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U.vi,. :i u. L..wi.d (Billy) in 1905 
 
Seven gold medals pinned on Ralph O. Bates (I 
 General Garfield in 1868 
 
BILLY AND DICK 
 
 FROM 
 
 Andersonville Prison 
 
 TO THE 
 
 White House 
 
 BY 
 
 RALPH O. BATES 
 
 (BILLY) ' 
 
 The Most Chaste and Entertaining Story before the American People. 
 Endorsed by Universities, Colleges. Schools, the Press, Pulpit and the People 
 Everywhere. 
 
 PRESS 
 SENTINEL PUB. CO.. SANTA CRUZ. CAL 
 
e 
 
 ^.^' 
 
 ^i- 
 
 Copyright, 1910, 
 BY ROZELLA E. BATES 
 
 CCU2.61970 
 
TESTIMONIALS. 
 
 I am personally acquainted with Ralph 0. Bates, 
 known as Billy. We lived in the same town in 
 boyhood, and I know he is the man he represents 
 himself to be. — William H. Woodruff, Cleveland, 
 Ohio, Feb. 18, ]897. 
 
 Comrade Ralph 0. Bates (Billy) and myself 
 were born and raised in the same neighborhood; 
 I am well acquainted with all his family. The 
 story of "Billy and Dick" is the uncolored trutli. 
 That he is the same Billy can be proven by many 
 living witnesses in Richmond County, Ohio — D. K. 
 Charles, M. D., Philomath, Oregon, Jan. 27, 1891. 
 
 Ralph 0. Bates was in Troop H and I in Troop 
 E of the same regiment. We were from the same 
 town and I knew his family. He is the Billy of 
 "Billy and Dick from Andersonville Prison to the 
 White House." — Louis Geoch, Abilene, Kansas, 
 April 2, 1902. 
 
 I have known Ralph 0. Bates for many years, 
 having enlisted from my native county. I can 
 testify that he is the man he represents himself 
 to be and that his story is true. — P. C. Richardson, 
 Seattle, Washington, June 1, 1892. 
 
 The query in the minds of many who have 
 heard this story was "Is this really the man?" 
 
This, the editor of this paper can answer affirma- 
 tively. The editor knows Ralph 0. Bates per- 
 sonally and has possession of the farm cleared up 
 and improved by Mr. Bates and his father. — St. 
 Joseph (Mich.) Press, Sept. 28, 1895. 
 
 I enlisted Ralph 0. Bates in the Ninth Ohio Cav- 
 alry in 1862. In 1893 we met at Portland, Oregon, 
 where Bates recognized me as his First Lieutenant 
 and recruiting officer; again after many years we 
 met by chance, at Soquel, Cal., and Dec. 27, 1909, 
 Ralph 0. Bates departed from this life at my 
 Sanitarium, four miles from Santa Cruz. — James 
 Beechler, M. D., Soquel, California, Jan. 1, 1910. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In the winter of 1868 Ralph 0. Bates was called 
 from college, at Ann Arbor, Mich., by General G^-- 
 field to give his first lecture, "From Andersonville 
 Prison, Georgia, to the White House," in the old 
 gray stone church, on the south side of the square 
 in Cleveland, Ohio. At the close of the lecture 
 General Garfield stepped forward and pinned on 
 "Billy" seven gold medals of the seven prisons 
 he had passed through, and asked Billy to promise 
 to spend his life telling that story to the coming 
 generations, which Billy has done. 
 
 It was his custom, in lecturing to the schools 
 from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to ask the chil- 
 dren to write essays, or compositions, on his lec- 
 ture, which was the true story of his own life 
 while a soldier boy from 1861 to 1865. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The personal adventures of heroic men have 
 challenged the admiration of every age and race. 
 From the fabled siege of Troy, made classical by 
 blind old Homer, to the deadlier struggles of the 
 Great Rebellion, remembered by thousands of 
 living men, the national literature of every people 
 has been greatly swelled and permanently colored 
 by the deeds of daring and glorious achievements 
 of illustrious men and noble women. 
 
 But the brilliant successes of military chieftains 
 formally recorded in the history and biography 
 of the times, forms but a small part of the real 
 history attending these events. The unwritten 
 history of every warlike race has been rich in 
 tradition, song and story, and we of the nineteenth 
 century have but substituted national ''Camp 
 fires ' ' and soldiers ' newspapers for the wandering 
 minstrelsy and Palmer's stories of the Crusaders, 
 and later ages. 
 
 And so in presenting this volume to the public, 
 instead of reciting the daring gallantry of indi- 
 vidual feats or wider successes of modern arms 
 or generalship, I shall rather confine myself to 
 the heroism of individual endurance and facing 
 of perils by flood and field, which never before 
 found their way into print. But these, and such as 
 these, are a very important part of that history 
 yet to be written, revealing the temper of our 
 
people through all those troublesome times. I 
 shall give you a sombre chapter. Its colors may 
 be subdued and monotonous, or may become black 
 or lurid, as events sweep across my recollection. 
 
 But this chapter belongs to the history of my 
 country, however shameful it may be. It belongs 
 also to the history of that Grand Army of the 
 Republic — a part of which I was— that suppressed 
 the greatest rebellion which ever rose among 
 English-speaking people; carried the Stars and 
 Stripes as an emblem of Constitutional liberty 
 from ocean to ocean; abolished our National curse 
 (that sum of all villainies, African slavery), and 
 made us in fact what we had only been in theory 
 —a free and united people. 
 
 In doing this I shall tell you a plain, unvar- 
 nished tale. I shall make no effort to weave you 
 a pretty story, but shall attempt to give you the 
 events and conversations precisely as they oc- 
 curred. I shall avoid all tricks of rhetoric, for 
 which I have no taste, and essay no brilliant wit, 
 for which I have little capacity. ' ' With charity 
 for all and with malice toward none," as Lincoln 
 said, I shall truthfully tell you a part of what 
 befell me during my confinement and escape from 
 the military prison at Andersonville. 
 
Billy and Dick 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Enlisted and a Prisoner. 
 
 m ENLISTED Jinie 7, 1862, a private in Troop 
 H, Ninth Ohio Cavahy, Captain Wil- 
 liam H. Stowe, at Defiance, Ohio, and was 
 mustered into the United States service at Camp 
 Dennison, near Cincinnati, June 29, 1862. "We 
 were armed and mounted there, given an eight- 
 day furlough to visit our homes ; returned to cami) 
 at the end of that time: moved across the Ohio 
 River to Covington, Kentucky, for a few days, 
 and were transported thence to Lexington, Ken- 
 tucky, all within about one month. 
 
 At the outset of the Great Rebellion, Kentucky 
 resolved to maintain a position of armed neutral- 
 ity. Many of her political leaders were strongly 
 pronounced Union men, but the masses of her 
 white population secretly sympathized with the 
 Confederate government, and many thousands of 
 her sons, gallantly but mistakenly, marched off 
 to the sound of the Southern fife and drum, and 
 involved their commonwealth in a fratricidal 
 struggle for State and National supremacy. 
 Friends and neiarhbors were arraved against each 
 
10 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 other. Fathers, sons and brothers often engaged 
 in mortal combat in the contending hosts for the 
 occupancy of this ''dark and bloody ground" 
 until bushwhacking and all the horrible attend- 
 ants of partisan warfare reached a point of deadly 
 malignity never surpassed in the history of civil- 
 ized people. 
 
 As a consequence of this condition, the Federal 
 cavalry was kept constantly in motion, patroling 
 the country to prevent rebel raids from the south 
 and east, to put an end to rebel recruiting within 
 their reach, and to assist in preserving civil law 
 and order, and in collecting for Federal use forage, 
 grain, live stock and all materials of war. 
 
 Our headquarters were first at Bedstone Hail, 
 near Lexington, where we were joined in the latter 
 part of August by the Tenth Ohio and Second In- 
 diana cavalry regiments under Colonel Walter 
 Brown and Colonel Chase, the whole commanded 
 by Colonel Chase as ranking officer. 
 
 We scouted eastward some distance, south to 
 Cumberland Gap and west as far as Mammoth 
 Cave. General Kirby Smith was making his first 
 raids on Kentucky soil and we were riding day 
 and night repelling these, pursuing his routed 
 followers, and conveying captured supplies on 
 border ground back to the government depots. 
 This work was continued week after week until 
 the first of November. By this time our opera- 
 tions had been extended beyond Policy's Springs 
 into Policy's Valley, on the Virginia side of the 
 line, south of Cumberland Gap, and Kirby Smitli 
 
ENLISTED AND A PRISONER. 11 
 
 was driven back to Jones ville and Bristol, 
 Tennessee. 
 
 The second week in November, Troops C 
 and H of the Ninth Ohio, got into their first 
 serious engagement. We had been a day's march 
 sonth of the gap in Polley's Valley; had collected 
 a large supply of grain, horses and cattle; were 
 returning rich in the spoils of war; had gone into 
 camp squarely in Cumberland Gap— rather on 
 the south side of the celebrated pass — and sup- 
 posed all danger from that excursion practically 
 ended. I was on picket in the roadway the first 
 watch; had my relief during the middle of the 
 night for rest and sleep, and was called out and 
 posted for the morning watch wholly unconscious 
 of the storm of sudden battle, captivity and death 
 so soon to burst upon our little band. My horse 
 had shown some little imeasiness for quite awhile 
 but my first sense of danger was at early dawn 
 when six dismounted rebel cavalrymen rose to 
 their feet from behind some immense boulders by 
 the roadside, and with leveled carbines, yelled: 
 "Dismount and throw down your gun, you in- 
 fernal Yankee!" 
 
 They had left their horses on the other side of. 
 the divide, and had scrambled over the summit 
 and hid among the rocks and laurel bushes, wait- 
 ing for daylight to capture our outposts and sui'- 
 prise our whole command. As none of the Con- 
 federate soldiers were fifty feet distant, resistance 
 was useless. I had barely time to discharge my 
 carbine as a signal of alarm, before I was sur- 
 rounded and rushed off to the rebel rear. 
 
12 BILLY AN DICK. 
 
 A general engagement ensued between our two 
 troops and five troops of rebel cavalry, the 
 latter having the advantage of skirmishers 
 and sharpshooters among the brush and rocks on 
 the mountain side. Our little force had no pro- 
 tection, and were mainly shot down or captured 
 in the open roadway. 
 
 In the meantime I was taken in charge by 
 Sergeant William Denning, Troop C, Eleventh 
 Virginia Cavalry, and marched back six miles to 
 Maple Mills, where there were three troops of 
 Tennessee cavalry lying in camp. As 1 was the 
 first prisoner taken back, 1 was closely questioned 
 as to the strength of our command, and taken to 
 task severely for carrying war into their borders. 
 Some of my captors were inclined to be saucy and 
 insulting, but on the whole my treatment was 
 fairly considerate. Sergeant Denning stood my 
 fast friend from the moment of capture on the 
 morning of November 14th until he turned me 
 over to the Provost Guard at Bristol, Tenn., Nov. 
 27th. I was never able to trace him afterward, 
 but have paid tearful tribute to his innate noble- 
 ness of character a thousand times since that 
 eventful period. He was the only man of educa- 
 tion and intelligence among my captors. 
 
 On December 1st I and about three hundred 
 other prisoners, embracing all nationalities and 
 conditions in life, were loaded into cars and 
 started for Eichmond. A large proportion of 
 these were East Tennessee conscripts and de- 
 serters from the Southern army, who had been 
 captured in the mountains, and were now being 
 
ENLISTED AND A PRISONER. 13 
 
 sent to Castle Thunder. These were generally 
 treated worse than the Union prisoners, if such a 
 thing were possible. 
 
 At Roanoke, near Lynchburg, we had a good 
 breakfast. On reaching Appomattox station, a 
 mile south of the celebrated court house, we went 
 into camp in the woods for the night. Here we 
 had our first experience in cooking our own hoe 
 cakes. Lieutenant Andrew Carlin of the Tenth 
 Ohio Cavalry, slept with me that night on the 
 bare ground, without blankets or overcoats, and 
 with only the sky for covering. 
 
 Next morning we were supplied with two days ' 
 cooked rations of corn-bread, hardtack and meat 
 (but no coffee), were reloaded in the cars and 
 started on our way. 
 
 We arrived at Richmond on the 14th of Decem- 
 ber, 1862, and were marched to Castle Thunder, 
 where we were locked up with the conscripts and 
 kept till next da}'. 
 
 On the forenoon of the 15th the privates among 
 the Union prisoners were singled out and marched 
 to Libby prison and were enrolled, described and 
 registered by name, company, regiment and State. 
 
 My comrades were by this time cut down to 
 thirty-three in number, all substantially strangers 
 to each other. The officers were kept in Castle 
 Thunder, and this was my last parting with 
 Lieutenant Carlin. His friends in Toledo and 
 Monroeville, Ohio, made continuous inquiry for 
 him for years during and after the war, and 
 came to see me, hoping to obtain some clew 
 to his fate, but he disappeared from the knowl- 
 
14 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 edge of the world from the minute of my last grasp 
 of his manly young hand. He was doubtless shot 
 down at some "deadline," starved to death by 
 some merciless jailor, or in some way known so 
 well to such miscreants, sent to his unknown 
 grave to await the sound of the "assembly" in the 
 last day. 
 
 ' ' Hap 'ly thistles, blue and red, 
 Bloom above his lowly bed." 
 
 Arriving at Libby we were put into the base- 
 ment or cellar (nearly half under ground) in the 
 southwest corner of the building — a place about 
 twenty feet square. Many had preceded us there, 
 so we were crowded past endurance. We could 
 barely all lie down at once. 
 
 Our stay there was limited to two nights, when 
 we were moved to the first floor proper of the 
 prison, and subjected to rigorous search by Major 
 Turner, who afterwards became so infamous. He 
 took from us all our money, knives, combs, 
 watches, keepsakes, including articles of insig- 
 nificant value, coolly pocketing the money and 
 valuable articles. The remainder were thrown 
 into a common pile and we never knew what be- 
 came of them. 
 
 While at Eichmond we had coffee, pork and 
 hardtack served to us in abundance as cooked 
 rations, on tin plates, through the prison doors. 
 As fast as the men received their plates they made 
 way for others, ate their rations in the rear and 
 then passed out the tin plates. But we parted 
 witli all such luxuries as tin plates when we left 
 
HARDSHIPS BEGIN. 15 
 
 Eiclimond, and never had one again during tlio 
 balance of our imprisonment. 
 
 On' the 22d of December about fifty of us were 
 moved across the street into the Pemberton build- 
 ing, under the pretense that they were preparing 
 for our exchange. We remained in this prison 
 till January 3d, 1863, when sixteen of us were sent 
 b}^ rail to Danville, Virginia, and were five days 
 making the trip. 
 
 We arrived at Danville early in the morning, 
 and were put into cellars and stores till evening, 
 and were started at night, three hundred strong, 
 for Wilmington, North Carolina — to be ex- 
 changed. 
 
 On arriving at Salisbury about half our number 
 were taken out of the cars and sent to the State 
 Insane Asylum, which had been converted into a 
 military prison. At that time there were about 
 fifteen hundred prisoners confined there. Colonel 
 Stone was in command. He was a coarse, com- 
 mon, rough man, and an old slave driver. Still 
 our prison fare was not so bad. We had enough 
 bread and meat to sustain life comfortably. 
 
 But we were not allowed a long rest here, but 
 like poor Joe in Bleak House, were ordered to 
 move on. This time it was to Wilmington, and 
 of course to be exchanged. 
 
16 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Hardships Begin. 
 
 mWO hundred and fifty of us arrived at Wil- 
 mington by one train and were put into the 
 new camjj just completed on the Cape Fear 
 River, near the depot. The camp covered seven 
 acres and contained mostly conscripts — unfortu- 
 nates; no tents; no huts; no shelter of any kind. 
 Our only fuel was the chips made in building the 
 stockade. 
 
 Up to this time our health had been good. But 
 here our real privations began. Here for the first 
 time we received our bread rations in coarse, un- 
 sifted cornmeal — one pint in the morning, one 
 at noon and one at night. We also had one-half 
 pound of smoked beef (or mule meat) issued with 
 each ration of meal. The bread ration was suffi- 
 cient in quantity, but very unpalatable, and the 
 meat could only be eaten by starving men. 
 
 W^e were kept here about twelve days, which 
 brought us to about February 1st, but from this 
 time on my chronology becomes uncertain — no 
 newspaper — no intercourse with outsiders— iio 
 means of easily noting the passage of time — but 
 want, cold, hunger and disease to continually dis- 
 tract and craze us. 
 
 Other prisoners were arriving frequently, and 
 among the last were some New Jersey troops in 
 comparatively fine condition. They had nice, 
 new, clean clothes; were jaunty and hopeful in 
 
HARDSHIPS BEGIN. 17 
 
 appearance; had been from liome but a short time; 
 were captured by the first enemies they encoun- 
 tered, and had never participated in anything? 
 approaching a battle. They were soon dubbed 
 "Tenderfeet," "Pilgrims," etc., and were prob- 
 ably subjected to some undeserved, contemptuous 
 treatment by some of us. This ended in some of 
 tlieir finery being stolen one night, and a coni- 
 plaint being made to Lieutenant Donnelly, in com- 
 mand of the prison. 
 
 Donnelly was a young officer with little experi 
 ence in dealing with men; a conceited martinet in 
 the matter of discipline; full of bitterness toward 
 all Union men; and withal very proud of his ex- 
 alted position as post-commandant. The next 
 morning after these complaints were made to hi\ii 
 by the young ' ' tenderfoot-pilgrims, ' ' he came into 
 camp swelling with wrath and secretly pleased 
 with an opportunity of showing his authority, and 
 gratifying his malignant dis])osition toward the 
 Union prisoners. Every man in the camp was 
 ordered to fall into line. When this was done he 
 ordered every prisoner to strip off all his clothing 
 excepting his pants and shirt; hats, caps, boots 
 and shoes, coats, and jackets were thrown into 
 piles and carried away by the guards. My clothing, 
 although considerably soiled, was still whole, ser- 
 viceable and warm. My boots were an excellent 
 pair, nearly new, given to me by my father when 
 I left home. I had saved them carefully for sev- 
 eral months and only commenced wearing them 
 about the time of my capture. But they went with 
 
18 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 tlie others and I was left standing with a pair of 
 ragged socks on my feet. 
 
 As soon as the men began to comprehend that 
 Lieutenant Donnelly intended to rob them of their 
 clothing, entreaties, arguments and expostulations 
 were made by all; but he would not listen to a 
 word. He said he was not there to argue the 
 matter nor to give a reason for his actions. Every 
 man should be stripped of his clothing. If he 
 surrendered it peaceably, all right. If not it would 
 be torn from his back by force and the grumbler 
 be taught a lesson he would not soon forget. The 
 armed guards were ordered up in force, cannon 
 planted to sweep the camp, and the work of rob- 
 bery went on till every prisoner was left nearly 
 naked, in midwinter, without house, hut, tent 
 or fire; and with nothing but shirt and pants to 
 protect him by day or night from the cold winds, 
 rains, snow and sleet of that miserable region. 
 Force compelled dumb submission. 
 
 Standing next to me in line was a young Irish- 
 man whom I afterwards learned to be Richard 
 King, Company B, Second Pennsylvania Reserves, 
 whose flashing eye and flushing face showed good 
 blood. The veins in his face and forehead swelled 
 near to bursting, the muscles of his neck and jaws 
 rose into corded knots, his breahting was heavy 
 and stentorious, his teeth clenched, and the whole 
 man became a perfect picture of helpless passion. 
 He finally threw his clothing on the ground and 
 putting his foot on them said he didn't want any 
 rebel to wear them. 
 
 Lieutenant Donnellv came rushing towards 
 
HARDSfflPS BEGIN. 19 
 
 him with a drawn sword and stopping squarely 
 in front of him began to glare at him from 
 head to foot; called him every vile name 
 which an enraged ruffian could command, and 
 roared out volley after volley of the most 
 blasphemous oaths which ever fell from mortal 
 lip. He finally caught sight of a Union rosette 
 of red, white and blue ribbon, which King 
 had worn under his jacket, pinned to his shirt, 
 in the center of which was a small tin- 
 type picture of his mother and sister. The sight 
 of this rosette was worse than a red flag to a mad 
 bull. Donnelly sprang forward, snatched it from 
 King's breast, threw it on the ground and stamped 
 it to atoms with his heel. 
 
 King stood for an instant as if in a dream, a 
 picture of grief, with a faraway look, and said in 
 a low, trembling voice, and eyes full of tears: 
 
 "I don't care anything about my clothes, nor 
 so much about the poor little rosette, but you 
 have dishonored the image of my mother and 
 sister— dearer to me than my life, and — and^and 
 
 yi 
 
 The next instant the whole man was trans- 
 formed into a flaming, avenging Nemesis. He 
 sprang at Donnelly like a raging wild beast and 
 with one blow sent the cowardly rascal rolling 
 and sprawling on the ground, in the presence of 
 his whole command. 
 
 Of what occurred immediately afterward I 
 have but a partial recollection. As the gathering 
 storms and cyclones of our great plains often rise 
 slowly and majestically from the horizon to the 
 
20 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 zenith, before they bnrst upon the earth and 
 sweep every obstacle before them, so the hum and 
 roar of resistance to tyranny came swelling slowly 
 down the line for a few seconds of time, 
 and then the long pent-up cyclone of 
 human passion burst from the manly, 
 patriotic heart of each suffering, insulted 
 and downtrodden prisoner. They fell upon 
 the guards in their fury, wrenched their 
 muskets from their hands in many instances, and 
 with clubbed guns cleared the camp of their in- 
 famous oppressors. But the outside numbers 
 were overwhelming. The Unionl prisoners who 
 were not shot down and killed in the melee were 
 overpowered, tied, shackled and so separated as 
 to prevent any further concert of action. 
 
 In the hand-to-hand fight I was knocked insen- 
 sible by a heavy blow on the head — probably 
 from a clubbed musket— and did not recover con- 
 sciousness for several hours. When m}^ senses 
 returned I found myself in the hold of a vessel, 
 among old barrels and boxes and splashing around 
 in bilge water. My feet were chained together, 
 a pair of handcuffs fastening King and myself 
 to each other, and I realized that I was sick, sore, 
 wounded, feverish, faint and perishing for food 
 and water. The place was quite dark, but the 
 groans and cries for help which I could hear in 
 various directions proved that King and myself 
 were not alone in misfortune. It being too dark 
 to recognize faces, I asked my comrade who he 
 was. He replied: 
 
FROM PRISON TO PRISON. 21 
 
 '^I am the fellow that hit that blasted Lieuten- 
 ant Donnelly. ' ' 
 
 ' ' What is your name ! ' ' 
 
 ''Dick King," was the answer, "and your 
 name ?' ' 
 
 "Ralph Bates, the fellow that stood at your 
 shoulder until knocked out himself." 
 
 King had commenced calling me "Billy" at 
 Salisbury, before learning my real name, and 
 "Billy and Dick" we remained ever after to each 
 other, and were mainly known by those names to 
 the outside world v-dien the mournful history of 
 our subsequent imprisonment, suifering and star- 
 vation were brought to light. 
 
 There in the dark, dismal, noisome hold of this 
 vessel; bound hand and foot in rebel irons; 
 bruised, bleeding and feverish from wounds re- 
 ceived as Union prisoners from the vaunted 
 chivalry of the (Confederate States; starving for 
 the commonest supplies of food and water; there 
 sprang into existence a friendship and love sur- 
 passing love of woman. It endured unshaken 
 through all the terril)le ordeals to which it was 
 afterwards subjected in captivity; it animated 
 and kept alive hopes and attempts at escape; it 
 kept the feelile spark of life aglow in our flight 
 through swamps and forests, and emerged 
 stronger and purer than ever from "the jaws of 
 death and the mouth of hell," so completely typi- 
 fied by the Southern Confederate prisons. God 
 bless my dear old comrade! Dick is first among 
 my waking thoughts, and a benison upon his 
 name shall be mv last articulation in death. 
 
22 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 "We shook hands in the darkness of our filthy 
 prison, and in the presence of Almighty God, 
 pledged that come weal, come woe, we would be 
 absolutely true to each other; that we would 
 never be separated nor surrender our remaining 
 rights while alive, and that we would make com- 
 mon cause against our oppressers till both should 
 be free. Our promise was kept to the end. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 From Prison to Prison. 
 
 w 
 
 iHlLE in the hold we could hear the noise 
 and commotion of many men tramping 
 overhead, but our cries for assistance were 
 
 either unheard or unheeded for Avhat seemed 
 to us the greater part of the day. It 
 seems that about 150 of the mutineers were 
 put aboard this vessel to be shipped to 
 Savannah, and that a few of the ringleaders and 
 so-called desperadoes, including Dick and myself, 
 were ironed and tumbled into the hold in the 
 probable hope and expectation that we would die 
 from our injuries, added to foul air and star- 
 vation. But on running over the list of his pris- 
 oners after his vessel was well under way, the 
 captain discovered that several were missing. 
 Inquiry brought out the fact that some wounded 
 were dropped into the hold in irons and had not 
 been looked after since. He thereupon came into 
 
FROM PRISON TO PRISON. 23 
 
 the hold to make a personal examination. He was 
 a humane man — a captain in the Fifty-fifth Ala- 
 bama Infantry— and he was greatly shocked on 
 discovering our pitiable condition. He plied us 
 with many questions as to why we had been so 
 mercilessly treated. Our feet and hands were 
 terribly swollen by the irons, and our heads bat- 
 tered and bloody. 
 
 I made a clean breast of it and told him the 
 whole story precisely as it occurred. 
 
 "Well," said he, "this would not warrant such 
 treatment as you have received." 
 
 "But," we replied, "we have told you the 
 whole truth, as you can learn from others, and 
 you can see for yourself the condition we are in. ' ' 
 
 He ordered us to be lifted on deck, knocked off 
 our irons, gave us food and water, and made us 
 fairly comfortable. During our four days' trip 
 to Savannah on this boat, the guards were espe- 
 cially abusive to us, and sought every pretext for 
 taunting us with our imprisonment, and assuring 
 us that we deserved to be drawn and quartered 
 for coming down there to "steal their niggers". 
 This was the universal stereotyped charge against 
 us, and against all Union soldiers. The whole 
 Northern army was pronounced nothing but a 
 pack of ignorant, ill-mannered Yankee "nigger 
 stealers" and "cotton thieves". Intelligence, 
 education, chivalry and amenities of social life, 
 which constitute the gentleman and the lady, 
 they asserted to be wholly unknown in tli« North. 
 A Northern man was a "mudsill," a Uniou sol- 
 dier a "thief and a pirate." 
 
24 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 Tlie first night at Savannah three hundred of 
 us were crowded together into a cellar, where we 
 were so closely packed that we could not turn 
 around without raising our arms above our heads, 
 and when we were counted out the next morning 
 we left thirty-six of our number who had died 
 from suffocation. 
 
 Two days ' rations of coarse cornmeal were dealt 
 out to us, without meat, vegetables or anything 
 else, and we were loaded into a railroad train and 
 taken to Blackshear, the county seat of Pierce 
 County, Georgia, a miserable little hamlet in the 
 pine barrens, where we were confined in a small 
 camp in company with over three hundred Union 
 prisoners, mainly from the Eastern States. The 
 Blackshear prison was completely commanded by 
 military earthworks, with mounted cannon, and 
 was guarded by seven hundred Confederate sol- 
 diers. We remained here three days, when our 
 little band was again returned to Savannah, under 
 the pretext of being exchanged. Every time we 
 were transported from one 'prison to another, it 
 was. given out that we were to be exchanged. 
 Continual disappointment had made us incredu- 
 lous, but as we were actually headed for Savannah 
 we finally consented to take a parole, binding us 
 not to attempt to escape. We soon found this to 
 be another piece of systematic deception adopted 
 to keep us quiet and allow them to reduce the 
 guards on the train. 
 
 At Sayannah we were turned over to Lieutenant 
 Irving. Davidson, of Kentucky, who was the first 
 and only officer that gave us considerate, sympa- 
 
FROM PRISON TO PRISON. 25 
 
 thetic treatment during the whole of our weary 
 confinements in many Southern prisons. He 
 treated us like Imman beings, respected our feel- 
 ings and wishes, and supplied us with everything 
 in his power to promote our comfort. His orders 
 were to take us to Milen, and he supplied us with 
 an abundance of bread, meat and vegetables for 
 the trip. 
 
 Soon after leaving Savannah the train was 
 sidetracked at a small station to wait for the east- 
 bound passenger train. Here we were subjected 
 to the utmost abuse and the jeers and howls of a 
 mob that surrounded the train and threatened our 
 lives. A lot of old Georgia ''crackers," with a 
 sprinkling of boys and women, surrounded the 
 cars for hours, declaring we ought to be hung, 
 swearing we should never be taken away alive, 
 and stood read}^ to shoot any of us who might 
 venture to a freight car door for a breath of fresh 
 air. It was the old charge of ' ' stealing their nig- 
 gers," b}^ men whose families had never owned 
 a slave through all the generations of African 
 servitude, and who constantly prated of their only 
 superiority to the negro — their color. 
 
 Our train remained there about twenty hours. 
 In the morning Lieutenant Davidson allowed us to 
 get out of the car and walk about inside his guard 
 line, and to cook and warm up some of our food. 
 This greatly incensed the small crowd that still 
 hovered around. They declared it a shame that 
 we should be supplied with better food than they 
 could obtain for themselves, and abused Lieuten- 
 ant Davidson without stint. 
 
26 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 We reached Milen, a small station on the rail- 
 road, formerly known as Camp Lawton, at night, 
 and were turned over to Captain Barrett, post- 
 commandant, by Lieutenant Davidson, whom we 
 never saw afterward. 
 
 This Captain Barrett was a red-headed, squint- 
 eyed little fellow, belonging to some Georgia reg- 
 iment, wonderfully puffed up with self-impor- 
 tance, and insulting and tyrannical to those under 
 his authority to a degree that is wholly inde- 
 scribable. Language utterly fails to portray his 
 meanness and cruelty to the helpless men in his 
 power. 
 
 Our squad were separated here and all but 
 seven were sent on to Macon. We seven who 
 remained in Milen were so sore and tired that 
 we laid down together earlier that night and prob- 
 ably slept sounder than usual because of our ex- 
 hausted and worn-out condition. During the 
 night some one stole all our extra rations, so gen- 
 erously furnished by Lieutenant Davidson, and we 
 found ourselves suddenly thrown on the tender 
 mercies of the villain, Barrett. 
 
 In the morning Corporal John Deming, of the 
 Fourth Michigan Infantry, one of our number, vol- 
 unteered to ask Captain Barrett for something to 
 eat. He explained our situation as respectfully 
 as he could — said our rations had been stolen 
 while we slept— and asked for immediate relief. 
 
 Captain Barrett flew into a great passion — 
 swore he would not allow any blankety Yankee 
 to come around him asking for extra rations- 
 said he would issue them when we needed them 
 
FROM PRISON TO PRISON. 27 
 
 ^and ended his abuse by putting Deming in the 
 chain gang ''for his impudence." This was the 
 last we ever saw of poor Deming, As no pris- 
 oners were sent away for some time he was un- 
 doubtedly worked to death or killed in some 
 attempt to escape from the chain gang. 
 
 The number of Union prisoners then at Mileu 
 was about eight hundred. All were called into 
 line at one o'clock each day to be counted. Our 
 squad was so weak none of us could stand long 
 enough to end this procedure, but we sat down 
 on the ground in our places. Barrett swore that 
 the men who wouldn't stand in line till ordered 
 to break ranks should have no rations,, so we re- 
 ceived none till next day, making a fast of nearly 
 fifty-six hours. By this time Dick's feet were so 
 swollen that he was physically unable to stand 
 the allotted time and was obliged to sit down. 
 Knowing it to be a case of life and death, I man- 
 aged to keep on m}^ feet long enough to draw my 
 rations. These divided with Dick kept us botli 
 alive. 
 
 In the afternoon Captain Barrett came into the 
 camp and questioned me, among others, as to 
 rank, name, regiment and State. I answered 
 him in the most gentlemanly terms possible, giv- 
 ing all the information asked for. He then 
 wanted to know if I ever expected to see my State 
 again, and said in a very swaggering, insulting 
 manner that if ever I got out of that camp I 
 would be carried out crippled or dead. 
 
 I reminded him that I was a prisoner of war 
 and was entitled to treatment as such — that I was 
 
28 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 no dog to be insulted in that manner— as long as 
 I behaved myself and obeyed his orders. 
 
 He replied: "How dare you stand in my pres- 
 ence and talk to me that way!" and fell upon me 
 to give me a thorough pounding. He soon 
 thought of a safer way to wreak his petty ven- 
 geance on me, and ordering up a file of soldiers, 
 had me bucked and gagged and set me on a stump 
 for two hours. 
 
 Old soldiers probably know what this means. 
 For the benefit of those who do not I repeat: 
 Bucking consists in tying the wrists together with 
 a rope, making the man sit down with his knees 
 drawn up close to his chin, between his arms, and 
 then running a handspike over his arms and 
 under his knees, leaving him powerless to move 
 far or to extricate himself. Tlie cramped posi- 
 tion is exceedingly painful at best, but when the 
 rope is carelessly or tightly tied the hands swell 
 and the torture becomes devilish. Men were 
 usually gagged by tying a stick of wood in their 
 mouth in such a way as to prevent speech. In 
 addition to this punishment my rations were 
 withheld for twent3"-four hours. 
 
 In the morning, before I drew my rations, Cap- 
 tain Barrett came along hunting some one to act as 
 clerk. Stopping me, he said: 
 
 "Here, you little Yank, you look pretty smart. 
 I want \^ou to take the oath of allegiance to the 
 Southern Confederacy, and come with me as a 
 headquarters clerk." 
 
 I replied: "Captain, so far as clerking is con- 
 cerned, I would be glad to serve you, but taking 
 
AT ANDERSONVILLE. 29 
 
 the oath of allegiance is another matter. This I 
 can not do, and I never will do." 
 
 "Well," said he, "we'll see about that. Before 
 you get out of here you will be glad to be a clerk 
 or anything else, and glad to take the oath. Do 
 you hear met" 
 
 "So help me God, I never will. I will die in 
 this prison if I must, but no power on earth shall 
 ever compel me to take an oath of allegiance to 
 the rotten Southern Confederacy. My tongue is 
 my own, and I will tear it out by the roots sooner 
 than take this oath." 
 
 With one of his devilish leers he passed on to 
 the tent of some other unfortunate. 
 
 That night two hundred conscript men came 
 in. The next day, the sixth of my incarceration 
 there, our little squad of six was counted out with 
 these and sent on to Macon. There we camped 
 in some woods in the outskirts of tlie city. In 
 the morning the non-commissioned officers and 
 privates, numbering about twenty-five Union 
 men, were started to Andersonville, sixty miles 
 distant. Before leaving, several Union officers 
 and a chaplain informed us of our destination, 
 and said: "You are going to the worst place in 
 the Confederacy, but you must keep up your 
 courage; be careful in speech, discreet in action, 
 and constantly plan how to keep up your strength 
 and your hope of deliverance, for the life of every 
 man will depend upon this." The chaplain espe- 
 cially exerted himself in our behalf, and we left 
 him with tearful eves and thankful hearts. 
 
30 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 At Andersonville. 
 
 WHE ARRIVED at Andersonville after dark, 
 February 11th, 1863. As soon as the train 
 ^____ halted, the long roll was beat at the fort, 
 the guards turned out in full force, and we were 
 escorted to General Winder's headquarters on the 
 hill. Here all were searched and absolutely 
 everything taken from us which the guards could 
 find, except our scanty clothing. General Winder 
 personally examined scores of prisoners, and 
 made the search as severe as possible, looking 
 into the men's mouths and hair in many instances, 
 that nothing might escape him. Dick and I lost 
 our cooking utensils, but I managed to hide a 
 broken caseknife in the bottom of my pants 
 which afterwards proved invaluable. 
 
 From General Winder's headquarters we were 
 marched past the post commissary, where each 
 one received one pint of cornmeal and two ounces 
 of bacon, and were told that this must last till 
 the next evening. I then asked for my kettle to 
 cook my mush. The commissary looked at me 
 in astonishment for making such an unreasonable 
 request, anc"! asked who I supposed was ruuning 
 that encampment. He informed us politely that 
 we wouldn't need such things very long — that 
 we would starve to death, or die from homesick- 
 ness, or be killed by the guards within a week. 
 
 The older prisoners had become somewhat used 
 
AT ANDERSONVILLE. 31 
 
 to such taunts and were not particularly affected 
 by them, but many of the new prisoners and 
 * ' tenderf eet " wilted at once and gave up their 
 last chance for life through moping and despond- 
 ency. 
 
 Here we were put to work building a stockade. 
 The prison entrance had double gates resembling 
 a canal lock. About fifty at a time would march 
 inside our outer gate. It would then be closed, 
 the inner gate opened and that detachment taken 
 inside. The stockade first surrounded about 
 seven acres. The timber was cut twenty feet 
 long and sunk in the ground five feet. 
 
 General Winder was in command of the guard 
 which marched us to the camp that night, and 
 as we filed past him, remarked that ''the prisoner 
 who ever got out of that place would be a lucky 
 devil," and that he would come down next day 
 and attend to our rations himself. The prison 
 at this time probably did not contain above 
 twelve hundred prisoners. As there was not 
 much fighting in tlie spring of 1863, but few pris- 
 oners were added to our number for awhile, so 
 that our real privations and sufferings did not 
 commence till sometime in May. We had coarse 
 cornmeal, grain and cob ground together, all the 
 time, with meat and vegetables occasionally, and 
 could manage to sustain life. Our worst priva- 
 tions at this time were lack of clothing, the loss 
 of our cooking utensils and a scarcity of fuel for 
 cooking our meal. Details were made daily who 
 went to the woods under guard and brought in 
 a day's supply of fuel. One stick of wood per 
 
32 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 day was the allowance for each mess. 
 
 Our first meal in Andersonville was obtained 
 by mixing some meal and water in an old cap 
 which Dick had in some way acquired, and 
 baking the mixture on a stone heated for that 
 purpose. That night Dick was missing for 
 awhile. In the morning I found on the ground 
 between us one tin canteen and half of another 
 one, which had been melted apart, and a large 
 piece of sheet-iron. My inquiries were nipped in 
 the bud. Dick bade me accept them thankfully 
 and ask no questions. I took his advice and 
 don't know to this day how he managed to obtain 
 them. The next thing was to keep them. We 
 fitted the sheet-iron in the ground and kept a thin 
 layer of dirt and ashes over them. The canteen 
 was changed in appearance under Dick's manipu- 
 lations until identification was impossible. 
 
 One morning Greneral Winder came into the en- 
 closure, accompanied by a man whom we after- 
 wards knew as Captain Wirz (both half intoxi- 
 cated) and spent some time looking over the 
 ground and planning some changes. We had 
 learned to pay no attention to anything wdiich 
 did not personally concern us,, as all our former 
 complaints had ended in worsting our condition; 
 but as Winder and Wirz passed about we would 
 occasionally overhear some remarks. The com- 
 mand was to be turned over to the latter, who 
 was full of plans for reorganizing the camp, for 
 issuing rations, and for maintaining discipline. 
 ''I soon brings 'em round," was W'irz's last re- 
 mark as they passed beyond our hearing. 
 
AT ANDERSONVILLE. 33 
 
 Tliis reorganization began at once. The pris- 
 oners were divided into divisions of one hundred. 
 A first and second sergeant were selected for each 
 division, to whom all rations were delivered and 
 by whom they were divided and issued to each 
 man. Two roll calls were made daily. When 
 Wirz was present at roll call all the prisoners 
 were required to stand in line till ordered to break 
 ranks, under penalty of forfeiting that day's ra- 
 tions, precisely as Captain Barrett had done at 
 Milen. 
 
 By the last of March the food supply had 
 grown visibly scarcer. A month later it was 
 scanty, and in May we were facing actual star- 
 vation. Increased supplies had not kept pace 
 with the increased number of prisoners and 
 guards. In April one thousand tents arrived. 
 As the rainy season was fairly upon us there was 
 pressing necessity for shelter. Through the 
 winter we had huddled together in our dugouts 
 and barely escaped perishing with cold. But 
 now the cold rains filled our dugouts with water 
 and left us no protection whatever. AVhen the 
 tents were finally issued great favoritism was 
 shown by those in authority and we were not long 
 in discovering that Free Masons and Odd Fellows 
 were first served. Further observation soon 
 convinced us that the same distinction was made 
 in issuing daily rations, and that the members of 
 these two world-wide organizations received 
 much greater attention and consideration than 
 any of the others. To what extent such discrim- 
 ination was justifiable I must leave others to 
 
,ii BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 decide, but to the poor unfortunates who belonged 
 to neither order, it seemed a refinement of merci- 
 less cruelty. They felt that the ties of common 
 humanity should have been wider than those of 
 human organization. 
 
 In April some prisoners from Vermont and 
 Connecticut regiments were brought in. They 
 were well clothed and comfortable. In passing 
 our division the thoughtless wags among us 
 raised the cry: "Fresh fish! Fresh fish!" The 
 newcomers wanted to know how long we had been 
 there. Dick replied: "Fully three weeks, and no 
 new clothes yet. ' ' They realized the irony of his 
 speech and said: "For God's sake, boys, give it 
 to us straight. This matter is too serious for 
 joking." 
 
 We were silenced in an instant and a feeling 
 of comradeship, mingled with pity for their in- 
 experience, made us tenderly compassionate. 
 They had been sent forward by our route — had 
 been promised exchange from post to post— but 
 had happily escaped the robbery of their clothing. 
 When they realized fully that these promises of 
 exchange were but a part of the Confederate plan 
 of deception to get them to this hopeless place 
 with the fewest possible guards and when by 
 looking upon the hundreds of grimy, unkemi3t, 
 naked and starving comrades all around them, 
 they saw that it was only a question of time until 
 they, too, would be reduced to the same miserable 
 condition, hope sank to zero and the work of death 
 began. That night we heard for hours the agoniz- 
 ing cries of scores of men. The next dav Wil- 
 
ON THE CHAIN GANG. 35 
 
 ]iam Dilz and Amos Danebaiigh (both married 
 men) of Company A, 32d New York Infantry, 
 deliberately walked across the "dead line," pre- 
 ferring death to the inevitable horrors which 
 awaited them in sucli a place. Dick and I helped 
 to bury them, managed to steal their blankets 
 without detection, and thus learned their names 
 and to what command they belonged. On our 
 return from this burial party we discussed the 
 situation with more seriousness than ever before. 
 We had long since abandoned all hope of ex- 
 change, but we did not expect liberation. Yet our 
 reason convinced us that we must not sit down in 
 idleness and despair. Our existence depended on 
 mental and bodily exercise and the hope of escape. 
 So we commenced a systematic visitation of all 
 new arrivals; discussed all imaginable plans for 
 getting away; roused the hypochondriacs and 
 actually abused and provoked quarrels with 
 some of the most gloomy for the sole purpose of 
 awakening a spark of interest in their present 
 lives. We soon found that this was good for 
 them and greatly benefited ourselves. A com- 
 mon interest sprang up and several schemes for 
 tunneling and escaping were commenced, which 
 might have been successful had not the ready 
 spies and informers among us betrayed our plans 
 to the authorities. When this discovery was 
 made, Wirz tried to force us into confessing who 
 were our leaders. Failing in this he cut our food 
 down to a quarter ration of meal daily, to all alike 
 for several days. An informer finally pointed 
 out a Fourth Michigan man as one of the ring- 
 
36 BILLY AISTD DICK. 
 
 leaders. He was promptly taken outside. We 
 never saw him afterwards. His fate is unknown 
 to this day. But this attempt to dig a tunnel 
 caused the guards to be increased to two regi- 
 ments of Georgia reserves, composed of old men 
 and boys exempt from field service. The woods 
 and country around Andersonville were regularly 
 scoured and patrolled every day thereafter by a 
 mounted man and a pack of bloodhounds. A 
 heavy rain washed out part of the stockade one 
 night and a few men escaped. Wirz claimed that 
 we dug up the stockade and stopped our rations 
 for three days. The "dead-line" was twenty- 
 five feet inside the stockade marked by low posts 
 with a single rail on top. The illiterate and 
 vicious guards were ordered by Wirz to be more 
 vigilant and to shoot down, without an instant's 
 notice, any who passed it. At night they were 
 not over scrupulous and would often fire on men 
 who were far inside the line. 
 
 In June two hundred prisoners came to us from 
 the Greensborough and Salisbury prisons. These 
 had all been stripped of their clothing at Savannah 
 and like ourselves had not a vestige of anything 
 excepting the shirt and pants they chanced to 
 have on when the robbery began. The increased 
 number of prisoners and the additional guards 
 camped on the branch or creek above the prison 
 polluted the water supply until the whole prison 
 was threatened with extermination. Typhus and 
 typhoid fevers prevailed, measles and small pox 
 appeared and chronic stomach trouble was uni- 
 versal. With no shelter, no clothes, no hospitals 
 
DEATH OF CHAPLAIN. 37 
 
 and absolutely nothing but foul water and coarse 
 meal for food until September the death rate be- 
 came appalling. 
 
 Among the new arrivals in June was Chaplain 
 Saul Hathaway of an Indiana infantr}^ regiment. 
 He had been in Belle Isle and Pemberton prisons at 
 Eichmond and was sent away from there on the 
 plea of being insane, but in reality to remove to 
 a safer place such an irrepressible patriot. We 
 had lost all knowledge of weeks and months and 
 only occasionally knew when Sunday came. 
 Hathaway came to our division and said he would 
 preach next day, which he said was Sunday. The 
 whole camp turned out to hear him. A sergeant 
 came with a squad of men to see and hear what 
 was said and done, and informed Hathaway that 
 he might preach and pray provided there was no 
 objectionable language used, but that singing 
 would not be allowed. Hathaway replied that he 
 would preach, pray and sing as long as the Lord 
 gave him breath, and the whole Confederacy could 
 not prevent it while he was alive. The meeting- 
 was not dispersed. At its close Hathaway was 
 marched to headquarters but was soon returned. 
 He started around the next day, announced a 
 prayer meeting for Wednesday night, and kept up 
 regular services till his sickness and death. We 
 arranged for celebrating the Fourth of July that 
 year and had chosen Hathaway as the orator of 
 the day. But he was taken violently ill on the 
 second of the month and died on the eighth. 
 He lay on his back in his dugout and sent 
 for the boys and talked with and prayed 
 
as 
 
 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 for them for days after lie was unable to 
 stand on his feet. We could often hear 
 him singing his favorite hymn: "Jesus, 
 Lover of my Soul," and the still watches of the 
 night were broken by his eloquent prayers, till the 
 night before his release. He possessed a wonder- 
 ful vitality, and his soul seemed literally wafted 
 to heaven on one of his grand outbursts of hallelu- 
 jahs. 
 
 Just before his death an incident occurred 
 
 Billy and Dick in the chain gang^ at Ajidersonville prison. 
 
 which 1 can scarcely bring myself to narrate, and 
 which ended most disastrously for me. A South- 
 ern woman who was permitted to distribute 
 "tracts" in the stockade, took offense at some 
 
HUNG BY THUMBS. 39 
 
 expression in one of Hathaway 's prayers and de- 
 liberately spit in his face. This act instantly 
 aroused such a storm of indignation that the 
 guards had to interfere to quell the disturbance. 
 The conscripts and deserters threatened to 
 trample the woman under foot. I led her to the 
 gate and turned her over to the guard, informing 
 liim of her conduct and the cause of the disturb- 
 ance. The guard told her she could not come 
 i]ito the prison again, when she turned around and 
 spit in my face, and I knocked her down. As 
 usual, Wirz tried to induce some one to turn in- 
 former, and finally arrested about fifty of those 
 present, including Dick and myself, and had us 
 taken to tire fort, and afterwards put in the chain 
 gang. While I was out at work during the day 
 the woman went to Wirz and entered a complaint. 
 On my return in the evening Wirz came into camp 
 and asked who had struck the woman. 1 told him 
 the whole story, when the guards interfered and 
 told him I had done nothing to be shot for. Never- 
 theless he had me released from the chain gang 
 and marched off between a file of soldiers. Dick's 
 parting salutation was: ''I don't know what they 
 will do with you, Billy, but never surrender. Die 
 game, if you must, old boy, but don't gratify the 
 rascals by begging for your life." 
 
 By Wirz' orders my thumbs were tied together 
 with a cord, and I was entirely suspended by this 
 cord, which ran up to a beam over the gateway in 
 plain view of all the prisoners. The flesh was cut 
 to the bone by my weight, but a feeling of numb- 
 ness (or rather the absence of all feeling in mv 
 
40 
 
 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 bands and arms) soon lessened the torture. My 
 tongue swelled, my head throbbed almost to burst- 
 ing, and my heart could scarcely do its work, 
 Harris Wilson, Battery D, Second Pennsylvania 
 Artillery, near by, asked what he could do for me. 
 
 Billy Bates suspended by the thumbs at Andersonville prison. 
 
 * ' AVater, ' ' was all the reply I could make. He got 
 a piece of an old slop pan near the gate, put some 
 water in it, and, standing on a box, held the pan 
 to my lips while I took a few swallows. 
 
 The guard yelled to Wilson: ''Stop that, you 
 fool Yank, or you'll get killed for it!" Just then 
 Wirz rode up and asked what Wilson had been 
 doing. Wilson replied that he had only given Billy 
 some water to drink. Wirz roared out: "You will 
 
TALKING BACK TO WIRZ. 41 
 
 never give another man a drink," and fired five 
 shots into him from his revolver, killing him 
 instantly. I spoke up as well as I could and said: 
 "For Grod's sake, if you shoot anyone, shoot me, 
 and end this torture." "Shut up, you rascal, or 
 I will," he replied. SulTering made me desperate 
 and 1 answered: "You dare not shoot me. I shall 
 live to see you hung before I die." Wirz jerked 
 out his revolver — the guards yelled to him "bet- 
 ter not shoot him now, ' ' but before any of his own 
 men could stop him, by reason or force, he emp- 
 tied his revolver at me, hitting me twice. One 
 ball passed through the fleshy part of my left 
 thigh and the other fractured a bone in the same 
 leg, between the knee and ankle. I will say in 
 extenuation of his murderous, cowardly attempt 
 on my life,. if it be extenuation, that he was furi- 
 ously drunk and simply acted out the part of a 
 drunken beast and madman. A mol) gathered. 
 The guards ran Wirz off for safety, and Simeon 
 Chase, of the Thirteenth Ohio Infantry, cut me 
 down and carried me to my division. 
 
 I remained in our dugout without much atten- 
 tion till Dick was released from the chain-gang. 
 He undertook to get my rations for me — was not 
 allowed to have any- — but divided his own with me 
 for a few days. Dick thereafter took care of me 
 and kept my wounds wet with cold water day and 
 night, till the last of July. This cold water treat- 
 ment kept down inflammation, and T was probably 
 too thin in flesh to be in much danger from gan- 
 grene. 
 
 A rebel surgeon came to see me on the fourth 
 
42 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 day after I was shot. He said I was doing well — 
 better than he expected — that there was no hos- 
 pital room for me, and that I had better remain 
 where I was — that Wirz or the guards would 
 probably shoot me on sight — and on leaving po- 
 litely advised me to be a little more careful in 
 speech and actions, if I wished to enjoy the pleas- 
 ures and privileges of old age. 
 
 A few days after this AVirz came along, attend- 
 ed by a guard. On seeing me he called out: "Well, 
 you little Yank, I thought I had killed you." 
 My blood was hot in an instant, and I yelled back 
 as loud as I could that I was still alive and should 
 never die ^.intil I had seen him hung. My saucy 
 and very ihiprudent answer stung him to the 
 quick, and he reached back as if to draw his re- 
 volver, and before any one could interfere he shot 
 me the third time, the ball passing through my 
 left side just above the heart. As his own men 
 rushed upon him to disarm him and remove him 
 from the prison he asked me to take the oath of 
 allegiance. I said I would not. He urged me re- 
 peatedly to do so. I said I would die in prison 
 first. He finally started off, saying, "I will bring. 
 3^ou under my thumb yet. Do you hear me?" 
 Dick yelled out: "That's the stuff, Billy; stay 
 by him." 
 
DIGGING THE TUNNEL. 43 
 
 CHAPTER V, 
 Digging the Tunnel— Flight and Pursuit. 
 
 i 
 
 lURING THESE weeks and months of 
 my confinement Dick and I perfected 
 plans for digging a tnnnel of our 
 own. We decided to take no one into our 
 confidence. We had seen too much of 
 that. Vie had for tools the piece of caseknife 
 which I had smuggled into camp, a piece of hoop- 
 iron which Dick had secured, and the large piece 
 of sheet-iron previously mentioned. 
 
 We commenced by digging a hole five feet deep 
 under our sheet-iron in front of our dugout, 
 where we cooked our meals, and then starting 
 laterally towards the east side of the stockade, 
 fifty-nine feet distant. The work had to be prose- 
 cuted late at night and in the dark of the moon 
 to prevent discovery. Many nights we had com- 
 pany and could not work at all. The dirt taken 
 out was carried in a piece of shirt-sleeve and 
 dumped into the creek. The quantity was so 
 small at any given time it attracted no attention. 
 The tunnel was about eighteen by twenty-four 
 inches — barely large enough to crawl through. 
 It took us seven months and eight nights to com- 
 plete this work. On reaching the stockade we 
 found ourselves above the bottom of the timbers, 
 so we had to commence way back and gradually 
 -deepen it enough to get under them. Wlien we 
 
44 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 liad finally tunneled beyond the line of the prison 
 wall, we called a halt and discussed for several 
 nights all the details for our escape. As we were 
 obliged to wait for the dark of the moon we had 
 ample time to plan for every conceivable emer- 
 gency. We resolved to keep together, trust in 
 God, to never be taken alive; to strike for the 
 swamps on the north and get into the water as 
 soon as possible to evade the bloodhounds; to pur- 
 sue our flight northward to the Union lines; to 
 travel at night and conceal ourselves during the 
 day; to depend on foraging for subsistence, and 
 to trust no white man or woman till we were in- 
 side the Union lines. 
 
 During this period of waiting, the question of 
 trying to take some of our comrades with us was 
 argued between ourselves from every standpoint 
 which came to our minds. The danger of betraj'^al 
 by taking anyone into our confidence was upper- 
 most in our thoughts. The danger of recapture, 
 we decided, would be in proportion to the number 
 who escaped. Our final conclusion was that we 
 would quietly sound some of our acquaintances 
 and learn who among them could be depended 
 on for taking desperate chances, but not to trust 
 any one just then with our secret. Our tunnel 
 was examined nightly to see that all was in good 
 order and undiscovered, and our friends selected 
 and conversed with daily about the all-absorbing 
 topic of escaping from the horrors of our impris- 
 onment. Some were faint-hearted and despondent. 
 Others believed so firmly in early exchanges that 
 they did not care to make any doubtful attempts. 
 
DIGGING THE TUNNEL. 45 
 
 Still others confessed themselves unable, by reason 
 of age, wounds and general debility, to bear the 
 inevitable strain and the hardships of such an 
 undertaking. As the time approached we sifted 
 out those whom we could trust, and the morning 
 before we decided to put everything to the test 
 of actual trial, we took 'these men into our entire 
 confidence, told them about the completion of our 
 tunnel and the details of escape which we had 
 agreed upon. The courage of some of these failed 
 them and they abandoned the undertaking. All 
 offered to give us the last crumb of their -rations 
 to help us on the way, but we co-uld not accept 
 these generous offers, as we had no means of car- 
 rying food. The time fixed for our attempt was 
 the night of March 2d, 1864, lacking but a few 
 days of thirteen months after we had been 
 marched into this pen as prisoners of war. About 
 eighty men crawled from their places to the vicin- 
 ity of our dugout and lay quietly waiting our 
 signal. Immediately after "taps" (about nine 
 o'clock) I descended into the tunnel, followed by 
 Dick, and crawled carefully to the other end where 
 it emerged by the side of a stump. The work of 
 breaking through the crust of earth left over the 
 mouth of the tunnel to avoid discovery did not 
 occupy many minutes, and we stepped forth into 
 the free air of the outside world — free men as far 
 as guards, muskets and manacles were concerned, 
 but timid and shivering with cold and fear. As it 
 had been previously agreed that all who got out- 
 -side should try to escape in pairs, Dick and my- 
 self did not wait for others, but clasped hands and 
 
46 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 skulked stealthily along the outside wall toward 
 the northeast corner, till we came to the creek or 
 slough in that direction, where we struck a wood 
 road and followed it across a bridge that led 
 directly into the timl)er. 
 
 I digress here to mention that we did not then, 
 and do not now, know just how many escaped that 
 night, or whether more than one person beside 
 ourselves actually succeeded in getting away. We 
 had the names of over eighty prisoners whom we 
 supposed might attempt to follow us, but we 
 never heard of but one of these afterwards. This 
 was a man named Gibbons, who ventured to a 
 house the second day after his escape and became 
 the hero of a strange romance. A wealthy widow 
 was the owner of the place. She secreted him till 
 pursuit was passed, and the friendship thus begun 
 was consummated in marriage later on. Gibbons 
 remained there long enough after the war to re- 
 cover a handsome sum from the United States 
 Government for the widow's slaves and to turn 
 the plantation into cash, when he and his faithful 
 wife moved to Canada, and afterwards to Adrian, 
 Michigan, where they lived the last I knew of 
 them. 
 
 Our course through the timber was maintained 
 by the knowledge of an established fact in wood- 
 craft, namely, that the northern side of a tree can 
 be readily known by the touch. The moss on the 
 north side is sensibly heavier and softer, and no 
 one need ever make a mistake who will give it 
 close attention. We walked on rapidly but softly, 
 speaking only in whispers, till morning, when we 
 
IN FREE AIR. 47 
 
 struck a cedar swamp, and waded into it a long- 
 distance, till we found a brushy tussock, on which 
 we rested all day. We heard no alarm of our 
 escape, no bay of hounds in pursuit and no sound 
 of fife, drum or musket at the fort, which 
 convinced us that we must have traveled 
 many miles. AVe were first bewildered by 
 our situation, then hunger began to tell upon 
 us. But we talked all our plans over and 
 over again, assured ourselves that recapture 
 would be certain death, worked our will and reso- 
 lution to succeed or die in the attempt to the 
 highest possible pitch, uiitil we reached a height 
 of mental and nervous intoxication which was 
 actually phenomenal. Our thoughts turned home- 
 ward, and we wondered if friends would recog- 
 nize us, if our own people would know us, what 
 the boys in our regiment would say if they could 
 see us, and if we could get a furlough for home, 
 should we ever get to our command. We were 
 veritably intoxicated, and our minds ran riot on 
 all subjects. 
 
 "Billy, what will your girl say when she sees 
 you. You look pretty tough." 
 
 *'So far as looks go, Dick, you have no advan- 
 tage of me. in that particular." 
 
 We both laughed immoderately, like school 
 boys on a picnic. 
 
 "But I never asked you aliout your girl. Have 
 you one, Dick?" 
 
 His eyes fired u]): "Billy, why did I ever take to 
 the saddle to fight for the country! Why do you 
 suppose T am here in this miserable swamp, 
 
48 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 liimgry, cold and naked? Yes, Billy, the girl I 
 left behind nie is at the bottom of it all. God bless 
 the dear girls, Billy. We must and will see them. 
 If they don't like our looks when we return, why 
 (he paused a little in his speech) they can look in 
 some other direction. ' ' 
 
 Then the sense of hunger became dominant, 
 subordinated at times by the sense of danger. 
 "We must keep our eyes and ears open, Dick. We 
 are not out of danger yet. Trouble is certainly 
 ahead of us, we are so far from the Union lines. '^ 
 "Shall we not look for a cornfield, Billy I' ^ 
 "Better wait till it is a little darker, Dick." And 
 thus wie passed that eventful day in that gloomy 
 swamp— wet and shivering from rainfall and wad- 
 ing, hungry^ — hungry as only starving men can be. 
 The sun was nearly set when we made our way 
 out of the swamp and commenced our search for 
 something to eat. After wading through the water 
 for nearly an hour we came out into a heavy pine 
 forest with but little underbrush to impede our 
 X^rogress. At the end of two or three hours ' rapid 
 walking we struck a field of corn-shocks. Talk 
 about not living on raw corn? We feasted! It 
 warmed our blood and allayed the gnawing, 
 wolfish hunger that was eating out our vitals. 
 But danger beset us at once. We could scarcely 
 restrain our appetites. But tearing ourselves 
 away from such a blessed supply, and taking an 
 ear of corn in each hand, we took a survey of our 
 surroundings and started northward cheerfully 
 until we came to another swamp, where we had a 
 long argument whether to cross it or go around. 
 
ENTERING HABITATION. 49 
 
 I insisted tliat if we adopted the policy of going 
 around such obstacles we should never get through 
 — that we must adhere closel}^ to a northward 
 course, and then we would come out all right- 
 that we must be near the Alabama line, and 
 headed for Lookout Mountain and Chattanooga 
 — and that when we got out of Greorgia we would 
 be in comparative safety. 
 
 "Well, Billy, you are the captain of this squad. 
 You lead out and I will be at your heels," said 
 brave and magnanimous Dick. At the fur- 
 ther side of the swamp we came to a considerable 
 stream of water which we crossed and struck 
 through heavy timber again. But we were soon 
 stopped by a noise ahead. Oh! how our hearts 
 thumped. ' ' What in thunder is it ? " whispered 
 Dick. My hand was on his mouth instantly. In 
 a few seconds we heard the. same sounds again. 
 It was only the snorting of some wild animal, as 
 it went tearing through the brush. 
 
 This, the second night of our pilgrimage, did 
 not seem a long one, and we pushed ahead till the 
 birds began to sing for daybreak. AVe began our 
 lookout for food and soon came to a small field 
 near the middle of which we found a large pile 
 of sweet potatoes covered with vines and straw. 
 Eating all we dared to and carrying away all we 
 could we went into hiding for the second day." 
 We slept soundly in the woods till awakened by 
 pain in our overloaded stomachs. On starting for 
 our third night's tramp we had to walk slowly 
 and carefully till our feet and legs were limbered 
 up. That night we had no disturbance and put 
 
50 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 many miles beliind us. Toward morning we laid 
 up for the third day. We bathed our feet thor- 
 oughly before dark and at Dick 's suggestion pro- 
 vided ourselves with clubs for defense. That 
 night we found a rail pen full of white corn in the 
 husks, took a supply into the woods and rested 
 while eating it, then walked on till the braying 
 of mules and lowing of cattle admonished us of 
 a|)proaeliing day and the necessity of another 
 hiding place. Thus our third day of hiding 
 passed quietly. We slept most of the time and 
 ate some corn which we had carried along. To- 
 ward night the rattling of a wagon startled us 
 considerably but it soon passed out of hearing. 
 That night we tried to count our steps to esti- 
 mate the distance traveled but did not succeed. 
 The fourth day we lay hidden in another swamp. 
 The character of the country was changing; there 
 were more farms and less timber. The fifth night 
 was a gloomy one. There was not much conver- 
 sation between us. We were nearly worn out. 
 Dick said if he was back in prison he should hesi- 
 tate about starting, with his present experience 
 in the matter. We crossed a considerable stream, 
 heard the roaring of a mill dam and towards 
 morning the crowing of a rooster, which Dick de- 
 clared was no Greorgia fowl. 
 
 While hunting a good place for our fifth clay's 
 lidding w^e were startled by the cry of a pack of 
 bloodhounds behind us in the distance. Our hair 
 fairly stood on end. There was no mistaking the 
 sound, nor was there any hope of escape except 
 in flight. We started on a brisk "double-quick" 
 
DICK'S DREAM. 51 
 
 and kept it up a long time, across fields, through 
 patches of woods, sometimes in sight of houses, 
 cabins and people, but the latter either did not 
 see us or did not care to join in the pursuit. We 
 got away from the hounds and rested awhile, but 
 fear drove us on all that day and night. As we 
 crossed a main road on the sixth morning we 
 barely escaped detection by plunging into a plmn 
 thicket as a wagon rattled by. At every stop we 
 could hear the hounds. "Billy, they're after us; 
 we '11 have to go. ' ' And on we went. We finally 
 came to a cedar swamp into which we went waist 
 deep. The difficulty of getting out and away on 
 the other side distressed us greatly. The hounds 
 could not follow us into the swamp but we feared 
 they would skirt it and catch us on the other side. 
 But we were so near dead with fatigue and hun- 
 ger that we decided to remain there till nearly 
 daylight, when by taking advantage of Southern 
 indolence, an early start would put us miles on 
 our way before our pursuers would commence 
 their day's work. 
 
 That night Dick had a dream. On waking he 
 said: "I'm all right, Billy, I shall get away." 
 
 "How about me?" I asked. 
 
 "You are all right, too, Billy." 
 
 No persuasion could induce Dick to tell his 
 dream. He feared it was too good to be true, but 
 still stoutly persisted we should get away. And 
 who shall say that dreaming or waking, "coming 
 events do not ofttimes cast their shadows be- 
 fore?" 
 
 We emerged from tlie swam]) unobserved on the 
 
52 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 seventh morning and alternately walked and ran 
 for our lives. We had reckoned rightly concern- 
 ing our pursuers. They took a late start in the 
 morning but the hounds must have soon struck 
 our trail for soon after noon we heard them again. 
 Poor Dick exclaimed : ^ ' We are in for another day, 
 Billy, and nothing to eat," 
 
 I replied: "For God's sake, Dick, don't speak 
 of that. Remember your dream; make up your 
 mind to get through." 
 
 So we clasped hands and made all speed possi- 
 ble. At every stop we could hear the bay of the 
 hounds or sound of the horn. At length it was 
 clear they were gaining on us and finally, from 
 the crest of a hill over which we were passing, we 
 caught our first sight of them in the distance. We 
 could see that the hounds were tired, logy and 
 slow, yet the chances were terribly against us. 
 Dick fell down — by accident he stoutly declared 
 — but I had to pound him and get him 
 angry before he got on his feet again. We 
 had by this time learned that we could 
 outrun the hounds through thickets and un- 
 derbrush; but unfortunately the woods here 
 was too open to afford us much advantage. On 
 running down a long slope we saw a river in the 
 distance with bushy banks and shallow bottom 
 and with rocks and boulders above the water 
 everywhere so that the clogs could have easily 
 crossed on them ; so we turned up stream and soon 
 struck a bayou extending inland. As we neared 
 the water we looked back and counted twenty- 
 five bloodhounds and five horsemen in plain view. 
 
ESCAPING THE HOUNDS. 53 
 
 ' ' Billy, shall we turn back and give up ? " 
 ''No, Dick, never. If we do that we are dead 
 men, sure. Let us get away if we oan." 
 
 Beaching the bank of this bayou, we plunged in 
 among the bushes and rotten logs and found it 
 very deep and miry. We got behind a rotten log 
 and holding to a snag on the under side, lay 
 quietly with nothing but our faces out of the 
 water. The hounds could not be forced into the 
 
 Billy Bates and Dick King's final escape from the hounds. 
 
 water. When the men came up they could see 
 nothing of us, but rode up and down the bank 
 some time looking in every direction for some 
 sign of us. They finally decided that we had 
 gotten clear over and gone ahead or that we had 
 
54 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 mired and drowned in its treacherous depths. 
 We could hear this conversation distinctly, but 
 never moved a muscle. This discussion ended in 
 their resolving to go into camp for the night on 
 the hill above the bayou and decide on further 
 pursuit next morning. The hounds were exhaust- 
 ed and could neither be coaxed nor whipped into 
 further activity. We could catch glimpses of the 
 treatment of the dogs and began to cherish a hope 
 that our own endurance might triumph over that 
 of the dumb brutes. 
 
 After dark on this the eighth night of our 
 flight, we crawled out, drank from what we after- 
 wards learned to be the Chattahoochee River and 
 debated how to get across it without loss of time. 
 It ended in our trying to wade across, finding our- 
 selves in swimming water and in my dragging 
 Dick to the opposite bank by the hair of the head. 
 We dropped in the mud on the opposite bank 
 where we crawled out half drowned and utterly 
 exhausted. We were truly passing through the 
 deep waters — bodies worn out and perishing; 
 hunger impelling us to madness, hope hovering 
 to take her final flight, nothing but darkness 
 ahead of us. 
 
RETURN OF HOUNDS. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 At Aunt 'Liza's Cabin. 
 
 E ROUSED ourselves at length stiff and 
 sore, wild with hnnger and commenced 
 abusing each other in our delirium. But 
 we kept on our feet, walking mechanically, until 
 our attention was arrested by a light ahead, in 
 the middle of a small field. This we thought 
 Avorst of all. We discussed the propriety of our 
 recrossing the river to get away from human habi- 
 tation. But the demand for food had become 
 overpowering and we decided to risk an advance 
 to this house. We went to the fence and stood 
 awhile irresolute. We clambered over the fence, 
 crawled near the door and listened for conversa- 
 tion inside. But all was absolute silence. It was 
 an okl log cabin in the middle of the patch, with- 
 out outbuildings of any kind and the light within 
 was the only evidence of any living creature ])eing 
 on the premises, I rapped on the door faintly, in 
 sheer desperation, when to our inexpressible joy 
 the door was slowly opened by an elderly negro 
 woman and no one else appeared to be in the 
 cabin. She had a tin cup in her left hand on top 
 of which was a saucer half filled with grease and 
 a rag in this for a wick which constituted a prim- 
 itive lamp quite common to negro quarters in the 
 days of slavery. W^e only heard her joyous exclam- 
 ation, "Lor' bless your soul, chillun; come right 
 
56 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 in; lioney, I'se kept over fifty of you;" when our 
 overtaxed faculties gave way and we both fell in 
 a dead faint, ending in sleep. 
 
 I don't know how long I remained unconscious, 
 but on waking from a sound sleep I was greatly 
 bewildered. It was a seemingly long time before 
 my mind could take up the thread of the past, 
 down to my last recollection at the cabin door. 
 But this did not explain my present situation. 
 Here I was in darkness. How did I get there? 
 Where was I? Just then the sound of a woman's 
 voice singing overhead was plainly heard. Dick 
 lay by my side still sound asleep. I whispered, 
 '^Dick, wake up. You are as hot as a stove. It took 
 some minutes to wake him up ; but when his 
 senses were fairly alert, his eyes gleamed like 
 those of a wild beast at bay. Dick finally whis- 
 pered: "Why, Billy, what makes you stare at me 
 ■8ol Your eyes gleam like a mad tiger." We 
 were both frightened, both desperate, both nerved 
 to fight for our lives. 
 
 "Billy, where are we! I am awfully hungry. 
 I hear the hounds yet. ' ' 
 
 "We are somewhere. Don't you remember the 
 old colored woman. I guess she has hidden us 
 in a cave or cellar. We shall have to wait and 
 see what turns up." 
 
 We did not wait long. A door slammed above; 
 some one walked across the floor and our hearts 
 commenced to flutter. We heard a woman talk- 
 ing to some person for a few minutes. Then a 
 wide puncheon was lifted from over our heads and 
 the face of the old negro woman appeared through 
 
AUNT 'LIZA'S CABIN. 57 
 
 the opening. Neither of us spoke to her. Very 
 soon we saw the face of the old man, who was the 
 first to speak. 
 
 "Why, God bless yon, 'Liza, dem chillun is 
 alive, shure's I'se born. Chillun, you's still livin', 
 isn't you? 
 
 "Now, jus' look here, Noah. What's I been 
 praying for des fo'ty yea's! Now chillun, you's 
 in my keer. God will help me to take keer of 
 you. Does you hear me talking to you? Keep 
 up your speerits, chillun. ' ' 
 
 Our hearts were in our throats. We could say 
 nothing and do nothing but sit with our arms 
 around each other and cry. Noah was dispatched 
 to see if the road was clear and soon reported all 
 right. We were then told to climb out and have 
 something to eat. 
 
 "Why, bless us, what's we been doin. ' You, 
 Noah, get in dar and help de chillun out. Wait a 
 minute fust till I looks 'round." 
 
 She started outdoors, surveyed the surround- 
 ing premises, came back and helped Noah lift us 
 up to the cabin floor. We had been hidden in a 
 sweet potato hole under the cabin floor, in front of 
 the fire-place, about six feet square and four deep, 
 having been carried into the cabin and lowered 
 into it by Aunt 'Liza and Noah, when we dropped 
 at the door from exhaustion the night before. A 
 loose puncheon in the cabin floor formed a sort of 
 trap door and was the only entrance to the place. 
 
 "Now, chillun, you must be mighty keerful; 
 you's in an awful plight. Just mind me, I'se 
 your mudder now. Here's a little hoe-cake, 
 
58 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 lioiiey. Just wait a minute. Let's see your 
 tongue." Dick complied with the demand, when 
 Aunt 'Liza said, "Noah, bring me the 'possum 
 fat," and each of us were given a spoonful. 
 
 Dick and I commenced looking at each other, 
 but couldn't talk much. Our ravenous appetites 
 had strangely and suddenly deserted us. Some- 
 how we were so full we ate but little. Noah was 
 kept outside on watch and Aunt 'Liza was so ex- 
 
 Billy Bates and Dick King at Aunt 'Liza's cabin. 
 
 cited we couldn't keep our eyes oif her, and this 
 in turn frightened and excited us. When our 
 scanty meal was ended, Aunt 'Liza ordered us 
 into the hole under the floor with the parting 
 admonition: "Now, chillun, jus' stay dar quiet 
 till I finds out how you is." 
 
IN GOOD HANDS. 59 
 
 AVe slept sound all day. When we waked up, a 
 streak of light was shining through a crack in the 
 floor and Aunt 'Liza's cheery voice soon sum- 
 moned us to a supper of hoe-cake and potatoes. 
 That night we ate ravenously, but Aunt 'Liza 
 doled out our allowance of food and water and no 
 l>ersuasion could get an additional crumb or sup. 
 After supper we sat awhile by the fire and 
 answered innumerable questions asked by Aunt 
 'Liza and Noah — told them who we were, where 
 we had been and all about our escape from Ander- 
 sonville. Noah said we were forty miles south- 
 west of Atlanta; four miles from Whitesbury, 
 Coweta County, Georgia; thirty miles from the 
 State line of Alabama; that it was the Chatta- 
 hoochee Elver that we had just crossed, and that it 
 was an awful ways to Tennessee. He had been to 
 Chattanooga once to buy mules, but it took him 
 a long time to go and come. Some rebel recruit- 
 ing and conscription officer had been around a 
 few days before and taken all the men out of the 
 country. He was accompanied by a squad of 
 soldiers and took many by force. They camped 
 five nights before in a clearing by the river and 
 started next morning for Atlanta. Her old mas- 
 ter's two boys, mere lads who had never been 
 away from the plantation before, were taken 
 among others. "What kin dese little boys do? 
 I tell you now, de Confederacy's gettin' mighty 
 skeered. Dere's been a big fight up in Tennessee 
 and de papers sav de Yanks got terril)lv whip- 
 ped." 
 
60 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 ' ' What den makes de Conf eds so skeered, ' ' said 
 Aunt 'Liza. 
 
 No master of logic could have reasoned better. 
 We thanked God for her sturdy faith. 
 
 "Aunty, where is your master!" 
 
 "He's a colonel at Atlanta, and 'specks he'll be 
 a gineral. ' ' 
 
 ' ' Can you get that paper you tell us about ? ' ' 
 
 "Yes. Go 'way, don't tells me you 'uns can 
 read 1 ' ' 
 
 "Yes we can, Aunty. Get us the paper that 
 tells about the fight." "^ 
 
 So Noah was dispatched to the plantation to 
 get some meal, charged with the mission of pur- 
 loining or stealing the newspaper. He returned 
 late in the afternoon with only a part of the news- 
 paper. But this portion contained a war map 
 showing the position of rebel troops, fortifica- 
 tions and line of railroad from Bridgeport to 
 Atlanta, which afterwards proved of great service 
 to us on our way northward. 
 
 "Aunty, how long have you lived here," said I. 
 
 "Lor' bless you, chillun, I'se always lived 
 here. ' ' 
 
 "Are you a slave?" 
 
 "No, I'se a free woman, and Noah's a free man. 
 Ole massa had three hundred slaves and they'se 
 all gone to make forts at Atlanta, but jus' de ole 
 man and woman at de plantation. Dis lot is mine. 
 I got my freedom and Noah's nussin' and doctor- 
 in' de sick folks todder side de ribber. No 
 Yankee soldiers has got here yit. Dem Unionists 
 we was talkin' about was de men de Conf eds was 
 
RETURNING NORTH. 61 
 
 himtin', 'cause dey 'spected dey's run away to de 
 Union lines. De kurnel wanted 'em to go with, 
 him, but dey wouldn't, Dey was goin' to de 
 Yanks de fus chance dey got. When de captain 
 was heah last week he hung two men on dat big 
 tree you see down dar, 'cause dey wouldn't go to 
 Atlanta but tried to run away. ' ' 
 
 We remained at Aunt 'Liza's eight days. On 
 the evening of the sixth day Dick and I were in 
 the hole as usual when we heard horsemen ap- 
 proaching. Aunt 'Liza warned us not to breathe. 
 Jn a few minutes there was a "'hello" at the door. 
 Noah answered the summons by asking who was 
 there. 
 
 ''We want to see Aunt 'Liza." 
 
 She hobbled to the door as if in great pain, 
 saying, "Bress my soul, what you want? Doesn't 
 ye know I'se powerful sick?" 
 
 They were hunting a man who had escaped on 
 the way to Atlanta, and wanted to know if any- 
 body had been around the place. She declared no 
 stranger had been around there since they hung 
 the two men on the big tree. They rode away 
 leaving strict orders that if she saw anyone pass- 
 ing to send word to the plantation, where they 
 expected to remain a couple of days. After they 
 departed she cautioned Noah "'bout seein' too 
 much. Folks wan't bleeged to see everything in 
 the world for someone else, for if you does see 
 something, you needn't know who 'tis. We has to 
 take keer of dese chillun in de hole. Dey's our 
 chillun; do you hear me, Noah!" 
 
 As the captain rode away he said he would 
 
62 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 return next day and make further inquiries. This 
 became alarming. Our chances for escaping un- 
 observed were lessened by his stay in the neigh- 
 borhood, and we were not allowed to come out of 
 the hole that day. The captain rode by next day 
 as lie promised, made some inquiries and passed 
 on. Noah went to the plantation to spy out the 
 land for us, and returned with the news that the 
 caj^tain and his men had gone and that there was 
 no longer any danger from that quarter. 
 
 CHAPTER ^^TT. 
 
 Challenged by a Union Sentinel. 
 
 w 
 
 E SPENT that day in planning our route 
 of escape, for it was decided that we 
 should start on our way that night. Aunt 
 'Liza baked a large quantity of hoe-cakes and 
 potatoes, and made a coarse sack for us 
 to carry provisions, suspended by a rope like 
 a haversack. She also made up a quan- 
 tity of salve, composed of lard, rosin, red 
 pepper, asafetida and catnip, for our feet, 
 for the double purpose of relieving their 
 soreness and for destroying the scent of the 
 hounds, should we be again pursued by them. 
 She declared its composition to be a secret known 
 to only a few colored people in the whole section 
 of the country, and pledged us solemnly to pre- 
 serve her secret. She assured us that if our feet 
 
CHALLENGE BY SENTINEL. 63 
 
 were occasionally anointed with new salve no 
 lionncl could follow our trail, and that we would 
 he al)Solultely free from that danger. We had no 
 means of testing its efficacy in that particular. 
 The good old soul loaded us down witli hoe-cakes 
 and motherly advice. By the force of that divine 
 law implanted in the souls of all human beings, 
 which causes their love and providing care to go 
 out in full measure toward every creature which 
 is absolutely dependent upon them. Aunt 'Liza's 
 maternal instinct had become her dominant pas- 
 sion, and she would have gone to the stake or have 
 been torn to pieces with red-hot pincers in defense 
 of ''dese chillun," as dear to her at that time as 
 her own flesh and blood. She parted from us in 
 grief and tears — called us back many times for 
 an additional word of warning, advice and bless- 
 ing, and our last glimpse of her was in silhouette, 
 as her bent form went into her cabin with its fire- 
 light beyond her and the darkness of night envel- 
 oping everything outside. 
 
 When I think of the tender heart and royal soul 
 of this poor, downtrodden black woman of the 
 South, language fails to express how much I owe 
 her. I should be an ingrate if I did not make con- 
 fession, and in that future to which all are so 
 rapidly tending, I know she will be among the 
 glorified saints who come up through tril)ulation 
 to stand in the presence of God. Dear old Aunty, 
 farewell, farewell. 
 
 Xoali went with us to the bridge across the 
 river, piloted us safely into the woods beyond it, 
 repeated his oft-told instructions as to roads and 
 
G4 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 routes, when he too had to shake hands and leave 
 ns to pursue our wanderings alone toward the 
 blessed land of freedom lying northward. The 
 parting with Aunt 'Liza and Noah depressed us 
 greatly. It severed the last link betwieen our- 
 selves and our protectors, and I feel it no shame 
 to say that Dick and I sat down and cried like 
 children. But this did not last long. The excite- 
 ment soon possessed us again and we started on 
 rapidly. In pursuance of our old plan we lay in 
 the woods and thickets by daylight, and traveled 
 rapidly by night. We at first ate sparingly of 
 our provisions, but as we found the character of 
 the country rapidly changing for the better, and 
 cornfields and potato patches more frequent, we 
 indulged our appetites more and more. One day 
 while in hiding we heard church bells ringing for 
 the first time in over two years. That evening we 
 saw a darke}^ trying to catch a mule in a pasture,, 
 but decided not to trust him. At night there came 
 a pouring rain, so we travelled all night along a 
 main road, in the storm. We passed through a 
 village without seeing a human being and the 
 morning brought us in sight of mountains. We 
 also found a pen of white corn and replenished 
 our rations. On one occasion we were disturbed 
 by dogs, but as they were only common country 
 curs we were not greatly alarmed and soon passed 
 out of their bailiwick. We camped in a huckle- 
 berry swamp on a foot range of the mountains not 
 far from Big Shanty, as we afterwards supposed^ 
 and at night followed a railroad track till day- 
 
IN UNION CAMP. 65 
 
 light. Walking over the ties was hard on our 
 unshod feet. 
 
 The next day while lying in the brush we saw 
 one or two trains pass — ^the first we had seen since 
 leaving Andersonville. Tlie next night's trail 
 led through an agricultural country. Corn and 
 sweet potatoes were plenty. We found some Irish 
 potatoes dropped in furrows for planting and yet 
 uncovered. Some of these paid tribute to our 
 voracious appetites. That night we heard the 
 booming of the cannon to the right, so we bore 
 westward a trifle more and met with no hindrance 
 of any kind. During the following day we fre- 
 quently saw white people passing, and heard 
 much noise and shooting to the' eastward. But we 
 lay quiet nearly all day among the rocks and 
 gulches. At night we pursued our way cautiously 
 till nearly daylight, when increased noise and the 
 braying of mules frightened us into hiding. It 
 was clear we were in the "vicinity of an army, 
 but whether tliej^ were friends or enemies we 
 could not yet decide. 
 
 Excitement ran high with us that day. If these 
 were Union troops our hardships and dangers 
 were nearly ended. But if, on the contrary, it was 
 a Confederate army wo had run into a sack from 
 which escape would be doubly difficult and 
 dangerous. There was no course for us to pursue 
 but that of masterly inactivity. We must watch 
 and wait. 
 
 That night we came to woods where the trees 
 had all been felled. The ground was covered with 
 chips and blocks and some hewed timber lay 
 
Ii6 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 around. Passing around this we came to an un- 
 fenced cornfield with woods beyond. We pro- 
 ceeded with great caution till brought to a stand- 
 still by seeing a light ahead. We lay down for a 
 time and discussed the probabilities in whispers. 
 Our decision was to advance carefully towards the 
 light and try to learn something by observation. 
 So we crawled along between the old corn rows 
 hugging the ground as closely as possible for 
 quite a distance." In one of our advances we got 
 on some dry cornstalks which snapped with a 
 loud noise, and the word ''Halt!" rang on our 
 ears like a clap of thunder. Vie were nearly 
 stunned with fright and lay still as death for 
 some minutes. On attempting to move again, 
 the cornstalks began to crack, and again came 
 the startling command, ' ' Halt ! " This time we 
 ])erceived a dark form in the distance and rightly 
 concluded that we had crawled within range of 
 some advanced picket. Was he friend or foe? 
 We whispered a few words in our great extremity, 
 decided we could do nothing better than to re- 
 spond to his challenge. We might be able to 
 discover what army he belonged to at a glance, 
 and by making a dash in the dark might possibly 
 escape if he proved to be an enemy. So we both 
 rose to our feet. "Who comes there!" rang out 
 again. We saw the glimmer of brass buttons on 
 the sentry's clothing, l^ard the click of his 
 musket as he brought it to a full cock, and with a 
 feeling amounting almost to a certainty (based 
 upon his speech and actions) that he belonged to 
 
GIVING UP, BUT SAFE. 67 
 
 the Federal army, replied: *'A friend without 
 the countersign." 
 
 "Advance friend. Who are you?" 
 
 We now recognized the uniform and replied, 
 ' ' We are Union prisoners escaped from Anderson- 
 ville." 
 
 The soldier, w^ho proved to be Simeon Collins, 
 Company D, Seventh Illinois Infantry, called for 
 the corporal of the guard, who came in a hurry 
 with a squad of men. 
 
 By this time nature had given way again. The 
 sudden transition was too much for our poor, en- 
 feebled bodies, and we tumbled down limp as 
 babies. But strong hands took hold of us, strong 
 arms were put under us, and we were speed- 
 ily borne back to the campfire in the edge 
 of the woods, which first attracted our atten- 
 tion. Some hot coffee and a little hardtack soon 
 revived us, and the questioning began and was 
 kept up for two hours. Dick and I replied alter- 
 nately as each became exhausted. 
 
 We escaped from Andersonville on March 2d 
 and this was March 28th, and we were near 
 Bridgeport, Alabama, 
 
68 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 At General Sherman's Headquarters. 
 
 [E REMAINED at the post all night. When 
 the officer of the guard came around in the 
 morning, he sent for an ambulance and took 
 us to General McQuiston's headquarters, towards 
 Stevenson. We desired to see General Sherman, so 
 McQuiston sent us back to General Ruger's head- 
 quarters, near Lookout Mountain, to whose com- 
 mand the Seventh Illinois belonged. General Ruger 
 detailed Collins to guard and transport us to Gen- 
 eral Sherman, who was then near Cleveland Junc- 
 tion on an inspection tour of his three army corps, 
 extending from Huntsville to Knoxville. 
 
 This intervening time seems like a dream. We 
 were more dead than alive, from starvation and 
 exposure, and could only lie still and eat and 
 sleep. Food was given to us carefully and as 
 much freedom from excitement secured as pos- 
 sible under the circumstances. But the train made 
 long and frequent stoppages and we were con- 
 scious of a pressing and excited throng of officers 
 and men hovering about us continually. They 
 would stand and gaze at us awhile in dumb ex- 
 citement, then burst into volleys of oaths and 
 imprecations against the Southern Confederacy 
 and the leaders in the rebellion, and pass on in 
 tears to make place for the throngs which surged 
 behind them. 
 
 At Cleveland Junction we were taken by am- 
 
AT SHERMAN'S HEADQUARTERS. 69 
 
 bulance to General Sherman's. As Collins, our 
 guard, lifted me out of the ambulance, I saw the 
 great Union General on a campstool in front of 
 his tent. Campstools were brought out for us 
 and we were placed in his presence, but seeing our 
 weakness we were soon stretched on a. couple of 
 cots. Then began the usual round of questions by 
 General Sherman himself, in his peculiar, quick 
 and nervous manner. Dick and I answered him 
 as fully as possible and gave a detailed account 
 of our capture, imprisonment and escape, down 
 to our final appearance in front of General Euger 's 
 pickets near Bridgeport, and after that Collins 
 became our spokesman and told him of carrying us 
 within the lines and bringing us to his headquar- 
 ters by order of General McQuiston. 
 
 I don't know how to describe General Sherman's 
 appearance during the recital of our pitiful tale. 
 He seemed in an abstracted mood at first, but as 
 the narrative progressed he showed more interest 
 and occasionally interrupted us by asking a ques- 
 tion. Later on he leaned forward and listened 
 intently and eagerly, as though he feared he 
 should lose or forget some part of the story. 
 Towards the close his face was flushed with ex- 
 citement and anger, the veins on his forehead 
 were swollen and his whole nervous organization 
 was strung to its highest tension. 
 
 The staff surgeon was directed to take us in 
 charge and see that we had all needful medical 
 attention. Everybody seemed to be crowding 
 about, and officers from the surrounding vicinity 
 oame swarming by scores to see for themselves 
 
70 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 tlie reality of Andersonville prison. But little 
 was said for a few minutes, but the clenched 
 fists and glassy eyes outran all speech, and occa- 
 sionally the muttering would break into a 
 tempest of execration. General Sherman was not 
 ready to part with us yet. He walked into his tent 
 for a few minutes, apart from every one else, as if 
 collecting his thoughts 'before deciding what 
 should be done with us, and presently came out 
 where we were stretched on our cots, and began 
 to talk very calmly, for him, in a soothing, reas- 
 suring tone. 
 
 "I'm glad you escaped, boys, glad you escaped. 
 That's the kind of grit that brings men through. 
 Don't think of giving up. Never say die. Don't 
 you be alarmed; you shall be taken care of. The 
 grit and nerve that has brought you thus far will 
 see you clear through, easy enough, if you only 
 resolve to live. 
 
 He then asked if there was anything he could 
 do for us. 
 
 "I should like to live long enough to see Presi- 
 dent Lincoln and then go home and die, ' ' was my 
 answer. 
 
 General Sherman caught at this remark as one 
 that had been uppermost in own mind, and said 
 c[uickly, ''You shall, you shall; Lincoln shall see 
 you just as you are. Cheer up, boys; cheer up. 
 You shall be sent to Washington. You shall see 
 the President. And now I have a favor to ask of 
 you. I want you to take especial care to tell your 
 story to President Lincoln precisely as you told 
 it to me. Don't try to study up something to say. 
 
AT SHERMAN'S HEADQUARTERS. 71 
 
 Stiaiid lip before liim and don't be afraid. Talk 
 to liim just as yon talked to me and tell him the 
 plain story of yonr imprisonment, your starvation 
 and your escape. Your condition and appearance 
 will vouch for its truth; but I want it told from 
 your own mouth, just as you told it to me — I will 
 get at that hell-hole yet, and wlieii I do—" 
 
 His whole frame dilated and his stature seemed 
 increased by inches as he looked around on all 
 assembled, and without another word strode 
 away with the fiery impetus of some fabled god of 
 antiquity. 
 
 The surgeon advised that we be sent directl}^ 
 home and used all the argument at his command. 
 Our condition was such that mental excitement 
 would kill us. Our diet for a long time must be 
 beef tea, milk and the simplest forms of food, in 
 small quantities. "We needed tender nursing. 
 Our restoration must be conducted slowly or we 
 would never recover. But General Sherman's 
 mind was made up. Collins was detailed from 
 Ids command, given written orders to take us 
 under guard to Washington City and directed to 
 present us in person to President Lincoln without 
 the slightest change of clothing and as near in our 
 then condition as was possible under the circum- 
 stances. 
 
 This was a great surprise to us. We had not 
 expected so much attention from General Sher- 
 man, nor such interest in our story. We were 
 not fit to be presented to anyone except upon 
 urgent necessitj^, much less to the President of the 
 United States. We were rasfged, filthv, covered 
 
72 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 witli vermin, without hats, caps, shoes or a vestige 
 of any kind of clothing except the rags remain- 
 ing from the shirt and pants we had on when 
 captured sixteen months before, and were now^ 
 to -be sent to the President under guard, un- 
 washed, uncombed, unclothed and covered with 
 sores. 
 
 As soon as the General left us, Dick commenced : 
 
 ''Billy, shall we ever get home?'* 
 
 ''We mustn't think of home, Dick, or well cer- 
 tainly never get there alive. We must make up 
 our minds to face the music." 
 
 "Well, Billy, I think they might give us some- 
 thing to eat. Just look at the goodies in that 
 tent." 
 
 "Yes, but the surgeon has given his orders, 
 Dick. We must think of something else. We 
 should certainly kill ourselves eating if we were 
 turned loose in that tent." 
 
 "Well, Billy, I guess we are in for it again. 
 But I wish the boys wouldn't talk to us so much. 
 I'm worn out, and want to hide myself awhile." 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 On to Washing-ton. 
 
 i 
 
 lUR GUAED soon returned with written 
 orders and said he was ready to go. Gen- 
 
 eral Sherman came and shook hands with 
 
 us as we were leaving, telling us to keep up our 
 
ON TO WASHINGTON. 73 
 
 courage, that everything possi])]e shouki ])e done 
 for our comfort, and when we reached Washing- 
 ton we could tell the President that liis army was 
 headed for Andersonville and would never halt 
 while that hell-hole was in existence. 
 
 Our feet were so sore we could neither walk 
 nor stand while waiting for the train, but the boys 
 carried us aboard the cars and fixed us comfort- 
 ably on boards laid across the backs of the seats. 
 We slept soundly until wakened by the faithful 
 Collins to receive our ration of beef tea. We 
 greatly needed rest and desired to be alone; but 
 the news spread that we were prisoners escaped 
 from Andersonville and the crowd besieged us 
 continually until Collins finally took the matter 
 in hand and kept us as quiet as possible. 
 
 A long, wearisome ride brought us to a station 
 below Murfreesborough, where the train was side- 
 tracked and lay all night expecting an attack from 
 a gang of bushwhackers who had torn up the 
 road. Our train was guarded by a detachment 
 of soldiers and the doors were barricaded with 
 bales of hay, some of the detachment lying on 
 their arms while others occupied a small block 
 house not far away. The next forenoon the bush- 
 whackers drove in the Union pickets, rode up to 
 the outskirts of the village and opened the attack. 
 Finding the train well defended they soon with- 
 drew to the hills, leaving four horses and eleven 
 dead men behind. 
 
 But little damage had been done the track and 
 we reached headquarters safely that evening. 
 Here a surgeon was called in to prescribe for us. 
 
74 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 He found us nearly helpless from stomach trouble. 
 A cordial was givien us and an additional man de- 
 tailed to assist Collins in getting us to Nashville. 
 
 Arrived at Nashville we were very weak and 
 became almost unconscious; but we realized that 
 a quarrel was going on between our guard and a 
 surgeon. The latter insisted on taking us to a 
 hospital but Collins was not to lae interfered with, 
 and procuring some extra blankets he made us 
 l)eds on the floor of the depot until we were again 
 taken aboard the train for Louisville. 
 
 While in the depot a motherly old lady was con- 
 stantly by our side. She was the first woman who 
 had ministered to us since we parted from Aunt 
 'Liza. She got a basin of water and wanted to 
 wash our hands and faces but was informed that 
 it was contrary to the orders of General Sherman. 
 She was not allowed to do much for us but could 
 not be prevented from freely speaking her mind 
 about our condition. We learned that she was 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Moore, of Preston, Fillmore 
 County, Minnesota — that she had come to Nash- 
 ville to nurse one of her sons who was in the 
 hospital there — ^that he had died in her arms and 
 she was now on her way home with his body— 
 til at her husband had been killed at Corinth, and 
 that her younger and only remaining son was in 
 the army with Sherman. 
 
 She said to us: "Boys, you may be sure George 
 will never be taken alive. My last words to him 
 were: 'George, never turn your back to the 
 enemy.' He will come home to me yet." 
 
 ''Talk to me about loyalty, about blood," said 
 
ON TO WASHINGTON. 75 
 
 Dick, in his admiration of this heroic woman, 
 "she is not made' of the same clay as the woman 
 who spit in the face of poor, starving, dying 
 ('haplain Hathaway. ' ' 
 
 Mrs. Moore accompanied ns as far as Lonis- 
 ville and was constant in her kind attentions, 
 giving us our beef tea and medicine witii pre- 
 scribed regularity. 
 
 x\t Munfordsville, Kentucky, another surgeon, 
 seeing our condition, insisted that we should be 
 taken from the train for a day's rest, but Collins 
 objected and we began to feel that we could 
 stand the trip without delaying. Mrs. Moore 
 took us in hand and asserted the prerogatives of 
 a nurse and drove away all curious, idle ques- 
 tioners. Sleep— beef tea — sleep again seemed 
 hourly recurrences. 
 
 At Munfordsville we met a trainload of ex- 
 changed rebel prisoners from Rock Island on 
 their way southward. They were healthy, fleshy 
 and well clothed. Some of them wer© brought 
 to see us, that they might realize the difference 
 between the treatment at Northern and Southern 
 prisons. They spoke out like men and cursed 
 those who had treated us in such an inhuman man- 
 ner, in hearty Southern fashion. 
 
 At Louisville we were driven to the soldiers' 
 home for accommodations for the night, but those 
 in authority objected to receiving us in such an 
 informal manner. Not to put too fine a point 
 upon it, they thought we were too vermin-ridden 
 to lodge within their dainty walls, and by far too 
 filthy for their immaculate sheets. But Collins 
 
76 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 was armed for the fray and flaunted General 
 Sherman's orders right and left, until he came 
 out ahead, as usual. It ended in the superintend- 
 ent carrying me to my room in his own arms. 
 But the room was soon swarming with officers 
 and privates anxious to hear from friends and 
 relatives and but little rest was obtained that 
 night. 
 
 In the morning we were carried on board a 
 steamer bound for Cincinnati. Mrs. Moore came 
 aboard to say farewell and the good iidvice which 
 she gave us would alone fill a fair-sized book. 
 We parted from her with sincere regret. ''She 
 hath done what she could" will be proclaimed by 
 the recording angel at the resurrection of the 
 quiclv and the dead. 
 
 After being placed in as good quarters as could 
 be found for us at that time, with extra blankets 
 for beds, we sank down and tried to be contented 
 with our lot. The cold, disagreeable weather be- 
 gan to tell against us. Our minds had also been 
 worked up to such a pitch by our parting with 
 Mrs. Moore that we could" not settle do^vn to sleep. 
 The good woman's face seemed as visible before 
 our closed eyes as it ever did when they were 
 open. Her kind words rang in our ears con- 
 tinually until supplanted by the noise of the boat's 
 machinery. 
 
 The captain of the vessel soon came to see about 
 our transportation and w^as referred to our guard. 
 Collins told him that he wanted to keep us as 
 quiet as possible. As the weather was fair he 
 thought us about as comfortable hidden away in 
 
MANY FRIENDS. 77 
 
 one corner of the deck as we would be anywhere 
 else, but the captain seemed dissatisfied. He 
 looked at ns in silence for a few minutes and 
 walked away. But he soon returned and had 
 Collins carry us into an elegant stateroom which 
 he had hastily prepared for us by spreading a 
 good bed on the floor. He was a very nervous 
 man and could not bear to see us suffering from 
 filth and vermin and sworn that neither General 
 Sherman nor any other man should treat passen- 
 gers so inhumanly while he was running that boat. 
 He was determined to have us put into bathtubs, 
 washed and barbered, and said we should be 
 dressed in decent clothing if he had to give us his 
 own right there. 
 
 So Collins had to go over the whole ground 
 agiiin and beg the captain not to compel a viola- 
 tion of General Sherman's orders. The reason for 
 transporting us in this condition to the President 
 was a good and sufficient one. We were able to 
 endure our journey in our present condition and 
 one object lesson such as we afforded would do 
 more to inflame the hearts of rulers and people 
 and bring the war to a close than all the stump 
 speeches that had been made since it commenced; 
 Collins also paraded his orders from General 
 Sherman until Captain Winters reluctantly con- 
 sented to leave us as we were. 
 
 Gentlemen and ladies also began to call at 
 our stateroom to see us and talk with us. They 
 were generally so well dressed and so stylish 
 that we were greatly ashamed of ourselves and 
 heartily wished they could be kept away. All 
 
78 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 asked the same questions, expressed the same 
 opinions and wanted to have us washed and 
 dressed. Collins was driven into constant ob- 
 stinacy. 
 
 "Billy," said Dick, "what makes people such 
 fools? 'why can't they let us alone?" 
 
 We were given an opiate and the crowds 
 driven away, that we might obtain a little *sleep. 
 
 Later on we talked over the situation as coolly 
 as possible, and concluded to stand the racket 
 if we possibly could. We began to pity Collins. 
 He scarcely got any rest, day or night, and we 
 were afraid he would break down before we got 
 to the end of our journey. 
 
 Another trouble had arisen to destroy Dick's 
 peace of mind. He had learned that our probable 
 route lay through Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
 "Billy, that's my home. How can we manage so 
 that mother will not find us out? That point dis- 
 tresses me terribly. If mother was to learn that 
 I was on a passing train, Sherman's whole army 
 could not get me through that town nor take me 
 away from her again. What shall we do, Billy; 
 what shall we do?" 
 
 I suggested that we miglit take a lay off and go 
 by another route. 
 
 "But Billy, what's the use of taking us dirty, 
 ragged fellows to President Lincoln? He won't 
 so much as look at us. ' ' 
 
 "Dick, don't talk that way. All we ever heard 
 of Old Abe proved him to be a tender-hearted 
 man. Sherman has some plan in sending us, and 
 it will pay us to try to live it out. The only 
 
]N KIND HANDS. 79 
 
 thing I am afraid of is that we shall break down 
 and not be able to tell him our story as G^eneral 
 Sherman directed. We must brace up, old fellow, 
 and not be ashamed. It is not our fault that we 
 are ragged and filthy. If we are sent in this con- 
 dition people can see how the boys in Andersou- 
 ville are clothed and fed. We can stand it awhile 
 longer. We can represent the facts as they are, 
 and if we talked about it to the day of our death 
 we could never tell it all. We mustn't think of 
 home yet. We'll get through Harrisburg some- 
 how." 
 
 We stayed twenty-four hours in the soldiers' 
 home at Cincinnati. Collins secreted us as much 
 as possible and we had a fair night's rest. In the 
 morning we were driven to the depot and Collins 
 soon had a bed prepared. But crowds collected to 
 look, at us — wanted to know who we were, where 
 we were going, and why we were allowed to re- 
 main in such a horrible condition. Poor Collins' 
 tribulations commenced anew. To show churlish- 
 ness and refuse answers would insure his being 
 pitched off the train with a broken head. So he 
 had to tell his story for the hundredth time, but 
 that would scarcely suffice. 
 
 "Boys, what State are you from?" said a 
 gentleman standing near me. 
 
 "From Ohio, the best State in the Union," was 
 my feel)le reply. 
 
 "What, are you one of our boys!" 
 
 ' ' Yes, sir. I belong to Troop H, Ninth Cavalry. ' ' 
 
 "My goodness, they are not taking you to 
 AYashington in that plight, are they?" 
 
80 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 "Yes, sir," we replied, "by General Sherman's 
 personal and positive orders." 
 
 "Ah, yes, I begin to see it now, but by the 
 Eternal, these boys must have some clothes. Are 
 Ohio men such beggars as to allow an Ohio sol- 
 dier boy to go in such rags as these? These boys 
 shall be taken from the train before it starts. 
 They shall be cleaned and clothed at my expense 
 before the}" can go a mile further. Where's your 
 home?" 
 
 "Mansfield, Eichland County, Ohio. But, 
 captain, please keep still for our sake, please do. 
 We have to go. You can't help it. Sherman's 
 orders must be obeyed and Collins is bound to 
 enforce them. We are nearly tired to death. If 
 you want to do anything for us, keep these people 
 ?iwaj, so they cannot talk us to death. That is 
 all we ask of you." 
 
 "Boys, it can't be helped. I must have answers 
 to a few questions. I must know your names ; 
 where you are from, and how you got away." 
 
 "But hold on, captain, we don't want our folks 
 to know we are coming home just yet." 
 
 "Yes, but boys, you may never get home." 
 
 ' ' yes, we will. We 're not going to die on the 
 way there, after all we have gone through. No, 
 no." 
 
 "Wait a minute, boys, I want to see a man in 
 the back car. ' ' 
 
 He returned in a few minutes with an elderly 
 gentleman whom he introduced as Doctor George 
 Ross, of Xenia, Ohio, telling him to see if we 
 needed medical attention. 
 
TOO MANY FRIENDS. 81 
 
 Doctor Ross looked at us a few minutes without 
 saying a word. After an examination lie said we 
 were living on excitement and must have rest. 
 
 "Boys, I'll see you through. You must have 
 extra care. You shall have it. It would be a 
 shame for an Ohio boy to make this trip without 
 a medical attendant, so I will go myself. You 
 must have a little brandy and milk." 
 
 The more the matter came to be understood 
 the greater became the excitement, and it was with 
 extreme difficulty that people could be prevented 
 from taking forcible possession of us and putting 
 us in better condition. 
 
 At Xenia, the home of Doctor Ross, the crowd 
 was immense, and the rush and press to "see the 
 prisoners" and question us about Andersonville 
 was overwhelming. Sufficient provisions to feed 
 a company were showered upon us. The good 
 ladies were "sure they could eat something," and 
 were free with their complaints to the doctor 
 because he had not telegraphed sooner, etc. We 
 could make little or no reply, but lay quietly 
 wondering when this parade and excitement 
 would be over. 
 
 "Billy," groaned honest Dick, "I wish all the 
 cake and chicken were out of sight," and out of 
 the window they went by the hands of Doctor 
 Ross, and Collins was instructed not to allow an- 
 other morsel of tempting food to be brought into 
 the car under any circumstances. 
 
 "Now, boys," said the good doctor, "it is time 
 for more brandy and milk, that's what you need 
 instead of pies and cakes. These dainties may be 
 
82 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 tempting when you see them, but it would be 
 certain death to eat them." 
 
 Dick thought if we could sleep all the way to 
 AVashington it would be splendid. The doctor 
 said we should sleep at the proper time. 
 
 When the brakeman yelled out "London" I 
 was greatly excited and dreaded recognition by 
 some of my acquaintances. Crowds forced their 
 way in with provisions, but were persuaded to 
 file past without speaking to us on account of our 
 weak condition. The platform was covered with 
 excited men and women, with a heavy sprinkling 
 of soldiers. As soon as we were fairly away from 
 the depot the provisions which had been left 
 followed the former lot through the car window, 
 and another source of aggravation was removed. 
 Dick begged the doctor to keep these things out 
 of the car and he promised to do so if possible. 
 
 At Columbus some old ladies were seated oppo- 
 site us and kept up a running fire of questions. 
 "Did you know so and so?" "Tell us about 
 Andersonville." "How long were you there!" 
 "Where are you going?" "Why were you sent 
 in such a plight!" etc., etc., until the conductor 
 interfered and removed them to other seats. 
 
 A gentleman addressed Doctor Ross familiarly 
 and asked who he had there. 
 
 "I'm blest if I know. They are Ohio boys on 
 their way to President Lincoln, by orders of Gen- 
 eral Sherman. They have just escaped from An- 
 dersonville. Look here, Ed," said the doctor as 
 he raised the blanket and showed us to his friend. 
 
 " I 'm afraid my boy is there, ' ' was all the reply 
 
PASSING HOME TOWN. S3 
 
 he could make in husky tones, choking with tears 
 and indignation. He put some money in our 
 hands, saying that was the only way he could help 
 us. '^0, yes, you must take it; you'll need it. If 
 I could help you some other way I wouldn 't try to 
 force the money upon you, but this is all I can 
 do, and yoi"! must take it for the sake of my boy. 
 0, if I could only know where he is." 
 
 He shook hands tenderly on leaving the car and 
 said: *'Boys, you mustn't give up the ship. Don't 
 lose \'our grip. When your visit is ended come 
 back to Zanesville and stay awhile with old Ed 
 Stoneman. He'll take care of you in fine style." 
 
 ''Dick, that's what Ohio is made of," said I, "no 
 bloodhounds to chase starving prisoners here. 
 Tliese are the sort of people I like to meet, but 
 I'd like to turn them loose on Andersonville for 
 awhile." Dick laughed at the suggestion and re- 
 marked: ''There'll be nothing for bloodhounds 
 to live on when Sherman gets through with 
 Georgia. ' ' 
 
 "That's the kind of talk," said Doctor Eoss. 
 "Just keep that up and you'll gain ten pounds a 
 day. Why, you'll be wanting to go back to your 
 regiments before you get out of Washington 
 City." 
 
 Dick didn't want any more cavalry service, but 
 thought infantry was good enough for him. Beef 
 tea — sleep — Zanesville — more beef tea — brandy 
 and milk — more sleep — the constant rumbling 
 and jolting of our train — opening and slamming 
 of doors — crowds of questioners and answers by 
 Doctor Eoss and Collins in dreamy succession. 
 
84 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 We passed through Wheeling, Pittsburg and Al- 
 toona in a state of semi-consciousness, and before 
 our arrival at Harrisburg, Doctor Ross kindly 
 gave us an opiate that carried us far beyond the 
 city in blissful ignorance of all surroundings, and 
 Dick was thus spared the most dreaded episode 
 of his journey. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 At the White House. 
 
 |E ARRIVED at Washington about 6:30 A. 
 M., April 28th, 1864. Collins left us in 
 care of Doctor Ross at a sort of a sol- 
 diers' home or hospital near the depot, and 
 reported to President Lincoln immediately. 
 He soon returned with orders to convey us 
 to the White House at once. We were ac- 
 cordingly loaded into an omnibus and driven 
 under the famous portico at the main entrance 
 to that historic building and carried into a recep- 
 tion room on the first floor, where we remained an 
 hour or more. The guard then beckoned to Collins 
 and took him directly to the President by virtue 
 of the orders which he bore from General Sher- 
 man. 
 
 He returned in a few minutes followed by Pres- 
 ident Lincoln. The President came striding 
 across the room, took each of us by the hand, 
 saying, "Come along, boys; come along," and 
 
TIRED AND SLEEPY. 
 
 85 
 
 undertook to lead us into an adjoining room. 
 
 Our feet had become so swollen and sore that 
 we had scarcely borne our weight on them since 
 leaving Cincinnati, but we did manage, by the aid 
 
 Billy Bates and Dick King in the presence of Abraham Lincoln at the White 
 Hojse. 
 
 of Collins and Doctor Eoss, to liobble along to the 
 next room. The effort, pain and excitement took 
 
86 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 away our speech for a minute. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln wheeled a couple of fine tapes- 
 tried chairs into position for us, but we de- 
 murred to soiling them. He kindly pushed us 
 down into them, saying, ''There is nothing in the 
 "White House too good for my boys," and sat a 
 moment looking at us with one hand on my head 
 and thei other on Dick's shoulder. 
 
 "Now, boys, tell me all about it. I want to hear 
 your stor}^ General Sherman has asked for a 
 patient hearing of all you have to say. So tell 
 me all about it." 
 
 We were still unable to speak. His considerate 
 kindness broke us down. We burst into tears 
 and were almost hysterical. Seeing our con- 
 dition, the President continued in a kindly tone 
 of voice, ''Don't break down now, boys. Cheer 
 up and remember that you are almost home. We 
 are all friends here, and I want you as friends of 
 mine to do me a favor and tell me all you can 
 about Andersonville. " 
 
 Eecovering in a measure our self control, we 
 began, and as we warmed up to the work we for- 
 got the wounds, bruises, sores and filth of our 
 starved, emaciated bodies— forgot for the time 
 the horrors of imprisonment and the deadly 
 perils of escape— forgot even that we were at 
 the seat of our great nation, in sight of its 
 magnificent capitol and in the presence of the 
 greatest living ruler, and the noblest, grandest 
 man on earth. 
 
 We talked on and on with a perfect abandon. 
 
AT THE WHITE HOUSE. 87 
 
 When one grew too weak for speech the other 
 continued the tale. 
 
 The President listened with close attention and 
 until we finished our long and rambling story, 
 and rarely interrupted us by a word or a ques- 
 tion. 
 
 When we had finished he turned to Dick and 
 asked whose son he was. Dick replied that his 
 father was dead, was killed at Fort Donelson, but 
 his mother was Mary King of Harrisburg, Penn- 
 sylvania. The President took his full name, com- 
 pany, regiment and State. Having noted these 
 down, he turned to me, saying: 
 
 "Who are you, my boy?" 
 
 I replied that I was a son of Calvin Bates, of 
 Mansfield, Richland County, Ohio— Ralph Bates 
 by name, and belonged to Troop H, Ninth Ohio 
 Cavalry. 
 
 A gentleman present stepped in front of me and 
 asked sharply: "What was that you said, boy?" 
 His quick manner startled me, but I repeated 
 that I was the son of Calvin Bates, of Richland 
 County, Ohio, and that I knew him perfectly well 
 — that he was General Sam Cary, of Cincinnati, 
 Ohio, and that I had sat on his knee dozens of 
 times in my father's house. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln looked nervously towards him and 
 asked : 
 
 ' ' Cary, do you know this boy 's father ? ' ' 
 
 "Know his father? Know that boy's father? 
 Indeed I do. He is doing as much or more than 
 any man in the State of Ohio towards supplying 
 the army and putting down the rebellion." 
 
88 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 The President sprang to his feet and started 
 toward the door, saying, ' ' My God, when will this 
 accursed thing end?" 
 
 He and General Gary excused themselves for a 
 few minutes, as I afterwards learned, to transmit 
 the following telegram to my father: 
 
 Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., 
 
 April 28, 1864. 
 Galvin Bates, Mansfield, Ohio* 
 
 Your son, Ealph Bates, of Troop H, Ninth Ohio 
 Cavalry, has made his escape from Andersonville 
 prison. He is in my care. I will send him home. 
 Don 't let him die. ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 
 
 President. 
 
 He returned in a few minutes and said: "Now, 
 boys, just keep quiet; we will soon have your 
 affairs all right," and commenced to question us 
 anew. 
 
 "Did the guards take good care of you? Who 
 is the other man you have alluded to, boys!" 
 
 Collins replied that it was Doctor Ross, of 
 Xenia, Ohio, who came with us at his own ex- 
 pense. 
 
 "Where is he! Bring him in immediately." 
 
 He then questioned Doctor Ross closely con- 
 cerning our condition when he first saw us at 
 Cincinnati, and finally, turning to Collins, ordered 
 
WITH THE PRESIDENT. 89 
 
 liim to have us washed and supplied with suitable 
 clothing and returned at once to the White House. 
 
 While Collins was securing a carriage the 
 President and General Gary were walking about 
 the room talking in undertones. 
 
 On our return to the hospital we were taken 
 to the bathroom and stripped of our rags, when 
 the work of cleaning up began. We were rubbed, 
 scrubbed, scraped and doused until we could 
 endure it no longer, and our hair and beards were 
 shingled as close to the skin as possible. Brandy 
 was administered once or tiwce to strengthen us 
 for the ordeal, but it came near being too much 
 for us in spite of all. We actually collapsed until 
 the doctor was alarmed. 
 
 A free use of stimulants rallied us for a time 
 and the work of donning new suits of blue com- 
 menced. Our new clothes hung on us like the 
 covering of a scarecrow. 
 
 Our novel appearance at once aroused Dick's 
 vein of humor and he remarked: "Collins, you 
 are the most extravagant man I ever saw." 
 
 "Why so? "asked Collins. 
 
 "Don't you see we could just as well both be 
 put into one suit and thus be more economical?" 
 
 After this transformation we were re-conveyed 
 to the White House and put to bed. 
 
 The President came in to see us, and finding us 
 in bed, limp, wBite and speechless, said: 
 
 "Has it come to this? Never mind, you will 
 soon be walking about." 
 
 Just then a lady came into the room, when Mr. 
 Lincoln turned to us and said: 
 
90 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 "Boys, this is the other half of this adminis- 
 tration." He seemed to be in a jovial mood, 
 made a number of humorous remarks and told 
 stories to provoke our sense of mirth, and gave 
 us several pretty severe pinches, as he said, "Just 
 to see if there was a pinch of flesh on either of 
 us." 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln was for giving us "something 
 good to eat," but Doctor Ross forbade it per- 
 emptorily. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln said Doctor Ross was medical 
 director of that department and must be obeyed 
 accordingly. We were then left alone for a much 
 needed sleep. 
 
 On waking Doctor Ross took us to another 
 room to be weighed. Here we found President 
 Lincoln, General Gary and several other gentle- 
 men assembled to witness this operation and cer- 
 tify to its correctness. Mr. Lincoln was weigh- 
 master and directed Dick to be put on the scales. 
 He seemed to distrust his own senses the first 
 time and had him put on again to be sure he was 
 right. 
 
 "Gary, this man weighs sixty-four and a half 
 pounds." 
 
 I was next put on the scales, when he called out : 
 ' ' Gary, this one weighs only fifty-nine and three- 
 fourths pounds." 
 
 The President returned with us to our bedroom 
 and sat some time, asking additional questions 
 about Andersonville, as they occurred to him. 
 As I answered carefully I observed that General 
 Gary was taking notes of all that was said. On 
 
STARTING HOMEWARD. 91 
 
 leaving the room with General Gary the President 
 remarked: "I hope you will rest tonight. I will 
 send you home as soon as it is safe for you to 
 travel. ' ' 
 
 The next day was one of glorious, unbroken 
 rest. Visitors were excluded. 
 
 The following morning we were carried into 
 a large dining-room and propped up in chairs in 
 front of the table, when President Lincoln came 
 in and seated himself between us. Our breakfast 
 consisted of beef tea and boiled milk; there was 
 nothing else in sight on the table. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Arrival at Home. 
 
 rrnPTER BREAKFAST the President had an- 
 I A I o^^^^ interview with Collins, but we could 
 U *-l not hear the conversation. Another day 
 and night passed without interruption. On the 
 following morning we were much improved. On 
 the eleventh morning President Lincoln came to 
 the room to say goodbye and told us to be of good 
 cheer for we were to start for home that day. We 
 tried to thank him for his kindness but did not 
 succeed very well in words, but he assured us 
 we need not be anxious about that. Collins was to 
 see Dick safe home at Harrisburg, and two Ver- 
 mont soldiers just out of the convalescent hos- 
 pital were detailed to take me to Mansfield. 
 
92 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 Taking our last farewell of President Lincoln 
 we started for the depot, steamed out from the 
 shadow of the Goddess of Liberty on the dome of 
 the capitol, and felt for the first time that we 
 Avere indeed on the way home. Every possible 
 aiTangement seems to have been made for our 
 comfort, by direction of the President. "VVe learned 
 from Collins that he had been given a furlough of 
 sixty days. He intended visiting friends in Pitts- 
 burg for a day or two and then proceed to his 
 home in Moline, Illinois, at which place he desired 
 letters sent him occasionally informing him how 
 we were getting on, etc. Doctor Boss determined to 
 accompany me to Mansfield after leaving Dick in 
 Harrisburg. 
 
 The thought of separation depressed Dick and 
 myself greatly, but it was not until the train 
 actually stopped at Harrisburg and Doctor Eoss 
 took Dick in his arms to carry him from the car 
 that we fully realized how dear we had become to 
 each other. 
 
 Mrs. King stood waiting on the platform and in 
 a moment there was a rush, and I could hear her 
 thanking God and invoking His blessing on all 
 who had befriended her boy. The doctor put 
 Dick into a cab and returned with Mrs. King, who 
 insisted on seeing me. 
 
 "I have prayed, and prayed for you both, now I 
 am entirely satisfied. Goodbye, me boy, and may 
 Ood save ye and bless ye always^" was the last I 
 heard as the train moved away. 
 
 Doctor Eoss sat by me for awhile, but neither 
 he nor Collins could fill Dick's place, and my grief 
 
ARRIVAL AT HOME. 93 
 
 and excitement became so great that the doctor 
 administered an opiate. 
 
 The next morning we parted with Collins at 
 Pittsburg and soon crossed the line into Ohio. I 
 had a morbid dread of meeting old acquaintances 
 and as I rode on from station to station I was con- 
 stantly looking around to see if any one knew me. 
 But fortunately we passed through Alliance and 
 other places where I had many friends without 
 any painful recognitions. Canton and Wooster 
 were called out, but the stations seemed to be a 
 thousand miles apart. 
 
 At last we pulled into Mansfield, just after dark, 
 and by arrangement with Doctor Ross I was hasti- 
 ly taken from the car on the opposite side from the 
 platform, put into a carriage unobserved and 
 driven to the Wilder House, where I hoped to hide 
 aAvay from the crowd until my people could be 
 notified of my arrival. 
 
 As I was carried into the private entrance the 
 landlady inquired: "Who is there?" 
 
 Doctor Eoss replied, "A sick soldier. Please 
 keep very quiet but give us a comfortable bed 
 immediately. ' ' 
 
 But she was expecting my arrival and knew me 
 at sight. When I was comfortably in bed she 
 called to her husband. He wanted to know what 
 was the matter. 
 
 "Nothing. But come here," and as he entered 
 the room she said: "See Cal.'s boy." 
 
 Mr. Crosby stood gazing at me awhile in dumb 
 astonishment, deliberately took off his coat and 
 vest and hung them up on a peg in the same room, 
 
94 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 rolled his shirt sleeves above his elbow, as though 
 these combined operations in some way gave vent 
 to his feelings, and marched away in search of my 
 father. 
 
 He found him in the crowd inquiring and looking 
 for me. The two came into the room together 
 and my father stood looking at me for a few 
 minutes without attempting to speak, when he 
 turned away suddenly and commenced stripping 
 off his clothes like a prize fighter, precisely as Mr. 
 Crosby had done. 
 
 The two men started out together. My presence 
 was restraining upon them — the walls of a house, 
 — a suffocating confinement. They sought the free 
 open air of the streets and commons of Mansfield 
 before either could give vent to his emotions. 
 Citizens assembled by hundreds and followed 
 them about, sympathized and condoled or cursed 
 and swore, as their varying moods impelled them, 
 and a carnival by Bedlamites never half equalled 
 the extravagance of that quiet inland city that 
 night. 
 
 But while Mr. Crosby was hunting my father, 
 his wife was on her way for my mother. I had 
 always dreaded this meeting, expecting a scene. 
 I was too weak to repress my own feelings and 
 expected my mother to break down altogether. 
 
 How different was the reality. She came into 
 the room in a matter of fact sort of way, as though 
 she had only parted from me half an hour before, 
 and without staring me out of countenance, as so 
 many did, said as composedly as could be: 
 
 "Why. Ralph, you look better than I expected," 
 
DICK AT HOME. 95 
 
 as she tenderly arranged my clothing. Unrolling 
 a package in her hand she tied on a large apron 
 and said she Avould soon have me well again and 
 out of that. Only that and nothing more. Not 
 a word, a start, a scream or hysterical fainting 
 fit; not even a tear, lest the nerves of her boy 
 might be shaken thereby and his recovery delayed 
 or endangered. 
 
 0, the mother love — the mother love — God for- 
 ever bless and hallow it in high and low! Her 
 dear eyes had been drowned in tears through all 
 the dreary months of my imprisonment, and full 
 measure of her anguish was only known to her 
 Maker. But her boy was returned to her arms, as 
 she believed, in direct answer to her importunate 
 prayers and supplications, and the springs of her 
 heart were welling up with happiness and her cup 
 of joy was filled to overflowing. 
 
 I learned afterwards that President Lincoln's 
 dispatch to my father was taken from the wire by 
 an operator who did not know his address. Lieu- 
 tenant Eose, of the 38th Ohio Infantry, was present 
 and volunteered to deliver the message. He had 
 just passed father and mother on their way to 
 church and proceeded directly there. The telegram 
 was handed to the minister in the pulpit, who an- 
 nounced, "A dispatch for Calvin Bates." 
 
 Father rose and said: ''Bead it." 
 
 The minister undertook to do so, but broke 
 down and couldn't speak. Lieutenant Rose then 
 read it aloud. There was a moment's silence, 
 when my mother rose from her seat and com- 
 menced a circuit of the church pews, shaking 
 
96 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 hands in her excitement with every soul in the 
 building. The rejoicing was general by this time 
 and the after exercises were in the nature of a 
 thanksgiving service over one who was lost but 
 was found again, 
 
 T was carried home from the hotel next day and 
 my recovery was rapid from that date. In three 
 weeks I could walk about the house and in eleven 
 weeks reported to the provost marshal at Colum- 
 bus for dut}^. 
 
 By the direction of President Lincoln, Doctor 
 Ross furnished me with the necessary medical 
 certificates. I might have obtained a much longer 
 furlough. My parents objected to my returning to 
 the field at all. Governor Brough, of Ohio, offered 
 me several home appointments and urged me to 
 accept one. But my heart was with my comrades 
 at the front and I was determined to return. As 
 a last alternative Governor Brough, in response 
 to my mother's request, ordered me to report to 
 Governor Oliver P. Morton, of Indiana, by whom 
 I was appointed Second Lieutenant in the 129th 
 Eegiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry. 
 
 I joined my new command under fire on the 
 slope of Kenesaw Mountain, during Sherman's 
 celebrated advances on Atlanta, and remained 
 with that regiment, commanded by Col. Charles 
 Zolinger, until we reached Marietta. I was then 
 ordered to report to General McQuiston, com- 
 manding the Second Brigade, First Division, 
 Twenty-third Army Corps, and served on his 
 staff as an orderly until the end of the war. 
 
 We participated in all subsequent operations 
 
AT HOME WITH MOTHER. 97 
 
 against Atlanta; proceeded as far as Jonesboro; 
 returned with General Thomas to the defense of 
 Tennessee; were in the battles of Franklin and 
 Nashville, went east with General Schofield; took 
 boat from Alexandria in Virginia to assist in the 
 capture of Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and were 
 transported thence to Moorehead City, Newbern 
 and Kingston; shared the marching and fighting at 
 Kingston, Goldborough, Kaleigh and Greens- 
 borough, and witnessed the surrender of General 
 Joe Johnston's army. 
 
 From thence we marched to Charlotte, North 
 Carolina, where we remained until mustered out 
 of the service August 6, 1865. 
 
 Dick and I were subsequently subpoenaed to 
 give evidence on the trial of Captain Wirz by the 
 United States Government, on the charge of mur- 
 der, for his treatment of prisoners at Anderson- 
 ville prison, and I kept to the letter, my promise 
 made to him, by seeing him hung at Washington 
 City, on the morning of November 10th, 1865. 
 
 IN MEMORIAM 
 
 of 
 
 Ealph 0. Bates; 
 
 Born June 29, IS-tT, in Mansfield, Ohio. 
 
 Died Dec. 27, 1909, in Santa Cruz, California. 
 
 (From Santa Cruz "Surf," Jan. 1, 1910.) 
 Comrades of the local post of the Grand Army 
 
98 BILLY AND DICK. 
 
 of the Eepublic buried December 28, 1909, in 
 Santa Cruz, the body of a man, whose name 
 and fame will be immortal, and when his- 
 tory's final Scroll of Ages is unrolled, it will 
 be seen how his life wrought more than he ever 
 knew, or the men of his times perceived. 
 While he lived it was not possible to detach 
 his personality from the story. It was his 
 own story. It is now the nation's heritage, 
 and ought to become a standard work in every 
 American library, and read in every American 
 home. 
 
 EICHAED KING: 
 
 Born September 7, 1845, in Harrisburg, 
 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 Died Oct. 9, 1890, in Vineland, New Jersey. 
 
 (From Santa Cruz '^Sentinel," Jan. 2, 1910.) 
 This past week has marked the death in Santa 
 Cruz of Ralph Orr Bates, who has spent more than 
 forty years lecturing to G. A. Rs. and churches 
 and schools throughout the country. In the fall 
 of 1867 he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to col- 
 lege, and in the spring of 1868 was called by Gen- 
 eral Garfield from his school to give the first lec- 
 ture, in the old gray stone church, on the south 
 side of the square in Cleveland, Ohio. At the close 
 of the lecture General Garfield stepped forward 
 and pinned on ''Billy" seven gold medals, of the 
 
IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 seven prisons he had passed through, and asked 
 "Billy" to promise to spend his life telling that 
 story to the coming generations, which "Billy" 
 has done. 
 
 While traveling the AVestern States, m the 
 winter of 1893, Mr. Bates met 0. M. "Whitney of 
 Tacoma, Washington. They became fast friends, 
 and on April 3d of that year the latter joined 
 "Billy" as his private secretary. They traveled 
 the Northern and Central States, with the love of 
 brother between them. 
 
 Mr. Bates came to Santa Cruz three years ago, 
 and only last May found where his friend and 
 past secretary was, and in six weeks had Mr. 
 Whitney with him, here in Santa Cruz, which was 
 a soothing influence to Mr. Bates, to have the care 
 of one he loved as a brother in his hours of suffer- 
 ing. And Mr. Whitney rejoices that he had the 
 opportunity to wait upon his comrade and friend 
 in those last hours. 
 
 While the two were traveling in the Central 
 States thev met Kozella E. Middleton, whom Mr. 
 Bates married Sept. 5, 1895, in Middletown, Indi- 
 ana, who was a loving wife and faithful nurse. 
 
 The End. 
 
RozELLA E. Bates in 1905 
 
^ INDEX ^' 
 
 Testimonials Page 3 
 
 Preface Page 5 
 
 Introduction Page 6 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Billy and Dick in the Chain Gang Page 38 
 
 Billy Suspended by the Thumbs Page 40 
 
 A Race for Life Page 53 
 
 At Aunt 'Liza's Cabin Page 58 
 
 Billy and Dick at the White House Page 85 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ENLISTED AND A PRISONER— Mustered in— Scout- 
 ing — On Picket Duty — Surprised and Captured — 
 — Taken to Richmond, Va. — In Castle Thunder — 
 At Libby Prison Page 9 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HARDSHIPS BEGIN— At Wilmington— Cornmeal and 
 Spoiled Meat for Food — Robbed of Our Clothing — 
 Richard King — Resisting Tyranny — Knocked Sense- 
 less and Put in Irons — A Lasting Pledge Page 16 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 FROM PRISON TO PRISON— In a Pitiable Condition 
 — Packed Into a Dark Cellar and Dying From Suffo- 
 cation — Georgia "Crackers" — A Heartless Tyrant.. Page 22 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AT ANDERSONVILLE— Building the Stockade- 
 More Privations — Captain Wirz — Fresh Arrivals — 
 Appalling Mortality — Billy and Dick in tlie Chain 
 Gang — Hung Up by the Thumbs — Shot by the In- 
 human Wirz Page 30 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DIGGING A TUNNEL— Maturing Plans— The Tunnel 
 Completed — The Departure — Hiding in Swamps — A 
 Feast of Raw Corn^^Pursued by Bloodhounds — A 
 Hairibreadth Escape Page 43 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 AT AUNT 'LIZA'S CABIN— Swimming the River— 
 A Light Ahead — In Total Darkness — Aunt 'Liza's 
 Hospitality Page 55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CHALLENGED BY A UNION SENTINEL— Farewell 
 to Aunt 'Liza and Noah — Sounds of a Church Bell — 
 Booming of Cannon — A Desperate Predicament — 
 Halted— Within Union Lines Page 62 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 AT GEN. SHERMAN'S HEADQUARTERS— More 
 Dead Than Alive — The General Hears Our Story — 
 His Indignation — The President Shall See You as 
 You Are Page 68 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 ON TO WASHINGTON— Gen. Sherman's Parting 
 Words — Collins Put in Charge — Train Attacked by 
 Bushwhackers — A Heroic Woman — Some Confed- 
 erate Prisoners, a Striking Contrast — Collins' Trials 
 — Dr. Ross — Crowds Besiege the Train Page 72 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 AT THE WHITE HOUSE— Received by the President 
 — The Story Repeated — An Old Friend — A Wonder- 
 ful Transformation — On the Scales — President Lin- 
 coln's Kindness Page 84 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 ARRIVAL AT HOME— Words of Cheer— Dick Meets 
 His Mother — A Sad Parting — A Father's Reception 
 — A Mother's Love — Recovered — Return to Ihe 
 Front — Poor Dick Page 91 
 
my i4i9to 
 
 I 
 
One copy del. to Cat. Div. 
 
iiiiiM