Chapter I: Front Matter

[A Transcribers' Note follows the text.]

THE SECRET SERVICE, THE FIELD, THE DUNGEON, AND THE ESCAPE.

"Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances, Of moving accidents, by flood and field; Of hairbreadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach; Of being taken by the insolent foe, And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence." 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 Act of Congress, in the year 1865, BY 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 INSCRIBED.

List of Illustrations.

I.--PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR Facing Title-page.
II.--A GROUP OF ARMY CORRESPONDENTS: Facing page 17
Portraits of Messrs.
Charles C. Coffin, Boston _Journal_;
Junius H. Browne, New York _Tribune_;
Thomas W. Knox, New York _Herald_;
Richard T. Colburn, New York _World_;
L. L. Crounse, New York _Times_;
William E. Davis, Cincinnati _Gazette_, and
William D. Bickham, Cincinnati _Commercial_
III.--THE MISSISSIPPI CONVENTION VIEWED BY A Opposite page 83
TRIBUNE CORRESPONDENT
IV.--OPENING OF THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.--GENERAL Opposite page 281
HOOKER
V.--FACSIMILE OF AN AUTOGRAPH LETTER OF PRESIDENT page 321
LINCOLN
VI.--THE CAPTURE, WHILE RUNNING THE REBEL BATTERIES Opposite page 343
AT VICKSBURG
VII.--INTERIOR VIEW OF A HOSPITAL IN THE SALISBURY Opposite page 415
PRISON
VIII.--THE MASSACRE OF UNION PRISONERS ATTEMPTING Opposite page 419
TO ESCAPE FROM SALISBURY, NORTH CAROLINA
IX.--ESCAPING PRISONERS FED BY NEGROES IN THEIR Opposite page 441
MASTER'S BARN
X.--FORDING A STREAM Opposite page 471
XI.--"THE NAMELESS HEROINE" PILOTING THE ESCAPING Opposite page 501
PRISONERS OUT OF A REBEL AMBUSH

CONTENTS.

I.--THE SECRET SERVICE.
CHAPTER I. 17
Going South in the Secret Service.--Instructions from
the Managing Editor.--A Visit to the Mammoth Cave of
Kentucky.--Nashville, Tennessee.--Alabama Unionists.--How
the State was Precipitated into the Rebellion.--Reaching
Memphis.--Abolitionists Mobbed and Hanged.--Brutalities of
Slavery.
CHAPTER II. 31
In Memphis.--How the Secessionists Carried the Day.--Aims
of the Leading Rebels.--On the Railroad.--A Northerner
Warned.--An Amusing Dialogue.--Talk about Assassinating
President Lincoln.--Arrival in New Orleans.--Hospitality
from a Stranger.--An Ovation to General Twiggs.--Braxton
Bragg.--The Rebels Anxious for War.--A Glance at the
Louisiana Convention.
CHAPTER III. 43
Association with Leading Secessionists.--Their Hatred of
New England.--Admission to the Democratic Club.--Abuse of
President Lincoln.--Sinking Buildings, Cellars and Walls
Impossible.--Cemeteries above Ground.--Monument of a
Pirate.--Canal Street.--The Great French Markets.--Dedication
of a Secession Flag in the Catholic Church.--The Cotton
Presses.--Visit to the Jackson Battle-ground.--The
Creoles.--Jackson's Head-Quarters.--A Fire in the
Rear.--A Life Saved by a Cigar.--A Black Republican
Flag.--Vice-President Hamlin a Mulatto.--Northerners leaving
the South.
CHAPTER IV. 57
How Letters were Written and Transmitted.--A System of
Cipher.--A Philadelphian among the Rebels.--Probable fate
of a _Tribune_ Correspondent, if Discovered.--Southern
Manufactures.--A Visit to a Southern Shoe Factory.--Where
the Machinery and Workmen came from.--How Southern Shoes
were Made.--Study of Southern Society.--Report of a
Slave Auction.--Sale of a White Woman.--Girls on the
Block.--Husbands and Wives Separated.--A most Revolting
Spectacle.--The Delights of a Tropical Climate.
CHAPTER V. 71
A Northerner among the Minute Men.--Louisiana Convention.--A
Lively Discussion.--Boldness of the Union Members.--Another
Exciting Discussion.--Secessionists Repudiate their Own
Doctrines.--Despotic Rebel Theories.--The Northwest
to Join the Rebels.--The Great Swamp.--A Trip through
Louisiana.--_The Tribune_ Correspondent Invited to a Seat in
the Mississippi Convention.
CHAPTER VI. 81
The Mississippi State-House.--View of the Rebel
Hall.--Its General Air of Dilapidation.--A Free-and-Easy
Convention.--Southern Orators.--The Anglo-African
Delegate.--A Speech Worth Preserving.--Familiar Conversation
of Members.--New Orleans Again.--Reviewing Troops.--New
Orleans Again.--Hatred of Southern Unionists.--Three
Obnoxious Northerners.--The Attack on Sumter.--Rebel Bravado.
CHAPTER VII. 91
Abolition Tendencies of Kentuckians.--Fundamental
Grievances of the Rebels.--Sudden Departure from New
Orleans.--Mobile.--The War Spirit High.--An Awkward
Encounter.--"Massa, Fort Sumter has gone Up."--Bells
Ringing.--Cannon Booming.--Up the Alabama River.--A
Dancing Little Darkey.--How to Escape Suspicion.--Southern
Characteristics and Provincialism.--Visit to the Confederate
Capital.--At Montgomery, Alabama.--Copperas Breeches _vs._
Black Breeches.--A Correspondent under Arrest.
CHAPTER VIII. 105
A Journey Through Georgia.--Excitement of the
People.--Washington to be Captured.--Apprehensions about
Arming the Negroes.--A Fatal Question.--Charleston.--Looking
at Fort Sumter.--A Short Stay in the City.--North
Carolina.--The Country on Fire.--Submitting to Rebel
Scrutiny.--The North Heard From.--Richmond, Virginia.--The
Frenzy of the People.--Up the Potomac.--The Old Flag Once
More.--An Hour with President Lincoln.--Washington in
Panic.--A Regiment which Came Out to Fight.--Baltimore
under Rebel Rule.--Pennsylvania.--The North fully
Aroused.--Uprising of the whole People.--A _Tribune_
Correspondent on Trial in Charleston.--He is Warned to
Leave.--His Fortunate Escape
II.--THE FIELD.
CHAPTER IX. 125
Sunday at Niagara Falls.--View from the Suspension
Bridge.--The Palace of the Frost King.--Chicago, a
City Rising from the Earth.--Mysteries of Western
Currency.--A Horrible Spectacle in Arkansas.--Patriotism
of the Northwest.--Missouri.--The Rebels bent on
Revolution.--Nathaniel Lyon.--Camp Jackson.--Sterling Price
Joins the Rebels.--His Quarrel with Frank Blair.--His
Personal Character.--St. Louis in a Convulsion.--A Nashville
Experience.--Bitterness of Old Neighbors.--Good Soldiers for
Scaling Walls.--Wholesome Advice to Missouri Slaveholders
CHAPTER X. 141
Cairo, Illinois.--A Visit from General McClellan.--A little
Speech-making.--Penalty of Writing for _The Tribune_.--A
Unionist Aided to Escape from Memphis by a Loyal Girl.--The
Fascinations of Cairo.--The Death of Douglas.--A Clear-headed
Contraband.--A Review of the Troops.--"Not a Fighting Nigger,
but a Running Nigger."--Capture of a Rebel Flag
CHAPTER XI. 151
Missouri Again.--The Retributions of Time.--A Railroad
Reminiscence.--Jefferson City.--A Fugitive Governor.--"Black
Republicanism."--Belligerent Chaplain.--A Rebel Newspaper
Converted by the Iowa Soldiers.--Two Camp Stories of the
Marvelous
CHAPTER XII. 157
Chicago.--Corn, not Cotton, is King.--Curious Reminiscences
of the City.--A Visit to the Grave of Douglas.--Patriotism of
the Northwestern Germans.--Their Social Habits.--Cincinnati
in the Early Days.--A City Founded by a Woman.--The
Aspirations of the Cincinnatian.--Kentucky.--Treason and
Loyalty in Louisville.--A Visit to George D. Prentice.--The
first Union Troops of Kentucky.--Struggle in the Kentucky
Legislature.--What the Rebel Leaders Want.--Rousseau's
Visit to Washington.--His Interview with President
Lincoln.--Timidity of the Kentucky Unionists.--Loyalty of
Judge Lusk.
CHAPTER XIII. 173
Western Virginia.--Campaigning in the Kanawha Valley.--A
Bloodthirsty Female Rebel.--A Soldier Proves to be a Woman
in Disguise.--Extravagant Joy of the Negroes.--How the
Soldiers Foraged.--The Falls of the Kanawha.--A Tragedy of
Slavery.--St. Louis.--The Future of the City.--A disgusted
Rebel Editor.
CHAPTER XIV. 181
The Battle of Wilson Creek.--Daring Exploit of a
Kansas Officer.--Death of Lyon.--His Courage and
Patriotism.--Arrival of General Fremont.--Union Families
Driven Out.--An Involuntary Sojourn in Rebel Camps.--A
Startling Confederate Atrocity.
CHAPTER XV. 189
Jefferson City, Missouri.--Fremont's Army.--Organization
of the Bohemian Brigade.--An Amusing Inquiry.--Diversions
of the Correspondents.--A Polite Army Chaplain.--Sights
in Jefferson City.--"Fights mit Sigel."--Fremont's
Head-Quarters.--Appearance of the General.--Mrs.
Fremont.--Sigel, Hunter, Pope, Asboth, McKinstry.--Sigel's
Transportation Train.--A Countryman's Estimate of Troops.
CHAPTER XVI. 199
A Kid-gloved Corps.--Charge of Fremont's Body-guard.--Major
White.--Turning the Tables.--Welcome from the Union Residents
of Springfield.--Freaks of the Kansas Brigade.--A Visit to
the Wilson-Creek Battle-Ground.--"Missing."--Graves Opened
by Wolves.--Capture of a Female Spy.--Fremont's Farewell to
His Army.--Dissatisfaction Among the Soldiers.--Spurious
Missouri Unionists.--The Conduct of Secretary Cameron and
Adjutant-General Thomas.
CHAPTER XVII. 213
Rebel Guerrillas Outwitted.--Expedition to Fort
Henry.--Scenes in the Captured Fort.--Commodore Foote in
the Pulpit.--Capture of Fort Donelson.--Scenes in Columbus,
Kentucky.--A Curious Anti-Climax.--Hospital Scenes.
CHAPTER XVIII. 225
Down the Mississippi.--Bombardment of Island Number
Ten.--Sensations under Fire.--Flanking the Island.--Daily
Life on a Gunboat.--Triumph of Engineering Skill.--The
Surrender.
CHAPTER XIX. 235
The Battle of Shiloh.--With the Sanitary Commission.--A
Union Orator in Rebel Hands.--Grant and Sherman in
Battle.--Hair-breadth 'Scapes.--General Sweeney.--Arrival of
Buell's Army.--The Final Struggle.--Losses of the Two Armies.
CHAPTER XX. 243
Grant under a Cloud.--He Smokes and Waits.--Military
Jealousies.--The Union and Rebel Wounded.
CHAPTER XXI. 247
An Interview with General Sherman.--His Complaints about
the Press.--Sherman's Personal Appearance.--Humors of the
Telegraph.--Our Advance upon Corinth.--Weaknesses of Sundry
Generals.--"Ten Thousand Prisoners Taken."--Halleck's
Faux Pas at Corinth.--Out on the Front.--Among the
Sharp-shooters.--Halleck and the War Correspondents.
CHAPTER XXII. 259
Bloodthirstiness of Rebel Women.--The Battle of
Memphis.--Gallant Exploit of the Rams.--A Sailor
on a Lark.--Appearance of the Captured City.--The
Jews in Memphis.--A Rebel Paper Supervised.--"A Dam
Black-harted Ablichiness."--Challenge from a Southern
Woman.--Valuable Currency.--A Rebel Trick.--One of Sherman's
Jokes.--Fictitious Battle Reports.--Curtis's March through
Arkansas.--The Siege of Cincinnati.
CHAPTER XXIII. 275
With the Army of the Potomac.--On the War-Path.--A Duel in
Arizona.--How Correspondents Avoided Expulsion.--Shameful
Surrender of Harper's Ferry.--General Hooker at
Antietam.--"Stormed at with Shot and Shell."--A Night Among
the Pickets.--The Battlefield.
CHAPTER XXIV. 287
The Day after the Battle.--Among the Dead.--Lee Permitted
to Escape.--The John Brown Engine-House.--President Lincoln
Reviewing the Army.--Dodging Cannon Balls.--"An Intelligent
Contraband."--Harper's Ferry.--Curiosities of the Signal
Corps.--View from Maryland Hights.
CHAPTER XXV. 299
Marching Southward.--Rebel Girl with Sharp Tongue.--A Slight
Mistake.--Removal of General McClellan.--Familiarity of the
Pickets.--The Life of an Army Correspondent.--A Negro's Idea
of Freedom.--The Battle of Fredericksburg.--A Telegraphic
Blunder.--The Batteries at Fredericksburg.--A Disappointed
Virginian.--The Spirit of the Army under Defeat.
CHAPTER XXVI. 311
Reminiscences of President Lincoln.--His Great Canvass
with Douglas.--His Visit to Kansas.--His Manner of Public
Speaking.--High Praise from an Opponent.--A Deed without
a Name.--Sherman's Quarrel with the Press.--An Army
Correspondent Court-Martialed.--A Visit to President
Lincoln.--Two of his "Little Stories."--His familiar
Conversation.--Opinions about McClellan and Vicksburg.--Our
best Contribution to History.
CHAPTER XXVII. 327
Reminiscences of General Sumner.--His Conduct in Kansas.--A
Thrilling Scene in Battle.--How Sumner Fought.--Ordered Back
by McClellan.--Love for his Old Comrades.--Traveling Through
the Northwest.--A Visit to Rosecrans's Army.--Rosecrans in a
Great Battle.--A Scene in Memphis.
III.--THE DUNGEON.
CHAPTER XXVIII. 337
Running the Vicksburg Batteries.--Expedition Badly
Fitted Out.--"Into the Jaws of Death."--A Moment of
Suspense.--Disabled and Drifting Helplessly.--Bombarding,
Scalding, Burning, Drowning.--Taking to a Hay
Bale.--Overturned.--Rescued from the River.--The Killed,
Wounded, and Missing.
CHAPTER XXIX. 347
Standing by Our Colors.--Confinement in the Vicksburg
Jail.--Sympathizing Sambo.--Parolled to Return Home.--Turning
the Tables.--Visit from Many Rebels.--Interview with Jacob
Thompson.--Arrival in Jackson, Mississippi.--Kindness of
Southern Rebels.--A Project for Escape.
CHAPTER XXX. 357
A Word with a Union Woman.--Grierson's Great Raid.--Stumping
the State.--An Enraged Texan Officer.--Waggery of a Captured
Journalist.--The Alabama River.--Atlanta Editors Advocate
Hanging the Prisoners.--Renegade Vermonters.
CHAPTER XXXI. 365
Arrival in Richmond.--Lodged in Libby Prison.--Sufferings
from Vermin.--Prisoners Denounced as Blasphemous.--Thieving
of a Virginia Gentleman.--Brutality of Captain
Turner.--Prisoners Murdered by the Guards.--Fourth of July
Celebration.--The Horrors of Belle Isle.
CHAPTER XXXII. 373
The Captains Ordered Below.--Two Selected for Execution.--The
Gloomiest Night in Prison.--Glorious Revulsion of
Feeling.--Exciting Discussion in Prison.--Stealing Money
from the Captives.--Horrible Treatment of Northern
Citizens.--Extravagant Rumors among the Prisoners.
CHAPTER XXXIII. 381
Transferred to Castle Thunder.--Better than the
Libby.--Determined Not to Die.--A Negro Cruelly Whipped.--The
Execution of Spencer Kellogg.--Steadfastness of Southern
Unionists.
CHAPTER XXXIV. 387
A Waggish Journalist.--Proceedings of a Mock Court.--Escape
by Killing a Guard.--Escape by Playing Negro.--Escape by
Forging a Release.--Escaped Prisoner at Jeff Davis's Levee.
CHAPTER XXXV. 393
Assistance from a Negro Boy.--The Prison Officers
Enraged.--Visit from a Friendly Woman.--Shut up in a
Cell.--Stealing from Flag-of-Truce Letters.--Parols
Repudiated by the Rebels.--Sentenced to the Salisbury
Prison.--Abolitionists before the War.
CHAPTER XXXVI. 401
The Open Air and Pure Water.--The Crushing Weight of
Imprisonment.--Bad News from Home.--The Great Libby
Tunnel.--Escape of Colonel Streight.--Horrible Sufferings
of Union Officers.--A Cool Method of Escape.--Captured
through the Obstinacy of a Mule.--Concealing Money when
Searched.--Attempts to Escape Frustrated.--Yankee Deserters
Whipped and Hanged.
CHAPTER XXXVII. 411
Great Influx of Prisoners.--Starving in the Midst of
Food.--Freezing in the Midst of Fuel.--Rebel Surgeons
Generally Humane.--Terrible Scenes in the Hospitals.--The
Rattling Dead-Cart.--Cruelty of our Government.--General
Butler's Example of Retaliation.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 419
Attempted Outbreak and Massacre.--Cold-blooded Murders
Frequent.--Hostility to _The Tribune_ Correspondents.--A
Cruel Injustice.--Rebel Expectations of Peace.--The Prison
Like the Tomb.--Something about Tunneling.--The Tunnelers
Ingeniously Baffled.
IV.--THE ESCAPE.
CHAPTER XXXIX. 427
Fifteen Months of Fruitless Endeavor.--A Fearful Journey
in Prospect.--A Friendly Confederate Officer.--Effects
of Hunger and Cold.--Another Plan in Reserve.--Passing
the Sentinel.--"Beg Pardon, Sir."--Encountering Rebel
Acquaintances.
CHAPTER XL. 435
"Out of the Jaws of Death."--Concealed in Sight of the
Prison.--Certain to be Brought Back.--Commencing the Long
Journey.--Too Weak for Traveling.--Severe March in the Rain.
CHAPTER XLI. 441
A Cabin of Friendly Negroes.--Southerners Unacquainted
with Tea.--Walking Twelve Miles for Nothing.--Every Negro
a Friend.--Touching Fidelity of the Slaves.--Pursued by a
Home-Guard.--Help in the Last Extremity.--Carried Fifteen
Miles by Friends
CHAPTER XLII. 449
A Curious Dilemma.--Food, Shelter, and Friends.--Loyalty of
the Mountaineers.--A Levee in a Barn.--Visited by an Old
Friend.--A Day of Alarms.--A Woman's Ready Wit.--Danger
of Detection from Snoring.--Promises to Aid Suffering
Comrades.--A Repentant Rebel
CHAPTER XLIII. 461
Flanking a Rebel Camp.--Secreted among the Husks.--Wandering
from the Road.--Crossing the Yadkin River.--Union
Bushwhackers.--Union Soldiers "Lying Out."--An Energetic
Invalid
CHAPTER XLIV. 469
Money Concealed in Clothing.--Peril of Union
Citizens.--Fording Creeks at Midnight.--Climbing the Blue
Ridge.--Crossing the New River at Midnight
CHAPTER XLV. 477
Over Mountains and Through Ravines.--Mistaken for Confederate
Guards.--A Rebel Guerrilla Killed.--Meeting a Former
Fellow-Prisoner.--Alarm about Rebel Cavalry.--A Stanch old
Unionist.--The Greatest Danger.--A Well Fortified Refuge
CHAPTER XLVI. 487
Dan Ellis, the Union Guide.--In Good Hands at Last.--Ellis's
Bravery.--Lost! A Perilous Blunder.--A most Fortunate
Encounter.--Rejoining Dan and His Party.--A Terrible March
CHAPTER XLVII. 495
Fording Creeks in the Darkness.--Prospect of a Dreary
Night.--Sleeping among the Husks.--Turning Back in
Discouragement.--An Alarm at Midnight.--A Young Lady for a
Guide.--The Nameless Heroine.
CHAPTER XLVIII. 503
Among the Delectable Mountains.--Separation from
Friends.--Union Women Scrutinizing the Yankee.--"Slide
Down off that Horse."--Friendly Words, but Hostile
Eyes.--Hospitalities of a Loyal Patriarch.--"Out of the Mouth
of Hell."

THE FIELD, THE DUNGEON, AND THE ESCAPE.

I.

THE SECRET SERVICE.