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Corporal William Reddick was duly sworn and examined as follows:
By the Judge Advocate:
Question. Will you state your position in the military service?
Answer. I am corporal in Co. B, 33d Ohio Regiment.
Question. When and for how long did you enlist?
Answer. I enlisted on the 18th of August, 1861, for three years.
Question. Were you a member of the secret expedition sent out by Gen. Mitchell, of which the other witnesses here have testified?
Answer. Yes, Sir.
Question. Will you state the circumstances under which you were engaged in that expedition?
Answer. I was sitting by the camp fire when the captain and second lieutenant called me up to them. The captain told me that there was a secret expedition on hand, and he wished I would go with it, stating that he preferred me before any other of his company, and that he had to furnish a man from his company. He said we were to enter into the enemy's lines, capture a train, and destroy the bridges on the road; that it would be very easily accomplished; that we had a good leader, a man who understood the business, and who had been employed in the service of the United States. He told me that he would give me three-quarters of an hour to study upon it, whether I would go or not. I went to my tent, and, after a time, I went up and reported that I would go. He took me to the colonel, and the colonel told me to get all the citizen's clothing that I could procure in camp. I only made out to get two checked shirts of one of our boys who had just returned to camp, and a pair of jean pants from the cook in the hospital. We were then taken to Shelbyville, where we procured clothes, and then we returned back to the camp for supper. After supper we were taken back to Shelbyville. We went out upon the railroad a mile and a half or two miles, and there we stopped and money was given to us. We were unacquainted, at that time, with each other. We divided into squads. John Whollan and myself went up the railroad about five miles that night. We stopped at a house where there was a light, and represented ourselves as strangers who desired to stop for the night. There was a lady there, a Southern woman, who told us we could not stay in the house, as her children were sick. She told us to go to the negro quarters, if we wished to get out of the rain, for it was raining very hard at the time. We told the negroes there that we were trying to make our way to our command, which we represented to be at Round Gap. This the negroes told to the lady of the house, who came down to see us, and desired us to go over to her uncle's, where we could get better accommodation. We did not do so, but went to bed and slept until about four o'clock, when our breakfast was sent to us from the house, and we then started off on the right-hand road and went some seven miles, where we got conveyance to Manchester, and from Manchester we footed it, procuring conveyance along the road as we could get it. We left camp on the 7th of April and got to Chattanooga on 10th. On the 11th we took passage in the cars to Marietta, and arrived there about midnight.
Question. You have heard the narrative of the subsequent events, as given by the witnesses here; does it accord with your recollection of the facts?
Answer. Yes, Sir.
Question. Is there anything in addition that occurs to you that you desire to state?
Answer. I think of nothing else, except that when I was arrested and brought to Chattanooga Mr. Andrews was taken before Gen. Leadbetter, of whom he asked the privilege of sending a flag of truce to our lines, which was denied. We were ironed and confined, and received the same treatment as our comrades.
Question. You were with the witnesses who have deposed here and the other members of the expedition throughout all the time of your confinement in the prisons of the South?
Answer. Yes, Sir; except that we were separated a little time; a portion were sent to Knoxville. After we were brought together again we remained together until we were exchanged.
WILLIAM REDDICK.
Co. B, 88d Regt. Ohio Vol.
Ohio boys in Dixie: the adventures of twenty-two scouts sent by Gen. O. M. Mitchell to destroy a railroad; with a narrative of their barbarous treatment by the Rebels and Judge Holt's report, New York: Miller & Mathews,1863
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