The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-15


in no danger for Gen. MoIineux was only
rehearsing a little comedy that had sug-
gested itself when the attempted escape
was reported TO him. Its title was Il
Want to Find the Hole in the WALL and
when not one but several We're found we
were dismissed to our quarters and adj
monished not to be naughty again.
But we were not 10 remain long with
our sad-faced little host, for we We're
booked for exchange. On March 4, 1863,
what were left Of us were marched or car
ried in litters on board the steamer Ash
land. and deposited in the dark hold of
that ship There had been no prepara-
lions made to receive us, not even bunk
and sick and dying and well men were on
an equal footing However, there was
one consolation left us-we We're to be eX-
changed, and a few hours of suffering
could be borne patiently
A Dreadful Voyage.
The ship was light, and rolled heavily
in the sea. and long before we reached
Hilton Head the hold of that ship was a
sight. for every man of us had been made
deathly sick. What those poor sick ana
diving of our party must have suffered II
would be impossible 10 describe But,
thank God. at Hilton Head some one with
a human heart in his bosom interposed
and shall always believe that man was
Cen. Gilmore, for we were transferred TO
the ship Illinois, a cOmmodious side-wheel
steamer, fitted with every comfort for
the transportation of troops.
From Hilton Head there was nothing to
vary the monotony of our voyage, ex-
cept to witness two or three burials at
sea as our poor comrades passed away
until one evening our ship dropped an
Choir off Fortress Monroe, and we felt
that liberty was once more close at hand
81 oh in eli
rode at anchor, and during that interval
army surgeons had gone among us and
examined critically into our condition. We
did not then know what 1t all meant and
it was well that we did not, as ID would
have only added to the intensity of our
suffering and the bitterness of our disap-
pointment We were not in mt condition
for exchange. and the ship was 'ordered
to proceed 10 Fort Delaware. where it ar
rived on March y.
Not quite seven months before 600 hap
nv Confederate officers had marched down
to the wharf alongside which the trans
port now lay, for they had every reason
to believe they would soon be free. Note
the contrast now as the remnants of that
sDlendid body of men tottered down the
gangplank or were carried in filters to
the hospital. which many would not leave
alive and those chat did left with health
so shattered as to make life burden.
The Return to Fort Delaware.
When ] entered the great enclosure
which had once been such a dreadful
place in my eyes I felt that had been
ushered into a new and better world, for
IT was heaven here compared to the
dreadful prisons of Morris Island and Fort
Pulaski, and great was the contrast be-
tween the strongest among us and those
of our comrades we had left behind seven
months before and who had so envied
us our good fortune.
I found at Fort Delaware many new
faces. and among them officers from my
own regiment, who had been captured in
the fighting going on almost daily in front
of Petersburg They gave a gloomy ac-
count of the condition OF affairs there. and
expressed no doubt but that Gen. Lee
would be overwhelmed as soon as Grant
was ready to set his troops IN motion.
Was ID a wonder, then, that we felt
impatient for the last blow to be struck,
ard wished that the end could come
without further bloodshed? Already the
sacrifices had been too great.
To pass the time among other means
devised debating clubs had been formed
from among the many eloquent men In
the prison, and among the most brilliant
of these speakers was the late Col. John
r. Fellows, who subsequently won 80
much distinction at the bar and on the
stump in New York city to which he re-
moved soon after the close Of the war
Colonel Fellows hailed from Arkansas,
and was one Of the most popular OF the
young officers in the prison.
on April 10 we received news OF Gen.
Lees surrender. II occasioned little sur
prise or regret. for u bad been expected.
"How much longer would we have 70 re-
main penned up in this placer was the
question that now agitated ua most; but
we hoped 70 be treated as our comrades
Ia the field had been, and quickly sent 70