Litchfield enquirer., 1862-05-29
WHOLE NO. 1882.

A THRILLING NARRATIoN.-James E. Mont gomery of New York, and aid to Gen. Newton with Gen. Franklin's division, in private letter to his father, relates the following exciting story of his adventures with body of rebels whom he met and of his skillful escape from them:
 :" It was about o'clock, P. M., when receiv- ed an order from Gen. Newton, to go forward in- to the woods to ascertain whether the rebels were falling back, and whether certain regiment of ours held its position there. went forward at once as fast as my well tried horse could carry me, and upon entering the woods moved cautious ly until reached a barricade, when hearing voi- ces beside me plunged into the woods, thinking of course, it was one of our regiments-Th first New York-and was surprised to find that had gone right into perfect nest of the Hamp. ton Legion, from South Carolina, who were lying behind trees, standing behind bushes, and knsel- ing behind stumps like bees. lat once peresiv- cd my mistake, and knew that nothing but the most consummate coolness would save me. ! therefore saluted them, and they taking me for rebel officer, asked me how far Gen. Hampton was then. I answered without hesitation, and with rather more assurance than I thought possessed, 'I left him about ten rods below here,' and added, Now, boys, the General expects you to do your duty to-day then turned my horse slowly to Hull suspicion, and was congratulating myselfon the probable success of my rnse, when, seeing the U. s., on my cap, they yelled out, that's a d-n Yankee son of @ b-h, give him h-lr On hearing this, dashed the spurs into my horse, threw my head over his neck, and left for the road. A perfect volley of Minnie balls passed over and around me-killed my horse, who rolled over carrying me with him, and left me down. Knowing that nothing but time appar- ently would save me, I laid with my head back in ditch, as I fell, and appeared dead for some %p,r Il not oaIn ture, although the scoundrels were swarming around me, and threatened to end' me. 1 re- mained in this way until they came up to me, took away my pistol and commenced general plundering, and as they fingered away could not suppress smie-and then rising, said, We'll, men, I yield as a prisoner of war They said, You've been shamming, you d-n Yankee scoundrel, have you?' Certainly said I, 'eve- rything is fair in war; They then commenced to abuse me as d-n Yankee this, and d-n Yankee that, when turned upon them, and said, z have yielded as prisoner of war demand to be as such We, in the North, know how to treat dogs better than you do men now lead me to your commanding officer.' They gave me an- other voley of abuse, at which I merely smiled, and then a shell, fired by our artillery, to the place where l was last seen to enter, burst like the wind among us-skinning my nose and scat. tering the rebel rascals like chatf. They seized their muskets, pointed two of them at me, and told me to 'come along, you d-n Yankeer I still talked with them to gain time, when another shell bursting amongst us, they moved on fur ther, calling to me to 'come on, while said, go ahead, lead the way, quick l thensaw favorable moment, and preferring freedom to a Southern prison, 1 made one bound into the woods, and went back as fast as one leg could carry me. I felt very much exhausted, and was carried to the rear by some men and placed under tree, when with uhishey and care, soon felt stronger although my leg was stiff. They wish ed me to go in an ambulance to the hospital, but politely declined, and calling for an extra horse, l was lifted on his back, and returned to the field and reported to Gen. Newton for duty. He very enough that day, and requested me to keep quiet."