Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1904-11-11
WITHIN THE ENEMY.s LINES
Gen. William j. Palmer's Close Call
When Serving the Union
as Spy.

Gen. William j. Palmer, who recently
gave to the people of Colorado Springs
beautiful park, has had one of the
stormiest careers of any man living.
When the civil war broke out young
Palmer was the secretary of j. Edgar
Thompson, president of the Pennsyl-
vania railroad. This company was the
rival OF the Baltimore G Ohio for east
and west traffic. and it's spirit was so
intensely patriotic that its whole staff,
except Mr. Thompson, who was a
Quaker, entered the army. Thomas A.
Scott, vice president, became assist
ant secretary of war, in charge Of
railroad transportation, and young
Palmer, who was born on the border,
became one of the most daring and
efficient spies in the service of the
north. The administration staff of the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad, on the
other hand, was actively engaged on
the confederate side, and so many Of
the officers went south that there was
not enough left to run the road. That
didn't matter very much, because it
run first by one army and then by
the other as military line, except the
Baltimore and Washington division,
which remained uninterruptedly in
the possession of the union forces
from the time of its recapture by Gen.
Butler.
Gen. Palmer's experiences as a spy
hTnnOhf fn ht-
ture and sentence to death. He
escaped before he could be executed.
and then raised n cavalry regiment at
Germantown and went into the field
and became brigadier general.
After the war he became treasurer
of the Kansas Pacific railroad and
later president of the Denver & Rio
Grande railroad, the great three-foot
gauge line that passed through the
Royal gorge, climbed Marshall pass
and connected Denver with Salt Lake
City. 1t has since been reconstructed
at standard gauge.
1t is with Gen. Palmer's war ex-
periences that this sketch is con-
cerned, and this story of it is told by
nalist and prothonotary of the SUI
preme court of Pennsylvania, who. as
assistant adjutant general was in
command of the military forces on the
border
Every night Capt Palmer, who was
on duty at the Potomac river entered
the enemy's line and brought back in
fOrDna tiOD pf r.ot;,..
mary to crossing the river to meet
Mcclellan at Antietam. He was ac-
companied by William W. Breson, an
expert telegrapher, who carried his in
strument with him, and by attaching
1t to the first wires they struck after
emerging from the rebel lines, and
sometimes within them, communicated
their news, which | forwarded at once
to Mcclellan.
"All the news that Mcclellan re-
celved from the front of Lees army
came il: this way from Palmer. The
bold young fellow kept in touch with
Lees army and followed it back to
Virginia after Antietam. Finally he
was missed at time his usual report
elapsed without word from him
fastened to Philadelphia to confer
with Mr.. Thompson.
I'VE were satisfied that Palmer had
been captured, and in order to prevent
his Identification, it was arranged that
| should write up for the Philadelphia
Press and Inquirer. for publication the
next morning, displayed dispatches an
nouncing the arrival in Washington
of Capt. William j. Palmer, who had
been scouting in Virginia and who had
brought most important information
of the purposes and movements of the
enemy
Some details were given to make
the story plausible, to which was
added the statement that he had
brought momertous Information that