Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1864-07-01
Remarkable Escape OF Lieut.. Col. John.
son of the 18th Wisconsin,.

we had the qualification of meeting
Lieut.. Col. Johnson, of the 18th Wis
cohsln Infantry, in our sanctum this
morning.
Coz. Johnson was taken prisoner at
Chickamauga last fall, and snent the
Richmond.
After Gen. Buffers force had landed
south of Richmond, the rebels began to
move the prisoners south. Col. johnson
was among lot sent on the 18th of May
to Danville. After remaining there a
few days he, with a large number of 9TH
ers, was taken to Greensboro, in South
Carolina, put on a train and started
southwark. This was on the 18th of
May. That evening as the train stopped
to take on wood at a station in South
Carolina, Col. Johnson, Capt. Honey
cutt and Lieut.. Rogers, of the End East
Tennessee regiment, effected their es-
cape through Il hole in the floor of the
car A guard was standing near by
them and saw Capt. Honeycutt as he
was bending down to get through the
hole. He supposed, however, that he
was lying down, and his attention was
diverted by the other prisoners who
talked with him while the other three
effected their escape. They first thought
of lying down on the road bed but feared
the brakes were so low they would be
hit by them. They therefore resolved to
take their chances of running, but as the
one in advance emerged from under the
| cars, he ran againsta man. Fortunately
| it proved to be negro, who, after sud
den exclamation of surprise, apparently
cOmprehended the nature OF their situa-
ton, and passed on without paying them
any further attention. They were, how
| or rtla NV 10 PIP 20
| that they returned under the cars. The
| bed of the road was sand. They got be-
tween the ties, scOOped out the sand as
much as they could, lay on their backs,
taking up the least possible space, and
| took their chances. Some seven or eight
freight cars passed over them, the brakes
coming so close as to scrape the buttons
off Col. Johnson's coat. A guard on the
rear car saw them, but they suppose,
thought them dead. The alarm, how
ever, was raised, and the train began to
| slack up, when the fugitives took to their
heels. They were fired at, but not hit,
and soon hid themselves in the woods
near at hand.
They had with them a small piece of
corn bread, the size of a mans fist, and
about pound of dried apples. This
was all they had for five days and nights.
They travelled toward the northwest at
night. On the fifth night hunger so far
overcame their fears that they went to
negro house, and there were Hospitality
received, fed with corn bread, bacon and
eggs, and their haversacks filled. They
found the negroes invariably friendly
and faithful. Col. j. says they trusted
no white man until his character had
first been endorsed by negro. They
stopped at the residence of one white
man in South Carolina who was loyal to
the core, who fed them bountifully and
gave them valuable information and adj
vice in regard to their journey. Thus
they proceeded, travelling by night and
avoiding settlements as much as posi-
BILE, through North Carolina and across
the mountains to East Tennessee, COM
ing into our lines at Strawberry Plains
on the 10th of June, after traversing
nearly three hundred miles of the enc
mys country. They saw many loyal
white men and women, as well as black,
and encountered many interesting adj
tures.-DubuQue Times.