Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1862-12-18
$elMuut Chyamitle .
Seven Months in Dixie.
Failure Of o Secret Expedition.

EJxtuIc vi ctCfca hApCuitiVh'
ExEcUTIoN OF FEDERAL SOLDIERS.
A ROMANTIC NARRATIvE
The Key West New Era Of November
is, contains II long and highly interesting
sccount Of seven months experience in
rsbeldom' by two Ohio soldiers, who formed
part of an expedition sent out by the la.
men,ed General Mitchell in April last on
hazardous mission, which unfortunately
failed The men arrived at Key West from
Apalachicola Bay in the steamer Stars and
Stripes, and give their names as Mark
Wood and Alfred Wilson, of Company q,
alst Ohio Regiment, commanded by Col.
Norton. They state that in April last their
regiment formed part Of Major General
o. NJ. Mitchels division, Gen. Sill's bri
gade then stationed at Shclbyville, Tenncs
see. While there secret expedition for
dangerous service was organized and placed
under the orders Of a man supposed to be
. spy Of the commander Of the division. -
Twenty-Five men, whose names are given,
were detailed foi the service. The whole
party was disguised in citizens dress, and
left Shslbyvillo on the 7th of April. They
proceeded to Manchester, Tennessee, where
they represented themselves as Kentuckians
on their way to Chattanooga to join the
rebol army. In this manner they made
their way across the Cumberland Mountains
70 Chattanooga, obtaining subsistence from
Secessioni,ts. From that point they went
TO Marietta, Georgia, IN the cars. The
psxt morning they returned on the same
road to place sailed Big Shanty, where
we're enoampsd 10000 rebel troops. AT
shis point their real service begun, aud we
quote from the narrative:
THE train contained number of sol.
disrs "a we'll ii citizens, together with q
quantity Of provisions, and an iron safe
containing large amount of Confederate
scrip to pay the troops at Corintb, Miss. !;
and here it was that we knew tho duty we
we're expected to do, vis., destroy the track
and bridges on the line OF the road and
thus prevent 70 endorsements and commits
sary stores from reaching Virginia, Tennes-
see and Georgia. Gen. Mitchell had already
cut of communication from Corinth by
holding Huntsville, Ala, and our duty was
to destroy the track and bridges from Big
Shsnty to and beyond Chattanooga, or as
far as Bridgeport, Tenn. 1t must be rscol-
lected that this portion Of the road is built
over innumerable creeks and rivers, and
crosses the Tennessee river at Bridgeport,
where fine bridge is erected
'As before stated, our whole p rty, con.
sisting Of twenty, left the cars and divided
into squads of three and four, taking sta
tions on each side Of the train, Andrews
stationiDg himself at the coupling pin OF
the third car. III must here be stated that
number OF our party were engineers, and
thoroughly understood the business we had
on hand.) One of our engineers was at his
post, and found everything all right. All
hands now mounted tho cars, although the
guard was within three feet of them, the
word was given Andrews drew tho coupling
pin, and cried, all right. The train, now
consisting Of three oars and the engine, was
started OF with as little noise as possible
"We soon lost sight Of the lights at Big
6hanty, and at the first curve the train was
stopped and enc of the party, John Scott, J
climbed the telegraph pole and cut the
wires; We then started and, at the next
point, at o town, name unknown, we tore
up the track and took rail with us on the
car, and thus We continued tearing up the
track end outing the wires on the other
side, after passing u town. Unfortunately,
however, for Us, the train was running in a
very slow schedule, and we were compelled
10 switch of and let the down train pass US.
~ A. Al a. A l..
engineer Of the road made his appearance,
and was about to step on the engine, when
Andrews told him he could not come on
board, rs this WAS an extra train to run
through to Corinth aud tho present party
were engaged 10 carry it there, and in sup
port Of the assertion the iron safe was
shown. This apparently satisfied tho en-
gineer, and We took in wood and water, and
again started.
"A second time wo were compelled to
switch of, and in order to get the switch
keys Andrews, who knew tho road well,
went into the station and took them from
the Office This caused considerable excite.
mont, but wo 1uiotod il in measure by stat
ing that our train contained gunpowder for
BssuregaId at Corinth, and soon aftor we
again started. About twenty miles South
VI Dalton, Ga, we came to bridge, and
hcre We set fire to one of our cars, piled on
wood, and left it on the bridge, designing
10 sci it on fire also.
'At this time the engineer at the Rome
Branch, suspeoting that all was not right,
started up tho track, aud, we suppose, found
the rails torn up, and Immediately returned
70 the junction and took on board auanti-
" Of loose rails, and followed after us =
Where we had torn up the rails he iinmed.
stsly laid one, and without stopping to
fastsn il started over slowly and gave chase
eoon he came TO the bridge with the burn.
i,g oar which had not yet caught the bridge
In meantime we had switched off to let an
express pass, which train was duly inform.
I'D Of our character by discovering the track
torn up and stopped, bur was soon joined
BY the Rome engineer, who had succeeded
in turning the burning car of the bridge !;
they then both started for US, laying the
track ss they went along. which they could
do In much shorter time than we could
tear II up. tDs t1
'Thua II was they overlook Us at work,
end ~ soon as we found ourselves discover.
ID, speed was our hope, and at It we went,
but unfortunately for US our fuel was nearly
out, and it was then determined to leave
kka auasna and tska to tho x.oo<l. A ....J