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THE SECRET SERVICE, THE FIELD, THE DUNGEON, AND THE ESCAPE.
THE SECRET SERVICE, THE FIELD, THE DUNGEON, AND THE ESCAPE.
Othello. BY ALBERT D. RICHARDSON, TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT. Hartford, Conn., AMERICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY. JONES BROS. & CO., PHILADELPHIA, PA., AND CINCINNATI, OHIO. R. C. TREAT, CHICAGO, ILL. 1865. Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1865, Albert D. Richardson , In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Connecticut. TO Her Memory WHO WAS NEAREST AND DEAREST, WHOSE LIFE WAS FULL OF BEAUTY AND OF PROMISE, THIS VOLUME IS TENDERLY INS
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
I will go on the slightest errand now to the antipodes that you can desire to send me on. Much Ado about Nothing. Early in 1861, I felt a strong desire to look at the Secession movement for myself; to learn, by personal observation, whether it sprang from the people or not; what the Revolutionists wanted, what they hoped, and what they feared. But the southern climate, never propitious to the longevity of Abolitionists, was now unfavorable to the health of every northerner, no matter how strong
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we marched on without impediment. Richard III. While I remained in Memphis, my friend, who was brought into familiar contact with leading Secessionists, gave me much valuable information. He insisted that they were in the minority, but carried the day because they were noisy and aggressive, overawing the Loyalists, who staid quietly at home. Before the recent city election, every one believed the Secessionists in a large majority; but, when a Union meeti
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
I will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently. Tempest. The good fortune which in Memphis enabled me to learn so directly the plans and aims of the Secession leaders, did not desert me in New Orleans. For several years I had been personally acquainted with the editor of the leading daily journal—an accomplished writer, and an original Secessionist. Uncertain whether he knew positively my political views, and fearing to arouse suspicion by seeming to avoid him, I called on him th
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
'Tis my vocation, Hal; 'tis no sin for a man to labor in his vocation. King Henry IV. The city was measurably quiet, but arrests, and examinations of suspected Abolitionists, were frequent. In general, I felt little personal disquietude, except the fear of encountering some one who knew my antecedents; but about once a week something transpired to make me thoroughly uncomfortable for the moment. I attended daily the Louisiana Convention, sitting among the spectators. I could take no notes, but r
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
There's villany a broad; this letter shall tell you more. Love's Labor Lost. Nearly every northerner whom I heard of in the South, as suffering from the suspicion of Abolitionism, was really a pro-slavery man, who had been opposing the Abolitionists all his life. I recollect an amusing instance of a man, originally from a radical little town in Massachusetts, who had been domiciled for several years in Mississippi. While in New England, during the campaign after which Mr. Lincoln was elected, he
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
—— My business in this State Made me a looker-on here in Vienna. Measure for Measure. I whipped me behind the arras, and there heard it agreed upon. Much Ado About Nothing. Jackson, Miss. , April 1, 1861 . The Mississippi State House, upon a shaded square in front of my window, is a faded, sober edifice, of the style in vogue fifty years ago, with the representative hall at one end, the senate chamber at the other, an Ionic portico in front, and an immense dome upon the top. Above this is a mini
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
—— Thou sure and firm-set earth, Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear Thy very stones prate of my whereabout. Macbeth. There were two of my acquaintances (one very prominent in the Secession movement) with whom, while they had no suspicion of my real business, I could converse with a little frankness. One of them desired war, on the ground that it would unite the inhabitants of all the border slave States, and overpower the Union sentiment there. "But," I asked, "will not war also un
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
I reckon this always, that a man is never undone until he be hanged. Two Gentlemen of Verona. I now began to entertain sentiments of profound gratitude toward the young officer, at Mobile, who kept me from going to Fort Pickens. Rejecting the tempting request of my Philadelphia companion to remain one day in Montgomery, that he might introduce me to Jefferson Davis, I continued my "Journey Due North." When we reached the cars, my baggage was missing. The omnibus agent, who was originally a New Y
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of War. Julius Cæsar. Sancho Panza passed away too early. To-day, he would extend his benediction on the man who invented sleep, to the person who introduced sleeping-cars. The name of that philanthropist, by whose luxurious aid we may enjoy unbroken sleep at the rate of twenty-five miles an hour, should not be concealed from a grateful posterity. Thus I soliloquized one May evening, when, in pursuit of that "seat of war," as yet visible only to the prophetic eye
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
Only we want a little personal strength, And pause until these Rebels, now afoot, Come underneath the yoke of Government. King Henry IV. Cairo, as the key to the lower Mississippi valley, is the most important strategic point in the West. Immediately after the outbreak of hostilities, it was occupied by our troops. As a place of residence it was never inviting. To-day its offenses smell to heaven as rankly as when Dickens evoked it, from horrible obscurity, as the "Eden" of Martin Chuzzlewit. Th
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
And thus the whirligig of Time brings in his revenges. Twelfth Night, or What You Will. Bloody instructions, which being taught, return To plague the inventors. Macbeth. On the 15th of June I returned from Cairo to St. Louis. Lyon had gone up the Missouri River with an expedition, which was all fitted out and started in a few hours. Lyon was very much in earnest, and he knew the supreme value of time in the outset of a war. How just are the retributions of history! Virginia originated State Righ
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
Who can be * * * * * Loyal and neutral in a moment? No man. Macbeth. Why, this it is when men are ruled by women. Richard III. It was a relief to escape the excitement and bitterness of Missouri, and spend a few quiet days in the free States. Despite Rebel predictions, grass did not grow in the streets of Chicago. In sooth, it wore neither an Arcadian nor a funereal aspect. Palatial buildings were everywhere rising; sixty railway trains arrived and departed daily; hotels were crowded with guests
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
The hum of either army stilly sounds, That the fixed sentinels almost receive The secret whispers of each other's watch. King Henry V. I spent the last days of July, in Western Virginia, with the command of General J. D. Cox, which was pursuing Henry A. Wise in hot haste up the valley of the Kanawha. There had been a few little skirmishes, which, in those early days, we were wont to call battles. Like all mountain regions, the Kanawha valley was extremely loyal. Flags were flying, and the people
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
——He died, To throw away the dearest thing he owed, As 'twere a careless trifle. Macbeth. The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. Merchant of Venice. On the 10th of August, at Wilson Creek, two hundred and forty miles southwest of St. Louis, occurred the hardest-fought battle of the year. General Lyon had pursued the Rebels to that corner of the State. He had called again and again for re-enforcements, but at Washington nothing could be seen except Virginia. Lyon's force was five thousand
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster? Merchant of Venice. In October, General Fremont's forming army rendezvoused at the capital of Missouri. From afar, Jefferson City is picturesque; but distance lends enchantment. Close inspection shows it uninviting and rough. The Capitol, upon a frowning hill, is a little suggestive of the sober old State House which overlooks Boston Common. Brick and frame houses enough for a population of three thousand stra
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more, Or close the wall up with our English dead! King Henry V. General Fremont's Body Guard was composed of picked young men of unusual intelligence. They were all handsomely uniformed, efficiently armed, and mounted upon bay horses. They cultivated the mustache, with the rest of the face smooth—at least, not a more whimsical decree than the rigid regulation of the British army, which compelled every man to shave and wear a stock under the burning s
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
Thou hast most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm by erecting a grammar-school. King HenryVI. O, 'twas a din to fright a monster's ear, To wake an earthquake! Tempest. In January, Colonel Lawson, of the Missouri Union forces, was captured by a dozen Rebels, who, after some threats of hanging, decided to release him upon parole. Not one of them could read or write a line. Lawson, requested by them to make out his own parole, drew up and signed an agreement, pledging himself never to ta
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground. The wills above be done! but I would fain die a dry death. Tempest. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to lay my head. Ibid. On the 14th of March, the flotilla again started down the Mississippi, steaming slowly by Columbus, where Venus followed close upon Mars, in the form of two women disbursing pies and some other commodities to sailors and soldiers. The next day we anchored above Island Number Ten,
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
Of sallies and retires; of trenches, tents, Of palisadoes, frontiers, parapets; Of basilisks, of cannon, culverin; And all the currents of a heady fight. King Henry IV. Simultaneously with the capture of Island Number Ten occurred the battle of Shiloh. The first reports were very wild, stating our loss at seventeen thousand, and asserting that the Union commander had been disastrously surprised, and hundreds of men bayoneted in their tents. It was even added that Grant was intoxicated during the
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
How use doth breed a habit in a man. Two Gentlemen of Verona. ——But let me tell the world, If he outlive the envy of this day, England did never owe so sweet a hope So much misconstrued. Henry IV. It was long after the battle of Shiloh before all the dead were buried. Many were interred in trenches, scores together. A friend, who was engaged in this revolting labor, told me that, after three or four days, he found himself counting off the bodies as indifferently as he would have measured cord-wo
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
They are the abstract and brief chronicles of the time. Hamlet. General Sherman was very violent toward the Press. Some newspapers had treated him unjustly early in the war. While he commanded in Kentucky, his eccentricities were very remarkable, and a journalist started the report that Sherman was crazy, which obtained wide credence. There was, at least, method in his madness; for his supposed insanity which declared that the Government required two hundred thousand troops in the West, though h
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
——Whose tongue Outvenoms all the worms of Nile. Cymbeline. No history of the war is likely to do full justice to the bitterness of the Rebel women. Female influence tempted thousands of young men to enter the Confederate service against their own wishes and sympathies. Women sometimes evinced incredible rancor and bloodthirstiness. The most startling illustration of the brutalizing effect of Slavery appeared in the absence of that sweetness, charity, and tenderness toward the suffering, which is
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
He that outlives this day and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named. King Henry V. Much work for tears in many an English mother, Whose sons lie scattered on the bleeding ground. King John. During the siege of Cincinnati, the Managing Editor telegraphed me thus: "Repair to Washington without any delay." An hour afterward I was upon an eastern train. At the Capital, I found orders to join the Army of the Potomac. It was during Lee's first invasion. In Pennsylvania, the gove
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
——Our doubts are traitors. And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt. Measure for Measure. In a lull of the musketry, during the battle of Antietam, McClellan rode forward toward the front. On the way, he met a Massachusetts general, who was his old friend and class-mate. "Gordon," he asked, "how are your men?" "They have behaved admirably," replied Gordon; "but they are now somewhat scattered." "Collect them at once. We must fight to-night and fight to-morrow. This is ou
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CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled, Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty. Taming of the Shrew. When the army left Harper's Ferry, on a forced march, it moved, with incredible celerity, thirty miles in nine days! The Virginians east of the Blue Ridge were nearly all hot Secessionists. The troops, who had behaved well among the Union people of Maryland, saw the contrast, and spoiled the Egyptians accordingly. I think if Pharaoh had seen his homestead passed over by a hungry, hostile
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CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
He hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office, that his virtues Will plead like angels, trumpet-tongued, against The deep damnation of his taking off. Macbeth. The assassination of President Lincoln, while these chapters are in press, attaches a sad interest to everything connected with his memory. During the great canvass for the United States Senate, between Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Douglas s , the right of Congress to exclude Slavery from the Territories was the chief
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CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
————————— It is held That valor is the chiefest virtue and Most dignifies the haver. If it be, The man I speak of cannot in the world Be singly counterpoised. Coriolanus. During the month of March, Major-General Edwin V. Sumner was in Washington, apparently in vigorous health. He had just been appointed to the command of the Department of the Missouri. One Saturday evening, having received his final orders, he was about leaving for his home in Syracuse, New York, where he designed spending a few
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
We were all sea-swallowed, though some cast again, And by that destined to perform an act, Whereof what's past is prologue. Tempest. On Sunday evening, May 3d, accompanied by Mr. Richard T. Colburn, of The New York World , I reached Milliken's Bend, on the Mississippi River, twenty-five miles above Vicksburg. Grant's head-quarters were at Grand Gulf, fifty-five miles below Vicksburg. Fighting had already begun. We joined my associate, Mr. Junius H. Browne, of The Tribune , who for several days h
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CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
It is not for prisoners to be too silent. Love's Labor Lost. On the way, one of our party enjoined my colleague and myself— "You had better not say Tribune to the Rebels. Tell them you are correspondents of some less obnoxious journal." Months before, I had asked three Confederate officers—paroled prisoners within our lines:— "What would you do with a Tribune correspondent, if you captured him?" With the usual recklessness, two had answered:— "We would hang him upon the nearest sapling." This re
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CHAPTER XXX.
CHAPTER XXX.
A kind of excellent, dumb discourse. Tempest. It did not require many days of captivity to teach us the infinite expressiveness and trustworthiness of the human eye. We began to recognize Union people by their friendly look before they spoke a word. Our train stopped for dinner at a secluded Mississippi tavern. At the door of the long dining-room stood the landlady, an intelligent woman of about thirty-five. When I handed her a twenty-dollar Rebel note, she inquired— "Have you nothing smaller th
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CHAPTER XXXI
CHAPTER XXXI
——Give me to drink mandragora, That I may sleep out this great gap of time. Antony and Cleopatra. At 5 o'clock on the morning of Saturday, May 16th, we reached Richmond. At that early hour, the clothing-dépôt of the Confederate government was surrounded by a crowd of poor, ill-clad women, seeking work. We were marched to the Libby Prison. Up to this time we had never been searched. I had even kept my revolver in my pocket until reaching Jackson, Mississippi, where, knowing I could not much longe
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CHAPTER XXXII.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason? Tempest. When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. Hamlet. On the 6th of July, an order came to our apartments for all the captains to go down into a lower room. At this time, as usual, there was constant talk about resuming the exchange. They went below with light hearts, supposing they were about to be paroled and sent North. Half an hour after, when the first one returned, his white, haggard face
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
I had rather than forty pound I were at home. Twelfth Night, or What you Will. On the evening of September 2d, all the northern citizens were transferred from Libby to Castle Thunder. The open air caused a strange sensation of faintness. We grew weak and dizzy in walking the three hundred yards between the prisons. That night we were thrust into an unventilated, filthy, subterranean room, nearly as loathsome as the Vicksburg jail. But we smoked our pipes serenely, remembering that "Fortune is tu
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CHAPTER XXXIV.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
——One fading moment's mirth, With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights. Two Gentlemen of Verona. We consumed many of the long hours in conversing, reading, and whist-playing. Night after night we strolled wearily up and down our narrow room, ignorant of the outer world, save through glimpses, caught from the barred windows, of the clear blue sky and the pitying stars. Still, endeavoring to make the best of it, we were often mirthful and boisterous. Two correspondents of The Herald , Mr. S. T.
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CHAPTER XXXV.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows. Tempest. Several days of our confinement in Castle Thunder were spent in a little cell with burglars, thieves, "bounty-jumpers," and confidence men. Our association with these strange companions happened in this wise: One day we completed an arrangement with a corporal of the guard, by which, with the aid of four of his men, he was to let us out at midnight. We had a friend in Richmond, but did not know precisely where his house was situated. We w
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CHAPTER XXXVI.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope. Measure for Measure. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased, Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow? Macbeth. Truly saith the Italian proverb, "There are no ugly loves and no handsome prisons." Still we found Salisbury comparatively endurable. Captain Swift Galloway, commanding, though a hearty Confederate, was kind and courteous to the captives. Our sleeping apartment, crowded with uncleanly men, and foul with the vilest exhalations, was f
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CHAPTER XXXVII.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
——- Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and played Some tricks of desperation. Tempest. All trouble, torment, wonder, and amazement Inhabit here. Ibid. Early in October, the condition of the Salisbury garrison suddenly changed. Nearly ten thousand prisoners of war, half naked and without shelter, were crowded into its narrow limits, which could not reasonably accommodate more than six hundred. It was converted into a scene of suffering and death which no pen can adequately describe. For ever
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CHAPTER XXXVIII.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
I have supped full with horrors. Macbeth. The weariest and most loathed worldly life That ache, age, penury and imprisonment Can lay on nature. Measure for Measure. On the 26th of November, while we were sitting at dinner, John Lovell came up from the yard and whispered me: "There is to be an insurrection. The prisoners are preparing to break out." We had heard similar reports so frequently as to lose all faith in them; but this was true. Without deliberation or concert of action, upon the impul
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CHAPTER XXXIX.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
"A good wit will make use of any thing: I will turn diseases to commodity." King Henry IV. We were constantly trying to escape. During the last fifteen months of our imprisonment, I think there was no day when we had not some plan which we hoped soon to put in execution. We were always talking and theorizing about the subject. Indeed, we theorized too much. We magnified obstacles. We gave our keepers credit for greater shrewdness and closer observation than they were capable of. We would not sta
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CHAPTER XL.
CHAPTER XL.
——Wheresoe'er you are That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm, How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides, Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you? King Lear. At dark, my three friends joined me. We went through the outer gate, in full view of a sentinel, who supposed we were Rebel surgeons or nurses. And then, on that rainy Sunday night, for the first time in twenty months, we found ourselves walking freely in a public street, without a Rebel bayonet before or behind us! Reachi
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CHAPTER XLI.
CHAPTER XLI.
I am not a Stephano, but a cramp. Tempest. Let every man shift for all the rest, and let no man Take care for himself; for all is but fortune. Ibid. The barn contained no fodder except damp husks. Burrowing into these, we wrapped our dripping coats about us, covered ourselves, faces and all, and shivered through the day, so weary that we drowsed a little, but too uncomfortable for any refreshing slumbers. Rising at dark, with skins irritated by atoms of husk which had penetrated our clothing, we
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CHAPTER XLII.
CHAPTER XLII.
——Weariness Can snore upon the flint. Cymbeline. Montano. But is he often thus Iago. 'Tis evermore the prologue to his sleep. Othello. It was now five o'clock in the morning of Saturday, December 24th, the seventh day of our escape. Leaving my companions behind, I tapped at the door of a log-house. "Come in," said a voice; and I entered. In its one room the children and father were still in bed; the wife was already engaged in her daily duties. I asked: "Can you direct me to the widow ----?" "Th
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CHAPTER XLIII.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Nay, but make haste, the better foot before. King John. On the evening of the eleventh day, Wednesday, December 28, we left the kind friends with whom we had stayed for five days and four nights, gaining new vigor and inspired by new hope. Their last injunction was: "Remember, you cannot be too careful. We shall pray God that you may reach your homes in safety. When you are there, do not forget us, but do send troops to open a way by which we can escape to the North." In their simplicity, they f
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CHAPTER XLIV.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Pray you tread softly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot-fall! Tempest. There's but a shirt and a half in all my company, and the half shirt is two napkins pinned together and thrown over the shoulders. King Henry IV. Our emaciated condition, hard labor, and the bracing mountain air, conspired to make us ravenous. In quantity, the pork and corn-bread which we devoured was almost miraculous; in quality, it seemed like the nectar and ambrosia of the immortal gods. It was far better adapted t
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CHAPTER XLV.
CHAPTER XLV.
No tongue—all eyes; be silent. Tempest. At nine in the morning our host awakened us. "Gentlemen, I trust you have slept well. The enemy has gone, and breakfast waits. I call you early, because I want to take you out of North Carolina into Tennessee, where I will show you a place of refuge infinitely safer than this." For the first time since leaving Salisbury we traveled by daylight. Our guide led us deviously through fields, and up almost perpendicular ascents, where the rarefied air compelled
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CHAPTER XLVI.
CHAPTER XLVI.
If I have wit enough to get out of this wood, I have enough to serve mine own turn. Midsummer Night's Dream. For many months before leaving prison, we had been familiar with the name of Dan Ellis —a famous Union guide, who, since the beginning of the war, had done nothing but conduct loyal men to our lines. Ellis is a hero, and his life a romance. He had taken through, in all, more than four thousand persons. He had probably seen more adventure—in fights and races with the Rebels, in long journe
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CHAPTER XLVII.
CHAPTER XLVII.
It hath been the longest night That e'er I watched, and the most heaviest. Two Gentlemen of Verona. ——But for this miracle— I mean our preservation—few in millions Can speak like us. Tempest. As I toiled, staggering, up each successive hill, it seemed that this terrible climbing and this torturing day would never end. But Necessity and Hope work miracles, and strength proved equal to the hour. At 4 p.m. the clouds broke, the sun burst out, as we stood on the icy summit, revealing a grand view of
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CHAPTER XLVIII.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
——Fortune is merry, And in this mood will give us any thing. Julius Cæsar. The night is long that never finds the day. Macbeth. Relieved again from immediate danger, every thing seemed like a blessed dream. I was haunted by the fear of waking to find myself in the old bunk at Salisbury, with its bare and squalid surroundings. We were often compelled to walk and lead our weary animals. The rushing creeks were perilous to cross by night. The rugged mountains were appalling to our aching limbs and
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Notes:
Notes:
1 Vernacular for carrying a load upon the back of a man or animal. 2 In Mexico, General Twiggs, while applying some preparation to a wound in his head, found it restoring his hair to its natural color. An enterprising nostrum-vender at once placed in market and advertised largely something which he styled the "Twiggs Hair Dye." Dr. Holmes makes the incident a target for one of his Parthian arrows:— 3 Creole means "native;" but its New Orleans application is only to persons of French or Spanish d
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