F. W. Chesson File: POW.HTH
144 Fiske Street,
Waterbury, CT 06710 Rev: 7-19-2000
SECRET WIRES
*
GROUNDED CONNECTIONS
(Telegraphers as POWs)
Even before Bull Run, the Hazards of service with the Military
Telegraph Corps were evident. Young Ed Conway was stationed at
Point of Rocks, far up the Potomac, alone in a tiny cottage. Across
the river a Confederate post zeroed their cannon in on him, commencing
with the front steps. After porch and roof were shot away, and troops
began to rapidly approach, Conway hurriedly wired: "Closing my office
for repairs." He then evacuated himself and his instrument through a
rear window, scurried through the brush and headed back on foot towards
Washington.
The following telegram, sent in late 1861 or early 1862, clearly
indicates that telegraphers and linesmen were fair game for the enemy.
United States Military Telegraph
Received... 1861
To...W. G. Fuller Lebanon, Ky
"You may retain the amount due men taken prisoners and pay to their
families, being careful to get vouchers for each payment. I will take
your voucher on Form 22 in the whole amount. A. Stager"
Hooker's Division went into winter quarters at Budd's Ferry,
Maryland, a now-obscure site on the Potomac, across from Shipping
Point, at the mouth of Quantico Creek.
There was on-going activity and confrontations with Confederates
on the opposite shore, even balloon observations being made, as was
indicated by the following....
HEADQUARTERS HOOKER'S DIVISION, Camp Baker, Lower Potomac, Md.,
November 12, 1861
GENERAL:...
The (telegraph) operator informs me that the wires are in good
working condition. The balloon made several ascensions to-day, but was
so far removed from the enemy's works as to be of little or no service
to us. It will be transferred to a point near Budd's Ferry to-morrow,
and then probably to a locality still farther south....
JOSEPH HOOKER,
Brigadier-General, Commanding Division.
As warmer weather brightened the region, telegrapher John C. Gregg,
perhaps the operator referred to above, went out for a jaunt in the
spring sun. Unfortunately, also did some local raiders in gray, with
the following result...
United States Military Telegraph
Head Quarters, Army of the Potomac
Washington, D.C...March 13, 1862
To: Waite Budd's Ferry, Md.
"I am very sorry for Gregg, and the only consolation in the matter
is that it will not be long before we can release him. He should not
have ventured out. I will send Warren to assist you in a few days. Eckert"
Eckert was mistaken as to Gregg's speedy release, as Frank Drummond,
captured in the Valley by Jackson, recalled talking to Gregg, one floor
below him in Libby Prison on August 1, 1862. In due time, Gregg would be
freed to again serve in the Army of the Potomac and later in the Atlanta
Campaign.
The fall of 1863 found him volunteering for hazardous duty, as
recounted in Captain Van Duzer's Report for Mid-1863-64:
"On September 24th the enemy seized the south bank of the Tennessee
River, and nearly four miles between the foot of William's Island and
the Suck was under fire by rebel sharpshooters, armed with Mississippi
Rifles. Completely covered by rocks and trees, the distance from the
road to the cliff being less than 400 yards, they compelled me to build
and repair the line by night. And even then, the stroke of an axe or a
hatchet blow would often bring down a well-aimed volley from a dozen
rifles.
This dangerous condition continued until the seizure of the south
bank at Brown's Ferry by the forces Gen. W. F. Smith, and the occupation
of Lookout Valley by the Eleventh and Twelfth Army Corps.
In the building and maintaining this difficult line, I was much
indebted to John C. Gregg, who had lately joined me from the Army of the
Potomac, and who volunteered to go over and repair the line, when every
builder and repairer, enlisted man, and civilian employee alike refused
to go...."
Operators Drummond, Charley Moore, Henry Buell and William McIntosh
all became guests of Libby Prison during Jackson's sweep through the
Shenandoah Valley. Drummond kept a diary of their ordeal, commencing on
the last day of May, 1862. Although Drummond still had a fair amount of
unconfiscated pocket money, his trek into captivity was probably typical
of many Civil War POWs'experiences....
May 31. Started for Richmond at 12:30 PM. Marched 15 miles. Halted
for night in middle of road. Guards would not allow us into a nearby field.
Had to lie down in mud so deep that my sleeping companion, Lt. Rice of the
5th Connecticut, could not see a trace of his blanket when we got up. He
left it there. I can say firmly that he regretted leaving it there for
months afterwards. It rained very heavily all night and we arose from our
soft bed soaking wet, cold, hungry and quite miserable.
June 1. 5 A.M., marched for Strasburg. The officers, who could pay,
got breakfast at the hotels. After marching 11 miles from Strasburg,
halted at 4 P.M. Rations consisted of four hard-tack crackers.
June 2. Marched 15 miles to Mount Jackson.
June 3. Marched 16 miles. Officers camped in a dirty barn.
Very Hot. No rations. To keep up morale, I sang the Bacon and Greens
Song very loudly.
"Oh, there's charm in this dish, rightly taken.
Than from custards and jellies an epicure weans,
Stick your fork in the fat, wrap your greens round the bacon.
And you'll vow there's no dish, like bacon and greens!"
Cries of "Gag him!" and etc. greeted my rendition.
June 4. Marched 17 miles to Harrisonburg. No rations. Feet very sore.
Camped in a field near the depot. Was able to exchange greenbacks for
CSA paper and buy provisions from a store to share with others.
June 6. Another long march, sans rations. Rained hard all morning.
Sun came out at noon. Went to town with a guard and bought shoes, towels
and soap. Washed in river, put up tent, received rations and slept well.
June 7. Charley Moore very ill. Had to travel by wagon.
June 9. Ration of fat pork, no bread. Marched 16 miles to North Garden
Station. Changed our quarters in the midst of a heavy rain to a worse one.
June 10. Loaded into box cars and taken to Lynchburg.
June 11. Taken to Fair Grounds and rations served out.
For the rest of June and all of July, they were in limbo, sometimes
sick, mostly bored, but always expectant for some word of deliverance....
August 1. Another telegraph prisoner arrived to-day, Marion. H. Kerner.
August 4. Burr very sick with fever and chills, particularly chills.
August 6. Joyful news in camp to-day, the Colonel has announced orders
have come for our exchange. Charley Moore fainted twice to-day.
August 7. Confederate officers tell us that we will be on our way home
to-morrow or next day. More dancing.
August 8. About 2,000 prisoners left to-day. We expect to leave to-morrow.
August 9. Got orders to-night to cook rations and prepare to march at
six AM, to-morrow.
August 10. Marched for cars at seven. Left at 10:30. Sun was intensely
hot, could not possibly have walked one hundred yards farther than depot.
August 11. Arrived at Belle Island this A.M., at six. On the way, some of
us crawled through the windows of the car to the roof, and slept there.
It was a wonder we did not roll off, but we could not endure the heat and
bad odor inside. Left for Richmond at 1 PM. Reached Libby Prison about
three. We were informed we could not be released until we could procure an
exchange for ourselves. Imagine our feelings!
August 12. Officers in next room all leaving for home to-day. Spoke to a
Lieutenant Selfridge through a hole in the floor.
August 13. Saw all officers from Salisbury through hole in door. Spoke
to Captain Betts, Lieutenant Rice and several others.
August 14. Spoke to John C. Gregg, U.S.M.T., who was taken at Acquia
Creek, about six months ago, through hole in door.
August 17. Gregg left for home this morning with the officers. No sign
yet of our going.
August 18. There are now one hundred and fifty prisoners in this room.
August 19. Charley Moore and I made the raise of a sleeping cot.
August 23. Only hard bread to-night, due to more prisoners arriving P.M.
August 31. Rations are always soup (very watery), boiled beef and bread;
the menu never changes.
September 5. Man shot up stairs. The guards on the street are in the
habit of amusing themselves by shooting at any prisoner who shows himself
at a window. A man in our room forgot himself, and was quietly looking
over the James River. He approached too close to the window, and we heard
a shot, and immediately after, a fall from up stairs. The ball bad gone
close to the man's head, then through the floor above, killing a sergeant,
who was four or five feet from the window. He was sitting on a table,
leaning forward, and was struck through the heart; death instantaneous.
The man who did the shooting was arrested, as a matter of form, but was
out looking for a fresh target the next day. The Richmond papers agreed
that he had only done his duty, and gave him due credit for it.
September 12. About forty of us volunteered to go to Belle Island and
make descriptive lists of about six thousand prisoners. We got at work
about three P.M., and finished about eight A. M., having worked all night.
September 13. Five thousand soldiers left to-day. Rumored we are going
home in a day or two.
September 14. About ten of us were called out this morning, quite
unexpectedly. No time except to grab whatever was handy. Through a clerical
error, Charley Moore's name was omitted on the list. But we did not forget
him. I went to the Captain, and told him it must be an omission, and,
fortunately, he was generous enough to look into it, and found that the
clerk had left off Charley's name. In the meantime, poor Charley thought
he was deserted. We left Varina at 4: 30 P.M. and anchored at dark.
September 15. Steamed off at daylight; beautiful weather. Arrived at
Fortress Monroe about twelve, and weighed anchor 3 P.M. for home.
When we arrived at Annapolis and were turned loose, without any
guards, we hardly knew how to keep together.
On arriving at the War Department, we were very heartily welcomed,
although we were a hard-looking lot, and it was altogether unsafe to
come too near us. We got some money, and permission for Tommy Armor to
accompany me to procure an entire change of wardrobe. I stood in the
middle of the floor and directed the purchase from a safe distance. I
then made for the nearest bath house, rolled all my clothes into a
bundle, and threw them out of the back window, for obvious reasons, too
numerous to mention.
Before leaving Richmond, we were paroled for exchange. I managed to
take a copy of the Parole, which was as follow:
"We, the undersigned, do solemnly swear and pledge our sacred word
of honor that we will not, during the existing war between the United
States and the Confederate States of America, bear arms or aid and abet
the enemies of said Confederates States, by information or otherwise,
unless regularly exchanged or released. Richmond, September 14, 1862."
* * *
Operator John. A. Flagg's fate after Fredericksburg was to be caught
up in one of J.E.B. Stuart's audacious cavalry raids. On a balmy, late
December Sunday afternoon, he was reading at an open window of his office
in Burke's Station, about ten miles west of Alexandria, when suddenly a
woman hurried towards him in great agitation. Rushing to meet her, he
learned Stuart's forces were at Wolf Run Shoals, only a few miles south.
He relayed this danger to Washington and managed to warn two engines
which had gone up the line for wood, enabling them to cross the Accotink
River bridge before the raiders burned it.
After evacuating the station, Flagg encountered a wagon-train, whose
twenty wagons and over eighty horses, were in immediate peril. The ex-slave
teamsters, learning of the rebel approach, were about to bolt in panic.
Placing his hand over an imaginary pocket pistol, Flagg demanded they
return to their wagons and head for Fairfax Court House. The wagon-train
escaped capture, but Flagg was not so lucky and was turned over to two
revolver-waving teenagers. Finally, Shepard, Stuart's own telegraph
operator, intervened and saw that he was started off to Culpeper Court
House with 120 other prisoners. Here, he saw in the New Year of 1863,
and saw its January 2nd from the bars of Libby Prison. The next morning,
a Richmond paper added to his distress by describing his elegant key-
sounder, also captured at Burkes. Flagg was exchanged at the end of the
month, along with eighteen hundred other prisoners....
That February, another Rebel Raider, John S. Mosby, descended on
Fairfax Court House, picking up Operator Weitbrecht in the process, and
depositing him in Libby Prison. Here, he had the presence of mind to
report himself as a captain and was eventually exchanged for a like-
ranking Confederate officer a few weeks later. His appearance, however,
was anything but military, as his captors had also exchanged his clothing,
leaving him with "second-hand scarecrow apparel."
Mosby also had role in William N. Embree also becoming another
reluctant Libby Alumnus, though more due to the operator's indiscretion
in the choice of social companions.
Being also stationed at Fairfax Court House, Embree soon became
acquainted with a number of the local Southern Belles, and despite the
avowed Secesh sentiments of one young lady, became romantically attached
to her. Thus, shortly after the Chancellorsville debacle, Embree donned
his best white linen coat and went to visit the Rebel Lass at her home.
While he was occupied in basking in her smiles, three of Mosby's men also
chose to make a house call, and insisted upon his presence in Richmond.
Thus, after a strenuous ride, Embree found himself in Libby and later on
Belle Isle, awaiting exchange.
In the meantime, a search by Federal cavalry found only his linen
coat, leading to the assumption that he had been waylaid and killed.
Embree's father, working in Alexandria, made repeated but futile efforts
to obtain information on his missing son. After over three months had
passed, Embree was released, a reported sixty pounds lighter. So gaunt
had his frame been reduced, that on returning again to Alexandria, he
twice passed his father in the streets without being recognized. And
when hailed, the elder Embree first thought he was seeing a ghost. It
took several "fatted calves" to bring the young operator back to his
pre-capture weight of 154 pounds.
Some operators bore a charmed life, when it came to narrow escapes
from capture, as in the case of R. R. McCaine, whose adventures are
recounted under "The McCaine Connection."
Just before the Second Battle of Bull Run, Ed Conway was operating
at Manassas Junction. Among the stores were quantities of wooden boxes,
used to transport the narrow coffins of that period. With enemy troops
approaching, he made for one of the empty crates, taking his instrument
and wire with him, pulling the cover over his head. Whether he continued
to operate in this mode is not know, but his "dreadful sanctuary" remained
inviolate.
J. H. Douglass, operating at Poolesville, was without any supporting
troops, after Meade's forces moved out, following Gettysburg. He had
become complacent as to his actual situation, when, about midnight of
August 16, 1863, unfriendly visitors from the south side of the Potomac
routed him out of bed. After taking his instrument, the guerrillas forced
him to help them loot the local stores. In one establishment, however,
they became especially interested in their plunder and Douglass eased his
way out the rear door and ran into a cornfield. Keeping low until the
raiders galloped out of town, he returned to his office, reconnected the
wires and went back to bed.
Less lucky was John J. Wickham, entering the service at Murfreesboro,
Tennessee in May, 1862. Had he known of the travel plans of one Colonel
Forrest, he would have sought an immediate transfer, for on July 13,
Forrest's raiders descended on the place, capturing the garrison and its
telegrapher. Wickham had barely time to destroy his cipher and dispatches,
being nearly shot for this action, and saved only by an officer's last-
minute intervention.
The next morning near Woodbury he escaped to a blackberry thicket,
only to be discovered by an officer and two men not looking for him.
That night, he arrived at McMinnville, where he faced Forrest's wrath for
attempting to escape (and no doubt for refusing to divulge telegraphic
information). He was then off to Knoxville with the other officers, while
the troops were paroled.
An attempted escape at Knoxville landed him in a six-foot square
"Bear Cage" for several weeks. Then, an East Tennessee unionist woman,
who was allowed to bring food to her imprisoned brother, undertook to
help Wickham escape in female attire. But before the arrangements were
completed, he was suddenly transferred to Richmond. After several months
as a guest at the "Hotel d' Libby," he was paroled and finally exchanged.
Following a period of convalescence, he re-entered the Corps and
took part in the Atlanta Campaign. Wickham was thus well on the way
with Sherman to the sea when Forrest conducted his last foray against
Murfreesboro on December 8, 1864.
Wire-tapping could be an especially perilous assignment, as the
following Confederate report graphically describes....
HEADQUARTERS THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT, McPhersonville, S.C.,
September 17, 1863. Brig. Gen. THOMAS JORDAN, Chief of Staff,
and Assistant Adjutant-General:
GENERAL: I have the honor to inclose the report of Lieut. Col.
William Stokes, commanding sub-district between Combahee and Ashepoo,
of the pursuit and capture of a telegraphic party of the enemy. I
commend to the favorable attention of the general commanding the active
and energetic measures of this efficient officer, resulting in the
frustration of a bold and partly successful scheme for obtaining
information of our movements.
I am, general, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. S. WALKER,
Brigadier-General, Commanding.
GREEN POND, September 16, 1863.
CAPTAIN: On Saturday evening, a little after 3 o'clock, it was
reported to me by Mr. Buckhalter, roadmaster, that there was a small
force of the enemy about a mile south of this station, and that they had
attached a wire to the telegraph line. I immediately ordered up Captain
Appleby's company, stationed 2 miles below here, which reported very
promptly. I then ordered Captain Appleby to dismount 15 of his men and
to proceed on the train, then at the depot, to the point at which the
enemy had attached his wire for the purpose of intercepting dispatches
from Charleston and Savannah, and to engage the enemy, if he found them;
if not, to pursue them.
The enemy having gone before he arrived, he immediately commenced
the pursuit. I ordered First Lieutenant Berry, with the remainder of
Captain Appleby's company, to proceed by the way of Ballouville and to
skirmish the woods between Whitehall and this place. With my other
cavalry company, First Lieutenant [W. E.] Hewitt commanding, which I
ordered to report to me on the Combahee and Ashepoo Ferry road, and 6
men from Lieutenant Guerard's Company C, Eleventh Regiment Infantry,
South Carolina Volunteers, in charge of the battery at Lowndes' Mill.
I picketed the Combahee and Ashepoo Ferry road from Colonel Heyward's
place to the Chehaw road, as I felt certain I was below them, and,
Captain Appleby pursuing, they would have to cross there.
Just at dark, Corporal Myers and 2 privates, of Company C,
stationed at the corner of Colonel Heyward's fence, allowed the enemy
(6 in number he states, but since ascertained to be 11) to pass them
without either halting or firing on them. Had these pickets have done
their duty, the whole party would certainly have been captured at this
point, as Captain Appleby with his small detachment, that had pursued
them for about 6 miles through dense swamps, lagoons, and rice-fields,
were only about 200 yards behind.
When Captain Appleby came up to these pickets they acted so badly
that he mistook them (owing to the darkness of the night) for the enemy,
and ordered his men to fire on them, when they ran off. Fortunately,
none of them were hit.
The darkness of the night rendering farther pursuit useless, I had
the Combahee River well guarded, and on Sunday morning I again commenced
the pursuit with a detachment of Captain Appleby's company at the point
where he stopped the night previous, and when I had gotten nearly into
Mr. Lowndes' rice-field, on the Combahee River, I heard the report of
the rifled gun in battery at Lowndes' Mill. I immediately drew off the
detachment and proceeded there, thinking that a boat might be coming up
the river.
On arriving at the battery Lieutenant Guerard informed me that he
had heard a noise at Mr. Lowndes' mill, immediately on the river bank,
and had thrown a few shells near there, thinking it might be the enemy
trying to cross the river. I ordered Lieutenant Sineath. Company C, with
6 men of Lieutenant Guerard's section, to proceed to the mill, where the
noise had been heard, to investigate, and Captain Appleby to follow out
the trail with his detachment, which he did through the rice-field to
the above-mentioned place.
Lieutenant Sineath on arriving there found a small raft that the
enemy had constructed of old planks to cross the river on, and which
they had abandoned on his approach. He pursued them and soon caught
the captain (who was in command of the party), first lieutenant, and
a negro of the First South Carolina (Negro) Regiment, secreted in the
marsh on the river.
My thanks are due to Colonel Colcock, who kindly sent me down his
negro dogs on the train on Sunday, and the party I sent out with them
from Captain Appleby's company caught the operator that afternoon in
the marsh near the river. I again sent the dogs out on Monday morning
and caught a negro of the party, the property of the late Col. William
C. Heyward.
From information gathered from the two negroes caught, I ascertained
that the enemy had sent a negro company temporarily to Williman's Island
to support their expedition, and knew that they could be captured if I
could get there before they abandoned it.
I made the necessary arrangements, and proceeded on the night of
the 14th, with 30 men of my command and the 50 sent me by the brigadier-
general commanding, from Pocotaligo, under Lieutenant Walker, of the
Rutledge Mounted Rifles and Horse Artillery, for the purpose, and, with
the assistance of Mr. Merwin as a guide, I arrived on the island, after
a long and rugged march through the marsh, about daylight.
I found evident signs of the island having been occupied by the
enemy, and advanced upon the houses in which they were said to be
quartered, and found that they had apparently abandoned the island only
the day before. They had holes cut in the houses they were quartered in,
to shoot through, evidently expecting to be attacked if found out. Six
of the negroes who accompanied the enemy's telegraphic party have either
made their escape or are still in the Combahee marshes, which I am still
having hunted with negro dogs, although I must say that, owing to the
dense growth of briars, &c., on the check-dams, it is next to impossible
for man or dogs to get through.
I neglected to mention that over a mile of very fine gutta-percha
wire was captured about a half mile from the railroad on Saturday
evening, which I will send to-day, by the order of the brigadier-general
commanding, to General G. T. Beauregard.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. STOKES,
Lieut-Colonel, Commanding.
Capt. JAMES LOWNDES,
Acting Assistant Adjutant-General.
Speaking of captives in general, the following telegram, concerning
the welfare of paroled prisoners, is interesting for both its form and
content....
Philad'a, Wilm'n & Baltimore and Delaware R. R.
Magnetic Telegraph - Morse Line
St. Georges Station
By Telegraph.
Washington...Dec 23, 1863 Rec'd 2 o'clock
To: Lt Col E. E. Perkins Fort Delaware
How many Indiana parole prisoners have you? Do they need clothing
or other articles. Please answer. W F Dennig/s State Agt fr Indiana.
Operators Ludwig and Pettit were snatched up by Forrest at Athens,
Alabama on September 24, 1864, leading to Code No. 1 being discarded.
The two would spend some time as prisoners, climaxing their captivity
as parole camp operators at Vicksburg.
Earlier, Forrest had also captured Cipher Operator Stephen L.
Robinson in July, leading to the suspension of No. 12. Thus, in two
months of raiding, the wily fox had forced the expensive replacement
of not one, but two U.S.M.T. cipher systems!
With A. J. Smith's 12,000-man force away from their Memphis base,
his perennial foe Forrest conducted one of his traditionally bold
flanking moves on the city itself. So, starting from south of Oxford,
Mississippi on the afternoon of Thursday, August 18th, his two thousand
hard-riding host burst in on the pre-dawn, deserted streets of Memphis
on Sunday, the twenty-first. Among his plans for destruction was the
capture of Generals Hurlbut, Washburn and Buckland, all supposed to be
asleep at Gayoso House, the general headquarters.
The targeted officers had apparently enjoyed Saturday night's
pleasures to an extent that they were now reposing elsewhere. Still at
the noted hostelry, however, was Charles W. Pearson, one of four
operators assigned to duty there by Superintendent Fuller.
Startled by firing and the sight of a large body of cavalry on
Union Street, Pearson's first thought it was the noisy return of a local
scouting force. Then the Judge Advocate dashed upstairs, reporting the
presence of rebels. Thinking the building would be torched, Pearson ran
to the second-floor stoop and leaped off the porch's eighteen-foot height.
Recovering his breath, he eluded one Confederate and ran back into the
lower hall, only to be met with a swarm of invaders.
After about an hour, Forrest hurried off with three hundred prisoners,
losing some two hundred of his own men in the melee. At the end of a five-
mile forced march, Pearson was able to approach the general, taking a brief
nap on a poncho in a fence corner. At Pearson's request to be paroled as a
civilian, Forrest took a keener interest in his special prisoner and
interrogated him as to Smith's plans, forces and resources. Pearson tried to
be non-committal and the now-irate Forrest sent him back with the military
captives.
Then it was off on a seventy-five mile trek through the Mississippi
mud to Tupelo and the comforts of boxcar travel on what remained of the
Mobile and Meridian Railroad. Pearson's excursion included such scenic
stops as Grenada, Canton, Jackson Duvall's Bluff, Selma and finally to a
prison camp at Cahaba. In the course of time, most of his clothes were
appropriated by the guards and was forced to trade his trousers for a
pair with legs big enough for his entire torso.
At the "Grand Resort" of Cahaba, he was soon joined by fellow
operators Ludwig and Pettit.* With his civilian status in the Telegraph
now a definite liability towards future parole, he reported himself as a
member of Company M, Second Illinois Cavalry and thus under false colors,
so to speak, was finally exchanged...over thirty pounds lighter.
* James E. Pettit had participated in other military occupations,
including infantryman at Falling Waters, Virginia and as Quartermaster
Clerk during the Seige of Vicksburg. Now, as a brass-pounder operator,
he was assigned to the Athens, Alabama office. Here he was soon joined
by John F. Ludwig, as assistant operator.
Once when Roddey's 4th Alabama Cavalry raided Athens, Pettit hid
his instrument under his hotel's porch before running to safer quarters.
But more peril and long-term captivity lay ahead at the hands of Nathan
Forrest....
The operator at New Creek, West Virginia had no doubt observed
Thanksgiving 1864 with some satisfaction. The area was quiet and it
looked like the war was winding down far away at Richmond and
Petersburg. Perhaps a furlough home for Christmas would be possible.
But at about 11 AM on Monday morning, November 28, there came a
surprise visit from General Rosser, master of lightning forays,
including the infamous Coggins Point Cattle Raid the previous
September. The telegraph office was seized so quickly that he had no
time to escape and was carried off by the departing raiders. In the
process, he was robbed of his valuables and clothing, compelled to march
barefoot to Harrisonburg and given nothing to eat until the third day of
captivity. Rations when issued comprised less than a pound of raw beef,
which had to suffice until the evening of the fifth day.
He was ultimately confined in Castle Thunder, Richmond, where only
by sharing the blanket of a fellow prisoner he kept from freezing.
Even as the Confederacy was sliding down into history, certain
formalities were yet being observed. Around Vicksburg, prisoner
exchanges were continuing under a cartel arrangement. The Union parole
camp was four miles from the city, with the Confederate one located at
the Big Black River bridge.
Operators Ludwig and Pettit, captured by Forrest at Athens, Alabama
the previous September, were sent from their imprisonment at Cahaba for
exchange in March, 1865. But duty intervened when the line was repaired
from Vicksburg to the bridge at the Big Black. Ludwig found himself
stationed at the Union camp, with Pettit in Confederate headquarters.
This was March 21st, and back in the East, Sherman had just
concluded the Battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, while Wilson's
Cavalry was about to set out for Selma, Alabama. Yet here, by mutual
consent, both parole camp offices were linked by telegraph, manned
by Union operators!
Both men were far from fit, and Pettit worked most of his traffic
from a hammock. Curiously, a dangerous relapse of dysentery actually
saved his life. He and Ludwig were to go north by ship with 2,100
other exchangees. But with his illness, he could not travel, and Ludwig
was needed to take over from the Vicksburg district manager, dying from
disease. Thus, the two were not aboard the Sultana on the night of April
28, when its boiler exploded near Memphis, killing some fourteen-hundred
sick, home-bound former prisoners.
The two were finally exchanged on May 9, but Ludwig was pressed into
building a line from the Big Black bridge to Clinton. On the way, they
passed through the Champion Hill battlefield, where many skulls and other
grim mementos littered the ground. Finally, on June 2, General Warren
cited them for their faithful services under most trying circumstances.
On this same Friday, Kirby Smith accepted surrender terms at Galveston,
essentially ending the Civil War for the still young, but now far wiser
brass pounders..
* * *
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