Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1913-10-31
STORIES q
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BOY ESCAPED REBEL PRISON
freshman In Charge Of Cooking De-
partmsnt Aids Youth 20 Pass az
Drummer Boy--l.Ied Decentiy.

Ny experience has been that under
certain circumstances In the army n
little decent lying II mighty con-
vsnient and good thing. and the follow
ing incident shows how made good
use Of that idea:
was q member Of the F1fty-first
Pennsylvania regiment ut that time,
August. 1854, commanded by Col. Will
liam /. Bolton of Norristown, our old
colonel, ]. p. Hartrantf, having been
made brigadier general. writes Thorn
10th OF that month, In the battle OF
Weldon Railroad. was taken prison
or and marched to Petersburg. and
was taken to Richmond on the cars
and lodged In Libby prison There
was searched and robbed, an all my
comrades were. except In . few In
stances. the fortunate ones preserving
their money by stratagem. One OF
my comrades, "Pety" Jardins Of Nor
ristown, had nfty-dollar bill. which
he iDclosAd tightly In q piece OF tin
foil. surrounded the foil with tobacco.
and exactly at the time OF his
search slipped 1t In his mouth, chewea
away. and thus preserved his green
back. After we were relieved OF what
we had we were sent to Belle Island.
and there met q friend belonging to
the Fortieth New York. little Irish
man, who had charge OF the cooking
department. He told me tha- II
would follow his advice he would get
me In his gang Of about fifteen men.
by that means 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, waa 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
he brought Lieutenant Boisseu, COM
mander of the island. and we talked
through the fence to the following
effect:
He asked me IL was a drummer boy,
to which / replied yes" he then
wanted to know howl was taken pris-
oner. / told him l had been detailee
to carry wounded men and ammunition.
and while so engaged was captured
He then took me to his tent, and hand
ed me a drum and told me to smack
away at 1t. told him couldn't do It.
At that he opened his eyes and wanted
to know how II was. informed him
that had only been detailed few
days before the battle, because / was
too small to carry gun, and didn't
have time to learn to play 1t. He
took 1t all In. administered the parole
dhonneur. and went to work as
cook, seeing the boys leave for Sauls-
bury. poor fellows, thousands OF theta
never to return.
The lieutenant said IL I would do
the square thing he would treat me-
well, and when the first parole or ex-
change was effected. / 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 babe US good-by. stating that as
he was going to the front soon he
hoped TO meet US there. and II he did
that the feeling OF friendship might be-
continued.