Custer County Republican. (Broken Bow, Neb.) 1882-1921, 1903-01-08
SOLDIERS STORIES.
ENTERTAINING "REMINISCENCES
OF THE WAR.
Graphic Account of Stirring Scenes
Witnessed on the Battlefield and in
Camp-Vcternns of the Rebellion Re
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.

Camp-Ncternns of the Rebellion Re-
cite Experiences of Thrilling Nature.
On the morning of the 2Oth of Sep
tember, 1864 the people of the North
were treated to an extraordinary
amount of news. even for those days.
If daily Of that date could be easily
found now | would like to look it over
and see the startling intelligence that
was reported. For it was on that
morning that the news Of Sheridan's
great victory at Winchester came; and
in the same breath the people were in
formed of an audacious and very near
ly successful attempt to release the
Confederate prisoners on Johnson's
Island, off Sandusky, sieze the United
States gunboat Michigan, make a Con
federate cruiser of her, and hold Lake
Erie, and perhaps the adjacent waters
under her dominion.
l was one of Sherldans army, and
the Importance of the victory at Win
chester was very clear to me, as it was
to my comrades. The event that had
happened near Sandusky on the same
day (Sept. 10, 1860, when we learned
of 1t, did not seem to us to be a matter
Of much importance. We were in
clined to think it madcap attempt Of
few refugees in Canada, which new
er had any chance of success; and we
were not much disturbed by the news.
We did not realize the gravity of that
situation, as did the people of Buffalo,
Sandusky, Toledo and Detroit. Those
good citizens awoke on the morning of
the 10th to the knowledge that q dar.
ing Confederate raid right among their
homes had just missed success. when
the consequences of success would
nave been to release a powerful body
of the enemy right in the North. put
the cities and towns of Lake Erie I'M
der tribute, drive of all commerce and
travel from the lake, and create such
terror In the North as would not be
created by n great Confederate victory
In the field. A "scare" was caused
like to nothing else in the whole course
Of the war. Troops were hurried to
these points, before their arrival the
citizens patrolled the streets with
arms, and the excitement was at fever
heat.
There was good cause for 1t. The
daring nature of that attempt to seize
Lake Erie. with all the tremendous
consequences that would be sure to
come from that stroke, are not well
known to the veterans, as they should
be. 1t was an important phase Of the
war that they did not see, and which
they should have in mind Briefly
stated the plan was this:
The only United States vessel on
Lake Erie was the Michigan, a steam
er carry eighteen guns. She was at
this time lying off Johnson's Island,
In Sandusky Bay, which since 1862 had
been used as a prison for captured
Confederate officers, there being on
Sept. 10, 1864, almost 2,4OO of them
there. The guns of the Michigan com
manded the island, and no attempt at
revolt on the part of the prisoners
could be made while this was so. But
If the Michigan could be captured, the
prisoners could easily overcome their
guard; they could arm themselves.
cross to the mainland, get horses. and
ride Southwark at will, plundering and
destroying as they went-for there
were no troops in Ohio to stay them.
And the steamer with a Confederate
crew aboard could shell any city on
the lake, If that were thought best.
and could do infinite damage to the
Union cause, besides the moral effect
of such victory. 1t would be much
like blockade of the lake ports.
The Canadian ports were at that
time swarming with refugees, fugi-
tives from the draft, and Confederate
officers and agents. The plan which
has been outlined was concocted by
Jacob Thompson, the crafty secret
agent of the Confederacy in Canada.
He gave the charge of it to one of
those daring I whom the Confeder.
ates had ready everywhere that audac-
ity and devotion to their cause could
be used.
John Yates Beall who undertook
this astonishing enterprise, ard paid
the penalty of failure with his life, was
in many respects an extraordinary
man. He was at this time in his thir-
ty-second year. He was a native Vir-
ginian, graduate of a university, and
at the outbreak of the rebellion owned
plantations and slaves worth a mil
lion and a half of dollars. He was an
officer of the Second Virginia Infan-
try, which formed part of the stone
wall Brigade" He had seen much
service, and was particularly chosen
for the command of this expedition.
On the morning of Sept. 10 the
steamer PhilO Parsons, plying between
Detroit, Sandusky and the islands, was
boarded at Sandwich and Maiden by
twenty-four men, who brought an old
trunk with them. There was nothing
peculiar in their appearance, and they
excited no suspicion. Before reaching
Sandusky the trunk was opened,
knives and revolvers were distributed,