Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-09-19
|O(T Of AKDERS0NVDE|


copyright, 1903. by c. B. Lewisl ..
was no sooner inside of the zAnder-
sonville prison pen as a prisoner of
war than the idea Of a tunnel came
into my mind. g.
At that time the dead line" was
close in to the stockade itself, and the
Confederate sentinels on the elevated
platforms on the outside of the pen
were satisfied with calling out to
man who approached too near. Tents
were allowed within three feet Of the
furrow which represented the dead
line. =
A tunnel from twenty to twenty-five
feet long would clear everything.
-Four Of us set up a tent, and that
very day we began our tunnel. The ex-
cavation was made at the back end of
the tent and blanket kept at hand to
cover up all evidences.
We worked only at night, because
the dirt had to be carried down to the
creek to be disposed of, and the only
tools we had were an old case knife,
TIN plate and piece Of board sharp
ened for a spade.
1t was sixty-three days from the date
Of beginning the tunnel before we esti-
mated that we were twenty feet be-
yond the line. The moon was now full
and the evenings as light as day. While
waiting for a favorable night our third
man, a member Of an Ohio regiment,
was taken i'll. We cared for him as
best we could for a couple of days.
when he was taken outside to the hos
pital. We agreed to postpone our es-
cape for ten days. If he did not re-
turn by that time we were to give him
up as dead.
1t was long after the war before as
certained what happened him. He
mended so rapidly that he would have
returned to us on the seventh day, but
was unfortunately included in a draft
Of prisoners for exchange. He had no
way to send us word, and we had no
list of names, and for many years 1 be-
lieved he was one Of the thousands bur-
led at Andersonville.
During our wait of ten days the Con-
federates came in twice to probe and
search for tunnels, but fortunately
missed us both times. AS many as
eight or ten others were discovered.
Yet our greatest danger was from
our fellow prisoners. A man named
Sharon, who belonged to a. New Eng
land regiment, in some way got sus-
pic1on that we had a tunnel and one
day entered our tent and announced
that If he was not allowed to escape
with us he would stop our going. We
attempted to bluff him of when he
made straight course for the gate,
presumably to fulfill his threat
He was not permitted to go far be-
fore being overtaken and charged with
attempted robbery. 1t would have
gone hard with him had we pressed
the charge, but we dropped it with the
understanding that he should keep his
mouth shut regarding us. From that
hour he was kept under surveillance
by two men hired by us and was not
permitted to 60 near the gate. Per-
haps he would not have carried out his
threat, but a prison pen brings out the
baseness in human nature very fully.
It was three days after the trouble
with Sharon before the weather be-
came favorable. and we had not taken
anybody into our confidence. Never
theless, we argued, as we had done be-
fore, that if a dozen or more got out
the chances Of escape would be in
creased. We waited until we saw that
the night was to be dark and drizzly,
and then we passed around among
such acquaintance as we felt could be
trusted and invited them to call at our
tent at 9 o'clock. Each thought he was
the only one invited, and each believed
he was to be let into plot to over
power the guards and free all prisoners
At exactly 6 o'clock my chum crept
into the tunnel. and I followed Not
more than ten minutes later we
emerged from the hole outside Of the
stockade and set off into the darkness
If those who followed on had been as
cool and cautious as we all would have
gone we'll with them, but an incident
occurred to unnerve them. Six others
had wriggled their way through the
hole when the relief guard came march
ing along so close that one of the pris-
oners cried out and brought detection
to all. OF course an alarm was raised,
the tunnel discovered and all further
escape cut off,