American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1851-1863, 1861-10-05
Extraordinary Escape from the hands or
the HcSsiaHs--AdJulant Gee. ". Alex
ander7s Escape from fert AcEeHrJ-s
His safe Arrival 1is1ong His Friends.

We bad an interview last night with
Adiutant Geo. w Alexander at the Pow
hatan Hotel, where be arrived yesterday
from Gen. yohnston's headquarters. His
escape and subsequent adventures are
equal TO a Trenck romance.
After Colonel Thomas and Alexander
had captured the st. Nicholas. they
started upon another secret expedition. and
by one of those unaccountable accidents
the Colonel was captured. Alexander
was at this time in charge Of 9 schooner.
steering boldly up the Chesapeake. The
weather came on SO squally andrery bad.
and seeing suspicious movements among
some steamers, be concealed his men in
the hold Of the vessel. placed bis brother
in-law at the helm, and he himself on
deck disguised as an oysterman, be ran
into Annapolis and anchored under Fort
Severn. At daylight got under way and
stod DksDto Chester river. Here q ter
rife gale threw his little craft high upon
Eastern Neck Island. He. then, in dis
guise, boarded the steamer ARROW" :
got the papers and saw the.aecount Of the
Colonel's arrest; then placed the main
body of his men under the charge of
Lieutenant Blackston. with orders to him
to make the best Of bis way to Virginia.
across the Bay and through Calvert
county; which Blackston succeeded no
bly, in doing. Alexander then, with his
brother in-law and two men, started for
Accomac, down the. Eastern Shore of
Maryland. Every thing went on swim
mingIy until his arrival at Cambridge,
where, one of the party being recognized
by Judge Spencer, and he being rela-
tive, Monteith like, proved a. traitor and
informed on them. In short time Gov
ernor Hicks ordered out the Dorchester
Guards 4; the hotel was surrounded, and
they were taken, in custody, dragged to
the common Jail, placed in a room. and
kept until morning. Then closely
guarded, they were conveyed to the
steamer. On the wharf an immense
throng surrounded Governor Hicks, and
shouted loudly for the Aa5eqs corpus,-
Alexander demanded of Governor Hicks
to be treated as a gentleman. The Gov
ernor replied, /" You are in the hands of
the military" Il am glad to hear it,
said Alexander. /" for; l thought | was in
your hands," fe,.s .fs =
Here the crowd attempted a, rescue;
but, overpowered by numbers Alexan-
der was borne on board the steamer and
conveyed to Fort McHenry., His wife,
who was in Virginia at the time, imme-
diately saw President Davis, who kindly
assured her that everything possible
should be done to save him. She then
went to Maryland. procured pass to
visit her husband, and at once COM
menced the invention of plans for his es-
cape. She procured Federal soldiers
uniform, clothes line, and an initiating
life preserving waistcoat. These she
struggled to his cell beneath her gar
ments. During the arrangement she
purchased plants and made for her hus-
band little garden at his cell window.
thus disarming all suspicion that any es-
cape was medisated. 4 II baa .f,ge.
Sixteen days ago, everything being in
readiness, just after dark, Alexander
donned his disguise, and while Col. Ear
vona (Thomas) engaged the attention of
the sentinel, he slipped by, gained the
ramparts, passed over the mortar bate
ry. and sprang from the curtin into the
ditch. The fall being great. he discoy-
cred. on rising. that be was crippled.
Nothing daunted. he crawled through the
abattis. over the glacis, into the river,
inflated his waistcoat, and made bold
stroke for freedom.
After being in the water long time,
be landed and crawled three fourths of
a mile to house. There he found some
friendly disposed people; two Catholic
girls washed him and dressed him, put a
scapular" round his neck for protection,
placed him in the bottom of carriage,
and. themselves concealing him with their
garments, drove to. friends house,
where he was taken care of. -
The next day a man-of-war was hauled
t.sE =
into the river. and fred guns for long
time to raise Alexander's body. suppos-
ing he must have drowned After this
friends of the cause in Maryland convey.
ed him from place to place by night for
concealment. until at last he was carried
to the shore of the Potomac. Here, by
the merest accident, he fell in with Lieut..
Dunott, who had escaped from Washing
ton, and George Bear. a young man who
was making his way to Portsmouth, Va.
Alexander purchased a boat. Dunott
and Bear carried him on their shoulders
a mile. Bear tore off his .coat-skirts