The record-union., 1898-05-04

| lieve the General had gone away tenn
porarily or had got out of our grasp
entirely, and, as our danger grew with
every moments delay, you may believe
/ was in a quandry whether to wait any
longer or not. Finally / tackled an
Irishman whom we had among the
prisoners. 1t seems that got the right
man, for he cherished a grudge, SO he
said, against Dow because the latter
wouldn't divide the spoils of war.
This Irishman told me that Dow
had gone over to the house of DR.. b. B.
Barnett, only half mile away, where
! two New York Colonels were impris-
oned for trying to dissuade their men
from re-enlisting. The Barnett house
was distinctly visible from the Cage
house, and the fields between the two
glimmered with the white tents of the
Federal soldiers. I waited almost an
hour before General Dow rode up alone.
Before he could dismount I was at his
horses side, and had my cooked six
shooter jammed with what fancy was
unpleasant insistence into the Generals S
abdomen.
Will you surrender quietly, Gen
eral, l said or shall I be compelled to
kill you?'
"'Oh, 1 surrender he exclaimed.
suppose it was somewhat disconcerting
to feel the sudden pressure of that six
shooter.
Il told my men to disarm him, and
we led his horse back to the fence where
the others were waiting. While I had
been waiting for the General to return,
! by the way, 1 had taken his papers and
! a fine presentation sword which now
hangs in my villa in Capri, Italy. I had
| everything we wanted the other prison.
ers were on their horses, and, with the
General in our hands, there was moth
more to wait for, so we set off at once.
We walked our horses while inside
the lines, then put them at a gallop to-
ward Centerville, Miss. We had to skirt
their lines for some time, and every lit
tie while we would come to road which
struck ours at right angles, and which
came from their camp. At these places
[ would send one of our men up the
crossroad a quarter of a mile so that he
could give US warning of the approach
of the enemy, and we stopped to breathe
our horses.
early in the morning we stopped at
a plantation for breakfast, and we had
good one, I assure you. The planter
was SO pleased with US for having cap
tured a leading Federal General that he
killed all his chickens and gave us the
| best of everything he had. When l
went out to take our horses again, one
of my men pulled out q fine gold watch
to see what time it was I asked him
where he got the watch, and he said
| he had taken it from Dow, along with
various other things. He said Dow
had been taking our property for a
| long time, and he saw no reason why
the tables shouldn't be turned. I made
him give the watch back to Dow, but,
with the consent of the Colonel at Cen
| terville, each of my men received
something as a souvenir Of the capture; );
a souvenir which was we'll earned,
thin One had the horse, another the
saddle, another the pistols, and so on.
I was allowed to keep the sword /
spoke of. and it now bears two inscrip-
tions: Presented by business men and
manufacturers of Portland Me-, to
Colonel Neal Dow, Thirteenth Maine
Regiment, and Presented to Lieuten-
ant Colonel John c. MacKowen for en-
tering the Federal lines near Port
and capturing General Neal Dow and
guard at his headquarters
Dow was sent the next morning to
the Jackson and Great Northern Rail-
way (now the Illinois CentraD, then
to Mobile, and afterward to Libby
| prison, where, after nine months, he
was exchanged for General Fitzhugh
| Lee.
Gamblers account of the way in
which he captured Dow is inconsistent
with the real facts in other details be-
sides the individuality of the man who
performed the exploit. Gambler claim
ed that General Dow was severely
/ wounded near Vicksburg in the sum-
mer of '63, and was hiding in the
house Of a Union sympathizer, seven
miles from Hazlehurst, Miss. The in
ventive Mr.. Gambler asserts that, pi-
loted by a planter, he went to this
| house and captured Dow, whose arm
was then in a sling He carried Dow,
so he says, from Hazlehurst to Mont
/ gomery, Ala, where a mob tried to
hang the General AS a matter of fact.
| Dow was not at the siege of Vicksburg,
/ but at that of Port Hudson. He was
not wounded in the arm, but he had
received a slight flesh wound in the
leg, which was completely healed when
l captured him. He was not captured
at HaZlehurst, but three and a half
miles. east of the Mississippi River,
back of Port Hudson; and he was
| taken, not to Montgomery, but to
| Mobile. Also, the man who planned
and carried out the capture was not
named Gambler, but MacKowen, and |
can prove it.
Strangely enough" concluded DR..
MacKowen, General Dow and I had
not seen the last of each other when we
parted at Centerville in '63 After the
/ warsI went back to Dartmouth, where
1 had been at college when the war
broke out. took my degree there
and then went to Montreal and took a
steamer for England There was a
good deal of trouble then over the Ala
bama claims, and England had sent
over several detachments of troops to
have them conveniently placed in Ca
NADIA in case of serious developments.
/ A number of the officers were going
home on a furlough, and quite a crowd
of us were discussing recent events
one day when a certain elderly Aneri-
can of the party became very angry
with me and stalked off in rage, re-
fusing to discuss matters any further
The elderly and irascible gentleman
proved to be Dow himself He did not
recognize me- nor did / know him. AT
the time of the capture I was wearing