Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-03-12

Col. III. next spoke of the difficulty in the
exchange of prisoners He said it all grew
out of the refusal of the rebels to allow ou
Government credit for the prisoners we tool
aud paroled at Vicksburg. Those paroleC
prisoners had been put back into the ranks o.
the rebel army. Our Government demanded
that credit for them should be allowed in
making exchange of prisoners. The subject
of colored soldiers had nothing whatever tc
do with the difficulty of effecting an exchange
He had it from Gen. Breckenridge himself
Furthermore Col. Hobart said he would state
here, and state it with the expectation that
it would 90 back to his late comrades, that in
all his intercourse with his comrades in Lib
by prison, notwithstanding all their sufferings,
he did not believe there was a man there
that desired the North to surrender single
point in regard to the exchange. Cheers J
They would have the country do nothing in
consistent with its honor and true interests.
That was the sentiment of the nearly eleven
hundred officers now confined there.
Judge Hubbell-Three cheers for the
eleven hundred.
1.-THE cheers were given with uproarious
zest.
Col. H. resumed The rations of the pris-
oners were half loaf of tasteless, unbolted
corn bread, and sometimes little rice or
soup, and the muddy water of the James
river. When the officers received boxes of
provisions from the North, they threw out
their tasteless ratiOns through the windows
to the poor women and children that crowded
around to receive them. The situation of
the privates on Belle Isle was far worse, of
course, than that of the officers at the Libby
prison. They received comparatively little
from the North, and it was a fact that they
had killed and eaten every cat and dog that
came within their reach. This fact told more
in regard to their furnishing condition and
suffering than could be given in an equal
number of words.
The speaker then detailed the methods de-
vised for escape. Ii was a constant theme of
talk, and projects for effecting it helped to
keep up their spirits and animation. Several
actually passed out, by the guards, in citizens
dresses they had procured, by stepping up
suddenly and accosting the guard, inquiring
if such person-naming somebody-was in
the prison. They were thus mistaken for
citizens and allowed to walk away in broad
daylight.
The final plan by which so many escaped
was as follows: On the ground floor of the
prison, on a level with the street, is kitchen
containing fireplace at which the prisoners
inhabiting the rooms above do their cooking
Beneath the kitchen is a basement story, one
of the rooms in which is occupied as a store
room. The store room is next to the street,
and though not directly under the kitchen, is
so located that the prisoners found it possible
10 reach it by digging downward and rear
ward through the masonry work of the fire.
place. When this was accomplished, the
next object was to construct a tunnel, on
level with the floor of the store room, be-
meath an across the street, to an open shed,
on the opposite side of the street, which was
considered the most practicable point for
egress.
A knowledge of this plan was confided to
but twenty-five of the prisoners, and nothing
was known of the proceedings by the remain
der of the occupants of the prison until two
or three days before the escape. The twen-
ty Eve, among whom was Coils. Hobart and
West, divided themselves into two parties
for arranging the escape-one under the d.
rection of Col. HOBART and the other under
that of Major MCDONALD of Ohio. A table
knife, file, a chisel and a spittoon were Sc
cured for working tools, when operations COM
menced. Sufficient of the masonry was re-
moved from the fireplace to admit the pas
sage ola man to the storeroom below; an
evacuation was then made through the foun-
dation wall in the stOreroon toward the street,
and the construction of the tunnel proceeded
night by night. But two persons could work
at the tunnel at the same time. One would
enter the hole with his tools and a small tai.
low candle, dragging the spitoon after him,
attached to a string. The other would fan
the air into the tunnel, and would draw out
the novel dirtcart employed, when loaded,
cOncealing its contents beneath the straw and
rubbish of the storerOom. Each morning be-
fore daylight the mouth of the tunnel was CO.
1 81. - -, he
fire place This tunnel required abont fifty
days of patient, tedious and dangerous labor.
1t was eight feet below the street, between
sixty and seventy feet in length and barely
large enough for a full grown man to crawl
through, by pulling himself along with his
hands and toes.
When all was complete, it was arranged
that Mai. McDOnald's party should leave the
prison first, at o'clock p. M; Col. II. and
the balance of the twenty-five afterwards.
By this time the proceedings had become
known to quite a number of the prisoners not
of the original number, and as McDonald's
men emerged on the street from the tunnel,
they were seen by the prisoners from the
windows This success created general ex-
citement and enthusiasm, and over a hundred
gathered around the chimney, then COM
manded by Col. Hobart, all clamOrOus for the
privilege of leaving. Col ii. finally con-
cluded to see his own party through, including
Col West, and leave the hole to take care of
itself, and take the chances. Before daylight
one hundred and nine had passed through, so
large a number of course increasing the dan
ger of capture to all. By arrangement Coils.
Hobart and West were to link their fortunes.
Each had procured a citizens dress. The
tunnel was so small, that the process of de-
parture was necessarily slow, few inches of
progress only being made at each effort. To
facilitate locomotion, outside garments were
taken off and pushed forward. The construc-
tors of the tunnel never supposed it possible
that more than twenty or thirty could pass
through it in single night.
This was Tuesday, Feb. 9th. Col. Hobart
and Col. West emerged from the tunnel about
10 o'clock in the evening. They passed into
the street together, in plain sight of the SEN
tinels, Col. III. with overcoat on, clinging TO
the arm of Col. w. and playing the part of
a decrepit old man, who seemed to be in ex-
eeeding i'll health and badly affected with a
consumptive cough. In this manner the two
passed beneath the glazing gas-lights and
through the crowded streets without suspicion
as TO their real character.
When he struck the last lamp-post of the
city, said Col. H., | Strengthened up. laugh
ter and cheers.) In the transit he was very
much amused at the sympathetic looks he re-
ceived from ladies and others on account of
his broken-down condition. They took a
ravine outside the city, avoiding all houses.
On going about five miles they came to the
breastwOrk. They used great caution and