The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1907-12-18
LIBBY PRISON HERO,
How the Late General Rose Duq
a Famous Tunnel.
DESPERATE CHANCES TAKEN.

Marvellous Fortitude of Band Of Wretch
ed Men Working In Foul Air Among
Rats-Escape Of Union Soldiers From
the Old Richmond c~handlery In 1864.
Brevet Brigadier General Thomas
Elwood Rose, q. s. A., retired, who
iied in Washington recently, led the
party Of Union soldiers who dug their
way out Of Libby prison during the
civil war, says the New York Post.
1t was in the battle Of Chickamauga
that General Rose was captured. He
escaped at Weldon, N. c., was retaken
the next day and sent to Libby prison
on Oct. /, 1863.
Libby prison itself was an old ships
%chandlery warehouse, embracing nine
large rooms. into which were crowded
1900 prisoners. Quarters were so
cramped that the inmates had to sleep
spoon fashion," head to head and
feet to feet in squads.
Outside the prison to the south was
a canal. In wet weather the cellar Of
the prison would become flooded with
water, and platoons-or perhaps we
should say schools-of hoary rats
emerged from its ancient walls on the
surface of the tide. The easternmost
cellar was the darkest and consequent
~ the worst in this respect and was
known as Rats hell.
From the first day of his incarcera-
ton Roses mind turned to thoughts Of
escape, and all through the course Of
the partly successful plot he was the
engineer and captain. He found a
loyal lieutenant in Major A. G. Hamil-
ton of the Twelfth Kentucky cavalry.
and together the two men decided that
the most feasible plan was to dig a
tunnel from Rats hell eastward, a dis
lance of about seventy feet, to an
empty shed abutting on a building
owned by the James River Towing
company.
The exterior Of the prison was care
fully guarded night and day by senti-
nels, but indoors the vigilance was
somewhat relaxed at night. At one
time more than 400 prisoners We're in
the secret of the work, all under oath,
but the Confederates did not discover
what was on foot. This was partly
due to the fact that the end of Rats
hell, where the men worked, was eX.
ceedingly dark and filled with such
foul air that the workers themselves
had to create artificial circulation in
order to live in it.
Work was begun with a broken
shovel and two case knives. With inf
mite pains the men cut through stone
walls and piling in various places only
to find themselves frustrated now by
water from the canal. now by som
impossible obstacle. They tried I,
avail themselves of old sewers, but one
was too small and n ~debouched il
too public a spot. Finally they adopted
the plan Of digging eastward to the
shelter of the other building.
Rose picked out thirteen faithful fol
Hamilton. Most Of the others hat
been discouraged by the slime, the fou
air and the i'll success of previous at
tempts. Rose and his little band wen
on indefatigably, scarcely eating
scarcely sleeping, engrossed in the ONT
~feverish thought Of liberty. At bes
1t would be a slender chance. Blu
hope springing persistently drove then
III.
By great good fortune Rose hat
come into possession of a rope nearl.
a hundred feet long, an inch thick an
new. BY an agreement between til,
commissioners of exchange seyera
bales of clothing had been sent by tn,
Federal government to the suffcrin;
soldiers at Belle Isle. A committee o
Union officers from Libby prison ha'
been assigned to supervise the distri
button, and one Of them by a bit o
clever legerdemain managed to secret
the rope which bound one of tn
bales. Rose and Hamilton fashioned
into q ladder.
They concluded that the safest mean
Of getting into Rats hell without de
lection would be to dig a secret passag
from the kitchen, which was on tn
floor above, but not directly over Rats
hell. Carefully digging out the MOI
tar with a jackknife, they remove
the bricks one by n from the bac,
of the large open fireplace. Whe,
morning came they replaced the brick
and filed the crevices with the 500
which they had taken the precautio
to collect beforehand on a blanke,
After several nights work they had a
S shaped passage down which the
could descend to Rats hell by mean
of their rope ladder.
The wall Of that east cellar had t
be broken in three places before
place was found where the cart
would support a tunnel. Rose dug as
siduously. while Hamilton famed al
into him and dragged the e~xcavate
material out as fast as it was read!
Without the artificial ventilation tn
tallow dip by which Rose worke
would go out and Rose would sufft
cate. \ wooden box, which had bee
used as a spittoon, served very well I
Two w tlnN 90 - Dy,t ~ b. ,,-1