The actual story:
One of the men captured at the Tuscumbia Bridge was Henry Feuerbach. Following his capture at the bridge Feuerbach was taken to Mobile, Alabama and eventually to a Macon, Georgia POW camp.
For four months Feuerbach survived on a daily ration of "corn meal, about a pint cupful, a piece of bacon as large as your hand and full of maggots" before he and two fellow prisoners; Robert Timmons of the 34th Indiana and Alvin Bacon of the 14th Illinois; decided that "to stay longer in prison would only reduce our physical strength." On 10 September 1862 the three men used a small stream that served as a latrine to make their escape. By creeping into the weeds on the banks of the stream the men avoided detection by guards until a severe thunderstorm covered their move down the stream and out of the camp. After a series of close calls with local Confederate forces, water moccasins, and slave laborers the men found themselves in a stolen flat boat on the Ocmulgee River. This vessel was "swapped" for a canoe and the journey continued until the men were befriended by a group of slaves that housed them and fed them with smuggled bread and chicken. The slaves also gave them valuable information about a series of rapids on the river and how they could avoid them. Successfully running the rapids and overcoming a fear of alligators brought the men near Hawkinsville. They landed their boat to search for food and found an abandoned plantation where they were again aided by a few elderly slaves.
The trek continued down the river to Darien where they landed near a saw mill to search for food. As soon as they left the boat they were challenged by a pair of "partisan rangers". Determined not to be taken prisoner again, Feuerbach and Timmons convinced the two that they were members of the 12th Georgia Infantry home on furlough and getting in some fishing. So convincing was their story that they were left under guard of one man while the other returned to find an officer to decide the matter. The lone guard became enthralled with Feuerbach's fictional tales of battles and glory and let his attention drift from the task at hand. With time running out before the return of the others Feuerbach, in a bold move, made a desperate lunge forward and snatched the man's weapon from him. The man was quickly subdued and the canoe was freed with a hatchet and the men rowed off before the reinforcements arrived.
The incredible journey took another bizarre turn when they knocked on a door in a seemingly deserted village. The surprise answer came from a man that originally hailed from New York and harbored Unionist sentiments. The lucky encounter gave the escapees another healthy bit of intelligence on the surrounding area, the efforts to capture them, and a good meal. The good hearted Unionist encouraged the men to continue on their way as soon as possible. An overnight cruising down the river with the current brought them to the mouth of the river. In another stroke of good luck just as the sun was rising and threatened to reveal the men they bumped into the Union vessel Western World on blockade duty near the lighthouse. The men were taken aboard and their freedom secured.
The three men returned to their units after a brief stay at New York to recover their strength. Timmons survived the war and returned to the water as a boatman on the upper Mississippi River. Bacon was killed at Vicksburg on 27 May 1863. Feuerbach also survived the war and returned to St Louis for a post war career as a contractor.
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