Captain Milton Rhodes, 1838-1922

ABBEY, GARRETSON, RHODES

Posted By: Pat Ryan White (email)
Date: 10/15/2006 at 17:27:04

CAPTAIN MILTON RHODES, CIVIL WAR VETERAN, DIES

~Made Daring Escape From Macon, Georgia, Prison With Three Comrades.~

Mt. Pleasant, Ia., June 19. - Captain Milton Rhodes, veteran of the Civil war, and a well known citizen of Henry county, died Sunday morning at his home after a brief illness. He was born in Ohio in 1838 and while still a boy moved to Iowa.

Captain Rhodes was the last survivor of a daring quartet, which escaped from a confederate prison. His brother, I. N. Rhodes, one of the four, preceded him in death a few years ago.

At the outbreak of the Civil war, Captain Rhodes was among the first to enlist in Company I of the fourteenth Iowa infantry.

He, with a number of others, was taken prisoner at the battle of Shiloh and confined in a prison at Macon, Georgia. Being of a resourceful nature, Mr. Rhodes immediately began planning an escape but no opportunity presented itself until other prisoners were brought wearing civilian clothes.

In these civilian clothes he saw a deliverance from the confining walls. Accordingly he and three other prisoners, one of whom was his own brother, I. N. Rhodes, traded their prison clothes for the garb of the late comers.

~The Plan for Escape.~
The fact that there was a big entertainment close to the prison made it easier for him to carry out his plan, to pose as one of the many people in the celebration. In order that he might look over the situation and hide a small boat along the Okmulgee river, Captain Rhodes went out first.

Watching his chance when the guard was walking toward the other end of his beat, he boldly stepped out as if he were one of the merry-makers casually walking around. He soon returned to tell his companions that all was in readiness. In the same manner as Captain Rhodes had gone out the first time the quartet of them now walked out.

They went down to the river to hide in the bushes until night. The four men embarked that evening on the long journey to the Atlantic coast. Traveling under the cover of darkness, hiding in the underbrush in the day, and being constantly on their guard for confederate pickets, after months of privations and narrow escapes, they reached the Atlantic and took refuge on a lonely island not far from shore.

~Picked Up by Steamer.~
From the island they hailed a passing steamer, bearing the stars and stripes, which took them to Fort Monroe and then on to Washington. Here they were received by Senator Harlan of Iowa. After a visit to the war department and other places of interest, Captain Rhodes and his brother returned to Mt. Pleasant on a furlough. Soon after Mr. Rhodes was rewarded with the commission of Captain and served the remainder of the war in Arkansas.

After the war he was married to Miss Eliza Garretson of Mt. Pleasant. Mrs. Rhodes with two children, Mrs. Lillis Abbey of Nebraska, and Captain Frank Rhodes of California, and one grandson, Wallace Abbey, a student of the Medill school of journalism, remain to mourn his loss.

Since the war Captain Rhodes has taken an active interest in the affairs of Mt. Pleasant and vicinity. He was quite prominent in G. A. R. circles.

For the past few years he has been totally blind never fully recovering from an injury received while in the service. Altho suffering for years with this affliction he never lost his cheerfulness and his life was an inspiration to all with whom he came in contact. His interest in public affairs never lagged and in his declining years he was well informed on questions of local and national interest.

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Undated, unnamed newspaper obit, found in the scrapbooks of Mary [Blaut] Abraham, wife of Captain Lot Abraham; the scrapbooks are currently owned by their great-granddaughter, Martha [Wright] Allen, Mt. Pleasant, IA. [October 2006]