CAPTURING A LOCOMOTIVE

PREFACE.


War has a secret as well as a public story. Marches and battles are open
to the popular gaze; but enterprises of another class are in their very
nature secret, and these are scarcely less important and often much more
interesting than the former. The work of spies and scouts, the
enterprises that reach beyond the lines of an army for the purpose of
surprise, the councils of officers, the intrigues by means of which
great results often flow from apparently insignificant causes, and all
the experiences of hospitals and prisons,--these usually fill but a
small place on the historian's page, though they are often of romantic
interest, and not unfrequently decide the course and fate of armies. The
enterprise described in these pages possesses all the unity of a drama,
from the first plunge of the actors into the heart of the enemy's
country, through all their adventures and changing fortunes, until the
few survivors stood once more under the old flag! No single story of the
war combines so many of the hidden, underground elements of the contest
against rebellion as this. Disguise and secrecy, the perils of a forlorn
hope, the exultation of almost miraculous success, the sufferings of
prisoners, and the gloom of despair are all mingled in a varied and
instructive war-picture.

In telling the story all fictitious embellishments have been rejected.
No pains have been spared to ascertain the exact truth, and the reader
will find names, dates, and localities so fully given that it will be
easy to verify the prominent features of the account.

In narrating those events which fell under his own eye, the writer has
waived all scruples of delicacy, and used the first personal pronoun.
This is far more simple and direct, while an opposite course would have
savored of affectation.

This is not a revision or new edition of the little volume published by
the present writer during the rebellion. DARING AND SUFFERING, like a
number of similar sketches published in newspapers, magazines, and
pamphlets, was a hasty narrative of personal adventure, and made no
pretence of completeness. CAPTURING A LOCOMOTIVE is broader and more
historic; a large amount of valuable material is now employed for the
first time; and the story is approached in an entirely different manner.
No paragraph of the old book is copied into the new.

WOODBURY, NEW JERSEY January, 1882.




CONTENTS.


CHAPTER PAGE
I.--A SECRET MILITARY EXPEDITION 9
II.--MIDNIGHT CONSULTATION 27
III.--COMPANIONS AND INCIDENTS 36
IV.--A LOCOMOTIVE AND TRAIN CAPTURED 65
V.--UNFORESEEN HINDRANCES 75
VI.--A TERRIBLE RAILROAD CHASE 93
VII.--A NIGHT IN THE WOODS 120
VIII.--IN THE ENEMY'S POWER 136
IX.--OTHER CAPTURES 153
X.--A HORRIBLE PRISON 170
XI.--LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF PRISON 182
XII.--THE FIRST TRAGEDY 197
XIII.--A CONFEDERATE COURT-MARTIAL 205
XIV.--THE CROWNING HORROR 221
XV.--PRISON RELIGION 228
XVI.--LIBERTY OR DEATH? 244
XVII.--ROMANTIC ESCAPES 262
XVIII.--FROM ATLANTA TO THE GULF 274
XIX.--FROM ATLANTA TO RICHMOND 293
XX.--LIBBY AND CASTLE THUNDER 308
XXI.--SICKNESS AND LIBERTY 326

APPENDIX:
No. I.--EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF JUDGE-ADVOCATE-GENERAL
HOLT TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR 341
No. II.--A SOUTHERN ESTIMATE 345
No. III.--A FRENCHMAN'S VIEW OF THE CHATTANOOGA
RAILROAD EXPEDITION 350
No. IV.--OLD SCENES REVISITED 352




ILLUSTRATIONS.


PAGE
1. The Chase _Frontispiece._
2. GENERAL O. M. MITCHEL 11
3. MIDNIGHT CONSULTATION 32
4. WILLIAM PITTENGER 42
5. MAP OF CHATTANOOGA AND ITS R