The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1881-03-31
A REMARKABLE SOLDIER,

Detroit Post and Tribune: One of the
most remarkable private soldiers on eth
er side OF the late war was young man
named Tom Kelley, private in the 22nd
Michigan Infantry. The remarkable man
began with his build. He had arms a
full hand longer than any man who could
be found. He had no more backbone
than snake, and could almost tie him.
self in a knot. He could tell the date on
silver dollar held up twenty feet away,
and he could hear every word of a con-
versation in a common tone of voice
across the street. He could run half
milo as fast as any horse could gallop,
and there was standing offer of $40 to
any man who could hold him down. On
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 that officers boots.
When Toms remarkable qualifications
were discovered 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 q
sermon to the soldiers a 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 officer could with a field
glass. Ii he could get place of conceal
ment within fifty feet of picket, he
could catch the countersign. He visited
Lookout Mountain, intending to spike as
many of the Confederate guns as posi-
bic. His disguise was that of farmer
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 burrowed 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 on him he ran out
of camp, but before he was clear of it he
had been fred on fifty times.
Kelly was once captured while asleep
by Missouri guerillas. When he opened
his eyes he was surrounded by five or six
men on foot and ott~-- - H. --l-u.
1t was under tree in an open field, and
he had been tracked by dog. AS he
rose up at their command, he re5orted to
his wonderful skill as gymnast. By
lodging, and twisting, and jumping, he
got out of the crowd, pulled man off
his saddle, and would have escaped had
not the dog fastened to his leg. He was
then put under guard in log house with
only one room. Two sentinels sat at the
door with revolvers in their hands, and
kept watch of his every movement. Af
ter an hour or two Kelly approached as
if to offer them tobacco, and jumped clear
over their heads like a deer. He had
half mile of open field to cross, and he
crossed it under the fire of score of
muskets and revolvers without being hit.
During his three years and half in
the service Kelly captured fifty.two Con-
federates and turned them over as pris-
oners. 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
said that he would never die by the hands
of an enemy, and his prophecy came true.
In the last year of the war, while bring
ing captured Confederate scout into
camp, both were killed within forty rods
of the Union lines by bolt of lightning.