Overall soon found his relatives and then went to see Union Brigadier General Godfrey Weitzel, Butler’s handpicked interim mayor of New Orleans. Overall wanted to persuade the mayor to give his family a pass to leave the city. His attempt may have seemed a long shot, given Butler’s reputation for strictly enforcing rules, but Butler realized he could not jail everyone in the city, so passes were quietly issued to a few troublesome and vociferous–or potentially troublesome and vociferous–disloyal citizens to cross Lake Pontchartrain to the Confederate lines on the north side. Thanks to Butler’s pragmatism, Overall got the pass. In return, he promised not to provide information, aid, or comfort to Confederates or their sympathizers, or to carry contraband such as gunpowder and bullets with him.

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The next challenge Overall faced was to find a boat to carry his family and a few others, including Macarthy and his wife. He finally found a flour boat that was allowed to make runs between New Orleans and Mobile, and he loaded his family aboard. Although he had given his word about specific forms of contraband, he had not mentioned others. ‘I carried out with me on the truce-boat my wife, daughter, and brother; Mrs. Macarthy, under the name Mrs. MacMahon, a member of my family; Harry Macarthy, disguised as a deck hand; and a negro manservant, who bore Macarthy’s banjo,’ he recalled.

Out on the water, Federals sighted, stopped, and boarded the boat, but the escape party was allowed to continue on its way. Once a safe distance separated the boat from the Federals, Lottie whipped out a full-size Confederate flag from under her skirts and hoisted it into the breeze. The Federals immediately gave chase, but the little boat was quick and soon sailed under the protective guns of Fort Morgan, the Confederate-held fort that stood on the east side of the mouth of Mobile Bay.

Free from the suffocating clutch of enemy occupation, Macarthy returned to what he did best. During the winter of 1862-63 he found that the soldiers liked his shows even more in the cold months, when they were stuck in camp with little to do besides cook, eat, clean, and sleep. For diversion, they played cards or checkers, visited friends and relatives in other regiments, exchanged news and gossip, or traded for popular but scarce commodities such as tobacco and coffee. Some men were lucky enough to be entertained by professionals such as Macarthy. General Braxton Bragg’s army had had that treat at Pensacola, Florida, in December 1861. Now, in 1862, Brigadier General John Bell Hood’s Texas Brigade enjoyed a show in northern Virginia. Macarthy undoubtedly entertained Confederate troops elsewhere, but there are no known records of other performances.

In December 1862, Macarthy and his wife found themselves in the Broad Street Theatre in Richmond. The advertisement for the show billed Macarthy as ‘The Author, Actor, Vocalist, Dancer, Composer, Banjoist, Mimic, and man of many parts.’ Reserved seats were 75 cents each. According to the playbill, each night Macarthy would impersonate ‘nine or ten different characters selected from the English, Irish, Scotch, French, Dutch, Ethiopian and American, with their National songs, Dialect Costumes and Dances.’

Macarthy was still playing in the city on March 13, 1863, when a tremendous explosion at the Confederate Ordnance Laboratory killed more than 30 people and injured many others. Nearly all the victims were women. In the aftermath, Macarthy gave evidence of his longstanding dedication to charity. He donated the proceeds of a concert to survivors of the deceased. Among his other philanthropic acts was donating the profits from a July 1863 show in Savannah, Georgia, to Captain James T. Buckner ‘to be used for the widows and orphans of the men of the 63d Ga. Regiment who fell at Fort Wagner.’ Again, a month after that, he gave a substantial personal contribution to the Savannah Wayside Home, a refreshment station for traveling soldiers.

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