In a Federal prison. [from the Richmond, Va., dispatch, September 8, 1901.1
Interesting career of Lieutenant W. W. George, of Echols'brigade.
His escape from Fort Pulaski.
With several Companions he cut through the casemates with an Oyster—Knife and an iron Clevis—a cat for dinner.The following incidents in the prison life of Lieutenant W. W. George, one of the 800 (Morris Island), is a unique, interesting and truthful narrative of a Confederate soldier. Lieutenant George is a descendant of a long line of ancestry, who were among the first settlers of the southwestern part of this State, where their early days were spent in continuous war with the Red [230] Men. Lieutenant George—a worthy son of a worthy sire, reared in the seclusion of the mountains, an athlete by nature, and a soldier by birth—responded promptly to his country's call, and followed the fortunes of his brigade (Echols') from the Kanawha to the Blue Ridge, and until he was finally thrown into the vortex of battle which tried men's souls and made heroes in an hour's time. His battle was short but glorious. But for my positive and persistent insistence, this record of his valor never would have been known outside of the circle of his immediate friends, and it is with the greatest pleasure I chronicle these facts: W. W. George was second lieutenant in Company H, Twenty-sixth (Edgar's) Battalion, Echols' Brigade, Breckinridge's Division. This command arrived at Cold Harbor from Monroe Draft (now Ronceverte, West Va.) They had been on the road one month and three days and had fought Sigel at New Market, May 15th. From there they went to Staunton, and thence by train to Hanover Junction, and joined Lee's immortals. Hard fighting commenced at once and continued all along the line to the Patawet river. We fell back from this point to Cold Harbor (June 2d) and relieved General Lomax's division of cavalry. General Grant had consolidated his forces at and around this position, and Lee had gathered his invincibles to oppose hint. On the afternoon of the 2d the enemy obtained an advantage by capturing our picket line, but this was of short duration. With the alacrity only known to the southern soldier, we recaptured the line, and were fully established in our first position, where we remained, soldier-like, oblivious to the coming storm. On the morning of June 3d, just at dawn, the artillery pealed forth its death melody, and in an incredibly short time, division after division, and corps-after corps, of blue-coats came thundering in their mighty charge upon us, broke through our lines, and captured our breastworks at this point.
