The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape

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 wa...

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 Presiden...

Association with Leading Secessionists.--Their Hatred of New England.--Admission to the Democratic Club.--Abuse of President Lincoln.--Sinking Buildings, Cellars and Walls Impos...

How Letters were Written and Transmitted.--A System of Cipher.--A Philadelphian among the Rebels.--Probable fate of a _Tribune_ Correspondent, if Discovered.--Southern Manufactu...

A Northerner among the Minute Men.--Louisiana Convention.--A Lively Discussion.--Boldness of the Union Members.--Another Exciting Discussion.--Secessionists Repudiate their Own...

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 Wo...

Abolition Tendencies of Kentuckians.--Fundamental Grievances of the Rebels.--Sudden Departure from New Orleans.--Mobile.--The War Spirit High.--An Awkward Encounter.--"Massa, Fo...

A Journey Through Georgia.--Excitement of the People.--Washington to be Captured.--Apprehensions about Arming the Negroes.--A Fatal Question.--Charleston.--Looking at Fort Sumte...

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 Spe...

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...

Missouri Again.--The Retributions of Time.--A Railroad Reminiscence.--Jefferson City.--A Fugitive Governor.--"Black Republicanism."--Belligerent Chaplain.--A Rebel Newspaper Con...

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.--Cincin...

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 Soldie...

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 Involu...

Jefferson City, Missouri.--Fremont's Army.--Organization of the Bohemian Brigade.--An Amusing Inquiry.--Diversions of the Correspondents.--A Polite Army Chaplain.--Sights in Jef...

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...

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...

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 A...

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 Ge...

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 Pape...

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.--"...

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...

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...

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....

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 Thr...

Running the Vicksburg Batteries.--Expedition Badly Fitted Out.--"Into the Jaws of Death."--A Moment of Suspense.--Disabled and Drifting Helplessly.--Bombarding, Scalding, Burnin...

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 Th...

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 Advoca...

Arrival in Richmond.--Lodged in Libby Prison.--Sufferings from Vermin.--Prisoners Denounced as Blasphemous.--Thieving of a Virginia Gentleman.--Brutality of Captain Turner.--Pri...

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...

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 Rebe...

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 Offic...

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 Dea...

Attempted Outbreak and Massacre.--Cold-blooded Murders Frequent.--Hostility to _The Tribune_ Correspondents.--A Cruel Injustice.--Rebel Expectations of Peace.--The Prison Like t...

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 Sentin...

"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.

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-G...

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 D...

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 Uni...

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 N...

Among the Delectable Mountains.--Separation from Friends.--Union Women Scrutinizing the Yankee.--"Slide Down off that Horse."--Friendly Words, but Hostile Eyes.--Hospitalities o...

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 Revolut...

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 mi...

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 per...

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 encoun...

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...

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 en...

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 fran...

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 Phila...

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 philanthr...

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.

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 ver...

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...

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...

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 t...

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 sh...

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 c...

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...

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 pie...

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...

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...

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 remark...

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...

At the Capital, I found orders to join the Army of the Potomac. It was during Lee's first invasion. In Pennsylvania, the governor and leading officials nearly doubled the Confed...

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-m...

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 E...

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 o...

----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.

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...

This remembrance was not cheering; but as we were the first correspondents of a radical Northern journal who had fallen into the enemy's hands, after a moment's interchange of v...

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...

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, i...

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 exchang...

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 d...

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, sav...

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 co...

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...

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 li...

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 impulse of the moment, a portion...

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 executi...

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 ni...

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...

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.

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...

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; i...

"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...

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 l...

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 strengt...

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...