Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1906-09-28
SOLDIERS AT HOME.
THEY TELL some 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.

Nineteenth Indiana. reminded me that
| 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
at 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 a street swept by artillery as we'll
as by rife fire.
LAS l ran down the street l came
upon a man standing in his own yard.
H. started to go into the house, | be-
hind him. Just as he was in the act
of opening the door q bullet struck HIN
III the back of the neck. and he fell
dead. | ran around the house and
across the alley, ana went into barn,
which was soon surrounded by rebels.
and | was a prisoner. SO it happened
that | 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 | bought seven lOaves of
bread from a boy standing near, and
when we were taken to the east room
up stairs, which we christened Gettys-
burg room because there We're 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
awoke, l 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 quartermaster in New York,
and he had plenty of money. One day
he bought seven hogs heads and some
bright new pans, and made what is
called hogshead cheese, and put 1T IN
the pans to cool. He strolled off for a
few minutes, and on his return l saw
him looking around, and asked him
what he was looking for. oh, nothing,
he said. I am just looking around
He finally found the pans some distance
away. but empty. The boys didn't call
this stealing, and l think they were
ordinarily conscientious about taking
individual property, but under the cir
cumstances they believed it to be right
to appropriate anything in the eatable
line.
"One day l said to Captain Harte,
Now, | am going to get out of here If
| can. The captain replied, l don
want YOU to go off and leave me here.
| want to get out. too | promised that
if | had a chance to escape | would not
take advantage Of it until | had told
him. Soon after We started to dig d
tunnel we heard that another tunnel
had been finished. | was down in the
coOkroom when | heard of this com
pleted tunnel, and | ran back upstairs
20 tell Harte. He said l was foolish
to attempt to get out that way, and de
cIined 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
ervb0dy knows the story by heart, but !
might have been one of the first had I
not gone upstairs to tell Harte.
AS 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
rebels placed us so as that they could
s%v tC the attacking force, We have a
!tt of your prisoners scattered through
tho city: fire if you want to- There
were 300 captains distributed for this
purpose, and l 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 l said to Harte, / am
going to jump off He advised me- not
to. but | said that if l could get some
one else to 60 with me | would jump.
Il went through the train, found a
man who was willing to join me, and,
1l1SC as Ine train WIS ledIIIlS
Vile we jumped off. The guards saw US
and fired. They shot my partner
through the heel, and l surrendered. l
knew that | 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
working furiously at night. We expect
ed to get them done by the night of July
3. and then make a Fourth of July eel
ebration of our escape. But, on the
morning 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 off on parole.
From Mason we were sent to Column
bia One evening the guards were sent
out to get wood, and l persuaded one of
them to let me take his place. After we
got out l dropped down in the weeds
,,1 +1~o Of INV comrades did tho Same