Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-12-15

have found a colored man who will tell
you something Well, what is it?' I
asked. 1t was as dark as pitch, but I
could see the whites of their eyes, and
l knew they had some important infor-
nation to give. The stranger said that
Jefferson Davis had been in town that
day. / said, How do you know it was
| jeff Davis? What makes you think so?
Well he said all the gentlemen called
him President Davis and he had his
! wife with him, and she was called Mrs
| Davis
Left in a Hurry.
He further said that they were going
| to dine with Judge Rose, a gentleman
| who had been persistent in urging me
| to spend the night at his house, but be-
| fore they could get the dinner ready,
| they heard something that made the
party leave in a hurry, going south on
| the river road, There was another
large party, he said that did not come
over the river. l questioned him close
ly, and his answers appeared straight,
out l was fearful of a trick to send me
off on some side track. l said to Bill,
DO you think he is telling me the truth,
and that l ought to believe him?' 'Sar-
tin shoor, kurnel, you kin b'lieve him,
he's tellin' We Gods troof!'
las soon as we got back to the biv-
ouac, l called up the men to saddle
for a march, Lieutenant Hewitt. with
thirty men, had been left back at some
crossroads and had not yet come up;
so, detailing Lieutenant Lane, with
forty-five men, to remain at Dublin
and scout from there up and down the
river, l, with the rest (seyenty-five
men, started south in the direction the
Davis party was reported to have ia
ken.
1T was dark in the pine woods andwe
soon became confused, and after wan
dering around for some time, found
ourselves coming into Dublin again.
Picking our road once more, and day
light coming MAY 81, we struck out
on the river road at a rapid gait Five
miles out we came to Turkey creek,
where we found the bridge torn up
Tracks Oblterated by Rain.
1.-THE bridge being repaired, we again
pushed on through the pine woods. The
wagon tracks could now be plainly
seen, but it soon commenced to rain
very hard, and the tracks we hadfol-
lowed We're now oblterated. We were
in the great pine woods of the south,
the soil nothing but white sand, scarce
ly an inhabitant to be found, and soon
we lost all track of the party ahead;
but still we pushed blindly ON.
OF the final capture of Davis, Gen
eral Harnden writes:
colonel Pritchard and I rode to-
gether into the Davis camp, which was
just across little swale, only a few
rods from where our skirmish took
place. The first person we saw there
was John H. Reagan, the postmaster
general of the Confedcracy, lately
United States senator from Texas, who
said to me- We'll, you have taken the
old gentleman at last!'
"'Who do you mean?'
"'I mean President Davis
"'Please point him out
""There he stands, said Reagan,
pointing to a tall, elderly, and rather
misunderstanding gentleman standing
short distance away.
I'VE rode up, dismounted, and sa-
luted, and / asked if this was Mr.. Da-
Wis? Yes he replied, I am President
Davis At this the soldiers set up
shout that jeff Davis was captured.
UP to this time none of the men who
actually arrested him, knew that he
was Davis. One soldier said What!
that man Jeff Davis? That's the old
fellow who, when I stopped him, had
his Wife's shawl on
Wen Hang JEFF Davis.'
"We-that is, Mr.. Davis and I-were
the center Of a circle composed of
Union soldiers and members of the Da-
Wis party. In the background some of
our men set up the familiar army song.
Wen Hang Jeff Davis on a Sour APP
pie Tree TO the tune of John Browns
Body which did not add in the least
to Davis comfort.
In the camp We're two tents and eight
ambulances, each of the latter drawn
by four mules. There were also sew
eral fine saddle horses. Besides Davis
there We're Reagan, Colonel Harrison,
Mrs. Davis, her sister (Miss HowelD,
and number of Confederate officers
from Johnston's army, and a lot of
lteamsters, servants, and others, but no
| lighting men. 1t appears that when the
lighting began. Davis was sleeping in
his tent. Alarmed at the noise, he has
tily arose and threw a shawl around
him, started out, but meeting a soldier
was stopped and ordered back into his
tent He heard the noise of the sharp
skirmish, saw the dead and wounded
brought in, but knowing that he had no
fighting men with him, could not at the
time understand what it meant.
Il entered into conversation with
him, but with little satisfaction to him
or me. l would not call him Mr.. Presi-
dent but always addressed him as Mr.
Davis which seemed to greatly annoy
him, and he retaliated by speaking
with the greatest contempt of Your
government
Davis Becomes Angry.
Mr.. Davis, seeing the way things
We're being thrown out of the wagons,
turned to me and inquired which of
US was the ranking officer. AS we We're
both lieutenant colonels. and rank de-
pended upon the dates of our respective
commissions, l replied that l did not
know. He meant to inquire which of
us was in command, but as he had been
insolent l did not propose TO explain to
him that we were two separate COM
mands just come together. He then