pursuit at the command of the 
 Confederates, put the success of such an undertaking 
 clearly out of the range of probability, unless, indeed, 
 some unusual favoring contingency should arise, such 
 as the near approach of a cooperating column of 
 Federal cavalry. 
 
 Nor was this an idle dream, as the country now 
 knows, for even at this period General Kilpatrick was 
 maturing his plans for that bold expedition for the 
 rescue of the prisoners at Richmond and Belle Isle in 
 which the lamented and heroic young cripple, Colonel 
 Ulric Dahlgren, lost his life. Rose saw that a break 
 out of Libby without such outside assistance promised 
 nothing but a fruitless sacrifice of life and the sav 
 age punishment of the survivors. Hence the pro 
 ject, although eagerly and exhaustively discussed, was 
 prudently abandoned. 
 
 All talk of escape by the general crowd now wholly 
 ceased, and the captives resigned themselves to their 
 fate and waited with depressed spirits for the remote 
 contingency of an exchange. The quiet thus gained 
 was Rose s opportunity. He sought Hamilton and told 
 him that they must by some stratagem regain access to 
 Rat Hell, and that the tunnel project must be at once 
 revived. The latter assented to the proposition, and 
 the two began earnestly to study the means of gain 
 ing an entrance without discovery into this coveted 
 base of operations. 
 
 They could not even get into the room above the 
 cellar they wanted to reach, for that was the hospital, 
 
COLONEL KOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 201 
 
 and the kitchen s heavy wall shut them off therefrom. 
 Neither could they break the heavy wall that divided 
 this cellar from the carpenter s shop, which had been 
 the nightly rendezvous of the party while the break 
 out was under consideration, for the breach certainly 
 would be discovered by the workmen or Confederates, 
 some of whom were in there constantly during 
 daylight. 
 
 There was, in fact, but one plan by which Rat Hell 
 could be reached without detection, and the conception 
 of this device and its successful execution were due to 
 the stout-hearted Hamilton. This was to cut a hole in 
 the back of the kitchen fireplace ; the incision must 
 be just far enough to preserve the opposite or hos 
 pital side intact. It must then be cut downward to a 
 point below the level of the hospital floor, then east 
 ward into Eat Hell, the completed opening thus to de 
 scribe the letter " S." It must be wide enough to let a 
 man through, yet the wall must not be broken on the 
 hospital side above the floor, nor marred on the car- 
 penter s-shop side below it. Such a break would be 
 fatal, for both of these points were conspicuously ex 
 posed to the view of the Confederates every hour in 
 the day. Moreover, it was imperatively necessary 
 that all trace of the beginning of the opening should 
 be concealed, not only from the Confederate officials 
 and guards, who were constantly passing the spot 
 every day, but from the hundreds of uninitiated pris 
 oners who crowded around the stove just in front of it 
 from dawn till dark. 
 
 Work could be possible only between the hours of 
 ten at night, when the room was generally abandoned 
 
202 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 by the prisoners because of its inundated condition, and 
 four o clock in the morning, when the earliest risers 
 were again astir It was necessary to do the work with 
 an old jack-knife and one of the chisels previously se 
 cured by Rose. It must be done in darkness and with 
 out noise, for a vigilant sentinel paced on the Carey 
 street sidewalk just outside the door and within ten 
 feet of the fireplace. A rubber blanket was procured, 
 and the soot from the chimney carefully swept into it. 
 Hamilton, with his old knife, cut the mortar between 
 the bricks and pried a dozen of them out, being careful 
 to preserve them whole. 
 
 The rest of the incision was made in accordance 
 with the design described, but no conception could 
 have been formed beforehand of the sickening tedious- 
 ness of cutting an S-shaped hole through a heavy 
 wall with a feeble old jack-knife, in stolen hours of 
 darkness. Eose guarded his comrade against the con 
 stant danger of interruption by alert enemies on one 
 side and by blundering friends on the other ; and, as 
 frequently happens in human affairs, their friends 
 gave them more trouble than their foes. Night after 
 night passed, and still the two men got up after taps 
 from their hard beds, and descended to the dismal and 
 reeking kitchen to bore for liberty. When the sentinel s 
 call at Castle Thunder and at Libby announced four 
 o clock, the dislodged bricks were carefully replaced, 
 and the soot previously gathered in the gum blanket 
 was flung in handfuls against the restored wall, filling 
 the seams between the bricks so thoroughly as to defy 
 detection. At last, after many weary nights, Ham 
 ilton s heroic patience and skill were rewarded, and 
 
COLONEL KOBE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PKISON 203 
 
 tlie way was open to the coveted base of operations, 
 Rat Hell. 
 
 Now occurred a circumstance that almost revealed 
 the plot and nearly ended in a tragedy. When the 
 opening was finished, the long rope was made fast to 
 one of the kitchen supporting posts, and Eose pro 
 ceeded to descend and reconnoiter. He got partly 
 through with ease, but lost his hold in such a manner 
 that his body slipped through so as to pinion his arms 
 and leave him wholly powerless either to drop lower or 
 return the bend of the hole being such as to cramp 
 his back and neck terribly and prevent him from breath 
 ing. He strove desperately, but each effort only wedged 
 him more firmly in the awful vise. Hamilton sprang 
 to his aid and did his utmost to effect his release ; but, 
 powerful as he was, he could not budge him. Eose 
 was gasping for breath and rapidly getting fainter, but 
 even in this fearful strait he refrained from an outcry 
 that would certainly alarm the guards just outside the 
 door. Hamilton saw that without speedy relief his 
 comrade must soon smother. He dashed through the 
 long, dark room up the stairway, over the forms of 
 several hundred men, and disregarding consequences 
 and savage curses in the dark and crowded room, he 
 trampled upon arms, legs, faces, and stomachs, leaving 
 riot and blasphemy in his track among the rudely awa 
 kened and now furious lodgers of the Chickamauga 
 room. He sought the sleeping-place of Major George 
 H. Fitzsimmons, but he was missing. He, however, 
 found Lieutenant F. F. Bennett, of the 18th Eegulars 
 (since a major in the 9th United States Cavalry), to 
 whom he told the trouble in a few hasty words. Both 
 
204 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 men fairly flew across the room, dashed down the 
 stairs, and by their united efforts Rose, half dead and 
 quite speechless, was drawn up from the fearful trap. 
 
 Hamilton managed slightly to increase the size of 
 the hole and provide against a repetition of the acci 
 dent just narrated, and all being now ready, the two 
 men entered eagerly upon the work before them. They 
 appropriated one of the wooden spittoons of the prison, 
 and to each side attached a piece of clothes-line which 
 they had been permitted to have to dry clothes on. 
 Several bits of candle and the larger of the two chisels 
 were also taken to the operating-cellar. They kept this 
 secret well, and worked alone for many nights. In fact, 
 they would have so continued, but they found that 
 after digging about four feet their candle would go out 
 in the vitiated air. Rose did the digging, and Hamil 
 ton fanned air into him with his hat : even then he had 
 to emerge into the cellar every few minutes to breathe. 
 Eose could dig, but needed the light and air ; and Ham 
 ilton could not fan, and drag out and deposit the ex 
 cavated earth, and meantime keep a lookout. In fact, 
 it was demonstrated that there was slim chance of suc 
 ceeding without more assistance, and it was decided to 
 organize a party large enough for effective work by re 
 liefs. As a preliminary step, and to afford the means 
 of more rapid communication with the cellar from the 
 fireplace opening, the long rope obtained from Colonel 
 White was formed by Hamilton into a rope-ladder with 
 convenient wooden rungs. This alteration consider 
 ably increased its bulk, and added to Rose s difficulty in 
 concealing it from curious eyes. 
 
 He now made a careful selection of thirteen men 
 
COLONEL KOBE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PKISON 205 
 
 besides himself and Hamilton, and bound them by a 
 solemn oath to secrecy and strict obedience. To form 
 this party as he wanted it required some diplomacy, as 
 it was known that the Confederates had on more than 
 one occasion sent cunning spies into Libby disguised 
 as Union prisoners, for the detection of any contem 
 plated plan of escape. Unfortunately, the complete 
 list of the names of the party now formed has not been 
 preserved ; but among the party, besides Rose and Ham 
 ilton, were Captain John Sterling, 30th Indiana ; Cap 
 tain John Lucas, 5th Kentucky Cavalry ; Captain Isaac 
 N. Johnson, 6th Kentucky Cavalry; and Lieutenant 
 F. F. Bennett, 18th Regulars. 
 
 The party, being now formed, were taken to Rat Hell 
 and their several duties explained to them by Rose, 
 who was invested with full authority over the work in 
 hand. Work was begun in rear of the little kitchen- 
 room previously abandoned at the southeast corner of 
 the cellar. To systematize the labor, the party was 
 divided into squads of five each, which gave the men 
 one night on duty and two off, Rose assigning each 
 man to the branch of work in which experiments 
 proved him the most proficient. He was himself, by 
 long odds, the best digger of the party ; while Hamil 
 ton had no equal for ingenious mechanical skill in con 
 triving helpful little devices to overcome or lessen the 
 difficulties that beset almost every step of the party s 
 progress. 
 
 The first plan was to dig down alongside the east 
 wall and under it until it was passed, then turn south 
 ward and make for the large street sewer next the 
 canal and into which Rose had before noticed work- 
 
206 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 men descending. This sewer was a large one, believed 
 to be fully six feet high, and, if it could be gained, there 
 could be little doubt that an adjacent opening to the 
 canal would be found to the eastward. It was very 
 soon revealed, however, that the lower side of Libby 
 was built upon ponderous timbers, below which they 
 could not hope to penetrate with their meager stock of 
 tools such, at least, was the opinion of nearly all the 
 party. Rose nevertheless determined that the effort 
 should be made, and they were soon at work with old 
 penknives and case-knives hacked into saws. After 
 infinite labor they at length cut through the great logs, 
 only to be met by an unforeseen and still more for 
 midable barrier. Their tunnel, in fact, had penetrated 
 below the level of the canal. Water began to filter in 
 feebly at first, but at last it broke in with a rush that 
 came near drowning Eose, who barely had time to make 
 his escape. This opening was therefore plugged up; 
 and to do this rapidly and leave no dangerous traces 
 put the party to their wit s end. 
 
 An attempt was next made to dig into a small sewer 
 that ran from the southeast corner of the prison into 
 the main sewer. After a number of nights of hard 
 labor, this opening was extended to a point below a 
 brick furnace in which were incased several caldrons. 
 The weight of this furnace caused a cave-in near the 
 sentinel s path outside the prison wall. Next day, a 
 group of officers were seen eying the break curiously. 
 Rose, listening at a window above, heard the words 
 " rats " repeated by them several times, and took com 
 fort. The next day he entered the cellar alone, feel 
 ing that if the suspicions of the Confederates were 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 207 
 
 really awakened a trap would be set for him in Eat 
 Hell, and determined, if such were really the case, 
 that he would be the only victim caught. He therefore 
 entered the little partitioned corner room with some 
 anxiety, but there was no visible evidence of a visit 
 by the guards, and his spirits again rose. 
 
 The party now reassembled, and an effort was made 
 to get into the small sewer that ran from the cook- 
 room to the big sewer which Rose was so eager to 
 reach ; but soon it was discovered, to the utter dismay 
 of the weary party, that this wood-lined sewer was too 
 small to let a man through it. Still it was hoped by 
 Eose that by removing the plank with which it was 
 lined the passage could be made. The spirits of the 
 party were by this time considerably dashed by their 
 repeated failures and sickening work; but the un 
 daunted Eose, aided by Hamilton, persuaded the men 
 to another effort, and soon the knives and toy saws 
 were at work again with vigor. The work went on so 
 swimmingly that it was confidently believed that an 
 entrance to the main sewer would be gained on the 
 night of January 26, 1864. 
 
 On the night of the 25th two men had been left 
 down in Eat Hell to cover any remaining traces of 
 a tunnel, and when night came again it was expected 
 that all would be ready for the escape between eight 
 and nine o clock. In the mean time, the two men 
 were to enter and make careful examination of the 
 main sewer and its adjacent outlets. The party, which 
 was now in readiness for its march to the Federal 
 camps, waited tidings from these two men all next day 
 in tormenting anxiety, and the weary hours went by 
 
208 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 on leaden wings. At last the sickening word came 
 that the planks yet to be removed before they could 
 enter the main sewer were of seasoned oak hard as 
 bone, and three inches thick. Their feeble tools were 
 now worn out or broken ; they could no longer get air 
 to work, or keep a light in the horrible pit, which was 
 reeking with cold mud; in short, any attempt at 
 further progress with the utensils at hand was foolish. 
 Most of the party were now really ill from the foul 
 stench in which they had lived so long. The visions 
 of liberty that had first lured them to desperate efforts 
 under the inspiration of Rose and Hamilton had at 
 last faded, and one by one they lost heart and hope, 
 and frankly told Colonel Rose that they could do no 
 more. The party was therefore disbanded, and the yet 
 sanguine leader, with Hamilton for his sole helper, 
 continued the work alone. Up to this time thirty-nine 
 nights had been spent in the work of excavation. 
 The two men now made a careful examination of the 
 northeast corner of the cellar, at which point the 
 earth s surface outside the prison wall, being eight or 
 nine feet higher than at the canal or south side, 
 afforded a better place to dig than the latter, being 
 free from water and with clay-top enough to support 
 itself. The unfavorable feature of this point was that 
 the only possible terminus of a tunnel was a yard be 
 tween the buildings beyond the vacant lot on the east 
 of Libby. Another objection was that, even when 
 the tunnel should be made to that point, the exit of 
 any escaping party must be made through an arched 
 wagon-way under the building that faced the street on 
 the canal side, and every man must emerge on the 
 
COLONEL EOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 209 
 
 sidewalk in sight of the sentinel on the south side of 
 the prison, the intervening space being in the full 
 glare of the gas-lamp. It was carefully noted, how 
 ever, by Eose, long before this, that the west end of 
 the beat of the nearest sentinel was between fifty and 
 sixty feet from the point of egress, and it was con 
 cluded that by walking away at the moment the sen 
 tinel commenced his pace westward, one would be far 
 enough into the shadow to make it improbable that the 
 color of his clothing could be made out by the sentinel 
 when he faced about to return toward the eastern end 
 of his beat, which terminated ten to fifteen feet east of 
 the prison wall. It was further considered that as 
 these sentinels had for their special duty the guarding 
 of the prison, they would not be eager to burden them 
 selves with the duty of molesting persons seen in the 
 vicinity outside of their jurisdiction, provided, of 
 course, that the retreating forms many of which they 
 must certainly see were not recognized as Yankees. 
 All others they might properly leave for the challenge 
 and usual examination of the provost guard who 
 patrolled the streets of Richmond. 
 
 The wall of that east cellar had to be broken in 
 three places before a place was found where the earth 
 was firm enough to support a tunnel. The two men 
 worked on with stubborn patience, but their progress 
 was painfully slow. Rose dug assiduously, and Hamil 
 ton alternately fanned air to his comrade and dragged 
 out and hid the excavated dirt, but the old difficulty 
 confronted him. The candle would not burn, the air 
 could not be fanned fast enough with a hat, and the dirt 
 hidden, without better contrivances or additional help. 
 
 14 
 
210 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Rose now reassembled the party, and selected from 
 them a number w 7 ho were willing to renew the at 
 tempt. 1 Against the east wall stood a series of stone 
 fenders abutting inward, and these, being at uniform 
 intervals of about twenty feet, cast deep shadows that 
 fell toward the prison front. In one of these dark re 
 cesses the wall was pierced, well up toward the Carey 
 street end. ,. The earth here has very densely com 
 pressed sand, that offered a strong resistance to the 
 broad-bladed chisel, which was their only effective 
 implement, and it was clear that a long turn of hard 
 work must be done to penetrate under the fifty-foot 
 lot to the objective point. The lower part of the 
 tunnel was about six inches above the level of the cel 
 lar floor, and its top about two and a half feet. Ab 
 solute accuracy was of course impossible, either in 
 giving the hole a perfectly horizontal direction or in 
 preserving uniform dimensions ; but a fair level was 
 preserved, and the average diameter of the tunnel was 
 a little over two feet. Usually one man would dig, 
 and fill the spittoon with earth ; upon the signal of a 
 gentle pull, an assistant would drag the load into the 
 
 1 The party now consisted of Col- 21st Illinois ; Lieutenant David Gar- 
 
 onel Thomas E. Rose, 77th Penn- bett, 77th Pennsylvania; Lieutenant 
 
 sylvania ; Major A. G. Hamilton, J. C. Fislar, 7th Indiana Artillery ; 
 
 12th Kentucky; Captain Terrance Lieutenant John D. Simpson, 10th 
 
 Clark, 79th Illinois; Major George Indiana ; Lieutenant John Mitchell, 
 
 H. Fitzsimmons, 30th Indiana; Cap- 79th Illinois; and Lieutenant Eli 
 
 tain John F.Gallagher, 2d Ohio: Cap- Foster, 30th Indiana. This party 
 
 tain W. S. B. Randall, 2d Ohio ; was divided into three reliefs, as 
 
 Captain John Lucas, 5th Kentucky ; before, and the work of breaking 
 
 Captain I. N. Johnson, 6th Ken- the cellar wall was successfully done 
 
 tucky; Major B. B. McDonald, 101st the first night by McDonald and 
 
 Ohio; Lieutenant N. S, McKean, Clark. 
 
COLONEL EOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 211 
 
 cellar by the clothes-lines fastened to each side of this 
 box, and then hide it under the straw ; a third con 
 stantly fanned air into the tunnel with a rubber 
 blanket stretched across a frame, the invention of the 
 ingenious Hamilton ; a fourth would give occasional re 
 lief to the last two ; while a fifth would keep a lookout. 
 
 The danger of discovery w r as continual, for the 
 guards were under instructions from the prison com 
 mandant to make occasional visits to every accessible 
 part of the building ; so that it was not unusual for a 
 sergeant and several men to enter the south door of 
 Rat Hell in the daytime, while the diggers were at 
 labor in the dark north end. During these visits the 
 digger would watch the intruders with his head stick 
 ing out of the tunnel, while the others would crouch 
 behind the low stone fenders, or crawl quickly under 
 the straw. This was, however, so uninviting a place 
 that the Confederates made this visit as brief as a 
 nominal compliance with their orders permitted, and 
 they did not often venture into the dark north end. 
 The work was fearfully monotonous, and the more so 
 because absolute silence was commanded, the men 
 moving about mutely in the dark. The darkness 
 caused them frequently to become bewildered and 
 lost ; and as Rose could not call out for them, he had 
 often to hunt all over the big dungeon to gather them 
 up and pilot them to their places. 
 
 The difficulty of forcing air to the digger, whose 
 body nearly filled the tunnel, increased as the hole was 
 extended, and compelled the operator to back often 
 into the cellar for air, and for air that was itself foul 
 enough to sicken a strong man. 
 
212 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 But they were no longer harassed with the water 
 and timbers that had impeded their progress at the 
 south end. Moreover, experience was daily making 
 each man more proficient in the work. Rose urged 
 them on with cheery enthusiasm, and their hopes rose 
 high, for already they had penetrated beyond the 
 sentinel s beat and were n earing the goal. 
 
 The party off duty kept a cautious lookout from the 
 upper east windows for any indications of suspicion on 
 the part of the Confederates. In this extreme caution 
 was necessary, both to avert the curiosity of prisoners 
 in those east rooms, and to keep out of the range of 
 bullets from the guards, who were under a standing 
 order to fire at a head if seen at a window, or at a 
 hand if placed on the bars that secured them. A sen 
 tinel s bullet one day cut a hole in the ear of Lieuten 
 ant Hammond; another officer was wounded in the 
 face by a bullet, which fortunately first splintered 
 against one of the window-bars ; and a captain of an 
 Ohio regiment was shot through the head and in 
 stantly killed while reading a newspaper. He was 
 violating no rule whatever, and when shot was from 
 eight to ten feet inside the window through which the 
 bullet came. This was a wholly unprovoked and wan 
 ton murder ; the cowardly miscreant had fired the shot 
 while he was off duty, and from the north sidewalk of 
 Carey street. The guards (home guards they were) 
 used, in fact, to gun for prisoners heads from their 
 posts below, pretty much after the fashion of boys 
 after squirrels ; and the whizz of a bullet through the 
 windows became too common an occurrence to occa 
 sion remark unless some one was shot. 
 
COLONEL ROSENS TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 213 
 
 Under a standing rule, the twelve hundred prisoners 
 were counted twice each day, the first count being made 
 about nine in the morning, and the last about four in 
 the afternoon. This duty was habitually done by the 
 clerk of the prison, E. W. Eoss, a civilian employed by 
 the commandant. He was christened "Little Ross" 1 by 
 the prisoners, because of his diminutive size. Eoss was 
 generally attended by either "Dick" Turner, Adjutant 
 Latouche, or Sergeant George Stansil, of the 18th Geor 
 gia, with a small guard to keep the prisoners in four 
 closed ranks during the count. The commandant of 
 the prison, Major Thomas P. Turner (no relative of 
 Dick s), seldom came up-stairs. 
 
 To conceal the absence of the five men who were daily 
 at work at the tunnel, their comrades of the party off 
 digging duty resorted, under Eose s supervision, to a 
 device of "repeating." This scheme, which was of vital 
 importance to hoodwink the Confederates and avert 
 mischievous curiosity among the uninformed prisoners, 
 was a hazardous business that severely taxed the in 
 genuity and strained the nerve of the leader and his 
 coadjutors. The manner of the fraud varied with cir 
 cumstances, but in general it was worked by five of 
 Eose s men, after being counted at or near the head of 
 the line, stooping down and running toward the foot 
 of the ranks, where a few moments later they were 
 counted a second time, thus making Eoss s book bal 
 ance. The whole five, however, could not always do 
 this undiscovered, and perhaps but three of the num 
 ber could repeat. These occasional mishaps threatened 
 
 1 "Little Boss" was burned to death, with other guests, at the Spots wood 
 House, Richmond, in 1873. 
 
214 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to dethrone the reason of the puzzled clerk ; but in the 
 next count the "repeaters" would succeed in their 
 game, and for the time all went well, until one day 
 some of the prisoners took it into their heads, " just for 
 the fun of the thing," to imitate the repeaters. Uncon 
 scious of the curses that the party were mentally hurl 
 ing at them, the meddlers sole purpose was to make 
 " Little Ross" mad. In this they certainly met with 
 signal success, for the reason of the mystified clerk 
 seemed to totter as he repeated the count over and over 
 in the hope of finding out how one careful count would 
 show that three prisoners were missing and the next 
 an excess of fifteen. Finally Ross, lashed into un 
 controllable fury by the sarcastic remarks of his em 
 ployers and the heartless merriment of the grinning 
 Yanks before him, poured forth his goaded soul as 
 follows : 
 
 " Now, gentlemen, look yere. I can count a hundred 
 as good as any blank man in this yere town, but I ll 
 be blank blanked if I can count a hundred of you 
 blanked Yankees. Now, gentlemen, there s one thing 
 sho : there s eight or ten of you-uns yere that ain t yere ! " 
 
 This extraordinary accusation "brought down the 
 house," and the Confederate officers and guards, and 
 finally Ross himself, were caught by the resistless 
 contagion of laughter that shook the rafters of Libby. 
 
 The officials somehow found a balance that day on 
 the books, and the danger was for this once over, to the 
 infinite relief of Rose and his anxious comrades. But 
 the Confederates appeared dissatisfied with something, 
 and came up-stairs next morning with more officers and 
 with double the usual number of guards; and some of 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 215 
 
 these were now stationed about the room so as to make 
 it next to impossible to work the repeating device suc 
 cessfully. On this day, for some reason, there were 
 but two men in the cellar, and these were Major B. B. 
 McDonald and Captain I. N. Johnson. 
 
 The count began as usual, and despite the guard in 
 rear, two of the party attempted the repeating device 
 by forcing their way through the center of the ranks 
 toward the left ; but the " fun of the thing " had now 
 worn out with the unsuspecting meddlers, who re 
 sisted the passage of the two men. This drew the at 
 tention of the Confederate officers, and the repeaters 
 were threatened with punishment. The result was in 
 evitable : the count showed two missing. It was care 
 fully repeated, with the same result. To the dismay of 
 Rose and his little band, the prison register was now 
 brought up-stairs and a long, tedious roll-call by name 
 was endured, each man passing through a narrow door 
 as his name was called, and between a line of guards. 
 
 No stratagem that Rose could now invent could avert 
 the discovery by the Confederates that McDonald and 
 Johnson had disappeared, and the mystery of their de 
 parture would be almost certain to cause an inquiry 
 and investigation that would put their plot in peril and 
 probably reveal it. 
 
 At last the " J s" were reached, and the name of 
 I. N. Johnson was lustily shouted and repeated, with 
 no response. The roll-call proceeded until the name 
 of B. B. McDonald was reached. To the increasing 
 amazement of everybody but the conspirators, he also 
 had vanished. A careful note was taken of these two 
 names by the Confederates, and a thousand tongues 
 
216 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAS 
 
 were now busy with the names of the missing men and 
 their singular disappearance. 
 
 The conspirators were in a tight place, and must 
 choose between two things. One was for the men in 
 the cellar to return that night and face the Confeder 
 ates with the most plausible explanation of their ab 
 sence that they could invent, and the other alternative 
 was the revolting one of remaining in their horrible 
 abode until the completion of the tunnel. 
 
 When night came the fireplace was opened, and the 
 unlucky pair were informed of the situation of affairs 
 and asked to choose between the alternatives pre 
 sented. McDonald decided to return and face the 
 music; but Johnson, doubtful if the Confederates 
 would be hoodwinked by any explanation, voted to 
 remain where he was and wait for the finish of the 
 tunnel. 
 
 As was anticipated, McDonald s return awakened 
 almost as much curiosity among the inhabitants of 
 Libby as his disappearance, and he was soon called to 
 account by the Confederates. He told them he had 
 fallen asleep in an out-of-the-way place in the upper 
 west room, where the guards must have overlooked 
 him during the roll-call of the day before. McDonald 
 was not further molested. The garrulous busybodies, 
 who were Rose s chief dread, told the Confederate 
 officials that they had certainly slept near Johnson the 
 night before the day he was missed. Lieutenant J. C. 
 Fislar (of the working party), who also slept next to 
 Johnson, boldly declared this a case of mistaken iden 
 tity, and confidently expressed his belief to both Con 
 federates and Federals who gathered around him that 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 217 
 
 Johnson had escaped, and was by this time, no doubt, 
 safe in the Union lines. To this he added the positive 
 statement that Johnson had not been in his accus 
 tomed sleeping-place for a good many nights. The 
 busybodies, who had indeed told the truth, looked at 
 the speaker in speechless amazement, but reiterated 
 their statements. Others of the conspirators, however, 
 took Fislar s bold cue and stoutly corroborated him. 
 
 Johnson was, of course, nightly fed by his compan 
 ions, and gave them such assistance as he could at the 
 work ; but it soon became apparent that a man could 
 not long exist in such a pestilential atmosphere. No 
 tongue can tell how long were the days and nights the 
 poor fellow passed among the squealing rats, endur 
 ing the sickening air, the deathly chill, the horrible, 
 interminable darkness. One day out of three was an 
 ordeal for the workers, who at least had a rest of two 
 days afterward. As a desperate measure of relief, it 
 was arranged, with the utmost caution, that late each 
 night Johnson should come up-stairs, when all was 
 dark and the prison in slumber, and sleep among the 
 prisoners until just before the time for closing the fire 
 place opening, about four o clock each morning. As he 
 spoke to no one and the room was dark, his presence 
 was never known, even to those who lay next to 
 him ; and indeed he listened to many earnest conversa 
 tions between his neighbors regarding his wonderful 
 disappearance. 1 
 
 As a matter of course, the incidents above narrated 
 made day-work on the tunnel too hazardous to be in- 
 
 1 In a volume entitled " Four Months in Libby," Captain Johnson has 
 related his experience at this time, and his subsequent escape. 
 
218 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 dulged in, on account of the increased difficulty of 
 accounting for absentees ; but the party continued the 
 night- work with unabated industry. 
 
 When the opening had been extended nearly across 
 the lot, some of the party believed they had entered 
 under the yard which was the intended terminus ; and 
 one night, when McDonald was the digger, so confident 
 was he that the desired distance had been made, that 
 he turned his direction upward, and soon broke 
 through to the surface. A glance showed him his 
 nearly fatal blunder, against which, indeed, he had 
 been earnestly warned by Eose, who from the first 
 had carefully estimated the intervening distance be 
 tween the east wall of Libby and the terminus. In 
 fact, McDonald saw that he had broken through in the 
 open lot which was all in full view of a sentinel who 
 was dangerously close. Appalled by what he had done, 
 he retreated to the cellar and reported the disaster 
 to his companions. Believing that discovery was now 
 certain, the party sent one of their number up the rope 
 to report to Eose, who was asleep. The hour was about 
 midnight when the leader learned of the mischief. He 
 quickly got up, went down cellar, entered the tunnel, 
 and examined the break. It was not so near the sen 
 tinel s path as McDonald s excited report indicated, 
 and fortunately the breach was at a point whence the 
 surface sloped downward toward the east. He took off 
 his blouse and stuffed it into the opening, pulling the 
 dirt over it noiselessly, and in a few minutes there was 
 little surface evidence of the hole. He then backed 
 into the cellar in the usual crab fashion, and gave di 
 rections for the required depression of the tunnel and 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PKISON 219 
 
 vigorous resumption of the work. The hole made in 
 the roof of the tunnel was not much larger than a rat- 
 hole, and could not be seen from the prison. But the 
 next night Eose shoved an old shoe out of the hole, 
 and the day afterward he looked down through the 
 prison bars and saw the shoe lying where he had 
 placed it, and judged from its position that he had 
 better incline the direction of the tunnel slightly to 
 the left. 
 
 Meantime Captain Johnson was dragging out a 
 wretched existence in Eat Hell, and for safety was 
 obliged to confine himself by day to the dark north 
 end, for the Confederates often came into the place 
 very suddenly through the south entrance. When they 
 ventured too close, Johnson would get into a pit that 
 he had dug under the straw as a hiding-hole both for 
 himself and the tunnelers tools, and quickly cover him 
 self with a huge heap of short packing-straw. A score 
 of times he came near being stepped upon by the Con 
 federates, and more than once the dust of the straw 
 compelled him to sneeze in their very presence. 
 
 On Saturday, February 6, a larger party than usual 
 of the Confederates came into the cellar, walked by the 
 very mouth of the tunnel, and seemed to be making a 
 critical survey of the entire place. They remained an 
 unusually long time and conversed in low tones; several 
 of them even kicked the loose straw about ; and in fact 
 everything seemed to indicate to Johnson who was 
 the only one of the working party now in the cellar 
 that the long-averted discovery had been made. That 
 night he reported matters fully to Eose at the fireplace 
 opening. 
 
220 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The tunnel was now nearly completed, and when 
 Rose conveyed Johnson s message to the party it caused 
 dismay. Even the stout-hearted Hamilton was for 
 once excited, and the leader whose unflinching forti 
 tude had thus far inspired his little band had his brave 
 spirits dashed. Bat his buoyant courage rose quickly 
 to its high and natural level. He could not longer 
 doubt that the suspicions of the Confederates were 
 aroused, but he felt convinced that these suspicions 
 had not as yet assumed such a definite shape as most 
 of his companions thought; still, he had abundant 
 reason to believe that the success of the tunnel abso 
 lutely demanded its speedy completion, and he now 
 firmly resolved that a desperate effort should be made 
 to that end. Remembering that the next day was Sun 
 day, and that it was not customary for the Confederates 
 to visit the operating-cellar on that day, he determined 
 to make the most in his power of the now precious 
 time. He therefore caused all the party to remain up 
 stairs, directing them to keep a close watch upon the 
 Confederates from all available points of observation, 
 to avoid being seen in whispering groups, in short, to 
 avoid all things calculated to excite the curiosity of 
 friends or the suspicion of enemies, and to await his 
 return. 
 
 Taking McDonald with him, he went down through 
 the fireplace before daylight on Sunday morning, and, 
 bidding Johnson to keep a vigilant watch for intruders 
 and McDonald to fan air into him, he entered the tun 
 nel and began the forlorn hope. From this time for 
 ward he never once turned over the chisel to a relief. 
 
 All day long he worked with the tireless patience of 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 221 
 
 a beaver. When night came, even his single helper, 
 who performed the double duty of fanning air and hid 
 ing the excavated earth, was ill from his hard, long 
 task and the deadly air of the cellar. Yet this was as 
 nothing compared with the fatigue of the duty that 
 Rose had performed; and when at last, far into the 
 night, he backed into the cellar, he had scarcely strength 
 enough to stagger across to the rope-ladder. 
 
 He had made more than double the distance that had 
 been accomplished under the system of reliefs on any 
 previous day, and the non-appearance of the Confeder 
 ates encouraged the hope that another day, without 
 interruption, would see the work completed. He there 
 fore determined to refresh himself by a night s sleep for 
 the finish. The drooping spirits of his party were re 
 vived by the report of his progress and his unalterable 
 confidence. 
 
 Monday morning dawned, and the great prison with 
 its twelve hundred captives was again astir. The 
 general crowd did not suspect the suppressed excite 
 ment and anxiety of the little party that waited through 
 that interminable day, which they felt must determine 
 the fate of their project. 
 
 Eose had repeated the instructions of the day before, 
 and again descended to Eat Hell with McDonald for 
 his only helper. Johnson reported all quiet, and Mc 
 Donald taking up his former duties at the tunnel s 
 mouth, Eose once more entered with his chisel. It was 
 now the seventeenth day since the present tunnel was 
 begun, and he resolved it should be the last. Hour 
 after hour passed, and still the busy chisel was plied, 
 and still the little wooden box with its freight of earth 
 
222 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 made its monotonous trips from the digger to Ms 
 comrade and back again. 
 
 From the early morning of Monday, February 8, 
 1864, until an hour after midnight the next morning, 
 his work went on. As midnight approached, Rose was 
 nearly a physical wreck : the perspiration dripped from 
 every pore of his exhausted body ; food he could not 
 have eaten if he had had it. His labors thus far had 
 given him a somewhat exaggerated estimate of his 
 physical powers. The sensation of fainting was strange 
 to him, but his staggering senses warned him that to 
 faint where he was meant at once his death and burial. 
 He could scarcely inflate his lungs with the poisonous 
 air of the pit; his muscles quivered with increasing 
 weakness and the warning spasmodic tremor which 
 their unnatural strain induced; his head swam like 
 that of a drowning person. 
 
 By midnight he had struck and passed beyond a post 
 which he felt must be in the yard. During the last 
 few minutes he had directed his course upward, and 
 to relieve his cramped limbs he turned upon his back. 
 His strength was nearly gone ; the feeble stream of air 
 which his comrade was trying, with all his might, to 
 send to him from a distance of fifty-three feet could 
 no longer reach him through the deadly stench. His 
 senses reeled; he had not breath or strength enough 
 to move backward through his narrow grave. In the 
 agony of suffocation he dropped the dull chisel and 
 beat his two fists against the roof of his grave with the 
 might of despair when, blessed boon ! the crust gave 
 way and the loosened earth showered upon his dripping 
 face purple with agony ; his famished eye caught sight 
 
COLONEL KOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 223 
 
 of a radiant star in the blue vault above him ; a flood 
 of light and a volume of cool, delicious air poured over 
 him. At that very instant the sentinel s cry rang out 
 like a prophecy " Half -past one, and all s well ! " 
 
 Recovering quickly under the inspiring air, he 
 dragged his body out of the hole and made a careful 
 
 LIBERTY ! 
 
 survey of the yard in which he found himself. He was 
 under a shed, with a board fence between him and the 
 east-side sentinels, and the gable end of Libby loomed 
 grimly against the blue sky. He found the wagon-way 
 under the south-side building closed from the street by 
 a gate fastened by a swinging bar, which, after a good 
 many efforts, he succeeded in opening. This was the 
 only exit to the street. As soon as the nearest 
 sentinel s back was turned he stepped out and walked 
 quickly to the east. At the first corner he turned 
 north, carefully avoiding the sentinels in front of the 
 "Pemberton Buildings" (another military prison north- 
 
224 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 east of Libby), and at the corner above this he went 
 westward, then south to the edge of the canal, and 
 thus, by cautions moving, made a minute examination 
 of Libby from all sides. 
 
 Having satisfied his desires, he retraced his steps to 
 the yard. He hunted up an old bit of heavy plank, 
 crept back into the tunnel feet first, drew the plank 
 over the opening to conceal it from the notice of any 
 possible visitors to the place, and crawled back to Eat 
 Hell. McDonald was overjoyed, and poor Johnson al 
 most wept with delight, as Rose handed one of them 
 his victorious old chisel, and gave the other some trifle 
 he had picked up in the outer world as a token that 
 the Underground Railroad to God s Country was open. 
 
 Rose now climbed the rope-ladder, drew it up, re 
 built the fireplace wall as usual, and, finding Hamilton, 
 took him over near one of the windows and broke the 
 news to him. The brave fellow was almost speechless 
 with delight, and quickly hunting up the rest of the 
 party, told them that Colonel Rose wanted to see them 
 down in the dining-room. 
 
 As they had been waiting news from their absent 
 leader with feverish anxiety for what had seemed to 
 them all the longest day in their lives, they instantly 
 responded to the call, and flocked around Rose a few 
 minutes later in the dark kitchen where he waited 
 them. As yet they did not know what news he 
 brought, and they could scarcely wait for him to speak 
 out; and when he announced, " Boys, the tunnel is fin 
 ished," they could hardly repress a cheer. They wrung 
 his hand again and again, and danced about with 
 childish joy. 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 225 
 
 It was now nearly three o clock in the morning. Rose 
 and Hamilton were ready to go out at once, and indeed 
 were anxious to do so, since every day of late had 
 brought some new peril to their plans. None of the 
 rest, however, were ready; and all urged the advantage 
 of having a whole night in which to escape through 
 and beyond the Richmond fortifications, instead of the 
 few hours of darkness which now preceded the day. 
 To this proposition Rose and Hamilton somewhat re 
 luctantly assented. It was agreed that each man of 
 the party should have the privilege of taking one 
 friend into his confidence, and that the second party of 
 fifteen thus formed should be obligated not to follow 
 the working party out of the tunnel until an hour had 
 elapsed. Colonel H. C. Hobart, of the 21st Wisconsin, 
 was deputed to see that the program was observed. 
 He was to draw up the rope-ladder, hide it, and rebuild 
 the wall; and the next night was himself to lead out the 
 second party, deputing some trustworthy leader to fol 
 low with still another party on the third night; and 
 thus it was to continue until as many as possible 
 should escape. 
 
 On Tuesday evening, February 9, at seven o clock, 
 Colonel Rose assembled his party in the kitchen, and, 
 posting himself at the fireplace, which he opened, 
 waited until the last man went down. He bade Colonel 
 Hobart good-by, went down the hole, and waited until 
 he had heard his comrade pull up the ladder, and 
 finally heard him replace the bricks in the fireplace and 
 depart. He now crossed Rat Hell to the entrance into 
 the tunnel, and placed the party in the order in which 
 they were to go out. He gave each a parting caution, 
 
226 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 thanked his brave comrades for their faithful labors, 
 and, feelingly shaking their hands, bade them God 
 speed and farewell. 
 
 He entered the tunnel first, with Hamilton next, and 
 was promptly followed by the whole party through the 
 tunnel and into the yard. He opened the gate leading 
 toward the canal, and signaled the party that all was 
 clear. Stepping out on the sidewalk as soon as the 
 nearest sentinel s back was turned, he walked briskly 
 down the street to the east, and a square below was 
 joined by Hamilton. The others followed at intervals 
 of a few minutes, and disappeared in various directions 
 in groups usually of three. 
 
 The plan agreed upon between Colonels Rose and 
 Hobart was frustrated by information of the party s 
 departure leaking out; and before nine o clock the know 
 ledge of the existence of the tunnel and of the departure 
 of the first party was flashed over the crowded prison, 
 which was soon a convention of excited and whispering 
 men. Colonel Hobart made a brave effort to restore 
 order, but the frenzied crowd that now fiercely strug 
 gled for precedence at the fireplace was beyond 
 human control. 
 
 Some of them had opened the fireplace and were 
 jumping down like sheep into the cellar one after 
 another. The colonel implored the maddened men at 
 least to be quiet, and put the rope-ladder in position 
 and escaped himself. 
 
 My companion, Sprague, was already asleep when I 
 lay down that night ; but my other companion, Duen- 
 kel, who had been hunting for me, was very much 
 awake, and, seizing me by the collar, he whispered ex- 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 227 
 
 citedly the fact that Colonel Rose had gone out at the 
 head of a party through a tunnel. For a brief moment 
 the appalling suspicion that my friend s reason had 
 been dethroned by illness and captivity swept over my 
 rnind ; but a glance toward the window at the east end 
 showed a quiet but apparently excited group of men 
 from other rooms, and I now observed that several of 
 them were bundled up for a march. The hope of re 
 gaining liberty thrilled me like a current of electricity. 
 Looking through the window, I could see the escaping 
 men appear one by one on the sidewalk below, opposite 
 the exit yard, and silently disappear, without hin 
 drance or challenge by the prison sentinels. While I 
 was eagerly surveying this scene, I lost track of Duen- 
 kel, who had gone in search of further information, but 
 ran against Lieutenant Harry Wilcox, of the 1st New 
 York, whom I knew, and who appeared to have the 
 "tip" regarding the tunnel. Wilcox and I agreed to 
 unite our fortunes in the escape. My shoes were nearly 
 worn out, and my clothes were thin and ragged. I was 
 ill prepared for a journey in midwinter through the 
 enemy s country: happily I had my old overcoat, and 
 this I put on. I had not a crumb of food saved up, as 
 did those who were posted ; but as I was ill at the time, 
 my appetite was feeble. 
 
 Wilcox and I hurried to the kitchen, where we found 
 several hundred men struggling to be first at the open 
 ing in the fireplace. We took our places behind them, 
 and soon two hundred more closed us tightly in the 
 mass. The room was pitch-dark, and the sentinel could 
 be seen through the door- cracks, within a dozen feet of 
 us. The fight for precedence was savage, though no one 
 
228 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 spoke; but now and then fainting men begged to be 
 released. They begged in vain : certainly some of them 
 must have been permanently injured. For my own 
 part, when I neared the stove I was nearly suffocated; 
 but I took heart when I saw but three more men be 
 tween me and the hole. At this moment a sound as of 
 tramping feet was heard, and some idiot on the outer 
 edge of the mob startled us with the cry, " The guards, 
 the guards ! " A fearful panic ensued, and the entire 
 crowd bounded toward the stairway leading up to 
 their sleeping-quarters. The stairway was unbanis- 
 tered, and some of the men were forced off the edge and 
 fell on those beneath. I was among the lightest in 
 that crowd; and when it broke and expanded I was 
 taken off my feet, dashed to the floor senseless, my 
 head and one of my hands bruised and cut, and my 
 shoulder painfully injured by the boots of the men who 
 rushed over me. When I gathered my swimming wits 
 I was lying in a pool of water. The room seemed darker 
 than before ; and, to my grateful surprise, I was alone. 
 I was now convinced that it was a false alarm, and 
 quickly resolved to avail myself of the advantage of 
 having the whole place to myself. I entered the cavity 
 feet first, but found it necessary to remove my overcoat 
 and push it through the opening, and it fell in the 
 darkness below. 
 
 I had now no comrade, having lost Wilcox in the 
 stampede. Rose and his party, being the first out, 
 were several hours on their journey ; and I burned to 
 be away, knowing well that my salvation depended on 
 my passage beyond the city defenses before the pursu 
 ing guards were on our trail, when the inevitable dis- 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 229 
 
 covery should come at roll-call. The fact that I was 
 alone I regretted ; but I had served with McClellan in 
 the Peninsula campaign of 1862, I knew the country 
 well from my frequent inspection of war maps, and the 
 friendly north star gave me my bearings. The rope- 
 ladder had either become broken or disarranged, but it 
 afforded me a short hold at the top ; so I balanced my 
 self, trusted to fortune, and fell into Eat Hell, which 
 was a rayless pit of darkness, swarming with squealing 
 rats, several of which I must have killed in my fall. I 
 felt a troop of them run over my face and hands be 
 fore I could regain my feet. Several times I put my 
 hand on them, and once I flung one from my shoulder. 
 Groping around, I found a stout stick or stave, put my 
 back to the wall, and beat about me blindly but with 
 vigor. 
 
 In spite of the hurried instructions given me by 
 Wilcox, I had a long and horrible hunt over the cold 
 surface of the cellar walls in my efforts to find the 
 entrance to the tunnel ; and in two minutes after I 
 began feeling my way with my hands I had no idea in 
 what part of the place was the point where I had 
 fallen : my bearings were completely lost, and I must 
 have made the circuit of Eat Hell several times. At 
 my entrance the rats seemed to receive me with cheers 
 sufficiently hearty, I thought; but my vain efforts to 
 find egress seemed to kindle anew their enthusiasm. 
 They had received large reinforcements, and my 
 march around was now received with deafening 
 squeaks. Finally, my exploring hands fell upon a pair 
 of heels which vanished at my touch. Here at last was 
 the narrow road to freedom ! The heels proved to be 
 
230 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the property of Lieutenant Charles H. Morgan, 21st 
 Wisconsin, a Chickamauga prisoner. Just ahead of 
 him in the tunnel was Lieutenant William L. Watson, 
 of the same company and regiment. With my cut 
 
 FIGHTING THE RATS. 
 
 hand and bruised shoulder, the passage through the 
 cold, narrow grave was indescribably horrible, and 
 when I reached the terminus in the yard I was sick 
 and faint. The passage seemed to me to be a mile 
 long; but the crisp, pure air and the first glimpse 
 of freedom, the sweet sense of being out of doors, and 
 the realization that I had taken the first step toward 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 231 
 
 liberty and home, had a magical effect in my restor 
 ation. 
 
 I have related before, in a published reminiscence, 1 
 my experience and that of my two companions above 
 named in the journey toward the Union lines, and our 
 recapture; but the more important matter relating 
 to the plot itself has never been published. This 
 is the leading motive of this article, and therefore I 
 will not intrude the details of my personal experience 
 into the narrative. It is enough to say that it was 
 a chapter of hairbreadth escapes, hunger, cold, suffer 
 ing, and, alas ! failure. We were run down and captured 
 in a swamp several miles north of Charlottesville, and 
 when we were taken our captors pointed out to us the 
 smoke over a Federal outpost. We were brought back 
 to Libby, and put in one of the dark, narrow dungeons. 
 I was afterward confined in Macori, Georgia ; Charles 
 ton and Columbia, South Carolina; and in Charlotte, 
 North Carolina. After a captivity of just a year and 
 eight months, during which I had made five escapes 
 and was each time retaken, I was at last released on 
 March 1, 1865, at Wilmington, North Carolina. 
 
 Great was the panic in Libby when the next morn 
 ing s roll revealed to the astounded Confederates that 
 109 of their captives were missing; and as the fireplace 
 had been rebuilt by some one and the opening of the 
 hole in the yard had been covered by the last man who 
 went out, no human trace guided the keepers toward 
 a solution of the mystery. The Eichmond papers hav 
 ing announced the " miraculous " escape of 109 Yankee 
 officers from Libby, curious crowds flocked thither for 
 
 i " Philadelphia Times," October 28, 1882. 
 
232 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 several days, until some one, happening to remove the 
 plank in the yard, revealed the tunnel. A terrified 
 negro was driven into the hole at the point of the 
 bayonet, and thus made a trip to Rat Hell that nearly 
 turned him white. 
 
 Several circumstances at this time combined to make 
 this escape peculiarly exasperating to the Confederates. 
 In obedience to repeated appeals from the Richmond 
 newspapers, iron bars had but recently been fixed in all 
 the prison windows for better security, and the guard 
 had been considerably reinforced. The columns of 
 these same journals had just been aglow with accounts 
 of the daring and successful escape of the Confederate 
 General John Morgan and his companions from the 
 Columbus (Ohio) jail. Morgan had arrived in Rich 
 mond on the 8th of January, exactly a month prior to 
 the completion of the tunnel, and was still the lion of 
 the Confederate capital. 
 
 At daylight a plank was seen suspended on the out 
 side of the east wall; this was fastened by a blanket- 
 rope to one of the window-bars, and was, of course, a 
 trick to mislead the Confederates. G-eneral John H. 
 Winder, then in charge of all the prisoners in the Con 
 federacy, with his headquarters in Richmond, was 
 furious when the news reached him. After a careful 
 external examination of the building, and a talk, not of 
 the politest kind, with Major Turner, he reached the 
 conclusion that such an escape had but one explanation 
 the guards had been bribed. Accordingly the sen 
 tinels on duty were marched off under arrest to Castle 
 Thunder, where they were locked up and searched for 
 " greenbacks." The thousand and more prisoners still 
 
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 Ilia 
 
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 s*El 
 
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234 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 in Libby were compensated, in a measure, for their fail 
 ure to escape by the panic they saw among the "Rebs." 
 Messengers and despatches were soon flying in all di 
 rections, and all the horse, foot, and dragoons of Rich 
 mond were in pursuit of the fugitives before noon. 
 Only one man of the whole escaping party was retaken 
 inside of the city limits. 1 Of the 109 who got out that 
 night, 59 reached the Union lines, 48 were recaptured, 
 and 2 were drowned. 
 
 Colonel Streight and several other officers who had 
 been chosen by the diggers of the tunnel to follow them 
 out, in accordance with the agreement already referred 
 to, lay concealed for a week in a vacant house, where 
 they were fed by loyal friends, and escaped to the 
 Federal lines when the first excitement had abated. 
 
 After leaving Libby, Rose and Hamilton turned 
 northward and cautiously walked on a few squares, 
 when suddenly they encountered some Confederates 
 who were guarding a military hospital. Hamilton re 
 treated quickly and ran off to the east ; but Rose, who 
 was a little in advance, walked boldly by on the op 
 posite walk, and was not challenged ; and thus the two 
 friends separated. 
 
 Hamilton, after several days of wandering and fearful 
 exposure, came joyfully upon a Union picket squad, 
 received the care he painfully needed, and was soon on 
 his happy journey home. 
 
 Rose passed out of the city of Richmond to the York 
 River Railroad, and followed its track to the Chick a- 
 hominy bridge. Finding this guarded, he turned to 
 the right, and as the day was breaking he came upon 
 
 l Captain Gates, of the 33d Ohio. 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PRISON 
 
 235 
 
 a camp of Confederate cavalry. His blue uniform made 
 it exceedingly dangerous to travel in daylight in this 
 region; and seeing a large sycamore log that was hol 
 low, he crawled into it. The February air was keen 
 and biting, but he kept his cramped position until late 
 in the afternoon; and all day he could hear the loud 
 talk in the camp arid the neighing of the horses. 
 
 Vatnt 
 Lett. 
 
 Vaemnt Lett 
 
 MUitmry 
 
 Cuter STREET. 
 
 
 J\J\J\J 
 
 
 
 Ktrr 
 
 J 
 
 
 
 ^ 1 
 
 1 * 
 
 Warrtfcutc 
 
 
 MitltUeCtUir 
 
 Arf^T" 1 
 
 riSif" 
 
 ^o 
 
 
 WeiCCtllar 
 
 Carpenter 
 
 Sluf 
 
 Rut Hell , 
 
 Cellar 
 
 \T. 
 
 t 
 
 "" 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 F \\ E 
 
 
 iS 
 
 
 GROUND-PLAN OF LIBBY PRISON AND SURROUNDINGS. 
 
 A. Break in fireplace on floor above ; B. End of tunnel ; CCC. Course 
 of party escaping; D. Shed; E. Cook-room (abandoned Oct., 63); F. 
 Lumber-room; G. Office of James River Towing Company ; HH. Gates; 
 III. Doors ; J. Cells for condemned prisoners ; K. First tunnel (aban 
 doned); L. Fence. 
 
 Toward night he came cautiously forth, and finding 
 the Chickahorniny fordable within a few hundred 
 yards, he succeeded in wading across. The uneven bed 
 of the river, however, led him into several deep holes, 
 and before he reached the shore his scanty raiment 
 was thoroughly soaked. He trudged on through the 
 woods as fast as his stiffened limbs would bear him, 
 
236 ADVENTUBES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 borne up by the hope of early deliverance, and made a 
 brave effort to shake off the horrible ague. He had 
 not gone far, however, when he found himself again 
 close to some Confederate cavalry, and was compelled 
 once more to seek a hiding-place. The day seemed 
 of interminable length, and he tried vainly in sleep 
 to escape from hunger and cold. His teeth chattered 
 in his head, and when he rose at dark to continue his 
 journey his tattered clothes were frozen stiff. In this 
 plight he pushed on resolutely, and was obliged to 
 wade to his waist for hundreds of yards through one 
 of those deep and treacherous morasses that proved 
 such deadly fever-pools for McClellan s army in the 
 campaign of 1862. Finally he reached the high ground, 
 and as the severe exertion had set his blood again in 
 motion and loosened his limbs, he was making better 
 progress, when suddenly he found himself near a Con 
 federate picket. This picket he easily avoided, and, 
 keeping well in the shadow of the forest and shunning 
 the roads, he pressed forward with increasing hopes of 
 success. He had secured a box of matches before 
 leaving Libby ; and as the cold night came on and he 
 felt that he was really in danger of freezing to death, 
 he penetrated into the center of the cedar grove and 
 built a fire in a small and secluded hollow. He felt 
 that this was hazardous, but the necessity was des 
 perate, since with his stiffened limbs he could no 
 longer move along fast enough to keep the warmth of 
 life in his body. To add to his trouble, his foot, which 
 had been broken in Tennessee previous to his capture, 
 was now giving him great pain, and threatened to 
 cripple him wholly; indeed, it would stiffen and dis- 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 237 
 
 able the best of limbs to compass the journey he had 
 made in darkness over strange, uneven, and hard- 
 frozen ground, and through rivers, creeks, and bogs, 
 and this without food or warmth. 
 
 The fire was so welcome that he slept soundly so 
 soundly that waking in the early morning he found his 
 boot-legs and half his uniform burned up, the ice on 
 the rest of it probably having prevented its total 
 destruction. 
 
 Resuming his journey much refreshed, he reached 
 Crump s Cross-roads, where he successfully avoided 
 another picket. He traveled all day, taking occasional 
 short rests, and before dark had reached New Kent 
 Court-house. Here again he saw some pickets, but by 
 cautions flanking managed to pass them ; but in crossing 
 an open space a little farther on he was seen by a cav 
 alryman, who at once put spurs to his horse and rode 
 up to Rose, and, saluting him, inquired if he belonged 
 to the New Kent Cavalry. Rose had on a gray cap, 
 and seeing that he had a stupid sort of fellow to deal 
 with, instantly answered, "Yes," whereupon the trooper 
 turned his horse and rode back. A very few moments 
 were enough to show Rose that the cavalry man s re 
 port had failed to satisfy his comrades, whom he could 
 see making movements for his capture. He plunged 
 through a laurel thicket, and had no sooner emerged 
 than he saw the Confederates deploying around it in 
 confidence that their game was bagged. He dashed on 
 as fast as his injured foot would let him, and entered 
 a tract of heavily timbered land that rose to the east 
 of this thicket. At the border of the grove he found 
 another picket post, and barely escaped the notice of 
 
238 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 several of the men. The only chance of escape lay 
 through a wide, clear field before him, and even this 
 was in full view from the grove that bordered it, and 
 this he knew would soon swarm with his pursuers. 
 
 Across the center of this open field, which was fully 
 half a mile wide, a ditch ran, which, although but a 
 shallow gully, afforded a partial concealment. Rose, 
 who could now hear the voices of the Confederates 
 nearer and nearer, dove into the ditch as the only 
 chance, and dropping on his hands and knees crept 
 swiftly forward to the eastward. In this cramped po 
 sition his progress was extremely painful, and his 
 hands were torn by the briers arid stones ; but forward 
 he dashed, fully expecting a shower of bullets every 
 minute. At last he reached the other end of the 
 half-mile ditch, breathless and half dead, but without 
 having once raised his head above the gully. 
 
 Emerging from this field, he found himself in the 
 Williamsburg road, and bordering the opposite side 
 was an extensive tract thickly covered with pines. As 
 he crossed and entered this tract he looked back and 
 could see his enemies, whose movements showed that 
 they were greatly puzzled and off the scent. When at 
 a safe distance he sought a hiding-place and took a 
 needed rest of several hours. 
 
 He then resumed his journey, and followed the direc 
 tion of the Williamsburg road, which he found pick 
 eted at various points, so that it was necessary to 
 avoid open spaces. Several times during the day he 
 saw squads of Confederate cavalry passing along the 
 road so near that he could hear their talk. Near night 
 fall he reached Diasen Bridge, where he successfully 
 
COLONEL HOSE S TUNNEL AT LIBBY PKISON 239 
 
 passed another picket. He kept on until nearly mid 
 night, when he lay down by a great tree and, cold as 
 he was, slept soundly until daylight. He now made a 
 careful reconnoissance, and found near the road the 
 ruins of an old building which, he afterward learned, 
 was called " Burnt Ordinary." 
 
 He now found himself almost unable to walk with 
 his injured foot, but, nerved by the yet bright hope of 
 liberty, he once more went his weary way in the direc 
 tion of Williamsburg. Finally he came to a place where 
 there were some smoking fagots and a number of tracks, 
 indicating it to have been a picket post of the previous 
 night. He was now nearing Williamsburg, which, he 
 was inclined to believe from such meager information 
 as had reached Libby before his departure, was in pos 
 session of the Union forces. Still, he knew that this 
 was territory that was frequently changing hands, and 
 was therefore likely to be under a close watch. From 
 this on he avoided the roads wholly, and kept under 
 cover as much as it was possible; and if compelled to 
 cross an open field at all, he did so in a stooping posi 
 tion. He was now moving in a southeasterly direc 
 tion, and coming again to the margin of a wide opening, 
 he saw, to his unutterable joy, a body of Union troops 
 advancing along the road toward him. 
 
 Thoroughly worn out, Eose, believing that his de 
 liverers were at hand, sat down to await their approach. 
 His pleasant reverie was disturbed by a sound behind 
 and near him, and turning quickly he was startled to 
 see three soldiers in the road along which the troops 
 first seen were advancing. The fact that these men 
 had not been noticed before gave Eose some uneasiness 
 
240 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 for a moment; but as they wore blue uniforms, and 
 moreover seemed to take no note of the approaching 
 Federal troops, all things seemed to indicate that they 
 were simply an advanced detail of the same body. This 
 seemed to be further confirmed by the fact that the trio 
 were now moving down the road, apparently with the 
 intent of joining the larger body; and as the ground 
 to the east rose to a crest, both of the bodies were a 
 minute later shut off from Rose s view. 
 
 In the full confidence that all was right he rose to 
 his feet and walked toward the crest to get a better 
 view of everything and greet his comrades of the loyal 
 blue. A walk of a hundred yards brought him again 
 in sight of the three men, who now noticed and 
 challenged him. 
 
 In spite of appearances a vague suspicion forced it 
 self upon Rose, who, however, obeyed the summons and 
 continued to approach the party, who now watched 
 him with fixed attention. As he came closer to the 
 group, the brave but unfortunate soldier saw that he 
 was lost. 
 
 For the first time the three seemed to be made aware 
 of the approach of the Federals, and to show conse 
 quent alarm and haste. The unhappy Rose saw before 
 the men spoke that their blue uniform was a disguise, 
 and the discovery brought a savage expression to his 
 lips. He hoped and tried to convince his captors that 
 he was a Confederate, but all in vain ; they retained 
 him as their prisoner, and now told him that they were 
 Confederates. Rose, in the first bitter moment of his 
 misfortune, thought seriously of breaking away to his 
 friends so temptingly near ; but his poor broken foot 
 and the slender chance of escaping three bullets at a 
 
COLONEL ROSE S TUNNEL AT LIEBY PEISON 241 
 
 few yards made this suicide, and he decided to wait for 
 a better chance, and this came sooner than he expected. 
 
 One of the men appeared to be an officer, who de 
 tailed one of his companions to conduct Eose to the rear 
 in the direction of Richmond. The prisoner went 
 quietly with his guard, the other two men tarried a 
 little to watch the advancing Federals, and now Rose 
 began to limp like a man who was unable to go farther. 
 Presently the ridge shut them off from the view of 
 the others. Rose, who had slyly been staggering closer 
 and closer to the guard, suddenly sprang upon the man, 
 and before he had time to wink had twisted his gun 
 from his grasp, discharged it into the air, flung it down, 
 and ran off as fast as his poor foot would let him 
 toward the east and so as to avoid the rest of the Con 
 federates. The disarmed Confederate made no attempt 
 at pursuit, nor indeed did the other two, who were now 
 seen retreating at a run across the adjacent fields. 
 
 Rose s heart bounded with new hope, for he felt that 
 he would be with his advancing comrades in a few 
 minutes at most. All at once a squad of Confederates, 
 hitherto unseen, rose up in his very path, and beat him 
 down with the butts of their muskets. All hands now 
 rushed around and secured him, and one of the men 
 called out excitedly, "Hurry up, boys; the Yankees 
 are right here ! " They rushed their prisoner into the 
 wooded ravine, and here they were joined by the man 
 whom Rose had just disarmed. He was in a savage 
 mood, and declared it to be his particular desire to fill 
 Rose full of Confederate lead. The officer in charge 
 rebuked the man, however, and compelled him to cool 
 down, and he went along with an injured air that 
 excited the merriment of his comrades. 
 
242 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 The party continued its retreat to Barhamsville, 
 thence to the White House on the Pamunkey River, 
 and finally to Richmond, where Rose was again re 
 stored to Libby, and, like the writer, was confined for 
 a number of days in a narrow and loathsome cell. On 
 the 30th of April his exchange was effected for a 
 Confederate colonel, and on the 6th of July, 1864, 
 he rejoined his regiment, in which he served with 
 conspicuous gallantry to the close of the war. 
 
 As already stated, Hamilton reached the Union lines 
 safely after many vicissitudes, and did brave service in 
 the closing scenes of the rebellion. He is now a resi - 
 dent of Reedy ville, Kentucky. Johnson, whose en 
 forced confinement in Rat Hell gave him a unique 
 fame in Libby, also made good his escape, and now 
 lives at North Pleasantville, Kentucky. 
 
 Of the fifteen men who dug the successful tunnel, 
 four are dead, viz. : Fitzsimmons, Gallagher, Garbett, 
 and McDonald. Captain W. S. B. Randall lives at 
 Hillsboro, Highland County, Ohio ; Colonel Terrance 
 Clark at Paris, Edgar County, Illinois; Captain Eli 
 Foster at Chicago ; Colonel N. S. McKean at Collins- 
 ville, Madison County, Illinois ; and Captain J. C. Fis- 
 lar at Lewiston, I. T. The addresses of Captains Lucas, 
 Simpson, and Mitchell are unknown at this writing. 
 
 Colonel Rose has served faithfully almost since the 
 end of the war with the 16th United States Infantry, 
 in which he holds a captain s commission. No one 
 meeting him now would hear from his reticent lips, or 
 read in his placid face, the thrilling story that links 
 his name in so remarkable a manner with the history 
 of the famous Bastile of the Confederacy, 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 
 
 BY W. H. SHELTON 
 
 IT was past noon of the first day of the bloody con 
 test in the Wilderness. The guns of the Fifth 
 Corps, led by Battery D of the 1st New York Artillery, 
 were halted along the Orange turnpike, by which we 
 had made the fruitless campaign to Mine Run. The 
 continuous roar of musketry in front and to the left 
 indicated that the infantry was desperately engaged, 
 while the great guns filling every wooded road leading 
 up to the battle-field were silent. Our drivers were 
 lounging about the horses, while the cannoneers lay on 
 the green grass by the roadside or walked by the 
 pieces. Down the line came an order for the center 
 section, under my command, to advance and pass the 
 right section, which lay in front of us. General War 
 ren, surrounded by his staff, sat on a gray horse at the 
 right of the road where the woods bordered an open 
 field dipping between two wooded ridges. The position 
 we were leaving was admirable, while the one to which 
 we were ordered, on the opposite side of the narrow 
 field, was wholly impracticable. The captain had re 
 ceived his orders in person from General Warren, and 
 joined my command as we passed. 
 
 We dashed down the road at a trot, the cannoneers 
 running beside their pieces. At the center of the field 
 
 2-13 
 
244 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL 
 
 we crossed by a wooden bridge over a deep, dry ditch, 
 and came rapidly into position at the side of the turn 
 pike and facing the thicket. As the cannoneers were 
 not all up, the captain and I dismounted and lent a 
 hand in swinging round the heavy trails. The air was 
 full of Minie balls, some whistling by like mad hornets, 
 and others, partly spent, humming like big nails. One 
 of the latter struck my knee with force enough to 
 wound the bone without penetrating the grained- 
 leather boot-leg. In front of us the ground rose into 
 the timber where our infantry was engaged. It was 
 madness to continue firing here, for my shot must first 
 plow through our own lines before reaching the en 
 emy. So after one discharge the captain ordered the 
 limbers to the rear, and the section started back at a 
 gallop. My horse was cut on the flanks, and his plung 
 ing, with my disabled knee, delayed me in mounting, 
 and prevented my seeing why the carriages kept to 
 the grass instead of getting upon the roadway. When 
 I overtook the guns they had come to a forced halt at 
 the dry ditch, now full of skulkers, an angle of which 
 cut the way to the bridge. Brief as the interval had 
 been, not a man of my command was in sight. The 
 lead horse of the gun team at my side had been shot 
 and was reeling in the harness. Slipping to the 
 ground, I untoggled one trace at the collar to release 
 him, and had placed my hand on the other when I 
 heard the demand " Surrender ! " and turning found in 
 my face two big pistols in the hands of an Alabama 
 colonel. " Give me that sword," said he. I pressed the 
 clasp and let it fall to the ground, where it remained. 
 The colonel had taken me by the right arm, and as we 
 
A HAKD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 245 
 
 turned toward the road I took in the whole situation 
 at a glance. My chestnut horse and the captain s bald- 
 faced brown were dashing frantically against the long, 
 swaying gun teams. By the bridge stood a company 
 of the 61st Alabama Infantry in butternut suits and 
 slouch-hats, shooting straggling and wounded Zou 
 aves from a Pennsylvania brigade as they appeared 
 in groups of two or three on the road in front. The col 
 onel as he handed me over to his men ordered his 
 troops to take what prisoners they could and to cease 
 firing. The guns which we were forced to abandon 
 were a bone of contention until they were secured by 
 the enemy on the third day, at which time but one of 
 the twenty-four team horses was living. 
 
 With a few other prisoners I was led by a short de 
 tour through the woods. In ten minutes we had 
 turned the flank of both armies and reached the same 
 turnpike in the rear of our enemy. A line of ambu 
 lances was moving back on the road, all filled with 
 wounded, and when we saw a vacant seat beside a 
 driver I was hoisted up to the place. The boy driver 
 was in a high state of excitement. He said that two 
 shells had come flying down this same road, and showed 
 where the trace of the near mule had been cut by a 
 piece of shell, for which I was directly responsible. 
 
 The field hospital of General Jubal Early s corps 
 was near Locust Grove Tavern, where the wounded 
 Yankees were in charge of Surgeon Donnelly of the 
 Pennsylvania Reserves. No guard was established, as 
 no one was supposed to be in condition to run away. 
 At the end of a week, however, my leg had greatly im 
 proved, although I was still unable to use it. In our 
 
246 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 party was another lieutenant, an aide on the staff of 
 General James C. Rice, whose horse had been shot 
 under him while riding at full speed with despatches. 
 Lieutenant Hadley had returned to consciousness to 
 find himself a prisoner in hospital, somewhat bruised, 
 and robbed of his valuables, but not otherwise dis 
 abled. We two concluded to start for Washington 
 by way of Kelly s Ford. I traded my penknife for a 
 haversack of corn-bread with one of the Confederate 
 nurses, and a wounded officer, Colonel Miller of a New 
 York regiment, gave us a pocket compass. I provided 
 myself with a stout pole, which I used with both hands 
 in lieu of my left foot. At 9 p. M. we set out, passing 
 during the night the narrow field and the dry ditch 
 where I had left my guns. Only a pile of dead horses 
 marked the spot. 
 
 On a grassy bank we captured a firefly and shut him 
 in between the glass and the face of our pocket com 
 pass. With such a guide we shaped our course for the 
 Rapidan. After traveling nearly all night we lay down 
 exhausted upon a bluff within sound of the river, and 
 slept until sunrise. Hastening to our feet again, we 
 hurried down to the ford. Just before reaching the 
 river we heard shouts behind us, and saw a man beck 
 oning and running after us. Believing the man an 
 enemy, we dashed into the shallow water, and after 
 crossing safely hobbled away up the other side as fast 
 as a man with one leg and a pole could travel. I after 
 ward met this man, himself a prisoner, at Macon, 
 Georgia. He was the officer of our pickets, and would 
 have conducted us into our lines if we had permitted 
 him to come up with us. As it was, we found a snug 
 
A HAED ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 247 
 
 hiding-place in a thicket of swamp growth, where we 
 lay in concealment all day. After struggling on a few 
 miles in a chilling rain, my leg became so painful that 
 it was impossible to go farther. A house was near 
 by, and we threw ourselves on the mercy of the family. 
 Good Mrs. Brandon had harbored the pickets of both 
 armies again and again, and had luxuriated in real 
 coffee and tea and priceless salt at the hands of our 
 officers. She bore the Yankees only good- will, and after 
 dressing my wound we sat down to breakfast with 
 herself and daughters. 
 
 After breakfast we were conducted to the second 
 half-story, which was one unfinished room. There was 
 a bed in one corner, where we were to sleep. Beyond 
 the stairs was a pile of yellow ears of corn, and from 
 the rafters and sills hung a variety of dried herbs and 
 medicinal roots. Here our meals were served, and the 
 girls brought us books and read aloud to pass away 
 the long days. I was confined to the bed, and my 
 companion never ventured below stairs except on one 
 dark night, when at my earnest entreaty he set out for 
 Kelly s Ford, but soon returned unable to make his 
 way in the darkness. One day we heard the door open 
 at the foot of the stairs, a tread of heavy boots on the 
 steps, and a clank, clank that sounded very much 
 like a saber. Out of the floor rose a gray slouch-hat 
 with the yellow cord and tassel of a cavalryman, and 
 in another moment there stood on the landing one of 
 the most astonished troopers that ever was seen. 
 "Coot" Brandon was one of u Jeb" Stuart s rangers, 
 and came every day for corn for his horse. Heretofore 
 the corn had been brought down for him, and he was 
 
248 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 as ignorant of our presence as we were of his existence. 
 On this day no pretext could keep him from coming 
 up to help himself. His mother worked on his sym 
 pathies, and he departed promising her that he would 
 leave us undisturbed. But the very next morning he 
 turned up again, this time accompanied by another 
 ranger of sterner mold. A parole was exacted from my 
 able-bodied companion, and we were left for another 
 twenty-four hours, when I was considered in condi 
 tion to be moved. Mrs. Brandon gave us each a new 
 blue overcoat from a plentiful store of Uncle Sam s 
 clothing she had on hand, and I opened my heart 
 and gave her my last twenty-dollar greenback and 
 wished I had it back again every day for the next 
 ten months. 
 
 I was mounted on a horse, and with Lieutenant Had- 
 ley on foot we were marched under guard all day until 
 we arrived at a field hospital established in the rear of 
 Longstreet s corps, my companion being sent on to 
 some prison for officers. Thence I was forwarded with 
 a train-load of wounded to Lynchburg, on which Gen 
 eral Hunter was then marching, and we had good rea 
 son to hope for a speedy deliverance. On more than 
 one day we heard his guns to the north, where there 
 was no force but a few citizens with bird-guns to 
 oppose the entrance of his command. The slaves were 
 employed on a line of breastworks which there was no 
 adequate force to hold. It was our opinion that one 
 well-disciplined regiment could have captured and 
 held the town. It was several days before a portion 
 of General Breckin ridge s command arrived for the 
 defense of Lynchburg. 
 
A HAKD KOAD TO TKAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 249 
 
 I had clung to my clean bed in the hospital just as 
 long as rny rapidly healing wound would permit, but 
 was soon transferred to a prison where at night the 
 sleepers Yankees, Confederate deserters, and ne 
 groes were so crowded upon the floor that some lay 
 under the feet of the guards in the doorways. The at 
 mosphere was dreadful. I fell ill, and for three days 
 lay with my head in the fireplace, more dead than 
 alive. 
 
 A few days thereafter about three hundred prisoners 
 were crowded into cattle-cars bound for Andersonville. 
 We must have been a week on this railroad journey 
 when an Irish lieutenant of a Rochester regiment and 
 I, who had been allowed to ride in the baggage-car, 
 were taken from the train at Macon, Georgia, where 
 about sixteen hundred Union officers were confined at 
 the fair-grounds. General Alexander Shaler, of Sedg- 
 wick s corps, also captured at the Wilderness, was the 
 ranking officer, and to him was accorded a sort of in 
 terior command of the camp. Before passing through 
 the gate we expected to see a crowd bearing some out 
 ward semblance of respectability. Instead, we were 
 instantly surrounded by several hundred ragged, bare 
 footed, frowzy-headed men shouting " Fresh fish ! " at 
 the top of their voices and eagerly asking for news. 
 With rare exceptions all were shabbily dressed. There 
 was, however, a little knot of naval officers who had 
 been captured in the windings of the narrow Rappa- 
 hannock by a force of cavalry, and who were the aristo 
 crats of the camp. They were housed in a substantial 
 fair-building in the center of the grounds, and by some 
 special terms of surrender must have brought their 
 
250 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 complete wardrobes along. On hot days they appeared 
 in spotless white duck, which they were permitted to 
 send outside to be laundered. Their mess was abun 
 dantly supplied with the fruits and vegetables of the 
 season. The ripe red tomatoes they were daily seen to 
 peel were the envy of the camp. I well remember that 
 to me, at this time, a favorite occupation was to lie on 
 my back with closed eyes and imagine the dinner I 
 would order if I were in a first-class hotel. It was no 
 unusual thing to see a dignified colonel washing his 
 lower clothes in a pail, clad only in his uniform dress- 
 coat. Ladies sometimes appeared on the guard-walk 
 outside the top of the stockade, on which occasions the 
 cleanest and best-dressed men turned out to see and be 
 seen. I was quite proud to appear in a clean gray 
 shirt, spotless white drawers, and moccasins made of 
 blue overcoat cloth. 
 
 On the Fourth of July, after the regular morning 
 count, we repaired to the big central building and held 
 an informal celebration. One officer had brought into 
 captivity, concealed on his person, a little silk national 
 flag, which was carried up into the cross-beams of the 
 building, and the sight of it created the wildest enthu 
 siasm. We cheered the flag and applauded the patri 
 otic speeches until a detachment of the guard succeeded 
 in putting a stop to our proceedings. They tried to 
 capture the flag, but in this they were not successful. 
 We were informed that cannon were planted command 
 ing the camp, and would be opened on us if we renewed 
 our demonstrations. 
 
 Soon after this episode the fall of Atlanta and the 
 subsequent movements of General Sherman led to the 
 
A HAED EOAD TO TEAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 251 
 
 breaking up of the cainp at Macon, and to the transfer 
 of half of us to a camp at Charleston, and half to Savan 
 nah. Late in September, by another transfer, we found 
 ourselves together again at Columbia. We had no form 
 of shelter, and there was no stockade around the camp, 
 only a guard and a dead-line. During two hours of 
 each morning an extra line of guards was stationed 
 around an adjoining piece of pine woods, into which 
 we were allowed to go and cut wood and timber to con 
 struct for ourselves huts for the approaching winter. 
 Our ration at this time consisted of raw corn-meal and 
 sorghum molasses, without salt or any provision of 
 utensils for cooking. The camp took its name from 
 our principal article of diet, and was by common con 
 sent known as " Camp Sorghum." A stream of clear 
 Welter was accessible during the day by an extension of 
 the guards, but at night the lines were so contracted as 
 to leave the path leading to the water outside the guard. 
 Lieutenant S. H. M. Byers, who had already written 
 the well-known lyric " Sherman s March to the Sea," 
 was sharing my tent, which consisted of a ragged 
 blanket. We had been in the new camp but little more 
 than a week when we determined to make an attempt at 
 escape. Preparatory to starting we concealed two tin 
 cups and two blankets in the pine woods to which we 
 had access during the chopping hours, and here was to 
 be our rendezvous in case we were separated in getting 
 out. Covering my shoulders with an old gray blanket 
 and providing myself with a stick, about the size of a 
 gun, from the woodpile, I tried to smuggle myself into 
 the relief guard when the line was contracted at six 
 o clock. Unfortunately an unexpected halt was called, 
 
252 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 and the soldier in front turned and discovered me. 
 I was now more than ever determined on getting away. 
 After a hurried conference with Lieutenant Byers, 
 at which I promised to wait at our rendezvous in the 
 woods until I heard the posting of the ten-o clock 
 relief, I proceeded alone up the side of the camp to a 
 point w^here a group of low cedars grew close to the 
 dead-line. Concealing myself in their dark shadow, I 
 could observe at my leisure the movements of the sen 
 tinels. A full moon was just rising above the horizon 
 to my left, and in the soft, misty light the guards were 
 plainly visible for a long distance either way. An open 
 field from which the small growth had been recently 
 cut away lay beyond, and between the camp and the 
 guard-line ran a broad road of soft sand noiseless to 
 cross, but so white in the moonlight that a leaf blown 
 across it by the wind could scarcely escape a vigilant 
 eye. The guards were bundled in their overcoats, and 
 I soon observed that the two who met opposite to my 
 place of concealment turned and walked their short 
 beats without looking back. Waiting until they sepa 
 rated again, and regardless of the fact that I might with 
 equal likelihood be seen by a dozen sentinels in either 
 direction, I ran quickly across the soft sand road several 
 yards into the open field, and threw myself down upon 
 the uneven ground. First I dragged my body on my 
 elbows for a few yards, then I crept on my knees, and 
 so gradually gained in distance until I could rise to a 
 standing position and get safely to the shelter of the 
 trees. With some difficulty I found the cups and 
 blankets we had concealed, and lay down to await the 
 arrival of my companion. Soon I heard several shots 
 
A HAKD KOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 253 
 
 which I understood too well; and, as I afterward 
 learned, two officers were shot dead for attempting the 
 feat I had accomplished, and perhaps in emulation of 
 my success. A third young officer, whom I knew, was 
 also killed in camp by one of the shots fired at the 
 others. 
 
 At ten o clock I set out alone and made my way 
 across the fields to the bank of the Saluda, where a 
 covered bridge crossed to Columbia. Hiding when it 
 was light, wandering through fields and swamps by 
 night, and venturing at last to seek food of negroes, I 
 proceeded for thirteen days toward the sea. 
 
 In general I had followed the Columbia turnpike ; at 
 a quaint little chapel on the shore of Goose Creek, but 
 a few miles out of Charleston, I turned to the north 
 and bent my course for the coast above the city. 
 About this time I learned that I should find no boats 
 along the shore between Charleston and the mouth of 
 the Santee, everything able to float having been de 
 stroyed to prevent the escape of the negroes and the 
 desertion of the soldiers. I was ferried over the Broad 
 River by a crusty old darky who came paddling 
 across in response to my cries of " 0-v-e-r," and who 
 seemed so put out because I had no fare for him that I 
 gave him my case-knife. The next evening I had the 
 only taste of meat of this thirteen days journey, which 
 I got from an old negro whom I found alone in his 
 cabin eating possum and rice. 
 
 I had never seen the open sea-coast beaten by the 
 surf, and after being satisfied that I had no hope of 
 escape in that direction it was in part my curiosity that 
 led me on, and partly a vague idea that I would get 
 
254 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Confederate transportation back to Columbia and take a 
 fresh start westward bound. The tide was out, and in 
 a little cove I found an abundance of oysters bedded in 
 the mud, some of which I cracked with stones and ate. 
 After satisfying my hunger, and finding the sea rather 
 unexpectedly tame inside the line of islands which 
 marked the eastern horizon, I bent my steps toward a 
 fire, where I found a detachment of Confederate coast 
 guards, to whom I offered myself as a guest as coolly 
 as if my whole toilsome journey had been prosecuted 
 to that end. 
 
 In the morning I was marched a few miles to Mount 
 Pleasant, near Fort Moultrie, and taken thence in a 
 sail-boat across the harbor to Charleston. At night I 
 found myself again in the city jail, where with a large 
 party of officers I had spent most of the month of Au 
 gust. My cell-mate was Lieutenant H. Gr. Dorr of the 
 4th Massachusetts Cavalry, with whom I journeyed by 
 rail back to Columbia, arriving at " Camp Sorghum " 
 about the 1st of November. 
 
 I rejoined the mess of Lieutenant Byers, and intro 
 duced to the others Lieutenant Dorr, whose cool as 
 surance was a prize that procured us all the blessings 
 possible. He could borrow frying-pans from the 
 guards, money from his brother Masons at headquar 
 ters, and I believe if we had asked him to secure us a 
 gun he would have charmed it out of the hand of 
 a sentinel on duty. 
 
 Lieutenant Edward E. Sill, of General Daniel But- 
 terfield s staff, whom I had met at Macon, during my 
 absence had come to "Sorghum" from a fruitless trip 
 to Macon for exchange, and I had promised to join him 
 
A HAKD ROAD TO TKAYEL OUT OF DIXIE 255 
 
 LIEUTENANTS E. E. SILL AND A. T. LAM8ON. 
 
256 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 in an attempt to escape when he could secure a pair of 
 shoes. On November 29 our mess had felled a big 
 pine-tree and had rolled into camp a short section of 
 the trunk, which a Tennessee officer was to split into 
 shingles to complete our hut, a pretty good cabin with 
 an earthen fireplace. While we were resting from our 
 exertion, Sill appeared with his friend Lieutenant A. T. 
 Lamson of the 104th New York Infantry, and reminded 
 me of my promise. The prisoners always respected 
 their parole on wood-chopping expeditions, and went 
 out and came in at the main entrance. The guards 
 were a particularly verdant body of back-country 
 militia, and the confusion of the parole system enabled 
 us to practise ruses. In our present difficulty we re 
 sorted to a new expedient and forged a parole. The 
 next day all three of us were quietly walking down the 
 guard-line on the outside. At the creek, where all the 
 camp came for water, we found Dorr and Byers and 
 West, and calling to one of them in the presence of the 
 guard, asked for blankets to bring in spruce boughs for 
 beds. When the blankets came they contained certain 
 haversacks, cups, and little indispensable articles for 
 the road. Falling back into the woods, we secured a 
 safe hiding-place until after dark. Just beyond the 
 village of Lexington we successfully evaded the first 
 picket, being warned of its presence by the smoldering 
 embers in the road. A few nights after this, having 
 exposed ourselves and anticipating pursuit, we pushed 
 on until we came to a stream crossing the road. Up 
 this we waded for some distance, and secured a hiding- 
 place on a neighboring hill. In the morning we looked 
 out upon mounted men and dogs, at the very point 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 257 
 
 where we had entered the stream, searching for our 
 lost trail. We spent two days during a severe storm 
 of rain and sleet in a farm-barn where the slaves were 
 so drunk on applejack that they had forgotten us and 
 left us with nothing to eat but raw turnips. One night, 
 in our search for provisions, we met a party of negroes 
 burning charcoal, who took us to their camp and sent 
 out for a supply of food. While waiting a venerable 
 " uncle " proposed to hold a prayer-meeting. So under 
 the tall trees and by the light of the smoldering coal 
 pits the old man prayed long and fervently to the 
 u bressed Lord and Massa Lincoln," and hearty amens 
 echoed through the woods. Besides a few small pota 
 toes, one dried goat ham was all our zealous friends 
 could procure. The next day, having made our camp 
 in the secure depths of a dry swamp, we lighted the 
 only fire we allowed ourselves between Columbia and 
 the mountains. The ham, which was almost as light 
 as cork, was riddled with worm-holes, and as hard as a 
 petrified sponge. 
 
 We avoided the towns, and after an endless variety 
 of adventures approached the mountains, cold, hungry, 
 ragged, and foot-sore. On the night of December 13 
 we were grouped about a guide-post, at a fork in the 
 road, earnestly contending as to which way we should 
 proceed. Lieutenant Sill was for the right, I was 
 for the left, and no amount of persuasion could in 
 duce Lieutenant Lamson to decide the controversy. I 
 yielded, and we turned to the right. After walking a 
 mile in a state of general uncertainty, we came to a 
 low white farm-house standing very near the road. It 
 was now close upon midnight, and the windows were 
 
258 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 all dark ; but from a house of logs, partly "behind the 
 other, gleamed a bright light. Judging this to be ser 
 vants quarters, two of us remained back while Lieu 
 tenant Sill made a cautious approach. In due time a 
 negro appeared, advancing stealthily, and, beckoning 
 to my companion and me, conducted us in the shadow 
 of a hedge to a side window, through which we clam 
 bered into the cabin. We were made very comfortable 
 in the glow of a bright woodfire. Sweet potatoes were 
 already roasting in the ashes, and a tin pot of barley 
 coffee was steaming on the coals. Eain arid sleet had 
 begun to fall, and it was decided that after having been 
 warmed and refreshed we should be concealed in the 
 barn until the following night. Accordingly we were 
 conducted thither and put to bed upon a pile of corn- 
 shucks high up under the roof. Secure as this retreat 
 seemed, it was deemed advisable in the morning to bur 
 row several feet down in the mow, so that the children, 
 if by any chance they should climb so high, might 
 romp unsuspecting over our heads. We could still 
 look out through the cracks in the siding and get suffi 
 cient light whereby to study a map of the Southern 
 States, which had been brought us with our breakfast. 
 A luxurious repast was in preparation, to be eaten at 
 the quarters before starting; but a frolic being in pro 
 gress, and a certain negro present of questionable 
 fidelity, the banquet was transferred to the barn. The 
 great barn doors were set open, and the cloth was 
 spread on the floor by the light of the moon. Certainly 
 we had partaken of no such substantial fare within the 
 Confederacy. The central dish was a pork-pie, flanked 
 by savory little patties of sausage. There were sweet 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 259 
 
 potatoes, fleecy biscuits, a jug of sorghum, and a pitcher 
 of sweet milk. Most delicious of all was a variety of 
 corn-bread having tiny bits of fresh pork baked in it, 
 like plums in a pudding. 1 
 
 Filling our haversacks with the fragments, we took 
 grateful leave of our sable benefactors and resumed our 
 journey, retracing our steps to the point of disagree 
 ment of the evening before. Long experience in night 
 marching had taught us extreme caution. We had ad 
 vanced along the new road but a short way when we 
 were startled by the barking of a house-dog. Appre 
 hending that something was moving in front of us, we 
 instantly withdrew into the woods. We had scarcely 
 concealed ourselves when two cavalrymen passed along, 
 driving before them a prisoner. Aware that it was 
 high time to betake ourselves to the cross-roads and 
 describe a wide circle around the military station at 
 Pickensville, we first sought information. A ray of 
 light was visible from a hut in the woods, and believing 
 from its humble appearance that it sheltered friends, 
 
 1 Major Sill contributes the fol- home, was showing the photograph 
 
 lowing evidence of the impression to his family when it caught the 
 
 our trio made upon one, at least, of eye of a colored servant, who ex- 
 
 the piccaninnies who looked on in claimed: "0 Massa Bruce, I know 
 
 the moonlight. The picture of Lieu- those gen men. My father and 
 
 tenants Sill and Lamson which ap- mother hid em in Massa s barn at 
 
 pears on page 255 was enlarged from Pickensville and fed em ; there was 
 
 a small photograph taken on their three of em ; I saw em." This ser- 
 
 arrival at Chattanooga, before di- vant was a child barely ten years old 
 
 vesting themselves of the rags worn in 1864, and could have seen us only 
 
 throughout the long journey. Years through the barn door while we were 
 
 afterward Major Sill gave one of eating our supper in the uncertain 
 
 these pictures to Wallace Bruce of moonlight. Yet more than twenty 
 
 Florida, at one time United States years thereafter he greeted the pho- 
 
 consul at Glasgow. In the winter tograph of the ragged Yankee offi- 
 
 of 1888-89 Mr. Bruce, at his Florida cers with a flash of recognition, 
 
260 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 my companions lay down in concealment while I ad 
 vanced to reconnoiter. I gained the side of the house, 
 and, looking through a crack in the boards, saw, to my 
 surprise, a soldier lying on his back before the fire 
 playing with a dog. I stole back with redoubled care. 
 Thoroughly alarmed by the dangers we had already 
 encountered, we decided to abandon the roads. Near 
 midnight of December 16 we passed through a wooden 
 gate on a level road leading into the forest. Believing 
 that the lateness of the hour would secure us from 
 further dangers, we resolved to press on with all speed, 
 when two figures with lighted torches came suddenly 
 into view. Knowing that we were yet unseen, we 
 turned into the woods and concealed ourselves behind 
 separate trees at no great distance from the path. 
 Soon the advancing lights revealed two hunters, mere 
 lads, but having at their heels a pack of mongrel dogs, 
 with which they had probably been pursuing the coon or 
 the possum. The boys would have passed unaware of 
 our presence, but the dogs, scurrying along with their 
 noses in the leaves, soon struck our trail, and were 
 instantly yelping about us. We had possessed our 
 selves of the name of the commanding officer of the 
 neighboring post at Pendleton, and advanced boldly, 
 representing ourselves to be his soldiers. " Then where 
 did you get them blue pantaloons!" they demanded, 
 exchanging glances, which showed they were not 
 ignorant of our true character. We coolly faced them 
 down and resumed our march leisurely, while the boys 
 still lingered undecided. When out of sight we aban 
 doned the road and fled at the top of our speed. We 
 had covered a long distance through forest and field 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 261 
 
 before we heard in our wake the faint yelping of the 
 pack. Plunging into the first stream, we dashed for 
 some distance along its bed. Emerging on the opposite 
 bank, we sped on through marshy fields, skirting high 
 hills and bounding down through dry watercourses, over 
 shelving stones and accumulated barriers of driftwood; 
 now panting up a steep ascent, and now resting for a 
 moment to rub our shoes with the resinous needles 
 of the pine ; always within hearing of the dogs, whose 
 fitful cries varied in volume in accordance with the 
 broken conformation of the intervening country. 
 Knowing that in speed and endurance we were no 
 match for our four-footed pursuers, we trusted to our 
 precautions for throwing them off the scent, mindful 
 that they were but an ill-bred kennel and the more 
 easily to be disposed of. Physically we were capable 
 of prolonged exertion. Fainter and less frequent came 
 the cry of the dogs, until, ceasing altogether, we were 
 assured of our escape. 
 
 At Oconee, on Sunday, December 18, we met a negro 
 well acquainted with the roads and passes into North 
 Carolina, who furnished us information by which we 
 traveled for two nights, recognizing on the second ob 
 jects which by his direction we avoided (like the house 
 of Black Bill McKinney), and going directly to that of 
 friendly old Tom Handcock. The first of these two 
 nights we struggled up the foot-hills and outlying spurs 
 of the mountains, through an uninhabited waste of 
 rolling barrens, along an old stage road, long deserted, 
 and in places impassable to a saddle-mule. Lying 
 down before morning, high up on the side of the moun 
 tain, we fell asleep, to be awakened by thunder and 
 
2G2 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 lightning, and to find torrents of hail and sleet beating 
 upon our blankets. Chilled to the bone, we ventured 
 to build a small fire in a secluded place. After dark, 
 and before abandoning our camp, we gathered quanti 
 ties of wood, stacking it upon the fire, which when we 
 left it was a wild tower of flame lighting up the whole 
 mountain-side in the direction we had come, and seem 
 ing, in some sort, to atone for a long succession of 
 shivering days in fireless bivouac. We followed the 
 same stage road through the scattering settlement of 
 Casher s Valley in Jackson County, North Carolina. A 
 little farther on, two houses, of hewn logs, with veran 
 das and green blinds, just fitted the description we had 
 received of the home of old Tom Handcock. Knock 
 ing boldly at the door of the farther one, we were soon 
 in the presence of the loyal mountaineer. He and his 
 wife had been sleeping on a bed spread upon the floor 
 before the fire. Drawing this to one side, they heaped 
 the chimney with green wood, and were soon listening 
 with genuine delight to the story of our adventures. 
 
 After breakfast next day, Tom, with his rifle, led us 
 by a back road to the house of " Squire Larkiii C. 
 Hooper," a leading loyalist, whom we met on the way, 
 and together we proceeded to his house. Ragged and 
 forlorn, we were eagerly welcomed at his home by 
 Hooper s invalid wife and daughters. For several 
 days we enjoyed a hospitality given as freely to utter 
 strangers as if we had been relatives of the family. 
 
 Here we learned of a party about to start through 
 the mountains for East Tennessee, guided by Emanuel 
 Headen, who lived on the crest of the Blue Ridge. Our 
 friend Tom was to be one of the party, and other 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 2G3 
 
 refugees were coming over the Georgia border, where 
 Headen, better known in the settlement as "Man 
 Heady," was mustering his part}^. It now being near 
 Christmas, and the squire s family in daily expectation 
 of a relative, who was a captain in the Confederate 
 
 WE ARRIVE AT HEADEN S. 
 
 army, it was deemed prudent for us to go on to Headen s 
 under the guidance of Tom. Setting out at sunset on 
 the 23d of December, it was late in the evening when 
 we arrived at our destination, having walked nine miles 
 up the mountain trails over a light carpeting of snow. 
 Pausing in front of a diminutive cabin, through the 
 chinks of whose stone fireplace and stick chimney the 
 whole interior seemed to be red hot like a furnace, our 
 guide demanded, "Is Man Heady to hum ? " Receiving 
 
264 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 a sharp negative in reply, he continued, "Well, can 
 Tom get to stay all night 1 " At this the door flew open 
 and a skinny woman appeared, her homespun frock 
 pendent with tow-headed urchins. 
 
 " In course you can," she cried, leading the way into 
 the cabin. Never have I seen so unique a character as 
 this voluble, hatched-faced, tireless woman. Her skin 
 was like yellow parchment, and I doubt if she knew by 
 experience what it was to be sick or weary. She had 
 built the stake-and-cap fences that divided the fields, 
 and she boasted of the acres she had plowed. The 
 cabin was very small. Two bedsteads, with a narrow 
 alleyway between, occupied half the interior. One was 
 heaped with rubbish, and in the other slept the whole 
 family, consisting of father, mother, a daughter of six 
 teen, and two little boys. When I add that the room 
 contained a massive timber loom, a table, a spinning- 
 wheel, and a variety of rude seats, it will be understood 
 that we were crowded uncomfortably close to the fire. 
 Shrinking back as far as possible from the blaze, we 
 listened in amused wonder to the tongue of this seem 
 ingly untamed virago, who, nevertheless, proved to be 
 the kindest-hearted of women. She cursed, in her high, 
 pitched tones, for a pack of fools, the men who had 
 brought on the war. Roderic Norton, who lived down 
 the mountain, she expressed a profane desire to " stomp 
 through the turnpike " because at some time he had 
 stolen one of her hogs, marked, as to the ear, with 
 " two smooth craps an a slit in the left." Once only 
 she had journeyed into the low country, where she had 
 seen those twin marvels, steam cars and brick chim 
 neys. On this occasion she had driven a heifer to 
 
A HAED KOAD TO TKAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 265 
 
 market, making a journey of forty miles, walking be 
 side her horse and wagon, which she took along to 
 bring back the corn-meal received in payment for the 
 animal. Charged by her husband to bring back the 
 heifer bell, and being denied that musical instrument 
 by the purchaser, it immediately assumed more impor 
 tance to her mind than horse, wagon, and corn-meal. 
 Baffled at first, she proceeded to the pasture in the gray 
 of the morning, cornered the cow, and cut off the bell, 
 and, in her own picturesque language, " walked through 
 the streets of Walhalla cussinV Eising at midnight 
 she would fall to spinning with all her energy. To us, 
 waked from sleep on the floor by the humming of the 
 wheel, she seemed by the light of the low fire like a 
 witch in a sunbonnet, darting forward and back. 
 
 We remained there several days, sometimes at the 
 cabin and sometimes at a cavern in the rocks such as 
 abound throughout the mountains, and which are called 
 by the natives "rock houses." Many of the men at 
 that time were " outliers " that is, they camped in the 
 mountain fastnesses, receiving their food from some 
 member of the family. Some of these men, as now, 
 had their copper stills in the rock houses, while others, 
 more wary of the recruiting sergeant, wandered from 
 point to point, their only furniture a rifle and a bed- 
 quilt. On December 29, we were joined at the cavern 
 by Lieutenant Knapp and Captain Smith, Federal 
 officers, who had also made their way from Columbia, 
 and by three refugees from Georgia, whom I remember 
 as Old Man Tigue and the two Vincent boys. During 
 the night our party was to start across the mountains 
 for Tennessee. Tom Handcock was momentarily ex- 
 
266 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 pected to join us. Our guide was busy with prepara 
 tions for the journey. The night coming on icy cold, 
 and a cutting wind driving the smoke of the fire into 
 our granite house, we abandoned it at nine o clock and 
 descended to the cabin. Headen and his wife had gone 
 to the mill for a supply of corn-meal. Although it was 
 time for their return, we w r ere in nowise alarmed by 
 their absence, and formed a jovial circle about the roar 
 ing chimney. About midnight came a rap on the door. 
 Thinking it was Tom Handcock and some of his com 
 panions, I threw it open with an eager " Come in, boys ! " 
 The boys began to come in, stamping the snow from 
 their boots and rattling their muskets on the floor, 
 until the house was full, and yet others were on guard 
 without and crowding the porch. " Man Heady " and 
 his wife were already prisoners at the mill, and the 
 house had been picketed for some hours awaiting the 
 arrival of the other refugees, who had discovered the 
 plot just in time to keep out of the toils. Marshaled 
 in some semblance of military array, we were marched 
 down the mountain, over the frozen ground, to the 
 house of old Roderic Norton. The Yankee officers 
 were sent to an upper room, while the refugees were 
 guarded below, under the immediate eyes of the 
 soldiery. Making the best of our misfortune, our ori 
 ginal trio bounced promptly into a warm bed, which 
 had been recently deserted by some members of the 
 family, and secured a good night s rest. 
 
 Lieutenant Knapp, who had imprudently indulged 
 in frozen chestnuts on the mountain-side, was attacked 
 with violent cramps, and kept the household below 
 stairs in commotion all night humanely endeavoring 
 
A IIABD EOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 267 
 
 to assuage his agony. In the morning, although quite 
 recovered, he cunningly feigned a continuance of his 
 pains, and was left behind in the keeping of two 
 guards, who, having no suspicion of his deep designs, 
 left their guns in the house and went out to the spring 
 to wash. Knapp, instantly on the alert, possessed 
 himself of the muskets, and breaking the lock of one, 
 by a powerful effort he bent the barrel of the other, 
 arid dashed out through the garden. His keepers, 
 returning from the spring, shouted and rushed indoors 
 only to find their disabled pieces. They joined our 
 party later in the day, rendering a chapfallen account 
 of their detached service. 
 
 We had but a moderate march to make to the head 
 quarters of the battalion, where we were to spend the 
 night. Our guards we found kindly disposed toward 
 us, but bitterly upbraiding the refugees, whom they 
 saluted by the ancient name of Tories. Lieutenant 
 Cogdill, in command of the expedition, privately in 
 formed us that his sympathies were entirely ours, but 
 as a matter of duty he should guard us jealously while 
 under his military charge. If we could effect our 
 escape thereafter we had only to come to his mountain 
 home and he would conceal us until such time as he 
 could despatch us with safety over the borders. These 
 mountain soldiers were mostly of two classes, both op 
 posed to the war, but doing home-guard duty in lieu of 
 sterner service in the field. Numbers were of the out 
 lier class, who, wearied of continual hiding in the lau 
 rel brakes, had embraced this service as a compromise. 
 Many were deserters, some of whom had coolly set 
 at defiance the terms of their furloughs, while others 
 
268 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 had abandoned the camps in Virginia, and, versed in 
 mountain craft, had made their way along the Blue 
 Ridge and put in a heroic appearance in their native 
 valleys. 
 
 That night we arrived at a farm-house near the 
 river, where we found Major Parker, commanding the 
 battalion, with a small detachment billeted upon the 
 family. The farmer was a gray-haired old loyalist, 
 whom I shall always remember, leaning on his staff in 
 the middle of the kitchen, barred out from his place in 
 the chimney-corner by the noisy circle of his unbidden 
 guests. Major Parker was a brisk little man, clad in 
 brindle jeans of ancient cut, resplendent with brass 
 buttons. Two small piercing eyes, deep-set beside a 
 hawk s-beak nose, twinkled from under the rim of his 
 brown straw hat, whose crown was defiantly sur 
 mounted by a cock s feather. But he was exceedingly 
 jolly withal, and welcomed the Yankees with pompous 
 good-humor, despatching a sergeant for a jug of apple 
 jack, which was doubtless as inexpensive to the major 
 as his other hospitality. Having been a prisoner at 
 Chicago, he prided himself on his knowledge of dun 
 geon etiquette and the military courtesies due to our 
 rank. 
 
 We were awakened in the morning by high-pitched 
 voices in the room below. Lieutenant Sill and I had 
 passed the night in neighboring caverns of the same 
 miraculous feather-bed. We recognized the voice of 
 the major, informing some culprit that he had just ten 
 minutes to live, and that if he wished to send any 
 dying message to his wife or children then and there 
 was his last opportunity ; and then followed the tramp- 
 
A HAKD KOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 209 
 
 ing of the guards as they retired from his presence 
 with their victim. Hastily dressing, we hurried down 
 to find what was the matter. We were welcomed with 
 a cheery good-morning f mm the major, who seemed to 
 be in the sunniest of spirits. No sign of commotion 
 was visible. " Step out to the branch, gentlemen ; 
 your parole of honor is sufficient ; you 11 find towels 
 been a prisoner myself." And he restrained by a sign 
 the sentinel who would have accompanied us. At the 
 branch, in the yard, we found the other refugees trem 
 bling for their fate, and learned that Headen had gone 
 to the orchard in the charge of a file of soldiers with a 
 rope. While we were discussing the situation and 
 endeavoring to calm the apprehensions of the Georgi 
 ans, the executioners returned from the orchard, our 
 guide marching in advance and looking none the 
 worse for the rough handling he had undergone. The 
 brave fellow had confided his last message and been 
 thrice drawn up toward the branch of an apple-tree, 
 and as many times lowered for the information it was 
 supposed he would give. Nothing was learned, and 
 it is probable he had no secrets to disclose or conceal. 
 Lieutenant Cogdill, with two soldiers, was detailed 
 to conduct us to Quallatown, a Cherokee station at the 
 foot of the Great Smoky Mountains. Two horses 
 were allotted to the guard, and we set out in military 
 order, the refugees two and two in advance, Headen 
 and Old Man Tigue lashed together by the wrists, and 
 the rear brought up by the troopers on horseback. It 
 was the last day of the year, and although a winter 
 morning, the rare mountain air was as soft as spring. 
 We struck the banks of the Tuckasegee directly oppo- 
 
270 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 site to a feathery waterfall, which, leaping over a crag 
 of the opposite cliff, was dissipated in a glittering sheet 
 of spray before reaching the tops of the trees below. 
 As the morning advanced we fell into a more negligent 
 order of marching. The beautiful river, a wide, swift 
 current, flowing smoothly between thickly wooded 
 banks, swept by on our left, and on the right wild, 
 uninhabited mountains closed in the road. The two 
 Vincents were strolling along far in advance. Some 
 distance behind them were Headen and Tigue ; the re- 
 mainder of us following in a general group, Sill 
 mounted beside one of the guards. Advancing in this 
 order, a cry from the front broke on the stillness of 
 the woods, and we beheld Old Man Tigue gesticulating 
 wildly in the center of the road and screaming, " He s 
 gone ! He s gone ! Catch him ! " Sure enough the 
 old man was alone, the fragment of the parted strap 
 dangling from his outstretched wrist. The guard, who 
 was mounted, dashed off in pursuit, followed by the 
 lieutenant on foot, but both soon returned, giving over 
 the hopeless chase. Thoroughly frightened by the 
 events of the morning, Headen 1 had watched his op 
 portunity to make good his escape, and, as we after 
 ward learned, joined by Knapp and Tom Handcock, he 
 conducted a party safely to Tennessee. 
 
 At Webster, the court town of Jackson County, we 
 were quartered for the night in the jail, but accom 
 panied Lieutenant Cogdill to a venison breakfast at the 
 
 1 A short time ago the writer re- her mother. The old lady is blind, 
 ceived the following letter : " Cash- Old man Norton (Roderic), to whose 
 er s Valley, May 28, 1890. Old Man- house you were taken as prisoner, has 
 uel Headen and wife are living, but been dead for years. Old Tom Hand- 
 separated. Julia Ann is living with cock is dead. W. R. HOOPER." 
 
A HAKD EOAD TO TEAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 
 
 271 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF HEADEN. 
 
 parsonage with Mrs. Harris and her daughter, who had 
 called on us the evening before. Snow had fallen dur 
 ing the night, and when we continued our march it was 
 with the half -frozen slash crushing in and out, at every 
 
272 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 step, through our broken shoes. Before the close of 
 this dreary New- Year s day we came upon the scene of 
 one of those wild tragedies which are still of too fre 
 quent occurrence in those remote regions, isolated from 
 the strong arm of the law. Our road led down and 
 around the mountain-side, which on our right was a 
 barren, rocky waste, sloping gradually up from the in 
 ner curve of the arc we were describing. From this 
 direction arose a low wailing sound, and a little farther 
 on we came in view of a dismal group of men, women, 
 and mules. In the center of the gathering lay the life 
 less remains of a father and his two sons ; seated upon 
 the ground, swaying and weeping over their dead, were 
 the mother and wives of the young men. A burial 
 party, armed with spades and picks, waited by their 
 mules, while at a respectful distance from the mourners 
 stood a circle of neighbors and passers-by, some gazing 
 in silent sympathy, and others not hesitating to express 
 a quiet approval of the shocking tragedy. Between 
 two families, the Hoopers and the Watsons, a bitter 
 feud had long existed, and from time to time men of 
 each clan had fallen by the rifles of the other. The 
 Hoopers were loyal Union men, and if the Watsons 
 yielded any loyalty it was to the State of North Carolina. 
 On one occasion shortly before the final tragedy, when 
 one of the young Hoopers was sitting quietly in his 
 door, a light puff of smoke rose from the bushes and a 
 rifle-ball plowed through his leg. The Hoopers resolved 
 to begin the new year by wiping out their enemies, 
 root and branch. Before light they had surrounded 
 the log cabin of the Watsons and secured all the male 
 inmates, except one who, wounded, escaped through a 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 273 
 
 window. The latter afterward executed a singular re 
 venge by killing and skinning the dog of his enemies 
 and elevating the carcass on a pole in front of their 
 house. 
 
 After a brief stay at Quallatown we set out for Ashe- 
 ville, leaving behind our old and friendly guard. Be 
 sides the soldiers who now had us in charge, a Cherokee 
 Indian was allotted to each prisoner, with instructions 
 to keep his man constantly in view. To travel with an 
 armed Indian, sullen and silent, trotting at your heels 
 like a dog, with very explicit instructions to blow out 
 your brains at the first attempt to escape, is neither 
 cheerful nor ornamental, and we were a sorry-looking 
 party plodding silently along the road. Detachments 
 of prisoners were frequently passed over this route, 
 and regular stopping-places were established for the 
 nights. It was growing dusk when we arrived at the 
 first cantonment, which was the wing of a great barren 
 farm-house owned by Colonel Bryson. The place was 
 already occupied by a party of refugees, and we were 
 directed to a barn in the field beyond. We had brought 
 with us uncooked rations, and while two of the soldiers 
 went into the house for cooking utensils, the rest of the 
 party, including the Indians, were leaning in a line 
 upon the door-yard fence ; Sill and Lamson were at the 
 end of the line, where the fence cornered with a hedge. 
 Presently the two soldiers reappeared, one of them with 
 an iron pot in which to cook our meat, and the other 
 swinging in his hand a burning brand. In the wake of 
 these guides we followed down to the barn, and had 
 already started a fire when word came from the house 
 
 that for fear of rain we had best return to the corn- 
 is 
 
274 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 barn. It was not until we were again in the road that 
 I noticed the absence of Sill and Lamson. I hastened 
 to Smith and confided the good news. The fugitives 
 were missed almost simultaneously by the guards, who 
 first beat up the vicinity of the barn, and then, after 
 securing the remainder of us in a corn-crib, sent out 
 the Indians in pursuit. Faithful dogs, as these Chero- 
 kees had shown themselves during the day, they proved 
 but poor hunters when the game was in the bush, and 
 soon returned, giving over the chase. Half an hour 
 later they were all back in camp, baking their hoecake 
 in genuine aboriginal fashion, flattened on the surface 
 of a board and inclined to the heat of the fire. 1 
 
 That I was eager to follow goes without saying, but 
 our keepers had learned our slippery character. All 
 the way to Asheville, day and night, we were watched 
 with sleepless vigilance. There we gave our parole, 
 Smith and I, and secured thereby comfortable quarters 
 in the court-house with freedom to stroll about the 
 town. Old Man Tigue and the Vincents were com 
 mitted to the county jail. We were there a week, part 
 of my spare time being employed in helping a Con 
 federate company officer make out a correct pay-roll. 
 
 !Sill and Lamson reached Lou- Hoopers. So near were they that 
 
 don, Tennessee, in February. A they could distinguish a relative of 
 
 few days after their escape from the the Watsons leading the sheriff s 
 
 Indian guard they arrived at the party. One of the Hooper boys, 
 
 house of " Shooting John Brown," with characteristic recklessness and 
 
 who confided them to the care of to the consternation of the others, 
 
 the young Hoopers and a party of stood boldly out on a great rock in 
 
 their outlying companions. From plain sight of his pursuers (if they 
 
 a rocky cliff overlooking the valley had chanced to look up), half 
 
 of the Tuckasegee they could look resolved to try his rifle at the last 
 
 down on the river roads dotted with of the Watsons, 
 the sheriff s posse in pursuit of the 
 
A HAED EOAD TO TEAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 275 
 
 When our diminislied ranks had been recruited by 
 four more officers from Columbia, who had been cap 
 tured near the frozen summit of the Great Smoky 
 Mountains, we were started on a journey of sixty miles 
 to Greenville in South Carolina. The night before our 
 arrival we were quartered at a large farm-house. The 
 prisoners, together with the privates of the guard, 
 were allotted a comfortable room, which contained, 
 however, but a single bed. The officer in charge had 
 retired to enjoy the hospitality of the family. A flock 
 of enormous white pullets were roosting in the yard. 
 Procuring an iron kettle from the servants, who looked 
 with grinning approval upon all forms of chicken 
 stealing, we sallied forth to the capture. Twisting the 
 precious necks of half a dozen, we left them to die in 
 the grass while we pierced the side of a sweet-potato 
 mound. Loaded with our booty we retreated to the 
 house undiscovered, and spent the night in cooking 
 in one pot instead of sleeping in one bed. The fowls 
 were skinned instead of plucked, and, vandals that 
 we were, dressed on the backs of the picture-frames 
 taken down from the walls. 
 
 At Greenville we were lodged in the county jail to 
 await the reconstruction of railway-bridges, when we 
 were to be transported to Columbia. The jail was a 
 stone structure, two stories in height, with halls 
 through the center on both floors and square rooms 
 on each side. The lock was turned on our little party 
 of six in one of these upper rooms, having two grated 
 windows looking down on the walk. Through the door 
 which opened on the hall a square hole was cut as high 
 as one s face and large enough to admit the passage of 
 
276 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 a plate. Aside from the rigor of our confinement we 
 were treated with marked kindness. We had scarcely 
 walked about our dungeon before the jailer s daughters 
 were at the door with their autograph albums. In a 
 few days we were playing draughts and reading Bul- 
 wer, while the girls, without, were preparing our food 
 and knitting for us warm new stockings. Notwith 
 standing all these attentions, we were ungratefully dis 
 contented. At the end of the first week we were joined 
 by seven enlisted men, Ohio boys, who like ourselves 
 had been found at large in the mountains. From one 
 of these new arrivals we procured a case-knife and a 
 gun screw-driver. Down on the hearth before the fire 
 the screw-driver was placed on the thick edge of the 
 knife and belabored with a beef bone until a few 
 inches of its back were converted into a rude saw. 
 The grate in the window was formed of cast-iron 
 bars, passing perpendicularly through wrought-iron 
 plates, bedded in the stone jambs. If one of these per 
 pendicular bars, an inch and a half square, could be 
 cut through, the plates might be easily bent so as to 
 permit the egress of a man. With this end in view 
 we cautiously began operations. Outside of the bars a 
 piece of carpet had been stretched to keep out the raw 
 wind, and behind this we worked with safety. An 
 hour s toil produced but a few feathery filings on the 
 horizontal plate, but many hands make light work, 
 and steadily the cut grew deeper. We recalled the 
 adventures of Claude Duval, Dick Turpin, and Six- 
 teen-string Jack, and sawed away. During the avail 
 able hours of three days and throughout one entire 
 night the blade of steel was worrying, rasping, eating 
 
A HAED ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE. 
 
 277 
 
 GREENVILLE JAIL. 
 
 the iron bar. At last the grosser yielded to the tem 
 per and persistence of the finer metal. It was Satur 
 day night when the toilsome cut was completed, and 
 preparations were already under way for a speedy de 
 parture. The jail had always been regarded as too 
 secure to require a military guard, although soldiers 
 were quartered in the town ; besides, the night was so 
 cold that a crust had formed on the snow, and both 
 
278 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 citizens and soldiers, unused to such extreme weather, 
 would be likely to remain indoors. For greater se 
 crecy of movement, we divided into small parties, aim 
 ing to traverse different roads. I was to go with my 
 former companion, Captain Smith. Lots were cast to 
 determine the order of our going. First exit was 
 allotted to four of the Ohio soldiers. Made fast to 
 the grating outside were a bit of rope and strip of 
 blanket, along which to descend. Our room was 
 immediately over that of the jailer and his sleeping 
 family, and beneath our opening was a window, which 
 each man must pass in his descent. At eleven o clock 
 the exodus began. The first man was passed through 
 the bars amid a suppressed buzz of whispered cau 
 tions. His boots w r ere handed after him in a haver 
 sack. The rest of us, pressing our faces to the frosty 
 grating, listened breathlessly for the success of the 
 movement we could no longer see. Suddenly there 
 was a crash, and in the midst of mutterings of anger 
 we snatched in the rag ladder and restored the piece of 
 carpeting to its place outside the bars. Our pioneer 
 had hurt his hand against the rough stones, and, 
 floundering in mid-air, had dashed his leg through 
 sash and glass of the window below. "We could see 
 nothing of his further movements, but soon discov 
 ered the jailer standing in the door, looking up and 
 down the street, seemingly in the dark as to where the 
 crash came from. At last, wearied and worried and 
 disappointed, we lay down in our blankets upon the 
 hard floor. 
 
 At daylight we were awakened by the voice of Miss 
 Emma at the hole in the door. " Who got out last 
 
A HARD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 279 
 
 night I " " Welty." " Well, you was fools you did n t 
 all go ; pap would n t a stopped you. If you 11 keep 
 the break concealed until night we 11 let you all out." 
 The secret of the extreme kindness of our keepers was 
 explained. The jailer, a loyalist, retained his position 
 as a civil detail, thus protecting himself and sons from 
 conscription. Welty had been taken in the night be 
 fore, his bruises had been anointed, and he had been 
 provisioned for the journey. 
 
 We spent the day repairing our clothing and prepar 
 ing for the road. My long-heeled cowhides, "wife s 
 shoes," for which I had exchanged a uniform waistcoat 
 with a cotton-wooled old darky on the banks of the 
 Saluda, were about parting soles from uppers, and I 
 kept the twain together by winding my feet with stout 
 cords. At supper an extra ration was given us. As 
 soon as it was dark the old jailer appeared among us 
 and gave us a minute description of the different roads 
 leading west into the mountains, warning us of certain 
 dangers. At eleven o clock Miss Emma came with the 
 great keys, and we followed her, in single file, down 
 the stairs and out into the back yard of the jail. 
 From the broken gratings in front, the bit of rope and 
 strip of blanket were left dangling in the wind. 
 
 We made short work of leave-taking, Captain Smith 
 and I separating immediately from the rest, and push 
 ing hurriedly out of the sleeping town, by back streets, 
 into the bitter cold of the country roads. We stopped 
 once to warm at the pits of some negro charcoal-burn 
 ers, and before day dawned had traveled sixteen miles. 
 We found a sheltered nook on the side of the moun 
 tain open to the sun, where we made a bed of dry 
 
280 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 leaves and remained for the day. At night we set out 
 again, due west by the stars, but before we had gone 
 far my companion, who claimed to know something of 
 the country, insisted upon going to the left, and within 
 a mile turned into another left-hand road. I protested, 
 claiming that this course was leading us back. While 
 we were yet contending, we came to a bridgeless creek 
 whose dark waters barred our progress, and at the 
 same moment, as if induced by the thought of the 
 fording, the captain was seized with rheumatic pains 
 in his knees, so that he walked with difficulty. We 
 had just passed a house where lights were still show 
 ing, and to this we decided to return, hoping at least 
 to find shelter for Smith. Leaving him at the gate, I 
 went to a side porch and knocked at the door, which 
 was opened by a woman who proved to be friendly to 
 our cause, her husband being in the rebel army much 
 against his will. We were soon seated to the right 
 and left of her fireplace. Blazing pine-knots bril 
 liantly lighted the room, and a number of beds lined 
 the walls. A trundle-bed before the fire was occupied 
 by a very old woman, who was feebly moaning with 
 rheumatism. Our hostess shouted into the old lady s 
 ear, " Granny, them s Yankees." " Be they ! " said she, 
 peering at us with her poor old eyes. " Be ye selliu 
 tablecloths?" When it was explained that we were 
 just from the war, she demanded, in an absent way, 
 to know if we were Britishers. We slept in one of 
 the comfortable beds, and, as a measure of prudence, 
 passed the day in the woods, leaving at nightfall with 
 well-filled haversacks. Captain Smith was again the 
 victim of his rheumatism, and directing me to his 
 
A HARD EOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 281 
 
 friends at Caesar s Head, where I was to wait for him 
 until Monday (it then being Tuesday), he returned to 
 the house, little thinking that we were separating 
 forever. 
 
 I traveled very rapidly all night, hoping to make the 
 whole distance, but day was breaking when I reached 
 the head waters of the Saluda. Following up the 
 stream, I found a dam on which I crossed, and although 
 the sun was rising and the voices of children mingled 
 with the lowing of cattle in the frosty air, I ran across 
 the fields and gained a secure hiding-place on the side 
 of the mountain. It was a long, solitary day, and glad 
 was I when it grew sufficiently dark to turn the little 
 settlement and get into the main road up the mountain. 
 It was six zigzag miles to the top, the road turning on 
 log abutments, well anchored with stones, and not a 
 habitation on the way until I should reach Bishop s 
 house, on the crest of the divide. Half-way up I paused 
 before a big summer hotel, looming up in the woods 
 like the ghost of a deserted factory, its broken windows 
 and rotting gateways redoubling the solitude of the 
 bleak mountain-side. Shortly before reaching Bishop s, 
 " wife s shoes" became quite unmanageable. One had 
 climbed up my leg half-way to the knee, and I knocked 
 at the door with the wreck of the other in my hand. 
 My visit had been preceded but a day by a squad of 
 partizan raiders, who had carried away the bedding and 
 driven off the cattle of my new friends, and for this 
 reason the most generous hospitality could offer no 
 better couch than the hard floor. Stretched thereon in 
 close proximity to the dying fire, the cold air coming 
 up through the wide cracks between the hewn planks 
 
282 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 seemed to be cutting me in sections as with icy saws, 
 so that I was forced to establish myself lengthwise on a 
 broad puncheon at the side of the room and under the 
 table. 
 
 In this family " the gray mare was the better horse," 
 and poor Bishop, an inoffensive man, and a cripple 
 withal, was wedded to a regular Xantippe. It was 
 evident that unpleasant thoughts were dominant in the 
 woman s mind as she proceeded sullenly and vigorously 
 with preparations for breakfast. The bitter bread of 
 charity was being prepared with a vengeance for the 
 unwelcome guest. Premonitions of the coming storm 
 flashed now and then in lightning cuffs on the ears of 
 the children, or crashed venomously among the pottery 
 in the fireplace. At last the repast was spread, the 
 table still standing against the wall, as is the custom 
 among mountain housewives. The good-natured hus 
 band now advanced cheerfully to lend a hand in re 
 moving it into the middle of the room. It was when 
 one of the table-legs overturned the swill-pail that the 
 long pent-up storm burst in a torrent of invective. 
 The prospect of spending several days here was a very 
 gloomy outlook, and the relief was great when it was 
 proposed to pay a visit to Neighbor Case, whose house 
 was in the nearest valley, and with whose sons Captain 
 Smith had lain in concealment for some weeks on a 
 former visit to the mountains. I was curious to see his 
 sons, who were famous outliers. From safe cover they 
 delighted to pick off a recruiting officer or a tax-in- 
 kind collector, or tumble out of their saddles the last 
 drivers of a wagon-train. These lively young men had 
 been in unusual demand of late, and their hiding-place 
 
A HAKD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 
 
 283 
 
 was not known even to the faithful, so I was condemned 
 to the society of an outlier of a less picturesque variety. 
 Pink Bishop was a blacksmith, and just the man to 
 forge me a set of shoes from the leather Neighbor Case 
 had already provided. The little still-shed, concealed 
 
 PINK BISHOP AT THE STILL. 
 
 from the road only by a low hill, was considered an 
 unsafe harbor, on account of a fresh fall of snow with 
 its sensibility to tell-tale impressions. So we set up 
 our shoe-factory in a deserted cabin, well back on the 
 mountain and just astride of that imaginary line 
 which divides the Carolinas. From the fireplace we dug 
 away the corn-stalks, heaping the displaced bundles 
 
284 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 against broken windows and windy cracks, and other 
 wise secured our retreat against frost and enemies. 
 Then ensued three days of primitive shoemaking. As 
 may be inferred, the shoes made no pretension to 
 style. I sewed the short seams at the sides, and split 
 the pegs from a section of seasoned maple. Rudely 
 constructed as these shoes were, they bore their wearer 
 triumphantly into the promised land. 
 
 I restrained my eagerness to be going until Monday 
 night, the time agreed upon, when, my disabled com 
 panion not putting in an appearance, I set out for my 
 old friend s in Casher s Valley. I got safely over a long 
 wooden bridge within half a mile of a garrisoned town. 
 I left the road, and turned, as I believed, away from 
 the town; but I was absolutely lost in the darkness of a 
 snow-storm, and forced to seek counsel as well as shel 
 ter. In this plight I pressed on toward a light glim 
 mering faintly through the blinding snow. It led me 
 into the shelter of the porch to a small brown house, 
 cut deeply beneath the low eaves, and protected at the 
 sides by flanking bedrooms. My knock was answered 
 by a girlish voice, and from the ensuing parley, 
 through the closed door, I learned that she was the 
 daughter of a Baptist exhorter, and that she was alone 
 in the house, her brother being away at the village, and 
 her father, who preached the day before at some dis 
 tance, riot being expected home until the next morning. 
 Reassured by my civil-toned inquiries about the road, 
 she unfastened the door and came out to the porch, 
 where she proceeded to instruct me how to go on, which 
 was just the thing I least desired to do. By this time 
 I had discovered the political complexion of the family, 
 
A HAKD KOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 
 
 285 
 
 and, making myself known, was instantly invited in, 
 with the assurance that her father would be gravely 
 
 A-: 
 
 displeased if she permitted me to go on before he re 
 turned. I had interrupted my little benefactress in 
 
286 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 the act of writing a letter, on a sheet of foolscap, 
 which lay on an old-fashioned stand in one corner of 
 the room, beside the ink-bottle and the candlestick. 
 In the diagonal corner stood a tall bookcase, the 
 crowded volumes nestling lovingly behind the glass 
 doors the only collection of the sort that I saw at 
 any time in the mountains. A feather-bed was spread 
 upon the floor, the head raised by means of a turned- 
 down chair, and here I was reposing comfortably when 
 the brother arrived. It was late in the forenoon when 
 the minister reached home, his rickety wagon creaking 
 through the snow, and drawn at a snail s pace by a 
 long-furred, knock-kneed horse. The tall but not very 
 clerical figure was wrapped in a shawl and swathed 
 round the throat with many turns of a woolen tippet. 
 The daughter ran out with eagerness to greet her 
 father and tell of the wonderful arrival. I was re 
 ceived with genuine delight. It was the enthusiasm 
 of a patriot eager to find a sympathetic ear for his 
 long-repressed views. 1 
 
 When night came and no entreaties could prevail to 
 detain me over another day, the minister conducted 
 me some distance in person, passing me on with ample 
 
 1 The Eev. James H. Duckworth, asked you, Have I ever seen you 
 now postmaster of Brevard, Tran- before? Just then I observed 
 sylvaiiia County, North Carolina, your uniform. <Oh, yes, said I; 
 and in 1868 member of the State I know who it is now. . . . This 
 Constitutional Convention, in his daughter of whom you speak mar- 
 letter of June 24, 1890, says: "I ried about a year after, and is liv- 
 have not forgotten those things of ing in Morgantown, North Carolina, 
 which you speak. I can almost see about one hundred miles from here. 
 you (even in imagination) standing Hattie (for that is her name) is a 
 at the fire when I drove up to the pious, religious woman." 
 gate and went into the house and 
 
A HABD KOAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 287 
 
 directions to another exhorter, who was located for that 
 night at the house of a miller who kept a ferocious dog. 
 I came first to the pond and then to the mill, and got 
 into the house without encountering the dog. Aware 
 of the necessity of arriving before bedtime, I had made 
 such speed as to find the miller s family still lingering 
 about the fireplace with preacher number two seated 
 in the lay circle. That night I slept with the parson, 
 who sat up in bed in the morning, and after disencum 
 bering himself of a striped extinguisher nightcap, elec 
 trified the other sleepers by announcing that this was 
 the first time he had ever slept with a Yankee. After 
 breakfast the parson, armed with staff and scrip, signi 
 fied his purpose to walk with me during the day, as it 
 was no longer dangerous to move by daylight. We 
 must have been traveling the regular Baptist road, 
 for we lodged that night at the house of another lay 
 brother. The minister continued with me a few miles 
 in the morning, intending to put me in the company of 
 a man who was going toward Casher s Valley on a hunt 
 ing expedition. When we reached his house, however, 
 the hunter had gone ; so, after parting with my guide, 
 I set forward through the woods, following the tracks 
 of the hunter s horse. The shoe-prints were sometimes 
 plainly impressed in the snow, and again for long dis 
 tances over dry leaves and bare ground but an occa 
 sional trace could be found. It was past noon when I 
 arrived at the house where the hunters were assembled. 
 Quite a number of men were gathered in and about the 
 porch, just returned from the chase. Blinded by the 
 snow over which I had been walking in the glare of the 
 sun, I blundered up the steps, inquiring without much 
 
288 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 tact for the rider wlio had preceded me, and was no 
 little alarmed at receiving a rude and gruff reception. 
 I continued in suspense for some time, until my man 
 found an opportunity to inform me that there were 
 suspicious persons present, thus accounting for his 
 unexpected manner. The explanation was made at a 
 combination meal, serving for both dinner and supper, 
 and consisting exclusively of beans. I set out at twi 
 light to make a walk of thirteen miles to the house of 
 our old friend Esquire Hooper. Eager for the cordial 
 welcome which I knew awaited me, and nerved by the 
 frosty air, I sped over the level wood road, much of the 
 way running instead of walking. Three times I came 
 upon bends of the same broad rivulet. Taking off my 
 shoes and stockings and rolling up my trousers above 
 my knees, I tried the first passage. Flakes of broken 
 ice were eddying against the banks, and before gaining 
 the middle of the stream my feet and ankles ached with 
 the cold, the sharp pain increasing at every step until 
 I threw my blanket on the opposite bank and spring 
 ing upon it wrapped my feet in its dry folds. Rising a 
 little knoll soon after making the third ford, I came 
 suddenly upon the familiar stopping-place of my former 
 journey. It was scarcely more than nine o clock, and 
 the little hardships of the journey from Caesar s Head 
 seemed but a cheap outlay for the joy of the meeting 
 with friends so interested in the varied fortunes of my 
 self and my late companions. Together we rejoiced at 
 the escape of Sill and Lamson, and made merry over 
 the vicissitudes of my checkered career. Here I first 
 learned of the safe arrival in Tennessee of Knapp, Man 
 Heady, and old Tom Handcock. 
 
A HARD EGAD TO TEAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 289 
 
 After a day s rest I climbed the mountains to the 
 Headen cabin, now presided over by the heroine of the 
 heifer-bell, in the absence of her fugitive husband. Sad 
 dling her horse, she took me the next evening to join a 
 lad who was about starting for Shooting Creek. Young 
 Green was awaiting my arrival, and after a brief delay 
 we were off on a journey of something like sixty miles; 
 the journey, however, was pushed to a successful ter 
 mination by the help of information gleaned by the 
 way. It was at the close of the last night s march, 
 which had been long and uneventful, except that we 
 had surmounted no fewer than three snow-capped 
 ridges, that my blacksmith s shoes, soaked to a pulp 
 by the wet snow, gave out altogether. On the top of 
 the last ridge I found myself panting in the yellow light 
 of the rising sun, the sad wrecks of my two shoes dang 
 ling from my hands, a wilderness of beauty spread out 
 before me, and a sparkling field of frosty forms beneath 
 my tingling feet. Stretching far into the west toward 
 the open country of East Tennessee was the limitless 
 wilderness of mountains, drawn like mighty furrows 
 across the toilsome way, the pale blue of the uttermost 
 ridges fading into an imperceptible union with the sky. 
 A log house was in sight down in the valley, a perpen 
 dicular column of smoke rising from its single chimney. 
 Toward this we picked our way, I in my stocking feet, 
 and my boy guide confidently predicting that we should 
 find the required cobbler. Of course we found him in a 
 country where every family makes its own shoes as 
 much as its own bread, and he was ready to serve the 
 traveler without pay. Notwithstanding our night s 
 work, we tarried only for the necessary repairs, and 
 
290 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 just before sunset we looked down upon the scattering 
 settlement of Shooting Creek. Standing on the bleak 
 brow of " Chunky Grail " Mountain, my guide recog 
 nized the first familiar object on the trip, which was 
 the roof of his uncle s house. At Shooting Creek I was 
 the guest of the Widow Kitchen, whose house was the 
 chief one in the settlement, and whose estate boasted 
 two slaves. The husband had fallen by an anonymous 
 bullet while salting his cattle on the mountain in an 
 early year of the war. 
 
 On the day following my arrival I was conducted 
 over a ridge to another creek, where I met two profes 
 sional guides, Quince Edmonston and Mack Hooper. 
 As I came upon the pair parting a thicket of laurel, 
 with their long rifles at a shoulder, I instantly recog 
 nized the coat of the latter as the snuff -colored sack in 
 which I had last seen Lieutenant Larnson. It had 
 been given to the man at Chattanooga, where these 
 same guides had conducted my former companions in 
 safety a month before. Quince Edmonston, the elder, 
 had led numerous parties of Yankee officers over the 
 Wacheesa trail for a consideration of a hundred dol 
 lars, pledged to be paid by each officer at Chattanooga 
 or Nashville. 
 
 Two other officers were concealed near by, and a 
 number of refugees, awaiting a convoy, and an ar 
 rangement was rapidly made with the guides. The 
 swollen condition of the Valley Eiver made it neces 
 sary to remain for several days at Shooting Creek be 
 fore setting out. Mack and I were staying at the 
 house of Mrs. Kitchen. It was on the afternoon of a 
 memorable Friday, the rain still falling in torrents 
 
A HAKD ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 
 
 291 
 
 without, that I sat before the fire poring over a small 
 Sunday-school book, the only printed book in the 
 
 house, if not in the settlement. Mack Hooper was sit 
 ting by the door. Attracted by a rustling sound in 
 
292 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 his direction, I looked up just in time to see his heels 
 disappearing under the nearest bed. Leaping to my 
 feet with an instinctive impulse to do likewise, I was 
 confronted in the doorway by a stalwart Confederate 
 officer fully uniformed and armed. Behind him was 
 his quartermaster-sergeant. This was a government 
 party collecting the tax in kind, which at that time 
 throughout the Confederacy was the tenth part of all 
 crops and other farm productions. It was an ugly 
 surprise. Seeing no escape, I ventured a remark on 
 the weather : only a stare in reply. A plan of escape 
 flashed through my mind like an inspiration. I seated 
 myself quietly, and for an instant bent my eyes upon 
 the printed pages. The two soldiers had advanced to 
 the corner of the chimney nearest the door, inquiring 
 for the head of the family, and keeping their eyes riv 
 eted on my hostile uniform. At this juncture I was 
 seized with a severe fit of coughing. With one hand 
 upon my chest, I walked slowly past the men, and laid 
 my carefully opened book face down upon a chest. 
 With another step or two I was in the porch, and 
 bounding into the kitchen I sprang out through a 
 window already opened by the women for my exit. 
 Away I sped bareheaded through the pelting rain, now 
 crashing through thick underbrush, now up to my 
 waist in swollen streams, plunging on and on, only 
 mindful to select a course that would baffle horsemen 
 in pursuit. After some miles of running I took cover 
 behind a stack, within view of the road which Mack 
 must take in retreating to the other settlement ; and 
 sure enough here he was, coming down the road with 
 my cap and haversack, which was already loaded for 
 
A HARD 110 AD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 293 
 
 the western journey. Mack had remained undiscov 
 ered under the bed, an interested listener to the con 
 versation that ensued. The officer had been assured 
 that I was a friendly scout ; but, convinced of the con 
 trary by my flight, he had departed swearing he would 
 capture that Yankee before morning if he had to 
 search the whole settlement. So alarmed were we for 
 our safety that we crossed that night into a third val 
 ley and slept in the loft of a horse-barn. 
 
 On Sunday our expedition assembled on a hillside 
 overlooking Shooting Creek, where our friends in the 
 secret of the movement came up to bid us adieu. With 
 guides we were a party of thirteen or fourteen, but only 
 three of us officers who were to pay for our safe con 
 duct. Each man carried his supply of bread and meat 
 and bedding. Some were wrapped in faded bed-quilts 
 and some in tattered army blankets; nearly all wore 
 ragged clothes, broken shoes, and had unkempt beards. 
 We arrived upon a mountain -side overlooking the set 
 tlement of Peach Tree, and were awaiting the friendly 
 shades of night under which to descend to the house of 
 the man who was to put us across Valley River. Pre 
 mature darkness was accompanied with torrents of 
 rain, through which we followed our now uncertain 
 guides. At last the light of the cabin we were seeking 
 gleamed humidly through the trees. Most of the family 
 fled into the outhouses at our approach, some of them 
 not reappearing until we were disposed for sleep in 
 a half -circle before the fire. The last arrivals were 
 two tall women in homespun dresses and calico sun- 
 bonnets. They slid timidly in at the door, with averted 
 faces, and then with a rush and a bounce covered 
 
294 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 themselves out of sight in a bed, where they had prob 
 ably been sleeping in the same clothing when we ap 
 proached the house. Here we learned that a cavalcade 
 of four hundred Texan Eangers had advanced into 
 Tennessee by the roads on the day before. Our guides, 
 familiar with the movements of these dreaded troopers, 
 calculated that with the day s delay enforced by the 
 state of the river a blow would have been struck and 
 the marauders would be in full retreat before we should 
 arrive on the ground. We passed that day concealed 
 in a stable, and as soon as it was sufficiently dark we 
 proceeded in a body to the bank of the river, attended 
 by a man and a horse. The stream was narrow, but 
 the current was full and swift. The horse breasted the 
 flood with difficulty, but he bore us all across one at a 
 time, seated behind the farmer. 
 
 We had now left behind us the last settlement, and 
 before us lay only wild and uninhabited mountains. 
 The trail we traveled was an Indian path extending for 
 nearly seventy miles through an uninhabited wilder 
 ness. Instead of crossing the ridges it follows the trend 
 of the range, winding for the most part along the crests 
 of the divides. The occasional traveler, having once 
 mounted to its level, pursues his solitary way with lit 
 tle climbing. 
 
 Early in the morning of the fourth day our little 
 party was assembled upon the last mountain overlook 
 ing the open country of East Tennessee. Some of us 
 had been wandering in the mountains for the whole 
 winter. We were returning to a half -forgotten world 
 of farms and fences, roads and railways. Below us 
 stretched the Tellico River away toward the line of 
 
A HAED ROAD TO TRAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 295 
 
 towns marking the course of the Nashville and Chatta 
 nooga Eailroad. One of the guides who had ventured 
 down to the nearest house returned with information 
 
 THE MEETING WITH THE SECOND OHIO HEAVY ARTILLERY. 
 
 that the four hundred Texan Rangers had burned the 
 depot at Philadelphia Station the day before, but were 
 now thought to be out of the country. We could see 
 the distant smoke arising from the ruins. Where the 
 river flowed out of the mountains were extensive iron- 
 
290 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 works, the property of a loyal citizen, and in front of 
 his house we halted for consultation. He regretted 
 that we had shown ourselves so soon, as the rear-guard 
 of the marauders had passed the night within sight of 
 where we now stood. Our nearest pickets were at 
 Loudon, thirty miles distant on the railway, and for 
 this station we were advised to make all speed. 
 
 For half a mile the road ran along the bank of the 
 river, and then turned around a wooded bluff to the 
 right. Opposite this bluff and accessible by a shal 
 low ford was another hill, where it was feared that 
 some of the Rangers were still lingering about their 
 camp. As we came to the turn in the road our com 
 pany was walking rapidly in Indian file, guide Edmon- 
 ston and I at the front. Coming around the bluff from 
 the opposite direction was a countryman mounted on 
 a powerful gray mare. His overcoat was army blue, 
 but he wore a bristling fur cap, and his rifle was slung 
 on his back. At sight of us he turned in his saddle to 
 shout to some one behind, and bringing his gun to 
 bear came tearing and swearing down the road, spat 
 tering the gravel under the big hoofs of the gray. 
 Close at his heels rode two officers in Confederate gray 
 uniforms, and a motley crowd of riders closed up the 
 road behind. In an instant the guide and I were sur 
 rounded, the whole cavalcade leveling their guns at 
 the thicket and calling on our companions, who could 
 be plainly heard crashing through the bushes, to halt. 
 The dress of but few of our captors could be seen, 
 nearly all being covered with rubber talmas ; but their 
 mounts, including mules as well as horses, were 
 equipped with every variety of bridle and saddle to be 
 
A HAKD ROAD TO TEAVEL OUT OF DIXIE 297 
 
 imagined. I knew at a glance that this was no body 
 of our cavalry. If we were in the hands of the 
 Rangers, the fate of the guides and refugees would be 
 the hardest. I thought they might spare the lives of 
 the officers. "Who are you? What are you doing 
 here ? " demanded the commander, riding up to us and 
 scrutinizing our rags. I hesitated a moment, and then, 
 throwing off the blanket I wore over my shoulders, 
 simply said, " You can see what I am." My rags were 
 the rags of a uniform, and spoke for themselves. 
 
 Our captors proved to be a company of the 2d Ohio 
 Heavy Artillery, in pursuit of the marauders into 
 whose clutches we thought we had fallen. The farmer 
 on the gray mare was the guide of the expedition, and 
 the two men uniformed as rebel officers were Union 
 scouts. The irregular equipment of the animals, 
 which had excited my suspicion most, as well as the 
 animals themselves, had been hastily impressed from 
 the country about the village of Loudon, where the 2d 
 Ohio was stationed. On the following evening, which 
 was the 4th of March, the day of the second inaugura 
 tion of President Lincoln, we walked into Loudon and 
 gladly surrendered ourselves to the outposts of the 
 Ohio Heavy Artillery. 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BRECKINEIDGE 
 
 BY JOHN TAYLOR WOOD 
 
 AS one of the aides of President Jefferson Davis, I 
 ~L\~ left Richmond with him and his cabinet on April 
 2, 1865, the night of evacuation, and accompanied him 
 through Virginia, the Carolinas, and G-eorgia, until his 
 capture. Except Lieutenant Barn well, I was the only 
 one of the party who escaped. After our surprise, I 
 was guarded by a trooper, a German, who had appro 
 priated my horse and most of my belongings. I deter 
 mined, if possible, to escape ; but after witnessing Mr. 
 Davis s unsuccessful attempt, I was doubtful of suc 
 cess. However, I consulted him, and he advised me 
 to try. Taking my guard aside, I asked him, by signs 
 (for he could speak little or no English), to accom 
 pany me outside the picket-line to the swamp, show 
 ing him at the same time a twenty-dollar gold piece. 
 He took it, tried the weight of it in his hands, and put 
 it between his teeth. Fully satisfied that it was not 
 spurious, he escorted me with his carbine to the 
 stream, the banks of which were lined with a few 
 straggling alder-bushes and thick saw-grass. I mo 
 tioned him to return to camp, only a few rods distant. 
 He shook his head, saying, " Nein, nein." I gave him 
 another twenty-dollar gold piece; he chinked them 
 together, and held up two fingers. I turned my 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEKAL BKECKINRIDGE 299 
 
 pockets inside out, and then, satisfied that I had no 
 more, he left me. 
 
 Creeping a little farther into the swamp, I lay con 
 cealed for about three hoars in the most painful posi 
 tion, sometimes moving a few yards almost venire a 
 terre to escape notice ; for I was within hearing of the 
 camps on each side of the stream, and often when the 
 soldiers came down for water, or to water their horses, 
 I was within a few yards of them. Some two hours 
 or more passed thus before the party moved. The 
 wagons left first, then the bugles sounded, and the 
 president started on one of his carriage-horses, fol 
 lowed by his staff and a squadron of the enemy. 
 Shortly after their departure I saw some one leading 
 two abandoned horses into the swamp, and recognized 
 Lieutenant Barn well of our escort. Secreting the 
 horses, we picked up from the debris of the camp parts 
 of two saddles and bridles, and with some patching 
 and tying fitted out our horses, as sad and war-worn 
 animals as ever man bestrode. Though hungry and 
 tired, we gave the remains of the camp provisions to 
 a Mr. Fenn for dinner. He recommended us to Widow 
 Paulk s, ten miles distant, an old lady rich in cattle 
 alone. 
 
 The day after my escape, I met Judah P. Benjamin 
 as M. Bonfals, a French gentleman traveling for in 
 formation, in a light wagon, with Colonel Leovie, who 
 acted as interpreter. With goggles on, his beard grown, 
 a hat well over his face, and a large cloak hiding his 
 figure, no one would have recognized him as the late 
 secretary of state of the Confederacy. I told him of 
 the capture of Mr. Davis and his party, and made an 
 
300 ADVENTUEES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 engagement to meet him near Madison, Florida, and 
 there decide upon our future movements. He was 
 anxious to push on, and left us to follow more leisurely, 
 passing as paroled soldiers returning home. For the 
 next three days we traveled as fast as our poor horses 
 would permit, leading or driving them ; for even if they 
 had been strong enough, their backs were in such a 
 condition that we could not ride. We held on to them 
 simply in the hope that we might be able to dispose of 
 them or exchange them to advantage ; but we finally 
 were forced to abandon one. 
 
 On the 13th we passed through Yaldosta, the first 
 place since leaving Washington, in upper Georgia, in 
 which we were able to purchase anything. Here I 
 secured two hickory shirts and a pair of socks, a most 
 welcome addition to my outfit ; for, except what I stood 
 in, I had left all my baggage behind. Near Valdosta 
 we found Mr. Osborne Barn well, an uncle of my young 
 friend, a refugee from the coast of South Carolina, 
 where he had lost a beautiful estate, surrounded with 
 all the comforts and elegances which wealth and a 
 refined taste could offer. Here in the pine forests, as 
 far as possible from the paths of war, and almost out 
 side of civilization, he had brought his family of ladies 
 and children, and with the aid of his servants, most of 
 whom had followed him, had built with a few tools 
 a rough log cabin with six or eight rooms, but without 
 nails, screws, bolts, or glass almost as primitive a 
 building as Eobinson Crusoe s. But, in spite of all 
 drawbacks, the ingenuity and deft hands of the ladies 
 had given to the premises an air of comfort and refine 
 ment that was most refreshing. Here I rested two 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINEIDGE 301 
 
 days, enjoying the company of this charming family, 
 with whom Lieutenant Barnwell remained. On the 
 15th I crossed into Florida, and rode to General Finne- 
 gan s, near Madison. Here I met General Breckinridge, 
 the late secretary of war of the Confederacy, alias 
 Colonel Cabell, and his aide, Colonel Wilson, a pleasant 
 encounter for both parties. Mr. Benjamin had been in 
 the neighborhood, but, hearing that the enemy were in 
 Madison, had gone off at a tangent. We were fully 
 posted as to the different routes to the seaboard by 
 General Finnegan, and discussed with him the most 
 feasible way of leaving the country. I inclined to the 
 eastern coast, and this was decided on. I exchanged 
 my remaining horse with General Finnegan for a better, 
 giving him fifty dollars to boot. Leaving Madison, we 
 crossed the Suwanee River at Moody s Ferry, and took 
 the old St. Augustine road, but seldom traveled in late 
 years, as it leads through a pine Avilderness, and there 
 is one stretch of twenty miles with only water of bad 
 quality, at the Diable Sinks. I rode out of my way 
 some fifteen miles to Mr. Yulee s, formerly senator of 
 the United States, and afterward Confederate senator, 
 hoping to meet Mr. Benjamin ; but he was too wily to 
 be found at the house of a friend. Mr. Yulee was ab 
 sent on my arrival, but Mrs. Yulee, a charming lady, 
 and one of a noted family of beautiful women, wel 
 comed me heartily. Mr. Yulee returned during the 
 night from Jacksonville, and gave me the first news of 
 what was going on in the world that I had had for 
 nearly a month, including the information that Mr. 
 Davis and party had reached Hilton Head on their 
 way north. 
 
302 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 Another day s ride brought us to the house of the 
 brothers William and Samuel Owens, two wealthy and 
 hospitable gentlemen, near Orange Lake. Here I re 
 joined General Breckinridge, and we were advised to 
 secure the services and experience of Captain Dickin 
 son. We sent to Waldo for him, and a most valuable 
 friend he proved. During the war he had rendered 
 notable services; among others he had surprised and 
 captured the United States gunboat Columbine on the 
 St. John s Eiver, one of whose small boats he had re 
 tained, and kept concealed near the banks of the river. 
 This boat with two of his best men he now put at our 
 disposal, with orders to meet us on the upper St. John. 
 
 We now passed through a much more interesting 
 country than the two or three hundred miles of pines 
 we had just traversed. It was better watered, the 
 forests were more diversified with varied species, occa 
 sionally thickets or hummocks were met with, and later 
 these gave place to swamps and everglades with a tropi 
 cal vegetation. The road led by Silver Spring, the clear 
 and crystal waters of which show at the depth of 
 hundreds of feet almost as distinctly as though seen 
 through air. 
 
 We traveled incognito, known only to good friends, 
 who sent us stage by stage from one to another, and 
 by all we were welcomed most kindly. Besides those 
 mentioned, I recall with gratitude the names of Judge 
 Dawkins, Mr. Mann, Colonel Summers, Major Stork, 
 all of whom overwhelmed us with kindness, offering us 
 of everything they had. Of money they were as bare 
 as ourselves, for Confederate currency had disappeared 
 as suddenly as snow before a warm sun, and green- 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINKIDGE 303 
 
 backs were as yet unknown. Before leaving our 
 friends, we laid in a three weeks supply of stores; 
 for we could not depend upon obtaining any further 
 south. 
 
 On May 25 we struck the St. John s Eiver at Fort 
 Butler, opposite Yolusia, where we met Russell and 
 O Toole, two of Dickinson s command, in charge of the 
 boat; and two most valuable and trustworthy com 
 rades they proved to be, either in camp or in the boat, 
 as hunters or fishermen. The boat was a man-of-war s 
 small four-oared gig ; her outfit was scanty, but what 
 was necessary we rapidly improvised. Here General 
 Breckinridge and I gave our horses to our compan 
 ions, and thus ended my long ride of a thousand miles 
 from Virginia. 
 
 Stowing our supplies away, we bade good-by to our 
 friends, and started up the river with a fair wind. 
 Our party consisted of General Breckinridge ; his aide, 
 Colonel Wilson of Kentucky; the general s servant, 
 Tom, who had been with him all through the war ; be 
 sides Russell, O Toole, and I, six in all. With our 
 stores, arms, etc., it was a tight fit to get into the boat; 
 there was no room, to lie down or to stretch. At night 
 we landed, and, like old campaigners, were soon com 
 fortable. But at midnight the rain came down in 
 bucketfuls, and continued till nearly morning; and, 
 notwithstanding every effort, a large portion of our 
 supplies were soaked and rendered worthless, and, 
 what was worse, some of our powder shared the same 
 fate. 
 
 Morning broke on a thoroughly drenched and un 
 happy company; but a little rum and water, with a 
 
304 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 corn-dodger and the rising sun, soon stirred us, and 
 with a fair wind we made a good day s run, some 
 thirty-five miles. Except the ruins of two huts, there 
 was no sign that a human being had ever visited these 
 waters; for the war and the occasional visit of a 
 gunboat had driven off the few settlers. The river 
 gradually became narrower and more tortuous as we 
 approached its head waters. The banks are generally 
 low, with a few sandy elevations, thickly wooded or 
 swampy. Occasionally we passed a small opening, or 
 savanna, on which were sometimes feeding a herd of 
 wild cattle and deer ; at the latter we had several pot 
 shots, all wide. Alligators, as immovable as the logs 
 on which they rested, could be counted by hundreds, 
 and of all sizes up to twelve or fifteen feet. Occasion 
 ally, as we passed uncomfortably near, we could not 
 resist, even with our scant supply of ammunition, giv 
 ing them a little cold lead between the head and shoul 
 ders, the only vulnerable place. With a fair wind we 
 sailed the twelve miles across Lake Monroe, a pretty 
 sheet of water, the deserted huts of Enterprise arid 
 Mellon ville on each side. Above the lake the river be 
 came still narrower and more tortuous, dividing some 
 times into numerous branches, most of which proved 
 to be mere culs-de-sac. The long moss, reaching from 
 the overhanging branches to the water, gave to the 
 surroundings a most weird and funereal aspect. 
 
 On May 29 we reached Lake Harney, whence we 
 determined to make the portage to Indian Eiver. 
 O Toole was sent to look for some means of moving 
 our boat. He returned next day with two small black 
 bulls yoked to a pair of wheels such as are used by 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BRECKINEIDGE 305 
 
 lumbermen. Their owner was a compound of Cauca 
 sian, African, and Indian, with the shrewdness of the 
 white, the good temper of the negro, and the indolence 
 of the red man. He was at first exorbitant in his de 
 mands; but a little money, some tobacco, and a spare 
 fowling-piece made him happy, and he was ready to 
 let us drive his beasts to the end of the peninsula. It 
 required some skill to mount the boat securely on 
 the wheels and to guard against any upsets or col 
 lisions, for our escape depended upon carrying it 
 safely across. 
 
 The next morning we made an early start. Our 
 course was an easterly one, through a roadless, flat, 
 sandy pine-barren, with an occasional thicket and 
 swamp. From the word " go " trouble with the bulls 
 began. Their owner seemed to think that in furnish 
 ing them he had fulfilled his part of the contract. 
 They would neither "gee" nor "haw"; if one started 
 ahead, the other would go astern. If by accident they 
 started ahead together, they would certainly bring up 
 with their heads on each side of a tree. Occasionally 
 they would lie down in a pool to get rid of the flies, 
 and only by the most vigorous prodding could they be 
 induced to move. 
 
 Paul, the owner, would loiter in the rear, but was 
 always on hand when we halted for meals. Finally we 
 told him, " No work, no grub ; no drive bulls, no to 
 bacco." This roused him to help us. Two days were 
 thus occupied in covering eighteen miles. It would 
 have been less labor to have tied the beasts, put them 
 into the boat, and hauled it across the portage. The 
 weather was intensely hot, and our time was made 
 
 20 
 
300 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 miserable by day with sand-flies, and by night with 
 mosquitos. 
 
 The waters of Indian River were a most welcome 
 sight, and we hoped that most of our troubles were 
 over. Paul and his bulls of Bashan were gladly dis 
 missed to the wilderness. Our first care was to make 
 good any defects in our boat : some leaks were 
 stopped by a little calking and pitching. Already our 
 supply of provisions began to give us anxiety: only 
 bacon and sweet potatoes remained. The meal was 
 wet and worthless, and, what was worse, all our salt 
 had dissolved. However, with the waters alive with 
 fish, and some game on shore, we hoped to pull 
 through. 
 
 We reached Indian River, or lagoon, opposite Cape 
 Carnaveral. It extends along nearly the entire eastern 
 coast of Florida, varying in width from three to six 
 miles, arid is separated from the Atlantic by a narrow 
 sand ridge, which is pierced at different points by 
 shifting inlets. It is very shoal, so much so that we 
 were obliged to haul our boat out nearly half a mile 
 before she would float, and the water is teeming with 
 stingarees, sword-fish, crabs, etc. But once afloat, we 
 headed to the southward with a fair wind. 
 
 For four days we continued to make good progress, 
 taking advantage of every fair wind by night as well 
 as by day. Here, as on the St. John s River, the same 
 scene of desolation as far as human beings were con 
 cerned was presented. We passed a few deserted 
 cabins, around which we were able to obtain a few 
 cocoanuts and watermelons, a most welcome addi 
 tion to our slim commissariat. Unfortunately, oranges 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEEAL BEECKIN1UDGE 
 
 307 
 
 were not in season. Whenever the breeze left us the 
 heat was almost suffocating; there was no escape for 
 it. If we landed, and sought any shade, the mosquitos 
 would drive us at once to the glare of the sun. When 
 
308 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 sleeping on shore, the best protection was to bury our 
 selves in the sand, with cap drawn down over the head 
 (my buckskin gauntlets proved invaluable) ; if in the 
 boat, to wrap the sail or tarpaulin around us. Besides 
 this plague, sand-flies, gnats, swamp-flies, ants, and 
 other insects abounded. The little black ant is espe 
 cially bold and warlike. If, in making our beds in the 
 sand, we disturbed one of their hives, they would rally 
 in thousands to the attack, and the only safety was in 
 a hasty shake and change of residence. Passing In 
 dian River inlet, the river broadens, and there is a 
 thirty-mile straight-away course to Gilbert s Bar, or 
 Old Inlet, now closed; then begin the Jupiter Nar 
 rows, where the channel is crooked, narrow, and often 
 almost closed by the dense growth of mangroves, 
 juniper, saw-grass, etc., making a jungle that only a 
 water-snake could penetrate. Several times we lost 
 our reckoning, and had to retreat and take a fresh 
 start ; an entire day was lost in these everglades, 
 which extend across the entire peninsula. Finally, by 
 good luck, we stumbled on a short " haulover " to the 
 sea, and determined at once to take advantage of it, 
 and to run our boat across and launch her in the At 
 lantic. A short half-mile over the sand-dunes, and we 
 were clear of the swamps and marshes of Indian River, 
 and were reveling in the Atlantic, free, at least for a 
 time, from mosquitos, which had punctured and bled 
 us for the last three weeks. 
 
 On Sunday, June 4, we passed Jupiter Inlet, with 
 nothing in sight. The lighthouse had been destroyed 
 the first year of the war. From this point we had de 
 termined to cross Florida Channel to the Bahamas, 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BRECKINBIDGE 309 
 
 about eighty miles ; but the wind was ahead, and we 
 could do nothing but work slowly to the southward, 
 waiting for a slant. It was of course a desperate ven 
 ture to cross this distance in a small open boat, which 
 even a moderate sea would swamp. Our provisions now 
 became a very serious question. As I have said, we had 
 lost all the meal, and the sweet potatoes, our next main 
 stay, were sufficient only for two days more. We had 
 but little more ammunition than was necessary for our 
 revolvers, and these we might be called upon to use at 
 any time. Very fortunately for us, it was the time of 
 the year when the green turtle deposits its eggs. Eus- 
 sell and O Toole were old beach-combers, and had 
 hunted eggs before. Sharpening a stick, they pressed 
 it into the sand as they walked along, and wherever it 
 entered easily they would dig. After some hours search 
 we were successful in finding a nest which had not been 
 destroyed, and I do not think prospectors were ever 
 more gladdened by the sight of " the yellow " than we 
 were at our find. The green turtle s egg is about the 
 size of a walnut, with a white skin like parchment that 
 you can tear, but not break. The yolk will cook hard, 
 but the longer you boil the egg the softer the white be 
 comes. The flavor is not unpleasant, and for the first 
 two days we enjoyed them ; but then we were glad to 
 vary the fare with a few shell-fish and even with snails. 
 From Cape Carnaveral to Cape Florida the coast 
 trends nearly north and south in a straight line, so that 
 we could see at a long distance anything going up or 
 down the shore. Some distance to the southward of 
 Jupiter Inlet we saw a steamer coming down, running 
 close to the beach to avoid the three- and four-knot 
 
310 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK 
 
 current of the stream. From her yards and general 
 appearance I soon made her out to be a cruiser, so we 
 
 hauled our boat well up on the sands, turned it over on 
 its side, and went back among the palmettos. When 
 abreast of us and not more than half a mile off, with 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEBAL BRECKINKIDGE 311 
 
 colors flying, we could see the officer of the deck and 
 others closely scanning the shore. We were in hopes 
 they would look upon our boat as flotsam and jetsam, 
 of which there was more or less strewn upon the beach. 
 To our great relief, the cruiser passed us, and when she 
 was two miles or more to the southward we ventured 
 out and approached the boat, but the sharp lookout 
 saw us, and, to our astonishment, the steamer came 
 swinging about, and headed up the coast. The ques 
 tion at once arose, What was the best course to pursue? 
 The general thought we had better take to the bush 
 again, and leave the boat, hoping they would not dis 
 turb it. Colonel Wilson agreed with his chief. I told 
 him that since we had been seen, the enemy would cer 
 tainly destroy or carry off the boat, and the loss meant, 
 if not starvation, at least privation, and no hope of 
 escaping from the country. Besides, the mosquitos 
 would suck us as dry as Egyptian mummies. I pro 
 posed that we should meet them half-way, in company 
 with Russell and O Toole, who were paroled men, and 
 fortunately had their papers with them, and I offered 
 to row off and see what was wanted. He agreed, and, 
 launching our boat and throwing in two buckets of 
 eggs, we pulled out. By this time the steamer was 
 abreast of us, and had lowered a boat which met us 
 half-way. I had one oar, and O Toole the other. To 
 the usual hail I paid no attention except to stop row 
 ing. A ten-oared cutter with a smart-looking crew 
 dashed alongside. The sheen was not yet off the lace 
 and buttons of the youngster in charge. With revolver 
 in hand he asked us who we were, where we came 
 from, and where we were going. " Cap n," said I, 
 
312 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 "please put away that-ar pistol, I don t like the looks 
 of it, and I 11 tell you all about us. We ve been rebs, 
 and there ain t no use saying we were n t ; but it s all up 
 now, and we got home too late to put in a crop, so we 
 just made up our minds to come down shore and see if 
 we could n t find something. It s all right, Cap n ; we ve 
 got our papers. Want to see em ? Got em fixed up at 
 Jacksonville." O Toole and Russell handed him their 
 paroles, which he said were all right. He asked for 
 mine. I turned my pockets out, looked in my hat, and 
 said : " I must er dropped mine in camp, but t is just 
 the same as theirn." He asked who was ashore. I told 
 him, "There s more of we-uns b iling some turtle-eggs 
 for dinner. Cap n, I d like to swap some eggs for 
 tobacco or bread." His crew soon produced from the 
 slack of their frocks pieces of plug, which they passed 
 on board in exchange for our eggs. I told the young 
 ster if he d come to camp we d give him as many as he 
 could eat. Our hospitality was declined. Among other 
 questions he asked if there were any batteries on shore 
 a battery on a beach where there was not a white 
 man within a hundred miles! "Up oars let go for 
 ward let fall give way!" were all familiar orders; 
 but never before had they sounded so welcome. As 
 they shoved off, the coxswain said to the youngster, 
 "That looks like a man-of-war s gig, sir"; but he paid 
 no attention to him. We pulled leisurely ashore, watch 
 ing the cruiser. The boat went up to the davits at 
 a run, and she started to the southward again. The 
 general was very much relieved, for it was a narrow 
 escape. 
 The wind still holding to the southward and east- 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINRIDGE 
 
 313 
 
 ward, we could work only slowly to the southward, 
 against wind arid current. At times we suffered greatly 
 for want of water; 
 our usual resource 
 was to dig for it, but 
 often it was so brack 
 ish and warm that 
 when extreme thirst 
 forced its use the con 
 sequences were vio 
 lent pains and retch 
 ings. One morning 
 we saw a few wig 
 wams ashore, and 
 pulled in at once and 
 landed. It was a 
 party of Seminoles 
 who had come out of 
 the everglades like 
 the bears to gather 
 eggs. They received 
 us kindly, and we 
 devoured ravenously 
 the remnants of their 
 breakfast of fish and 
 kountee. Only the old 
 chief spoke a little 
 English. Not more 
 than two or three 
 hundred of this once 
 
 powerful and warlike tribe remain in Florida; they 
 occupy some islands in this endless swamp to the 
 
314 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 southward of Lake Okeechobee. They have but 
 little intercourse with the whites, and come out on 
 the coast only at certain seasons to fish. We were 
 very anxious to obtain some provisions from them, 
 but excepting kountee they had nothing to spare. This 
 is an esculent resembling arrowroot, which they dig, 
 pulverize, and use as flour. Cooked in the ashes, it 
 makes a palatable but tough cake, which we enjoyed 
 after our long abstinence from bread. The old chief 
 took advantage of our eagerness for supplies, and de 
 termined to replenish his powder-horn. Nothing else 
 would do; not even an old coat, or fish-hooks, or a 
 cavalry saber would tempt him. Powder only he would 
 have for their long, heavy small-bore rifles with flint 
 locks, such as Davy Crockett used. "We reluctantly 
 divided with him our very scant supply in exchange for 
 some of their flour. We parted good friends, after 
 smoking the pipe of peace. 
 
 On the 7th, off New Eiver Inlet, we discovered a 
 small sail standing to the northward. The breeze was 
 very light, so we downed our sail, got out our oars, and 
 gave chase. The stranger stood out to seaward, and 
 endeavored to escape; but slowly we overhauled her, 
 and finally a shot caused her mainsail to drop. As we 
 pulled alongside I saw from the dress of the crew of 
 three that they were man-of-war s men, and divined 
 that they were deserters. They were thoroughly fright 
 ened at first, for our appearance was not calculated to 
 impress them favorably. To our questions they re 
 turned evasive answers or were silent, and finally asked 
 by what authority we had overhauled them. We told 
 them that the war was not over so far as we were con- 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINEIDGE 
 
 315 
 
 cerned ; that they were our prisoners, and their boat 
 our prize; that they were both deserters and pirates, 
 the punishment of which was death ; but that under 
 the circumstances we would not surrender them to the 
 
316 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 first cruiser we met, but would take their paroles and ex 
 change boats. To this they strenuously objected. They 
 were well armed, and although we outnumbered them 
 five to three (not counting Tom), still, if they could get 
 the first bead on us the chances were about equal. 
 They were desperate, and not disposed to surrender 
 their boat without a tussle. The general and I stepped 
 into their boat, and ordered the spokesman and leader 
 to go forward. He hesitated a moment, and two re 
 volvers looked him in the face. Sullenly he obeyed 
 our orders. The general said, "Wilson, disarm that 
 man." The colonel, with pistol in hand, told him to hold 
 up his hands. He did so while the colonel drew from 
 his belt a navy revolver and a sheath-knife. The other 
 two made no further show of resistance, but handed 
 us their arms. The crew disposed of, I made an exami 
 nation of our capture. Unfortunately, her supply of 
 provisions was very small only some "salt-horse" 
 and hardtack, with a breaker of fresh water, and we 
 exchanged part of them for some of our kountee and 
 turtles eggs. But it was in our new boat that we were 
 particularly fortunate: sloop-rigged, not much longer 
 than our gig, but with more beam and plenty of free 
 board, decked over to the mast, and well found in sails 
 and rigging. After our experience in a boat the gun 
 wale of which was not more than eighteen inches out 
 of water, we felt that we had a craft able to cross the 
 Atlantic. Our prisoners, submitting to the inevitable, 
 soon made themselves at home in their new boat, be 
 came more communicative, and wanted some informa 
 tion as to the best course by which to reach Jacksonville 
 or Savannah. We were glad to give them the benefit 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEKAL BKECKINEIDGE 317 
 
 of our experience, and on parting handed them their 
 knives and two revolvers, for which they were very 
 thankful. 
 
 Later we were abreast of Green Turtle Key, with 
 wind light and ahead; still, with all these drawbacks, 
 we were able to make some progress. Our new craft 
 worked and sailed well, after a little addition of ballast. 
 Before leaving the coast, we found it would be neces 
 sary to call at Fort Dallas or some other point for sup 
 plies. It was running a great risk, for we did not know 
 whom we should find there, whether friend or foe. But 
 without at least four or five days rations of some kind, 
 it would not be safe to attempt the passage across the 
 Gulf Stream. However, before venturing to do so, we 
 determined to try to replenish our larder with eggs. 
 Landing on the beach, we hunted industriously for 
 some hours, literally scratching for a living; but the 
 ground had evidently been most effectually gone over 
 before, as the tracks of bears proved. A few onions, 
 washed from some passing vessel, were eagerly de 
 voured. We scanned the washings along the strand in 
 vain for anything that would satisfy hunger. Nothing 
 remained but to make the venture of stopping at the 
 fort. This fort, like many others, was established dur 
 ing the Seminole war, and at its close was abandoned. 
 It is near the mouth of the Miami River, a small 
 stream which serves as an outlet to the overflow of the 
 everglades. Its banks are crowded to the water s edge 
 with tropical verdure, with many flowering plants and 
 creepers, all the colors of which are reflected in its 
 clear waters. The old barracks were in sight as we 
 slowly worked our way against the current. Located in 
 
318 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 a small clearing, with cocoanut-trees in the foreground, 
 the white buildings made, with a backing of deep 
 green, a very pretty picture. We approached cau 
 tiously, not knowing with what reception we should 
 meet. As we neared the small wharf, we found wait 
 ing some twenty or thirty men, of all colors, from the 
 pale Yankee to the ebony Congo, all armed: a more 
 motley and villainous-looking crew never trod the 
 deck of one of Captain Kidd s ships. We saw at once 
 with whom we had to deal deserters from the army 
 and navy of both sides, with a mixture of Spaniards 
 and Cubans, outlaws and renegades. A burly villain, 
 towering head and shoulders above his companions, 
 and whose shaggy black head scorned any covering, 
 hailed us in broken English, and asked who we were. 
 Wreckers, I replied; that we left our vessel outside, 
 and had come in for water and provisions. He asked 
 where we had left our vessel, and her name, evidently 
 suspicious, which was not surprising, for our appear 
 ance was certainly against us. Our head-gear was 
 unique: the general wore a straw hat that flapped over 
 his head like the ears of an elephant ; Colonel Wilson, 
 an old cavalry cap that had lost its visor ; another, a 
 turban made of some number 4 duck canvas ; and all 
 were in our shirt-sleeves, the colors of which were as 
 varied as Joseph s coat. I told him we had left her to 
 the northward a few miles, that a gunboat had spoken 
 us a few hours before, and had overhauled our pa 
 pers, and had found them all right. After a noisy 
 powwow we were told to land, that our papers might 
 be examined. I said no, but if a canoe were sent off, 
 I would let one of our men go on shore and buy what 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINEIDGE 319 
 
 we wanted. I was determined not to trust our boat 
 within a hundred yards of the shore. Finally a canoe 
 paddled by two negroes came off, and said no one but 
 the captain would be permitted to land. O Toole vol 
 unteered to go, but the boatmen would not take him, 
 evidently having had their orders. I told them to tell 
 their chief that we had intended to spend a few pieces 
 of gold with them, but since he would not permit it, 
 we would go elsewhere for supplies. "We got out our 
 sweeps, and moved slowly down the river, a light 
 breeze helping us. The canoe returned to the shore, 
 and soon some fifteen or twenty men crowded into 
 four or five canoes and dugouts, and started for us. 
 We prepared for action, determined to give them a 
 warm reception. Even Tom looked after his carbine, 
 putting on a fresh cap. 
 
 Though outnumbered three to one, still we were well 
 under cover in our boat, and could rake each canoe as 
 it came up. We determined to take all the chances, 
 and to open fire as soon as they came within range. I 
 told Eussell to try a shot at one some distance ahead 
 of the others. He broke two paddles on one side and 
 hit one man, not a bad beginning. This canoe dropped 
 to the rear at once ; the occupants of the others opened 
 fire, but their shooting was wild from the motions of 
 their small craft. The general tried and missed; Tom 
 thought he could do better than his master, and made 
 a good line shot, but short. The general advised hus 
 banding our ammunition until they came within easy 
 range. Waiting a little while, Eussell and the colonel 
 fired together, and the bowman in the nearest canoe 
 rolled over, nearly upsetting her. They were now evi- 
 
320 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 dently convinced that we were in earnest, and, after 
 giving us an ineffectual volley, paddled together to 
 hold a council of war. Soon a single canoe with three 
 men started for us with a white flag. We hove to, and 
 waited for them to approach. When within hail, I 
 asked what was wanted. A white man, standing in 
 the stern, with two negroes paddling, replied : 
 " What did you fire on us for ? We are friends." 
 " Friends do not give chase to friends." 
 "We wanted to find out who you are." 
 " I told you who we are ; and if you are friends, sell 
 us some provisions." 
 
 " Come on shore, and you can get what you want." 
 Our wants were urgent, and it was necessary, if pos 
 sible, to make some terms with them ; but it would not 
 be safe to venture near their lair again. We told them 
 that if they would bring us some supplies we would 
 wait, and pay them well in gold. The promise of gold 
 served as a bait to secure some concession. After some 
 parleying it was agreed that O Toole should go on shore 
 in their canoe, be allowed to purchase some provisions, 
 and return in two hours. The bucaneer thought the 
 time too short, but I insisted that if O Toole were not 
 brought back in two hours, I would speak the first gun 
 boat I met, and return with her and have their nest of 
 freebooters broken up. Time was important, for we 
 had noticed soon after we had started down the river 
 a black column of smoke ascending from near the fort, 
 undoubtedly a signal to some of their craft in the 
 vicinity to return, for I felt convinced that they had 
 other craft besides canoes at their disposal ; hence their 
 anxiety to detain us. O Toole was told to be as dumb 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEKAL BEECKINEIDGE 321 
 
 as an oyster as to ourselves, but wide awake as to the 
 designs of our dubious friends. The general gave him 
 five eagles for his purchase, tribute-money. He jumped 
 into the canoe, and all returned to the fort. We dropped 
 anchor underfoot to await his return, keeping a sharp 
 lookout for any strange sail. The two hours passed in 
 pleasant surmises as to what he would bring off; 
 another half-hour passed, and no sign of his return; 
 and we began to despair of our anticipated feast, and 
 of O Toole, a bright young Irishman, whose good quali 
 ties had endeared him to us all. The anchor was up, 
 and slowly with a light breeze we drew away from the 
 river, debating what should be our next move. The 
 fort was shut in by a projecting point, and three or 
 four miles had passed when the welcome sight of a 
 canoe astern made us heave to. It was O Toole with 
 two negroes, a bag of hard bread, two hams, some rusty 
 salt pork, sweet potatoes, fruit, and, most important 
 of all, two breakers of water and a keg of New England 
 rum. While O Toole gave us his experience, a ham 
 was cut, and a slice between two of hardtack, washed 
 down with a jorum of rum and water, with a dessert of 
 oranges and bananas, was a feast to us more enjoyable 
 than any ever eaten at Delmonico s or the Cafe Eiche. 
 On his arrival on shore, our ambassador had been taken 
 to the quarters of Major Valdez, who claimed to be an 
 officer of the Federals, and by him he was thoroughly 
 cross-examined. He had heard of the breaking up of 
 the Confederacy, but not of the capture of Mr. Davis, 
 and was evidently skeptical of our story as to being 
 wreckers, and connected us in some way with the 
 losing party, either as persons of note or a party es- 
 
322 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 caping with treasure. However, O Toole baffled all his 
 queries, and was proof against both blandishments and 
 threats. He learned what he had expected, that they 
 were looking for the return of a schooner; hence the 
 smoke signal, and the anxiety to detain us as long as 
 possible. It was only when he saw us leaving, after 
 waiting over two hours, that the major permitted him 
 to make a few purchases and rejoin us. 
 
 Night, coming on, found us inside of Key Biscayne, 
 the beginning of the system of innumerable keys, or 
 small islands, extending from this point to the Tortu- 
 gas, nearly two hundred miles east and west, at the ex 
 tremity of the peninsula. Of coral formation, as soon 
 as it is built up to the surface of the water it crumbles 
 under the action of the sea and sun. Sea-fowl rest 
 upon it, dropping the seed of some marine plants, or 
 the hard mangrove is washed ashore on it, and its all- 
 embracing roots soon spread in every direction ; so are 
 formed these keys. Darkness and shoal water warned 
 us to anchor. We passed an unhappy night fighting 
 mosquitos. As the sun rose, we saw to the eastward a 
 schooner of thirty or forty tons standing down toward 
 us with a light wind ; no doubt it was one from the fort 
 sent in pursuit. Up anchor, up sail, out sweeps, and 
 we headed down Biscayne Bay, a shoal sheet of water 
 between the reefs and mainland. The wind rose with 
 the sun, and, being to windward, the schooner had the 
 benefit of it first, and was fast overhauling us. The 
 water was shoaling, which I was not sorry to see, for 
 our draft must have been from two to three feet less 
 than that of our pursuer, and we recognized that our 
 best chance of escape was by drawing him into shoal 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEKAL BEECKINRIDGE 323 
 
 water, while keeping afloat ourselves. By the color 
 and break of the water I saw that we were approaching 
 a part of the bay where the shoals appeared to extend 
 nearly across, with narrow channels between them like 
 the furrows in a plowed field, with occasional openings 
 from one channel into another. Some of the shoals 
 were just awash, others bare. Ahead was a reef on 
 which there appeared but very little water. I could 
 see no opening into the channel beyond. To attempt 
 to haul by the wind on either tack would bring us in a 
 few minutes under fire of the schooner now coming up 
 hand over hand. I ordered the ballast to be thrown 
 overboard, and determined, as our only chance, to at 
 tempt to force her over the reef. She was headed for 
 what looked like a little breakwater on our port bow. 
 As the ballast went overboard we watched the bottom 
 anxiously; the water shoaled rapidly, and the grating of 
 the keel over the coral, with that peculiar tremor most 
 unpleasant to a seaman under any circumstances, told 
 us our danger. As the last of the ballast went over 
 board she forged ahead, and then brought up. Together 
 we went overboard, and sank to our waists in the black, 
 pasty mud, through which at intervals branches of rot 
 ten coral projected, which only served to make the 
 bottom more treacherous and difficult to work on. Re 
 lieved of a half-ton of our weight, our sloop forged 
 ahead three or four lengths, and then brought up again. 
 We pushed her forward some distance, but as the water 
 lessened, notwithstanding our efforts, she stopped. 
 
 Looking astern, we saw the schooner coming up 
 wing and wing, not more than a mile distant. Cer 
 tainly the prospect was blue ; but one chance was left, 
 
324 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 to sacrifice everything in the boat. Without hesi 
 tation, overboard went the provisions except a few 
 biscuits; the oars were made fast to the main-sheet 
 alongside, and a breaker of water, the anchor and 
 chain, all spare rope, indeed everything that weighed 
 a pound, was dropped alongside, and then, three on 
 each side, our shoulders under the boat s bilges, at the 
 word we lifted together, and foot by foot moved her 
 forward. Sometimes the water would deepen a little 
 and relieve us ; again it would shoal. Between the 
 coral-branches we would sink at times to our necks in 
 the slime and water, our limbs lacerated with the sharp 
 projecting points. Fortunately, the wind helped us; 
 keeping all sail on, thus for more than a hundred yards 
 we toiled, until the water deepened and the reef was 
 passed. Wet, foul, bleeding, with hardly strength 
 enough to climb into the boat, we were safe at last for 
 a time. As we cleared the shoal, the schooner hauled 
 by the wind, and opened fire from a nine- or twelve- 
 pounder; but we were at long range, and the firing 
 was wild. With a fair wind we soon opened the dis 
 tance between us. 
 
 General Breckinridge, thoroughly used up, threw 
 himself down in the bottom of the boat ; at which 
 Tom, always on the lookout for his master s comfort, 
 said, "Marse John, s pose you take a little rum and 
 water." This proposal stirred us all. The general 
 rose, saying, " Yes, indeed, Tom, I will ; but where is 
 the rum?" supposing it had been sacrificed with 
 everything else. 
 
 "I sees you pitchin eberyt ing away; I jes put this 
 jug in hyar, ca se I lowed you d want some." 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BBECKINRIDGE 
 
 325 
 
 Opening a locker in the transom, he took out the 
 jug. Never was a potion more grateful; we were faint 
 
 and thirsty, and it acted like a charm, and, bringing 
 up on another reef, we were ready for another tussle. 
 
326 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Fortunately, this proved only a short lift. In the 
 mean time the schooner had passed through the first 
 reef by an opening, as her skipper was undoubtedly 
 familiar with these waters. Still another shoal was 
 ahead; instead of again lifting our sloop over it, I 
 hauled by the wind, and stood for what looked like an 
 opening to the eastward. Our pursuers were on the 
 opposite tack and fast approaching ; a reef intervened, 
 and when abeam, distant about half a mile, they 
 opened fire both with their small arms and boat-gun. 
 The second shot from the latter was well directed ; it 
 grazed our mast and carried away the luff of the main 
 sail. Several Minie balls struck on our sides without 
 penetrating; we did not reply, and kept under cover. 
 When abreast of a break in the reef, we up helm, and 
 again went off before the wind. The schooner was 
 now satisfied that she could not overhaul us, and stood 
 off to the northward. 
 
 Free from our enemy, we were now able to take 
 stock of our supplies and determine what to do. Our 
 provisions consisted of about ten pounds of hard 
 bread, a twenty-gallon breaker of water, two thirds 
 full, and three gallons of rum. Really a fatality ap 
 peared to follow us as regards our commissariat. Be 
 ginning with our first drenching on the St. John s, 
 every successive supply had been lost, and now what 
 we had bought with so much trouble yesterday, the 
 sellers compelled us to sacrifice to-day. But our first 
 care was to ballast the sloop, for without it she was so 
 crank as to be unseaworthy. This was not an easy 
 task ; the shore of all the keys, as well as that of the 
 mainland in sight, was low and swampy, and covered 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINRIDGE 327 
 
 to the water s edge with a dense growth of mangroves. 
 What made matters worse, we were without any 
 ground-tackle. 
 
 At night we were up to Elliott s Key, and anchored by 
 making fast to a sweep shoved into the muddy bottom 
 like a shad-pole. When the wind went down, the mos- 
 quitos came off in clouds. We wrapped ourselves in 
 the sails from head to feet, with only our nostrils ex 
 posed. At daylight we started again to the westward, 
 looking for a dry spot where we might land, get ballast, 
 and possibly some supplies. A few palm-trees rising 
 from the mangroves indicated a spot where we might 
 find a little terra firma. Groing in as near as was pru 
 dent, we waded ashore, and found a small patch of 
 sand and coral elevated a few feet above the everlast 
 ing swamp. Some six or eight cocoa-palms rose to the 
 height of forty or fifty feet, and under their umbrella- 
 like tops we could see the bunches of green fruit. It 
 was a question how to get at it. Without saying 
 a word, Tom went on board the boat, brought off a 
 piece of canvas, cut a strip a yard long, tied the ends 
 together, and made two holes for his big toes. The 
 canvas, stretched between his feet, embraced the rough 
 bark so that he rapidly ascended. He threw down the 
 green nuts, and cutting through the thick shell, we 
 found about half a pint of milk. The general suggested 
 a little milk-punch. All the trees were stripped, and 
 what we did not use we saved for sea-stores. 
 
 To ballast our sloop was our next care. The jib was 
 unbent, the sheet and head were brought together and 
 made into a sack. This was filled with sand, and, slung 
 on an oar, was shouldered by two and carried on board. 
 
328 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 Leaving us so engaged, the general started to try to 
 knock over some of the numerous water-fowl in sight. 
 He returned in an hour thoroughly used up from his 
 struggles in the swamp, but with two pelicans and a 
 white crane. In the stomach of one of the first were a 
 dozen or more mullet, from six to nine inches in length, 
 which had evidently just been swallowed. We cleaned 
 them, and wrapping them in palmetto-leaves, roasted 
 them in the ashes, and they proved delicious. Tom 
 took the birds in hand, and as he was an old cam 
 paigner, who had cooked everything from a stalled ox 
 to a crow, we had faith in his ability to make them 
 palatable. He tried to pick them, but soon abandoned 
 it, and skinned them. We looked on anxiously, ready 
 after our first course of fish for something more sub 
 stantial. He broiled them, and with a flourish laid one 
 before the general on a clean leaf, saying, " I s feared, 
 Marse John, it s tough as an old muscovy drake." 
 
 " Let me try it, Tom." 
 
 After some exertion he cut off a mouthful, while we 
 anxiously awaited the verdict. Without a word he 
 rose and disappeared into the bushes. Returning in a 
 few minutes, he told Tom to remove the game. His 
 tone and expression satisfied us that pelican would not 
 keep us from starving. The colonel thought the crane 
 might be better, but a taste satisfied us that it was no 
 improvement. 
 
 Hungry and tired, it was nearly night before we 
 were ready to move ; and, warned by our sanguinary 
 experience of the previous night, we determined to 
 haul off from the shore as far as possible, and get out 
 side the range of the mosquitos. It was now neces- 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINEIDGE 329 
 
 sary to determine upon our future course. We had 
 abandoned all hope of reaching the Bahamas, and the 
 nearest foreign shore was that of Cuba, distant across 
 the Grulf Stream from our present position about two 
 hundred miles, or three or four days sail, with the 
 winds we might expect at this season. With the strict 
 est economy our provisions would not last so long. 
 However, nearly a month in the swamps and among 
 the keys of Florida, in the month of June, had pre 
 pared us to face almost any risk to escape from those 
 shores, and it was determined to start in the morning 
 for Cuba. Well out in the bay we hove to, and passed 
 a fairly comfortable night; next day early we started 
 for Caesar s Canal, a passage between Elliott s Key and 
 Key Largo. The channel was crooked and puzzling, 
 leading through a labyrinth of mangrove islets, around 
 which the current of the Q-ulf Stream was running like 
 a sluice ; we repeatedly got aground, when we would 
 jump overboard and push off. So we worked all day 
 before we were clear of the keys and outside among the 
 reefs, which extend three or four miles beyond. Wait 
 ing again for daylight, we threaded our way through 
 them, and with a light breeze from the eastward steered 
 south, thankful to feel again the pulsating motion of 
 the ocean. 
 
 Several sail and one steamer were in sight during 
 the day, but all at a distance. Constant exposure had 
 tanned us the color of mahogany, and our legs and feet 
 were swollen and blistered from being so much in the 
 salt water, and the action of the hot sun on them made 
 them excessively painful. Fortunately, but little exer 
 tion was now necessary, and our only relief was in 
 
330 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAB 
 
 lying still, with an impromptu awning over us. General 
 Breckinridge took charge of the water and rum, doling 
 it out at regular intervals, a tot at a time, determined 
 to make it last as long as possible. 
 
 Toward evening the wind was hardly strong enough 
 to enable us to hold our own against the stream. At 
 ten, Carysfort Light was abeam, and soon after a dark 
 bank of clouds rising in the eastern sky betokened a 
 change of wind and weather. Everything was made 
 snug and lashed securely, with two reefs in the main 
 sail, and the bonnet taken off the jib. I knew from ex 
 perience what we might expect from summer squalls in 
 the straits of Florida. I took the helm, the general the 
 sheet, Colonel Wilson was stationed by the halyards, 
 Russell and O Toole were prepared to bail. Tom, thor 
 oughly demoralized, was already sitting in the bottom 
 of the boat, between the general s knees. The sky was 
 soon completely overcast with dark lowering clouds; 
 the darkness, which could almost be felt, was broken 
 every few minutes by lurid streaks of lightning chasing 
 one another through black abysses. Fitful gusts of 
 wind were the heralds of the coming blast. Great drops 
 of rain fell like the scattering fire of a skirmish-line, 
 and with a roar like a thousand trumpets we heard the 
 blast coming, giving us time only to lower everything 
 and get the stern of the boat to it, for our only chance 
 was to run with the storm until the rough edge was 
 taken off, and then heave to. I cried, "All hands 
 down ! " as the gale struck us with the force of a thun 
 derbolt, carrying a wall of white water with it which 
 burst over us like a cataract. I thought we were 
 swamped as I clung desperately to the tiller, though 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEKAL BKECKINKIDGE 
 
 331 
 
 thrown violently against the boom. But after the 
 shock, our brave little boat, though half filled, rose and 
 
 shook herself like a spaniel. The mast bent like a 
 whip-stick, and I expected to see it blown out of her, 
 
332 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 but, gathering way, we flew with the wind. The sur 
 face was lashed into foam as white as the driven snow. 
 The lightning and artillery of the heavens were inces 
 sant, blinding, and deafening ; involuntarily we bowed 
 our heads, utterly helpless. Soon the heavens were 
 opened, and the floods came down like a waterspout. I 
 knew then that the worst of it had passed, and though 
 one fierce squall succeeded another, each one was tamer. 
 The deluge, too, helped to beat down the sea. To give 
 an order was impossible, for I could not be heard ; I 
 could only, during the flashes, make signs to Eussell 
 and O Toole to bail. Tying themselves and their buckets 
 to the thwarts, they went to work and soon relieved her 
 of a heavy load. 
 
 From the general direction of the wind I knew with 
 out compass or any other guide that we were running 
 to the westward, and, I feared, were gradually approach 
 ing the dreaded reefs, where in such a sea our boat 
 would have been reduced to match-wood in a little 
 while. Therefore, without waiting for the wind or sea 
 to moderate, I determined to heave to, hazardous as 
 it was to attempt anything of the kind. Giving the 
 colonel the helm, I lashed the end of the gaff to the 
 boom, and then loosed enough of the mainsail to goose- 
 wing it, or make a leg-of-mutton sail of it. Then watch 
 ing for a lull or a smooth time, I told him to put the 
 helm a-starboard and let her come to on the port tack, 
 head to the southward, and at the same time I hoisted 
 the sail. She came by the wind quickly without ship 
 ping a drop of water, but as I was securing the hal 
 yards the colonel gave her too much helm, bringing 
 the wind on the other bow, the boom flew round and 
 
ESCAPE OF GENEEAL BEECKINEIDGE 333 
 
 knocked my feet from under me, and overboard I went. 
 Fortunately, her way was deadened, and as I came up 
 I seized the sheet, and with the general s assistance 
 scrambled on board. For twelve hours or more I did 
 not trust the helm to any one. The storm passed over 
 to the westward with many a departing growl and 
 threat. But the wind still blew hoarsely from the east 
 ward with frequent gusts against the stream, making a 
 heavy, sharp sea. In the trough of it the boat was be 
 calmed, but as she rose on the crest of the waves even 
 the little sail set was as much as she could stand up 
 under, and she had to be nursed carefully ; for if she 
 had fallen off, one breaker would have swamped us, or 
 any accident to sail or spar would have been fatal : but 
 like a gull on the waters, our brave little craft rose and 
 breasted every billow. 
 
 By noon the next day the weather had moderated 
 sufficiently to make more sail, and the sea went down 
 at the same time. Then, hungry and thirsty, Tom was 
 thought of. During the gale he had remained in the 
 bottom of the boat as motionless as a log. As he was 
 roused up, he asked : 
 
 " Marse John, whar is you, and whar is you goin ? 
 Fore de Lord, I never want to see a boat again." 
 
 " Come, Tom, get us something to drink, and see if 
 there is anything left to eat," said the general. But 
 Tom was helpless. 
 
 The general served out a small ration of water and 
 rum, every drop of which was precious. Our small 
 store of bread was found soaked, but, laid in the sun, 
 it partly dried, and was, if not palatable, at least a 
 relief to hungry men. 
 
334 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 During the next few days the weather was moderate, 
 and we stood to the southward ; several sail were in 
 sight, but at a distance. We were anxious to speak 
 one even at some risk, for our supplies were down to a 
 pint of rum in water each day under a tropical sun, 
 with two water-soaked biscuits. On the afternoon of 
 the second day a brig drifted slowly down toward us; 
 we made signals that we wished to speak her, and, get 
 ting out our sweeps, pulled for her. As we neared her, 
 the captain hailed and ordered us to keep off. I replied 
 that we were shipwrecked men, and only wanted some 
 provisions. As we rounded to under his stern, we 
 could see that he had all his crew of seven or eight 
 men at quarters. He stood on the taff-rail with a re 
 volver in hand, his two mates with muskets, the cook 
 with a huge tormentor, and the crew with handspikes. 
 
 " I tell you again, keep off, or I 11 let fly." 
 
 " Captain, we won t go on board if you will give us 
 some provisions; we are starving." 
 
 " Keep off, I tell you. Boys, make ready." 
 
 One of the mates drew a bead on me ; our eyes met 
 in a line over the sights on the barrel. I held up my 
 right hand. 
 
 " Will you fire on an unarmed man 1 Captain, you 
 are no sailor, or you would not refuse to help ship 
 wrecked men." 
 
 "How do I know who you are ? And I ve got no 
 grub to spare." 
 
 " Here is a passenger who is able to pay you," said I, 
 pointing to the general. 
 
 " Yes ; I will pay for anything you let us have." 
 
 The captain now held a consultation with his offi- 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BKECKINEIDGE 335 
 
 cers, and then said : " I 11 give you some water and 
 bread. I ve got nothing else. But you must not 
 come alongside." 
 
 A small keg, or breaker, was thrown overboard and 
 picked up, with a bag of fifteen or twenty pounds of 
 hardtack. This was the reception given us by the 
 brig Neptime of Bangor. But when the time and place 
 are considered, we cannot wonder at the captain s pre 
 cautions, for a more piratical-looking party than we 
 never sailed the Spanish main. General Breckinridge, 
 bronzed the color of mahogany, unshaven, with long 
 mustache, wearing a blue flannel shirt open at the 
 neck, exposing his broad chest, with an old slouch hat, 
 was a typical bucaneer. Thankful for what we had 
 received, we parted company. Doubtless the captain 
 reported on his arrival home a blood-curdling story of 
 his encounter with pirates off the coast of Cuba. 
 
 " Marse John, I thought the war was done. Why 
 did n t you tell dem folks who you was ?" queried Tom. 
 The general told Tom they were Yankees, and would 
 not believe us. " Is dar any Yankees whar you goin 1 
 ca se if dar is, we best go back to old Kentucky." 
 He was made easy on this point, and, with an increase 
 in our larder, became quite perky. A change in the 
 color of the water showed us that we were on sound 
 ings, and had crossed the Stream, and soon after we 
 came in sight of some rocky islets, which I recognized 
 as Double-Headed Shot Keys, thus fixing our position; 
 for our chart, with the rest of our belongings, had dis 
 appeared, or had been destroyed by water, and as the 
 heavens, by day and night, were our only guide, our 
 navigation was necessarily very uncertain. For the 
 
336 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAE 
 
 next thirty miles our course to the southward took us 
 over Salt Key Bank, where the soundings varied from 
 three to five fathoms, but so clear was the water that 
 it was hard to believe that the coral, the shells, and the 
 marine flowers were not within arm s reach. Fishes of 
 all sizes and colors darted by us in every direction. 
 The bottom of the bank was a constantly varying ka 
 leidoscope of beauty. But to starving men, with not a 
 mouthful in our grasp, this display of food was tanta 
 lizing. Russell, who was an expert swimmer, volun 
 teered to dive for some conchs and shell-fish; oysters 
 there were none. Asking us to keep a sharp lookout on 
 the surface of the water for sharks, which generally 
 swim with the dorsal fin exposed, he went down and 
 brought up a couple of live conchs about the size of 
 a man s fist. Breaking the shell, we drew the quiver 
 ing body out. Without its coat it looked like a huge 
 grub, and not more inviting. The general asked Tom 
 to try it. 
 
 " Glory, Marse John, I m mighty hungry, nebber so 
 hungry sense we been in de almy, and I m just ready 
 for ole mule, pole-cat, or anything cept dis worm." 
 
 After repeated efforts to dissect it we agreed with 
 Tom, and found it not more edible than a pickled foot 
 ball. However, Russell, diving again, brought up bi 
 valves with a very thin shell and beautiful colors, in 
 shape like a large pea-pod. These we found tolerable; 
 they served to satisfy in some small degree our craving 
 for food. The only drawback was that eating them 
 produced great thirst, which is much more difficult to 
 bear than hunger. We found partial relief in keeping 
 our heads and bodies wet with salt water. 
 
ESCAPE OF GENERAL BEECKINEIDGE 337 
 
 On the sixth day from the Florida coast we crossed 
 Nicholas Channel with fair wind. Soon after we made 
 the Cuban coast, and stood to the westward, hoping to 
 sight something which would determine our position. 
 After a run of some hours just outside of the coral- 
 reefs, we sighted in the distance some vessels at an 
 chor. As we approached, a large town was visible at 
 the head of the bay, which proved to be Cardenas. We 
 offered prayful thanks for our wonderful escape, and 
 anchored just off the custom-house, and waited some 
 time for the health officer to give us pratique. But as no 
 one came off in answer to our signals, I went on shore 
 to report at the custom-house. It was some time be 
 fore I could make them comprehend that we were from 
 Florida, and anxious to land. Their astonishment was 
 great at the size of our boat, and they could hardly be 
 lieve we had crossed in it. Our arrival produced as 
 much sensation as would that of a liner. We might 
 have been filibusters in disguise. The governor-gen 
 eral had to be telegraphed to ; numerous papers were 
 made out and signed ; a register was made out for the 
 sloop No Name; then we had to make a visit to the 
 governor before we were allowed to go to a hotel to 
 get something to eat. After a cup of coffee and a light 
 meal I had a warm bath, and donned some clean linen 
 which our friends provided. 
 
 We were overwhelmed with attentions, and when 
 the governor-general telegraphed that General Breck- 
 inridge was to be treated as one holding his position 
 and rank, the officials became as obsequious as they 
 had been overbearing and suspicious. The next day 
 one of the governor-general s aides-de-camp arrived 
 
338 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 from Havana, with an invitation for the general and 
 the party to visit him, which we accepted, and after 
 two days rest took the train for the capital. A 
 special car was placed at our disposal, and on our 
 arrival the general was received with all the honors. 
 We were driven to the palace, had a long interview, 
 and dined with Governor-General Concha. The tran 
 sition from a small open boat at sea, naked and starv 
 ing, to the luxuries and comforts of civilized life 
 was as sudden as it was welcome and thoroughly 
 appreciated. 
 
 At Havana our party separated. General Breckin- 
 ridge and Colonel Wilson have since crossed the great 
 river; Russell and O Toole returned to Florida. I 
 should be glad to know what has become of faithful 
 Tom. 
 
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