Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-10-25
JEFF DAVIS CAPTURE
The Confederate President,s Own Ac.
! c0unt or Disputed Affair.

VI !" sSsSP~sNn
From "The Rise and Fall Of the Con-
federate Government" by Himself
For the protection of my family ]
travelled with them two or three DAYS,
when, believing that they had passed
passed ont of the region of marauders,
| determined to leave their encampment
at nightfall to execute nv original pur-
pose. NV horse and that of my party
proper were saddled preparatory to
start, when one of my staff. who had
ridden into a neighhoring village. re-
turned ana told me that maraudinQ
party intended to attack the camp that
night This decided me to wait long
enough to see whether there was any
truth in the rumor, which | supposed
would be asrertained in few hours.
NV horse remained saddled. with my
pistols in the holsters. aud lay down.
fully dressed, to rest. Nothing occurred
to rouse me until Just before dawn.
when my goodman, free oOlorei man.
who faithfully chung to our fortunes.
came and told me there was firing over
the branch, just behind our encamp-
ment. | stepped out of my wife's tent
aud saw some horsemen. whom imme
diatsly recognized as cavalry. deploy-
inc around the encampment. |
turned back and told my wife
these were not the expected ma
RAIDERS. but regular troopers. She
implored me to leave her at once. |
hesitated from unwillin9ness to do 40,
and lost few precious moments before
Welding to her importantly NV horse
and arms we're near the road on which
! expected to leave, and down which the
a. chad. 70 AhArafnrn
impraoticable to reach them. 1 was
compelled to start in the opposite direc-
ton. As il was quite dark in the tent,
| picked up what was supposed to be my
raglan" a light, waterproof overcoat.
| without sleeves: il was subsequently
found to be my wife's. so very like my
own as to ba m staken for it. As l
| started nv wife thouehtfully threw over
my head and shoulders shawl. had
gone perhaps fifteen or twenty Yards
when trooper galloped mp and ordered
me to halt and surrender, to which l
gave defiant answer. and. dropping the
shawl and raglan from my shoulders,
| advanced toward him. He leveled his
carbine at me: but expected II he tired
| he would miss me, and my intention
was in that event to put my hand under
his foot, tumble him off on the other
| side. spring into his saddle and at
tempt to escape. NV wife, who had
| been watching, when she saw the
| soldier aim his oarbine at me, ran for
ward and threw her arms around me.
Success depended on instantaneous ac-
ton and. recognizing that the oppor-
| tunity had been lost, turned back, and.
the morning being damp and chilly,
passed on to q fire beyond the tent.
| Our pursuers had taken different roads
and approached our camp from oppo-
site directions: they encountered each
other and commenced firing, both sup
posing they had met our armed escort,
and some Casualties resulted from their
| conflict with an imaginary body of Con
federate troops. During the confusion,
| while attention was concentrated upon
| myself, except by those who were en-
| gagged in pillage, one of my aides, Col.
j, TAYLOR Weed, with Lieut.. Barnwell,
walked off unobserved. His daring ex
ploits on the sea had made him on the
eart of this Federal Government an OBJ
| ieot of special hostility, and rendered II
quite proper that he should avail him.
self OF every possible means Of escape.
| Colonel Pritchard went over tn their
battlefield, and / did not see him for a
lenp time, surely moro than an hour
after my capture. he subsequently
claimed credit, in conversation WHO
me, for the forbearance shown by ms
men in not shooting me when ] refused
| to surrender.