The National tribune., 1901-06-27

Capt. Warren Monford, when prison
er on Johnson's Island, became very sick
and emaciated. The Federal Surgeon in
quired: do you want to die?"
Montfort replied: Not yet" Whereupon
the Surgeon exercised all his skill, and the
Captain pulled through" While the
Surgeon was administering his balm in
Gilead a good Chaplain administered
Spiritual comfort to the Confederate
officer, who had been somewhat of a
stranger ''to the fod''-a lost sheep, "out
on the mountain cold and bare
Montford was duly exchanged and ''in
the course of events the vicissitudes of
war brought the Chaplain into his hands,
prisoner. Capt. Montford paid him dis
tinguished attention, and escorted him
to Gen. John H. Morgan, introduced him,
and said: Gen. Morgan, this gentleman
Is a most devout man, an excellent Chap
lain. Would it not be well TO turn him
loose 'mong the boys?" Morgan courte-
ously acknowledged the introduction and
smilingly remarked: "Sir, my men don't
pray very much, but l heartily welcome
you. Just make yourself at home in my
camp. You are at liberty to make my
men pray, if you can.''
IN PRISON ON LAKE ERIE.
The following is the concluding stanza
of plaintive song written by Maj. George
Mcknight, while a prisoner on Johnson's
Island.
"How many moons will rise and wane,
How many months will languish,
Ere Peace, the white-winged angel comes
To Soothe Il captiveS anguish:
al SnaaA rho lppui1 and Vpl for laV
When loved ones, bright and CHEEKY,
Shall welcome him around the hearth,
From prison on Lake Erie
Apropos of the above, think it will in
terest the readers of The National Tribune
to insert here 4 sketch Of johnson Island
Prison.
At the recent Confederate Reunion at
Memphis, Tenn, Capt. VIM. L. Mclean,
when asked question about prison life on
Lake Erie, told the following interesting
story, the version here given being, in part,
as printed in the Commercial Appeal"
Well might any gentleman be proud Of
having kept such company as was CON
tained within the four walls of the John
son Island Prison, that being the place
to which the captured Confederate officers
were sent, and he who associated with
$500 officers must certainly have been in
interesting company.
Capt Mclean was one of the "old
Settlers in the johnson Island colony,
and saw it grow from a population Of GOO
to $500. And of all the things that oc-
CURED in that prison, his particular pet Is
the Southern Cross Dance
Capt. Mclean, after seeing various
phases of service, became Captain of Co.
B, 18th Ark. Battalion" an aggregation of
sharpshooters, raised in Southwestern
Arkansas, where the man who hunted
squirrels with a shotgun was, ipse facto,
an outcast, and any one was ashamed to
be seen with a squirrel hit with a rifle ball
anywhere else than in the head"
PEN PIcTURE OF JOHNSON ISLAND.
Capt. Mclean was captured at the
bridge across Big Black, just back of
Nicksburg May >, 1863, and arrived at
JohnsOn's Island June 5. He gives the fol-
lowing pen picture of Johnson's Island:
1.-The prison consisted of three acres of
ground on an island in Sandusky Bay, one
of the portions of Lake Erie. The island
was small. The prison proper was sur
rounded by a parapet wall 16 feet high,
equipped with 16 sentry boxes for the ac-
commodation of 16 sentinels.
"On the outer side of this wall there
was a platform, upon which the sentinels
walked, meeting at and returning from
half the distances between the boxes. This
platform was at such q hight that the top
came to about the sentincl's elbows. On
the inner side of this wall was the dead
line eight feet from and parallel to the
wall This was designated by stakes,
from one of which TO the next a chain
hung, and upon which lamps were lighted
at night. To cross that line for any rea-
son was a signal for the sentinel to take
q shot at you.
Il was assigned to room 1S, block 3,
barren place IA feet square, with a mar
row double bunk on each side, each bunk
containing two berths. We first had six
In this room. Later two more were added
and we became the true eight
'The surveillance over us was strict.
Taps were sounded at 8 o'clock, and even
now | can hear the sentinel crying: Post
number l, it's o'clock. Ais well. Lights
out And if the light did not go out
promptly a bullet sought it. Here is a
board. You see the hole in it. Firing at
tardy light that sentinel came very near
killing Capt John w. billiard.
AN ESCAPE
"But even this strict surveillance could
not keep all those daring souls in prison.
They took advantage of even the worst
enemy we had, the freezing cold weather.
On the first day OF 1864 the thermometer
registered 26 degrees below zero. Ii was
dead line went out, and the sentinels
were heavily gloyed and mufiled in furs
for the night. Capt. John X. Winston, Of
the 45th \. q. Inf, planned the escape Of
himself and four comrades. Making lad
ders of tables, they passed the dark lamps,
scaled the walls, just after the two SEN
tinels met and each turned back, and away
they went over the frozen water to the
mainland. One poor fellow was so badly
frozen that he had TO be left at farm
house, where he was recaptured, and the
same cause led to the capture of another
In Detroit, whittier the party had ridden
on stolen horses. But the leader and two
comrades got across to Windsor, Canada
lust as the sun rose Here they boldly
registered as escaped Confederate officers
Strangers in strange land and penniless
yet they were taken in. The hotel keeper
gave them the best room, fare and liquor
be had, and raised fund of several hun
dred dollars in gold for them. He could
have raised more, but they told him that
was enough.
"They then made their way in sleighS
to the mouth of the st. Lawrence, shipped
for Havana, and entered Wilmington, n
c., Oh a blockade runner. Capt. Winston
at once rejoiGed his regiment and wa,
severely wounded in the head at the mex
fight. He had the peculiar experience Of
having been shot in precisely the sam,
place in two different battles, so that botl
wounds left but one scar.
"Many other attempts at escape were
made, but most of them were foiled
There was one plan formulated for re
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