USA > Maine > First Maine bugle, 1893 (history of 1st Maine Cavalry) > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
.
103
BUGLE ECHOES.
!! . two other sleepers were nearly roasted + + what there was left of Jerome could sla the next morning. This is only one roent of desire of the boys to return 4. Mary, and such returns generally «A sad pleasure enough to cure disease.
Yours in F. C. & L.
WILLIAM TRIMBLE. History, page 504.
BETHEL, Me,. Dec. 19, 1892. COMRADE CILLEY,
Dear Sir :-- I received the October Bug':, Saturday, am very glad to get them % d sorry I am not able to pay for them. ! Lare not been able to do a day's work for three years, have had twenty-one at- ta's of chills and fever in that time, en just getting up from a severe attack. ! art six dollars per month pension and exother income, so you see I am in pretty harl sledding. If any comrade wants to pay for Bugle for me, I would De vety thankful. If I am ever able will the sime for some poor comrade. I fl not receive the April Call, No. 8, «. a. I like it very much as I have kept we very choice and want them bound. y a can send Call S, I will send them le bound. I will now look over last 8. 1. Call and correct a few names. If Ros : ir will try to be at reunion in Lanton, have not had the privilege watending since the one at Auburn,
Yours in F. C. & L. F. C. NEEDHAM. .i.t. p. 5.1.]
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Augusta, Dec. 17th, 1892. Gas. J. P. CILLEY,
My Dear General .- Herewith is en- dwd! amount due fot BUGLE. It is in e ) respects a worthy work. With re-
Yours sincerely, EDWIN C. BURLEIGH.
PROVIDENCE, R. I., Dec. 17th, 1892. GEN. J. P. CILLEY,
Dear Comrade .- Excuse my neglect and give me credit for $t.co enclosed. I promised Tobie to write something about the First Rhode Island Cavalry, and will try to do it soon. I shall feel honored by the opportunity to tell a soldier's story to the brave men who read the BUGLE. I mail you "Duffic and the Monument to his Memory" by way of interest on money over due.
Yours Truly, GEORGE N. BLISS.
BROOKSVILLE, Dec. 17th, 1892. GEN. J. P. CILLEY,
Dear Sir .- I am very thankful for your kindness in sending me the First Maine BUGLE. I think it is a very interesting book and I should like very much to take it, but owing to my financial con- dition just now I am not able to take it. I have received two of them and thank you very much. I want a History of the Regiment and I hope soon to be able to get one. I have not forgotten you and should like to see you very much. I re- member how you looked when you were with the regiment, but like all the rest,. of us, I suppose time has left its mark and I would not know you now. I was taken prisoner October 27, 1864, at Boydton Rol, Va., in an engagement with Wade Hampton's mounted forces and was confined in Libby Prison four months.
Yours in F. C. & L.
A. P. FRIEND.
[ Elist. p. 567.]
Lieut. Howard Asten of Co. F. 13th Ohio Cavalry, and Secretary of that As- sociation, writes from Lanesville, O .: "I was all ready to go to Washington, but serious illness of wife prevented." Some twenty of the 13th O. V. C. got together in their reunion in Washington.
104
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
HERBERT, PIERCE Co., WIS., Dec. 31st, 1892. GEN. J. P. CILLEY :
Dear Sir, -I have received a copy of the BUGLE and am well pleased with it. I shall take it with pleasure but I would like a little delay in paying till I receive some money due me.
Respectfully yours, JOSEPH GRASILLE. (Iist. p. 568.)
STETSON, ME., Dec. 25, 1892. MY DEAR COL. CILLEY :
It is with much pleasure I have from time to time received the BUGLE. It does me good to get them and read the names of those old officers and men I have stood in line of battle with, in the three years and more of war. I have not been able to meet with you at any of your reunions on account of poor health. It does me lots of good to hear from you through the BUGLE, and please receive my sincere thanks for the same. I hope to be able to pay good for it another spring. My bills have been large for the last six years and all I have is my pen- sion. I have one sister to care for and I am not able to do anything, but I will try to save enough to pay for the BUGLE sure. Your ever true friend,
THOMAS H. FLINT. (IIist. p. C51.)
CRESCENT CITY, DEL NORTE CO., CAL., December 24, IS92. GENERAL J. P. CILLEY :
I return thanks for the BUGLE. I am glad to know something concerning the old regiment. Remember me to the old comrades. Yours very truly. JAMES HAYES.
( Hist. p. 534.)
EDDINGTON, D.c., 22, 1. . GEN. J. P. CILLEY :
Enclosed please find three 27 copy of History for my husband. worked hard for the money to g : him for a birthday present. It wy pleasant many a weary hour to: obliged to spend in an invali le !.. - perhaps take his mind from the s only one left and the hope of hs, ing years, who sleeps in a soldier's, I intended to have sent for the V also, but at this time I am unable . so, but if you will send it to him ! forward money as soon as possi. le.
Yours with respect,
MRS. P. P. SPRA: . (Hist. p. 607.)
1728 Q ST., N. W. WASHINGTON, D. January 5, 1MB MY DEAR GENERAL : * * * Will try to write my rese tions of Appomattox, an account of full for the next number of the 1
Will try to visit Apporrattos :. meantime. Yours truly.
C. H. Sana
Orren M. Harrington, of Co. P, .. a drawing made by Lieut. I'u'l r .. Picket Reserve held by our reg .. . February and March, 1865. W .; to reproduce the same as an illey for our next issue. If any other rades have drawings or pictures .: camping grounds or groups of o it is urged they make the fast kr that the eye as well as the car ::: delight in the Echoes of the i We do desire most earnestly ?) . to present a page of comrades' : in each call. A part of such a 1 1 now ready. Who will aid in t. ing it?
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
Entered at the Post Office, Rockland, Me., as Serond-Class Matter.
CAMPAIGN III. APRIL, 1893. CALL 2.
"The neighing troops, the flashing blade, The Bugle's stirring blast."
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY, JANUARY, APRIL, JULY AND OCTOBER, AND WILL CONTAIN THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE YEARLY REUNIONS OF THE FIRST MAINE CAVALRY, MATTERS OF HISTORIC VALUE TO THE REGI- MENT, AND ITEMS OF PERSONAL INTEREST TO ALL ITS MEMBERS. IT IS ALSO THE ORGAN OF THE CAVALRY SOCIETY OF THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES AND WILL CONTAIN THE YEARLY PROCEEDINGS OF THAT SOCIETY AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM MEMBERS OF THE MOUNTED REGIMENTS WHICH PARTICIPATED IN THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.
PRICE ONE DOLLAR A YEAR, OR TWENTY-FIVE CENTS A CALL
EDITOR, EDWARD P. TOBIE, PAWTUCKET, R. I.
Published by the First Maine Cavalry Association.
ADDRESS, J. P. CILLEY. Treasurer, KOCKLAND, MAINE,
Prison Life and Escape.
BY CAPT. ANDREW M. BENSON.
I was captain in the First District of Columbia Cavalry when we started June 28th, 1864, for the south side of Richmond, on what is known as Wilson's raid, our objects being to destroy government stores, the Petersburg and Welden railroad line, and the South Side railroad from .Ream's station to the Rich- mond and Danville. Having so far accomplished our purpose, we followed the Richmond and Danville road to the Little Roanoke river, over which there was a bridge that I was detailed to burn, supported by Capt. Charles C. Chase, with another squadron. As we moved into the range of some small guns on the opposite side of the river, the confederates opened on us with canister shot, by one of which I was wounded in the side and disabled. We failed to destroy the bridge, and fell back. Gen. Wilson, being confronted by Wade Hampton's and Fitz- hugh Lee's cavalry and Mahone's division of infantry, thought a battle inadvisable, and retreated toward the Black Water, leav- ing all his wounded behind. Capt. Chase and I, who were both in the number, together with two or three hundred more, fell into the hands of the enemy. Being first taken to Petersburg and kept there two days, we were sent on to Libby prison, which we reached July 3d. There we remained three weeks. We were next forwarded to Macon, Ga., where those of us who were officers were put into a stockade. About fifteen hundred officers of the Union army were there before us.
In a short time a few of us get together and decided to tun- nel out under the stockade. We commenced operations imme- diately. After a few days, when we were summoned in to roll call, the guard entered in our rear, between us and the barracks, and searched for the tunnel. They were not long finding and destroying it. One of our own officers, whose name I have
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
forgotten, was said to have given the information that ruined our first attempt to escape.
About the middle of August we were taken to Savannah and confined in the Marine Hospital yard. Again we resolved to tunnel our way out. We succeeded in carrying the work through the hospital vault, and as far as we considered wise at that time, the moon being then at its full, when we decided to wait for a dark night before attempting to escape. Meanwhile, cattle were grazing over the lot through which we were to make our egress, and the tunnel coming too near the surface, a cow fell in and precipitated not only her own discomfiture but the discovery of our plans. We knew nothing about this, however, until the arrival of a dark night and our time for action. Capt. McElroy of the gunboat Teazer, Capt. A. Grant of the Nine- teenth Wisconsin, and myself started to reconoitre and deter- mine which way we would best move after getting out of the tunnel. McElroy led. Arriving at the end of the tunnel, we saw something was wrong. McElroy attempted to clamber out of the hole, when some one called the corporal of the guard, at the same time thrusting a bayonet into the earth which barely grazed the captain's neck. We hastened back into camp, only to be confronted by Col. Wayne, commandant of the post, with the officer of the day and a guard. Our names were taken and we were sent to quarters. The tunnel was broken in from one end to the other, a distance of about two hundred feet. Undis- couraged, we looked for another place to bore our way out, and came upon an old disused well covered with earth. On this site we worked for two or three nights. I was standing near the edge of the shaft directing our men in the tunnel, when a rebel sud- denly appcared. I tried to catch him, but he got away and notified the commandant. The game was up again. We took cover in the nearest tents we could find. In a few moments Col. Wayne visited us with a guard, guided by the spy, and ordered our tent to be taken down, saying: " I'll raze every tent to the ground but I'll stop these accursed Yankees from digging tunnels." I left my hiding place, approached the colo- nel, and told him I hoped he wouldn't take down the tent as
5
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE.
some officers inside were sick, and it would be cruel to expose them to the weather, which was rainy. Only those actually engaged in the tunneling should be made to suffer, I said. Again the colonel asked my name. I told him. At that moment Capt. Grant emerged from his place of concealment and said he was Capt. Benson's second in command and if any punishment was to be inflicted he proposed to take his share. We were then ordered to our quarters and placed under guard for the night. In the morning we were taken to the provost marshal's office in the city and then to the jail near our former camp, where we were placed in solitary confinement in dun- geons. For sixteen days we remained there, our only compan- ions being vermin, rats and cockroaches. Every day we received, about ten o'clock, a tin basin containing a sort of soup, which served for both food and drink. In all those days we didn't touch bread, meat or water.
On the afternoon of the sixteenth day the quartermaster of the post happened to pass my cell. I gave him a Freemason's sign, which he understood. He stopped and questioned me, and said Col. Wayne was Grand Commander of the Knights Templars of Georgia, and he thought if I applied as a Mason for my release from jail, I would be successful. The quarter- master kindly brought me pen, ink and paper, and conveyed to Col. Wayne the application that I then wrote. He also brought me food, a candle and matches, newspapers, etc. The next morning Col. Wayne came to me. As I had promised in my application for release not to attempt escape again during my stay in Savannah, he said he would allow me to return to the stockade. Coming out into the corridor, with hardly strength enough to stand, I inquired for Capt. Grant. "He's over yon- der, I suppose," was the colonel's reply ; " and he can rot for all I care." To this I answered : " You know very well, colonel, that Capt. Grant came to me when I was in trouble and said he would take his share of punishment with me. Now I don't care to go out and leave him here." After considerable talk the commandant made me responsible for Capt. Grant, and took us both back to the stockade. A few days later we were conveyed
1
6
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
to Charleston, and there placed under the fire of our guns from Morris Island. Two hundred three hundred-pound shells were thrown into the city every day. In retaliation for our treatment our people took sixteen hundred confederate prisoners and con- fined them in a stockade directly under the guns on Morris island. This counter move resulted in a compromise, whereby we were removed from Charleston to Columbia, S. C., and placed in a field on the north side of the Congaree river. This was about October Ist. We were closely guarded and dead lines were fixed beyond which a prisoner could venture only at the cost of his life if he were discovered.
Col. Horace H. Walpole of Syracuse, N. Y., Col. James H. Geer of the same city, Lieut. Correll of Brooksville, Vt., and myself decided to run the guard, and if we got through alive to escape toward the north, aiming for the Blue Ridge. On the night of November Ist we placed ourselves in position near the dead lines. Immediately after the relief had passed us we leaped to our feet and ran out across the lines. We were fired at but all escaped without injury, Our venture this time was attended with a happy conclusion. Having provided ourselves with a map showing the rivers and towns on our route, we started out toward Marion, N. C. For ten nights we marched, subsisting on the raw corn we found in the fields, and lying low under cover of logs and roots during the daytime. On the tenth night we heard a party singing on the road in front of us. We decided, if they should turn out to be colored people, to put ourselves in their hands, in order to obtain food. I sta- tioned myself near the path, in the shadow of some deep woods, on one side of the road. The first person who came along was a young colored boy. I caught him, threw him to the ground, and held him there until the rest of the party had passed. He guided us to the house of a white woman, whose husband was in the Union army. She gave us about all she had in her pantry to eat. As she wished souvenirs to remem- ber us by, Col. Geer presented her at parting with a silver pencil. Walpole and Correll with buttons from their coats, and I with my toothbrush, for which I paid eighteen dollars in Charleston.
7
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE.
Proceeding on our way, we arrived in Chester county, S. C., without further adventure of importance. In this county a Mr. Logan resided, who, we had been informed, was a friend of the colored people. Thinking he might assist us, we called on him one night about half past ten o'clock at the postoffice, where he was living. My companions remaining in the stable yard, I knocked at the door of the house. A negro answered the sum- mons, and informed me Mr. Logan was in bed. I walked in, entered the man's chamber, introduced myself as Capt. Benson of the Union army, and told him that, having escaped from imprisonment in Columbia, I had heard he was a friend of the Yankees, and had come to him for food and directions. He replied that he wasn't a friend of the Yankees, that he wouldn't give me food or direct me, but he would take and turn me over to the authorities next morning. That plan he concluded in a very few moments, was not feasible. I bade him good night, and he didn't even have the courtesy to return my salutation. Leaving the postoffice I turned into the road, and found that Logan's colored man was following me. Going a little distance, I got behind a large tree and waited for the fellow to come up. As he approached I seized him, threw him down, and told him if he made any noise I would kill him. He didn't make any disturbance, but said to me: " I heard you tell Massa Logan you was a Yankee. I'se a friend of the Yankees. I'll give you something to eat. I'll go back to the house, and Massa Logan'll tell me to go out and stay out until I find you, and I'll tell him I can't find you." I let him go, and everything turned out as he expected. After he had come out of the house again I joined my friends and went over into a field, where the negro left us, went to his cabin, and brought us some chicken pies and other delicacies. We scooped the food out of the dishes with our hands, and that chicken pie tasted better than any- thing I ever ate at Parker's. After our repast the negro guided us up the road some ten miles, or as far as he could, and returned that night in season for his day's duties. He consigned us to the care of another colored man of his acquaint- ance. From this time on, for the most part, we were aided by he colored people, who were entirely loyal.
8
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
All through the South at this period the highways and byways were patrolled by the home guards, as they were called, whose duty was to capture escaped prisoners and runaway negroe; and anybody else who was outdoors after nine o'clock at night without a pass from the authorities. We were constantly run- ning into these guards, and had many very narrow escapes from them. Nevertheless, we eluded them all, having only a few adventures, and went on, crossing rivers and passing through towns in the night time. The weather was cold and rainy. But for the food given us by the negroes we should have been unable to travel so far. It was, indeed, a wonderful march. In order not to pass through Ashville, N. C., or the Cherokee country, which was peculiarly hazardous, we went two hundred and fifty miles out of our way and took in Cow Pens, the old historical ground, having Ashville and the Smoky mountains on the one hand and Cherokee country on the other. Finally we reached Marion, our objective point, and thence easily made our way to the Blue Ridge.
The first white friend we met was Isaac English, a scout who was recruiting for Kirk's First Tennessee cavalry. He told us of a society called the Loyal League, which was organized and in working order up in the mountains, and, being quite loyal himself, he advised us to join this society. We consented to be initiated. The following evening we were conducted up to the camp of the Loyal League, where we found about five hun- dred confederate deserters, with as many more refugees from North Carolina and Tennessee. Fires were burning and arms were stacked, and the camp looked decidedly warlike. We were initiated into the order of the Red and White String. The incidents of the initiation were quite thrilling. Kneeling upon the ground, we were surrounded by eight or ten men with muskets and bayonets fixed, ar. I told by the master of ceremo- nies to place our right hands on the square and Bible and repeat the oath after him. At the words " and may your hearts be pierced by bayonets should you reveal any of the secrets of this order," the muskets of the guard were brought to the charge, and the steel points came very close to our breasts. As
--
9
PRISON LIFE AND ESCAPE.
I looked at these bayonets flashing so near in the weird light of the camp fires. I must say that I felt a bit anxious. It was all right, however. We were invested with the emblem of the order, a cord composed of red and white strings twisted, which was tied in the buttonhole of the shirt at the neck. After the ceremony we spent a pleasant night of story telling around the fires.
Mr. English took us down to Crab Orchard in East Tennes- see. There we learned that Breckinridge had gone up the valley and attacked Gillam, driving him from Bull's Gap and gaining control of all passes through the mountains. We were, therefore, obliged to remain three or four days in Crab Orchard. At this time the whole of Carter county was loyal. Many persons residing there had been driven from their homes in surrounding counties, in all of which, it is fair to say, those who were left were rebels. When we entered Carter county a party was being gotten up to raid Johnson county, about forty miles away. As we couldn't go farther toward Knoxville, for the time being, we joined in this raid. Marching one night and part of the next day, we came to Johnsonville, which was a recruiting station and contained a large amount of quartermasters' sup- plies. Our scouts reported four or five hundred recruits there. Numbering only one hundred ourselves, and possessing only a little ammunition, we let Johnsonville alone, but, crossing Roan's mountain and following the course of Roan's creek, we captured horses and mules and cattle, until we could find noth- ing more worth taking. On our return, near Elk river, we were attacked by a small body of horsemen whom we repulsed with- out suffering loss. We succeeded in getting back into Carter county with nearly all our prizes.
Leaving Carter county in a few days, we continued our jour- ney without encountering any adventures until we were only six miles from Knoxville. That city was occupied by our troops. Crossing the Holstein river and ascending a hill we saw our picket fires between us and Knoxville. Our march took us through a very broken country. As we would go down into a valley and up another hill we could see no trace of
10
FIRST MAINE BUGLE.
our picket fires in front of us, but on looking around we saw our fires immediately behind us, and sure enough we were within our lines, having passed through our own lines without the guards or ourselves knowing it. Col. Walpole cried out. " Hello, there ! " and men at the outpost sprang to their feet and answered: "Halt! Who goes there?" Col. Walpole replied : "Friends, without the countersign," and then came the command, " Halt, friends; advance one." The sergeant of the guard together with a soldier with bayonet fixed allowed the colonel to advance within a short distance, when the sergeant said: " Where are you going?" "To Knoxville," was the colonel's reply. "You are going into the enemy's country," said the sergeant, " Knoxville is the other way." To this Col. Walpole rejoined: "We have just come from the enemy's country, and are going to Knoxville, having come through your lines." The sergeant was much alarmed and begged us not to say anything about his delinquency to Gen. Carter, command- ant at Knoxville. We said we wouldn't. He gave us three horses, which were all he had, and the four of us rode into Knoxville at one o'clock in the morning of December 26th. Having reported at headquarters, we were sent to the hospital, and after taking a bath and putting on fresh clothes, we slept in beds for the first time in about six months. We were sent on to Washington in due time and reported to Col. Baker of my regiment, who was chief detective of the secret service of the war department. He presented us to President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton, to whom we related the story of our adven- tures. They were particularly interested in the Red and White String. €
To me one of the most happy events connected with our capture and escape was a sequel that happened nineteen years afterward. In 1883, while in Washington, I met a comrade who had been in prison with me. He asked me if I had seen Capt. Grant, or as he was then Col. Grant, who had been in a dungeon with me in Savannah. I told him I hadn't, but had tried in vain for years to find my old companion in misfortune. "Why," said my friend, " he is living at 228 A street, southeast." The
11
SONG-TWENTY-FIRST OF MAY.
result of this talk was that I called upon Capt. Grant and had a very affecting interview, when I learned for the first time that he had jumped from the train on the way from Charleston to Columbia, escaping over the same route with me and my com- panions, and arriving in Knoxville six days ahead of us. He like us had gone on to Washington, whence he went to his home in Wisconsin on leave of absence. Our interview, as I have said, was very affecting. I did not disclose my identity at first, and when I did he burst into tears of affection and joy. He has gone now to join the great majority.
Song-Twenty-First of May. AIK-BONNY BLUE FLAG.
This song was composed by Captain T. D. Black, Co. F, Twenty-first Pennsylvania Cavalry, now of Fremont, Nebraska, after the battle of Poplar Grove Church near Petersburg, Va. It is a short history of the regiment and went like wild-fire. officers and men sending copies home and having it pub- lished in their home paper, which were circulated among the boys. It was written at night in his tent. He would compose a verse, get up and write it down, then lie down again, compose another verse and write it down and in this way had the song finished before morning, which was ringing through the regi- ment the next day :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.