This text is part of:
[150] around their barracks, and many slipped through the inefficient guard. When the prison was again occupied in 1863, after serving as a detention point for paroled Federal soldiers, it was much dilapidated and extensive repairs were authorized. The commanding officer complained that many prisoners had passed out as workmen, and that once outside the enclosure Southern sympathizers often effectually concealed their friends. One of the most celebrated escapes was that of General John H. Morgan. In the summer of 1863, his cavalry made a famous raid across the Ohio River, which is described in another volume of this work. The command was captured on the 30th of July, and as General Burnside, commander of the department, declared that he had no safe place in which to keep these dreaded raiders, General Morgan with about thirty of his officers was confined in the State penitentiary at Columbus. It was announced that they were kept in close confinement in retaliation for the treatment of Colonel Streight and his officers at Richmond. Though they did not receive prison fare and were separated from ordinary convicts, they were for three months under the entire charge of the warden in the penitentiary. On the 4th of November, Sergeant J. W. Moon was appointed prison steward by General John S. Mason, military commander at Columbus. His duties were not clearly defined, and the warden understood that the immediate care of the prisoners was no longer one of them. From this time on, the cells were not inspected and the prisoners were expected to clean them themselves. Some of the resourceful prisoners had discovered that beneath the floor of the cells was a large vaulted air chamber. With knives abstracted from the dining-room a hole was cut through the cement floor and the brick arch—about two feet of solid masonry—into the air chamber beneath. This hole was concealed by a carpet bag from the eyes of the warden, but the slightest inspection inside the cell would have revealed the secret. A few officers were let into the secret, and each took his
Review of Reviews. New York. 1912.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.