Southern Historical Society Papers, Volume 29.
Reverend J. William Jones, Ed.

[237] the commissary. We had long since ceased to think simply of the provisions in the commissary. The idea of making our escape had taken possession of our minds and souls, and nerved my arm with new strength and energy day by day.

I worked through twenty-two of these walls, which let us below the guards and out of sight of the sentinels.

When I reached the trap-door opening into the commissary above, I found it covered with barrels of pork, flour, etc., which barred the entrance just then. In order to carry out our plan, as the work progressed, money was necessary, and to secure it, we had to take others into our secret, until our party numbered eight.

We watched the trap-door until we found that most of the heavy articles had been removed, and those that remained were worked off by pushing a piece of scantling against their bottom through the slats of the floor.