AN ESCAPE FROM RICHMOND.
To THE EDITOR OF TuE "SPECTATOR."
30 Marina, St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Tuesday, 28th. SIR,—I have received a letter from America this morning from which I make the following extract. Perhaps it may interest your
"You remember in my last letter I made an allusion to the escape of our prisoners from the Libby in Richmond. You know how our unfortunate soldiers, officers and men, have suffered in that abominable place, and, if possible, still more in Belle Isle, where a number have actually starved and frozen to death. About a month ago we suddenly heard that a hundred and nine of these poor wretches had escaped from the Libby prison and were coming into our lines. Upwards of fifty succeeded, the rest were re-cap- tured, some it is feared dying from fatigue, cold, and hunger in the attempt.
"The story of their escape is the most wonderful I ever heard, and though I am afraid I shall forget some of the details I would like to give you an idea of it.
"Twenty-five of them began the enterprise, being sworn to secrecy. They were lodged on the ground floor, and managed to re- move one side of the grate or chimney-place in such a way as to be able to replace it again without leaving any trace of its having been disturbed. Through that aperture they dropped into the cel- lar below, which was full of rubbish and never used or entered, and there they began to cut through the stone wall of the foundation. Their only tools were a broken coal chisel and their clasp knives, with a block of wood which they used as a hammer. "In-breaking through the wall they could only strike one blow in five or ten minutes, being forced to do so only when a cart, omni- bus, or other heavy vehicle was rolling by, that the noise of their strokes might not attract attention.
"Having pierced the wall, which was very thick, they began tunnelling through the earth beyond, making a circular bore three feet in diameter. Their knives were their only tools here, and as they made their way in they used huge square wooden spittoons to drag away the dirt. The man at the further end would jerk a rope to let his companion at the outer end know that it was full, the latter would then pull it out, empty it, and the man at work hauled it back again. Every night when their task was done they spread the dirt carefully all over the floor, patted it down, and strewed it over with soiled straw, piling up the stones before the aperture and boxes before the stones, so that if by any chance the cellar were entered there might be nothing to excite suspicion.
"You may fancy the precautions they had to take, the patience, the perseverance, which all this required. They knew by some means that there was a court surrounded by high walls attached to an unoccupied house on the opposite side of the street to the prison, and they bored their tunnel upwards with a view to bringing it to the surface there.
"When they thought that they had dug far enough a discussion arose, some being of opinion that they had better make it a little longer ; to make it too long was as fatal as to make it too short, and they were afraid to risk either. At length two of the party received notice that boxes had come from the North for them, and they obtained permission to go to the place where they were deposited, a few houses off, on the other side of the street. They resolved to pace the street as they crossed it, and thus ascertain whether their tunnel was of the right length. They managed to do so unobserved, their computation only differing by a few inches, and the tunnel was found to be too short by several feet. They then went on digging, but being fearful of bringing more dirt into the cellar, and perceptibly raising the level of the floor, they patted what they now dug out down along the passage they had made, narrowing it to nearly two feet, and making it very difficult to pass through.
"At length it was completed, being sixty feet long. Meanwhile they had been walking a certain length of time daily up and down their prison to get themselves into training, and saving a portion of their miserable daily food to carry with them ; others had gradually been let into the secret, and on the day of their evasion a hundred and nine were ready to make the attempt. They went in small parties, each making off as fast as possible as soon as they reached the outlet, and one mounting guard at the prison end to give warning.
"It was broad daylight, and they only escaped by running across the street from the court while the sentinel on his beat had his back turned ; some were dressed in United States uniforms, some in the uniforms of the Confederate army, some in tattered civilians' clothes, but all three are common enough in Richmond, where half the men are clad in uniforms taken from our soldiers, and so mingling with the crowd in the streets, some in parties of two and three, others singly, they made their way out of the city, and struck into the woods and marshes beyond, with which many of them were familiar enough from going through the Peninsular campaign. Of course they had endless difficulties to contend with, rivers to swim, morasses to cross, being forced to avoid all beaten tracks, take the most circuitous routes, lose time, and often retrace their steps to avoid the Southern pickets and the parties which were sent to scour the country as soon as their escape became known. The moment that the first of them reached our lines and made it known how many more were on the way parties of our cavalry were sent out to pick up as many of the poor wretches as they could, and, as I said, about half made good their escape. Those who reached home in safety spread such reports of the sufferings they had undergone in that hell that a renewed excite- ment regarding our poor fellows prevailed here, and about a fort- night ago a raid was planned, unfortunately by one of our least able cavalry commanders, to rescue the prisoners in Richmond and on Belle Isle by a coup de main. Whether it would have succeeded at all or not is doubtful, but the guide of one of the two parties proved a traitor, and carried them out of their way, so that the junction was not effected, and one party was forced to withdraw while the other, which had been betrayed, and was headed by young Captain Dahlgren, was cut off and cut to pieces, and after a week of suspense, during which we heard first that he was wounded and captured, and then that he was safe, we learned that he bad been killed."
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