Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1895-11-28
a SOLDIERS
THANKSGIVING.
BY LIEUTENANT TRIGG.

BY LIEUTENANT TRIGG.
Copyright 1895, by American Press Associa-
tion.l
We started to dig our way out Of the
prison pen at Salisbury, N. c., on the
I'd day Of August, 1868. There were FIVE
of us, all of whom had been captured at
the same time, and we reached the pris-
on in May.
In all prison pens the inmates paired
off at least, and in many instances four,
five or six men formed sort Of close
corporation. All clothing, blankets,
money and other articles went into a
common fund, and the men shared alike
in the comforts and discomforts. It SO
happened that none of us was despoiled
when captured, and on entering the
gates Of Salisbury we had 800 in cash,
each good blanket and full uniform,
and we were thus enabled to live in far
greater comfort than the great majority.
We had choice of ground on which to
pitch our tent, and having an eye to a
tunnel we got as near the dead line and
the fence as possible The distance to
the dead line was 6 feet and to the
fence about %.
Up to this time score of prisoners
had escaped by means Of tunnels, and
dozens of tunnels had been discovered
while being dug. The Confederates en-
tered the pen almost daily through the
months of June, July, August and Sep
tember and made a close search for dig
gers. Such vigilance acted to discourage
the prisoners, and believe our tunnel
was the only one begun in the month of
October Our tent was a roomy one,
and we began operations, sinking q
shaft five feet deep and large enough to
allow a man TO work in. This hole was
in the middle Of our tent, and when not
in use was covered with four sticks and
a blanket. All the dirt was carried
away in our pockets and flung into
abandoned wells or scattered over the
ground. A spoon, the two halves of a
canteen and the handles Of a skillet
were our tools for digging. As we had
noticed that every visit Of the searchers
was made in the afternoon or evening
we began and prosecuted our work in
the forenoon. After a couple Of weeks
some digging was made after 10 O'Clock
at night, but we never felt safe while
thus engaged. When the tunnel proper
was begun, two men were working at
the same time below ground. A third
stood watch at the door, and the fourth
and fifth carried away the dirt.
bo &,,r,,,o1 xr,oe fbron fno+ Ho1oxr, kI,o
surface and but a trife larger than a
mans body. The digger had to pull
himself in by using his elbows, and he
drew after him tin basin and a string.
The dirt was placed in the basin and
drawn out by the man in the shaft.
Crawling into hollow log is fun COM
pared to wriggling in and out of such a
tunnel The body shuts out all the air,
the place is sitting hot, and after half
an hour g work the strongest man is used
up.
When our tunnel had reached the
fence, we had to 60 down four feet to
work under the ends of the logs, and the
air became SO foul that we made but
slow headway and some days did not
work at all. We had planned to run the
tunnel close to the dispensary, and after
passing the fence the digging became
easier, but delay from one cause or an
other prevented the completion of our
enterprise until the goth of November.
At noon Of that date we had dug our
full distance and had only to break
through foot of crust to be IN the open
air outside the fence We must wait for
night, of course. The weather was fine,
with promise of a starlight night, but
during the afternoon we made all our
arrangements to GO Twice during the
afternoon alarms were given that search
ing parties were coming in, but they
proved to be false. Night finally came
with our plan undetected, and about
O'Clock the first of the five entered the
tunnel, crept to the far end and broke
through the crust We had dug within
10 inches OF the wall of the dispensary.
The building was used as sleeping quar-
ters for two or three men connected with
the hospital department, and as we pass
ed out Of the tunnel in turn each Of us
heard them talking and moving about.
Each man crept away to the left, climb
ed over a fence and followed it for 30
rods, and then made for a certain tree
which could be seen from the stockade
and which had been agreed upon as the
rendezvous. We encountered no guards
and raised no alarm, and within half an
hour from the time the first man enter
ed the tunnel the five of us were gath
cred under the tree.
We travelled all night, with only
brief stops for rest, and when daylight
came we judged that we had made a
good % miles. We had followed the
highway ON and off, but without en-
countering any one, and as the day
broke we sought the cover of thicket
and lay down TO rest and sleep. 1t was
afternoon before any one awoke, and
then the first move was to look for
water. We soon found that, and then
the question Of food came up Keeping
all together, we moved to the west,
knowing that we should come to plan
tation sooner or later. The best we
could do in the way Of weapons Was for
each man to arm himself with club.
The highway was on our left as we
went forward, and we had proceeded
for about mile when we broke out Of
the cover of thicket and found our
selves upon the road, which took a
turn there to avoid hill 1t was only
narrow road, and a couple Of jumps
would have given us cover ON the other
side. but as we left the bushes we came
face to face with soldier in Confeder-
ate uniform. He was sitting down on a
| stone to rest and was without weapons
of any sort Had the soldier remained