The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-26
4 HI MANPROJECIILE
How a Slave Was "Elnancipated" by
a Ton and a Half Of Gunpow-
der at Vlcksburg.
Thrown High in Air He Alights Out
side Rebel Works and There
by Gains His Freedom.
St, Nicholas.

St. Nicholas.
Before accepting the story (Which APP
pears in the July st. Nicholas) about the
negro who was "emancipated' by the ex-
plosion of a mine at V1cksburg. care1ul IN
auiry was made as to the truth OF dd that
out that the late Theodore r. Davis, well
known as artist and war correspondent
during the civil war, was present at the
explosion and saw the negro fall to the
ground.
The incident is referred to in the novel
The Crisis" by Winston Churchill. Mr..
Davis letter follows:
Dear St. Nicholas: Yes, it Is true that
colored slave escaped unhurt and be-
came a freeman when ton of gunpoWder
was exploded under one Of the forts built
by the Confederate soldiers for the de-
Tense of Vicksburg, and after short ex-
planation of the situation I will tell you
exactly how it happened.
The city of Vicksburg is built on very
hilly ground on the east side Of the Mis-
sissippi river and when it became one Of
General Grants tasks to capture this
strongly fortified city, Grants army was
camped in Louisiana, on the west side Of
the Mississippi. After much planning,
General Grant managed to move his army
across the river in steamboats,, and then
to be successful in the hard battles fought
against General Pemberton's army, which
tried hard to drive General Grants men
back. Unable to do this, Pembertons
men hurried back to their strong fortifi-
cations about Vicksburg, followed by
Grants army, which, after unsuccessfully
trying to fight it's way to Vicksburg, went
to work building earth forts and trenches
called rihepits The soldiers of each army
were busy shooting cannon balls. rifle bull
let's and mortar shells at one another, and
these dangerous things came so thick and
fast that a soldier on either side ran a
great risk whenever he showed his head
or even his hands above the protecting
carthworks. The digging and shoveling
and shooting went on. and Grants men
steadily pushed ahead with their Zigzag
roads, which were sunk deep enough in
the earth to screen the tO1l1ng soldiers
from the sharp eyes and whizzing bullets
of Pemberton's men, who could not safely
reach up to look over to see exactly what
was going on, although they knew that
Grants men had dug away on their ap-
prCa ches. or sapS, as the zigzags are
called. until they could walk into the
ditch of the fort. And they also knew
that Grants men were probably burrow-
| ing away under the fort, which was ex-
! actly what they had dOne-for long,
narrow tunnel had been dug, at the end OF
which cave or chamber was scooped out
| large enough to hold, in several distinct
| piles nearly three thousand pounds OF
| gunpowder-each pile connected to the
| others by trains of loose powder and fuses.
! The tunnel had been tamped, or filled,
! and at 3 o'clock on Friday afternoon. June
| 26, 1863, the fuse which led out into the
| ditch of the fort was lighted and General
gogan, commanding the division OF Gen.
| eral Grants soldiers at this point or
| dered everybody back a safe distance from
| the expected explosion. which was prob
| ably to blow most Of this particular fort
| out OF existence. 1t was my duty ana
wish, as war correspondent, to see pre-
cisely what happened, and to be present
| at the attack that was to follow, SO did
not go back far. Boom! Two more
booms, nearly together. great round
cloud of snowy white smoke broke from
the crest and side of the fort, followed in
stantly by a vast cloud of earth and dust
| 1t was like tornado, and out OF 1t some
thing whired eastward over the trenches
| and presently struck the side Of a SAP
between two gabiOns fortiflcatlon bas'
kets), then fell into the sap. 1t was 8
mans body. Poor fellow" I thought
"another of wars victims" I turned tt
look again, when, starting to follow the
attacking party, now rushing forward tt
gain the crater made by the explosion,
saw the supposed victim travelling will
surprising rapidity - his luck again
toward a safer locality than his landing
place.
Most Of the earth thrown out by the ex
plosion had fallen. a barrier. The for
was not destroyed, but Judgment hat
been gained towards the crest. The stars
and stripes and stars and bars wavet
with only the separating space Of a few
yards Of earth. 1t was at a point directl,
between the two flags, as learned later
that the flying man had been digging
when the mine was fired.
The incident of the afternoon was over
so I started back through the heat AM
dust of the hither and thither going sap
to the navy battery, whose big guns thun
dered away hurting short-fused she'll
over the saps into the Notifications beyon'
and above them. Finding General Logan
at his headquarters near by, asked con
; corning the skyrocket man.
Come see him." said the general
Belle has him-a hungry contraband.
where's your contraband?' l aske
Isabelle, General Losan's courageou
, colored cook.
Oar in dat shell-hole, loading hissel1
Dat nigger's muffin but feathers-dat
wat saved him, shua. I S gWine ter kee
him, too fer de luck he g boun' to brin
! | headQua ters.
4 And she did. The darby was a droll fel
low, and quite unhurt from the quick
transit experience, when he left the shove
in tn confederate fort, and landed I'm
hurt some hundreds of feet away anon
the labyrinth Of rifle pits, at polr
!. which a few days later pointed out
General Grant, who remarked the escap
= as most wonderful.
Why Modify Milk for Infant Feeding
In the uncertain ways of the novice VINE