Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1863-04-29
TERRIBLE SUFFERING OF A GALLANT
BAND OF PATRIOTS.
Report of the Judge Advocate Genera
. 20 the Secretary of War.

Report of the Judge Advocate General
10 the Secretary of War.
Judge Ado. Gems. Office, March %, 1868
SIR: / have the honor to transmit fOl
your consideration the accompanying
dispositions of:
Corporal VIM. Pittinger, Co. q, Second
regiment Ohio Volunteers.
Private Jacob ParrOtt. Co, X, Thirty,
third regiment Ohio Volunteers
Private Robert Bufium, Co, Ii, Twenty
first regiment Ohio Volunteers:
Corporal VIM. Reddick, Co. B, Twenty
third regiment Ohio Volunteers, and
Private VIM. Benniger, Co. q, Twenty
first regiment Ohio Volunteers:
Taken at this office on the 25th inst
in compliance with your written instruc-
tions, from which the following facts Will
appear:
These non-commissioned officers and
privates belonged to an expedition set on
foot in April, 1862, at the suggestion OF
Mr.. j. j. Andrews, citizen of Kentucky,
who led it, and under the direction OF
Gen. o. NJ. Mitchell, the object of which
was to destroy the communications on
the Georgia State Railroad, between At
lanta and Chattanooga
The mode of operation proposed was
to reach a point on the road where they
could seize locomotive and train of cars,
and then dash back in the direction OF
Chattanooga, cutting the telegraph wires
and burning the bridges behind them as
they advanced, until they reached their
own lines. The expedition consisted OF
twenty four men, who, with the exception
of its leader, Mr.. Andrews, and another
citizen of Kentucky, who acted on the oc-
casion as the substitute of a soldier, had
been selected from the different compa-
nies for their known courage and dlscre-
ton.
They were informed that the movement
was to be a secret one, and they doubt
less comprehended something OF Its per
lis but Mr.. Andrews and Mr.. Reddlck
alone seem to have known anything OF Its
precise direction or object. They, how
ever, voluntarily engaged in it, and made
their way, in parties of two and three, IN
citizens dress, and carrying only their
side arms, to Chattanooga, the point OF
rendezvous agreed upon, where twenty
two ont of the twenty-four arrived safely.
Here they took passage, without attract
ing observation, for Marietta, which they
reached at twelve o'clock on the night OF
the llth of April.
The following morning they took the
cars back again toward Chattanooga, and
at a place called Big Sandy, while the
engineer and passengers were breakfast
ing, they detached the locomotive and
three box-cars from the train and started
at full speed for Chattanooga. They were
now upon the field of the perilous opera
tions proposed by the expedition, but
suddenly encountered unforeseen obSta-
cles. According to the schedule Of the
road, of which Mr.. Andrews had proposed
himself, they should have met but
single train on that day, whereas they
met three, two of them being engaged on
extraordinary service.
About an hour was lost in waiting to
allow these trains to pass, which enabled
their pursuers to press closely upon them
They removed rails, threw out obstruct-
ions on the road, and cut the wires from
time to time, and attained, when III mo-
tion, a speed of sixty miles an hour: but
the time lost could not be regained. At
ter having run about one hundred miles,
they found their supply of wood, water
and oil exhausted, while the rebel loco
motive which had been chasing them was
in sight. Uunder these circumstances
they had no alternative but to abandon
their cars and fly to the woods, which
they did, under the orders of Mr. An
drews, each one endeavoring to save him.
self as best he might.
The expedition thus failed from causes
which reflected neither upon the genius
by which it was planned, nor upon the
intrepidity and discretion of those engIg-
ed in conducting it. But for the accident
of meeting the extra trains which could
not have been anticipated, the movement
would have been complete success, and
the whole aspect of the war in the South
and Southwest would have been at once
changed. The expedition itself, in the
daring of its conception, had the wild
ness of a romance while in the gigantic
and overwhelming results, which it sought
and was likely to accomplish, was abSO-
luteiy sublime.
The estimate of its character entertain
ed in the South will be found fully ex-
pressed in an editorial from the Southern
Confederacy, a prominent rebel journal,
under date OF the 18th of April, and
which is appended to and adopted as a
part of Mr.. Pettenger's deposition The
editor says: 'HThe mind and heart shrink
back appalled, at the bare contemplation
of the awful consequences which would
have followed the success of this one act.
We doubt if the victory of Manassas or
Corinth were worth as much to us as the
Illustration of this grand coup d'etat. 1t is
not by any means certain that the ami
hilation of Beauregard's whole army at
Corinth would be so fatal blow TO us as
would have been the burning of the
bridges at the time by these men,"
So soon as those composing the expe-
dition had left the cars, and dispersed
themselves in the woods, the population
of the country around turned out in their
pursuit, employing for this purpose the
dogs which are trained to hunt down the
fugitiVes slaves of the South. The whole
twenty-five were captured. Among them
was private Jacob Parrot, of Co. K, 33d
regiment Ohio Vols. When arrested he
was, without any form of trial, taken
possession of by military officer and
four soldiers, who stripped him, bent
him over stone and while two pistols
were held over his head, a Lieutenant in
rebel uniform inflicted with raw hide,
upwards of hunhre lashes on his bare
back. This was done in the presence of
An infuriated crowd, who clamored for
his blood, and actually brought rope
with which to hang him. The object of
this prolonged scourging was to force this
young man to confess to them the object