. Famous adventures and prison escapes of the civil war . y and regiment—when recapturedby the Confederate cavalry were in sight of the Unionpicket posts. Strange as it may appear, no accurateand complete account has ever been given to the pub-lic of this, the most ingenious and daring escape madeon either side during the civil war. Twelve of theparty of fifteen who dug the tunnel are still living,including their leader. Thomas E. Rose, colonel of the 77th Pennsylva-nia Volunteers, the engineer and leader in the plotthroughout,—now a captain in the 16th United StatesInfantry,— was taken prison
. Famous adventures and prison escapes of the civil war . y and regiment—when recapturedby the Confederate cavalry were in sight of the Unionpicket posts. Strange as it may appear, no accurateand complete account has ever been given to the pub-lic of this, the most ingenious and daring escape madeon either side during the civil war. Twelve of theparty of fifteen who dug the tunnel are still living,including their leader. Thomas E. Rose, colonel of the 77th Pennsylva-nia Volunteers, the engineer and leader in the plotthroughout,—now a captain in the 16th United StatesInfantry,— was taken prisoner at the battle of Chicka-mauga, September 20, 1863. On his way to Eichmondhe escaped from his guards at Weldon, N. C, but, aftera days wandering about the pine forests with a broken COLONEL roses TUNNEL AT LIBBY PEISON 185 foot, was retaken by a detachment of Confederate cav-alry and sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, where hearrived October 1, 1863. Libby Prison fronts on Carey street, Richmond, andstands upon a hill which descends abruptly to the. COLONEL THOMAS E. ROSE. canal, from which its southern wall is divided only bya street, and having a vacant lot on the east. Thebuilding was wholly detached, making it a compar-atively easy matter to guard the prison securely witha small force and keep every door and window in fullview from without. As an additional measure ofsafety, prisoners were not allowed on the ground-floor,except that in the daytime they were permitted to use 186 ADVENTUKES AND ESCAPES IN THE CIVIL WAK the first door of the middle section for a interior embraced nine large warehouse-rooms,105 X 45, with eight feet from each floor to ceiling,except the upper floor, which gave more room, owingto the pitch of the gable roof. The abrupt slant of thehill gives the building an additional story on the southside. The whole building really embraces three sec-tions, and these were originally separated by heavyblank walls. The Confederates cut doors t
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