inspired by the greatest courage and determination. It was several moments before either party discovered that they were fighting our own people instead of the enemy. In this unfortunate affair two men of the Fourth Michigan were killed, and one officer wounded, while three men of the First Wisconsin were severely and several slightly wounded.

It is difficult under the circumstances as detailed to perceive how this accident could have been avoided. Colonel Harnden certainly had no means of knowing and no reason to suspect that the rebels he had been pursuing, while Colonel Pritchard claims that he had cautioned Lieutenant Purinton particularly to keep a sharp lookout for the First Wisconsin, which he knew would approach from that direction. The hurry with which my command was subsequently mustered out of service and the absence of the principal officers prevented an investigation of the details of this affair and the circumstances which led to it. At this late day nothing more can be said of them than what is contained in the official documents already submitted, except that not the slightest blame was ever intended to be cast by me upon Colonel Harnden, as seems to have been assumed by the commission convened by the Secretary of War for the purpose of awarding the prize offered for the capture of Davis. During the firing of the skirmish just referred to the adjutant of the Fourth Michigan, Lieutenant J. G. Dickinson, after having looked to the security of the rebel camp and sent forward a number of the men who had straggled, was about to go to the front himself when his attention was called by one of the men to the three persons in female attire who had apparently just left one of the large tents near by and were moving toward the thick woods. He started at once toward them and called out "halt!" but not hearing him or not caring to obey they continued to move off. Just then they were confronted by three men under direction of Corporal Munger, coming from the opposite direction. The corporal recognized one of the persons as Davis, advanced carbine, and demanded his surrender. The three persons halted, and by the actions of the two who afterward turned out to be women, all doubt as to the identity of the third person was removed. The individuals thus arrested were found to be Miss Howell, Mrs. Davis, and Jefferson Davis. As they walked back to the tent from which they had tried to escape, Lieutenant Dickinson observed that Davis' high-top boots were not covered by his disguise, which fact, probably, led to his recognition by Corporal Munger. As the friends of Davis have strenuously denied that he was disguised as a woman, it may not be improper to specify the exact articles of women's apparel which he had upon him when first seen by Lieutenant Dickinson and Corporal Munger. The former states that he "was one of the three persons dressed in woman's attire," and had "a black mantle wrapped about his head, through the top of which could be seen locks of his hair." Captain G. W. Lawton, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, who published an account of the capture in the Atlantic Monthly of September, 1865, states explicitly, upon the testimony of the officers present, that Davis, in addition to his full suit of Confederate gray, had on "a lady's water-proof cloak, gathered at the waist, with a shawl drawn over the head, and carrying a tin pail." Colonel Pritchard says, in his official report, that he received from Mrs. Davis, on board the steamer Clyde, off Fortress Monroe, a water-prof cloak or robe, which was worn by Davis as a disguise, and which was identified by the men who saw it on him at the time of the capture. He secured the balance of the disguise the next day. It consisted of a shawl, which was identified in a similar manner by both Mrs. Davis