The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-04-14
WAR CORRESPON DENTS RISK
HOW JOHN BROWNE AND AL-
 FRED D. RICHARDSON
Got Into the Confederate Prisons Dur
 Ing the CIVtl War.

Ing the Civil War.
 The death of Junius H. Browne
 which occurred on Wednesday, after {
 lingering illness, at his home in thi
 city, recalls a dramatic episode of th'
 civil war in which he was one of th'
 prominent figures. It was his fate tt
 sand as d representative and marty
 of the army newspaper correspondents
 and also as q hostage on behalf of his country in war prison,
 MT. Browne was just entering his ca reer as a journalist in Cincinnati Wher the anti-savery agitation became acute, and he ardently espoused the side of free labor. Such was the excitement in the west at the firing upon the na- tional emblem at Sumter that the wal frenzy seized all classes. Unable to carry a musket, for he was of slight build and delicate, he was easily per ! suaded to accompany the troops to the 1 field and report their doings and suf- i ferinSs to his home paper The Tribune was soon added to his list. After he had followed Fremonts army across l Missouri and back, the opening of the Mississippi under Admiral Foote and Generals Grant and Sherman gave him a rev field of labor. After Doneison, Shiloh and Memphis had been fought | the siege of NickSburn succeeded. MI | Browne, with several other colleagues and belated officers, undertook to rejoin the main army by short cut down the Mississippi. A fleet of armored gun boats had passed down few days be- fore to protect the crossing of the army but the night had been stormy, and the garrison unprepared~
 About May 1, 1862, the little expedi- 1 tion started with about 100 officers and men, in charge of two barges of provis- ions. The confederates were on the alert and the moonlight WAS unfavorable for secrecy. Buildings were set afire on both shores to give better illumina- tion, and for an hour and half the lit tie expedition became a plain target for both heavy ordnance and musketry. The barges took fire, the tug exploded and about half of the detachment were killed or wounded Those able to do so threw over hay bales and took to swim ming for dear life. The enemy, how ever, came out in boats, and at the point of the bayonet all were made prisoners and taken to the jail in the beleaguered fortress
 The authorities at Richmond wee es- pecially pleased at the capture of two Tribune correspondents (Alfred D. Richardson being of the party) and an other from the World, and ordered that they be sent to Libby prison. in the hope of a desired exchange for some well known southern civilians then in northern prisons. r. Is usually optional for a commanding general to detain privileged non -combatants or to release them on parole, but in this case superior orders forbade a release
 It happened that about the time of their arrival in Richmond the business of exchanging prisoners of war was drifting into an acrimonious and stub born dispute, Secretary Stanton and General Butler on the one side and Sec retary Seddon and Colonel Ould un the other side contrving to suspend all ex- changes and entail great suffering and
 
 each side laid the blame on the other. President Lincoln gave his personal at tention to an offer brought for an eX- change of two Virginians caught run ming the blockade for Richardson and | Browne. but the time was unpropitious; | the advance of Lee to the upper Po- ] tomac, on the one hand, and the invest ment of Vicksburg delayed it. Then the inmates of Libby began to dig tunnels out to liberty, and the officers were re- moved far inland to Salisbury, N c. | Not until twenty months after their | capture, during which they endured pri- | vations and abuse enough to have driv- | ity or death, did they regain their free dom, and then not through the favor of | the exchange officers, but by escaping | and making a journey of 200 miles | across snowy mountains, ill-clad and | chiefly at night.
 Richardson and Browne finally arriv- ad at Knoxville, Tenn, the former to find his young wife dead end his chil 1ren committed to the care of strang- ers. The close of the war soon after led both to book and newspaper writing as profession. Browne contributed to several leading periodicals on variety If topics, Since the death of his wife crest In letters Aart or science. Three sons survive him.-From the New York Tribune.