The Opelousas courier., 1884-01-19
asPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS.
nsssxsbed by thei Private Secretary of
the Confederate President,

CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS
m.Sxsbed by thei Private Secretary q.
inc Confederate President.
BARTON N. Harrison, Jefferson Davis,
rsivate secretary, was an eyewitness of
S. Confederate presidents capture, and
describes it in the Century as follows:
i've were taken by surprise, and not
ane 81 us exchanged a shot with the enc
~ Colonel johnson tells me that he
rs the first prisoner taken. In a mo-
,apat Colonel Pritchard rode directly to
s.. and pointing across the creek said:
what does that mean2 Have you any
men with your Surprising the firing
Tss done by our teamsters, / replied:
s0f course we h1ve-don't you hear the
srinpg He seemed to be nettled at the
rarlg. gave the order, Charge and
haldly led the way himself across the
creek, nearly every man in his command
ALLOWING. Our camp was thus left de-
seTted for a few minutes, except by n
mounted soldier near Mrs. Davis tent
who was afterward said to have been
aationed there by Colonel Pritchard
Is passing) and by the few
troopers who stopped to plum
DEF our wagons. / had been sleep
IND upon the same side of the road
wfth the tent occupied by Mrs. Davis.
and was then standing very near it.
Looking there | saw hel come out and
heard her say something to the soldier
mentioned; perceiving she wanted him
Is move off, | approached and actually
persuaded the fellow to move away. AS
tie soldier moved into the road, and I
walked beside his horse, the president
emerged for the first time from the tent,
at the side farther from us, and walked
aVay into the woods to the eastward. and
ii right angles to the road.
Presently, looking around and OBJ
serving somebody had come out of the
tent, the soldier turned his horses head
and, reaching the spot he had first occu-
pied, was again approached by Mrs.
Davis, who engaged him in conversation.
81 d minute this trooper was Joined by
enc or perhaps two of his comrades, who
either had Jagged behind the column
md were just coming up the road, or
had at that moment crossed owe from
the other (the west) side, where a few of
them had fallen to plundering, as l have
stated, instead of charging over the
creek. They remained on horse
back, and soon became violent in their
language with Mrs. Davis. The order
10 halt was called out by one of them
fothe president. 1t was not obeyed, and
pas quickly repeated in a loud voice
several times. At least one of the men
then threatened to fire, and pointed a
csrbine at the president. Thereupon,
Mrs. Davis, overcome with terror, cried
out in apprehension, and the president
fWho had now walked sixty. or eighty
PAGES away into the unobstructed woods
turned around and came back rapidly to
his wife near the tent. At least one of
the soldiers continued his violent Ian
gaage to Mrs. Davis, and the president re-
preached him for such conduct to her,
when of them, seeing the face Of the
president, as he stood near and was talk
ing, said: Mr.. Davis, surrender! / re-
cognize you, SIR Pictures of the presi-
dent were so common that nearly or
quite every man in both armies knew his
ace.
Il was, as yet, scarcely daylight.
g The president had on a waterproof
cloak. He had used it, when riding, as
i protection against the rain during the
night and morning preceding that last
halt; and he had probably been sleeping
ID that cloak at the moment when tn
eamp was attacked.
Z While all these things were happens
INK, Miss Howell and the children
remained within the other tent. The
gantlemen of our party had, with the
angle exception of Captain Moody, all
siepton the west side of the road and id
u near the wagons. They were, so far
d ] know, paying no attention to what
was going on at the tents. + have since
talked with Johnston, Wood and Lub-
book, and with others, about these mat
isrs; and / have not found there was
aay one except Mrs. Davis, the single
Trooper at her tent, and myself, who saw
"a that occurred and heard all that was
sid at the time. Any one else who
gives IN account of it has had to rely
aPon hearsay or his imagination for his
sorry