The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-09-02


 preached the large gate and saw the artillery run out and the guards stand ing on their posts at a ready. Soon an officer came in and announced that President Lincoln had been assassin ated the night before and the orders were to shoot down any man who should cheer or make any demonstra- tion showing qualification at his death; that we were shortly to have been ex- changed. but he could not then say when.. if ever, we would be released A few nights before. there had been speechmalSing, drinking and carousing among them over the surrender of Lees army. and they were. in an ex- ceedingly angry mood.
 At nine o'clock each night the sem
 tinels on guard would order Lights out" and if not Instantly obeyed. they would shoot into the rooms. One night young lieutenant from Virginia was lying asleep on his bunk. and shot from one of the sentinels pierced his heart, killing him instantly. A shoft time afterwards shot was fired into
 the same room and went through a candle box on which prisoner was sitting. Sentinels were generally pro-
 noted for these wanton acts of cru city.
 Under. such a state of circumstances
 it was not to be wondered at that
 prisoners would sometimes make an
 effort to escape. though successful es-
 cape4 was next to an impossibifity. As soon as prisoner was known 10
 have escaped, a cannon was fired as Ia signal to the Home Guard on the mainland, who searched for miles, anu
 telegrams were sent to all provost marshals on the Northern border. The
 prisoners attempted to dig tunnels and by this means escape, but invari ably they were betrayed by informers,
 placed there as spies in the garb or Confederate soldiers.
 Early in January, 1865. Col D. R. Hundley. of the 3sst Alabama Regi- ment, who had been In captivity since the fall of Vicksburg. becoming tired of the restraint determined upon a plan of escape. He procured a blue uniform. and one morning. feiging sickness. was absent from roll call. The officer visited his room and found hin in bed. As soon as he left. Colonel Hundley with his blue uni- form and a book under his arm, look ing the image of a roll-caller. appear ed upon the scene. By agreement a sham fight was gotten pp among his friends who were in the secret, and when the attention of the Yankee guard was directed to the fight, Colon el Hundiey boldly walked past the sentinel at the gate and the sham fight ceased. We watched him from an up- per story till he had safely crossed | the lake. He was out of prison about | one week, and during that time under- | went much suffering, walking by night ! and sleeping in hay lofts during the | day. He was but once at a fire while l out, and that was at Fremont, Ohio, | where driven by hunger and cold he | went into hotel registered and was | assigned a room. He was soon asleep, | and when he awoke next morning, a | Yankee guard was seated near him and | said. Colonel. If you have finished l your nap we will go back to prison" Colonel Hundley was a handsome, in- l telligent man and must have favora- | bly impressed Colonel Hill. for he | sent him back to prison without pun ishing him. A short time after this | eipsode. Adjutant Shorter of the same | regiment, seeing that his colonel had | escaped punishment, concluded to try | it himself, So procuring blue uni- 1 form he stationed himself at the Mess | Hall, where a wagon came to deposit | wood, and getting on the wagon he went whistling, as he rode out; The sentinel at the gate challenged him. | and demanded to know what company he belonged to. He stopped whistling | only long enough to repY.N Company C." "Oh" says the guard, You come down from there. I belong to Compa- ny C myself" He took him to Colonel Hill, who sent him back to prison and placed him on the head of barrel near the gate and kept him standing there all day, one of the coldest of that very cold winter This put stop to ni1 efforts to escape for time at least. Captain McKibben of Ala | bana was one of the five prisoners | who made a successful escape. He | reached Canada with frosted feet and untold hardships.
 One of the prisoners, suspected un- justly by the authorities of complicity | in the assassination of President Lin- coln, learning the night before we | were to be released that he was not to be among the number, escaped from l the prison and went to the lake shore, | where. procuring a plank, he threw himself on 1t and attempted to swim | across the lake, but the waves beat | him back time and again; exhausted he returned to prison. and the next | day when he marched out we left poor | Cole in the blockhouse with a ball | and chain fastened to his leg.
 On the 25th day of July, 1865, one | general officer and 115 field officers l were released, and Johnson's Island | ceased to be a prison for Confederate soldiers.