But escaping was only begun when the Stockade was passed.  The site of Savannah is virtually an island.  On the north is the Savannah River; to the east, southeast and south, are the two Ogeechee rivers, and a chain of sounds and lagoons connecting with the Atlantic Ocean.  To the west is a canal connecting the Savannah and Big Ogeechee Rivers.  We found ourselves headed off by water whichever way we went.  All the bridges were guarded, and all the boats destroyed.  Early in the morning the Rebels discovered our absence, and the whole garrison of Savannah was sent out on patrol after us.  They picked up the boys in squads of from ten to thirty, lurking around the shores of the streams waiting for night to come, to get across, or engaged in building rafts for transportation.  By evening the whole mob of us were back in the pen again.  As nobody was punished for running away, we treated the whole affair as a lark, and those brought back first stood around the gate and yelled derisively as the others came in.

That night big fires were built all around the Stockade, and a line of guards placed on the ground inside of these.  In spite of this precaution, quite a number escaped.  The next day a Dead Line was put up inside of the Prison, twenty feet from the Stockade.  This only increased the labor of burrowing, by making us go farther.  Instead of being able to tunnel out in an hour, it now took three or four hours.  That night several hundred of us, rested from our previous performance, and hopeful of better luck, brought our faithful half canteens—­now scoured very bright by constant use-into requisition again, and before the morning. dawned we had gained the high reeds of the swamps, where we lay concealed until night.

In this way we managed to evade the recapture that came to most of those who went out, but it was a fearful experience.  Having been raised in a country where venomous snakes abounded, I had that fear and horror of them that inhabitants of those districts feel, and of which people living in sections free from such a scourge know little.  I fancied that the Southern swamps were filled with all forms of loathsome and poisonous reptiles, and it required all my courage to venture into them barefooted.  Besides, the snags and roots hurt our feet fearfully.  Our hope was to find a boat somewhere, in which we could float out to sea, and trust to being picked up by some of the blockading fleet.  But no boat could we find, with all our painful and diligent search.  We learned afterward that the Rebels made a practice of breaking up all the boats along the shore to prevent negros and their own deserters from escaping to the blockading fleet.  We thought of making a raft of logs, but had we had the strength to do this, we would doubtless have thought it too risky, since we dreaded missing the vessels, and being carried out to sea to perish of hunger.  During the night we came to the railroad bridge across the Ogeechee.