The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1913-10-30
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BOY ESCAPED REBEL PRISON
Irishman in Charge Of Cooking De-
partment Aids Youth to Pass az
Drummer 6oy-Lled DecentlJ.

My experience has been that under
certain circumstances In the army q
little decent lying is mighty con-
venient and good thing, and the follow
ing incident shows how made good
use of that idea:
was a member Of the Fifty-frst
Pennsylvania regiment at that time,
August, 1864, commanded by Col. VIII
liam |. Bolton of Norristown, our old
colonel, ]. F. Hartrantf, having been
made brigadier general, writes Thorn
as ]. Dunbar In an exchange. On the
18th of that month, In the battle OF
Weldon Railroad, l was taken prison
er and marched to Petersburg, and
was taken to Richmond on the cars
and lodged In Libby prison. There
was searched and robbed, as all my
comrades were, except in few III
stances, the fortunate ones preserving
their money by stratagem. One OF
my comrades, "Pety" Jardine of Nor
ristown, had a fifty-dollar bill, which
he inclosed tightly In a piece of tin
foil, surrounded the foil with tobacco.
and exactly at the time Of his
search slipped 1t in his mouth, chewed
away, and thus preserved his green.
back. After we were relieved of what
we had we were sent to Belle Island,
and there l met friend belonging TO
the Fortieth New York, little Irish
man, who had charge of the cooking
department. He told me that II
would follow his advice he would get
me In his gang of about fifteen men;
by that means l could escape being
sent to Salisbury prison. to which
point the men then there, between
seven and eight thousand, were des'
tined, was about the same size then
as now, which was not much to brag Of,
but was young and boyish looking, in
fact, was the youngest member of the
regiment, just seventeen. He told me
to say at the proper time that was a
drummer boy, and had been captured
in that capacity. and shortly afterward
he brought Lieutenant Boisseu. COM
mander of the island, and we talked
through the fence to the following
effect:
He asked me if was drummer boy,
to which l replied "yes;" he then
wanted to know how was taken pris-
oner. l told him l had been detailed
to carry wounded men and ammunition,
and while so engaged was captured.
He then took me to his tent, and hand
ed me drum and told me to smack
away at it. told him couldn't do 1t.
At that he opened his eyes and wanted
to know how it was. informed him
that had only been detailed few
days before the battle, because l was
too small to carry gun, and didn't
have time to learn to play it. He
took it all in, administered the parole
d'honneur, and | went to work as
cook, seeing the boys leave for Sauls-
bury, poor fellows, thousands of them
never to return.
The lieutenant said If would do
the square thing he would treat me
we'll, and when the first parole or ex'
change was effected, l should be
among the fortunate number. He
kept his word, and one night about
twelve o'clock came running to our
quarters in his night clothes, and in.
formed us that there was to be an
exchange the next day. That morn
ing he took us to private quarters in
Richmond, went with US to the boat,
and bade us good-by, stating that as
he was going to the front soon he
hoped to meet us there, and If he did
that the feeling of friendship might be
continued