MAY 1-10, 1865.- Pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis.

REPORTS.*

Numbers 1.- Bvt. Major General James H. Wilson, U. S. Army, commanding Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi.

Numbers 2.- Brigadier General John T. Croxton, U. S. Aery, commanding First Division.

Numbers 3.- Lieutenant Colonel Henry Harnden, First Wisconsin Cavalry, Second Brigade.

Numbers 4.- Colonel Robert H. G. Minty, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, commanding Second Division.

Numbers 5.- Colonel Horace N. Howland, Third Ohio Cavalry, commanding Second Brigade.

Numbers 6.- Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin D. Pritchard, Fourth Michigan Cavalry.

Numbers 7.- Captain John C. Hathaway, Fourth Michigan Cavalry.

Numbers 8.- Major General George Stoneman, U. S. Army, commanding District of East Tennessee.

Numbers 9.- Bvt. Brigadier General William J. Palmer, Fifteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry, commanding Cavalry Division.

Numbers 1. Report of Bvt. Major General James H. Wilson, U. S. Army, commanding Cavalry Corps, Military Division of the Mississippi.

HDQRS. CAVALRY CORPS, MIL. DIV. OF THE MISSISSIPPI,
Macon, Ga., May 19, 1865.

I have the honor to transmit herewith the reports of Captain Hathaway, Lieutenant-Colonel Harnden, and Colonel R. H. G. Minty, giving the details of the pursuit and capture of Jefferson Davis, and to submit the following additional information and recommendations:

Soon after I heard that Johnston had surrendered to General Sherman, April 29, I received information that Davis, under escort of a considerable force of cavalry, and with a large amount of treasure in wagons, was marching south from Charlotte, with the intention of going west of the Mississippi River. I immediately directed Brevet Brigadier-General Winslow, temporarily in command of the Fourth Division, to march to Atlanta, and from that place watch all the roads north of the mouth of the Yellow River, to send detachments to Newman, Carrollton, and Talladega, as well as to Athens and Washington. Brigadier-General Croxton, commanding First Division, was directed to picket the Ocmulgee from the mouth of Yellow River to Macon, to send his best regiment to the east of the Oconee, via Dublin, with orders to find the trail of the fugitives and follow them to the Gulf or the Mississippi River, if necessary. I directed Colonel R. H. G. Minty, commanding the Second Division, to picket the Ocmulgee from this place to Hawkinsville, and on the 6th to extend his line rapidly down the Ocmulgee and Altamaha as far as the mouth of the Ohoopee. He also sent a force to Oglethorpe to picket the Flint River and crossing from the Muscogee and Macon Railroad to Albany, and 300 men to Cuthbert to hold themselves in readiness to move in any direction circumstances might render advisable. A small detachment was also sent to Columbus, Ga. General McCook, with 500 men of his division, had been previously ordered to Tallahassee, Fla., for the purpose of receiving the surrender of the rebel troops in that State. A portion of his command at Alabany was directed to picket the Flint River thence to its mouth. He was instructed to send out small scouting parties to the

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* See, also, reports of Generals Thomas, Wilson, Winslow, and Alexander, pp. 345, 370, 381, 382, respectively.

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