Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1889-10-18
THE CAPTURE AND ESCAPE.
A History of the Experiences of 'Doc." Jones Dur
ing the War of the Rebellion, Told by Himself

the morning pi tcbrunry i, lSbl, anu
n colder night is seldom experienced
In that latitude, we were bound from
u. m. to 4-three hours. Wood sat
next to me, and in less than one hour
his wrists had swollen so that the rope
was completely imboded in the flesh.
He finally said, doc, will have to
nsk that rcb to loosen this rope n little,
or it will kill me-" Accordingly, he
called the guard and made his request,
but only received for reply: "If it was
you'un, you wouldn't only buck we'uns,
but would have an iron gag in our
mouths also" Wood, to my astonish-
mcnt, and the risk of his life, told him
that he was ID liar. OF course
we expected that his rebship would
shoot Wood for his speech, but he did
not. Wood was endowed with unlim-
tied courage, and it was put to the test
later on.
Our groans, during those three hours,
caused by cold and hunger, were dis
tinctly heard in three OF the six prisons
in Danville, MS was attestea by comrades
after our return to prison, and that
they believed they had suffered nearly
as much as we did, out of sympathy.
After mtying us VIC were put in n
little stone building connected with
prison number 5, and left us there until
some time in the afternoon Of that day.
II was impossible to sleep, for two
reasons one was the unbearable stencil
that arose from our garments, and the
other was the lamentations of Conroy,
who would not reconcile himself to the
fact that he had been basely deceived
by the rebel guard. He would enumer-
ate the number of buttons, and amount
of money, one overcoat, one blouse, he
had given, and mt its conclusion he
would deliberately utter oaths, and
epithets for several minutes mt n time.
On the afternoon of that day rebel
Lieutenant Brady came in and took
our names. ] should very much have
liked to give fictitious name, but L
could not, for the reason that Brady
was well acquainted with me. Soon
after he had gone away, sergeant and
several privates came to take charge
of us to return us to prison.
He had list of names, and told us
as our names were called to fall in
single rank by the door. These names
were called, but mine was not one OF
them. My comrades marched out and
left me alone. / began to surmise
what was in store for me; l could not
help remembering the promise l had
made in Richmond.
was left In that building about three
days, and on the morning of the fourth
day corporal and file of men made
their appearance at the door and Or
dered me to come along. AS we were
marching along the street, / asked the
corporal what he intended to do with
me He said, "the authorities are
going to have you shoot for violating
n promise made in Richmond"
made no reply, but mentally came to
the conclusion that If was compelled
TO go back into the prison, / would
certainly die from privation, and il
shot, it would be over sooner and save
a vast amount of suffering. My only
dread was the suspense while waiting
for them to make the necessary prep
arations. / assure you / would have
died honoring my comrades and the
Union cause.
The guards took me to the Office of
Col McNeal, who was in command of
the guards on duty around the prisons,
where four thousand union soldiers
were confined at that time. AS | was
presented to that official he asked me,
''why was you not as good as your word;
why did you not keep the pledge you
made, not to get away again ?"
/ told him, 81 think it is II prisoners
privilege to get away If he has an
opportunity"
AS finished this remark, rebel
general came in. After the Colonel
had saluted and greeted him, he again
addressed himself to me, saving: 81
understand you to say that you think
it prisoners privilege to escape when
ever the opportunity presents itself"
"Yes, that is what / said, and allow
me to say this much in addition: / am
not here begging for mercy; neither
can ask any favors at your hands. |
am before you helpless; yet l am n
union soldier in every sense the term
implies. Death has no terrors for n
patriot"
After / had said the little / had to
say, the colonel simply remarked,
''you won't get away any more" AT
ter that the two officers had lengthy
confidential talk, and / have always re-
gretted that never learned the gen.
erals name, because / thoroughly be-
lieve he talked in my bclalf.
After they had got through with
their conversation, the colonel said
they had decided to give me an oppor-
tunity to take an oath that l would not
again attempt to escape, or aid any one
else in an attempt, / must suffer the
consequences, whatever they might be.
You may be surprised when l say
that hesitatod sometime before reply
ing and II it had not been for the fact
that / thought possibly / might have
an opportunity TO escape, / never
should have taken the oath. / cared
nothing about the binding nlture OF
the obligation, us no man is qualified
to administer an oath who has not
sworn to support the constitution OF
the United States; and surely not they,
for they were now endeavoring to pull
down the structure that had protected
them SO long. However, / took the
sham oath, and ] thank God that
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