The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-11-25
REMARKABLE TOM KELLEY.

One of the most remarkable private
soldiers on either side in the late war
was young man named Tom Kelley.
private IN the Second Michigan Infan-
try. The remarkable began with his
build. He had arms full hand longer
than any man who could be found. He
had no more back bone than snake, and
could almost tie himself in a knot. He
could tell the date on silver quarter
held up twenty feet away, and he could
| hear every word of conversation in q
common tone of voice across an ordinary
street. he could run half a mile as fast
rs any officers horse could gallop, and
there was q standing offer of 80 to any
man who could hold him down. On g
bet of box of sardines he once passed
six sentinels within an hour. On anoth-
er occasion he entered the colonel's tent
and brought away the officers boot.
When Toms remarkable qualifications
were discoveredh he was detailed as scout
and spy, and was changed from one de-
partment to another. In the capacity of
| spy he entered Richmond three times.
He entered Vicksburg and preached a
| sermon TO the soldiers week before the
surrender. He was in New Orleans five
days before that city was taken. He was
a man who firmly believed that he could
not be killed by an enemy, and he gov
erned his movements accordingly.
While under the orders of Gen. Hook
er, Kelley proved on several occasions
that he could see further with the naked
eye than any other officer could with q
field-glass. If he could get place of
ooncealment within fifty feet of picket
he could catch the countersign. He Wis
tied Lookout Mountain, intending to
spike as many Of the confederate guns as
possible. His disguise was that of far
mer who had been driven from home by
the union forces. The enemy somehow
got suspicious of him, and he was placed
in the guardhouse for the night There
was sentinel at the door, and others
near by standing guard over guns and
stores, but it was all the same to Kelley.
With an old tin plate for use as shovel
and scoop he bnrrowed out at the back
end of the building, and walked up to
two pieces of artillery and spiked both
before any alarm was raised. When the
sentinels began firing at him he ran out
of camp, but before he was clear of it he
had been fired on fifty times.
Kelley was once captured when asleep
by Missouri guerrillas. When he opened
his eyes he was surrounded by five or
six men on foot and others in the saddle
1t was under tree in an open field ond
l. IL - ...sonUu ny ii uog. AS he
rose mp at their command he resorted to
his wonderful skill as a gymnast. By
lodging and twisting and jumping he
got out of the crowd, pulled man off
his saddle, ard would have escaped had
not the dog fastened to his leg. He was
then put under guard in a log house with
only one room. Two sentinels sat at the
door with reyolvers in their hands and
kept watch OF his every movement. At
ter an hour or two Kelley approached as
if to offer them tobacco, and jumped
clear over their heads like deer. He
had half mile of open field to cross, and
he crossed it under the fire of a score of
muskets and reyolvers without being hit
During his three years and half in
the service Kelley captured fifty-two con-
federates and turned them over as prison.
ers. He himself was captured and es-
capped five times. AS spy he entered
more than thirty confederate camps and
forts. He was fired upon at least 1000
times, and yet was never wounded. He
had said that he would never die by the
hand of an enemy, and his prophecy
came true. In the last year of the war,
while bringing captured confederate
scout into camp both were killed within
forty rods of the union lines by bolt of
lightning.
CoTcu Cola or Sora rTbroot obo,,l1