National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-01-22
BREAK FOR LIBERTY.
AN EPISODE OF A REBEL PRISON.
The Old Tobacco House at Danyille, Va.-Terrible
Suffering and a Bold Attempt to Escape
How it Net With Disaster and
Also With Loss Of Life.

part OF the prisoners to escape were OF daily occur
renee Some successful, some ludicrously abortive,
and some tragic failures that threw heavier pail
of gloom over the ragged bands of captiYes who
were slowly starving while they waited for deliv-
erance. At Danville, Va, an old tobacco house
had been converted into prison, in which were
confined some,f -four hundred and fifty Union officers
and the following graphic account of their attempt
to escape from this black hole is given by Adjutant
James Albert Clark, of the Seventeenth Regiment
Pennsylvania Cavalry, who was an eye witness
| and participant:
ave had begun to suffer so terribly that any
prospect of escape no matter how desperate the
conditions presented, was the subject of our con-
slant thoughts, and every energy was bent to dis
! cover some means by which we could pass our
| prio bars and once more breathe the free air.
O. e morning we awoke to find entirely new set
guards on duty around our prison walls. They
were green ones, tOo-raw militiamen from North
Carolina-who, having never been under fire, were
| thoroughly imbued with the desire to kill Yam
kee, even though starvation had gotten somewhat
the start Of them in that direction But the sole
out~aon to us was, what had occurred to neceSSi-
tate the w ldrawal of the veterans who had care
lessy joked wit, Us the day before. Whittier had
they gone while we Shivered and slept through
the blackness of the winters night? The ever
friendly darky who emptied tnc huge wooden
boxes, yclept 'spitto0ns,' each mcSnlns was
besought-for Gods sake. we pleadingly Put it
to smugge newspaper in to us. From this paper
we learned that some demonstration on the part
of the Union forces visible southwest and west
OF Richmond; hencct the call for our regular guard.
Was it not grand opportunity to escape? Some
argued, yes; Others, no. The raw militia sent to
guard us had left their muskets stacked in the
open street pistol-shot from the prison building
Could We get them? MajOrGencral Dufie,
French cavalry officer, and his following said yes
Colonel RalSton of the Twenty-fourth New York
Cavalry and his following, said no.
Debate grew hot. Duffie, with the impetuosity
peculiar to his nation stormed, and that the
tar-heels could be thrashed. This bull-dozcd many
to his support. Colonel Ralston, with practical
Yankee insight, saw disaster ahead. bat finally
yielded. if 4 majority should form break" 1t
was favored with the guSh Characteristic of all
excited aSsemblages.
Now for the fight. Four hundred and fifty Off
GERS unarmed, inside, and as many inexperienced
militiamcn on the outside, arms stacked and most
of them playing cards, rambling through the
streets of Danviile. But the heavy bolts between
the two forces! they were worth more than all the
tar-hecls. How could they be opened? Yankee
ingenuity available in that crowd of desperate
and hungry men, be assured of that. Each day
dozen wooden buckets were allowed to pass out,
one man to each pail, to procure supply of water
On this particular occasion the twelve men must
be chosen from the most reSOlute. Why? do you
ask? Because, when the bolts were pulled on the
doors there a lobby with two sets of dOors)
these men could -four of them drop their buckets
the floor of the lobby, and seize the four armed
guards, choking them into silence. Thus two
men at each door would be disarmed, four musketS
secured for the advance skirmish line, and free
way opened out into the air for the prisoners to
rush for the stacked muskets in the street. The
bucket-men were duly selected and assigned, and,
drawing the bolts were disposed of lin the plan)
But other obstacles were presented. Let it be
remembered that these four hundred and fifty Off
GERS confined on the second and third floors of
observation-disclosures. The doors to the free air opened
from the ground floor and on this ground floor
were six men with loaded muSketS, pacing up and
down with all the vigor of green Sentrcs who feel
the responsibility of their new sphere their mo-
tons also being accelerated by the clear crisp air
of winter morning near the banks of the Dan
River.
If the four sentries at the doors should be throt
tied how could the six defenders of the infamma-
BILE state be chOked into submission. This was a
serious affair. But the Yankee must vindicate the
type, and in this vcxed muddlc he mastered. \
rule had been in force that while all prisoners
were allowed to step 10 the lower floor, thence to
the back yard and return. yet none were allowed
TO oitcr the lower floor except i'll cases of sick
ness, where more air consideration and
then never above ST.. sick men were allowed ~ a
time Six of our strongest men were selected for
iny&ldS, each of whom TO throttle his man at
a given signal, thus securing more muSkctS, and
disposing OF every sentry that in the vicinity
of the prison doors. These sick g. men on that
morning were 10 NOPE about the room, each Sc
ecting his victim, and if possible, to engage him
in conversation.
PrelimarieS were ROW arranged AMI plans were
rchearsed for the destruction of the arsenal, the
burning of the bridge the cutting of the wires the
levying tribute Oh the confederate cOmmisSary and
other such weghty details which great strategi5ts
always settle upon, but always before the fight be-
gins. 1t in case. Erey'hissg was a.
ranged, and most of Us had exchanged addresse:,
promised 10 call when we got North. &C.
Colonel Ralstou, who had opposed the scheme
from the beginning, being a cavalry officer, was
assigned 10 lead the forlOrn hope which consisted
exclusively Of cavalry officers, some twenty-five.
As support General Duffie was 10 follow with the
main body. All were to rush for the stacked mus
ketS but the cavalry were 70 go ahead. each to arm
himself, then deploy and form a skirmiSh line
covering the reserve, who would, after aEming,
follow.
Ralston and his twenty-five were al the head Of
the stairs; indeed. some were on the steps: the
bucket men were at the doors waiting for the ser
geant of the guard to slide the bolts and the SCI.
men were listless!y moving about the lower floor,
we had entered il the whole building was so still
that the measured tramp of the Sentries could be
heard even through tine thick pine doors. | could
feel through my tattered blouS" the excited thmps
of my heart a. ii pumped the blood 10 ms b-ain mt
the rate Of a hundred strokes 70 the minute.
Now came the noise ofthc heavy bolts rs they
were shot back, and l felt the fresh bTacng air
strike my face. Then followed the careless shut
fling of feet as the bucket men filed ont and then
- ,,-l0I II I
Bile ra>ping gurgle mingled with sort of mutlled
thud, a the four ScutTieS and six guards were
throttled and disarmed with the quickness OF a
breath. Then another whistle, and down the wide
wooden stairway came Raiston and the cavalry
advance, with noise as if the roof was falling in
But here was our fatal mistake. That crashing.
noise the rc&cty stairs Of the old tobacco house
sent its echoes to the heart of the sleepy old town.
The militia outside caught the ALARM rushed for
their mIiskets and then at us. The bucket men !
were forced back into the lobby but had sufficient
presence mind to carry the muskets with them
in their retreat, or the thCoted guards thus re- !
leased, would have run them through with the |!
bayonets. Everything was confusion, and up !
stairs we rushed SdHrs qHi peRt. BY the time the :
rebel forces outside had swarmed into the build !
ing nearly all OF us had gained the uDper floor !
but poor Ralston, the man who foresaw disaster
from the start, shot at the bottom of the |
stairway, and the day after his burial one of the
militia guards appeared in the prison. strutting |
round with boastful complaccncy, in the dead ,
cavalryMan's boots.
General Duflie. the other chief actor on this &C. /
casion died recently at Cadiz, Spain, where he .
served for several years as United States Consul.
The others of our prison band are scattered far
and wide, some dead, some at the lowernost round
of the ladder OF fame, and some now filling high
and honorable positions in public and private life.
but question if there is one of them who can re-
call without quickened pulse that cold grey
morning on the banks of the Dan when we