This document provides context around Private Henry Drew's capture and imprisonment in Richmond, Virginia in late 1863. It describes how Drew was scouting for the Union Army near Mine Run, Virginia when he was captured by Confederate forces. He was then escorted by train to Richmond and taken to the office of the provost marshal, Major Elias Griswold. The document also provides historical details about street layout in Richmond and references a contemporary guidebook to help locate Confederate government offices that had been distributed around the city due to the expansion of the administration.

2. In the last of YANKEE SCOUT -- Winter Quarters: The Battle of
Mine Run !! you may recall that with November drawing toward a
close, both armies –- Confederate General Robert E. Lee, leading the
Army of Northern Virginia, and General George Meade with the
Grand Army of the Potomac --- were making preparations to move
into their Winter Quarters. But Meade had been hoping for one last
definitive engagement with Lee, to follow up on the crushing defeat
delivered to the Rebel General at Rappahannock Station. See below.
In the wake of Gen. Meade’s huge victory at Gettysburg, and
Sedgwick’s followup at Rappahannock Station, President Lincoln is
now seeking to end the war immediately … Such an opportunity
appeared to arise in late November, when, on the morning of
November 30, 1863, Meade moved the army into attack formation
around Lee’s winter camp at Mine Run – only to suspend the
offensive at the last minute, when one of his scouts returned declaring
Lee’s defenses “utterly impregnable”. This ended Meade’s efforts for
the season … Winter has now set in. General Lee is safely checked
– on a hill in a swamp – but must be carefully watched by other eager
Union scouts, such as DENBO & DREW !!
“[ P. 132 ] Gen’l Mead went home to spend the holly days
and Gen’l Sedgewick had command of the Army: –
MAN OF THE HOUR
On November 7, 1863, Sedgwick’s 6th
Corps had triumphed so powerfully
over the Confederate forces under Gens. Jubal Early and Brig. Gen. Hays,
holding Rappahannock Station & Kelly’s Ford, that the implication of his
surprise strategic victory are still being absorbed – both in the North and
the South. Gen. Lee of course has been obliged to change his position,
and relocate far south of the Rappahannock River, rather than on it, taking
up new Winter Quarters at Mine Run: it is a huge setback, and he must
now make new plans for the Spring Campaign.
U.S. Army Gen. Meade now shows no reservations about leaving the
bitter weather of the Army’s Winter Quarters at Brandy Station in
Culpeper County, and doubling back to the comforts of Washington,
D.C. – and his loving wife. Gen Meade, for his part, is only too happy to
advance Sedgwick, in recognition of his coup. Gen. Sedgwick has been
placed de facto in command of the entire Union Army … with President
Lincoln’s approval, of course !!

3. Scouting
“And Unkle John -- we all of the 6TH
Corps called him that Unkle John -- kept his scouts and reconnoitering
parties on the move all the time. I was called to Army headquarters, was given a roving commission, and a
statement to the commanding officer of the regiment: “
Gen. Sedgwick’s field advancement to Union Army Commander was in
recognition of the signal victory at Rappahannock Station – but it was not his
sole achievement, but due largely to the fighting prowess of the 6th
Maine and
5th
Wisc. infantry reg’ts, and especially their handiwork with musket-butts in
close-in and hand-to-hand fighting.
But this success was further dependent on accurate intelligence gathered by
Pvt. Drew, single-handedly reconnoitering the enemy and reporting back to
Gen. Wright with a solid estimate of Confederate troop strength – in the
number of 2,500 men, Drew had said. This estimate, coupled with
Sedgwick’s own brilliant generalling, and in particular his confidence in the
fighting capacities of “Hancock’s old first brigade,” to tackle enemy
entrenched works by surprise, had secured a smashing upset victory.
NOW, SEDGWICK RETURNS THE FAVOR, and in recognition of Pvt.
Drew’s scouting work at Rappahannock Station, and to reward his service,
Drew is now given “a roving commission” equivalent to permanent field
assignment, and includes a permission slip to his regimental commander,
Brig. Gen. Calvin E. Pratt.
“[ Pvt. Henry C.] Denbow [ a Pleasant Point Passamoquody Indian ] and Drew were on detail for extry duty and
was on the move around the enemies camps and army most-all the time. “We were given the Spencer seven-shots
carbine it was the first gun using the metallic cartridge I had ever seen, we tried them out – a .50 calibre, lever-
action it would do in close quarters – not to be depended on over 150 yards the powder charge could not be
increased. We preferred the old Springfield for all purposes.
Captured --
“I think it was on the 18th
of Dec. while on a reconnoriter [sic] with Comp’s. C. and K. down toards the
Alexander and Richmond RR. I was captured by a band of Johnny’s holding a observation post into which I ran
during a thick snow squall.
“They had [seen] our forces, and counted it two large for them to attack – and was on the move to avoid us in the
squall when we meet. When they saw the red and green cross on my cap1 they shure did treat me fine- gave me a
horse to ride, four of them guarded – two of them went to Richmond with me on a flat-car where we arrived in
good shape ….”
1 The 6th
Corps badge was a Greek Cross. The Light Division of the 6th Corps had been assigned a Dark Green
Greek Cross (see YANKEE SCOUT -- Charge of the Light Brigade ! However, I have not been able to confirm
this reference to a new badge, both red and green – much suited to wearing over this Christmas in Richmond.

4. EDITOR’S NOTE
There is no record of a railroad called “Alexander & Richmond” – as Drew records. Certainly he meant the
Orange & Alexandria RR, the line of which ran directly from Brandy Station south-by-south-west, almost directly
to General Lee’s Winter Quarters at Mine Run. As noted, the 6th
Corps under General Meade last drew up in
battle lines at Mine Run, Virginia, here in Orange County during the last week of November, 1863, after which they
had withdrawn across the Rapidan River into Culpeper County, to take up Winter Quarters at Brandy Station.
This places the 6th
Corps camp under Sedgwick, north of the Rapidan but south of the Rappahannock. This area
was also served by the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac: the only direct line from Richmond into this part
of Northern Virginia. Pvt. Drew was moved to the RF&P line and placed aboard a flatcar for the ride ….
Under guard, but treated royally well, Pvt. Drew is now on a “downbound train” to …
[Images: Van Nostrand , Map of Richmond, Virginia, and Surrounding Countryside
(1864) Library of Congress ]

5. In Richmond at Last – but as a Prisoner

6. “In due time and I was delivered to provost guards head-quarters. The captain and several others entertained me
quite a while with many questions.. …”
Much of the action in this issue of YANKEE SCOUT in the Civil War, takes place in the heart of the City of
Richmond, seat of the Confederate Government, after removal from Montgomery, during a few days about
Christmas in 1863. After capture and escort into Richmond, Drew was taken to the office of the Confederate
Provost Guard -- or Provost Marshall sometimes – the C.S.A. military police responsible for maintaining military
discipline among the Confederate troops, and executing the decisions of C.S.A. Courts Martial. The Provost
Marshall also had charge of Union prisoners – for their conduct and execution of sentence. A compilation of
decisions of courts martial conducted at Richmond, during the year of Drew’s capture, is Communication from
Secretary of War : [enclosing copies of the findings of the general court martial, held at headquarters, Richmond,
for the month of January, in the cases of persons charged with desertion and absence without leave (1863)
https://archive.org/details/communicationfro23conf Here, the Provost guard is routinely responsible for execution
of sentence, usually forced labor with a 12# ball & chain, but sometimes a death sentence – and this is for the
Confederate soldiers. Yankee Prisoners of war did not fare so well ….
The City of Richmond, the capital of the State of Virginia, had been re-organized for the war, to accommodate the
makeshift administrative seat of the Confederacy, in all its major or central departments. There was no time for
construction of imposing marble edifices with Corinthian columns – although the C.S.A. War Office had been
housed in former Mechanics Institute, on 9th
and Clay, and had the benefit of a “new building” named “Winder’s
Building” for the General who kept his office there. Instead, hotels were commandeered, and existing rooms in
downtown business offices were co-opted entirely, or shared with owners or tenants, sometimes with a door to the
street, sometimes evidently down alleyways now long-forgotten or non-existent. Often they were crammed into
second floor rooms in neighborhood boarding houses. In addition, offices occasionally moved from room to room
within a building, or from building to building. The effect on one trying to procure government action, must have
been something beyond befuddling…. Maybe like existing in a Kafka novel with illustrations by Escher! Meanwhile,
business owners, and Virginia State and Henrico County government offices also had to make do with the
congestion, continuing as best they could to maintain a semblance effective functioning.
Fortunately, the V & C Intelligencer & Stranger’s Guide from 1862, does
reference the Provost Guard headquarters ….
According to this directory, the Provost Marshall was none other than Major Elias
Griswold. In 1862 his offices were at the corner of 9th
and Broad Street:
A few months after meeting and sentencing Drew, in March 1864, this same Maj.
Griswold was ordered by C.S.A. Gen. John Henry Winder to take command of the
new C.S.A. “overflow” prison Camp Sumter … also known as Andersonville.
However, at the same time, Gen. Winder issued a conflicting order to another
officer, Capt. Henry Wirz, to take command thereof. Major E. Griswold was
recalled to Richmond and continued his office as Provost Marshall in Richmond --
presumably again at his offices are on corner of 9th
and Broad Streets.
However, that was in 1862: Drew was captured at the close of 1863, almost 1864,
and so this requires us to peruse an even stranger Stranger’s Guide …..

7. The 1863 Stranger’s Guide to Richmond
In the original documentation surviving from this period, there is nothing stranger, than the Stranger’s Guide and
Official Directory to the City of Richmond (1863) -- a publication of the Geo P. Evans Co., at the Whig Press
(oddly enough), in Richmond. Evans also published the Richmond Whig newspaper. This pamphlet must have
been irreplaceable to the C.S.A. officers themselves – to say nothing of the Confederate citizens -- as a directory of
the whereabouts of nearly all the various offices which had been pigeon-holed about downtown Richmond. Here:
https://archive.org/details/strangersguideof02rich is the first issue, printed with bright yellow cover. The
introduction to this exemplary piece of organizational work, states:
“The object of this publication is to supply a want which has been
long felt, not only by strangers arriving in the city, but by numbers
of our own citizens. The immense amount of business arising from
the prosecution of the war has been distributed among a large
number of departments, bureaux, etc., which are located in so many
different places that persons having business at some of them are
unable to find them, except by persistent inquiry. This little book
will tell them where the various offices are situated.”
And that’s not so strange.
On page 12, of the Evans Stranger’s Guide, the identity of the Provost
Marshall is confirmed, as still being Major Elias Griswold. The
location of the “Head Quarters” is also given this way:
“Office in room No. 7, fronting Broad st.
The “Passport Office” is in charge of Lieut Kirk.”
And then there is a parenthetical note, which is strange:
[ NOTE – When this Directory was prepared the
P.M.’s office had not been removed from the corner
of Broad and 9th
sts.
The Provost Guard’s offices were removed ? To where? And … When ? Is there an anachronism here?
This is actually relevant, because the Stranger’s Guide Vol. 1 No. 1, is dated October, 1863: a short two months
before Drew was taken captive to Richmond.
And what’s the “Passport Office” italicized and in quotation marks? Wink wink.

8. It is the Editor’s opinion that this yellow-covered issue of the Stranger’s Guide must be the first – not of course,
simply because it is marked Volume 1. No 1., but rather because at only 31 pages long, it is the SHORTEST
printing of Volume 1 No. 1 -- and contains only a single page of advertisements. Some elucidation may be in order:
Indeed, as the introductory statement excerpted above illustrates, Geo. Evans the printer, naturally intended to
correct and update the entries in his Stranger’s Guide. And his introductory remarks in the booklet do promise to
produce improved editions in the months following publication of this first Vol. 1 No. 1 from October 1863.
“It may be that we have omitted several offices which should be inserted, but our design is to publish
successive editions, from time to time, with corrections and additions, until we have rendered the
DIRECTORY as complete and valuable as we desire to make it. We ask our friends to apprise us of any
errors or omissions they may discover.”
“We also request heads of departments, bureaux, etc., to furnish us with copies of such regulations
concerning the modus operandi and routine of business, etc., in their respective offices, as may serve, by the
publicity thereof, to lessen the interruptions and inquiries to which they are now subject in consequence of
the lack of this information, in a form available to the public.”
Stranger and Stranger and … Stranger
Good luck. We can only imagine the kind of “cooperation” offered by the
C.S.A. operatives, to the Whig editor… Or can we? Gen. Winder, whose
office was responsible for detecting spies and deserters, may have found Geo
H. Evan’s Stranger’s Guides to be … “passing strange” thus explaining its
abbreviated publication history.
While the Strangers Guide may not have made it to the next revised issue,
either paper was very scarce in Richmond, or this first issue was popular
enough to go through at least three more printings -- represented here by
three different colored covers – green, gold and grey (grey on next page).
Although these issues are also numbered Vol 1 No. 1, and dated October,
1863, they have three (3) full pages of advertisements at the back – so we
have reason to be confident, that they were printed later. Nevertheless,
despite the improved revenue and circulation, the same entry regarding the
offices of Provost Marshal Griswold, appears on page twelve, along with the
bracketed “NOTE” with brackets UNCLOSED – to wit:

9. Etc. Except for the addition of two more pages of advertisements these three
printings (if such they are) are identical to the first printing, with it’s single
page of advertising. In other words, the typesetting and pagination is/are
identical from copy to copy, and so the table of contents in the front of each
copy, does NOT change, and corresponds correctly to the contents as
printed:
Nevertheless the effectiveness of the
Stranger’s Guide compendium was
compromised by the lack of a map of
Richmond – and again, this feature
may have been restricted by General
Winder in the C.S.A. War
Department. Instead of a map, the
authors included (at p. 2) this very
helpful topographical description of
the street system in the heart of
Richmond – which, since it may still
be helpful today, in understanding
the movements of Pvt. Drew, I
reproduce:
“In the absence of a map it may
be proper to remark for the
information of strangers, that the streets of Richmond are laid off at right angles to each other, with one or
two exceptions. The principal streets are those extending from east to west. The "cross streets" extend from
the river to the northern boundary line of the city, and are numbered in regular order from west to east. North
of and parallel with Main street, in the order mentioned, are Franklin, Grace, Broad, Marshall, Clay, and
Leigh streets; South of Main, and also parallel with it, are Cary, Canal and Byrd streets. The Capitol Square,
which is situated near the centre of the city, is bounded on the north by Capitol street, which is parallel with
and near to Broad street; on the south by Bank street; on the west by 9th street, and on the east by Governor
street, and a part by 12th. Governor street (formerly a county road,) is irregular. It is 13th street south of
Main, but by its inclination to the west ascending the hill, its continuation becomes 12th street north of Broad
street. A stranger can readily find any place, whose situation is described in the DIRECTORY, by bearing in
mind that the numbers of the "cross streets" diminish as he goes "up town" or west, and increase when he goes
in the opposite direction. The names and numbers of streets are (or should be ) inscribed on boards attached
to the corner houses. The Capitol Square breaks the continuity of two streets, Franklin and Grace.”
With this description as a ready reference, the “Stranger” could then easily access directions to almost any
Confederate official in town.

10. Almost -- for as an additional helpful finding aid, Evans included, on p. 3, a list of the “Situation of Public
Buildings” in Richmond – q.v. in any edition, e.g. https://archive.org/details/strangersguideof111863 Knowing
these landmarks might prove indispensable ….
Stranger Still …
There WAS a second printing. Indeed, in case the wayfaring
stranger Yankee Scout wandering at large in Richmond on a stormy
December night, was still feeling at a loss consulting the various first
printings of the Stranger’s Guide, printer Evans did indeed issue a
second revised printing. While it is still numbered Vol. 1 No. 1, and
still dated October, 1863, the issue has been entirely reset throughout,
in a different font with “expanded graphics” gracing the cover. This
new and expanded Volume 1, No. 1 of the October, 1863 Stranger’s
Guide is shown at right and available at the Boston Atheneum
website. CAVEAT: Be careful not to confuse it with the Stranger’s
Guide Vol 1 No 1 (October, 1863) first printing with the gray cover
(see preceding page) also available from the same collection.
http://cdm.bostonathenaeum.org
As we shall see below, in discussing the office of the Quartermaster,
while there are a number of changes and updates in this new issue, by
and large the C.S.A. offices had remained stable between October,
1863, and October, 1863. However, the offices of the Provost
Marshall appears still to have “not been removed from the corner of
Broad and 9th
sts.” at the time this issue was prepared – hence the
familiar [ NOTE: as if frozen in time ….. only this time the brackets
on the NOTE have finally been closed.] 
So, while not entirely up-to-date, the Editor will run with that address. The Provost Marshall was none other
than Major Elias Griswold. A few months after meeting and sentencing Drew, this same Maj. Griswold was
ordered by C.S.A. Gen. John Henry Winder to take command of the new C.S.A. prison Camp Sumpter … at
Andersonville. However, at the same time, Gen. Winder issued a conflicting order to Capt. Henry Wirz to
take command thereof. So Major Griswold was recalled to Richmond and continued his work there as Provost
Marshall – obviously NO LONGER at these old offices are on corner of 9th
and Broad Streets.

11. The terminal of the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR line was at the corner of 7th
or 8th
and Broad Streets.
Following the last issue of the Stranger’s Guide, Vol. 1, No. 1 (October, 1863) [2nd printing], from there Pvt. Drew
was marched to the Provost Marshall H.Q. at the corner of 9th
and Broad – presumably located within the Broad
Street Hotel …. just a block from the terminal. The Confederate Capitol building was just another couple blocks.
“Finly I was declared a prisoner of war.”

12. [ P. 133 ] “…. and sentenced to dig sand on Belle Island till the end of the war or exchanged – “2
Richmond Va, and its Vicinity 1863. J. Wells, del by R. Hinshelwood
NOTE: The beautiful birds-eye view here is looking west, with downtown Richmond on the north bank of the
James River. The city of Manchester is along the south shore, and the river is flowing towards the viewer. The
two bridges in the distance are railroad bridges, the one downriver is Mayo’s Bridge – a carriage bridge.
2But exchange was unlikely for Pvt. Drew! Most prisoner exchanges were suspended effective July 30, 1863, when
– in a dispute of Confederate treatment over black Union prisoners –- Pres. Lincoln issued his General Orders 252.
It was only later General Ulysses S. Grant elevated this de facto suspension to the level of a Union Army strategy.

13. “Libbey Prison was full and I was to go to the island with some twenty or more prisoners…. ”
Union Troops Prisoners on Belle Island – Harper’s Weekly,
July 1863
Although Libby Prison is “better” known, at this time, Belle Island
was the largest of the Confederate encampments for prisoners of war.
In addition, to these prisons, Richmond also hosted the more
ferociously named “Castle Thunder” and “Castle Lightning” prisons
in the heart of the city. Castle Thunder was located downtown, on
the corner of Carey and 19th
Sts., very near Libby Prison and the
James River waterfront. [ For more – read on! ]
Conditions in all Southern prison-camps were make-shift and
generally brutal, and guards were often gratuitously cruel to men in
their custody. The literature on these camps and their conduct is
abundant. At left is just one first-person account that is not often
cited, Boggs, “Eighteen Months a Prisoner under the Rebel Flag,”
(1866) https://archive.org/details/eighteenmonthspr00bogg But the
situation was not much better in the Federal prisons to the north.

14. The Civil War was not fought on any foreign front, but local corn-rows & farmlands were borrowed and bloodied
as battlefields, and commercial railroads were commandeered as strategic supply lines. By the same token, when
the C.S.A. Congress chose to relocate the Confederate Government Seat from Montgomery to Richmond, it
imparted a predominantly strategic military aspect to Richmond, this age-old Capitol City of the State of Virginia,
theretofore an exclusively civilian center of American civilization.
So Richmond became a prime strategic objective for the
Union, and military blockade by the Union Army was
inevitable. President Lincoln declared the blockade of
Southern States in April, 1861 – and Richmond felt
these effects – both in terms of military operations, and
as privations among the civilian population. Shortages
began soon, and persisted. Two years into it, on April
1863, bread riots broke out in downtown Richmond.
But what was in scarce supply for the Southern citizens,
was sometimes completely denied to Union prisoners
of war.
And this was certainly true on Belle Island, in the heart
of Richmond – --
The rhythmic engraving below shows the Union
prisoners tent city on the south side of Belle Island,
upstream from the rapids. Few prisoners, ever
attempted to escape from Belle Island, and fewer
survived their attempt. The inclusion in this picture, of
another railroad bridge upriver from Belle Island and
west of Richmond itself, appears to be in error.

15. “It was near 10 o’clock P.M. a dark stormy night when we was ordered to get ready to travel I took my place at
the end of the line as we left the office, as I was the last capture. I don’t think we was counted. We went across a
bridge …. “
Image: detail, Map of the City of Richmond, from a survey by I.H. Adams, U.S.C.S., pub. by C. Bohn (1865)
NOTE -- The arrows indicate a route from the only Provost Marshall’s H.Q. referenced in the Stranger’s Guide -
- at the Broad Hotel, 9th
and Broad Sts. near the Capitol -- to the foot of Mayo’s Bridge – now 14th
St. Bridge.
Mayo’s bridge was the only carriage bridge from the north side of the James River, to Manchester, and thence to
Belle Island upriver. Libby Prison is at the far right, between Carey & Water Sts. at 19th
, cater-corner from Castle
Thunder, which was the Provost Marshall’s prison – for Confederate deserters and other ne’er-do-wells.

16. “I slipped the line at the bridge without being noticed by the guard [&] was soon among the citizens.”
After a day or perhaps two days
in the C. S. Provost Guard’s
custody, Pvt. Drew is a free
man again at about the
corner of Water and South
14th
Sts. at the foot of
Mayo’s Bridge. Eastward,
downriver lie not only
Libbey Prison and “Castle
Thunder,” – but the old
city Gas Works , within
just two blocks. This area
would have been under
regular guard.
It seems probable that Pvt.
Drew would have moved
QUICKLY away from this
heavily patrolled or militarized
district, and gone west, taking
himself upriver along the docks into
Richmond’s old Warehouse District ….
…. near the Shockoe Tobacco Warehouse, the Public Tobacco Warehouse, among others ….. ( In fact, Libby
Prison itself was a former tobacco warehouse.)

17. This detail shows that Pvt. Drew is now at large in the old Shockoe Slip
district of Richmond, on the downriver edge of one of the most improved
& industrialized sections of the old City, w/ docks, mill race & many
warehouses.
Upriver between the river and canal, the famous Tredegar Iron Works -- one of the three largest iron works in the
nation, and the largest in the South – was easily the single most significant factor in relocating the Confederate seat
from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond. Tredegar’s state of the art facilities and body of skilled labor with slave
labor, turned out product which included the plate for the Confederate ironclad warship, the CSS Virginia, steel rail
for railroads, and caissons, weaponry and munitions including shell, shot, gunpowder, and 1,000 cannons …. The
owner of Tredegar, Joseph Reid Anderson, was a strong advocate of Southern Secession, and the single
manufacturer most involved in production of armaments and munitions for the C.S.A. South. He supplied the
Confederate attack on Fort Sumpter. Early in the war, he was made a major of the “Tredegar battallion” – which
by design saw no action; he then took an “early retirement” and went back to TIW to oversee production.
When General Lee ordered the Evacuation of Richmond, and had the industrial district torched to “prevent it from
falling into enemy hands,” Anderson privately paid a group of armed guards, said to number over 50, to remain on
site and guard the Tredegar facility “against arson.” Meanwhile he had converted his financial assets from
Confederate scrip into foreign currency, and fled to Europe with his fortunes-of-war intact. He returned to
Richmond in 1867 and took up operations at Tredegar once more.
Did Anderson finance the splinter campaigns of John C. Breckinridge and John Bell who split the Democratic and
Southern vote in the 1860 election, and thus insured Lincoln’s election – triggering Secession? While there are
numberless books written on the Civil War, so that you need a bibliography before you can even begin, with dozens
of biographies for the glamorous figures like Generals Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson, and at least one book for every
battle fought (but a bookshelf on Gettysburg), the number of books on Confederate war administration and logistics
can be counted on one hand, and there remains to this day just one biography on this arms dealer war profiteer,
Joseph Reid Anderson. See, “Ironmaker to the Confederacy” (1966) by Charles Dew.

18. For Drew, this is perfect district to get himself lost in – especially on a rainy night. Now, if he could only get his
hand on some ordnance he could sabotage the works at Tredegar, and deliver a crippling blow to the Rebel State !
“I had the good fortune to meet a young negro with a fiddle and a banjo. I asked him could he play boath
instruments at the same time:
“No I am in want of a fiddler,’ said he.
Said I, “I am one.”
“All right, come down to the hall and we’ll play at a ball.”
It is useless to say I was in a hurry to get in out of the wet. He played the banjo and called; as we entered the
Hall I threw my cap under the stoop, and asked the negro what his name was.
“George,” he answered, “What’s yours?” “Sam,” says I. We took our station on a platform at the back end of
the hall, played the opening march & waltz there was about 50 couples on the floor all colored but me – no other
Whites allowed. At 1 o’cl A.M. we had a supper – it was not fancy but substantial; at daylight it broak up.
“George took me to his lodgings where I slept 24 hours – it was time to go to breakfast. He took me to his
boarding place: meals two dollars confed’te I got some old cloathes and blacked up and cruised around the city
all day.
J.R. Hamilton -- The James River & Kanawha Canal, Richmond, ca 1865

19. “That evening George told me he was a slave, his master
hired him out to work for the Confederate Quarter-master3
and always took [his] wages as soon as they were due, but let
him have what money he could make on the outside.
“He wanted to know all about the proclamation of freedom to the slaves.4 He was [ P. 134] a Lincoln man and
wanted to get with the Union Army.”
“ I told him then who I was and I wanted to get back to our army as soon as possible.
“George said he could get a permit to go down the river fishing but [the Quartermaster] wouldn’t let any one go
below Fort Darling5 [.] and he would have to put all his fish in the City market.
“We agreed to help each other and he thought Christmas morning would be the best time to go.
“There was to be a big time in the city Christmas Eve and the next [day] everybody would be tired and sleepy.
3 The Confederate Congress created the position of Quartermaster-General on 26 Feb 1861 and the Secretary of
War was allowed one Colonel and six Majors to serve as Quartermasters. It’s purpose was to provide for the
“quartering and transport” including provisioning and supply, of Confederate forces, and it’s duties included
conscription and enlistment of soldiers, payroll, hiring of manual labor, and ensuring production and distribution
of manufactures essential to the Confederate cause, as well as overseeing blockade-running. The first incumbent
was Col. Abraham C. Myers [ see 2nd
page following ] who remained in office until July, 1863, and whose tenure
was a “casualty” of the failed Gettysburg campaign. (Recall that Lee also complained of “miserable mismanagement”
following the rebel defeat at Rappahannock Station.) Myers was replaced in office by Brig. Gen. Alexander R.
Lawton, who would be the Quartermaster referred to here.
4 The Emancipation Proclamation had been signed by Lincoln on January 1, 1863: about one year earlier.
5 Fort Darling, on Drewry’s Bluff, was the Confederate fortification on the James River – about 8 miles south of
Richmond. For more, see the next issue, YANKEE SCOUT – Fugitive Slave.

20. In May, 1861 when the Confederate government moved to
Richmond, Virginia, the headquarters of the Quartermaster
General were located on the corner of Ninth and Main Street – now
the location of the Richmond City Hall and the Virginia Archives.
The Stranger’s Guide confirms the Q. M’s office here, with Lawton
in charge, when George’s “Massa” was proffering George’s
employment.
The Stranger’s Guide notes that Lawton’s offices were on the
second floor, and the entrance was by the stairs in the rear of the
building only. See, Stranger’s Guide, Vol. 1 No. 1, p. 7 ff. (1863).
George’s “massa” had evidently responded to an advertisement like this one, which ran in the Richmond Daily
Dispatch for December 30, 1864 ….. ( Maybe they were trying to find a replacement for George ! ) :

21. “The Peculiar Institution”
While Drew reports that George said his “massa” had “hired him out to the Quartermaster,” African-American
slaves in the South were often simply impressed into CSA labor, either individually or as slave “teams” -- as
evidenced by the circular below, issued by the first Confederate Quartermaster General , A. C. Myers. Note,
however, per No. 4 below, that while slaves or slave teams could be impressed into work for the Confederate States,
nevertheless, per No. 5 below, they could not by purchased by the rebel Confederate government! This strange
provision of the Quartermaster General’s office, suggests the central, almost sacrosanct character of the “master-
slave relationship” in the view of the Confederate Government -- with slaves being the one form of individual
“super-property” that was untouchable -- even by the Rebel State itself. 
[Image: Circular of Confederate Quartermaster A.C. Myers, re Impressment ; November,1861,
from Bloomfield’s Quartermaster’s Guide, pp. 102-3 (Richmond, 1862)]

22. African-American slave fisherman looking over the James River to Richmond, from the Manchester side.
Drew stated earlier (p. 1 above, and p. 132 of his Memoir ) that he believed he was captured by that band of
Johnnies, while scouting on December 18th,
1863 -- a Friday. Under armed escort, and taken into Richmond on
a rail flatcar, it’s fair to assume he arrived at the Provost Guard H.Q. on the same day, the 18th
, or at latest the next
following, the 19th,
-- a Saturday. His martial “processing” including interviews and sentencing, could occur the
same day or the next. So it seems reasonable to suppose that by December 19th
or 20th
– a Sunday -- he was being
marched with twenty other Union Army prisoners, to Belle Island by way of Mayo Bridge, when he slipped the line,
at around 10:00 P.M., he says.
Drew meets George the slave the same night of his escape, only shortly after slipping the prisoners’ line, because he
says “I was in a hurry to get out of the wet.” So the encounter would likely be in the same Shockoe Slip district
referenced earlier. Once the two decide they can form a musical duo, they manage to play a Negro dance at “ a
Hall” that same night – so this suggests a Saturday dance, likely the night of Saturday, the 19th
.
Thereafter, they retire to George’s lodgings, where Drew says he sleeps a full 24 hours -- probably through Sunday
the 20th
. Then, after breakfast, Pvt. Drew gets “blacked up” by George, and as of Monday is at large on the
Richmond waterfront – or anywhere else in town, for that matter.
George and Drew now have four full days within which to complete the preparations for their escape …

23. Blacked Up
“We had got a skiff from a negro at the lower end of town – pretty poor but we had worked on it got it tight, had
made a couple paddles. “
“George had got the permit from his owner to fish but he must have another to go with him. George had cut my
hair so short you couldn’t see it, and done a fine job at black[ing] me up. We had hard work to get our fishing
tackle togeather there was none for sale. On the forenoon we spent a little time practicing our music – then we
got grub and outfit ready to go fishing.
“We began at 8 o’cl. P.M. to play at a big ware house on the dock – there was over 200 dancers there, a supper at
1 o’cl. A.M. –
Contraband Ball at Vicksburg, Mississippi, During the Siege
– from a sketch by P. E. Schell from Frank Leslie’s
Illustrated Image, New York, Saturday, January 30, 1864
Like George and “Sam” playing Christmas in Richmond,
another fiddle and banjo duo played this ball about a year
later, during the siege of Vicksburg – but probably the
musicians were not in blackface. The precise location of
George & Sam’s exclusive Christmas concert performance
is uncertain. Was it ….

24. “Stoped at sunrise, left our instruments in the hall, took a basket of grub we [had] stowed away at supper time…

25. “…. and went to and got into the skiff, started down the James River to fish for the Richmond market.”
I KNOW !!! I don’t know if I believe it either ….. but
….
Not very far I’ll bet …. they’ll NEVER make it out …
Not out of RICHMOND !!
Seat of the CONFEDERACY !!
AT LEAST, they’ll never get beyond Fort Darling …..