Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-10-30
STORIES q
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BOY ESCAPED REBEL PRISON
lrishn1an In Charge of Cooking De-
Partment Aids Youth to Pass as
Drummer Soy-Lied Decently.

My experience has been that under
certain circumstances in the army a
little decent lying is a mighty con-
Venient and good thing, and the follow
ing incident shows how l made good
use of that idea:
was member of the Fifty-frst
q pennsylvania regiment at that time,
August, 1864, commanded by Col. Will
liam l. Bolton of Norristown, our old
colonel, ]. F. Hartrantf, having been
made brigadier general, writes Thorn
as J. 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 csrs
and lodged in Libby prison. There I
was searched and robbed, as all my
comrades were, except in a few in
stances, the fortunate ones preserving
their money by stratagem. One Of
my comrades, "Pety" Jardine of Nor
ristown, had a f1fty-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 it 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 a friend belonging to
the Fortieth New York, a little Irish
man, who had charge of the cooking
department. He told me that if |
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. l was about the same size then
as now, which was not much to brag of,
but was young and boyish looking, III
fact, was the youngest member of the
regiment, just seventeen. He told me
to say at the proper time that was
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 a drummer boy,
to which 1 replied yes" he then
wanted to know how was taken pris-
oner. | told him / 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. l informed him
that 1 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 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 thea
never to return.
The lieutenant said If l would do
the square thing he would treat me
well, 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 babe 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.