The Washington herald., 1914-02-14


ithe broken country OF guiliess and r. :
vines lying east Of the suburb on the
James called Rockets.
i He struck rapidly for the York River
Railroad, the line to the Southeast. and
4 followed n until. toward morning. ne
knew hinlDelf to be In the vicinity Of
the Chickahominy He was In Sec
tion Of alternating fields tnickets;
swafnps, and forests. on one OF the OLD
| battlenelds OF Gen. AcCielian's cam
paign of the spring OF 1852. Knowing
that this region was picketed by Con-
federate troops, the escaped prisoner
crawled Into q hollow log at daybreak
4 for rest and sleep. He had labored In
cessantiy At digging In the last two
days OF the tunneling. and was ex-
| haustsd. Furthermere, an old break In
the bones Of one OF his feet. sustained
lin . Tennessee nght. was beginning to
trouble him.
Sleeping soundiy In the hollow log. In
spite of his cramped position and the
cold. Col Rose woke In the afternoon.
| Before leaving the log he lay for some
time nstsuing 10 the sounds In the woods
about him they were few, until. to his
surprise. he heard the neighing OF
! horses, the talk of soldiers and various
other familiar sounds of camp. He
had dept near the camp Of q Confederate
cavalry picket
In the late afternoon Col. Rose emerged
from his tree and. carefully creeping past
the camp, made for the chickahominy.
He was 30 fortunte az to reach 1t at q
| point where. by deep wading, It vas
fordable. The water was Icy cold, but
he plunged in. and. though he fell into
deem holes he managed to reach the far
sYde. He now found that before him lay
a dense swamp, the extent of which. In
the dim light, he could not Judge.
H.,tea ~ Cavalry
Entering the swamp. Col Rose waded
and splashed through water and mire
at times to his waist Under the trees
liz was now completely dark. After .
long and sxhausting tramp in the swamp.
the weary fugitive reached firm ground.
and almost at the moment found himself
near q picket camp. Avoiding this he
struck into q deep woods. in the recesses
of which q little later he built . fire.
with some precious 8 matches he had
kept dry in his CAP.
There was danger in the Ere, but its
warmth was q great comfort, and be-
slept soundiJ until morning. Waking stin
and sore. with his foot airing him and
lis clothes frozen on one side and burned
on the other. he set out again southeast
ward.
Passing Crumps Cross Reads. where he
avoided another picket. h reached the
neighborhcod of New Kent Courthouse
before dark Here in crossing a field
he was overtaken by a cavairyman, who
asked him II he belonged 70 the local
cavalry. Trusting to his gray cap, Rose
answered yes The man fcde OF and
Col. Rose saw that he soon entered
camp.
Fearing pursuit Col Rose plunged into
a laurel thickeI His fears were well
grounded. for \ troop of cavalry was
soon engaged II. n man hurt. beating the
thicket and some woods beyond, which
Rose had reached.
Seeing that his case was desperate
Rose left the wood and hid In a drain
in field, through which he crept on
his hands and knees for nearly half a
mile, throwing his pursuers of the scent.
The drain brought him to the Will
iamsburg road near which he lay for
some hours resting.
Thenceforth his route was along this
road. Pickets were encountered every
few miles. but he crept around them and
kept on until he had passed Diascund
Bridge and come to a place calico Burnt
Ordinary, which was but twelve miles
from Williamsburg. Negroes who had
fed and guided him at intervals had told
him Williamsburg was in Federal hands.
Taken in Sight of Friends.
To the great joy Of the iimping and
weary fugitive on coming out OF the edge
Of q wide cleared space he saw a troop
Of cavalry riding up the distant road.
They were Federals. Weakened by the
long fight for liberty that seemed now
won. Rose sat down to wait their ar
rival.
This moment of indulgence in fancied
security was fatal. Before the cavalry
had come up Col Rose saw coming up
behind him three men. who also seemed
to be Federals. He approached them.
and too late discovered that they were
Confederates wearing Federal overcoats.
They commanded him to surrender, and
as their carbines covered him, he could
do nothing else.
The Confederates now saw the ap-
preaching Federals for the first time. a
ridge having cut on their view before
They now ordered Col Rose. under
Euard~of one Of their number. to the
rear.
As he was escorted up the road Col.
Rose, watching q chance. with the
strength of desperation. wrenched the
mans gun from him. and, firing II of.
threw 1t down and began to run. Un-
happily he ran headlong into a group of
Confederates he had not before observed.
They were watching the approaching
Federals. Soon the officers commanding
them ordered q retreat. and as the
troopers who might have saved him
came in sight over the ridge, Rose
caught one fleeting glimpse of them and
then was hustled on, limping and dis
couraged, in the direction Of Richmond.
In less than two days he was back in
Libby Prison, in solitary confinement, on
bread and water diet, sick. worn out.
and miserable.
In April, 1854. Col Rose was exchanged.
He served with distinction to the end
Of the war, and afterward In the regular
army. being q captain in the Sixteenth
Infantry.
OF the 100 who escaped from Libby
Prison fifty-nine reached the Federal
lines, forty-eight were retaken. and two
perished by drowning. OF the forty
eight who escaped twenty-six were with
In the lines at williamsburg on February
16 and the others continued to come In,
there and on the upper Rappahannock
and the lower Potomac, for the next
two weeks.
Tomorrows Sherman Burns Meridian,
Miss.
tCopyrisht, 1NA)
HE WILL RUN BRITISH RAILWAY
American Chosen ~ General Man.
a~~p h~ E-~lssh svsfe-