Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1907-12-06
The Hero of Libby Prison.

The Hero of Libby Prison.
Thomas Elwood Rose, who died re-
Gently In Washington at the age of II,
was not only a faithful and distin-
guished soldier, but was also notable
as the man who planned and led the
famous tunnel escape" from Libby
prison on the night of Feb. D. 1864.
Born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania,
on March II, 1880, Rose enlisted in the
Twelfth Pennsylvania infantry on the
Presidents first call for troops in 1861.
The following October he was appoint
ed captain in the Seventy seventh Penn
sylvania infantry, served with that reg
iment at Shiloh and other noted bat
ties, became its colonel in February,
1868, was captured at Chickamauga, es-
capped and was retaken, and finally
reached Libby prison on Oct. 1, 1868.
The prison was an old warehouse
into whose nine rooms were sometimes
crowded as many as 1 200 men. Quar-
tiers were so cramped that inmates had
to sleep spoon fashion" and turn over
by squads, thus illustrating the tactics
which they termed "Hardee on the
horizontal" Only the most fortunate
possessed such luxuries as blankets
tin cups, tin plates or knives.
From the first day Colonel Rose
planned to escape. He found an eff
cient helper in Major A. G. Hamilton
of the Twelfth Kentucky cavalry. AT
one time as many as 400 of the prison
ers were in the secret, but it was never
discovered by the guards. The actual
work was done by fifteen men led by
Rose and Hamilton. After various at
tempts to make use Of sewers, Rose de
cided that the feasible plan was to tun-
mel eastward about seventy feet from
the cellar to a shed behind a fence.
AS a preliminary a secret passage
was dug from the kitchen fireplace on
the floor above to the cellar, whence
the tunnel was to start. The tools
were a broken shovel, two table knives
a wooden box which had been used as
a cuspidor, and a rope which had come
into the prison around a bale of cloth
ing and which Rose managed to secrete.
The air In the tunnel, which averaged
two feet in diameter, was SO foul that
the digger could live only by having air
famed in to him with a rubber blan-
ket AS all the prisoners were count
ed twice each day the absence of the
five men on the working shift at the
time of the count was covered by their
comrades by various repeating" STRAIT
agemS
The whole plot was almost upset by
Hamilton's eagerness to get the tunnel
finished. He dug up too soon, and
found to his dis1nay that the hole he
broke in the surface was outside the
shed in plain view of the guards. Yet
they did not see it-as plain case OF
special providence" as the average
man would care for.
On the night of Monday, Feb. 8, the
work was finally completed by Rose
who was almost at his last gasp with
suffOcation when he finally broke
through the hard earth in the shelter
of the shed.
AS the hour was then too late depart
ure was deferred until the next night
1t was agreed that each of The fifteen
diggers might take one other man with
him, but the chance could not be SO
limited, and 100 men went out OF these
fifty-nine reached the Union lines, two
were drowned, and forty-elght were
recaptured, among them Colonel Rose
himself.
Later he was exchanged, rejoined his
regiment, served to the end of the war,
and afterward in the regular army on
the western frontier, retiring for age
in 1894 with the rank of lieutenant
colonel and the brevet of brigadier gen
eral.
For thirty-three years Thomas Ell
wood Rose served his country in arms
with credit and distinction, but his
name will be longest remembered as
that of the man who dug the tunnel out
of Libby prison.-Chicago Inter Ocean,