The Portland daily press., 1877-07-31


geant of a New York company, and we
agreed to lie there until night and then try
to get back to cur lines, though was Grip
pied by my wound, which grew very pain
fui."
"While we were lying there, concealed by
low bushes, we heard the tramping of horse.
The woods were full of horses then, alter the
battle, horses whose riders had been killed,
and we meant to get this one-it is better to
ride than walk, you know, when you are
wounded-so we crept cautiously out into
the path. 1t proved, as we supposed, loose
horse, but just as my companion caught it by
the bride voice cried, close behind us,
you uns ID better haltp'
"We knew then that it was all up with us.
There were only three rebels, to be sure, but
we were wounded, without arms, and within
the enemy's lines, so we could make no re-
sistance. They reached our pockets, took
away our shirts and my trowsers, though
they gave me, in exchange, pair of loose,
gray jeans which lasted until got away.
Fortunately my. boots were too large to
L lNUOio-AOA
them on-so they gave those back"
"It was the first time had ever felt the
advantage of wearing so large BOOT the
Colonel added, gancing down at a pair of
shapely feet, well suited to his huge frame.
swell, ,'after the rebels had dressed themselves
in our clothes, and think they were never
so we'll dressed before, they took US to Major f.
the Provost Marshal, to whom we surren-
dered our swords, and also, at his request,
our watches and our money, which We never
saw again.
ssThat was the 28th of June. From then
until the 4th of July, when reached Lib
by Prison, we had nothing to eat but a little
dry meal; not a swallow of water to moist
en- it."
'Dd they treat you very cruelty in Rich
mond?" asked Kate, full of sympathy. Her
experience of the horrors of war had been
from nearer point than our own.
''No," replied the Colonel, "they treated
us well enough there. We did great deal
to annoy the officers in command, and they
were obliged to be strict"
ST never shall forget" he went on, laugh
ing, show we cheered in Libby Prison that 4th
of July. One of our boys had got small
United States flag. 1t was little thing, not
more than three inches square, (where he
got it I never knew,) and he waved it above
the crowd. The boys all cheered the stars
and stripes and sang Hail Columbia at the
top of their voices, and the more the rebel
officers raved and swore, the louder they
cheered and sang until the order was given
to drive bayonet down the throat of the
first Yankee who uttered sound"
"Then, when they had shut us up in pris-
on, they gave orders to the guard to fire at
every head seen at the window, so we used
to set hat on a stick and hold it up against
the sbars, when-whis! would go bullet,
right through it, and into the ceiling above.
We used up good many hats in that way"
the Colonel added, laughing, sand we did
everything to annoy our keepers. And, after
all, it wasn't their fault if they treated us
badly. They had to obey ORDERS"
81 suppose you were hoping all the while
to be exchanged soon," remarked aunt Ra-
chel, "and that kept up your spirits"
"No," replied the Colonel, 81 had no de-
sire to be exchanged for the number of pri-
Yates captain was worth. I did not put so
high value on myself as that. Our gov
ernment could afford to let some of its SOL
diers remain prisoners, but the rebels needed
every man."
"You'll never come to tie burrowing part,
B." interrupted Frank"
SITS your own fault" the Colonel an
swered, "you know very well that when you
make me talk never know where to STOP"
OF course we all asked him to please not
stop at all, it was so pleasant sitting there in
the moonlight, hearing the far-off whip
poorwills, the soft ripple of the water, and
admiring the simple, unconscious heroism of
the man before US.
"My 'burrowing,' as Frank calls 1t, was at
Savannah. We were confined there in the
yard of the Marine Hospital, a large, stone
building-you have probably seen it, Miss
Dorsay,-the enclosure surrounded by high
brick wall. The prisoners were in tents,
pitched in the yard, and were treated very
well; that is, we had clean straw to sleep on,
and rations dealt out regularly"
EDO you call that being treated we'll ?"
asked uncle Benjamin, who seldom spoke ex-
cept when spoken to, eve give our cattle
plenty of clean straw, and roof besides, to
shelter them.''
There was an amused little smile on the
Colonel's face as he proceeded.
"We were not there long before three of
us had arranged to dig tunnel for our es-
cape. We could only work at it nights, of
course, and we had nothing but knife blade
and one half strap hinge for tools, but we
scratched away pretty fast with those, as
man will, you know, when he is scratching
| for his liberty. We had to work naked, too,
| for our soiled clothes would have betrayed
| us."l
"What did you do with the earth that you
removed?" Kate asked.
"Ah! that was the difficulty" said the
Colonel, "but we found way to get rid of
| 1t. We cut up our blankets, and made an
| endless chain of bags, and drew it out in
/ those"
"Of course, only one man could dig at
time, and he put his earth into the blanket
and then gave the signal to pull it out Two
jerks meant draw OUT and one meant STOP
When the tull bag reached the mouth of the
tunnel, the third man, who had made an
other bag from his shirt, filled it with the
loose earth and putting it under his blouse,
mouth downward, sauntered slowly about,
pressing it gently until the earth had all run
out and was sprinkled over the surface of the
ground"
"The next morning the guard, whose duty
it was to sweep out the yard every day, shov-
| elled it onto their carts and it was carried
| away"
"Think of the stupidity of the fellows"
the Colonel said, laughing, "to cart away a
mule load of earth for us every morning, and
never suspect where it came FROM"
swell we got on very successfully, and
never had any trouble, except when the
foundations of the wall obstructed the hole,
for we had to dig under that, of course"