prison by his able and fearless debates of the slavery question with any rebel who came within reach. Gen. Neal Dow arrived from Mobile, where he had been a prisoner in the enjoyment of a considerable degree of freedom and intercourse with the citizens; and he now repeatedly addressed the officers of Libby, informing them of the inner life of the Confederacy and its waning hopes and prospects. These speeches were frequently interrupted by the sudden appearance of the rebel sentinel; when the speaker would continue, unterrified, "As I was saying, this indulgence in alcoholic stimulants is ruinous to the mental, moral, and social character of men," &c. Officers came in from all the armies constantly; and the occupants of Libby were probably better informed in regard to the condition of the Rebellion than were their friends at home. By a constant interchange of news and sentiments, they were kept in a cheerful spirit.

We felt

Gen. E. M. Lee (of Guilford, Conn., an officer in the Michigan Cavalry), then in Libby, recently explained the financial condition of the prison at that time thus: "We had rations miserable in quality, and so small in quantity as scarcely to support life without other means. that the rebels intended to compel us to make up this deficiency by purchasing in their markets what it was their duty to furnish us. We yielded to the necessity imposed. But we soon learned better than to waste genuine cur rency in this unwilling service of the Confederacy. They permitted brokers to come among us, who, when our money was exhausted, took our checks on Northern banks where we'deposited.' We struck as good a bargain as possible, to avert suspicion, and then sold our checks, - checks on any bank of which we could recall the name. These furnished us with much food and clothing, and some luxuries; and I don't think the checks were ever collected!"

In February of 1864, Col. Ely escaped from Libby with one hundred and eight other officers, through the famous tunnel. They had obtained entrance, through a hole in the floor, to an unoccupied basement; and thence had dug straight out under Twentieth Street, loosening the earth

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with an old hinge, and removing it in a broken sugar-scoop taken from the hospital. The sand was then drawn out in a carpet-bag, and secreted about the cellar. They were at work upon the tunnel for fifty-five days, when the pioneer, Capt. J. N. Johnson of the 6th Kentucky Cavalry, struck daylight, and came up under an old shed across the street. That night, at nine o'clock, the first man left; at five next morning, the last. About fifty were at last recaptured by the cavalry, who scoured the State in all directions; among them Col. Ely, in a state of great exhaustion. He was taken by cavalry, forty-two miles out, after being absent four days.

6

"The occupations and diversions of Libby were various,” writes an officer of the Eighteenth." "Aroused to morning consciousness by the voice of a stalwart darky, our ears were saluted with, All fo' of de mawnin' papers! Rise, gemmen, an' bye de mawnin' news! Great news from de Rappahannock! Great news from Charleston! Great news from de James Ribber! Is all de gemmen s'plied wid de mawnin' news?' Thus we obtained the Richmond dailies, printed on a half-sheet of smoky brown paper, with little reliable news, and editorials filled with exaggerated falsehood. . . . In Libby, the study of many languages was pursued, — French, German, Spanish, Latin, and Greek. A literary society was maintained, and important questions debated. A journal called the Libby Chronicle was edited with marked ability, with articles worthy of the best periodicals. Here would be seen a group rendering in sweetest concord the choicest selections from Handel, Mozart, and other masters of sacred song; there a party enjoying some admirable exhibition of comic minstrelsy."

In March, 1864, Col. William G. Ely, Lieut.-Col. Monroe Nichols, Capt. G. W. Warner, Lieuts. I. N. Kibbe, M. V. B. Tiffany, J. P. Rockwell, and John A. Francis, were paroled, and returned to the North, their exchange following. The rest of the officers of the Eighteenth were, on May 7, sent to Danville, Va., and after a few days transferred to the new stockade prison at Macon. The prison-life at Macon,

6 Surgeon Lowell Holbrook of Thompson, detained in prison four months.

Charleston, and Columbia, is elsewhere described. In December, Capts. D. W. Hakes and Charles D. Brown, with Lieuta. A. H. Lindsay, George Kies, and A. G. Scranton, were paroled, and went North. In February, 1865, the rest of the officers of the Eighteenth were sent to Charlotte. Lieut. Henry F. Cowles jumped from the cars, was secreted by the negroes, and joined Sherman's advance cavalry. Lieut. Ezra D. Carpenter escaped from the hospital, and occupied Columbia the day before Gen. Sherman. The remaining officers were paroled at Williamston, N.C., in March, 1865; having been in captivity twenty-one months, without the loss of a man.

Lieut. Carpenter had a singularly interesting experience. He described it in a letter to a friend, from which we make an extract: "When the prisoners were removed to Charlotte, off the track of Sherman's advancing army, I was very much reduced, and declared unable to be moved with the rest. I was taken to a large hospital with others. The streets were full of tumult in the effort to escape from the doomed city. At last, when Sherman's first shells fell in the city, the rebels came to remove us. I dressed and passed down, but, remembering that I had forgotten something, went back, and concealed myself under one of the bunks. Inquiries were made for me; but, after search, they concluded I had gone in a former load. A slave, sent up to clean out the building, discovered me, and, with the quick instincts of his race, immediately agreed to help me to escape. Finally rebel soldiers came into the room to sleep for the night. They came up to the bunk under which I lay, and I saw their boots as they walked around it. They then built a fire at the other end of the room, and sat around it, dividing among themselves my bag of scanty clothing and personal effects, which they had found where I dropped it when I secreted myself. At eight o'clock, I crawled softly down to the next floor; and soon one of the attendants, with a light, passed within a few feet of where I lay behind a bunk. A few minutes after, I got out the window, and jumped to the ground. My first effort was to find a black man, the first thought of every prisoner who ever escaped from rebel bondage. They were in their quarters. At the first hovel, a white man came to

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the door. I inquired where Mr. — lived, and was glad to get away. At the next, I passed as a rebel soldier; and some ladies gave me the food I so much needed. I then went straight to the hotel where Gen. Beauregard stopped, registered my name as J. C. Cady of Charleston, went to bed, and lay until nine o'clock next day. My sleep had been interrupted all night by constant noise and bustle on the street; and, when I went down, confusion seemed to reign. I could obtain no breakfast: the landlord said he couldn't get the niggers to work.' I ultimately got breakfast, and paid my bill (twenty dollars) in Confederate currency. I bought a morning newspaper. Every thing looked well for the rebels: Gen. Beauregard, the war-horse, snuffed the breeze from afar, and was at his post; and Sherman would get a warm reception. I went out, and found that the rebels had been evacuating the city all night. Far in the distance arose a cloud of dust; nearer were heard faint cheers; down Main Street came a carriage bearing a flag, which grew into the stars and stripes as I gazed. I trembled with inexpressible joy; for our general and the mayor of the city were in the carriage. The swift cavalry whirled though the city; the long line of boys in blue marched steadily up the street to the strains of Yankee Doodle: Columbia was ours!"

CHAPTER XXXI.

The First and Second Artillery, Sixth, Tenth, Fourteenth, and Seventeenth, during the Winter of 1863-64. — The Second Light Battery. - The Seventh in Florida. - Battle of Olustee. Ninth in New Orleans. - The Twelfth at New Iberia. - The Thirteenth in the Red-River Expedition. - Battle of Cane River. — Connecticut Regiments Home on Veteran Furlough. - Speeches and Banquets.

er,

INCAMPED south of the Potomac, the First Artillery remained, during 1863, in the forts forming the most important section in the chain of defenses to the capital. Batteries B, Capt. Brookand M, Capt. Pratt, were still detached with the Army of the Potomac. Col. Tyler was promoted brigadier-general, Nov. 19, 1862, and Henry L. Abbot of the regular army was made colonel. He had graduated second in his class at West Point, and was on the staff of Gen. Daniel Tyler at the first battle of Bull Run, where he was wounded in the leg. Col. Abbot did not relax in any measure the severe discipline which had raised the regiment to its high position.

The men were required to be soldierly in their habits and cleanly in their persons; and the result was, that, during the entire period of life at Arlington, very few were in hospital. They were drilled as artillery and infantry, in company and battalion movements; and they had a great deal of practice at firing, both from heavy guns and mortars, at targets, and in experiments made by order of the department at Washington, with elongated and other projectile, to test scientifically the depth of penetration, &c. One experiment, suggested and tried by Col. Abbot, was of an entirely new combination in a mortar projectile, which gave great satisfaction, and was afterwards adopted.