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[582] I know the colonel spoke quite sharply to him, but his exact language I will not attempt to state, as the colonel will answer for that. I know he had been informed of the disguise by me.

I have the names of several of the men of our regiment who were present at the capture, and I think Lieutenant James Vernor, of Detroit, has their address.

J. G. Dickinson, Late Adjutant Fourth Michigan Cavalry.

Through the kindness of Major Robert Burns, of Kalamazoo, Michigan, I am enabled also to quote the statements of Private Andrew Bee, Corporal George Munger, and William P. Stedman, and an extract from a letter of Captain Charles T. Hudson, all of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, together with a letter from Major Burns himself, commenting upon these documents. It will be seen that there is a close agreement between all these parties (they actually made the capture), and their statements are conclusive as to the question of the disguise. It will be observed that none of them say anything whatever about petticoats, and that no officer has ever alleged that any such garment was used. The newspapers which published the first accounts are solely responsible for the very natural assumption that a man disguised in his wife's clothing would not forget the important item of the petticoat. The letters are as follows:

October 19th, 1877.
On the morning of May 10th, 1885, I was one of the fourteen men under Lieutenant J. G. Dickinson who were dismounted by order of Lieutenant Colonel Pritchard, and directed to enter and guard the camp in which Jefferson Davis and party were supposed to be. I was the first man who entered it, and immediately went to the first of three tents standing on the right-hand side of the road, and raised the flap to enter it. Mrs. Davis, from the inside of the tent, requested me to go back, “as there were ladies in there who were not dressed.” This I could see for myself, she being in her night-gown, barefooted and bareheaded. I stepped back to the outside and waited there a few minutes. Very soon two persons who looked like women, but who really were Jefferson Davis and his sister-in-law (Miss Howell), appeared from the tent, Miss Howell carrying a tin pail. In the meantime, the firing between the First Wisconsin and the Fourth Michigan could be heard, and the bullets were flying over the camp. Lieutenant Dickinson was walking up and down in front of the three tents, very much excited, with a white blanket over his arm, listening to the firing. Just as Miss Howell and Mr. Davis appeared he was approaching the first tent, from which they came, and she said to him: “Please, lieutenant, let me and my grandmother go to the brook to get ourselves washed.” Dickinson immediately turned to me, and said: “Never mind them women folks, Andrew Bee; come here and guard them officers,” referring to some rebel officers, among whom were Private Secretary Johnston (he, doubtless, meant Harrison) and General Reagan, who had just come out of the second tent. Just then a white servant girl came out of the first tent, Mrs. Davis remaining in to dress or attend the children, of whom there were three.

The three “women” (Mr. Davis, Miss Howell, and the servant girl) then started for the brook, Mr. Davis stooping over, as a very old woman would, so that


Philadelphia. 1878.

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