Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 01 (of 15), American (1)Morris, Charles
History
Historic Tales: The Romance of Reality. Vol. 01 (of 15), American (1)
Morris, Charles
United States -- History
This ended the hopes of the fugitives. They had exhausted
their means of checking pursuit. Their wood had been all
consumed in this fruitless effort; their steam was rapidly
going down; they had played their last card and lost the
game. The men sprang from the slowed-up engine. The engineer
reversed its valves and followed them. Into the fields they
rushed and ran in all directions, their only hope being now
in their own powers of flight. As they sped away the engines
met, but without damage. The steam in the stolen engine had
so fallen that it was incapable of doing harm. The other
engine had been stopped, and the pursuers were springing
agilely to the ground, and hurrying into the fields in hot
chase.
Pursuit through field and forest was as keen and
unrelenting as it had been over iron rails. The Union lines
were not far distant, yet not a man of the fugitives
succeeded in reaching them. The alarm spread with great
rapidity; the whole surrounding country was up in pursuit;
and before that day ended several of the daring raiders were
prisoners in Confederate hands. The others buried themselves
in woods and swamps, lived on roots and berries, and
ventured from their hiding-places only at night. Yet they
were hunted with unwearying persistence, and by the end of a
week all but two had been captured. These two had so
successfully eluded pursuit that they fancied themselves out
of danger, and became somewhat careless in consequence. As a
result, in a few days more they, too, fell into the hands of
their foes.
A court-martial was convened. The attempt had been so
daring, and so nearly successful, the injury intended so
great, and the whole affair so threatening, that the
Confederate military authorities could not think of
leniency. Andrews and seven of his companions were condemned
to death and hung. Their graves may be seen to-day in the
Soldiers' Cemetery at Chattanooga, monuments to one of the
most daring and reckless enterprises in the history of the
Civil War. The others were imprisoned.
AN ESCAPE FROM LIBBY PRISON.
During the winter of 1864 certain highly interesting
operations were going on in the underground region of the
noted Libby Prison, at Richmond, Virginia, at that time the
by no means luxurious or agreeable home of some eleven
hundred officers of the United States army. These
operations, by means of which numerous captives were to make
their way to fresh air and freedom, are abundantly worthy of
being told, as an evidence of the ingenuity of man and the
amount of labor and hardship he is willing to give in
exchange for liberty.
[Illustration: LIBBY PRISON, RICHMOND.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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