The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-02-14

dulOus the M6InD6rS OF UQ6 house was zen
eral Joe Wheeler, the famous confederate
cavalry officer. General Wheeler was
graduate of West Point and he entered the
army as lieutenant at the age
OF twenty-five. He was promoted again
and again and upon the death of General
j. &. b. stuart, he became the senior cav
airy officer of the confederate army He
was in fact the Phil Sheridan of the south,
and st the close of the war when jefferson
Davis and his cabinet fed from Richmond
to Charlotte, North Carolina, Davis looked
upon General Weller as his chief support
in his projected flight through the south.
He wanted General Wheeler to take his
entire command along with him but Gen
eral Wheeler told him
THIS WAS IMPOSSIBLE
and that the best means would be for him
to divide his best men into a number of
small bands and that these could follow
him and by the ease with which they could
be managed, could be moved from place to
place to protect and aid him. This was
agreed to and General Wheeler was dash
ing along in the rear of Jefferson Davis
when he was captured. He had not yet
reached Davis " hen he received an order
TO disband his troops. He had done this
and had only few of his soldiers about
him when he WIS captured. He told me
capture. Said he:
81 was lying in the WOODS in company
with several of my soldiers snd a couple of
negroes when party of Union soldiers
came up. These soldiers were in confed-
crate clothes and they found US by the aid
of negro who had brought US something
to eat. They were headed by Lieutenant
Reynolds and as soon as l saw him come
up and talk to my negroes, l knew it was
8 w nd hof nod ont
who [ was. l had torn the stars which de-
noted my rank, off of my coat but the coat
was faded and the spots shone out so that
they could tell that l was an officer. Upon
being accosted and asked who | was | told
them that was General Wheeler and that
under the cartel then in force l surrend-
cred and asked that we be psrolled. Lieu
tenant Reynolds told me he would not &C.
cept my parol at that time and said, You
wanted TO be with Davis and we will take
you to him. With that he took me with
him to Atlanty and | was there put in COM
pany with Jefferson Davis, Alexander
Stephens, Clement G. Clay and ex-senator
Regan upon little boat and taken In this
down to Savannah where we got another
boat, which carried US north The boat
that took US north was guarded by the gun
boat Matamoras. The families of Davis
and Clay were taken north with US and
Mrs. Davis had
LITTLE WINNIE DAVIS
with her. She was then baby, and had
her on my knee during great part of the
voyage and helped to take care of her as
the nurse had been taken away from Mrs.
Davis"
~ roomed with Alexander Stephens on
the teamboat, 'coutinued General Wheeler,
land l found him very gloomy over the
prospects. AS for me | felt happy, and |
though it was grand thing that l had
not been taken prisoner before and felt re.
heved that the war was over. One day |
said to MIR. Stephens in joking way, that
had been accustomed to going north every
summer for my health and that the federal
government was very kind in the present
instance when l had no money to take me
there and pay my expenses for me. He re-
buked me and said ought not to trifie with
such serious matter, and he told me that
for himself be expected long if not per-
petual imprisonment. Itold him there was
no danger of his being ill-treated, that be
had numerous friends among the public
men of the north, and that they would not
harm him whatever they did with the rest
of US, on account of the speech he had
made for the Union before the war began.
He would not believe me, however, and
said that he expected nothing but punish :
ment. l then asked, We'll, Mr.. Stephens,
if this is to be your fate, what will be tbs
fate Of President Davis!
LOOK OF HORROR
came over his face and he raised his hands.
Don't speak of it, he said. His fate is TOO
terrible to think Of MIR. Regain took the
situation more calmly and he evidently did
not greatly fear the results. We went to-
gether on this boat north until we reached
Fort Monroe, where the party was divided.
Jefferson Davis was taken off under a
guard, Regain and Stephens were sent to
Fort Warren, and / was put on another
boat and carried to Fort Delaware. / was
kept there for month in one of the large
rooms of the fort, and during this time
had guard of an officer, three corporals
and twenty-siX soldiers Soldiers with
guns cooked stood at the door during the
whole time and kept their eyes on me.
Tney even watched me when l took my
bath and their espionage was by no means
pleasant. | did not grow fat on my diet.
My breakfast was piece of meat and a
piece OF bread served on a tin plate which
was none too clean sometimes. For dinner
L got tin cup OF soup with a little piece OF
meat floating in it, and for supper / had o
piece OF bread. | had nothing in the shape
of tea and coffee to drink and l was
watched very closely. | slept on the floor
and was not allowed to read. write or speak
TO anyone. . Ill on the WnOle was happy,
and when one day l was led out to General
Shoeph ana dismissed without much cere
mony the thing seemed to come as matter
of course, and l was happy in the wal
being over and myself still alive"
A number of northern Congressman who
served in the Union army during the wal
underwent all the horrors of the prison life
of the south and their stories of Libby anG
Andersonville and the other southern pris
onS are
THRILLING IN THE EXTREME.
Two OF the strangest experiences are those
of Representative John @. Tarsney OF Mis-
souri,, and Representative Irvine Dungar
of Ohio. Both were imprisoned for month.
and the capture and escape of each has the
variety and adventure of detective novel
Representative Tarsney went into thu
army at seventeen. He enlisted in The
Forth Michigan infantry and then served
| in the Fifth army corps He was severely
wounded at the battle of Gettysburg, wa:
carried off the field by the confederate:
and taken south to Richmond. Here ht
was kept for time at Belle Island, thence
moved to Andersonville, and finally in 1866
was taken to Milan, from whence he es
capped. While he was in Andersonville hi.
prison was located within eight miles O.
the home Of Speaker Crisp, and during the
past summer MIR. Crisp told an audience a.