The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-09-27
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL sons INTERESTING
ANECDOTES OF THE WAR.
How the Boys of Both Armies Whiled
Away Life in COMPROMISING Ex-
periences, Tiresome Marches-Thril-
ling Scenes on the Battlefield.

"That story of Tulley Mckinney"
said Captain Lon Makepeace of the
Nineteenth Indiana, reminded me that
L made several attempts to escape from
rebel prisons, and that luck was against
me. During the fight at Gettysburg our
regiment was ordered to hold point
ar any cost, but when the corps on our
right gave way, and the Confederates
struck our flank, every man was in
structed to look out for himself l got
INTO the town of Gettysburg, and started
down street swept by artillery as well
as by rifle fire.
AS l ran down the street 1 came
upon a man standing in his own yard.
HI: started TO go into the house, I be-
hind him. Just as he was in the act
OF opening the door bullet struck HIN
In the back of the neck, and he seil
dead. / ran around the house and
which was soon surrounded by rebels,
and | was prisoner. SO 1t happened
that l was one of 5000 Union prisoners
captured at Gettysburg prison and TAX
en- to Libby prison. which was then al
most full. Just before We went inside
the prison l bought. seven loaves of
bread from boy standing near, and
when we were taken to the east room
up stairs, which we christened Gettys-
burg room because there were so many
Gettysburg prisoners there, climbed
up near the rafters, and made a kind of
shelf. on which | laid my seven loaves
of bread Satisfied with my work
went to sleep. In the morning, when I
awoke. 1 discovered that l didn't have
single loaf OF bread Some of the
older prisoners had taken the whole
stock.
but / was not the only sufferer.
There was German in the room, the
son of n quartermaster in New York,
and he lad plenty of money. One day
he bought seven hogs heads and some
bright new pans, and made what is
called hogshead cheese, and put it in
the pans to cool. He strolled off for a
few minutes, and on his return | saw
him looking around, and asked him
what he was looking for. oh, nothing
he said. L am just looking around:
He finally feued the pans some distance
away. but empty. The boys didn't call
this stealing. and / think they were
ordinarily conscientious about taking
individual property. but under the cir
cumstances they believed 1t to be right
to appropriate anything In the eatable
line.
Zone day l said to Captain Harte,
Now, am going to get out of here if
I can The captain replied. 4 don't
want you TO go off and leave me here
| want to get out. too promised that
If had chance to escape would not
take advantage of 1t until l had told
him. Soon after we started to dig
tunnel we heard that another tunnel
had been finished. l was down in the
cookroom when | heard of this COM
pleted tunnel, and l ran back upstairs
20 tell Harte. He said | was foolish
TO attempt TO get out that way, and de-
clired TO go. BY the time | got down
again all of Straight's men and Milroy's
men had heard the news. and the cook
room was packed. OF the 100 men who
escaped sixty-nine were recaptured. Ev-
erybody knows the story by heart, but
might have been one OF the first had
NJ 49, rnna ,,ncto ~ %of1 IIa~ta
''lAs in the case of Tulley Mckinney.
we were taken from Libby to Danviile.
From Danville we went to Salisbury,
thence to Macon. practically to guard
the city from the Union soldiers. The
rehels placed us so as that they could
say tc the attacking force, We have a
.tt Of your prisoners scattered through
tn" city; fire IL you want to- There
were 300 captains distributed for this
purpose, and was among them. On
the way to Macon, however, made my
second attempt to escape. The train
was going slowly. There was nearly
always something the matter with The
trains then, so / said TO Harte, L am
going to jump or He advised me not
to. but l said that If could got some
one else to go with me would jump.
Il went through the train, found a
man who was willing to join me, and,
just as the train was nearing Branch
vile We jumped off. The guards saw us
and fired. They shot my partner
through the heel. and surrendered. l
knew that l had to or be shot. While |
at Macon we went into the tunnel bust |
ness again. We dug two tunnels. COW
ering them up during the day, and |
furiously at night. We expect
ID to get them done by the night of July |
g. and then make a Fourth of July cell |
ebration Of our escape. But, on the |
porning of the Sd, two .Confederates
came up, and went straight to the
mouths of the tunnels. We ALWAYS
thought that they had a pointer from
one of our own men of on parole.
From Mason we were sent to Column
bia. One evening the guards were sent |
out to get wood, and persuaded one of |
them to let me take his place. After we
got out / dropped down in the weeds
and two Of my comrades did the same.
The guards either didn't know how |
many they had or they didn't miss us.
We travelled all that night aiming to
strike the Saludi mills, eight or ten
niles below on the river. At daylight
he next morsing we discovered that we
had Travelled in circuit and were just
where we started from. However, we
inally reached the river and an old
negro rowed us across and his wife fed
is. A widow who lived near the negro
.old an old farmer who lived near the
negro that we were either deserters or
Yankee prisoners. The revels were In
formed and came after us with blood
hounds We escaped the bloodhounds.
,utflanked the rebels, stole their horses,
.ode them until daybreak. and then
.urned them loose.
"In the long Journey northvard ve