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[756] Ga., was struck 1 by Lt.-Col. Pritchard, 4th Michigan cavalry, who, upon advices that what remained of the Rebellion was making its way furtively southward through Georgia, had been dispatched2 by Gen. Wilson from Macon in quest of him; as had also the 1st Wisconsin cavalry, Lt.-Col. Harden. These two commands, moving by different roads down the Ocmulgee, Pritchard at length struck the trail he was seeking, and followed it to the encampment aforesaid; which he surprised at early dawn; easily taking captive3 Mr. Davis, his wife, her sister, and his children; but being, directly there-after, involved in a fight with the 1st Wisconsin, which was closing in on the quarry from another quarter, and — each taking the other for enemies — the two commands opened a reciprocal fire, whereby two men were killed and several wounded before the mutual mistake was discovered. The dead were borne sadly to Abbeville, and there buried; the wounded, with the prisoners, were conveyed to Macon,4 whence Davis was taken, via Savannah and the ocean, to Fortress Monroe; where he was long closely and rigorously imprisoned, while his family were returned by water to Savannah and there set at liberty. Secretary Reagan--the only person of consequence captured with Davis — was taken to Boston, and confined, with Vice-President Stephens (captured about this time also in Georgia), in Fort Warren; but each was liberated on parole a few months thereafter.

The following general order seemed for a time to menace a protracted, though not doubtful, struggle in Texas:

headquarters trans-Mississippi Department., Shreveport, La., April 21, 1865.
Soldiers of the trans-Mississippi Army:
The crisis of our revolution is at hand. Great disaters have overtaken us. The Army of Northern Virginia and our Commander-in-Chief are prisoners of war. With you rest the hopes of our nation, and upon your action depends the fate of our people. I appeal to you in the name of the cause you have so heroically maintained — in the name


1 May 11.

2 May 7.

3 With regard to Davis's alleged attempt to elude his captors in female guise, the following statement by Lt. C. E. L. Stuart, of his staff, probably embodies the literal truth:

When the musketry-flring was heard in the morning, at “dim, gray dawn,” it was supposed to be between the apprehended [Rebel] marauders and Mrs. Davis's few camp-defenders. Under this impression, Mr. Davis hurriedly put on his boots, and prepared to go out for the purpose of interposing, saying:

“They will at least as yet respect me.”

As he got to the tent door thus hastily equipped, and with this good intention of preventing an effusion of blood by an appeal in the name of a fading but not wholly faded authority, he saw a few cavalry ride up the road and deploy in front.

“Ha, Federals!” was his exclamation.

“Then you are captured!” cried Mrs. Davis, with emotion.

In a moment, she caught an idea — a woman's idea — and, as quickly as women in an emergency execute their designs, it was done. He slept in a wrapper — a loose one. It was yet around him. This she fastened, ere he was aware of it, and then, bidding him adieu, urged him to go to the spring, a short distance off, where his horses and arms were. Strange as it may seem, there was not even a pistol in the tent. Davis felt that his only course was to reach his horse and arms, and complied. As he was leaving the door, followed by a servant with a water-bucket, Miss Howell flung a shawl over his head. There was no time to remove it without exposure and embarrassment; and, as he had not far to go, he ran the chance exactly as it was devised for him. In these two articles, consisted the woman's attire of which so much nonsense has been spoken and written; and, under these circumstances and in this way was Jefferson Davis going forth to perfect his escape. No bonnet, no gown, no petticoats, no crinoline — nothing of all these. And what there was, happened to be excusable under ordinary circumstances, and perfectly natural as things were.

But it was too late for any effort to reach his horses; and the Confederate President was at last a prisoner in the hands of the United States.

4 May 13.

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