Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-02-07
CURRENT AFFAIRS.
CAPTURE or JEFFERS0N DAVIS.
The story TOId by m Eye-WiIne-- Of
the whole Affufr.

! ne Hhofy NolN ny Nm Eye=W tNneaH OF
the whole Affair.
The account printed in the February Cen
! tury-the number which contains the end of
the Lincoln history-settles definitely the
fact that jefferson Davis was disguised in
women's clothes at the time Of his capture
by the Union troops at or near Abbeville,
South Carolina, in the. early morning of
May TO- 1865. The account given by Gen.
James II Wilson, who commanded the IN
ion cavalry that made the capture, prove
this, and added to his account is that of
VIM. p. Stedman, a private in the 4th Mich
igan cavalry Mr. Stedman describes the
preliminary movements of the troops, and
how a colored man led them to the camp of
the refugees just before daylight in the
morning
I'VE marched right into the camp, with.
| out disturbing any one, until Captain Hud-
son said Go for them ~ Then we gave
| yell, and the men went for everything they
could find The camp was situated on
slight elevation of ground IN pine forest,
but the timber did not stand very thick
where the camp was There was a creek,
with considerable thick brush along it, run.
ming round the north and east sides of the
camp, about twenty or twenty five rods
away. There were two wall tents aud
shelter tent on the east side Of the road,
and the horses and wagons and ambulances
were on the west side of the road, aud the
men Of the camp were seen lying ia the
wagons and under the trees Tor the sur.
PRISE was so sudden that they had not got
ont Of their beds There was one tent
larger than the rest, and | thought that If
Davis were IN the camp he would be in this
tent, so stopped my horse near the southwest
corner of the tent and waited ~ see what
would come out of it, The tent door was
on the east side Of the tent, and could not
see it, but man could not get more than
three or four feet from 1t without my see
ing him. As | sat there some of our men
went to the tent door, but were met by
woman who would ask them 10 keep out,
saying that there we're undressed ladies
within. ! heard this voice several times,
and 1t proved to he Mrs Davis who was
| speaking. About this time firing was heard
on the north side Of the camp Captain
| Hudson ordered the men out 10 where the
| firing was, except few men To watch the
camp Soon after the firing began, this
woman in the tent asked some one without
il he would let her servants pass out after
some water Consent was given. when out
came a tall person with lady's waterproof
overdress on aud small brown shawl on the
head, tin pail on the right arm, and
colored woman leaning on the left arm.
| his tall person was STOPPING over as If 10
| appear shorter ! at once concluded that It
must be Davis in disguise
They started of east towards the creek,
where the brush was very thick As they
were going they had To pass several soldiers
who we're struggling round the camp.
sat still on my horse, expecting that some
Of the soldiers would halt them as they
passed by but such was not the case, for
they passed all Of the soldiers without be
ing noticed Then | galloped my horse
round the north side Of the tent and, pass
| ing to their left, halted them. Just at this
time there came riding up 10 us two Of our
soldiers. They made few remarks TO the
tall person. He turned his face little to
wards me and | saw his gray mustache
We told him his disguise would not succeed
| Then Davis and the colored woman started
back towards the tents. | rode by the side
| Of Davis, aud the two soldiers Corporal
| Munger of Company c, and Daniel Ed
wards of Company L. rode away in another
direction As Davis had got about half way
back to the tent, we were met by some of
our men, who had just discovered that JEFF
| ferson Davis had tried to escape in dis
| guise man by the name of Andrew
! Bee, Swede who was cook for Colonel
! Pritchard, came up on the run. aud grabbed
! both hands into the front of the dress that
| Davis had on, jerked it open, and said to
him, Come out Of this you old devil = Da
| Wis at this attack Strengthened up and show
ed anger At the same time be put his
hand 70 his back under the dress. thought
/ 4 r.. 4 4
with my carbine, and cooked it. As | did
50 Mrs Davis, who stood At the tent door,
cried out to me not 10 shoot. She came
running to her husband and threw herself
on him in front of the gun She said that
he was not armed, for she had caused him
! to leave his arms in the tent before he came
out Then Davis threw the dress and shawl
! to the ground and started for the tent.
| When we reached there, aud as the soldiers
were looking at Davis Col Pritchard came
up | reported my prisoner to him. lie
asked me If | were sure II was Davis.
asked him if he had not seen Davls's picture
often enough tn know him at sight. Col
onel Pritchard the asked Davis what his
name was and Davis answered, You may
call me what you please Pritchard then
said, Il will call you Jefferson Davis. Davis
said it was immaterial 10 him what he was
called. Colonel fTltchard then asked Wnat
the firing was for at the north Of the camp
but no one could tell him. He then ordered
the men that were around the camp out to
where the firing was, aud rode there him
self As he left he said to me, Keep a close
watch of Davis Davis then turned to me
and asked if would allow him to go across
the road, where there was a fire burning
| went there with him he sat down on Il
| log near the fire. As we were there by the
fire, soldier by the name of Linch came
up with a fine bay horse and spoke TO Davis
and said. 'Jeflie, here is your horse you
won't need him any more won't you give
him to me 2 Davis did not answer him,
hut Colonel Lubbock, one of Davss staff,
was very angry towards Linch, and declar
ed that he would die before he would see
his president insulted. Linch with an oath
said 10 Lubbock, What is he president of {
| think that l was the only per
son in our command who saw the whole af-
| fair at the capture of Davis some saw one
part and some another"
1t will be remembered that Mr. Davis eX-
cused his disguise, in published account,
| by saving that he put on his wife's water
proof by mistake for his own raglan, and
that his wife hastily wrapped a shawl about
his head and neck to protect him from the
early morning dampness.