Prison Break!

While researching my family tree, I came across these Civil War letters from my fourth great uncle, Horace B. Jewell. He describes his experience breaking out of Danville Prison in 1864 in great detail, writing to his brother, Charles Adolphus Jewell.

You can view more information about Horace and Charles Jewell on our Geni family tree site. After finding the letters I shared them with Census Diggins and the letters were posted on the Danville Prison website. Enjoy!

Letter #1:  

Nashville February 3rd 1864  

Dear Charlie [Charles Adulphos Jewell],  I arrived in town last nite from Louisville on my way to my regt. I was captured on the 4th of Nov. taken to Atlanta Ga, from there to Richmond, from Richmond to Danville Pn, 140 miles S.W. from Richmond. I remained in prison until the 27th of December when I escaped by cutting the bars off the window and running through the guard lines, two sentinels fired at me, one ball hit me in the right shoulder, cutting a hole about two inches in length and about the size of the ball, and passed out through my coat on the left shoulder, it was only a slight wound, and did not prevent my running. I was 25 days getting through to our lines. I got to our lines on the 21st of Jan at South Washington, at the mouth of the Tar river in North Carolina on Palmics Sound, there I got transportation to New Berne at which place I wrote to you directing the letter to Nashville but Chatfield says the letter has not got here yet.  

I went from Newbern to Fort Monroe, from there to Baltimore from there to Cincinnati, from there to Louisville and from there to Nashville. I shall take the 3 Oclock train this evening for Chattanooga.  

I am disappointed at not seeing you but am glad you are at home. I should like to have gone home, the boy who escaped with me went home to stay a while before reporting to his regt, but I thot it my duty to go to my regt as soon as I could.  

I wrote to my Co. and Regimental commanders as soon as I got into our lines telling them that I had escaped and was on my way to the regt. Chatfield has let me have five dollars which if you will pay him I will send you as soon as I get paid. I wanted to get some things to take to the regt which I cannot get there, such as tobacco, emery paper, coffee pot etc.  

Andrew Jewell tells me there is a commission here for you as 1st Lt in Co. I which I am glad to hear, give my love to all the folks, and all write to me. I am anxious to hear from home. I suppose you would like to know how I traveled thru the Confederacy without getting caught but I haven’t time to write much. I traveled by night and laid in the woods by day, stole chickens and sweet potatoes and cooked them in the woods. Crossed streams where the bridges were guarded by making rafts of rails etc. You must write to me as soon as you get this and tell me of your prospects.  

H. [Horace] B. Jewell  

P.S. Direct to Chattanooga  

Letter #2:  

Camp Chickamauga 

February 22nd, 1864  

Dear brother,  I received your long and welcome letter last night, and fearing that we might leave tomorrow, I leave a dirty gun in the stach to answer it. In accordance with your request I will give you a brief account of my escape from the rebel prison at Danville, Va. There were 3000 of us taken from Castle Pemberton in Richmond to Danville, 140 miles SW from the former place and confined in four prisons, old tobacco factories four stories high, on the windows of which the rebs had put bars at outside of the glass. The guards were stationed about 15 or 20 ft outside of the prison and 20 ft distant from each other facing the prison, with positive orders to hold no communication with, or even speak to a prisoner. I had resolved from the first to improve the first opportunity to escape, and the first two weeks of my stay was devoted to forming the acquaintance of my companions who looked as though they would be desirable companions for such an undertaking. I knew we had 280 miles of the enemy’s country to go through before we could reach our lines; it required men who had the courage and perseverance to endure cold, hunger and fatigue for an indefinite period of time, and at the same time the presence of mind to meet and conquer any unlooked for danger that we should always be liable to encounter. I found plenty of men who would talk escape, oh yes, they would like a chance to go; but when I pointed out the only way which we could escape from the prison, some would not incur the risk. Others when I had got their courage screwed up to that and pointed out one danger after another we should be likely to encounter after we had got out, before we arrived at our lines, and asked their opinion as to the best method of surmounting them, I found none of them such men as I wanted except one orderly and two duty sergeants belonging to the 18th Pa Calvary. I proposed to cut the bars of a window myself and let them know when I was ready, then the first dark rainy night we would go. Well, I got the bars cut so that a mere splinter held them in their place and the cracks carefully stopped with charcoal and tallow. One well directed blow would knock them off. We waited several days for rain and at last it came. I told them we would go that night, showed them the bars I had cut, and pointed out the lane we should go through and the direction we should take when we reached the street beyond. But said one that lane leads past the guard quarters, not 10 yards distant, we can’t go past that it is brightly lit up all night. If the guards see and fire at us, it will alarm the corporal and guard who will rush out and we shall be in a trap. I replied, you are correct in everything but the trap. The guards must see and hear us break the bars off, they will fire at us, but the close proximity of the guard-quarters will give us time to pass it before thy can get out. We can’t sneak out of this like a thief out of jail, where there are no guards, but must make a bold dash for liberty and take our chance.  

What then is the use of a dark rainy night, said another. “To keep the guards guns under their coat capes and their eyes full of water, so that they will not have time to deliberate aim until we get past them, and they will fire in a hurry and miss us. Then it will help us about passing the picket lines, for we can sneak through them.” Well, said another, if Old Abe don’t want me bad enough to exchange me, I don’t feel called upon to run so much risk as one chance out of ten for escape, nor do I, said the other two. Very well, said I, I thought you were brave men, but I see you are cowards. I don’t want you. When I thought it time to go, I went to the window. I could plainly see by the light which shone from the windows of the guard house (a 3 story brick, built unfurnished by a union man who had to flee his country) every one of which was lit up by the light of pine knots burnt by the guards, that the two sentinels between which I had to pass were standing with their muskets under their blankets and their heads bent towards the rain, apparently half frozen. I carefully removed the glass from the window and then thinking I would give every man a chance to follow me I woke up about 40 and told them they could leave Dixie if they wished. They crowded around the window, but when they saw what the chance was they “turned back”. I called them all a set of cowards, and dared anyone in the room to follow me. A boy of 16 yrs from the 41st O.R.I. Ohio answered, “It is a scaly chance, but I am tired of this. I’ll follow you or die trying.” “Come on, then.” Said I, and I kicked out the bars and jumped out, turned around and took him by the hand and pulled him out, set him on his feet and said “now run like the devil.” We started, “halt.” “halt”! “halt!” bang, bang. Corporal of the guard No 7 to No 8 and we were away. I felt a ball spat against my shoulder but it inflicted only a slight wound and didn’t hinder my running. It took us all night to get past the pickets, when we got news where we thought they out to be we crawled on our hands and knees, stopping every few feet to listen. Just before daylight we found them and succeeded in getting through unobserved, we were then clear of the town, and traveled about two miles when we found an old tobacco barn on the backend of a plantation filled with corn fodder. We crawled in amongst this and laid during the day, and when night came we set out. We knew that the ____ of N.C. was within 300 miles of us, took the Stars for our guide, traveled by night and laid in the woods by day, lived on chickens and sweet potatoes which we captured from rebs and cooked in the woods. We had yet many difficulties to contend with. The bridges and ferries are all guarded to catch their soldiers who desert and go home by hundreds. So that we had to feel our way, when we had a stream to cross we went below the bridge or ferry and made rafts of rails, old logs or anything we could find. Sometimes our rafts came to pieces in the middle of the stream and we had to gather as many rails as we could under our arms and swim with the other.

Be Bolde. Be Wyse.

The Gallup family line can be traced back to the 1400's. Here is the ancestory of John Gallop, from Gallup Genealogy (1987):

Origin
The name is said to be derived from the German words, “Gott and Lobe,” God and praise.

“In Lorraine, part of the debatable territory between French and German people, wasted, seared, and scarred by many battles, now is possession of one people, then another. There is an ancient family of the name Kollop.”

From time immemorial the tradition has been handed down by its members from generation to generation that one of their numbers went to Western Europe as a follower of William Duke of Normandy and never returned.

As corroborative of the tradition of the Kollop family of Lorraine, a tradition also exists in the Gollop family that the founder of the English branch came into England at the conquest of France.
From Burk’s Landed Gentry

Coat of Arms
Gules, on a bend or, a lion passant guardant sable. Crest, a demi-lion barry or and sable, holding in his dexter paw a broken arrow gules. Motto: Be bolde. Be wyse.

Gules, red, taken from the color in the open mouth of the heraldic lion; bend, or bendy, signifies that the field or escutcheon, is divided by diagonal lines from the dexter chief to the sinister base, in reality a gold band five-eights of an inch in width. The field represents the shield, which was an important part of knightly armor; the dexter chief, as worn by bearer on right arm, would bring the upper portion of band at right hand. Or (gold), a “lion passant, guardant, sable,” simply means a black lion, on a gold band, walking with his face turned toward the observer. Crest reads: “A gold half lion, crossed by Block horizontal bars, holding in his right paw a red, broken arrow.”

One coat of arms differs from another, not by charges only but by difference of color or tincture. In British Heraldry there are nine tinctures, two metals; or, gold; argent, silver; two furs, colors five, gules (red), azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green), purpure (purple).

Ancestry of John Gallop
1.The earliest known ancestor of John Gallop, the immigrant to America, was John Gollop, who came “out of the North” during the fifth year of the reign of Edward IV (1465). The ancestral John married Alice Temple at Temple Court in Broadwinsor, Dorsetshire. She was born ca. 1469 in Dorsetshire and was daughter and heir of William Temple who was born ca. 1443 also in Dorsetshire. Their son:
2.John Gollop, of North Bowood and Temple, Dorsetshire, died during the twenty-fifth year of the reign of Henry VIII (1533). He married Joan Collins of Snails Croft, Dorsetshire. Their son:
3.John Gollop, of Bowood and Strode, Netherbury, Dosetshire, was born ca. 1500. He married Elizabeth. Their son:
4.Thomas Gollop, of North Bowood, died Apr 8 1610. He married Agneta Watkins daughter of Humphrey and Catherine Watkins of Holwell, Dorsetshire. Their six children:
a.Egedins “Giles” Gollop died without issue. He went to Rome and became a priest.
b.Humphrey Gollop died without issue.
c.John Gollop, m. Mary Crabbe. Their son John Gallop emigrated to America.
d.Thomas Gollop died Dec 1622. Heir of North Bowood and Strode. He married Francesca Pawlett, daughter of George Pawlett of Melplash, Dorsetshire.
e.George Gollop lived in Southampton. He had a son George who died without issue.
f.Richard Gollop chr. 29 May 1564, Stoke Abbott, Dorsetshire; m. Mary Davy, dau of John Davy of Stambord, Devonshire. He had seven children.

Gallup Ancestral Church
From the Gallup (Gollop) family ancestral church in England, a message: “Come as living stones and let yourselves be used in building the spiritual temple.” This is on the cover of the leaflet which the Reverend Cannon Timothy Biles circulated to every villager and church member of St. Mary the Virgin Church of Netherbury, Dorsetshire, England.

In Netherbury the church, though not very well preserved, sits on a rise overlooking the beautiful little village where it seems that time has passed it by. Outside and in front of the church is the tomb of Thomas Gollop, Heir of Strode, and plots of many other Gollops. The baptismal font dates back to the twelfth century where many of our English ancestors and our progenitor John must have been baptized. The last full time pastor, the Reverend Peter May, had a small display inside telling of the Gollop family connection to the famous American pollster George Gallup.

The above mentioned leaflet contains a paragraph that the Gallup Family should be proud of:
We find ourselves the guardians of some of the nations most treasured heritage –the parish churches of England. Yet we also have a painful conscience about the needs of people who live in misery in so much of the world. Holding these two problems in balance is a dilemma.

 

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John Gallop, thirteen generations back

John Gallop came to Boston in 1630. He lived a fascinating life, and holds an important place in American history. This account is taken from the Gallup Family Genealogy book (reprinted in 1987), and I thought I would share this with you.

Descendants of John Gallop include President Bush, Senator Kerry, George Gallup (founder of the Gallup Poll), Emily Dickinson, and over twenty veterans of the Revolutionary War. John Gallop and Coralynn Flick are separated by thirteen generations.

For more information, visit:
Gallup Family History
Virtual American Biographies
John Gallup Biography (son of Captain John Gallop)
John Winthrop Society
The Mary and John Clearing House

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John Gallop, son of John and Mary (Crabbe) Gollop, b. Ca. 1590 England (of Mosterne); d. Jan 11 1650 Boston, Mass.; m. Jan 19 1617 St. Mary’s, Bridport, Dorsetshire, England to Christobel Brushett who d. Sep 27 1655 Boston, Mass.

John Gallop set sail for Boston on Mar 20 1630 on the Mary and John, captained by Thomas Chubb. The reason for his departure is speculation; conceivably he may have wished to explore the possibilities of settling in New England; perhaps he may have desired to consider the prospects of, engaging in transporting immigrants to the New World.

“Seventy-one days later, on May 30 1630, Capt. Chubb nosed the Mary and John into the cove behind Nantasket Beach and dropped anchor off where the village of Hull stands; in violation of his contract to land his 140 passengers on the bank of the Charles River, he discharged them on the sand dunes of Nantasket. The stranded passengers hired a boat to carry them to Watertown and subsequently the party removed to unoccupied land in what is now Dorchester, Mass.” (Captain J. Gallup)

John Gallop did not remain in Dorchester long. He removed to Boston and “was one of the earliest grantees of land at the northerly part of the town, where he had a wharf-right and house.” (James H. Stark) The locality was known as Gallop’s Point and was the southeast part of the peninsular. He had acquired a ship; was engaged in coastal trade and, on occasion, served as pilot for ships entering Boston harbor.

His wife and children had not accompanied him on his trip to the New World. Apparently Christobel hesitated to undertake a long and uncertain sea voyage to an undisclosed country, in spite of urgent encouragement by her husband. “John Gallop was so concerned that he contemplated returning to England. He had become an important man in the colony and this disturbed Governor Winthrop who wrote to the great Puritan leader, the Rev. John White in Dorchester:’

‘I have much difficultye to keep John Gallop here by reason of his wife will not come. I marvayle at the woman’s weaknesse. I pray pursuade her and further her coming by all means. If she will come, let her have the remainder of his wages; if not, let it be bestowed to bring over his children, if so he desires. It would be about £40 losse to him to come for her. Your assured in the Lord’s worke, J. Winthrop, Massachusetts, Jul 4 1632’” (Withrop Papers)
The Rev. Mr. White evidently persuaded Mrs. Gallop and successsfully furthered her coming. She and the children arrived on Sep 4 1633 on the Griffin, after an eight weeks’
crossing; her husband piloted the ship into Boston Harbor thru a new channel he had discovered, the channel running by Lovell’s Island, a quarter of a mile east of his Gallop‘s Island.

He was made a freeman in April 1634. He was admitted to First Church, Boston Jan 6 1634; his wife was admitted Jun 22 1634.

John Gallop was a pioneer in the vitally important coastal trade between Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. “Within a year after he moved to Boston, there was great concern in the Providence Plantation when his shallop and its cargo of foodstuffs was overdue, and Roger Williams wrote thankfully to his friend Governor Winthrop’, ‘God be praised, Capt. Gallop hath arrived.’”

On Dec 6 1632, Gallop and his vessel were engaged by the Massachusetts Magistrates for the first naval task force sent out by any New England colony. The French had fortified a couple of outposts and from these footholds, they raided Penobscot, carrying off 300 weight of beaver skins belonging to the Plymouth colony, and they also captured and robbed an English sea captain, Dixy Bull. To add to the troubles, Bull, having been stripped of his cargo, turned pirate and was preying upon Massachusetts fishing and shipping. Capt. Gallop’s ship, manned with 20 volunteers under command of his friend, John Mason, was dispatched to police these depredations. Head winds and a blizzard forced Capt. Gallop to take refuge in Cape Ann Harbor; here he was storm-bound two weeks, returning to Boston on Jan 2. When Spring came, he sailed forth again, but he failed to find his quarry, for Bull had sailed south to Virginia. The General Court of Massachusetts voted £10 each to Gallop and Mason “to pay for any expenditures.”

In 1635, John Gallop was engaged to transport the Cogswell family from Maine. John Cogswell had embarked from Bristol, England, on May 23 1635; the passage was long and disastrous; those on board were washed ashore from the broken decks of their wrecked ship Angel Gabriel, at Pemaquid (now Bristol, Maine). John Cogswell and his family were spared their lives. Fortunately, they had salvaged a large tent which was pitched upon the beach and sheltered them until help arrived. At his first opportunity John Cogswell took passage for Boston, where he engaged Capt. Gallop, who commanded a small bark, to sail to Pemaquid and transport the Cogswell family to Ipswich, Mass. Bay Colony. (Hollbrook and Allied Families)

In the spring of 1636, John Gallop, bent on a spring trading cruise, cast off from his wharf in Boston Harbor in his sloop with his son William and a hired man as crew.

Having rounded Cape Cod he laid course by dead reckoning for Saybrook Point.

Off Block Island they sighted a small ship anchored in a broad cove close inshore. She appeared to be deserted; there was no watch on deck. Her rigging was loose and her gaff swung wildly to and fro as she rocked in the choppy sea. Gallop hove to and on approaching recognized a pinnace of John Oldham, a coastwise trader; on deck there was a score of Indians lying asleep. He hailed and a couple of Indians jumped into a heavily laden canoe lashed alongside and paddled rapidly for the shore. There was great confusion aboard the pinnace, but the natives succeeded in slipping the cable and standing off before the wind headed for Narragansett Bay.

Convinced that Oldham was in trouble, Gallop hauled up alongside and was greeted with a shower of spears and arrows and a volley from several muskets. His sons opened fire with two great duck guns mounted on swivels – no mean armament – and the savages took refuge below deck. The odds were too great to risk boarding so Gallop put up his helm and beat to windward, then, coming about, bore down on the pinnace before the wind. The 20-ton sloop rammed the smaller vessel with such force that she heeled over on her beam end and water poured down the hatchway. Panic-stricken, the Indians scrambled on deck; several leaped overboard and were drowned; the others hid in the hold. Gallop withdrew to repeat his ramming maneuver.

He had the sudden inspiration to make the blow more devastating by lashing his anchor to the bow, its sharp flukes pointing outward, thus improvising an iron-clad ram two centuries before naval architects adopted this idea. The pinnace was now virtually adrift, falling off to leeward, and when the sloop again crashed into her windward quarter the flukes of the anchor-ram penetrated the hull. The two ships were clamped fast together.

The Gallop boys double-loaded the duck guns, but their shots into the hold had little effect, and their father loosened his fasts and hauled up to windward a third time. Several more Indians jumped overboard, but one, obviously a sachem, stood up on the deck making signs of surrender. Capt. John drew up alongside; took the prisoner aboard and bound him hand and foot. Another came on deck, but fearing to keep two such wily savages, however securely shackled, together in the tiny cabin, he was thrown overboard. Two of the redmen still lurked in the hold, but Gallop and his sons boarded the pinnace, and leaving one of the boys on guard with a pistol at the hatchway, they inspected the shambles.

In the cabin they found John Oldham’s head, the skull crushed, hacked from the body which lay in a corner, stripped naked, slashed with wounds, disgracefully mutilated. “God give you peace, Brother Oldham,” prayed Capt. John as they lowered the corpse into the ocean.

They collected whatever of the murderers’ plunder that seemed worth salvaging; stripped the pinnace of her sails and rigging; took her in tow and laid a course towards Fisher’s Island. But the wind was rising rapidly. It was soon evident that to save themselves the unwieldy tow must be cut loose. She drifted away towards Narragansett Bay and probably fetched up on the rocks off Point Judith.

In 1636 his name first appears in the town records; “It is ordered that John Gallop shall remove his payles at his yarde ende within 14 days, and to rainge them even with the corner of his house, for the preserving of the way upon the Sea Bancke.”

In Jun 1637, several Massachusetts ships arrived at Saybrook, Conn. with reinforcements to supplement land operations against an uprising of the Pequot Indians in the area. It was mutually agreed “that the Bay men should persue the fleeing Pequots in a joint land and water operation. Gallop may have been the skipper of one of the ships in the little flotilla that brought the Massachusetts troops. We know that his was one of the supply ships that accompanied the land expedition and he was on hand in Fairfield harbor, for Bradford wrote in his History: ‘Those that were wounded were fetched off soon by John Gallop who came with his shalop in a happie hour to bring them vituals and carrie their wounded men to ye pinass where our cheefe surgeon was with Mr. Wilson, being about 8 leagues off.’ “

John Gallop shows on the 1640 Boston plan on the southeast side of Middle St., near Gallop’s Wharf, as shown on Bonner’s map of 1722 and Burgiss’ map of 1729. He is shown on the 1645 Boston plan at the same location, and in addition, the plan indicates Gallop’s Point northwest of the wharf. The Bonner map (1722) shows Gallop’s Wharf at the foot of Wood Lane and Gallop’s Alley between Middle and Fish Streets. The Burgiss map (1729) shows Gallop’s Wharf and island in Boston harbor, as does the DesBarres map of Boston, 1775. (Esther G. Snyder)

In his will, dated Oct 10 1649, his widow “is the sole executrix and to her is left all ‘goods and lands’ with three exceptions. To son, John, who might be expected to be the chief beneficiary, he left ‘the new shallop’ and to daughter, Joan, ‘my haeffer.’ The two younger sons ‘shall imploy the bark,’ the first year all for their mother’s benefit and thereafter two-thirds for them and one-third for her. Upon her death, they will inherit everything ‘if they carry themselves as obedient children,’ otherwise ‘she shall have liberty to dispose of all . . . as she shall thinke good.’

The inventory of his estate, dated Dec 26 1649 lists “Owne house and ground lying in Boston, that is to say ye flattes for liberty of wharfage granted by ye towne; The Island called by ye name of Gallop’s Island, containing about 16 acres; Foure acres lyinge at Long Island; owne vessel’ or pinnis, called by name of ye Buck. Whole am’t of inventory £311 l0s. 8d.”

Children, registered in St. Mary’s Church, Bridport:
* Joan, b. ca. 1618.
* John bapt. Jan 25 1620.
* William, b. ca. 1622; returned to England with George Denison and d. there fighting for Cromwell.
* Samuel (twin), b. ca. 1628; bapt. Aug 16 1629.
* Nathaniel (twin), b. ca. 1628; bapt. Aug 16 1629.

Flock

Ice Storm in 1920

My grandmother, Emily Jean (Ingall) Flick Shafer, enjoyed looking at photographs and organizing her things. Dates were important to her, as she would write the dates of everything she purchased or came across. If she bought a box of cereal, you could guarantee there would be a date written in the corner so she could remember what day she bought the cereal.

These insignificant things to most of us meant everything to her. Her mother, Agnes Jewel (Gallup) Ingall, paid similar attention to details. The letters sent back and forth were full of details about the weather and what they had accomplished that day.

While writing dates on things became a habit later in her life, not all of her childhood photos are dated. Raising six children in the 1920s and 1930s, while grandma Emily was growing up, was not an easy task. Yet, her mother, Agnes, found time to record their family history and organize photos from the 1890s. Emily's father, Harlow Dewey Ingall, managed their Joy Road farm and fruit orchard in Plymouth, Michigan. Both of her parents were actively involved in the local politics, and were advocates for improving the locals school.

In her nineties, Grandma Emily would show us these photos. "That's me, taken during an ice storm. I remember when this happened."

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Why we started the Flick Family Tree

This blog is a place for us to share our family history, research our family tree, and preserve memories for our children. Not only is this for our children, but also our cousins, relatives, and others interested in history.

Our aim is to make our family tree available, post family photos, and share information about our ancestors as we find it. We have hundreds of older family photos scanned, but there are hundreds more, as well as letters, and pieces of history that we'd love to share.

Blogging our genealogy is a way to motivate us to continue our research.