Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-11-29
CAPTURE AND ESCAPE.
A History of the Experiences Of
doc" Jones During the War
Of the Rebellion, as told
by Himself,

L
hardly resumed our march after cross
ing the river, when Wood inquired II
was not going TO shoot that rebel, as
had the gun in my possession
Before l had timo to reply to his
question, the unfortunate guard
began begging for his lifo-aud he did
cry and beg in earnest. He had "a
wife and four children dependent upon
him for support" That If We would
only let him go, he would never inform
OF his capture by us. AS soon as Wood
could get in another word, he said,
''give me the gun-Ill fix him." And
there is no doubt but that he would
have done as he said; because he thor
oughly dcspised every man that in any
way favored secession. But the moro
the poor fellow begged, the less dis
him was the question that bothered me.
We did not want him along with us,
and did not want to let him go, to tell
any stories. So onward the three of US
marched until about three o'clock in
the morning, and would have continued
until daylight had il not been for the
fact that we were very hungry, and
besides my leg was hurting me severely,
and was much swollen.
soon went to sleep, leaving Wood
to guard the prisoner but before pass
ing into slumbcr | had n comrades
promise that no harm should come to
the prisoner through him; and that
promise TO me was rs good as gold,
At sunrise, Wood called me, and said
IL l would watch a while he would en-
deavor to get us something to eat.
Since daylight he had been watching
some boys at q house not far away.
and no man had made his appearance.
As we were then in part of the coun-
try where there seemed to be no rebels,
from what we could learn, other than
the rich, and as the surroundings indi-
Gated this to be the house of poor
man, we readily agreed to the arrange
ment. His trip was in every way n
success; he not only procured some
food, but gained some valuable infor-
nation besides.
After eating, Wood and myself slept
by turns during the day, but the
prisoner did not sleep at all his time
was occupied in lamenting his capture
and surmising what was in store for
him-whether we would kill him or
take him into the federal lines. l
could not help pitying the fellow.
That evening we started earlier than
usual, as we were anxious to get as far
away as possible from the place where
we had captured the rebel, as we ex-
pected rebel soldiers out looking Tor
their missing comrade and overtake us.
1t was about half past seven when we
started on our eighteenth nights
march, and rs we journeyed along, the
prisoner continued imploring to be set
free. thought the matter over care
fully, and finally came to the conclusion
that it would be about the best thing
we could do. do not believe that had
he met rebel soldiers ten rods from me,
he would have informed on me, but
could not say as much for Wood, for
whom he had no kindly feelings.
About one o'clock in the morning, we
said to him, ''go;" and he did not
hesitage to comply, assure you.
After parting with the rebel, we
hurried along rs fast as we could, hop
ing to reach settlement of union men,
OF whom we had learned through the
negro we met the evening before. In
this we were successful, for when day
dawned We were in sight of union
mans house. We learned from the
negro that this mans name was Russell;
we approached the house confidently
and found friends, who were glad to do
anything they could to assist us; and
we certainly were in condition to
appreciate friends. was very lame,
and had it not been that it was life or
death with us, l never could have
borne up under the extreme pain
was suffering.
We spent very pleasant day with
our newly found friends. Although
Russell was poor man, he and his
family made it just as pleasant for us
as they could and we were overjoyed
to learn that we had arrived in sec
tion OF the country whore our cavalry
forces came occasionally; sometimes
as often as once in two weeks, and
where it was unpopular to be rebel;
but with all this assurance from Mr..
Russell that we were safe, we were
quite wary, and kept sharp lookout
or rebels.
When night came on and We were
getting ready to resume our journey,
our friends earnestly solicited us to
remain another day to recuperate our
selves. This would glady have done,
as there was a large lump on my right
leg, between the knee and ankle, which
was exceedingly painful, SO much SO
that could scarcely walk; but my
mind had been firmly made up that in
case OF recapture it should be through
no negligence of mine. Wood was also
anxious to move ahead and away wo
started on our nineteenth night.
After travelling for some time at
great disadvantage on account of lame
ness, the pain became unbearable; but
realizing before starting that there was
Il possibility OF my giving out, we had
made inquiries of Russell with refer
ence to good and safe places to stop
among union families. He had given
US minute description OF the route to
take in order to find every union
family in distance OF twenty miles.
About eleven o'clock we stopped at a
house along the Mnv md nal.od Io.