ber 20th, the 19th
being the anniversary of my birth, was now fixed upon for the
"insurrection." We essayed to disarm suspicion by an air of quiet
acquiescence in the lazy routine of prison life, or absorption in the
simplest and most innocent occupations whenever any Confederate might
be looking on.

We recognized united and instantaneous action at the signal on the part
of three hundred officers and several thousand men as the most vitally
important element of success. It was necessary that this should be
thoroughly understood and emphasized, so that every soldier should be in
perfect readiness at the critical moment.

Several of us had formed a class for oral instruction in French. Our
teacher was Captain Cook of the 9th U. S. colored troops, a graduate of
Yale. About ten o'clock in the morning of October 18th, as we were
seated on the ground near house number four, loudly imitating Professor
Cook's _parlez-vous_, Lieut. Wm. C. Gardner, adjutant of one of those
extemporized battalions of prisoners, brought me a letter he was
intending to throw across the "dead line" to Sergt. Wallace W. Smith,
requesting him to notify all enlisted men of the battalion when and
where to assemble silently next morning in the dark, how to arm
themselves, from whom to take orders, what signal to watch for, and
other important matters. I glanced through it, and immediately said:
"You'd better not entrust the communication to so hazardous a channel;
wait an hour till I've done with my French lesson, and I'll cause it to
be transmitted by the deaf-and-dumb alphabet." If I recollect rightly,
either Lieutenant Tobey or Lieutenant Morton, both of the 58th
Massachusetts, was in the class, and promised to convey the contents of
the letter safely across to the soldiers by adroit finger manipulation.
We were just finishing the French exercise, when Adjutant Gardner came
greatly excited, and this conversation followed:

"Good God, Colonel, the rebs have got that letter! I tied it to a stone
and flung it a long ways over the 'dead line' to Wallace Smith. He
appeared afraid to pick it up. A reb sentinel stepped away from his beat
and got it."

"I requested you to wait till I'd done reciting French, and I told you
I'd then communicate it by the deaf-and-dumb alphabet."

"Well, Colonel, I ought to have done so; but I was anxious to have the
work done promptly, and I thought it was perfectly safe. I've tossed
letters over to Smith several times.