The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape

by Albert Deane Richardson

"In view of the author's rich material, his well-known trustworthiness, and graphic descriptive powers, the publishers feel justified in predicting a work of unusual interest, containing more of the fact, incident, and romance of the war than any other which has yet appeared." NEW YORK TIMES The remarkable Civil War career of famous New York "Tribune" journalist, Albert D. Richardson, was packed with more action, intrigue, and danger than many of his colleagues. Like war correspondents today, Richardson reported from where the shells were flying and men were dying. He was also a Union spy. He reported from the south before the war and from "Bleeding Kansas" in the fifties. He met with and discussed the war with Abraham Lincoln before heading to Vicksburg. That's all here in his classic book. And in 1863, Richardson and the other famous "Tribune" correspondent, Junius Browne, were captured while trying to run the Confederate batteries protecting the river at Vicksburg. They spent 20 months in harrowing prison conditions until their dramatic and dangerous escape through enemy territory. It's a story that should be known by every American. Richardson aspired to great literary writing but along with the danger, there is plenty of wonderful humor. Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever. For the first time, this long out-of-print volume is available as an affordable, well-formatted book for e-readers, tablets, and smartphones. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE by clicking the cover above or download a sample.

Genres: History

422 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 1972

About the author

Albert Deane Richardson (October 6, 1833 - December 2, 1869) was a well-known American journalist, Union spy, and author.

Richardson wrote for the New York Tribune owned by Horace Greeley, and traveled to battlefields during the American Civil War to report on the war, often with fellow journalist Junius Henri Browne.

Richardson and Browne were imprisoned for 20 months in seven different prisons, confined successively at Vicksburg, Jackson, Atlanta, Richmond, and Salisbury, North Carolina, prisons. On December 18, 1864, after 20 months of imprisonment, he escaped from Salisbury, along with Browne. They traveled together more than 400 miles through hostile country, and reached the Union lines on January 14, 1865. His list of Union soldiers who died at Salisbury, published in the Tribune, is the only authentic account of their fate.

Reviews

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Albert Richardson, writer for the Tribune in Cincinnati, records a wealth of interactions between himself and southerners of the Civil War. He includes the words of both Union loyalists and rebels, as he remembers them. This book is partly a journal and was published in 1865, just after the war ended. It's not too technical or deep and is easy to understand.

[William Keyser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly an epic journey through the South during Secession

A Tribune Journalist who survives Prison and Escape who has been at many of the critical openings of the war. It was difficult to stop reading and he keeps you in suspense the entire time. It ranks as an equal to the Count of Monte Cristo. Historic and Inspirational well worth the read.

[Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic first person account of battles, prisons and escape from the American Civil War. Read the 1865 original version.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an audiobook from LibriVox.

https://librivox.org/the-secret-servi...