The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1882-10-19
The Young Orderly of Monster Wirz
at AnderSOnVilIe.
A RELEASE REJECTED.
How the Dead-Line was
Baptized in Blood
TCnntinmsf f-nrll Irsf freeL..1

The first thought, L suppose, that enters
prisoners mind when the doors are closed upon
him takes the form of the question: =" Is there
any way of escape?" / know that it was al
ways uppermost in the minds OF my untortu-
nate comrades at Andersonville, and that they
never tired of discussing the chances of success.
The first few days of my captivity were occu-
pied, as l have intimated, in building place
of shelter acquainting myself with the topog-
raphy of the place, and cross-questioning the
guards in regard TO the surrounding country.
How to reach our lines in case we succeeded IN
effecting our escape was problem that we
were all anxious to solve. We knew that -N1e
Chattahoochec River was about forty miles to
the west of u.s. and that the Flint River lay
somewhat nearer to the east, as well as that
they united at some point and emptied into
Appaachicola Bay, where our gunboats were
stationed; but beyond these general facts we
knew nothing, and it seemed like hopeless
task to undertake a secret march of some hun
dreds of miles through an enemy,s country,
without more accurate information as to tho
whereabouts of our armies than we possessed.
Nor were our guards much better posted.
They came from another section of the South,
and were but little acquainted with the coun-
try about Andersonville The lack of knoWl-
edge concerning the direction which their
fight should take did not deter my comrades,
however, from making an effort to escape
whenever the opportunity offered. The favor
lite plan for the time being was to scale the
stockade, but the rebels soon put stop to that.
As many as fifteen prisoners got over the stock
ade in single night, but they were all brought
back the next morning-each with sixty-four
pound cannon ball chained to his leg. One of
their comrades thinking to curry favor with
the confederates, betrayed them and when,
one after the other, they slipped down the rope
on the outside of the stockade, they fell into
the arms of the guard stationed there to receive
them Their capture, however, was due, as
have said, to the treachery Of one of their com
rades, and not to the astuteness of the guard,
and the rebels soon made US aware that they
were perfectly conscious of the fact.
THE DEAD-LINE.
One morning gang Of negroes was turned
into the prison and set to work driving line
of stakes along the sides of the pen about twenty
feet from the stockade itself. After the stakes
had been driven into the ground piece Of
stuff about four inches wide was nailed upon
them, and n strict order was issued to the in
mates forbidding them to cross the line or even
touch il at the risk of being shot down without
warning. The construction If this " dcad-line,,'
rs it soon came to be called, contracted the
limits Of our prison very materially, cutting Of
quite three acres of the sixteen enclosed by the
stockade. At the time we gave the matter very
little thought, but as the prison filed up the
loss of this ground was very seriously felt. The
dead-line had been established but a short while
before it was baptized in blood. One of the
Observation-Disclosures thoughtlessly or intention
ally never llnew-stepped over the line and
was instantly fred upon by one of the sentries.
lie fell to the ground a corpse.
At first as have said, We had plenty of room
within the stockade but prisoners soon began
to pour in by the hundreds. Every two or three
days a detachment of from five to eight hun
bred would arrive and by the end of the month
March we Numbered some five six thousand.
The confederates, as we learned, were empty
ing the prisons at Richmond and Danville A
even a space of thirteen acres, but just think
how closel1 we must have been packed in that
pen little later on, when our ranks had been
swollen to SIX times that number! At the out
set Sydney Wnder, son of General Winder
was in command of the camp, but he was sooh
succeeded by
WTRZ,