William Reynolds: Libby Prison Escapee

William Reynolds was an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War and a prisoner of war at the infamous Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. Reynolds and 108 other Union soldiers escaped in February of 1864. Reynolds later moved to Orlando, Florida, where he died in 1914 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. 

William H. Reynolds was the youngest of eleven sons, born on February 28, 1830, in Wayne County, Indiana.¹ He learned the carpentry trade and worked as a contractor for the majority of his teen and young adult years.² He married Martha Bewly on February 4, 1849, and they had six children (five sons and one daughter) over the next eleven years.³ On August 7, 1862, Reynolds enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight with the 73^rd Indiana Infantry Regiment, Company K, in the Civil War.⁴ He fought in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky, and the subsequent expulsion and pursuit of Confederate General Braxton Bragg.⁵ In the Battle of Stone’s River on the morning of December 26, 1862, Reynolds was struck in the head by a Minié bullet and lay unconscious for several hours on the battlefield as the conflict raged around him.⁶ He miraculously survived and made his way, alone, to the nearest field hospital, where he was sent home for two months before returning to his regiment.⁷ On February 18, 1863, Reynolds was promoted to 1^st Lieutenant.⁸  

Between April 19 and May 3, 1863, Reynolds participated in Streight’s Raid, a campaign in which U.S. Army Colonel Abel Streight attempted to disrupt Confederate supply lines by destroying the Western & Atlantic Railroad. During the raid, 1st Lieutenant Reynolds and the rest of Streight’s 1,500 soldiers were captured by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and transported to Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia. More than two hundred Union POWs died enroute.⁹ Libby was infamous for its harsh conditions including rampant disease and malnutrition. In December of 1863, Colonel Thomas E. Rose and Captain I. N. Johnston, other imprisoned Union officers, developed a plan to escape by constructing a tunnel.¹⁰ This tunnel was dug by two to three men at a time, working in shifts around the clock with a hatchet, a two-inch chisel, and a pie pan.¹¹ It took fifty-one nights to dig out of the compound and on February 9, 1864, at 2100 hours (9 P.M.), one hundred and nine men, including William Reynolds, began their escape.¹² Forty-eight men, including Colonel Rose, were recaptured, two drowned, and the remaining fifty-nine (including Reynolds) reached Union lines safely.¹³ Those that returned to Libby Prison were denied adequate rations, and forced to live in rat-infested prison cells as punishment for their defiance.¹⁴  

Reynolds would be medically discharged later that year on July 23rd due to the injury he sustained at the Battle of Stone’s River. ¹⁵ After the war, he moved to Muskegon, Michigan, where he served as a justice of the peace for six years and as a notary public for over twenty years, as well as engaging in the real estate business.¹⁶ His wife, Martha, died on June 23, 1904, and in 1912, he married widow Mary Collins, who was twenty years his junior.¹⁷ Upon their marriage, Reynolds exclaimed, “I feel twenty-five years younger than I did two years ago... I am going to live to be ninety years old.”¹⁸  

Reynolds was one of many Northerners who made their way south during the Reconstruction period for various reasons, ranging from the desire to live in a pleasant climate to seeking economic opportunity in the post-war era.¹⁹ Reynolds operated a farm he named “Idlewild” in Orlando, which kept him occupied while he shared the stories of his Civil War experience with veterans groups like the Grand Army of the Republic.²⁰ Reynolds died on October 15, 1914, at the age of eighty-four, and was buried in Section I, the Grand Army of the Republic Section of Greenwood Cemetery.²¹  

1. “U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current,” database with images, Ancestry, entry for William Reynolds, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/104741908:60525

2. “William Reynolds: Interesting sketch of a Muskegon Veteran,” Muskegon Chronicle, June 10, 1903, 11.

3. “Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1806-1861,” database with images, Ancestry.com, entry for William Reynolds and Martha Bewly, accessed November 20, 2023, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/160961:9760 ; “1870 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry.com, entry for William Reynolds, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4263265_00094 

4. “William Reynolds,” database, Indiana Archives Digital Index Records, entry for William Reynolds, accessed October 10, 2023, https://researchindiana.iara.in.gov/DigitalRecords/Detail.html?WORK_FILENAME=NDX00114&WORK_RECORD_ID=156520 

5. “Union Indiana Volunteers,” database, National Park Service, entry for 73^rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UIN0073RI 

6. “William Reynolds: Interesting sketch of a Muskegon Veteran,” Muskegon Chronicle, June 10, 1903, 11.

7. “Veteran,” Muskegon Chronicle.

8. “Reynolds,” Indiana Archives Digital Index Records. 

9. “Streight’s Raid - Encyclopedia of Alabama,” Encyclopedia of Alabama, July 11, 2023, accessed on November 20, 2023, https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/streights-raid/ 

10. “The Escape from Libby,” The Muskegon Chronicle, February 8, 1902, 5. 

11. “Escape,” The Muskegon Chronicle.

12. “Escape,” The Muskegon Chronicle.

13. “Escape,” The Muskegon Chronicle.

14. “Escape,” The Muskegon Chronicle.

15. “Reynolds,” Indiana Archives Digital Index Records. 

16. “Survivor of Libby Nearly Four Score,” Muskegon News Chronicle, March 7, 1909, 2.

17. “Michigan, U.S., Marriage Records, 1867-1952”, database with pictures, Ancestry, entry for William Reynolds, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/9093/images/41326_342297-00223?pId=831478 

18. “Civil War Veteran, 82, Takes Bride, 62,” Muskegon News Chronicle, September 19, 1912, 3.

19. “The Myth of Reconstruction,” American Experience, PBS, August 23, 2018, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reconstruction-myth/ 

20. “Civil War Veteran, 82, Takes Bride, 62,” Muskegon News Chronicle, September 19, 1912, 3.

21. “U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current,” database with images, Ancestry, entry for William Reynolds, accessed October 10, 2023, https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/104741908:60525