USA > Pennsylvania > Martial deeds of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2 > Part 47
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" About one o'clock A. M., McDonald came to me in great con- sternation, and told me the whole thing was discovered. I rose up and asked him to explain how that was. He said that he had dug a hole out, as he expressed it, and had come right to the feet of the sentinel. He said if it was not already discovered that it would be without fail when daylight came. I asked him if they had closed the hole in the fireplace ; he said ' No, that is played out,' using his own phrase. I told him to come along with me and we would go down and give the place a little examination. I felt certain that the statement, that he had come right up to the feet of the sentinel, was as erroneous as was the belief that we had got far enough when he commenced to dig out to the surface. We went below and into the tunnel. As soon as I entered I noticed that the tread of the sentinel did sound very loud, and exactly at the other end of the tunnel. I went to the place, however, and quickly discovered that the opening was not within
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ten feet of the sentinel's path. The air in the tunnel, as I had expected, was now pure and delightful, so that one could stay in any length of time. The orifice at the surface was very little larger than a rat-hole, and was on the slope of a bench where the ground fell off abruptly towards the yard opposite in a southeast direction. It was therefore the most unlikely thing in the world for the sentinel to discover it, besides the earth was as hard as a rock entirely to the surface, so that the orifice would not become any larger ; but in order to prevent this effectually, I took one of my working garments and shoved it into the hole, so as not only to prevent it from getting larger, but to keep any one from the outside discovering it.
" We then went up-stairs to bed. Hamilton went down with Johnson and closed the wall and replaced the dirt and the stove. The next night the third relief went down with me, but very re- luctantly. They seemed afraid to have the orifice opened at the surface in order to let the fresh air in. It made the tread of the sentinel sound so loud that they were afraid he would also hear them while dragging the spittoon through the tunnel. The next night the first relief went down, and I did the digging. After this it was very evident to all that the escape would be made, at least that the tunnel would be a success. McDonald and I were, by great odds, the best diggers of the party. McDonald dug a great deal more earth than I did, but he never made such an extent of tunnel from the fact that I always lay perfectly flat while digging and made my part very low and narrow. He, on the contrary, sat upright to dig and made his part very wide and high. It was at this time that McDonald and I concluded to finish the tunnel alone, taking turns at digging. In two nights from this time we went through into the yard and out at the sur- face. As soon as the hole was opened, I went out into the yard, thence down to the gate, opened it and out into the street that ran along the canal. I then went back. We closed up the end of the tunnel, and went up-stairs to bed. Hamilton secured the fireplace.
" For several days previous to this, we had been making our arrangements for taking our departure from the prison. Our plan was this: each one of the working party was to select a
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friend from among the other prisoners, to take with him. This would make thirty in all to escape the first night. . We were all to assemble in the ground-floor room of the castern division. The working party were to pass out first, headed by myself and Hamilton. Our friends were then to follow. I then arranged to leave the ladder in charge of Colonel Hobart, of a Wisconsin regi- ment. He was to bring out a party the next night after our escape. By this time we had found means of accounting for absentees at roll-call, by parties slipping into the eastern division above stairs after their names had been called, then answering to other names, and passing out the second time. In this manner Hobart's party were to account for us the next day and then get others to account for his party in like manner after they should escape.
"On the night of the 9th of February, 1864, my whole party, with our friends, assembled in the room so frequently mentioned as the ground-floor room of the eastern division. This was as soon as it began to get dark. Lieutenant Mitchell of the work- ing party refused to go. A. Colonel of the Twenty-third Michi- gan (name lost) went in his place. After they were all as- sembled I started out, followed immediately by Hamilton. I opened the mouth of the tunnel, walked down to the gate, opened it, then went back to the tunnel and told Hamilton to come on. We then went together down to the gate and as soon as the sentinel's back was turned slipped out, walked down the street along the canal to the first corner, then went north two squares and turned east one square. At this point we encountered some rebel soldiers that were guarding a hospital. I went right on, but Hamilton turned back, and we became separated. I did not see him again for several months. How the others came out I only know from report. I know, however, that they all passed out of the tunnel safely. The plan to have been adopted by Colonel Hobart failed. Hamilton and I passed out about seven and a half or eight o'clock in the evening. We started as soon as it got dark. Of course the escape of our party soon became generally known among the prisoners and caused great excite- ment. They could not be controlled, and about twelve o'clock at night they commenced going out indiscriminately. It is said
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one hundred and nine went out altogether and many more would have gone, but some one created a false alarm and the remainder rushed back to their quarters in a great panic, after which no others made the attempt. I only give this part as I heard it from others. It took just seventeen days to dig the last tunnel.
"No plan had been arranged to be pursued after we left the prison. It was expected of each man to take care of himself and be governed by circumstances. . After Hamilton and I became separated, I passed out of the city of Richmond to the York River 'Railroad. I followed this to the Chickahominy bridge. Here I discovered a sentinel standing. I then turned to the right and went some distance until I came to a cavalry camp of the rebels. It was just at daylight, and they were sounding reveille. I found a large sycamore trec that was hollow. I con- cealed myself in this until late in the afternoon, when I slipped out and waded across the Chickahominy. At that point it was pretty deep, and I got my clothes thoroughly soaked. After I had crossed the river, I proceeded a short distance, and seeing several rebel cavalry I lay down until night. When I at- tempted to rise, I found myself perfectly stiff and my clothes completely frozen. I pushed right ahead, however, and in cross- ing the bottom I found several deep places filled with water. I did not try to avoid them much, but plunged through until I reached the high ground on the other side. After I reached the high ground, which was covered with timber, I proceeded about one mile, when I came upon a rebel picket. This I easily avoided and kept on over the country, crossing several roads. I was still very lame from the effects of a broken foot, which I had received before my capture at Chickamauga, at a place called Liberty Gap, Tennessee, or rather it had been broken at Murfreesboro', Ten- nessee, and again broken at Liberty Gap. This wound now became very troublesome, as the nights were dark and I could not see the inequalities of the ground.
" During the night I was obliged to stop, my clothes being still very wet and frozen in places, and I was in great danger of freezing to death. I had with me a haversack in which I carried provisions; this I had held at arms' length while crossing the Chickahominy and the sloughs in its vicinity, in order to keep it
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dry. In this I.also had a box of matches, and upon coming into a large thicket of cedars I resolved to build a fire. I gathered some fuel and started a fire, and after inspecting the surrounding vicinity, I found that the fire was concealed by the cedars; I then went to the fire and lay down, and was soon in a profound sleep. When I awoke I found that I had been nearly in as much danger of burning to death as I was before of freezing. My coat was burned through in several places, as well as my pants and the legs of my boots. I now rose and pursued my journey, and after proceeding about two miles I came to Crump's Cross-roads. Here a picket post was encountered. This I avoided. I now resolved to travel all day, and before night reached New Kent Court House.
" Here also a cavalry picket was stationed. This I also avoided; but in crossing a small open space at some distance from the post I was seen by one of them, and the man rode up to me. He was a stupid fellow, and asked me if I belonged to the New Kent cavalry. I had on a gray cap. Of course I answered in the affirmative. Ile turned and rode back, and I slipped into a thicket of laurels. I pushed through this as quickly as possible, and soon gained an open woods on a hill of some elevation. I then looked back and found that the others had taken the alarm, as I had supposed they would, and were in full pursuit. Some of them had evidently seen me enter the laurel thicket, and in a minute it was surrounded. I did not wait to see them beat up the bush, but pushed away from the spot as fast as my lame foot would permit. As soon as I came to the edge of the woods, I found another picket post, and directly in front of this was a large open field which I had to cross to gain a place of safety, because it would not do for me to remain in this woods. I could not cross this open ground without being in full view of the rebel party. I slipped along the edge of the woods, avoiding the enemy, until I came to a place where a gully ran entirely across. This was neither wide nor deep, but it afforded my only chance of escape, so I threw myself into it and commenced crawling toward the other end of it. It must have been more than half a mile in length, but I crawled the entire distance without raising my head. When I reached the end of the gully I found myself at
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the Williamsburg road, on the opposite side of which was a thicket of pines. I quickly went into this and looked back. I could see the rebel pickets very plainly, but they had not seen me while crawling across the open space in front of them, though I had passed immediately before them.
" I remained concealed in the pine woods for several hours, and then proceeded cautiously along the Williamsburg road. Fre- quently I had to take to the bushes on account of rebel cavalry, or armed citizens travelling through the country. At dark I crossed Diascen bridge. Here also was a picket post. I passed. this without the risk I ran at New Kent Court House. I kept on until near midnight, when I found myself completely exhausted, and, leaving the road, went some distance into a woods, lay down and slept until daylight. I then rose and took a pretty close survey of surrounding objects, walked down to the road and saw an old ruined brick building on the opposite side of the road. This place I afterwards learned was called Burnt Ordinary. I found myself this morning almost unable to move, but crawled along in the direction of Williamsburg, and after travelling for some time, suddenly came upon a spot where a picket had been posted the night before. As I was now so close to Williamsburg, it became a question with me whether it was a Union or a rebel picket. I soon discovered by the tracks that the men had been fronting towards Williamsburg, and therefore concluded that it had been rebel. I now became exceedingly cautious and with- drew to the woods. I kept on through the woods in a southeast direction until I came to an open space. Here, to my great joy, I saw a body of United States troops moving on the road to my left. I sat down very much exhausted and awaited their approach.
" While sitting there and watching their movements, a noise attracted my attention to a point in my rear, but evidently on the road which lay to my left. When I looked fairly in that direction, I saw three men standing like pickets at a point where the United States troops were approaching. These men were all fully dressed in United States uniforms. The circumstance that I had not seen them before excited a suspicion that all was not right and I watched them closely. They did not appear to pay
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any attention to the advancing troops, but one would frequently step into the middle of the road and look intently in the opposite direction. From this I thought they were all right, and that they were merely videttes that had been sent forward from the advancing column. About this time the troops I had first seen appeared to come to a halt. These men then moved towards the column, and by so doing placed some elevated ground between them and me, and I supposed they had gone to join the troops. I now rose and walked towards the troops I had first seen. When I had walked about fifty or seventy-five yards, I came again in sight of the three men in the road, who now saw and challenged me. They had not advanced as far towards the troops as I had supposed ; consequently when I came in sight of them the second time I was much nearer than at first. Except for a moment when I first saw them, I firmly believed that they belonged to the troops below, and they were now very nearly within gun-shot, and apparently advancing towards them.
"I hesitated a moment, and then obeyed their summons to approach. As soon as I came close to them, I saw that I was entrapped, even before they spoke. Their manner indicated that they were in great fear of the troops that had halted below. I endeavored to make them believe I was a rebel soldier, but they concluded to retain me as a prisoner. My first impulse was to break and run, but my lameness and enfeebled condition pre- vented me from doing this in the face of three active men. I therefore waited for a better chance. . One of these men appeared to be an officer. He directed one of the men to take me in charge, and go across the field that lay on the left of the road. I started off with him limping fearfully, but when he had got about half-way across the field, I sprang suddenly upon him, disarmed and prostrated him, fired off his piece, and started to run towards the troops, and would easily have escaped had it not been for my lameness. . The man I had disarmed did not attempt to follow me, nor did the two we had left in the road. On the contrary, these two ran across the field diagonally to the rear; but several other men whom I had not seen before sprang up from behind the fence on the side of the field opposite to the road. They ran so as to intercept my approach to the troops. Two or
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three of them outran me and struck me with their muskets. This prostrated me, and they all rushed around me. I heard one of them say, 'Be quick ; the Yanks are right here.'
"Several of them now seized me, and dragged me to and over the fence into a thickly timbered ravine. They then turned and went up this ravine in a northerly direction it seemed, for about 200 or 300 yards. Here the whole party assembled, including the three men I had seen in the road. These three men were completely in United States uniform; the others were only par- tially so. The man I had disarmed seemed to be badly hurt. He wanted to kill me at once. The man, Lieutenant Hughes- I think they called him-whom I had taken for an officer in the road, spoke roughly to this man and ordered him to keep quiet. Just then one of the men, who came crawling up the bank of the ravine, called out, 'Be off quick,' when the whole party started and ran. They forced me along with them for a short distance, when, finding that I was unable to travel, they halted.
" The officer then detailed a guard to take charge of me, and instructed them by no means to let me escape or be taken from them alive. The officer and his party then ran off very rapidly in a northeast course it seemed, but the guard conducted me through a dense woods in a northwest course until we came to another ravine, also densely wooded. Here they found an old man about sixty-five years of age. They asked him if he could guide them by a safe route to Barhamsville, saying to him the Yanks are thick as hornets on the other road. He replied that he could, and I was then taken by a circuitous route to Barhams- ville, thence to White House, and thence to Richmond, where I was again incarcerated in Libby. I was kept in a cell for several days, and then sent to my old quarters. Long before this our means of egress had been discovered by the rebels. About this time, or perhaps before, a system of special exchanges was commenced. This took out most of the officers of higher rank, and soon I was the only Colonel left in the prison. At length my exchange was effected, April 30th, 1864. I was sent to Annapolis, Maryland; thence to Columbus, Ohio; and thence to my regiment in the field, where I arrived June 6th, 1864."
CHAPTER V.
INCIDENTS.
NE of the first thoughts which seizes the home population, when it is known that an enemy is approaching, is of hiding the valuables. Where to secrete becomes a serious study, and ingenuity is tasked to its utmost; for soldiers, after a little practice, acquire great skill in searching for hidden 40. R. U.S. treasures. It is said that Sherman's bummers 1 could smell the whereabouts of a watch, though it were hidden in a swamp five miles off. They had an uncontrollable propensity for running their bayonets into every ash-pile and heap of rubbish which they came upon, and the very barrel of meal which contained the treasures was sure to be overturned. Feather-beds were ripped open, fires were extin- guished and the ashes hauled from the hearth, false bottoms of drawers, chairs, and trunks were unloosed, and the very pumps were unpacked and wells made to disclose their secrets.
When the legions of Lee began to show themselves to the peo- ple of Gettysburg across the South Mountain, and their white tents to cover all the plains below, it became evident that the town would fall in the track of the invader, and the inevitable labor of secreting began. It chanced that an old man, who kept a plain farmer's inn, had just laid in a heavy invoice of choice liquors. He knew that in the event of a great army occupying the town, or even passing through it, his stock would be sacrificed. Nor was it so much the loss of his liquors that he dreaded; for he realized that the effect of strong drink was to deprive men of reason and all self-control or decency, and he shuddered at the thought of a soldiery infuriated with the fiery demon. He was, accordingly, incited to use his best resources in devising some
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plan to put his store beyond their grasp. It was too late to re- ship it to Baltimore, and the only alternative was to dispose of it on the premises. After anxiously revolving many an ingenious scheme, he finally settled upon this : going to his garden as soon as the shadows of evening had fallen, he dug a deep long trench, into which he rolled his precious but dangerous treasures. Hle then covered the earth neatly over them, and smoothing it down in the most careful manner, proceeded to plant the newly stirred ground to cabbage plants, as if in hope of a profitable crop of this savory esculent. When all was done, and in the morning- light he regarded his night's work with complacency, he be- thought himself of calling in one of his neighbors to admire his fine patch. The neighbor came, saw, and commended; but had no suspicion. This was regarded as a fortunate omen. But he must needs have some excuse for having no liquors. To this end he had saved out a few gallons of each of the poorer brands, and pouring these into several empty barrels rolled them into an obscure corner of his inner cellar, and piled his potatoes over them.
Amidst the din and turmoil of that terrible day, when, ploughed by shot and shell, the First and Eleventh corps were obliged to yield the ground which they had heroically held, and fall back rapidly through the town, the rebels came. They poured through all the streets, and levelling the fences, filled the enclosures. No house nor private apartment was secure from their intrusion. The inn and the cabbage patch were no ex- ceptions. One of the first questions when they came upon the premises was :
" Where is the liquor ?"
Looking very serious, the host answered that his stock was entirely exhausted.
" That will do for the marines," exclaimed one, "but it's too thin for us. We have travelled."
So saying he cocked his musket, and, levelling it at the old man's head, told him to show where the liquor was, or he would have no time to say his prayers. Regarding this a very careless way to handle fire-arms, and believing discretion the better part of valor, he led the way to the innermost cellar, and taking down
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the elaborately piled-up barricades, and removing great bars and bolts, commenced levelling the potatoes. The soldiers, eager for a sip, lent him a helping hand. Finally the barrels were reached and the moiety of the liquor brought to light. The foil was com- plete. No further search was made nor questions asked.
Patiently during those hot July days, while the booming of cannon and the tramp of the armies resounded and shook the dwellings of the city, and the volumes of sulphurous smoke ob- scured the sun in the mid-day heavens, the old man toiled in cultivating his cabbage plants, hoeing the same ground again and again. The rebels were constantly passing, their line of battle running just in front of his premises, and were frequently in and out of his house; but they had no suspicion of his secret. Finally came that terrible cannonade on the afternoon of the third day, when the trembling fled to their cellars for safety, when the very earth quaked, and the stoutest held his breath, followed by the rush of armed thousands and the clash as of giants! Gradually the sound of battle died away, and as the shadows of evening began to lengthen, the timid stole forth from their hiding-places; when, lo! a marked change was apparent. The rebels, who before had been so boastful and jubilant, had suddenly become reticent, and their faces were lengthened like the shadows. The night passed and the morning came, and, oh ! what a joyful morning! The rebels had departed, the soldiers of the Union with their star-lit banners were advancing, and the cabbage was no longer an object of cultivation !
ATE on the afternoon of the 27th of October, 1864, General Mulholland, then commanding a brigade, received orders to storm a rebel fort in front of his line. One hundred men of the One Hundred and Forty-eighth Pennsylvania were selected for the storming party. Captain Henry D. Price, who was at the . time Adjutant-General of the brigade, insisted on accompanying it. Drawing his sword he handed the scabbard to Lieutenant Lee, saying, "Tom ! if I am killed send this home to my mother." When the order to charge was given, he leaped over the works and ran in front of the troops to the enemy's line, where he fell. shot through the head. Thus expired one of the bravest, most
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unassuming, gentle, beloved, and accomplished young officers in the army. He was a native of Chester county, where he was born on the 17th of August, 1843. 1
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4.2 HE victim of cruelty and starvation in the loathsome prisons of the South, by his suffering and fortitude borne in the common cause, challenges the admiration and gratitude, the honor and lasting commemoration of all his countrymen. The torments therein endured, and the agonies of the parting hour, will never be known until those patriot graves give up their secrets. . As an illustration of this life the following narrative, prepared by Lieu- tenant Thomas F. Roberts, Company D, Fifth Pennsylvania cavalry, is here given. He was in command of his company at the battle of Stony Creek Station, in the Wilson and Kautz raid, on the 29th of June, 1864, and was taken prisoner with twenty- two of his men. They were immediately sent to Andersonville, where they remained about three months. We suffered here, he says, dreadfully from the hot sun, having no shelter excepting an old horse-blanket which the rebels did not think worth robbing us of. There must have been 30,000 in this prison, and the average deaths per day from starvation and neglect were at least fifty within the prison, and likely as many more in the hospitals outside. Our Sergeant-Major, John Griffith, died here, and I do not think there ever was a man who died in so much misery, as he was perfectly alive with vermin. Privates Granville Hoskins and Stacy Baxter also died miserably here.
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