cars with an engine, and while the conductor and brakemen were getting their dinner we took possession; at a given signal we jumped aboard and moved off toward Chattanooga, cutting the telegraph wires and tearing up the track as we went. Unfortunately for us they pursued us so close that we had not time to burn a certain bridge to stop the pursuit. We were also delayed by having to meet five extra trains, which we could not do without exciting suspicion.

At last, despairing of success, and after running the train 100 miles, we had to abandon it and run our chances of getting back to the Federal lines. All of the party, with the exception of us (Wood and Wilson), were captured the same day. We were not captured for seven days afterward, and then we got clear by taking the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. Seven days more passed and we were again arrested at Stevenson, Ala., within five miles of the Federal lines. We were recongnized by the enemy as parties to the bridge burners and taken to Chattanooga in chains. At this place we found the balance of our comrades in chains, handcuffed, and chains around their necks secured by padlocks. The men were in a miserable condition. We were all confined in a dark and loathsome dungeon, only thirteen feet square - a small place, we thought, for twenty-two men. Andrews, our leader, was [tried] by court-martial adjourned after trying Andrews and removed to Knoxville, where some of the party was taken. At last we all met together in Atlanta, Ga., when we were marched from the prison to the cars. At Chattanooga we were chained in paris by the neck and hands. In many instances the chains around our necks were through the flesh to the cords, and those around our wrists were to the bone. On the 7th day of June, 1862, Andrews was taken out and strangled to death. It cannot be called hanging, for the cord was so long his feet touched the ground so heavily they had to dig the earth away from under his feet and let him gradually strangle to death. Seven more of our comrades were hung on the 14th day of June, and on two of them the cords were so poor that when they dropped the cords gave away and the men fell to the ground. They, however, tried it again. The feelings of the remaining fourteen can be more easily imagined than described. After we had seen our comrades taken out and disposed of in the manner they were, terrible were the hours we passed, thinking every moment we would be called upon to follow our comrades, for they told us we were all to be hung.

Four months were passed in this suspense of feeling, when we were informed a court-martial was about to convene to try the balance of ous, and expecting neither justive nor mercy, we made a firm resolve to either escape or die in the attempt. The day at length arrived. The 15th day of October we broke jail, disarmed the guard, and made our escape. We took different directions. We (Wood and Wilson) struck out east from Atlanta. After we had traveled a few miles we proceeded south and west in order to elude pursuit. We at last took a southerly direction and traveled twenty-two days through Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, eating only five meals of victuals during the twenty-two days, aside from the berries we gathered in the woods. We had no money, and had to travel nights to prevent being retaken. We at last arrived at Apolachicola, Fla., on the Gulf coast, where we found the boclading of the Federal Navy. Oh, how the Stars and Stripes did cheer our depressed spirits. When we first caught a glimpse of them our trials and troubles for months were as nothing compared with the joy of that