Dashing Damsels

Emma Cummings and Mollie Woods, dashing damsels, fair but frail, impregnated the court atmosphere with musk and shook up the dull silence with rustling of silks as they glided to the front of the Mayor's seat, Emma to answer the charge of threatening personal violence to Mollie, and vowing to mark her beautiful face for her as long as she lived the first time she met her on a fair field. The dispute was about the return of some bed sheets and linen belonging to each and held by the other.

The Mayor held Emma to bail in the sum of fifty dollars to keep the peace towards Mollie.

-The Daily Examiner, October 13, 1864

Where Lies the Truth- Part Two

TO THE PUBLIC- In the Richmond Examiner of the 20th instant, Mr. JOHN B. ANDERSON has dragged my name before the public with no conceivable motive but gratify his malevolence and vanity. Mr. Anderson was, I regret to say my partner in business. A chancery suit, entered by himself, is now pending for the settlement of the only real controversy between us. His attempt thus to bring before the public the private issues, is unmanly, and is a course which the public never fails to condemn. That he was an unfaithful and improvidant partner, bitter experience has taught me, but I have no desire to prove it through the newspapers. Having voted against the Virginia ordinance of Secession, he, in the month of of March last, left his business without any notice whatever to me, and was gone for five months. I believed and still believe that he was with the Yankees, and expressed my belief. His charges that I endeavoured to have his property confiscated because of his disloyalty, have no foundation in fact, and can only proceed from the imagination of a suspicious and guilty conscience.

PETER G. COSBY

sep28- 1t

-The Richmond Examiner, September 28, 1864

150 Years Ago in the Examiner- Where Lies the Truth

TO THE PUBLIC- Having learned beyond question, that MR. PETER COSBY, my late partner, during my recent and somewhat protracted absence from the city, had availed himself of the occasion to asperse my character among the people who know me, by representing that I had fled to the Federal side; that I had mismanaged the books and funds of the concern; that I had squandered it's and my property, and other equally harsh slanders, I hereby, after satisfying myself that he did not actually thus do, and after fully preparing myself to disprove every such statement, do hereby pronounce these statements to be utterly false, malicious, and slanderous.

Moreover, having had heard on my return, that the said Mr. Cosby had attempted to have my property confiscated during my absence, and having inquired of him, in the presence of witnesses, whether such was the truth, and having received from him the most solemn assurances that he had not done so, I hereby inform the public that I have now proof of the highest and most authentic character, that the said Cosby to the meaness of giving such false statements to the officers of the Confederate government to work my injury, did add the folly and the guilt of solemnly denying that he has ever done son when demand was made upon him. I am prepared to sustain every assertion I have herein made by proof.

JOHN B. ANDERSON

sep 20- 4t*

-The Daily Examiner, September 20, 1864

"Carelessly Shooting his Musket at Some Ducks" - 1863

Say shot.

--About three o'clock on Saturday evening, a lad named Patrick Kearney, who was standing on the basin bank, under the shed in front of Messrs Crenshaw's commission house was shot by some person unknown, the ball passing between the breast bone and rib, and going through his body. The lad was taken up and carried to his father's house where he now lies in a critical condition. It was at first thought, from the fact that there were a number of ducks in the basin, and the quarters of the City Battalion are in close proximity to the southern bank, that one of the men had thoughtlessly discharged the load of his musket at the ducks, and that the ball, striking the water obliquely, had glanced, inflicting the on the lad alluded to above. The officers on being notified of the occurrence made the most right enquiry into the affair, but could learn nothing tending to show that the act had been committed by any of the men belonging to the Battalion.

-The Daily Dispatch: January 12, 1863

Arrested on a serious charge.

--A man named J. R. McCune was take in custody and lodged in the case yesterday by officer B. M. Morris for feloniously shooting Patrick Kearney. This is the same lad who was shot by a glancing ball discharged at some came ducks sailing on the Saturday evening last by some person than unknown.

-The Daily Dispatch: January 14, 1863

Court proceedings.

John E. McCune was partially examined on the charge of causing Pat Kearney's death by carelessly shooting his musket at some ducks on the basin.--The case was continued.

-The Daily Dispatch: January 16, 1863

 Court proceedings.

Mayor's Court, Saturday, January 17th.

--Daniel B. Corbin, Thomas Coon, C. S. Wharsen, J. R. McCune, Wm. W. Southall, E. C. Puryear, and John Wilkeson members of Capt. Potts's company, City Battalion, were brought up for examination on suspicion that one or the other of them might have been the person who shot at some ducks on the basic Saturday week, and who hit and killed Patrick Kearney instead of the ducks aimed at. The examination did not result in a satisfactory solution of the question, and the parties were admitted to bail for their appearance on next Thursday.

-The Daily Dispatch: January 19, 1863

"The Floating Scum of Richmond"

 John Moncure Daniel tells us about the  . . .

SIGHTS AND OCCUPATIONS FOR IDLERS- The floating scum of Richmond are the easiest satisfied set of mortals the world ever held. Hunger and curiosity are the only two "aching voids" they have to fill, a loaf of bakers' bread will satisfy the one, and a dog, pig or nigger fight the other. Yesterday we saw from one hundred to one hundred and fifty of the "scum" gathered and settled down and around upon the shady curbstones of Broad street, attracted by the desperate efforts of a team of mules and as many negroes, to draw a railroad engine and tender down the street. The negroes shouted and cracked their whips, the mules kicked up a dust and struggled, and the "scum" laughed and shouted too, but the ponderous engine and tender was "no go" for a long time. When it was started, unexpectedly, and went off, so did the "scum," to watch for the next excitement that came along and gather together again.

-The Richmond Examiner, July 2, 1864

While the Army of Northern Virginia Retreats from Antietam . . .

A DISGRACEFUL ROW.- Seventeenth street, north of Broad, was the scene of a most disgraceful row about one o'clock yesterday afternoon. For some time a free fight raged. It appears that a soldier passing along, stopped at the fruit store of an Italian named Longonotti, took up an apple, and started out without paying for it. On his refusal to pay, the proprietor attempted to eject him, and a fight ensued between himself, wife, son, and soldier, the soldier getting the best of the fight. The soldier then left, but returned with several companions, broke open the door, and make(sic) an indiscriminate assault upon all persons who they encountered. The provost guard finally appeared, and the disturbance was quelled. Several citizens were arrested, but from what we can learn of the affair, the most guilty escaped.

-the Richmond Daily Examiner, September 19, 1862


This would probably be the confectionery of Joseph Longinotti at 17th street between Grace and Broad(though that would be south of Broad)

A Stabbing on Cary Street

MAYOR'S COURT- August 21st, 1862.- William Smith, a semi-militaire looking individual, was charged by James A. McClure, a member of the 14th North Carolina regiment, with assaulting and stabbing him with a knife, with intent to murder. The assault occurred on Friday night last in the vicinity of one of the numerous drinking dens that abound in Cary street, notwithstanding the vigilance of the Provost's Guard. It appears from McClure's statement, that he was directed to the den as a place where he could obtain a "nip" of the "muddy ruin;" and following his direction, obtained a drink, and gave the woman in change a five dollar bill, out of which to take the price- fifty cents. The woman took the bill and went out to get the change. McClure, to keep an eye on the woman and his money, followed her out the door, across the draw near the bridge, where he was confronted by the accused, (Smith)who wanted to know what he was following the woman for. McClure replied that he was after his money, not the woman. Some other words passed, which Smith ended by drawing a knife and entering it in  McClure's back, between the shoulders, the blade penetrating several inches. His assailant was arrested and lodged in the guard-house, and McClure was sent to the hospital, and it was only yesterday that his condition warranted his appearance against the accused. The Mayor remanded the accused for the Hustings Court.

The above is the second or third case of the kind that has been brought before this court within a week or so. The plan seems to be to inveigle soldiers into these dens, and when a bill of a large denomination is presented in payment for liquor, to attempt by threats &c., to drive the customer off without his change.

-Richmond Daily Examiner, August 22, 1862


James H. McClure(the H. was for Henry) was a 26 year old farmer from North Carolina. A private in Co. H, the "Stanly Marksmen," he apparently recovered from his wounds and returned to his regiment. He appears on a . . .

List of casualties, of Brig Gen. Ramseur's Brigade, in the battles at Gettysburg, Pa. July 2 and 3, 1863

 Wounded severely in head and foot.

 and . ..

 Died 5 July, '63, from wounds rec'd at Gettysburg, Pa.

From the Richmond Mayor's Court

Mayor's Court, yesterday

James Lemmon, charged with being drunk and lying on a sidewalk, was called for by his father, a respectable country gentleman, who represented that his son had been in the fight at Manassas, bore an honorable name at home, and, though guilty of imprudence in speech and conduct, was a man of character. If, as a witness had testified, his son talked while intoxicated of conspiring to rob some one, the old gentleman knew it was nothing but talk. The court ordered the prisoner to pay a fine of $1, and to be delivered to his father at 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon.

-The Daily Dispatch (Richmond, Va.)September 20, 1861.


James A. Lemon was an 18 year old student when he enlisted on April 26, 1861 in Alexandria, Virginia. Serving in the Washington Volunteers, later Co. H of the 7th Virginia Infantry, the unit was part of Jubal Early's brigade at the battle of Manassas. The Volunteers were actually residents of the District of Columbia, many of them members of the National Volunteers

Records show young Lemmon as wounded in the "knees" and in hospital apparently from October thru November of 1861.

When No Self Respecting City Had One Paper . . .

 The difference in reading the Richmond Daily Dispatch and the Richmond Daily Examiner . . .

Mayor's Court.

Mrs. Flutina Myers was bound over to keep the peace in the sum of $100 for assaulting and beating with a broomstick Henrietta Nockman, a girl of fourteen.

-The Daily Dispatch, April 14, 1864.

MAYOR'S COURT-

Wednesday, April 13, 1864.

. . .

Mrs. Myers, the Jewess, previously mentioned in this column, who looks as if she had been blown up in the laboratory explosion, was charged with beating a girl of fourteen, named Henrietta Nockman. The girl stated that, Mrs. Myers being in the act of beating a negro in the streeet, she was looking on, when Mrs. Myers, getting through with the negro, made a dash at her, the witness, and chased her through Mrs. Simons's house with a stick, and beat her over the head and otherwise.

Officer Granger stated that Mrs. Myers was very vicious.

Mrs. Myers was bound over to keep the peace.

-The Daily Examiner, April 14, 1864

Leavings

A MUCH NEEDED JAIL DELIVERY has been effected at the city jail by the Mayor, within a few days past. The number at present held there is less than one hundred, something like fifty committed for minor offenses, having been discharged, put into the hands of the enrolling officer, and sent to the army. Two months ago the number of inmates of the jail was not less than two hundred, involving a large expenditure for their keeping, and none of them affording an example of merited punishment for crime committed against law and good order.

-The Daily Examiner, April 30, 1864

Richmond area events: June 2014

Campaign Before Richmond Sesquicentennial Weekend

Fri-Sat, June 20-21, Deep Bottom Park

Fri, June 20, 6-9pm, Campaign Before Richmond Symposium.

 For ages 12+. Join notable historians discuss significant battles that occurred north of the James River for control of Richmond and Petersburg in the last year of the Civil War. Discussion is followed by a Q & A session. Program is outdoors on the picturesque banks of the James River. Presented by Henrico Recreation and Parks and the Richmond Civil War Roundtable. Free. Rain or Shine.

Scheduled Speakers: Moderator – Dr. John W. Mountcastle, Brigadier General US Army (retired); James S. Price, author of “The Battle of New Market Heights: Freedom Will be Theirs by the Sword” and upcoming publication “Battle of First Deep Bottom”; Douglas Crenshaw, author of “Fort Harrison and the Battle of Chaffin’s Farm: To Surprise and Capture Richmond”; Robert E.L. Krick, author of “Staff Officers in Gray: A Biographical Register of the Staff Officers in the Army of Northern Virginia” and numerous other Civil War publications; and Hampton Newsome, author of “Richmond Must Fall: The Richmond-Petersburg Campaign, October 1864”

Sat, June 21, 9-11am or 6-8pm, Civil War Boat Tours- Tour the Civil War era James River. For ages 12+. Either enjoy

Strong Words and a Bottle of Brandy

A soldier named Lewis T. Steed, was charged with stealing from Lewis Antelotti, on Tuesday last, one decanter of apple brandy, estimated to be worth $40. The evidence of Mr. Antelotti proved that Steed came into his restaurant, near the Central depot, and after inquiring as to the time the Yankees would reach Richmond, remarked that he "wished the Yankees would come and take the d — d old town." He (Antelotti) turned off without making any reply, and soon after Steed left. That evening he was found with the bottle of brandy in his pocket, which Antelotti recognized as his own, when he had him arrested. The accused stated to the Mayor that he was a member of Rodes's division, Battle's brigade, and being in the city he got on a spree. As to the testimony against him, given by Antelotti, he was afraid it was true, for when under the influence of liquor he did not know what he did. Hearing this, and discovering a spirit of candor in his statement, he was ordered by His Honor to proceed to his regiment.

-The Daily Dispatch: February 18, 1864


In the Richmond City Directory of 1860 Lewis Antelotti is listed as owning a restaurant/retail confectionery/saloon on Broad Street between 16th and 17th streets. A Lewis T. Steed is listed as a corporal in Co. H., 6th Alabama Infantry. The 6th Alabama was in the brigade commanded by Robert Emmett Rodes. Company H was raised in Russell County, Alabama. The John B. Gordon Camp Sons of Confederate Veterans has more information on Steed.

Corporal Steed was born in in South Carolina, but as a young man moved to Autauga County, Alabama.  He enlisted in Company G, which later became Company H, in May 1861.  His service records show that he was taken prisoner on 14 September, 1862 at the Battle of South Mountain during Gen. Lee's Maryland Campaign.   He was sent north to Ft. Delaware and  was later exchanged at Aikens Landing, Virginia 10 November, 1862.  He spent most of that fall sick in the hospital in Richmond, Virginia.  On 1 February, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of corporal by order of Col. Lightfoot.  He would serve with valour until his capture during a Union breakthrough at Petersburg, Virginia  2 April, 1865.  He was taken to the infamous Point Lookout prison camp in Maryland where he was released 30 June, 1865.

So as a word of defense for Cpl. Steed he had just been promoted.

As a further word, here are the casualties of the 6th Alabama up until that time, concentrating only on major engagements:

Seven Pines- 108 men killed and 283 wounded

Antietam- 52 men killed and 104 wounded.

Chancellorsville- 22 men killed and Colonel James N. Lightfoot and 135 other men were wounded.

Gettysburg- 22 killed, 109 wounded and 31 missing

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- Colonel A.G. Hamilton

From Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War

Colonel Rose's compatriot who became separated from him early in the escape, Major Andrew G Hamilton tells us how. . . .

. . . I trudged on alone. The first night I made eight miles in the half-frozen swamps, and traveled seven nights before reaching the Union lines at Williamsburg. While traveling I was in ice and water to my knees the greater part of the time, and often it was up to my waist. I was about the fifth man to reach our lines — two had come in the day before and two the night previous to that.

- History of the famous tunnel Escape From Libby Prison As Told by Maj. A. G. Hamilton, One of the Projectors

Major Hamilton recently received his own historical marker in Kentucky.

His later tragic fate here.



 

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- Colonel Thomas E. Rose

 A little biographical information on Colonel Thomas E. Rose from the website of Arlington National Cemetery . . .

He entered the United States Army at the outbreak of the Civil War, serving as Captain, 77th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry from October 28, 1861 to February 1, 1863. He then commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, IV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland; 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XX Corps, Army of the Cumberland. 

He was captured by Rebel forces at the Battle of Chickamauga and escaped at Weldon, North Carolina, but was re-captured the next day. Was a member of the escaping party at Libby Prison through the 20th Street Tunnel and was one of the 50 re-captured before they could reach Union lines. 

He was Breveted Brigadier General, United States Volunteers in 1865 in recognition of his Civil War Service.

Following the war, he remained in the Army until he retired in 1894 with the Regular Army rank of Major. He died in 1907 and was buried in Section 3, Grave 1818, of Arlington National Cemetery. His wife, Lydia C. Trumbower Rose (1831-1922) is buried with him.

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- "Lieutenant Caustin, of the United States regular army . . ."

ONE MORE RECAPTURED. - Lieutenant Caustin, of the United States regular army, one of the officers who escaped from the Libby prison in the recent wholesale jail delivery from that establishment, was on Friday recaptured in the neighborhood of New Kent Court House. He was brought back to Richmond on Saturday and re-committed to the Libby.

- The Richmond Whig, February 22, 1864



Interestingly, this would be Lieutenant Manuel C. Causten's 3rd capture.

His fascinating story, and how he was captured before even joining the Army, here.

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- Rose's Tale

From The Photographic History of the Civil War; Vol. VII

Feb. 14, 1864—Col. Thomas E. Rose of the 77th Pennsylvania Infantry, Who, With Maj. A.G. Hamilton of the 12th Kentucky Cavalry, Planned the Tunnel by Which 109 Federal Officers Escaped from Libby Prison on Feb. 9, Was Recaptured Within Sight of a Federal Cavalry Command, Near Williamsburg, Va.

Fifty years ago today Col.Thomas E. Rose, of the 77th Pennsylvania infantry. who, with Maj. A.G. Hamilton of the 12th Kentucky cavalry, planned the tunnel by which 109 Federal officers had escaped from Libby prison, Richmond. on February 9. was recaptured within sight of a Federal cavalry command, near Williamsburg, on the peninsula.

On leaving the tunnel the escaped prisoners bad made their way in groups of two, three and four, out of the sleeping city. Only one was apprehended within the city limits. This was Capt. Junius Gates of Co. K. 33d Ohio regiment.  While the prison authorities, astounded at the escape, were searching the prison to discover how it was accomplished, the others were either hiding in places indicated by friends, in the suburbs of Richmond, or were concealed in the thickets and swamps between the city and the Chickahominy river, the nearest stream to the city on the east, distant from six to 12 miles. Only the 109 Federals who passed through the tunnel on the night of February 9 ever used It. The other prisoners bad no opportunity again to approach its inner end, by way of the passage that had been formed to the cellar through a chimney from the cook room of the prison. The tunnel was not discovered by the prison authorities for several days after February 9. Then the outer end was found, by the removal of a plank with which the last prisoner to leave had covered It. This was under an open shed 57 feet across a vacant lot, in a yard opening upon 19tb street, by means of a gate under an arch In a building facing that street. A negro was forced at the bayonet's point to enter the tunnel and crawl through it. Its course to the abandoned east cellar of the prison was thus discovered

    

Warned by a Sentinel

Col. Rose and Maj. Hamilton, by virtue of their leadership in planning  the tunnel and directing the work of the company of 15 who dug it, had been the first two to pass out of it, Rose leading. Opening the heavy gate In the arch,which was held by a bar, they stepped out Into the light of a gas street lamp. It was then shortly after 7 P. M. The life, of the city was passing as usual in the down-town streets near the prison. Only a block away was Main street, here rarely quiet.

Between them and that street a sentry paced his beat. His back was toward them as they slipped out of the arch, and when he turned and saw them walking away at an ordinary pace— for he could not have failed to see them—he did not attempt to stop them by a challenge. People were passing every few minutes, and there was nothing about the prisoners to distinguish them as such. They wore civilian clothes— secured from home— and wore Federal blue overcoats. This would excite no comment in Richmond, for the prison guards themselves wore blue overcoats, when they had any, captured from the Federals or a purchase from the prisoners having supplied them. Col. Rose had on a Confederate gray cap, and this helped him.

A few minutes after leaving the arch. Col. Rose and Ma]. Hamilton passed a hospital. In front of which was a sentry. He hailed them, asking them If they didn't know people were not allowed to use the sidewalk in front of the hospital after dark.

The two escaped prisoners made no reply, but started across the street. Hamilton started to run. Rose kept an ordinary pace and passed the hospital. The friends were thus separated and thenceforth Rose kept on alone. Col. Hamilton eventually fell In with other prisoners and succeeded to reaching the Federal lines at Williamburg.

After walking briskly for half an hour Col. Rose found himself outside the lighted section of the city and in the broken country of gullies and ravines lying east of the suburb on the James called Rocketts.

He struck rapidly for the York River Railroad, the line to the southeast, and followed it until, toward morning, he knew himself to be in the vicinity of the Chlckahominy. He was in a section of alternating, fields, thickets, swamps and forests, or one of the old battlefields of Gen. McClellan's campaign of the spring of 1862. Knowing that this region was picketed by Confederate troops, the escaped prisoner crawled into a hollow log at daybreak for real and sleep. He had labored Incessantly at digging In the last two days of the tunneling and wag exhausted. Furthermore, an old break in the bones of one of his feet, sustained In a Tennessee fight, was beginning to trouble him.

Sleeping soundly In the hollow log, in spite of bis cramped position and the cold. Col. Rose woke In the afternoon. Before leaving the log he lay for some time listening to the sounds in the woods about him. They were few until to his surprise he heard the neighing of horses, the talk of soldiers and various other familiar sounds of a camp. He had slept near the camp of a Confederate cavalry picket.

In the late afternoon Colonel Rose emerged from his tree and, carefully creeping past the camp, made for the Chickahominy. He was so fortunate as to reach it at a point where by deep wading, it was fordable. The water was icy cold, but he plunged in, and, though he fell into a few deep holes, he managed to reach the far side. He now found that before him lay a dense swamp, the extent of which, in the dim light, he could not Judge.

Hunted by Cavalry.

Entering the swamp Colonel Rose waded and splashed through water and mire at times to his waist. Under the trees It was now completely dark. After a long and exhausting tramp in the swamp, the weary fugitive reached firm ground, and almost at the moment found himself near a picket camp. Avoiding this he struck into a deep woods, in the recess of which a little later he built a fire with some precious matches he had kept dry In his cap.  There was danger In the fire, but Its warmth was a great comfort, and beside Its grateful glow the exhausted man slept soundly until morning. Waking stiff and sore, with his foot paining him and his clothes frozen on one side and burned on the other, he set out again southeastward.  Passing Crump's Cross Roads, where he avoided another picket, he reached the neighborhood of New Kent courthouse before dark. Here in crossing a field he was overtaken by a cavalryman, who asked him if he belonged to the local cavalry. Trusting to his gray cap, Rose answered yes. The man rode off and Colonel Rose saw that he soon entered a camp.

Fearing pursuit Colonel Rose plunged Into a laurel thicket. His fears were well grounded, for a troop of cavalry was soon engaged in a man hunt, beating the thicket and some woods beyond, which Rose had reached.

Seeing that his case was desperate Rose left the wood and hid in a drain In a field, through which be crept on his hands and knees for nearly half a mile, throwing his pursuers off the scent.

The drain brought him to the Williamsburg road, near which he lay for some hours resting.

Thenceforth his route was along this road. Pickets were encountered every few miles, but he crept around them and kept on until he had passed Dlascund Bridge and came to a place called Burnt Ordinary, which was but 12 miles from Williamsburg. Negroes who had fed and guided him at intervals had told him Williamsburg was in Federal hands.

Taken In sight of Friends 

To the great Joy of the limping and weary fugitive on coming out of the edge of a wide cleared space he saw a troop of cavalry Tiding up the distant road. They were Federals. Weakened by the long fight for liberty that seemed now won. Rose sat down to wait their arrival.

This moment of indulgence in fancied security was fatal. Before the cavalry had come up Colonel Rose saw coming up behind him threw men who also seemed to he Federals. He approached them and too late discovered that they were Confederates wearing Federal overcoats. They commanded him to surrender and as their carbines covered him he could do nothing.

The Confederates now saw the approaching Federals for the first time, a ridge having cut off their view before.They now ordered Colonel Rose, under guard of one of their number, to the rear.

As he was escorted up the road Colonel Rose, watching a chance. with the strength of desperation wrenched the man's gun from him and firing it off threw it down and began to run Unhappily he ran headlong into a group of Confederates he had not before observed. They ware watching the approaching Federals, soon the officer in command@ them ordered a retreat and so the troopers who might have saved him came in sight over over the ridge Rose caught one fleeting glimpse of and then was hustled off, limping and discouraged, in the direction of Richmond. In less than two days he was back in Libby prison. In solitary confinement, on bread and water diet, sick, worn out and miserable.

In April, 1864, Colonel Rose was exchanged. He served with distinction to the end of the war and afterward in the regular army, being a captain in the 16th Infantry.

Of the 109 who escaped from Libby prison 69 reached the Federal lines, 48 were retaken and two perished by drowning. Of the 48 who escaped 26 were within the lines at Williamsburg on February 16 and the others continued to come in, there and on the upper Rappahannock and the lower Potomac, for the next two weeks.

-Buffalo Evening News, February 14, 1914

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- "If one-fourth the escaped prisoners get in it will surprise me"

Escape route- winter 1863-1864

                      FORT MAGRUDER, February 15, 1864.

Brigadier-General WISTAR,

             Commanding:

The following are the names:

1. William B. McCreery, colonel Twenty-first Michigan Infantry.

2. H.C. Hobart, lieutenant-colonel Twenty-first Wisconsin Infantry.

3. T.S. West, lieutenant-colonel Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Infantry.

4. Alexander von Mitzel, major Seventy-fourth Pennsylvania Infantry.

5. Samuel Clark, captain, Seventy-ninth Illinois Infantry.

6. Gottlieb C. Rose, captain, Fourth Missouri Cavalry.

7. Albert Wallber, adjutant Twenty-sixth Wisconsin Infantry.

8. N.S. McKeen, first lieutenant, Twenty-first Illinois Infantry.

9. George M. Welles, second lieutenant, Eighth Michigan Cavalry.

                                            ROBT. M. WEST,
                                             Colonel, Commanding.

                      [Indorsement.]

Major-General BUTLER:

The above are the 9 officers just arrived at Williamsburg.

                                    I.J. WISTAR,
                                     Brigadier-General.





                                   FEBRUARY 16, 1864.

Brigadier-General WISTAR,

                    Yorktown:

Richmond papers of 12th, received, say 109 prisoners escaped, and that 26 were recaptured, none less than 20 miles from Richmond. All of them must have crossed the Chickahominy. Have you anything further in regard to them? Many of them must still be secreted in the woods.

                                    J. W. SHAFFER,
                                 Colonel and Chief of Staff.





                               YORKTOWN, February 16, 1864.

Col. J.W. SHAFFER,

            Chief of Staff:

Probably none of these prisoners recaptured had crossed the Chickahominy. Robertson's cavalry and Holcombe's Legion cavalry are both the other side of Chickahominy for that purpose, besides the infantry. There is no enemy this side, except Hume's scouts, who keep off the main roads and know every path. My cavalry is out after the prisoners, and has been since the first came in. It must go by detachments, of course, having to come back for forage, of which the country supplies none. If one-fourth the escaped prisoners get in it will surprise me, in the face of the regularly organized and long-prepared plan to prevent it. Fifteen have already come.

                                         I.J. WISTAR,
                                           Brigadier- General.


-- The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.; Series 1 Volume 33

 

More to come on another officer named Rose.

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- . . .and Tales of the Army

                                                   FEBRUARY 15, 1864.

Col. J. W. SHAFFER, Chief of Staff:

Colonel Streight is concealed in Richmond, but at large. His friends desire the papers to state his successful arrival here, for obvious reasons. Please arrange it immediately with the Associated Press agent.

                                       I.J. WISTAR,
                                         Brigadier-General.


- The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies.; Series 1 Volume 33

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- Tales from the Daily Dispatch . . .

Recaptured.

--Eight more of the Yankee prisoners who escaped last Tuesday night from the Libby, were brought back yesterday. The following is a list of their names: Maj. J. Henry, 5th Ohio; Maj. J. N. Walker, 75th Indiana; Lieut. W. F. Clifford, 16th U. S. cavalry; Lieut. D. Garbett, 77th Penn.; Lieut. H. B. Freeman, 18th U. S. cavalry; Lieut. F. A. M. Kreps, 77th Penn; Lieut. J. W. Hare, 5th Ohio cavalry; Lieut. F. C.--, 11th Penn. This number, added to those already received at the Libby, makes thirty who have been captured out of the one hundred and nine that succeeded in effecting their escape. Various rumors were afloat yesterday that the notorious Col. A. D. Streight had been captured somewhere on the line of the James River and Kanawha Canal, and among others that, finding him well armed, a severe struggle ensued between himself and his captors, during which he was fired at and severely wounded. It is believed, however, that these reports were groundless, as no information of his re-arrest was known at the Libby prison up to late last evening, and we were unable to trace it to any authentic source.

Twelve of the seventeen Yankee prisoners who escaped from Castle Thunder on Monday night have been brought back and reimprisoned in that institution.

-The Daily Dispatch: February 13, 1864.

More captures.

--Twelve more of the escaped Yankee officers from the Libby prison have been captured and brought back since our last publication. Their names are--Col. Ely, 18th Conn.; Capts. E. L. Smith, 19th U. S. cavalry, and J. W. Macmack,--Ohio infantry; Lieuts. W. H. H. Wilcox, 10th N. Y. cavalry; Daniel Hansburg, 1st Michigan cavalry; Adam Hauff, 45th N. Y.; T. J. Ray, 49th Ohio; J. H. Gadsby, 19th U. S. infantry; M. M. Bassett, 53d Illinois; M. Bedell, 123d N. Y.; H. P. Crawford, 2d Illinois cavalry, and L. W. Sutherland, 126th Ohio. The last named individual was retaken at City Point.

There is no truth in the rumors which have been fife in the city for several days, that Col. A. D. Streight had been recaptured. On Saturday last Maj. Turner dispatched a courier in the direction which it was said he was found, but he failed to bring back any information which could substantiate the fact

-The Daily Dispatch: February 15, 1864.

The escaped Yankees.

--Two more Yankee Lieutenants, part of the one hundred and nine officers who escaped from the Libby prison on Tuesdaynight last, were captured and brought back yesterday. These, added to the number previously arrested, foots up fifty-two, leaving still at large fifty-seven, a little more than half of those who succeeded in escaping from the prison.

-The Daily Dispatch: February 16, 1864.

Search after Yankees

--A Game of Cards Interrupted.--In consequence of information received at the Libby prison to the effect that sundry of the Yankee officers who recently escaped from prison were concealed in the upper rooms of the building occupied by Mahoney &McGehee, on Main street, a military guard effected an entrance in the domicil yesterday evening, but did not succeed in finding any of the parties of whom they were in search. A large crowd was attracted to the spot by the report that Col. Streight was in the house. The only thing disturbed during the raid was a game of cards, the participants therein (among whom were one or two members of Congress) scattering on the approach of the military, some getting on the roof of the house, lending color for the time being to the report that Streight was about.

-The Daily Dispatch: February 17, 1864.

 Capture of escaped Yankees.

--Since our last publication four more of the Yankee officers who escaped from the Libby prison on Tuesday night of last week, have been captured and brought back. The following is a list of their names: Captain E. M. Driscoll, co. G, 3d Ohio; L. P. Lovett, 5th Ky.; R. H. Day, 56th Pa.; Lieut. H. C. Dunn, 10th Ky.

In another column will be found the announcement of the safe arrival of the notorious Col. A. D. Streight at Fortress Monroe, and it is therefore unnecessary to make any further allusion to the many reports which have been circulated in this city with regard to that individual.

-The Daily Dispatch: February 19, 1864.

Escaping Down the Peninsula 1864- "His feelings at seeing the old flag are indescribable."

How the Prisoners Escaped from the Richmond Jail

 Incredible Underground Work

 Friendship of Virginia Negroes

We have already published an account of the manner in which the Rebel General Morgan and his companions escaped from their Northern prison in Ohio. We now give some very interesting statements relative to the manner of escape of several officers who succeeded in getting out of Libby Prison. About the beginning of the year 1864 the officers confined in Libby Prison conceived the idea of effecting their own exchange, and after the matter had been seriously discussed by some seven or eight of them, they undertook to dig for a distance toward a sewer running into a basin. This they proposed doing by commencing at a point in the cellar near to the chimney. This cellar was immediately under the hospital and was the receptacle for refuse straw thrown from the beds when they were changed and for other refuse matter Above the hospital was a room for officers and above that yet another room. The chimney ran through all these rooms and prisoners who were in the secret improvised a rope and night after night let working parties down who successfully prosecuted their excavating operations. The dirt was hid under the straw and other refuse matter in the cellar and it was I trampled down to prevent too great a bulk. When the working party had got to a considerable distance underground it was found difficult to haul the dirt back by hand and a spittoon which had been furnished the officers in one of the rooms was made to serve the purpose of a cart. A string was attached to it and it was run in the tunnel and as soon as filled was drawn out and deposited under the straw. But after hard work and digging with finger nails, knives, and chisels a number of feet the working party found themselves stopped by piles driven in the ground. These were at least a foot in diameter. But they were not discouraged. Pen knives or any other articles that would cut were called for and after chipping, chipping, chipping for a long time the piles were severed and the tunnelers commenced again after a time reaching the sewer. But here an unexpected obstacle met their further progress. The stench from the sewer and the flow of filthy water was so great that one of the party fainted and was dragged out more dead than alive and the project in that direction had to be abandoned. The failure was communicated to a few others besides those who had first thought of escape and then a party of seventeen, after viewing the premises and surroundings, concluded to tunnel under Carey street. On the opposite side of this street from the prison was a sort of carriage house or outhouse and the project was to dig under the street and emerge from under or near the house. There was a high fence around it and the guard was outside of this fence. The prisoners then commenced to dig at the other side of the chimney and after a few handfulls(sic) of dirt had been removed they found themselves stopped by a stone wall which proved afterwards to be three feet thick. The party were by no means undaunted and with pocket knives and penknives they commenced operations upon the stone and mortar. After nineteen days and nights at hard work they again struck the earth beyond the wall and pushed their work forward. Here too after they got some distance underground the friendly spittoon was brought into requisition and the dirt was hauled out in small quantities. After digging for some days the question arose whether they had not reached the point aimed at and in order if possible to test the matter Captain Gallagher of the Second Ohio Regiment pretended that he had a box in the carriage house over the way and desired to search it out. This carriage house it is proper to state was used as a receptacle for boxes and goods sent to the prisoners from the North and the recipients were often allowed to go under guard across the street to secure their property. Captain Gallagher was allowed permission to go there and as he walked across under guard he as well as he could paced off the distance and concluded that the street was about fifty feet wide. On the 6th or 7th of February the working party supposed they had gone a sufficient distance and commenced to dig upward. When near the surface they heard the rebel guards talking above them and discovered they were two or three feet yet outside the fence. The displacing of a stone made considerable noise and one of the sentinels called to his comrade and asked him what the noise meant. The guards after listening a few minutes concluded that nothing was wrong and returned to their beats. The hole was stopped up by inserting into the crevice a pair of old pantaloons filled with straw and holstering the whole up with boards which they secured from the floors, etc. of the prison. The tunnel was then continued some six or seven feet more and when the working party supposed they were about ready to emerge to daylight; others in the prison were informed that there was a way now open for escape. One hundred and nine of the prisoners decided to make the attempt to get away. Others refused fearing the consequences if they were recaptured. About half past eight o'clock on the evening of the 9th the prisoners started out. Colonel House of New York leading the van. Before starting the prisoners had divided themselves into squads of two, three and four, and each squad was to take a different route, and after they were out were to push for the Union lines as fast as possible. If was the understanding that the working party were to have an hour's start of the other prisoners and consequently the rope ladder in the cellar was drawn out. Before the expiration of the hour however the other prisoners became impatient and were let down through the chimney successfully into the cellar. The aperture was so narrow that but one man could get through at a time and each squad carried with them provisions in a haversack. At midnight a false alarm was created and the prisoners made considerable noise in their quarters. Providentially however the guard suspected nothing wrong and in a few moments the exodus was again commenced. Colonel Kendrick and his companions looked with some trepidation upon the movements of the fugitives as some of them exercising but little discretion moved boldly out of the enclosure into the glare of the gas light. Many of them were however in citizen's dress and as all the rebel guards wore the United States uniform, but little suspicion could be excited even if the fugitives had been accosted by a guard. Between 1 and 2 o'clock the lamps were extinguished in the streets and then the exit was more safely accomplished. There were many officers who desired to leave who were so weak and feeble that they were dragged through the tunnel by mere force and carried to places of security until such time as they would be able to move on their journey. At half past two o'clock Captain Joyce Colonel Kendrick and Lieutenant Bradford passed out in the order in which they are named and as Colonel Kendrick emerged from the hole he heard the guard within a few feet of him sing out "Post No 7, half past two in the morning and all is well." Lieutenant Bradford was intrusted with the provisions for this squad and in getting through was obliged to leave his haversack behind him as he could not get through with it upon him. Once out they proceeded up the street keeping in the shade of the buildings and passed eastwardly through the city. A description of the route pursued by this party and of the tribulations through which they passed will give some idea of the rough time they all had of it. Colonel Kendrick had before leaving the prison mapped out his course and I concluded that the best route to take was the one toward Norfolk or Fortress Monroe as there were fewer rebel pickets in that direction. They therefore kept the York River Railroad to the left and moved toward the Chickahomimy River. They passed through Boar Swamp* and crossed the road leading to Bottom Bridge. Sometimes they waded through mud and water almost up to their necks and kept the Bottom Bridge road to their left, although at times they could see and hear the cars traveling over the York River road.

While passing through the swamp near the Chickahominy, Colonel Kendrick sprained his ankle and fell. Fortunately too was that fall for him and his party, for while he was laying there one of them chanced to look up and saw in a direct line with them a swamp bridge and in the dim outline they could perceive that parties with muskets were passing over the bridge. They therefore moved some distance to the south and after passing through more of the swamp reached the Chickahominy about four miles below Bottom Bridge. Here now was a difficulty. The river was only twenty feet wide but it was very deep and the refugees were worn out and fatigued. Chancing however to look up Lieutenant Bradford saw that two trees had fallen on either side of the river and that their branches were interlocked. By crawling up one tree and down the other the fugitives reached the east bank of the Chickahominy.  They subsequently learned from a friendly negro that had they crossed the bridge they had seen they would assuredly have been recaptured for Captain Turner the keeper of Libby Prison had been out and posted guards there, and in fact had alarmed the whole country and got the people up as a vigilant committee to capture the escaped prisoners.

 After crossing over this natural bridge they laid down on the ground and slept until sunrise on the morning of the 11th when they continued on their way keeping eastwardly as near as they could. Up to this time they had had nothing to eat and were almost famished. About noon of the 11th they met several negroes who gave them information as to the whereabouts of the rebel pickets and furnished them with food. Acting under the advice of these friendly negroes they remained quietly in the woods until darkness had set in when they were furnished with a comfortable supper by the negroes and after dark proceeded on their way; the negroes who everywhere showed their friendship to the fugitives having first directed them how to avoid the rebel pickets. That night they passed a camp of rebels and could plainly see the smoke and camp fires. But their wearied feet gave out and they were compelled to stop and rest having only marched five miles that day.

 They started again at daylight on the 13th and after moving awhile through the woods they saw a negro woman working in a field and called her to them. From her they received directions and were told that the rebel pickets had been about there looking for the fugitives from Libby. Here they laid down again and reassumed(sic) their journey when darkness set in and marched five miles but halted till the morning of the 14th when the journey was resumed. At one point they met a negress in a field and she told them that her mistress was a Secesh woman and that she had a son in the rebel army. The party however were exceedingly hungry and they determined to secure some food This they did by boldly approaching the house and informing the mistress that they were fugitives from Norfolk who had been driven out by Butler and the Secesh sympathies of the woman were at once aroused and she gave them of her substance and started them on their way with directions how to avoid the Yankee soldiers who occasionally scouted in that vicinity. This information was exceedingly valuable to the refugees for by it they discovered the whereabouts of the Federal forces.

When about 1.5 miles from Williamsburg the party came upon the main road and found the tracks of a large body of cavalry. A piece of paper found by Captain Jones satisfied him that they were Union cavalry but his companions were suspicious and avoided the road and moved forward. At the Burnt Ordinary about 10 miles from Williamsburg awaited the return of the cavalry that had moved up the road and from behind a fence corner where they were secreted the fugitive saw the flag of the Union supported by a squadron of cavalry which proved to be a detachment of Colonel Spear's 11th Pennsylvania Regiment sent out for the purpose of picking up escaped prisoners. Colonel Kendrick says his feelings at seeing the old flag are indescribable. At all points along the route the fugitives describe their reception by the negroes as most enthusiastic and there was no lack of white people who sympathized with them and helped them on their way. In their escape the officers were aided by citizens of Richmond not foreigners or the poor class only, but by natives and persons of wealth. They know their friends there but very properly with hold any mention of their names. Of those got out of Libby Prison there were a number sick ones who were cured for by Union people and will eventually reach the Union lines their aid.

 -The Portrait Monthly, May 1864



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The Boar Swamp/Bottom's Bridge area