The National tribune., 1885-04-02

Walls, r. White, J. Tompkins, John Wollam.
The next day Provost Marshal Lee wrote
| again as follows:
| HEADQUARTERS, ATLANTA GA,
| Sept. II, 1862.
HoS. G. w. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War. Rich
| mond Va.
SIR respectfully forward to you hereby all tha,
have been enabled to obtain from my predecessor
| The documents relating to the cases. so far as
know anything about them, were forwarded to you
Ola yesterday.
| am sir very respectfully,
| Your obedent servant,
G. w. LEE,
| Commanding Post and Provost Marshal
| The following letter, inclosed from Capt
| Foreacrc, is wrong in saying that some of the
| party had been tried but not sentenced. Yet
this was the obvious belief of the Confederate
! authorities:
ATLANTA. GA, Sept. 16, 1862
| Hon. @. w. RANDOLPH, Secretary of War, Rich
mond, Va.
DEAR SIR: Your letter of Sept. H. 1862 to Mai.
Lee, Provost Marshal, has been shown me by him,
and as far as am acquainted with the matter, Gen.
Smith only sent from Knoxville instructions and
orders to have seven of them hung, which was
promptly attended to by myself.
The remaining II were reported TO this Office
only for safe keeping some having been tried. but
not sentenced and Others not tried. The only office
which can properly answer your inquiry is that of
Maj. Gen +. X. Smith.
have the honor to remain.
Your obedient servant,
q. /. FoHEACRE.
| No record Of any further inquiry remains.
Whether the matter was there dropped, or
| orders issued for opening the whole question
| by a cOurt-martial, remains uncertain. But
| these documents make 1t almost certain that all
the party, or at least the 12 who were sent to
| Knoxville, were destined to be tried and con-
demned; that at the abrupt breaking up of the
| court no record was put on file of the cause of
| the interruption; and that the authorities at
| Atlanta and Richmond expected the court at
| Knoxville, which they assumed to have finished
| its work, to give orders for our disposal. That
court never reconvened. Its members were dis
| persed all over the SDuth. The Commanding
! General, Il. Kirby Smith, was transferred to a
distant department. We were forgotten and
thus the strange respite we enjoyed is explained.
But would it continue?
Some of the Confederate officers had formed
a theory of their own to account for the death
of seven of our number and the sparing of the
| remainder They assumed that those put to
death were volunteers, while the others were
detailed by their officers. But there were no
grounds for such superstition.
While this correspondence was in progress
Col Lee came to our door one day and
had long talk with us about our expcdi-
tion and prison experiences. He finally
told us of receiving letter from the Sccre-
tary of War at Richmond asking why we had
not all been executed! He asked us the reason,
and one of the party, who had not totally for
gotten his experience Of duplicity in the early
part of our enterprise, said that it had been
thought that there were some mitigating cir
cumstances in our case. The Marshal said that
he could give no reason, but had referred the
Secretary to the court-martial at Knoxville,
and that he was now awaiting orders concern
ing us. On our request he promised to visit us
again when he should receive an answer from
Richmond. We told him of the manner in
which our comrades had been put to death
without warning. He admitted the wrong, but
dsclaimed responsibility for it, as it occurred
before he came into command
We waited anxiously for his return for sew
erai days, but waited in vain. 1t was urged
that we had heard enough already. and that
now, if ever, We ought to strike for life. But
! was of another opinion. The enterprise of
escaping was of enormous difficulty, and sue
cess, at the best. doubtful. l did not think
that in our enfeebled condition, after six
months of terrible hardship and partial starva-
ton. we were the men we had been. 1t was
MY judgment that nothing but the certainty
OF death on the one hand could give the neces-
sary vgor, spring and desperation to command
success on the other. Despair might nerve us
to throw ourselves with resistless fury on the
| bayonets of the guards. but this fury would
come only when the last hope was dead. My
reasoning prevailed, and we waited a little
longer
But evidence came soon that ended hesita-
tion. More of the guard was kept on duty at
| once, and greater vigilance was everywhere
apparent. We fancied that the old jaer re-
gardcd us with unusual compassion. But
through the stove-pipe, from our friends in the
other room, came the decisive information.
The prisoners there saw the Provost Marshal
ride up to the gate have the ialer called out,
| and heard him give orders to watch those
engine thieves closely as he had been notified
that court was ordered for their trial. fhe
same evening the jaiIer said to them that he
was very sorry for the poor Yankees in the
other room, for every man of them would be
hung! This word was conveyed to u.s. and
longer doubt would have been folly.
We were now ready for the emergency, and
had fully discussed and settled our plans. We
were in the upper story of the Jail. Our room
was entered by double door-one of heavy
plank and one of iron Stats. If this was
| opened we would only be in the entry, and
| would have still to 60 downstairs into a hall
and pass another door before we could gain the
jal-yard This, In turn, was surrounded by
board fence eight or ten feet high. and having
but a single gate, which was usually closed.
| Seven fully-armed soldfers were constantly on
guard, with an unknOWi, reserve close at hand.
We could depend on help from no one of the
prisoners except Captain Fry, so that we were
but 10, and even two Or three of these were too
sick to be Of great value in fight. Then we
were in the skirts of the town. fully mile
from the nearest woods One advantage, and
the only one on which | relied, was that of sur
prise. We knew what we were to do and the
strong motive that impelled it.
All plans looking to saving out and swinging
TO the ground ut night, as in Chattanooga, had
been canvassed and rejected What we meant
to do was to break out in open daylight and
Oyerpowcr the guards. The most favorable
time was when the doors were opened for
bringing in our supper which was little be-
fore shutdown. as by starting then we would
soon have the cover of darkness 1t was ar
ranged to seize the jailer when he came to
| remove the pans in which onr supper was
brought, and to keep him perfectly quiet while
all the doors were being unlocked, for we
wished to release all the other prisoners At
the same moment the other memb Is of the
party, divided into two squads, were to eau
tiously descend the stairway, pounee upon the
guards and take their guns from them If this
was done in perfect quiet, the guards were to
be locked up and we. takn. their arms. wond
march out ON our homeward journey. As soon
as discovered we were to break into parties of