the commissary. We had long since ceased to think simply of the provisions in the commissary. The idea of making our escape had taken possession of our minds and souls, and nerved my arm with new strength and energy day by day.

I worked through twenty-two of these walls, which let us below the guards and out of sight of the sentinels.

. When I reached the trap-door opening into the commissary above, I found it covered with barrels of pork, flour, etc., which barred the entrance just then. In order to carry out our plan, as the work progressed, money was necessary, and to secure it, we had to take others into our secret, until our party numbered eight.

We watched the trap-door until we found that most of the heavy articles had been removed, and those that remained were worked off by pushing a piece of scantling against their bottom through the slats of the floor.

HOPES OF LIBERTY.

The whole of our party was now notified that after taps, which occurried at 9 o'clock every night, we would raise the door and enter the commissary. In each casemate there was a porthole about seven feet above the water in the moat.

We had planned to let ourselves down through the one in the commissary to the water by means of a rope fastened on the inside to a barrel of pork. All of the party except myself could swim. A rope nearly a hundred feet long was to be fastened around my waist and under my arms. We had secured these helps by means known to prisoners of war. I was to be the last man to crawl through the port-hole, and the seventh, or the one just ahead of me, was to hold on to the rope attached to me, and thus assist me over the moat. Entering the commissary, we found a Federal soldier asleep in his bunk. He proved to be the commissary sergeant.

Everything having been arranged, I stood guard over the sergeant, while the others passed out at the port-hole. Fortunately, the soldier did not awake. I passed quickly through the hole when my turn came, and found that the man who was to hold the rope attached to me had let it slip from his hand, and I was left to get across as best I could.

I can hardly tell how I managed, but I seemed to wade a short distance under water, then spring to the surface for breath, let myself down again, go forward, and again come to the surface, and in this way was soon across.

1

THE ESCAPE REPORTED.

Sometime previous we had bribed a sentinel to tell us where we might find a yawl. Securing the yawl, we carried it to the wharf at the mouth of the Savannah, and, having no oars, were waiting for the tide to carry us up the river. It was only eight miles to the Confederate picket lines.

Before we were able to get away, one of the prisoners in the fort reported to the authorities that some of the prisoners had escaped. This we found afterward to be a fact. We knew we were pursued, because we could hear the noise of the well-known tramp of the Federal infantry as we lay prone upon the ground, as close as possible to the water's edge. The night was dark and rainy. Twothirds of the pursuing party had passed us, when one of our number, becoming frightened, cried out: "We surrender!"

CAPTURED!

So ended our drama of escape. We could not submit to our fare-were recaptured and taken back into the fort, and placed in a dungeon eight feet square (eight of us) in our wet clothes. The next day, while trying to find out how we made our escape, they saw the rope attached to the barrel of pork hanging from the port-hole in the commissary. Entering, the whole situation was taken in at once and our way traced back through the twenty-two walls.

The commissary-sergeant was arrested at once and taken to General Mullineaux's headquarters. Men were sent to our cell, and I was taken out.

When I reached the General's office, he asked me if I knew the commissary-sergeant under arrest. I said that I did not. He then asked me what time we made our escape. I replied: "About 10

The general then said that the sergeant told him he had retired at 8 o'clock. I stated further: "If this sergeant is the man that was in the commissary last night, I have seen him before; armed with a piece of scantling three feet long, two inches thick and three inches wide, I stood guard over him while the rest escaped. Fortunately for the sleeper he did not awake, for dead men tell no tales, and I did not raise any disturbance with him."

IN A DUNGEON.

Upon this evidence the sergeant was released and I was taken back to the dungeon. We remained in the dungeon eight days, then one

of the casements was planked up and we were put inside and a special guard looked after us, until we were sent to Fort Delaware, March 8, 1865.

On that day all the prisoners were taken out and placed on a steamer. The eight who had escaped and were recaptured were held back and afterwards taken out and placed on the bow of a boat in front of the pilot-house.

We

It was stormy weather, and we were very much exposed to the waves. Wave after wave four days repeatedly broke over us. were guarded there until we reached Fort Delaware, March 12th. The other prisoners were taken off and given other quarters in the barracks at Fort Delaware, but we, the eight, were taken to General Scheoff's headquarters and turned over with instructions to be kept in close confinement. The General inquired what were the charges against us. We told him we had tried to make our escape at Fort Pulaski. He said we had done nothing more than any prisoner of war had a perfect right to do, and told the officer in charge to take us to the barracks and give us the best quarters there. General Scheoff was from Almador, Va.

Nothing more than is common to prisoner's life occurred while we were confined at Fort Delaware, until the 17th of June, 1865, when all the line officers were called out and formed in a hollow square to take the oath.

My name was the first called. I was ordered to go to the barracks, get my baggage, and report to General Scheoff's headquarters. General Scheoff met me at the door and asked me if my name was George. I replied that it was. He remarked that he hated to give up, but that my brother had come for me, and he supposed I must go. My brother was Captain A. G. P. George, in the Sixtieth Virgina Regiment, and was with Lee when he surrendered at Appomattox. He had gone home to Princeton, Va., and did not know when I would get out of prison. From Princeton, he went to Washington and got a special release for me. I did not know he was present at General Scheoff's headquarters; had heard nothing from him since long before the surrender, and did not know but what he might be dead. My brother and I went from Fort Delaware to Baltimore. He went on to California, while I returned home.

W. T. BALDWIN.

[From the Richmond, Va., Dispatch, June 26, 1901.]

COMPANY G, TWENTY-SIXTH VIRGINIA
REGIMENT.

The following is a muster-roll of the above company:

Captain Robert H. Spencer; living.

First Lieutenant Robert B. Roy; died at home.

Second Lieutenant M. B. Davis; killed at Hatcher's Run.

Third Lieutenant A. P. Bird; wounded at Johns Island; died at home.

First Sergeant Jacob W. Turner; living.

Second Sergeant William J. Jackson; died at home.

Third Sergeant William J. Eubank; living.

Fourth Sergeant Frank A. Marshall; killed at Petersburg, June 15. 1864.

Fifth Sergeant James M. Bew; died at home.

First Corporal George T. Hart; living.

Second Corporal George W. Turner; killed at Petersburg, June 15, 1864.

Third Corporal James H. Turner; died at home.

Fourth Corporal George W. Hays; killed at Petersburg, June 15, 1864.

Private Horace Acree; living.

William N. Acree; killed at the Howlett House, May 20, 1864. Dr. James E. Bland; living.

George Brown; died at hospital.

James L. Brown; died at home.

William T. Bray; died at home.
Hezekiah Bew; died at home.
John Bew; died at home.

William G. Brooks; died at home.

Richard C. Burton; living.

Robert B. Burton; died at home.

Richard E. Burton; died at home.

Samuel S. Crittendon; died at home.

George W. Cardwell; wounded at Johns Island; living.
James M. Cardwell; died at Plarisburg, June 15, 1864.
George W. Cawthorn; living.

John Colly; died at home.

James Colly; living.

Charles Collier; died at home.

Frank Carter; died at home.

Robert Carter; died at home.

W. S. Courtney, captured at Petersburg, June 15, 1864; living.

Levi Carlton; died at home.

William B. Carlton; living.
Ira Carlton; died at hospital.

Junius A. Davis; died at home.

Joseph A. Davis; living.

Albert Davis; died at home.

Robert D. Diggs; living.

John Donavan; living.

Joseph S. Estis; dead.

Frank B. Estis; died at Eimira, N. Y.

Archy H. Eubank; living.

Dunbar Edwards; died at hospital.

Alfred Edwards; killed at Petersburg, June 15, 1864.

John H. Eager; living.

Richard Garrett; died at Elmira, N. Y.

Thomas C. Garrett, captured at Petersburg, June 15, 1864; died at home.

Augustus Garrett; living.

John Gaines; died at home.

Ben. Groom; died at hospital.

George Gibson; killed at Howlett House, May 18, 1864.

John C. Gibson; living.

Adolphus Gibson; killed at Petersburg, May 18, 1864.

B. E. Guthrie; died at home.

Charles H. Huckstep; died at hospital.

Allen Hilliard; died at home.

William H. Hurtt; died at Elmira, N. Y.

William Hogg; died at home.

Joseph N. Knapp; living.

Joseph Landrum; died at Soldiers' Home.

Myrick Newcomb; died at Elmira, N. Y.
William A. Murphy; died at hospital.
John Marshall; died at Elmira, N. Y.
Joseph G. Norman; living.

Richard Ogleby; died at Elmira, N. Y.