OCR Text |
Show WHEN JEFP DAVIS WAS CAPTURED GENERAL MlNTY FOR MANY YEARS A RESIDENT OF OGDEN CAUGHT THE FLEEING CONFEDERATE WHO WAS ATTEMPTING TO ESCAPE, DISGUISED AS AN EM IGRANT MRS. DAVIS, ONE OF THE PARTY PURSUED BY THE UNITED STATES TROOPS. Editor Standard At the time that General Mint-, was living in Ogden. before he went to Arizona, be ga ' me some papers, giving an account of incidents that happened during the war. In looking over my papers, I found a paper giving an' account of the capture of Jc-rrcrson Davis. li w.is the Fourth Michigan cavalry, Goneial Mint s regiment, that cap-tured cap-tured Davis On the, evening of May 7 ISi;.".. Brigadier General Mirny, commanding tho division, dispatched Lieutenant Colonel Prltchard with the Fourth Michigan cavalry tn picket pick-et the Ocmulgcc river, in order to Intercept Dan; and Ins party if thej attempted to ernes Lieutenant Colonel Colo-nel Prltchard, after petroling the Ocmulgcc and posting picketing parties, par-ties, became convinced that Davis had alreadv crns tbe river and taking tak-ing all his inrce not already placed on dut moved all night In pursuit ol what he suspected was the party, making a march of thirty-six miles It was now learned that an "emigrant family.' with wagons, tents, etc and a lew soldiers, had crossed the Oc-mulgee Oc-mulgee at Brown s ferry about midnight, mid-night, hail stopped at Abbeyville to feed, and had moved on again before davllcht in the directiou of Irwin-ulle Irwin-ulle Colonel Prltchard. although not aware that Davis had disguised himself, him-self, and was'seeklng to escape b traveling under the guise of an or-dlnarv or-dlnarv farmer, considered it bis duty to interview an 'emigrant who was traveling with twelve wagons, two ambulances, tents, and camp equipment equip-ment escorted bv soldiers," and who moved so hastily as only to halt in the middle of the night lent enough to feed Making a detail of seven officers, of-ficers, himself included, and one hundred hun-dred and twenty-eight men well mounted, he left Captain Hathaway, with the rest of the regiment to picket pick-et the river and scout the country, and, wfth the detail moved at. 1 o'clock to Wilcox's mills, thence bv blind roads through the Vine woods eighteen miles, reaching Irwinville about 1 o'clock on the morning of the luth He here represented himself and command as Confederates' and a part of the escort, inquiring for our train." etc Bv this means he learn ed that a train and party such as he i described had encamped alcut dark, the evening before, about a mile and a half out or town on the Abbeyville read Taking a negro for a guide, he marched In that direction, and. on ! ncaring the i amp. hailed behind a hill and sent Lieutenant Perrington, with twenty-five dismounted men to march round the camp without uncovering himself, if possible, and. gaining the n ;n post his men so as to cut off all escape It being now after 2, o'clock, and er dark Minty concluded con-cluded to wait until daylight before mal Ing the attack lest some of the party might escape bv hiding In the bushel .Tn -ct al dawn he moved forward for-ward and got within four or five rnd i of the camp, when, on being challenge j ed hv p. sentinel, he dashed forward j land In an instant the whole camp was I 'captured and a mounted guard thrown around it. and dismounted sentinels placed at each tent and wagon. The surprise was complete. ' and none of the enemies was able to make the slightest resistance, weapons weap-ons being taken while many were yet asleep A few minutes after Prltchard had i thus obtained complete possession of! the camp, and before the nature and I extent of the capture were ascertain- j ed, a sharp fire was opened on the dismounted men, under Lieutenant Purlngton m the rear of the camp on the Abbeyville road l'rifchard collected col-lected nil of his men. except the guards and sentinels, and moved to the support of the lieutenant From the determined character of tho attack at-tack and the peculiar reports or the guns used, he soon began to suspect that he was engaging some portion of the Union troops, and ordering bis men to cease firing, rode to the tront and Inquired who they were They answered 'First Wisconsin'" This unfortunate mistake resulted in the killing of two men and the wounding of one officer or the Fourth Michigan and three men wounded in the Urst Wisconsin. W hen the colonel and most of the men thus absent engaged !n the skirmish in rear of the camp, the inmates in-mates of one of the tents aroused bv the skirmish, told the guard, Andrew An-drew Bee, that there were ladies" In that tent, and in a few mtnuteB two persons, who. as Bee said, looked like women" came out of the tent, one earning a tin-pail. Addressing Lieutenant, Lieu-tenant, Dickinson, who was In charge of the guards, the lary said: "Please lieutenant, lei me and my grandmother go to the brook to get water " A white servant girl also came out of tho tent and Joined the other two, and the three then passed on toward the brook. After going a short distance it was noticed that one oT the women" bad cavalry boots on and the guard, calling the lieutenant's attention to that fact, ran after, and, raising an alarm, the party was surrounded, sur-rounded, by Lieutenant Dickinson. Corporal Munger and Private Andrew Rce. and others. A woman, who prov-I prov-I ed to be Mrs Davis, when the alarm was given bj Bee, ran out of the tent, and placing her bunds over the "old grandmother's face, said. "Guard, don't shoot." and turning to the others, oth-ers, said. You may not admire Mi Davis' principles, but he Is a reverend 'man'' It was then i irst known thai theN had captured Jefferson Davis. , end his identity was thus first announced. an-nounced. Even then Davis refused to acknowledge that he was the man and, in answer to a direct question from t'olonel Prltchard, who soon after af-ter came up and Joined the group before be-fore Davis was taken bnck to the tent he answered. You may call mc who or what you please " At the time Andrew Bee halted Davis, Da-vis, and from the moment he came out of the tent, and tho lady with him represented him as her old grandmother, up to the time he was halted he had on a black mourning gown, belted at the waist, and reaching reach-ing down to his ankles, a shawl covering cov-ering his forehead he walked stooped over, as a verv old woman would. Defeated and detected iu his effort to escape in this disguise, and captured cap-tured by the hated Yankees he had so 'long traduced and villltled he now petulantly broke out into childish 'race and foolish flings at the courage I and manhood of his captors Address-ting Address-ting the colonel commanding a moment mo-ment after his capture and soon after af-ter he had thrown olf the shawl, he J sulci ' I suppose you consider It bravery to charge a train of defenseless women wo-men and children, but it Is theft, it Is rmdalism ' " The camp In which Davis and his I party were found was in a thick for-lest. for-lest. not fa r from a running brook. In It were three wall tents in line par-jallel par-jallel with the toad, opposite the tent (occupied bv Davis was a fine horse, saddle and bridle, with holsters and a valise, held bv a colore,) man This was Davis' well trained and fleetest saddle horse, held in readiness at the time and In all probability at all I times tor the escape of the rugltlve I rebel During the march to Macon, I no incident or special moment occurred, occur-red, no indignity was oH'orcd and he ' was but once spoken to by the men I of the guard. The horse "read) for flight" was captured by a soldier, who rode him Info Macon One day. the soldier, approaching Davis, said 'Mr. Davis, vcu won't need this horse any more; hadn't vou bettor give him to me?" When Colonel Tohnson. of Davis' Da-vis' stafr, being near, said "How dare you insult the President in this I manner?" "President." said the soldier, sol-dier, with contetnnL "hell! whats he President of?" The soldier got permission per-mission to use him on picket one night The picket was fired on that night and the horse was killed. (Signed) COL. B V. BAIR |