side who was more anxious to curry
favor with our captors than to be true to his comrades, had been
avoided.

The night set for the escape should have been dark, according to
calculation, but it turned out to be a clear, starlight night, and some
of us were for postponing the enterprise, but the eager spirits
prevailed, and the attempt was made. Over a hundred men silently
gathered in the neighborhood of the cabin, and the leaders, who had been
chosen beforehand, went into the tunnel, followed closely by many
others.

A sentinel paced his beat about fifty yards from the clump of bushes in
which our tunnel was to come up, and as he slowly walked up and down,
probably thinking of home and friends and wishing for his relief, he was
suddenly startled by the sight of several dark forms springing
apparently from the bowels of the earth. The tunnel had been
miscalculated, and the men emerged several feet from the bushes, in full
view of the sentry. He was so astounded that he stood stock still for
several minutes without uttering a sound, during which time about fifty
men had climbed out of the tunnel and made a streak for liberty.
Suddenly the sentry came to his senses, fired his gun, called loudly for
the guard, and ran to the mouth of the tunnel, with his bayonet ready
for action.

Those who had not entered the tunnel concluded that they did not want to
escape that night, and we returned to our quarters in the stockade.

Over fifty got out and away, but the guards put the dogs after them, and
nearly all were brought back in the course of a few days.

The most amusing feature of this abortive attempt to escape occurred at
the exit of the tunnel after it was blockaded by the sentinel.

The narrow passage was full of men when the bayonet of the sentry
prevented further egress, and those inside could not turn back, while
none save the leader knew the cause of the halt. The rest were kept in
ignorance and suspense until the guards, who quickly gathered around on
the outside, had come to their senses and begun to permit the boys to
come out of the hole one by one. As the guards would call out, "Next!"
and let another unfortunate creep out, only to find himself still a
prisoner, the remarks to be heard were decidedly mirth-provoking, even
while the situation had its pathetic aspect.

A day or two after this event one of the officers, a captain in another
regiment, came to me and asked if I knew where he could get a pair of