Martial Deeds of Pennsylvania, Samuel P. Bates, 1876 - Part 3, Chapter 4, 1041-
1080

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja jbanja@msn.com and 
transcribed by Judy Banja, Judith Bookwalter, Cyndie Enfinger, Linda Horn, 
Margaret Long, Patricia Martz, Barbara Milhalcik, Leah Waring and Marjorie B. 
Winter

Copyright 2003.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm
________________________________________________

                         MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA
                                       by
                                SAMUEL P. BATES.

                     PHILADELPHIA: T. H. DAVIS & CO., 1876.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1041

                       PART III.  CIVIL AND MISCELLANEOUS.

                                   CHAPTER IV.

THE FORT PITT WORKS.  In warfare, genius for invention, skill in overcoming 
difficulties in mechanical execution, and the provision of the necessary 
appliances for producing the most effective weapons, have often saved a nation 
from disgrace, and been the means of asserting its triumph.  Bows and arrows 
could not stand against powder and balls.  The catapult had to bow to the power 
of artillery, and the valiant little Monitor appeared upon the ocean at a moment 
opportune for saving the Union from the dishonor in the assaults of the dreaded 
Merrimac.  Napoleon was known to say that the Lord was on the side of the party 
with the heaviest guns.  It is certain that the chances of victory should be 
with the one which has the best constructed and most powerful weapons.
  The subject of heavy ordnance has been a perplexing one on account of the 
difficulty of producing perfect pieces.  In the Revolutionary War the size of 
the guns used, even on shipboard, was insignificant, and down to the close of 
the War of 1812 the heaviest gun employed in the military or naval service was a 
twenty-four pounder that barely weighed fifty-two hundred pounds.  Among the 
earliest and most successful establishments for casting heavy ordnance in this 
country were the Fort Pitt works at Pittsburg.  They were founded by Joseph 
McClurg, in 1814, and were located on the corner of Fifth and Smithfield 
streets, the present site of the Custom House and Post Office, and guns were 
cast there for use in the war with Great Britain, which had not then closed.  
The cannon balls and grape-shot, used by Commodore Perry, in his little fleet 
which achieved so glorious a victory on the waters of Lake Erie, on that 
memorable 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1042

morning of the 10th of September, 1813, were cast at the little foundry from 
which the ordnance foundry originated.  Mr. McClurg then entered into a contract 
with the Government to cast cannon for the navy, and erected new works on the 
site now occupied, which, by enlargements from time to time made, have come to 
occupy an entire city square, bounded on three sides by streets and a fourth by 
the Allegheny river.  At first only boring and finishing were done here, the 
machinery being driven, for want of water-power, by horses.  After three or four 
years experience with these, in which time some excellent work was turned out, 
the old, blind horses were discarded, and the steam engine, then just coming 
into use, was substituted.
  A board of military men, convened in 1819 by John C. Calhoun, then Secretary 
of War, to consider particularly the subject of the use of heavy guns, reported 
that the twenty four-pounder, the size then in use, was the largest gun 
required.  Ten years later, a thirty-two-pounder was adopted, and in 1832 a 
forty-two-pounder, weighting eighty-four hundred pounds.
  The Works, which had descended to the sons of the original proprietor, and 
subsequently, in 1831, had come into the hands of Joseph McClurg and Major 
William Wade, were purchased in 1841, by Charles Knap and W. J. Totten, and at 
this time in addition to the production of heavy guns and missiles turned out 
steam engines and machinery.  In 1844, the two iron steamboats Jefferson and 
Bibb were built and armed for the United States revenue service.  In 1840, 
trials proved that shells as well as solid shots could be fired from heavy guns, 
which had formerly been confined to mortars; and guns of eight and ten inch 
calibre were proven to be practicable.  Six years later, experiments showed that 
a two-hundred-and-twenty-five-pounder, weighting twenty-five thousand pounds, 
using twenty-eight pounds of powder, and throwing a loaded shell of one hundred 
and eighty pounds three and a third miles, could be safely and conveniently 
used.
  In the making of heavy guns, the method pursued had been to first cast the 
piece solid, and then to bore it of the size of the desired calibre.  In 
practice an objection to cast-iron guns had been found to be their liability to 
burst, so that the party firing 

THE FORT PITT WORKS - 1043

was almost in as much danger as the party fired at. Lieutenant Rodman, who in 
1846 had been employed to superintend the casting of guns for the Government at 
the Fort Pitt Works, conceived the idea that cooling from the outer surface 
inward had a tendency to weaken the strength of the metal, inasmuch as, when the 
outer layer had become firm, that lying next to it would shrink away by 
contraction, and so on as the successive layers cooled until the centre was 
reached.  By reversing the process he believed that the metal would be 
correspondingly strengthened.  He accordingly proposed to cast the piece hollow, 
and by introducing a constant stream of cold water into the aperture, and at the 
same time surrounding it on the outside by air heated to eight hundred degrees, 
to cool the metal from within outward, so that each concentric stratum as it 
congealed would act like the tire on a carriage wheel, which, being put on hot, 
as it gradually cools, hugs the tighter, and draws all together more firmly.  
After careful and thorough tests, his theory was found to be correct, and Mr. 
Knap secured a patent in Rodman's behalf for the invention, and in 1859, so 
superior were these guns found to be to those cast solid, that the Secretary of 
War ordered that all heavy guns made thereafter for the Government should be by 
this method.
  In 1851, after the decrease of Mr. Totten, Major Wade again became a partner.  
In 1858 the entire Works were burned. They were immediately rebuilt on a much 
more extended scale, and H. F. Rudd and N. K. Wade succeeded Major Wade in the 
partnership.  In 1859 a gun of fifteen inch bore was cast.  Three furnaces were 
employed to melt the metal, of which seventy-six thousand pounds were used, and 
after mingling in a common reservoir it was conducted into the gun mould.  
Eighteen hundred tons of water were used to cool it, the process requiring an 
entire week.  This gun was removed to Fortress Monroe, where it was fired five 
hundred times with charges of powder varying from thirty-five to fifty pounds, 
and with shells weighing from three hundred to three hundred and thirty pounds.
  Soon after the testing of this gun, Rodman proposed to cast a twenty inch gun, 
twenty feet long, to weigh a hundred thousand pounds, and to throw a ball 
weighing a thousand pounds; but

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1044

the breaking out of the Rebellion caused this project to be abandoned, as the 
foundry was kept in operation to its full capacity in turning out guns of lesser 
mould for use both by land and sea, until February, 1864, when, by order of 
Secretary Stanton, one was cast twenty-five feet long, five feet and half in 
diameter in its largest part, for which one hundred and seventy-two thousand 
pounds of iron were melted.  It was mounted at Fort Hamilton, New York, and was 
tested with one hundred pounds of powder, and a solid shot weighing one thousand 
and eighty pounds, without injury.  A similar gun, somewhat shorter, was cast 
for the navy.
  A trial of the use of heavy guns in real conflict occurred about this time 
which gave a decided impetus to their production.  It was the conflict of the 
Weehawken, Captain Rodgers, with the rebel iron-clad Atlanta.  This craft was 
British built, and at Savannah, Georgia, had been iron clad, and so armed as to 
be thought invulnerable; so much so as to have been the object of exultation in 
advance, the haughty Southerners being hardly willing to fix any limit to the 
mischief it was destined to do-the raising of the siege of Charleston, and 
bringing the city of New York upon its knees, being only among the more common 
of its exploits.  As it moved down from Savannah it was accompanied by steamers, 
gayly decked, freighted with fair ladies and gallant men, who were to be 
witnesses to the triumph of the giant of the waters.  Dupont had been apprised 
of her coming, and had despatched the Weehawken and the Nahant, which for 
several days had been on the lookout in Warsaw sound, to meet her.  Finally, 
just after daylight on the morning of the 7th of June, 1863, the monster was 
discovered approaching with colors defiantly spread.  Waiting till he had come 
within three hundred yards before answering the hostile fire, Rodgers opened 
with one of his heavy guns.  The first shot struck and shivered a shutter to one 
of the port-holes of the Atlanta.  The second carried away its pilot-house, 
severely wounding two of its three pilots.  The fifth passed quite through it-
massive iron armor, stout timber backing and all-and splashed into the water 
beyond, killing one and wounding thirteen gunners.  This ended the battle, for 
the rebel flag was hauled down and a white one run up, and Commodore Rodgers 
towed off his prize to 

THE FORT PITT WORKS - 1045

Hilton Head, the gay ladies of Savannah returning with poor appetites to a late 
breakfast. 
  Soon after the breaking out of the Rebellion the Fort Pitt Works were greatly 
enlarged, to meet the increased demand for cannon and ordnance stores, at an 
expense of over two hundred and forth thousand dollars, and in 1863 Mr. Knap 
became sole proprietor.  Some idea of the extent of the works, and of what an 
adjunct they proved in crushing Rebellion, may be gained from the following 
description, taken from the history of American Manufactures: "The establishment 
is now one of the largest and most complete cannon foundries in the United 
States or in Europe, as no other is known having the capability of manufacturing 
guns of such enormous size, or of producing any other kinds with equal dispatch.  
It is the oldest cannon foundry in the United States, having survived for more 
than twenty years all others which existed when it was first established in 
1814.  Its proprietors had each in continuous succession been previously engaged 
in conducting its operations, thus inheriting whatever knowledge of the art had 
been acquired by the cumulative experience of their predecessors for more than 
half a century.
  "The foundry contains six reverberatory air-furnaces, capable of melting from 
twelve to fifty tons each, and two cupola furnaces capable of melting twenty 
tons.  If all of them were put in operation at the same time, they would be 
capable of melting one hundred and sixty tons of iron, and of making a casting 
of that weight in one single piece.  There are fifteen gun-pits in the foundry 
floor, in which the moulds are placed vertically on end when the guns are cast.  
Grate bars and ash pits are placed in the bottom of the pits for receiving fuel, 
with underground air-flues communicating with them for the purpose of heating 
the pits while the guns are cooling.  The boring-mill contains thirty-one 
lathes, employed in turning, boring, and finishing cannon, which cannot be 
accomplished by ordinary turning or planing machines.  The lathe constructed 
specially for the twenty inch guns is sixty feet long and eight feet wide, and 
weighs ninety thousand pounds.  The boring tool does not revolve while the 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1046

gun is boring, but advances in line of the axis of the gun while the latter is 
revolving.  When all the lathes are in full work, the weight of the guns in 
revolving motion at the same time exceeds four hundred tons.  The lathes have 
turned, bored, and finished complete, eighteen heavy guns per week, viz: two of 
fifteen inch, ten of ten inch, and six of eight inch; or at the rate of nine 
hundred guns per annum, required eleven thousand tons of melted iron.
  "The casting and boring apartments contain twelve large cranes, eight  of 
which are worked by steam power.  Four of the latter are capable of lifting, 
lowering, and moving horizontally, forty-five tons each, and all others from 
fifteen to twenty tons each.  By means of the steam-power cranes and other 
machinery, the heaviest guns are lifted out of the pits in which they are cast, 
and moved from place to place through successive lathes and machines until they 
are finished complete, when they are sent out of the works and loaded on 
railroad cars for distant transportation by steam-power alone.
  "The machine used for testing the iron was invented by Major Wade, in 1844, 
and has since been enlarged and improved by Major Rodman.  It is made to exert a 
force of one hundred thousand pounds, which is applied or removed with great 
facility by the simple turning of a hand crank, and it measures accurately to a 
single pound the resistance offered by the body under trial.  It is arranged for 
measuring the resistance of metal to tensile, transverse, torsional, crushing, 
and bursting forces; for measuring extension, deflection, compression, and 
permanent set in either form of strain, and for determining the relative 
hardness of metals.  The specific gravity is ascertained by a hydrometer, 
designed by Major Wade, which receives specimens of any weight not exceeding two 
pounds.  It is exceedingly sensitive, and gives the weight lost by the specimen 
in distilled water, to the one-hundred-and-forty-thousandth part of the specimen 
weighed.  Duplicates of these testing machines were obtained and sent to England 
for use in the Woolwich arsenal, by a special commission of English officers, 
who visited the United States in 1854, for the purpose of examining the 
machinery used in our national armories, duplicates of which also, they procured 
for use in their public armory at

PETERSBURG MINE - 1047

Enfield.  The instruments used in verifying the dimensions of cannon are 
numerous and well devised. The Star Gauge which measures the diameter of the 
bore, the part in which the greatest accuracy is required, denotes differences 
so minute as the one-thousandth part of an inch.  And such is the perfection of 
the boring machinery, and the skilfulness of the workmen now employed, that the 
variations from the prescribed diameter of the bore rarely exceed the one five-
hundredth part of an inch.  Government inspecting officers are present, and 
witness all the successive operations in the manufacture of cannon, from the 
selection of the iron for melting up to the completion of the gun, all of which 
they note and register.  When the guns are finished, they are carefully 
inspected, weighed, and proved; and when they are received, the inspector stamps 
upon them the official marks of reception.  The instrument by which they are 
weighed has a capacity of one hundred tons.  A register of all the details of 
the manufacture of each cannon cast, and of all the tests made, is kept in the 
foundry books also.  So that a minute and exact history of every gun in the 
public service is preserved in the ordnance offices at Washington, and at the 
foundries.
  "There is probably no single establishment in the United States which 
attracted so much public attention during the war as the Fort Pitt Foundry.  It 
was thronged daily with visitors.  Many travelling strangers in passing would 
delay their journey a day or two in order to visit the Works.  Distinguished 
military and naval officers from England, France, Spain, Russia, Sweden, 
Denmark, Prussia, Sardinia, and Austria, who had come from Europe to observe the 
operations of our armies in the field, or to note the progress of the war, and 
the manner of conducting it, came from Washington City for the special purpose 
of examining the Works, and of witnessing the casting of the monster cannon."

PETERSBURG MINE.  Few events in the late war created more interest, or will be 
longer remembered, than the explosion of the celebrated Petersburg Mine.  Such 
operations are not uncommon in the history of warfare, but this is the only 
instance, in the several wars prosecuted upon this continent, in which it has 
been resorted to.  It has few of the horrors of close

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1048

conflict with artillery, or even infantry; yet, as the direful moment 
approached, it was awaited with breathless anxiety; and when, after a deep 
rumbling sound, like the roll of heaven's artillery, or the awful voice of the 
storm, a great fort, with all its immense enginery of war, and the entire 
garrison, rose bodily far into the heavens, and then fell back and outwards in 
unthought of confusion,--soldiers buried beneath heavy guns, and the bowels of 
the earth thrust up to the sunlight, encompassing and covering all,--a feeling 
of wonder and amazement succeeded.  The consternation inspired among the enemy 
was unbounded.  Each looked at the other dumb with terror, seeming to inquire if 
his own foothold would yield, and for a considerable time no movements on either 
side were undertaken.
  The man in whose brain the thought of this novel work originated, and by whom 
it was planned and executed, was Henry Pleasants; and the men who performed the 
tedious labor of excavating and constructing it were the men whom he commanded, 
the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment.  He was born on the 17th of February, 
1833, in the city of Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic, South America.  His 
father, John Pleasants, was a native of Philadelphia, descended from a Quaker 
family who settled early on the banks of the James; his mother, Nieves Silveira, 
of Spanish origin.  During his boyhood and to the age of thirteen, he was in the 
Spanish and English schools of Buenos Ayres.  His parents then returned to this 
country, and he entered the Philadelphia High School.  Here he continued from 
July, 1846, to February, 1851, when he graduated, receiving the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, and afterwards, in course, that that of Master of Arts.  He at 
once entered upon his chosen profession, that of a civil engineer, and was for 
seven years engaged upon the line of the Pennsylvania railroad.  He subsequently 
went to the mining regions of Pennsylvania, taking up his residence at 
Pottsville, Schuylkill county.
  When the war opened in 1861, he recruited a company, of which he was chosen 
Captain, that became Company C of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania regiment.  It 
was composed largely of miners, and of men familiar with mining operations.  He 
was with Burnside in North Carolina, and with the Army of the 

PETERSBURG MINE - 1049

Potomac in the battles of Bull Run, Chantilly, South Mountain, and Antietam, and 
at Marye's Heights, in battle of Fredericksburg, exhibited the most unhesitating 
bravery, receiving the promotion of Lieutenant-Colonel.  He was with Hooker in 
his march to the shattered army of Rosecrans, and in Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
Georgia, did the most effective service.
  Having returned to the Army of the Potomac, Burnside's corps stood ready, at 
the opening of May, to advance with the armies of Grant on the Wilderness 
campaign.  Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants was still in command of his regiment, 
and in the engagement before Spottsylvania Court House, he manoeuvred his men so 
skilfully, as to capture two hundred of the enemy.  Again on the 18th of June, 
1864, when first arrived before Petersburg, and when strenuous efforts were 
being made by the Union army to carry the place by direct assault, he by a 
brilliant stroke captured over three hundred more.
  The heroic efforts of the men in blue were unavailing in routing the enemy 
from their well-chosen positions, rapidly strengthened; and the operations 
settled down into the slow work of a siege.  And now the commander of the Forty-
eighth came forward with his plan of a mine.  Just below the crest of Cemetery 
Hill, and opposite the Second division of the Ninth corps, the enemy had 
constructed a strong work.  Colonel Pleasants proposed to start a mine just 
inside the Union line, run it under this work and blow it up, thereby opening a 
way for rapid advance within, and turning of the enemy's positions to right and 
left.  On the 24th of June, 1864, he formally stated his plan to General Potter, 
and subsequently, in an interview with Generals Potter and Burnside, it was 
decided to undertake it, and he was ordered with the aid of his regiment to 
commence the work.  Many of his men, having spent a good portion of their lives 
under ground were entirely at home in such operations, and entered into the 
project with high zest.  Beside, the idea of opening the gate to the coveted 
city in this way possessed a fascination which stimulated them to exertion, 
though encountering many inconveniences, and being subjected to much severe 
toil.  Strange as it may seem, army officers looked askance at the author of 
this novel undertaking, and at the head-quarters of the army little

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1050

faith was exercised in the scheme, even the use of engineering instruments and 
the ordinary implements of toil being denied him.
  The testimony of Colonel Pleasants before a committee of Congress discloses 
the feeling which prevailed, and the history of the enterprise:
  "Can you fix the time when you mentioned the matter to General Burnside, when 
you commenced the work?"
  "The work was commenced at twelve o'clock noon on the 25th of June, 1864.  I 
saw General Burnside the night previous, and commenced the mine right off the 
next day."
  "Did you have any communication with any other commanders on the subject?"
  "No, sir."
  "About how many men did you employ in the work?"
  "My regiment was only about four hundred strong.  At first I employed but a 
few men at a time, but the number was increased as the work progressed, until at 
last I had the use of the whole regiment, non-commissioned officers and all.  
The great difficulty I had was to dispose of the material got out of the mine.  
I found it impossible to get any assistance from anybody; I had to do all the 
work myself.  I had to remove all the earth in old cracker boxes.  I got pieces 
of hickory and nailed on the boxes, and then iron-clad them with hoops taken 
from old pork and beef barrels."
  "Why were you not able to get better instruments with which to construct so 
important a work?"
  "I do not know.  Whenever I made application I could not get anything, 
although General Burnside was very favorable to it.  The most important thing 
was to ascertain how far I had to mine, because if I fell short of, or went 
beyond the proper place, the explosion would have no practical effect; therefore 
I wanted an accurate instrument with which to make the necessary triangulations.  
I had to make them on the furthest front line, where the enemy's sharpshooters 
could reach me.  I could not get the instrument I wanted, although there was one 
at army head-quarters, and General Burnside had to send to Washington and get an 
old-fashioned theodolite, which was given to me."
  "Do you know any reason why you could not have had the better instrument which 
was at army head-quarters?"

PETERSBURG MINE - 1051
 
  "I do not.  I know this, that General Burnside told me that General Meade and 
Major Duane, chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, said the thing could not 
be done; that it was all clap-trap and nonsense; that such a length of mine had 
never been excavated in military operations, and could not be; that I would 
either get the men smothered for want of air, or crushed by the falling of the 
earth; or the enemy would find it out, and it would amount to nothing.  I could 
get no boards nor lumber supplied to me for my operations.  I had to get a pass 
and send two companies of my own regiment with wagons outside of our lines to 
rebel sawmills and get lumber in that way, after having previously got what I 
could by tearing down an old bridge.  I had no mining picks furnished me, but 
had to take common army picks and have them straightened."
  "Was General Burnside the only officer who seemed to favor the mine?"
  "The only officer of high rank, so far as I learned.  General Burnside, the 
corps commander, and General Potter, the division commander, seemed to be the 
only high officers who believed in it."
  "How long from the time that you commenced the mine did it take you to finish 
it?"
  "I finished the whole thing, lateral galleries and all, ready to put the 
powder in on the 23d of July."
  "How long would it have taken you had you been supplied with the proper tools 
and instruments?"
  "I could have done it in one-third or one-fourth of the time.  The greatest 
cause of the delay was taking the material out." 
  "How far did you have to carry it?"
  "The whole length of the mine, and to where it could be deposited; and every 
night I had to get the pioneers of my regiment to cut bushes and cover it up, 
where it had been deposited; otherwise the enemy could have climbed up the trees 
in their lines and seen the pile of newly excavated earth."
  "What was the length of the mine?"
  "The main gallery was five hundred and ten and eight-tenths feet in length; 
the left lateral gallery was thirty-seven feet in length, and the right lateral 
gallery was thirty-eight feet.  The magazines were to be placed in the lateral 
galleries."

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1052

  "What were the dimensions of the galleries?"
  "They varied at different places.  I suppose the average was four and a half 
feet by four and a half feet."
  "Did the enemy discover that you were mining them?"
  Deserters came into our lines from the enemy, who stated that they had found 
out where the mine was, and were trying to countermine.  They said that some 
deserters from the Fifth corps in our army had told them about it.  General 
Burnside ordered me to stop all work on a certain day on that account, and to 
listen for one day; but not hearing anything of the enemy, we resumed our work.  
I did not hear the enemy until I got right under the fort.  They did a great 
deal of hammering.  While I was propping up the mine that we had dug I made no 
noise.  I had the timber all framed and notched outside of the mine, and it was 
put together by hand, without any blows."
  "Was the mine placed directly under the fortification, or close by it?"
  "It was exactly under it, except that the right lateral gallery made a little 
circular direction on account of avoiding a shaft which we supposed the enemy 
were making near by.  It did not moved out of line much, so that when the 
explosion took place it would tear up all around there."
  "What amount of powder was used?"
  "I called for twelve thousand pounds; they gave me eight thousand."
  "What means did you take to consume the powder so that it would have the 
proper effect?"
  "I had bags of sand interspersed with logs.  There was no tamping between the 
magazines; it was left all open there so that there might be oxygen enough for 
the combustion of the powder.  Outside the lateral galleries, in the main 
gallery, it was tamped."
  "What means did you use to insure the explosion of the powder?"
  "I used three lines of fuze called the blasting fuze.  I asked for fuze, and 
they sent me the common blasting fuze.  There were troughs running from one 
magazine to the other, half filled with powder; and then from where the two 
lateral galleries joined there were two troughs with fuzes in them.  The troughs 
were 

PETERSBURG MINE - 1053

half filled with fine powder; the from a certain distance our was nothing but 
three fuzes without any powder.  The fuze I received was cut in short pieces; 
some of them were only ten feet long."
  "Was there any danger that it would not communicate at those parts where it 
was joined?"
  "It did not, and had to be relighted."
  "Who had the courage to go down into the mine and relight it?"
  "I had a Lieutenant and a Sergeant with me in the mine when I lighted it the 
first time."
  "How far did it go out?"
  "I had a fuze about ninety feet long, and it burned about forty feet-the whole 
three fuzes."
  "How long did you wait to find out whether it would explode?"
  "I waited from a quarter to three, the time it was first lighted, until 
quarter after four, when it was relighted, and exploded at sixteen minutes to 
five."
  "Could you not procure fuzes that were not spliced?"
  "It was too late after the fuzes came.  The mine was prepared and ready for 
the powder to be put in on the 23d of July, and the enemy was trying to find me 
out all this time; but I could not get powder to put in, or permission to put it 
in, until the 28th or 29th."
  "What reason was given for that?"
  "No reason at all; they were not ready, that was all.  General Burnside told 
me he had not permission yet to exploded it.  I was afraid the enemy would find 
me out that week."
  "You state that you prepared three fuzes and laid them?"
  "Yes, sir."
  "Why was that?"
  "I wanted to make a certain thing of it; but all three of the lines were 
spliced, and all three went out.  The whole of the tamping, putting in the 
powder, and everything, was completed at six P.M. on the 28th of July, and 
remained there until it was exploded on the morning of the 30th of July; and the 
powder remaining there a day and a half in the mine, of course became damp."

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1054

"Did it not require some nerve to go in there and relight those fuzes?"
  "At first it did; but afterwards we felt certain that the reason the mine did 
not explode was that the fuzes had gone out."
  "Who went in to relight them?"
  "Lieutenant Jacob Douty, First Lieutenant of Company K, Forty-eighth 
Pennsylvania Volunteers, and Sergeant Henry Rees, now Second Lieutenant of 
Company F, of the same regiment."
  From Colonel Pleasants' official report, the following additional particulars 
are given: "The charge consisted of three hundred and twenty kegs of powder, 
each containing about twenty-five pounds.  It was placed in eight magazines, 
connected with each other by troughs half filled with powder.
  "The mine was ventilated at first by having the fresh air go in along the main 
gallery as far as it was excavated, and to return charged with the gases 
generated by the breathing and exhalation of the workmen, by the burning of 
candles, and by those liberated from the ground, along and in a square tube made 
of boards, and whose area was sixty inches.  This tube led to a perpendicular 
shaft twenty-two feet high, out of which this vitiated air escaped.  At the 
bottom of this shaft was placed a grating, heating the air, rarefied it, and 
increased its current.  Afterwards I caused the fresh air to be let in above the 
mentioned wooden tube to the end of the work, and the vitiated air to return by 
the gallery a little out of the shaft, to prevent its exit by the entrance of 
the mine.  The latter plan was more advantageous, because the gases had to 
travel a less distance in the mine than before.
  "The great difficulty to surmount was to ascertain the exact distance from the 
entrance of the mine to the enemy's works, and the course of these works.  This 
was accomplished by making five separate triangulations, which differed but 
slightly in their result.  These triangulations were made in our most advanced 
line, and within one hundred and thirty-three yards of the enemy's line of 
sharpshooters. 

PETERSBURG MINE - 1055

  "The size of the crater formed by the explosion was at least two hundred feet 
long, fifty feet wide, and twenty-five feet deep.
  "I stood on top of our breastworks and witnessed the effect of the explosion 
on the enemy.  It so completely paralyzed them that the breach was practically 
four or five hundred yards of breadth.  The rebels in the forts, both on the 
right and left of the explosion, left their works, and for over an hour not a 
shot was fired by their artillery.  There was no fire of infantry from the front 
for at least half an hour; none from the left for twenty minutes, and but few 
shots from the right."
  A writer in the New York Herald, in speaking of the secrecy with which the 
work was executed, says: "For a long time the project was unknown, even to those 
at whose side it was going on.  It is true that reports were in circulation of a 
mine, but nobody could speak certainly of the matter.  So much doubt was there, 
indeed, that for a time it was disbelieved that any such undertaking was on 
foot.  One soldier in the breastworks, by whose side a ventilating shaft 
emerged, told his comrade in the most surprised manner that 'there was a lot of 
fellows under him doing something; he knew there was, for he could hear 'em 
talk.'  To guard against indiscretion of the part of the pickets, to prevent any 
meeting of our soldiers with the rebels, whereat the secret of the mine might be 
boastingly or imprudently disclosed, our pickets were ordered to fire 
continually, hence the never ending fusilade on the front of the Ninth Corps, so 
incomprehensible to the other corps, and which was often referred to in 
newspaper paragraphs.  The enemy, doubtless, suspected at first that the 
undermining was going on; but when several weeks elapsed without any 
demonstrations, their suspicions began to vanish, especially as their engineers 
must have thought the plan unfeasible."
  It was with feelings of deepest anxiety that Colonel Pleasants took his place 
upon the parapet of the works and watched for the result of the explosion.  
Darkness was over and around all.  Thirty thousand troops were assembled in 
close proximity, and were still noiselessly moving up.  The time calculated for 
burning of the fuze came, but no explosion.  For an hour the anticipated shock 
was awaited. The mine was entered, the

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1056

defect in the fuze discovered, it was relighted, and now the word passes from 
the lips of Colonel Pleasants, and it speeds on the telegraphic wires, that in a 
certain number of minutes and seconds the powder will be reached.  At the 
precise second foretold, the fort rose and quickly settled away, leaving a vast 
column of smoke and dust, which for some time obscured all about the crater.  
The division of troops assigned to lead went forward and were followed by 
others; but with feeble stroke.  Failing to push on beyond the crater, confusion 
ensued, more troops being crowded into the rebel works than could be used.  The 
terror inspired by the upheaval passed away, and being reassured, the enemy 
pushed up on all sides with great energy, and rendered all possibility of 
gaining an advantage futile.  On the day previous to the assault, General Meade 
modified the plan of General Burnside, directing that the colored troops which 
he had specially trained for many days in the evolutions necessary for entering 
and turning the rebel works, and who had not been exposed to sharpshooting at 
the front, and consequently had not acquired the habit of seeking shelter at 
every opportunity, should not be employed, and that one of the white divisions 
should be taken in its place.  This derangement of plan, upon the very eve of so 
important an undertaking, apparently had a disastrous effect.  Added to this, 
there was a lack of energy in pushing forward the leading division.  But, for 
this failure, neither Colonel Pleasants nor his intrepid regiment were in any 
way answerable.  The mine which he had planned and had seen executed under his 
eye, and by his ceaseless care, was entirely successful, and with marvellous 
exactness had produced the result which he had predicted. 
  Though having little faith in the project, and giving little countenance to 
its execution, when the explosion had taken place and had accomplished all that 
the most sanguine could have wished, General Meade hastened to make recognition 
of the service rendered by Colonel Pleasants, in the following general order: 
"The Commanding General takes great pleasure in acknowledging the valuable 
services rendered by Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, Forty-eighth regiment 
Pennsylvania Veteran Volunteers, and the officers and men of his command, in the 
ex-

PETERSBURG MINE - 1057

cavation of the mine which was successfully exploded on the morning of the 30th 
ultimo, under one of the enemy's batteries in front of the Second division  of 
the Ninth Army Corps.  The skill displayed in the laying out and construction of 
the mine reflects great credit upon Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants, the officer in 
charge, and the willing endurance, by the officers and men of the regiment, of 
the extraordinary labor and fatigue involved in the prosecution of the work to 
completion, is worthy of the highest praise."
  After the failure in the assault, the army settled down to the varied duty of 
siege operations, in which Colonel Pleasants participated with his accustomed 
fidelity and skill, till the end of his term in December following, when he was 
mustered out of service.  Immediately after the successful result of the mine 
was known, President Lincoln, desirous of showing him a mark of esteem, ordered 
that the brevet rank of Colonel be bestowed upon him: but this he declined.  In 
October following he was commissioned Colonel of the Forty-eighth regiment; but 
on account of insufficiency of men in his command, he was not mustered.  On the 
13th of March, 1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General by the President, for 
distinguished services at the Petersburg mine, in which he was confirmed by the 
Senate, and this distinction he accepted.  General Pleasants, from leading an 
active out-door life, has always enjoyed excellent health.  He is a little above 
the medium height, and well preserved.  He was married on the 6th of June, 1866, 
to Miss Annie E. Shaw, of Lexington, Kentucky.
  For two years past he has occupied the position of Chief Engineer of the 
Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, which he still continues to 
hold.  He is at present engaged in one of the most important engineering 
projects ever undertaken in this country-the excavation of two vertical shafts 
through rock, to the mammoth coal vein.  The drilling is done by machinery 
driven by compressed air, and applied by diamonds attached to the drilling bits.  
These are the first shafts ever made in this way in the world.  One of them has 
already attained a depth of seven hundred feet.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1058

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL.  An exploit which gained great notoriety at the time of its 
occurrence, both North and South, was the opening of the Libby Tunnel, which 
offered to the inmates of that loathsome and detested place free egress to the 
streets of Richmond, at a point beyond the path of the sentinel's tread.  At the 
writer's request, Brevet Brigadier-General Thomas E. Rose, of the Seventy-
seventh Pennsylvania regiment, the originator and moving spirit in its execution 
prepared a full and circumstantial account, which is given below substantially 
as he wrote it.  Not correct history of this thrilling event-which presented the 
novel spectacle of the inmates of a great prison, in the midst of a populous 
city, with keepers watchful and sentinels marching, walking off unchallenged-has 
ever been published; only the merest outlines mingled with many entirely 
erroneous statements having ever been given:
  "I was captured at the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, on the 20th of 
September, 1863, and taken to Richmond, Virginia.  On my way thither, I escaped 
at Weldon, North Carolina, and after wandering about for a day, seeking a route 
to the nearest post of Union troops, I was recaptured by some rebel cavalry that 
came upon me accidentally.  I was suffering at the time from the effects of a 
broken foot, which caused me to be too slow in reaching a place of concealment.  
I was taken thence to Libby, arriving about the 1st of October, 1863, and 
received my first greeting of 'fresh fish,' that being the cry of the prisoners 
upon the notice of the latest arrival.  I soon set about devising means of 
escape.  At that time there were about two thousand prisoners in Libby.  The 
windows were without bars, and the prison was insufficiently guarded.  The 
officers consisted of the two Turners, Ross the clerk, the Adjutant, three 
Sergeants, one overseer of negro laborers, one officer of the guard, and sixteen 
enlisted men, making in all only twenty-five men.  I thought that the whole 
party could be captured without alarm, and for this purpose organized a society 
among the prisoners, called the COUNCIL OF FIVE. The whole number who joined in 
the league was 420.
  "Before the plan was fairly perfected, a notice was published in the Richmond 
papers, that a plot had been discovered among the prisoners to overpower the 
guard and prison officers, burn the 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1059

city of Richmond, and escape to the Yankee lines.  Whether this publication had 
allusion to our league or not, I do not know.  Our organization was carried on 
with strict secrecy, and unless some one of our number divulged the plan, it was 
impossible for the prison officers to have found it out.  My opinion is, and was 
then, that the publication alluded to was the result of a mere suspicion; and 
the fact that our league was in existence was only a coincidence.  At any rate 
the measures taken by the rebels, immediately after, prevented us from making 
the attempt.  The doors were made more secure, the windows were closed with iron 
grating, and the guard was largely reinforced.  I then attempted to escape by 
way of the carpenter shop, a room on the ground-floor of the prison, supposed to 
be inaccessible to the prisoners.  This room I reached by tearing up a plank in 
the floor, and lowering a rope into the shop from the room above.  I was 
assisted in this by Captain A. J. Hamilton, a native of Pennsylvania, but who 
belonged to the Twelfth Kentucky cavalry.  The rope was given to me by Major 
Harry White, of the Sixty-seventh Pennsylvania infantry.  The rope was first 
obtained from General Neal Dow.  About that time the Union government sent a 
quantity of clothing to our prisoners at Richmond, and this rope came around one 
of the bales.  General Neal Dow, Colonel Von Schrader, and Captain Boyd, 
Assistant Quartermaster, prisoners, had been selected by the rebels to issue 
this clothing, and they had by this means secured the rope.  This rope was of 
immense importance in all our subsequent operations.  It was an inch rope and 
nearly one hundred feet in length.  The door of the carpenter shop was always 
open, and the plan was, when once down there, to stand by the door on the inside 
of the shop, and when the sentinel had just passed the door, to slip out while 
his back was in that direction, and walk off.  There were several in the plot, 
but of course we could only escape singly, and I was to make the first attempt.  
I made the venture one very dark and stormy night.  I easily passed the first 
sentinel, but unfortunately was seen by the second, who happened just at that 
moment to be facing towards me.  He seemed to suppose that something was wrong 
and called out to the first, who, on hearing his name, faced about and saw me.  
My only chance to

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1060

escape being shot or captured, was to run back into the shop, which was as dark 
as Erebus, and climb the rope into the room above.  The sentinel called for the 
corporal of the guard, but before he could enter the carpenter shop and strike a 
light, I had drawn up the rope and replaced the plank.  As there were some 
workmen sleeping in one end of the shop, the corporal must have supposed that 
one of them had tried to pass, as he soon gave up the search and did not enter 
the room above.
  "I went down into the shop several times afterwards, but found it impossible 
to escape in that direction.  Once while down there I was discovered by one of 
the workmen.  I seized a broad-axe with the intention of braining him if he 
attempted to call the guard, but he went to bed, blew out his light, and begged 
me not to come in there again.  I was fearful that he would afterwards expose 
me, but if he ever attempted to do so, the guards paid no attention to his 
report, as I never observed any additional vigilance.
  "During my visits to the carpenter shop I secured some tools.  They consisted 
of two chisels, some files, a kind of crow-bar, a hatchet, an auger, a hand-saw, 
a ripping-saw, and a carpenter's square.  The rebels allowed us to send out and 
buy case-knives to cut our food, and clothes-lines to hang our clothes on to 
dry.  All these things were more or less used in subsequent operations.  The 
carpenter tools were kept secreted in blankets whenever the inspector of the 
prison was about.  My next plan was to escape from the room under the hospital.  
This also was a ground-floor room.
  "The Libby prison was a strong brick building extending in an easterly and 
westerly direction probably 160 feet, and northerly and southerly about 100 
feet.  It consisted of three equal divisions formed by strong walls running 
transversely from the ground up.  The prison was four stories high.  The ground-
floor was on a level with the bank of the canal, on which was a wide paved 
street.  The floor of the second story was on a level with Cary street.  The 
prison was bounded on all sides by streets, along all of which sentinels were 
placed.  The street or alley that bounded the east end of the prison was not 
graded or paved.  We generally considered this a vacant lot, as no persons 
except guards ever passed 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1061

through it.  All the other streets were paved and graded.  The three rooms on 
the ground-floor were not used by the prisoners, those at the two ends of the 
building being storerooms, and the centre one the carpenter's shop mentioned 
above.  On the second floor the room at the west end was used by the rebels as 
an office, that in the middle as a cooking-room for the prisoners, and those at 
the east end as a prisoners' hospital.  In the third and fourth stories the 
prisoners were quartered.
  "The cook-room, the middle one on the second floor as already mentioned, was 
accessible to all the prisoners at all hours.  It was from this room that access 
was gained to the carpenter shop by raising the plank in the floor.  It was also 
from this room that all subsequent operations were commenced and carried on.  To 
gain the carpenter shop required but little skill; but to reach the ground-floor 
of the eastern division was a very delicate operation.  It was evident, however, 
that if an escape was to be made it must be from this room, as it was at all 
times dark therein, and it was seldom visited by the rebels either day or night.
  "The plan to get into this room was to cut through the wall separating the 
middle from the eastern division of the building, diagonally across the plane of 
the floors beginning above that in the cooking-room, and ending below that in 
the room underneath the hospital in the eastern division of the building.  To do 
this without the aperture being discovered was no easy task.
  "Near the north end of the cooking-room in the wall separating the middle from 
the eastern division was a small dirty fireplace, in the mouth of which was a 
cooking-stove of considerable size used by the prisoners.  It was in this 
fireplace that Captain Hamilton and myself commenced operations.  We first moved 
the stove a little away from the mouth of the fireplace; then took out the dirt 
and placed it carefully in a gum blanket; taking a chisel and the crow-bar we 
cut away the bottom of the fireplace for several inches, then worked diagonally 
through the wall to a point under the floor of the hospital.  We were obliged to 
make no noise whatever in doing all this; for one of the sentinels was just 
outside the door within ten feet of where we were.  We were obliged to take out 
all of the front bricks without fracture so that they could be replaced; for it 
was through this door that the

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1062

prison inspector entered every day, and the first object he met on entering was 
this fireplace and stove.  It therefore took a good many nights before we got 
this hole cut completely through.  We could only work from about ten o'clock in 
the evening, when the last of the prisoners would retire, to four o'clock in the 
morning, when the first would begin to come down to cook.
  "As the morning hour approached, we would carefully replace every brick, and 
then put back the dirt, making the fireplace look as if it had never been 
disturbed.  We would then replace the stove in its proper position, go up-
stairs, conceal our tools, and go to bed.  Thus we worked until at length we had 
cut a pretty large aperture in the wall, and I prepared myself to go through to 
the ground-floor of the eastern division.  I did not think the hole was large 
enough to pass without trouble; but from the narrowness of the fireplace in one 
direction, and of the wall itself on the other, Hamilton was of the opinion that 
the hole could not be made any larger without discovery.  I also thought I could 
squeeze through, small as it was, and see how matters looked in that room.  I 
brought forward the rope already described, fastened it securely to one of the 
brace posts in the room, and lowered it through the aperture to the ground-
floor.  I then entered it feet foremost, at the same time seizing the rope.  As 
soon as my feet and legs were fairly dangling below, the inevitable law of 
gravitation forced my body into the hole as tight as a wedge.  The fireplace was 
so narrow, and my body in such a position in consequence of the abruptness of 
the wall, that I could not use my arms, and of course I could not use my feet; 
so that I was perfectly helpless.  Of all the tight places that I ever was in, 
either figuratively or literally, before or since, that took the lead.  I 
whispered to Hamilton that I was wedged so tight that I feared the whole 
Southern Confederacy could not loosen me.
  "He was a powerful man, and grasped my left wrist with both his hands; while 
with my right hand I endeavored to help myself.  He pulled with the strength of 
a giant, but it was of no use.  I could not be budged an inch.  He then left me 
sticking in the hole and ran up-stairs, awakened Major Fitzsimmons of the 
Thirtieth Indiana infantry, conducted him to the place, and they two after 
several vigorous efforts managed to pull me out.  As soon 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1063

as they had forced me a little over the angle of the wall, I came out very 
easily, and as they gave another tremendous pull, I came up so light that we all 
three fell upon the floor with a prodigious noise.  The sentinel who walked in 
front of the door, and the next one to him, seemed startled and confused.  The 
prisoners up-stairs awoke and called to each other in inquire the cause of the 
crash.  We all three lay where we fell perfectly motionless and almost 
breathless, for fear we would be discovered.  The corporal of the guard did not 
come into the room; and as soon as all was quiet again, we rose, replaced the 
bricks, dirt, and stove as quickly as possible, slipped up-stairs and went to 
bed, very much fatigued and considerably discouraged.  The next day I went down 
into the cooking-room, and while pretending to cook at the stove so as not to 
attract the attention of the prisoners to my real object, examined the fireplace 
very minutely, and finally came to the conclusion that it could be deepened 
considerably and perhaps a very little widened, so that by entering the hole 
sidewise it could be easily passed.  I did not get much reputation as a cook 
while I was making these observations, but when they were ended, I went up-
stairs and communicated my conclusions to Hamilton.  That night as soon as 
darkness came on we prepared ourselves for the work, and by twelve o'clock, by 
the call of the sentinel, the aperture was enlarged so that by passing down with 
my shoulders in a vertical instead of horizontal direction, as I had attempted 
the night before, I reached the ground-floor room of the eastern division.  The 
darkness therein was perfect, but I examined every part of the room by feeling, 
then climbed up the rope and pulled myself through the hole in the wall without 
assistance.  It was then that the problem was solved and the escape, with 
reasonable prudence, only a question of time.  
  "Here then the work commenced.  The rope was now made into a ladder with 
wooden braces, and fixed in such a manner that any one could go up and down into 
the cellar-as we called that room-without incurring the risks that I had run in 
being obliged to climb the single rope.  It was also rolled up and placed in the 
interior of the aperture to build the wall upon instead of a large number of 
bricks, and answered even a better purpose than to have used all every day.  The 
next day I organized a

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1064

working party, consisting of the following named person: Major Fitzsimmons, of 
the Thirtieth Indiana; Gaptains Gallaher, of the Second Ohio; Lucas, of the 
Fifth Kentucky; Clarke, of the Seventy-ninth Illinois; Johnson, of the Sixth 
Kentucky; Major McDonald, of the One Hundred and First Ohio Infantry; 
Lieutenants Fistler, of the Twelfth Indiana artillery; Mitchell, of the Seventy-
ninth Illinois infantry; Garbet, of the Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania infantry; 
Ludlow, of the United States artillery; Clifford, of the United States infantry; 
Costin, of the United States infantry; Wallack, of the Fifty-first Indiana 
infantry; with Captain A. J. Hamilton, Twelfth Kentucky cavalry, and myself, to 
superintend and direct the work. 
  "My first plan was to go under the foundation of the prison building by 
digging alongside the wall, and then into a large sewer that we knew ran 
parallel with the canal, and about thirty feet south of the prison building.  We 
had often see laborers go down into this sewer, and I judged it to be about 
seven feet in diameter on the inside.  We commenced digging just behind the 
partitioned corner in the southeast side of the room.  The stone pavement in the 
floor of the room was raised and relaid in places every night to conceal the 
dirt.  We soon got to the bottom of the stone work on the building, but found 
that it rested on piles.  To cut through these piles with the tools we had to 
work with was a tremendous undertaking; but we toiled at it night after night 
until at last we got entirely through, and began digging towards the large sewer 
already mentioned.
  "From the time we had commenced cutting through the piles, we had been very 
much interrupted by the water running into our tunnel.  We managed to bail it 
out, but as we dug farther into the sand the water accumulated until at last a 
very heavy stream rushed in so as to completely drive us out of the tunnel.  
Long before this time one after another of the party had quit the work, and a 
few others whose names I have lost took their places, only to work a short time, 
and then give up as the others had done, thinking the object hopeless.  Finally, 
Hamilton and myself were left alone.  We two then tried another plan.  At the 
Southeast corner of the building was a trough that came down from above on the 
inside to carry off the prison filth.  By examination we found 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1065

that it went into the ground, and of course it must reach the main sewer 
somewhere.  We first dug down to the end of this trough, and found a small sewer 
leading through the wall.  This was too small, however, to admit the passage of 
a man.  It was made of wood, and we tore it out and endeavored to get through 
the wall.  While we were removing the dirt from the aperture, the pavement of 
the outside of the prison building, where the sentinel walked, caved in.  This 
of course was caused by our having taken away the plank sewer.  We heard the 
rattling of the bricks and the call of the sentinel for the corporal of the 
guard.  Of course we got away from there as quickly and quietly as possible.  
The next day we looked through the gratings of the windows from above, and saw 
the prison officers inspecting the place on the outside, and some negro laborers 
repairing the damage we had done.  How it was that they did not discover 
anything wrong I never could imagine.  We listened intently and overheard them 
saying something about rats, but could not hear enough of the conversation to 
make out whether they had any suspicion of the true cause or not.  We had 
secreted the planks of the sewer where they could not easily find them.  The 
next night I went down into the ground-floor room of the eastern division very 
cautiously, knowing that if the rebels had made any discoveries they would set a 
trap to catch me when I came into this room; but I found it as silent and 
tenantless as ever.  We had now been working more than two months, and many 
interesting events had taken place during that time; many have passed from my 
memory and those that I do recall are too numerous to mention in this narrative.
  "It was at this time that my friend Hamilton gave up all home of final 
success.  I did seem to be hopeless on account of the difficulty of getting men 
to work.  I did not despair, but resolved, if possible, to organize another 
party and dig straight through from near the northeast corner of the room to a 
yard, enclosed by a high board fence directly across the unpaved street or alley 
that bounded the east end of the building.  This point being near Cary street, 
we would of course have plenty of earth between us and the surface to that the 
tunnel would not cave in, and at the same time be several feet more elevated 
than we were while

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1066

working in the former tunnel.  Besides, it was a dryer locality, so that we 
would not be troubled with water.  The only objection that I had to this plan 
was, that when we made our exit from the tunnel we would not be perfectly safe 
from being seen by the sentinels.  Still the yard where the exit would be was 
closed on three sides by tenantless buildings, and on one side by a very high 
board fence, so that a dozen men would not be seen in the yard unless by 
accident.  Through the building that stood on the south side of this yard was a 
gateway for carriages, and this gateway was about twenty feet from the end of 
the beat of the nearest sentinel, at a point that he was not required to guard; 
besides the other end of his beat was full sixty or seventy feet from this 
gateway.  A man therefore could watch when the sentinel's back was turned, then 
slip out at the gate, and get some distance away before the sentinel would turn 
to come back towards the gate.  If fact he could turn the corner of the building 
on the east end of the yard and be out of sight by walking quickly. 
  "This plan therefore was the best that I could adopt, if not the only one that 
had any promise of success.  Accordingly the next day I had a consultation with 
some of the prisoners.  None of them seemed to have much hope, but several of 
them said they would work if for no other purpose than to 'pass away the time,' 
as exchange was despaired and prison life had become exceedingly irksome.  I 
therefore organized a party composed as follows: Major Fitzsimmons, of the 
Thirtieth Indiana; Captains Clarke, of the Seventy-ninth Illinois; Gallagher, of 
the Second Ohio; Randall, of the Second Ohio; Lucas, of the Fifth Kentucky; 
Johnson, of the Sixth Kentucky; Major McDonald, of the One Hundred and First 
Ohio; Lieutenants Fistler, of the Twelfth Indiana; Mitchell, of the Seventy-
ninth Illinois; Simpson, of the Tenth Indiana; Garbet, of the Seventy-seventh 
Pennsylvania; Foster, of the Twenty-ninth Indiana artillery; and McKeon, of the 
Forty-fourth Illinois infantry; with Captain A. J. Hamilton and myself to 
superintend and direct the work.
  "The first thing was to cur a hole through the wall of the prison.  This task 
was assigned to McDonald and Clarke.  As already mentioned this room was seldom 
visited by the rebels

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1067

either day or night-at night I may say never.  When they did come in during the 
day, which sometimes was not once in a week, it would be to stay but for a few 
moments.  To a person coming in from out-doors it was very dark even in the 
middle of a bright day, so that he could see but a few feet in any direction, 
and as the room was 100 feet in length, a person standing in the north end was 
secure for being seen by the person entering from without.  To a person entering 
this room in the night, however, and staying there all day, as Hamilton or I 
often did, and sometimes both of us together, it was light enough to see to do 
any kind of work.  Many a time I have seen the rebels come in there and stand 
and look directly at us, and frequently look exactly in my direction.  To my 
accustomed eyes it was nearly as light as day, but to them it was dark as night, 
especially towards the north end of the room, where I always took care to stand 
when any one came in.  If they stayed too long, or came too far into the room, I 
would lie down behind the straw, a bale of hay, or whatever happened to be at 
hand.  It was therefore resolved that the cutting of the wall should be done in 
the daytime, for two reasons: if we worked at night we would be obliged to use a 
candle, which might be seen through the cracks of the door which opened towards 
the canal; again if we worked in the daytime we could make as much noise with 
our tools as we pleased, and it would not be noticed by the rebels or by the 
other prisoner, on account of the noise throughout the building and in the 
streets.
  "This last consideration was of immense importance, because we could cut 
through the wall in one-tenth part of the time by not being obliged to do it 
without noise.  It was on this account, and being obliged to take the bricks out 
without fracture, that Hamilton and I were so long in cutting through the first 
wall.  Another consideration in favor of working in the daytime was, that we 
could work the whole day through without interruption; whereas at night we could 
only work from three to four hours, as already explained.  Accordingly, that 
night McDonald and Clarke were provided with the tools used in cutting the first 
wall, and as soon as the prisoners had retired to sleep, I went down with them 
into the cooking-room, opened the hole in the fireplace, and we three descended 
to the ground-floor room.  I

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1068

showed them the point I had selected to commence operations, and after remaining 
and conversing a little time went up the ladder to the cooking-room, drew it up 
after me, put it in its place, rebuilt the wall in the fireplace, replaced the 
dirt and the stove, and left McDonald and Clarke to their fate as had been done 
to Hamilton and myself on many occasion before.
  "The next morning I was up early and went to the windows where I could see 
whether any of the rebels would enter the ground-floor room of the eastern 
division.  Either Hamilton or myself were on watch all day, and as night came on 
we had the satisfaction of knowing that the workmen had not been disturbed in 
their labors.  As soon as the prisoners had all retired, Hamilton and myself 
went down into the cooking-room, took the dirt from the hearth, opened the wall 
and let down the ladder, when McDonald and Clarke came up and reported that they 
had been successful.
  "I then went down and found that they had cut a hole entirely through the wall 
of sufficient size to admit a very large man easily.  Going up into the lower 
middle room I gave a preconcerted signal, that would not be noticed by any of 
the prisoners except my own party.  It was for the first relief of the working 
party to turn out.  I preceded them and directed them to the aperture in the 
wall which had been cut by McDonald and Clarke.  A blanket was now spread in the 
form of a screen so that the light of the candle would not be seen through the 
cracks of the door in the south end of the room, outside of which a sentinel 
walked his beat.  We then took one of the chisels, a pretty broad one, and 
commenced digging.
  "The earth we dug through was composed of compact sand, nearly as hard as a 
rock.  There was therefore no danger of caving in; and the tunnel was dry as I 
had supposed.  We made very rapid progress until we had proceeded about fifteen 
feet, when the air became so vitiated as to support life but a very short time.  
The flame of the candle would then expire, and the digger would be obliged to 
crawl out of the tunnel; notwithstanding, one man stood constantly at the mouth 
driving fresh air into it with a rude fan, constructed for the purpose.  Still 
we made comparatively rapid progress.  One night I dug six feet with my 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1069

own hands.  In order to draw the dirt out of the tunnel as it was dug, we used a 
wooden spittoon with a clothes-line tied to it so that the digger could pull it 
in to him while at work, and the man at the mouth of the tunnel could pull it 
out when filled, a double line being continuous.  My whole party was divided 
into reliefs of five men each, so that the same set of men went down to work 
every third night.
  "Of the five men who composed a relief, it was the duty of one of them to 
stand guard in the cooking-room.  It was his duty to draw up the ladder, build 
up the wall, replace the dirt after the others came up, also to open the hole 
and let down the ladder before the others came down to the cooking-room.  It was 
also his duty, when any of the relief were working in the daytime, to stand 
guard at one of the windows in the prison above, and see if they were discovered 
and captured; and to make his report to me, so that I should know whether I 
could send down the next relief with safety.  The other four men of the relief 
went down to the tunnel.  Of these one man dug in the tunnel and filled the 
spittoon.  Another pulled the spittoon out, emptied it into a second and 
notified the digger to pull it back.  A third man took the second spittoon and 
placed the dirt under the straw.  The remaining  
man of the relief fanned fresh air into the tunnel.  They were allowed to take 
turns at the different kinds of work, except the man who stood guard in the 
cooking-room; but they did not generally do it, each man being most expert at 
his own part.
  "They went to work generally about ten o'clock P.M.  Taps were always sounded 
at nine, when, of curse, the lights went out; but the prisoners did not 
generally all retire until ten o'clock.  As soon as they retired, I sent the 
relief down.  They always worked until four o'clock A.M., by the call of the 
sentinels, when they would come up and go to bed.  The guard then performed his 
duty as explained.  Sometimes the whole four would remain down and work all day, 
in which case the guard in the cooking-room would draw up the ladder, rebuild 
the wall, replace the dirt and stove, and go to bed, but as soon as it was light 
he would go to the window and watch all day.

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1070

"This was considered extremely hazardous, however, and was not often done.  It 
more frequently happened that one or two of the four would stay down all day and 
do what work they could, in which case the others would go up at four o'clock 
A.M., and the guard would perform the same duty as when the whole relief stayed 
down.  We proceeded in this manner for some time, when an event occurred which 
effectually put a stop to our work in the daytime, and which greatly embarrassed 
all our operations.  It was always the custom of the prison officers to count 
off or call the roll of the prisoners every day.  The manner up to this time had 
been to cause the prisoners to stand up in four ranks exactly covering their 
files; then Ross, the clerk, would pass down the front rank from the right of 
the line to the left and count the files.  As long as they pursued this method 
we had no difficulty in accounting for absentees; because if a man belonged to a 
file that had been counted, all he had to do, if he was in the rear rank, was to 
stoop and run quickly to the left of the line before Ross got there, and stand 
up in another file, when he would be counted by Ross a second time.  Thus, 
almost any number of men could be accounted for, and thus our party used at 
first to do when any of them were below.  Other prisoners used to see us doing 
this thing, and thought we were doing it for fun-devilment they called it; and 
they got to doing the same thing-for devilment sure enough.  The consequence was 
that Ross could not make the same count by from twenty to thirty, two days 
alike, and towards the last we did not take the trouble to account for our men 
at all, Ross seemed so careless about it.  All of a sudden one day, without the 
slightest previous intimation, the prison officers changed their plan.  It was 
to cause all the prisoners to go into the eastern division of the building, 
place guards at the doors and then call the roll.  As soon as a prisoner 
answered to his name he was obliged to pass through the door into one of the 
other divisions.  There was therefore no possible chance of accounting for an 
absentee.
  "On the day that the rebels adopted this plan, Johnson and McDonald were down 
below at the tunnel.  The day before I was down myself.  Dick Turner was calling 
the roll.  Everything went well until he called out I. N. Johnson, I. N. 
Johnson,

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1071

I.N. Johnson, I. N. Johnson; but nobody answered.  The next name was then 
called, and answered, and the man passed out, and so on everything went smoothly 
as before, until the name of B. B. McDonald was called, when the same result 
followed as in the case of I. N. Johnson.  The remaining names of the prisoners 
were then called and answered, and the eastern division was cleared.  Turner 
then went through the rooms calling the names of the missing prisoners for some 
time, but of course he could not find the absentees.
  This affair caused me considerable concern, as it awakened not only a great 
curiosity among the prison officials, but also among the prisoners themselves.  
One of the prisoner told Turner that he had see Johnson the day before.  This 
gave me additional uneasiness.  The next night as soon as it was safe I went 
down and opened the aperture in the wall.  Johnson and McDonald came up, and the 
facts were immediately communicated to them.  They asked my advice as to what 
they had better do.  There were only two plans for them to pursue.  One was to 
face the music, and tell the prison officials the most ingenious story they 
could invent.  The other was to remain concealed every day down below.  McDonald 
immediately chose the former course; but Johnson chose the latter.  I was not in 
favor of this, because the excitement would be continually kept up, while the 
former it would soon die away; besides it was extremely dangerous to the whole 
enterprise for Johnson to remain below; but he insisted upon it.  Thenceforward 
Johnson came up-stairs every night, and went below and remained concealed every 
day.  The next day McDonald was called to account.  He told the prison officials 
that he had been concealed in the upper west room, where he had been asleep, and 
was afraid to come down to answer to his name.  He was dismissed without 
punishment, and we tried to prevail upon Johnson to do the same thing; but he 
refused.  The consequence was, that he was obliged to remain concealed until the 
final escape was made.  There was no more work done during the daytime after 
this; still we made considerable progress.
  "When we had extended the tunnel about thirty-eight or forty feet, some of the 
workmen got it into their heads that we had

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1072

reached the desired point inside the enclosure across the alley.  I tried to 
convince them of the absurdity of the notion.  They, however, insisted upon it, 
and among the most positive was McDonald.  Hamilton, I believe, was also of this 
opinion.  To ascertain the space we had to pass under was not an easy matter.  
We could only see this street or vacant lot from the windows of the third and 
fourth stories at the east end of the building, and as these windows were closed 
with iron bars, we could not see the whole width of the street.  It therefore 
looked much narrower than it really was.  I had, however, taken observation of 
this street some months before, when there were no bars in any of the windows.  
Besides, even yet, there were one or two points from which I could trace the 
beats of the sentinels from the corners of the yard opposite to near the corners 
of the prison building.  It was seldom that any sentinel would walk entirely to 
the corner of the yard opposite: they generally turned within about ten feet of 
it; but they did occasionally do so; particularly the one at the southeast 
corner.  When any sentinel did walk the whole distance, I counted his paces as 
far as I could see him approach the prison building.  By placing my head close 
against the bars, I could see the sentinel on the northeast corner make 
generally eighteen paces; and the sentinel at the southeast corner fifteen or 
sixteen paces.  The latter being so much lower than the former, I could not see 
him, from my point of observation, approach so near the building.  By sitting in 
the window and making a great many careful observations, I came to the 
conclusion that one walked about ten feet more than I could see, and the other 
about fifteen feet.  I had no other instrument than the carpenter's square, but 
by measuring the height of the stories I soon determined the distance from the 
window to each of the sentinel's beats, and finally arrived at a pretty accurate 
estimate of the distance we had to dig, and I knew very well we had not dug far 
enough yet.  The principal cause of their belief that we had extended the tunnel 
far enough was this: there was a point in the tunnel where the tread of the 
sentinel appeared to all of us to be directly overhead; and this point was much 
nearer the prison building or mouth of the tunnel than to the point reached.  We 
all supposed that the path of the sentinel was in the middle of the street.  
Hence their conclusion.

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1073

  "By this time our progress had become much slower than at first, principally 
from the fact that the digger had to crawl so far every time he came out for 
fresh air, and had to come out so much oftener; for, as the tunnel extended, the 
flame of the candle expired quicker.  I knew that if an aperture was made to the 
surface, however small, the difference in temperature between the atmosphere 
outside and that in the room, where the mouth of the tunnel was, would cause a 
current to pass through it, and thus obviate the necessity for the digger to 
crawl out so often for fresh air.  I therefore took the matter pretty easy when 
they talked about digging upward to the surface.  I did not agree to it, 
however, for I feared the sentinel might discover it by the noise, though I did 
not apprehend much danger, for I remembered too well the affair of the caving in 
of the pavement on the south side of the building.  One night the second relief 
was going to work; of this relief McDonald was the digger.  I had dug the night 
before and had worked hard to extend the tunnel as far as possible.  McDonald 
insisted on striking at once towards the surface.  I told him that I wanted it 
distinctly understood that they were not far enough by at least fifteen or 
twenty feet; but he might go cautiously to the surface to let fresh air into the 
tunnel, and to satisfy himself of the fact.  I then went up-stairs and retired.
  "About one o'clock A.M., McDonald came to me in great consternation, and told 
me the whole thing was discovered.  I rose up and asked him to explain how that 
was.  He said that he had dug a hole out, as he expressed it, and had come right 
to the feet of the sentinel.  He said if it was not already discovered that it 
would be without fail when daylight came.  I asked him if they had closed the 
hole in the fireplace; he said 'No, that is played out,' using his own phrase.  
I told him to come along with me and we would go down and give the place a 
little examination.  I felt certain that the statement, that he had come right 
up to the feet of the sentinel, was as was the belief that we had got far enough 
when he commenced to dig out to the surface.  We went below and into the tunnel.  
As soon as I entered I noticed that the tread of the sentinel did sound very 
loud, and exactly at the other end of the tunnel.  I went to the place, however, 
and quickly discovered that the opening was not within 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1074

ten feet of the sentinel's path.  The air in the tunnel, as I had expected, was 
now pure and delightful, so that one could stay in any length of time.  The 
orifice at the surface was very little larger than a rat-hole, and was on the 
slope of a bench where the ground fell off abruptly towards the yard opposite in 
the southeast direction.  It was therefore the most unlikely thing in the world 
for the sentinel to discover it, besides the earth was as hard as a rock 
entirely to the surface, so that the orifice would not become any larger; but in 
order to prevent this effectually, I took one of my working garments and shoved 
it into the hole, so as not only to prevent it from getting larger, but to keep 
any one from the outside discovering it.  
  "We then went up-stairs to bed.  Hamilton went down with Johnson and closed 
the wall and replaced the dirt and the stove.  The next night the third relief 
went down with me, but very reluctantly.  They seemed afraid to have the orifice 
opened at the surface in order to let the fresh air in.  It made the tread of 
the sentinel sound so loud that they were afraid he would also hear them while 
dragging the spittoon through the tunnel.  The next night the first relief went 
down, and I did the digging.  After this it was very evident to all that the 
escape would be made, at least that the tunnel would be a success.  McDonald and 
I were, by great odds, the best diggers of the party.  McDonald dug a great deal 
more earth than I did, but he never made such an extent of the tunnel from the 
fact that I always lay perfectly flat while digging and made my part very low 
and narrow.  He, on the contrary, sat upright to dig and made his part very wide 
and high.  It was at this time that McDonald and I concluded to finish the 
tunnel alone, taking turns at digging.  In two nights from this time we went 
through into the yard and out at the surface.  As soon as the hole was opened, I 
went out into the yard, thence down to the gate, opened it and out into the 
street that ran along the canal.  I then went back.  We closed up the end of the 
tunnel, and went up-stairs to bed.  Hamilton secured the fireplace.
  "For several days previous to this, we had been making our arrangements for 
taking our departure from the prison.  Our plan was this: each one of the 
working party was to select a 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1075

friend from among the other prisoners, to take with him.  This would make thirty 
in all to escape the first night.  We were all to assemble in the ground-floor 
room of the eastern division.  The working party were to pass out first, headed 
by myself and Hamilton.  Our friends were then to follow.  I then arranged to 
leave the ladder in charge of Colonel Hobart, of a Wisconsin regiment.  He was 
to bring out a party the next night after our escape.  By this time we had found 
means of accounting for absentees at roll-call, by parties slipping into the 
eastern division above stairs after their names had been called, then answering 
to other names, and passing out the second time.  In this manner Hobart's party 
were to account for us the next day and then get others to account for his party 
in like manner after they should escape. 
  "On the night of the 9th of February, 1864, my whole party, with our friends, 
assembled in the room so frequently mentioned as the ground-floor room of the 
eastern division.  This was as soon as it began to get dark.  Lieutenant 
Mitchell of the working party refused to go.  A Colonel of the Twenty-third 
Michigan (name lost) went in his place.  After they were all assembled I started 
out, followed immediately by Hamilton.  I opened the mouth of the tunnel, walked 
down to the gate, opened it, then went back to the tunnel and told Hamilton to 
come on.  We then went together down to the gate and as soon as the sentinel's 
back was turned slipped out, walked down the street along the canal to the first 
corner, then went north two squares and turned east one square.  At this point 
we encountered some rebel soldiers that were guarding a hospital.  I went right 
on, but Hamilton turned back, and we became separated.  I did not see him again 
for several months.  How the others came out I only know from report.  I know, 
however, that they all passed out of the tunnel safely.  The plan to have been 
adopted by Colonel Hobart failed.  Hamilton and I passed out about seven and a 
half or eight o'clock in the evening.  We started as soon as it got dark.  Of 
course the escape of our party soon became generally known among the prisoners 
and caused great excitement.  They could not be controlled, and about twelve 
o'clock at night they commenced going out indiscriminately.  It is said 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1076

one hundred and nine went out altogether and many more would have gone, but some 
one created a false alarm and the remainder rushed back to their quarters in a 
great panic, after which no others made the attempt.  I only give is part as I 
heard it from others.  It took just seventeen days to dig the last tunnel.
  "No plan had been arranged to be pursued after we left the prison.  It was 
expected of each man to take care of himself and be governed by circumstances.  
After Hamilton and I became separated, I passed out of the city of Richmond to 
the York River Railroad.  I followed this to the Chickahominy bridge.  Here I 
discovered a sentinel standing.  I then turned to the right and went some 
distance until I came to a cavalry camp of the rebels.  It was just at daylight, 
and they were sounding reveille.  I found a large sycamore tree that was hollow.  
I concealed myself in this until late in the afternoon, when I slipped out and 
waded across the Chickahominy.  At that point it was pretty deep, and I got my 
clothes thoroughly soaked.  After I had crossed the river, I proceeded a short 
distance, and seeing several rebel cavalry I lay down until night.  When I 
attempted to rise, I found myself perfectly stiff and my clothes completely 
frozen.  I pushed right ahead, however, and in crossing the bottom I found 
several deep places filled with water.  I did not try to avoid them much, but 
plunged through until I reached the high ground on the other side.  After I 
reached the high ground, which was covered with timber, I proceeded about one 
mile, when I came upon a rebel picket.  This I easily avoided and kept on over 
the country, crossing several roads.  I was still very lame from the effects of 
a broken foot, which I received before my capture at Chickamauga, at a place 
called Liberty Gap, Tennessee, or rather it had been broken at Murfreesboro', 
Tennessee, and again broken at Liberty Gap.  This wound now became very 
troublesome, as the nights were dark and I could not see the inequalities of the 
ground.
  "During the night I was obliged to stop, my clothes being still very wet and 
frozen in places, and I was in great danger of freezing to death.  I had with me 
a haversack in which I carried provisions; this I had held at arms' length while 
crossing the Chickahominy and the sloughs in its vicinity, in order to keep it 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1077

dry. In this I also had a box of matches, and upon coming into a large thicket 
of cedars I resolved to build a fire.  I gathered some fuel and started a fire, 
and after inspecting the surrounding vicinity, I found that the fire was 
concealed by the cedars; I then went to the fire and lay down, and was soon in a 
profound sleep.  When I awoke I found that I had been nearly in as much danger 
of burning to death as I was before of freezing.  My coat was burned through in 
several places, as well as my pants and the legs of my boots.  I now rose and 
pursued my journey, and after proceeding about two miles I came to Crump's 
Cross-roads.  Here a picket post was encountered.  This I avoided.  I now 
resolved to travel all day, and before night reached New Kent Court House.
  "Here also a cavalry picket was stationed.  This I also avoided; but in 
crossing a small open space at some distance from the post I was seen by one of 
them, and the man rode up to me.  He was a stupid fellow, and asked me if I 
belonged to the New Kent cavalry.  I had on a gray cap.  Of course I answered in 
the affirmative.  He turned and rode back, and I slipped into a thicket of 
laurels.  I pushed through this as quickly as possible, and soon gained an open 
woods on a hill of some elevation.  I then looked back and found that the others 
had taken the alarm, as I had supposed they would, and were in full pursuit.  
Some of them had evidently seen me enter the laurel thicker, and in a minute it 
was surrounded.  I did not wait to see them beat up the bush, but pushed away 
from the spot as fast as my lame foot would permit.  As soon as I came to the 
edge of the woods, I found another picket post, and directly in front of this 
was a large open field which I had to cross to gain a place of safety, because 
it would not do for me to remain in this woods.  I could not cross this open 
ground without being in full view of the rebel party.  I slipped along the edge 
of the woods, avoiding the enemy, until I came to a place where a gully ran 
entirely across.  This was neither wide nor deep, but it afforded my only chance 
of escape, so I threw myself into it and commenced crawling toward the other end 
of it.  It must have been more than half a mile in length, but I crawled the 
entire distance without raising my head.  When I reached the end of the gully I 
found myself at 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1078

the Williamsburg road, on the opposite side of which was a thicket of pines.  I 
quickly went into this and looked back.  I could see the rebel pickets very 
plainly, but they had not seen me while crawling across the open space in front 
of them, though I had passed immediately before them. 
  "I remained concealed in the pine woods for several hours, and then proceeded 
cautiously along the Williamsburg road.  Frequently I had to take to the bushes 
on account of rebel cavalry, or armed citizens travelling through the country.  
At dark I crossed Diascen bridge.  Here also was a picket post.  I passed this 
without the risk I ran at New Kent Court House.  I kept on until near midnight, 
when I found myself completely exhausted, and, leaving the road, went some 
distance into a woods, lay down and slept until daylight.  I then rose and took 
a pretty close survey of surrounding objects, walked down to the road and saw an 
old ruined brick building on the opposite side of the road.  This place I 
afterwards learned was called Burnt Ordinary.  I found myself this morning 
almost unable to move, but crawled along in the direction of Williamsburg, and 
after travelling for some time, suddenly came upon a spot where a picket had 
been posted the night before.  As I was now so close to Williamsburg, it became 
a question with me whether it was a Union or a rebel picket.  I soon discovered 
by the tracks that the men had been fronting towards Williamsburg, and therefore 
concluded that it had been rebel.  I now became exceedingly cautious and 
withdrew to the woods.  I kept on through the woods in a southeast direction 
until I came to an open space.  Here, to my great joy, I saw a body of United 
States troops moving on the road to my left.  I sat down very much exhausted and 
awaited their approach.
  "While sitting there and watching their movements, a noise attracted my 
attention to a point in my rear, but evidently on the road which lay to my left.  
When I looked fairly in that direction, I saw three men standing like pickets at 
a point where the United States troops were approaching.  These men were all 
fully dressed in United States uniforms.  The circumstance that I had not seen 
them before excited a suspicion that all was not right and I watched them 
closely.  They did not appear to pay 

LIBBY PRISON TUNNEL - 1079

any attention to the advancing troops, but one would frequently step into the 
middle of the road and look intently in the opposite direction.  From this I 
thought they were all right, and that they were merely videttes that had been 
sent forward from the advancing column.  About this time the troops I had first 
seen appeared to come to a halt.  These men then moved towards the column, and 
by so doing placed some elevated ground between them and me, and I supposed they 
had gone to join the troops I had first seen.  When I had walked about fifty or 
seventy-five yards, I came again in sight of the three men in the road, who now 
saw and challenged me.  They had not advanced as far towards the troops as I had 
supposed; consequently when I came in sight of them the second time I was much 
nearer than at first.  Except for a moment when I first saw them I firmly 
believed that they belonged to the troops below, and they were now very nearly 
within gun-shot, and apparently advancing towards them.
  "I hesitated a moment, and then obeyed their summons to approach.  As soon as 
I came close to them, I saw that I was entrapped, even before they spoke.  Their 
manner indicated that they were in great fear of the troops that had halted 
below.  I endeavored to make them believe I was a rebel soldier, but they 
concluded to retain me as a prisoner.  My first impulse was to break and run, 
but my lameness and enfeebled condition prevented me from doing this in the face 
of three active men.  I therefore waited for a better chance.  One of these men 
appeared to be an officer.  He directed one of the men to take me in charge, and 
go across the field that lay on the left of the road.  I started off with him 
limping fearfully, but when he had got about half-way across the field, I sprang 
suddenly upon him, disarmed and prostrated him, fired off his piece, and started 
to run towards the troops, and would easily have escaped had it not been for my 
lameness.  The man I had disarmed did not attempt to follow me, nor did the two 
we had left in the road.  On the contrary, these two ran across the field 
diagonally to the rear; but several other men whom I had not seen before sprang 
up from behind the fence on the side of the field opposite to the road.  They 
ran so as to intercept my approach to the troops.  Two or 

MARTIAL DEEDS OF PENNSYLVANIA - 1080

three of them outran me and struck me with their muskets.  This prostrated me, 
and they all rushed around me.  I heard one of them say, 'Be quick; the Yanks 
are right here.'
  "Several of them now seized me, and dragged me to and over the fence into a 
thickly timbered ravine.  They then turned and went up this ravine in a 
northerly direction it seemed, for about 200 or 300 yards.  Here the whole party 
assembled, including the three men I had seen in the road.  These three men were 
completely in United States uniform; the others were only partially so.  The man 
I had disarmed seemed to be badly hurt.  He wanted to kill me at once.  The man, 
Lieutenant Hughes-I think they called him-whom I had taken for an officer in the 
road, spoke roughly to this man and ordered him to keep quiet.  Just then one of 
the men, who came crawling up the bank of the ravine, called out, 'Be off 
quick,' when the whole party started and ran.  They forced me along with them 
for a short distance, when, finding that I was unable to travel, they halted.
  "The officer then detailed a guard to take charge of me, and instructed them 
by no means to let me escape or be taken from them alive.  The officer and his 
party then ran off very rapidly in a northeast course it seemed, but the guard 
conducted me through a dense woods in a northwest course until we came to 
another ravine, also densely wooded.  Here they found an old man about sixty-
five years of age.  They asked him if he could guide them by a safe route to 
Barhamsville, saying to him the Yanks are thick as hornets on the other road.  
He replied that he could, and I was then taken by a circuitous route to 
Barhamsville, thence to White House, and thence to Richmond, where I was again 
incarcerated in Libby.  I was kept in a cell for several days, and then sent to 
my old quarters.  Long before this our means of egress had been discovered by 
the rebels.  About this time, or perhaps before, a system of special exchanges 
was commenced.  This took out most of the officers of higher rank, and soon I 
was the only Colonel left in the prison.  At length my exchange was effected, 
April 30th, 1864.  I was sent to Annapolis, Maryland; thence to Columbus, Ohio; 
and thence to my regiment in the field, where I arrived June 6th, 1864.