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7. “500 here died. 600 ran away”: Danville and Beyond, 1864
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7 “500 here died. 600 ran away” Danville and Beyond, 1864 on october 28, 1863, Gen. Robert e. lee offered secretary seddon some advice . The federals, lee had learned, were not likely to resume prisoner exchange. The Confederates, therefore, should make plans to keep a large number of Union captives for the duration of the war. “i would respectfully suggest that the city of Richmond is not a suitable place for the accommodation and safe keeping of these prisoners,” lee went on. Keeping them fed entailed great cost and tied up transportation needed to keep the city’s residents supplied. They also posed a security risk. “i have no doubt,” lee wrote, “that even now they add much to the sources of information of the enemy with regard to the movements of troops and the disposition of our forces.” To solve these problems he suggested Danville, a virginia city near the north Carolina border, “where wood is cheap and provisions are in abundance.”1 seddon agreed with lee’s analysis. in early november he instructed Gen. Winder to begin sending prisoners to Danville. Winder immediately handed the logistical details over to Capt.Turner. on november 11 some four thousand prisoners clambered into boxcars of the Richmond and Danville Railroad for the 145-mile journey . Before they departed, Winder again urged the secretary to see to it “that a sufficient supply of provisions be insured for their maintenance.”2 The prisoners were destined for a city that had once prospered from its location in the rich tobacco region of southern virginia. Although Danville had been spared the ravages of war, the conflict had been bad for business. most of the town’s young men had gone for soldiers, and food and clothing had become scarce. six tobacco factories were set aside for the reception of the prisoners. one was des- 104 • Chapter 7 ignated for officers, another for black captives. All were spartan, lamps and furnishings being removed before the first trains from Richmond arrived.3 A second contingent of prisoners left Richmond on the 13th, reaching Danville at about 9:00 p.m. many did not remain long.There was a small yard outside Prison no. 1 surrounded by a board fence. The night after they arrived a group of captives in Prison no. 1 slipped out and cut a hole in one of the planks. soon after dark the men began making their exit. sgt. William mcKell of the eightyninth ohio was one of them. he estimated that between sixty and seventy had gotten away by 11:00 that night. harlan howard, another of the escapees, set the number at one hundred.4 mcKell was quickly recaptured, but howard eventually made it back to the Union lines. he and two comrades generally traveled at night and hid out in barns and forests during the day. slaves and free blacks provided food, shelter, and directions along the way. After crossing the Dan River the escapees headed northwest , crossing the Blue Ridge and the new River valley, passing close to Blacksburg , virginia. on December 12 they reached Union pickets near fayetteville, West virginia. “happiest hour of my life,” howard wrote. furloughed, he arrived at his Wisconsin home the day after Christmas.5 meanwhile the prisoners at Danville continued to make escape attempts. in early January they started a tunnel from Prison no. 3. its terminus was to be the guardhouse, some thirty to forty feet away, where the prisoners apparently planned to emerge when it was unoccupied. The Confederates learned of the project. The prisoners believed a “traitor” from their ranks had betrayed them. Whatever their source of information, the guards herded the two hundred prisoners from the ground floor to an upstairs room, crowding it severely. There they were to remain until the leaders of the escape plan were turned over. finally the principal planners confessed. They were bucked for an hour on two consecutive mornings, but their comrades were allowed to return downstairs.6 later that month the occupants of Prison no. 5 began a tunnel that one prisoner termed “a masterful piece of work.” on the night of the 28th some seventy or eighty men took it to freedom. According to Bergun Brown of the Twenty-ninth indiana, many more could have gotten away had they been more careful. “All were too eager to get out first & when out did not act cautiously,” he observed. The number that made it back to the north is uncertain, but thirteen of...