1907 History of Allegan County, Michigan Illustrated Compiled under the Editorial Supervison of Dr. Henry F. Thomas Allegan Lewis Publishing Company Transcribed by Sue Baroski

General B.D. Pritchard

For a life of a general and widely varied activity and conspicuous success an prominence in his different roles, perhaps no man in Allegan county is better known than Benjamin D. Pritchard. Past the age of seventy, after fifty years of unremitting activity he stands hale and hearty, the picture of health and vigor in life’s decline Born in Nelson, Portage county, Ohio in 1835, he received his early education in the public schools and in Western Reserve College, and in 1856, at the age of twenty-one, came to Allegan. He was one of a remarkable group of men who came to the village before the war, and became active factors in the history of the village in succession to an earlier group that may be called the real pioneers, conspicuous among whom were the Elys and Littlejohns and others. Mr. Pritchard began the study of law in 1858, and after gradua! ting from the law department of the State University in 1860 came home to enter a partnership with ________ W. R. Williams, who had also come to the village in the middle fifties and was already entered upon that career of political and legal success which places him among the conspicuous figures of the village and county.

Soon the war came on, involving momentous decisions in the life of every man. The natural leaders in civic life were expected to take the lead in directing the people in war, and it was soon a question with the firm of Williams and Pritchard which one should take the field. Though Mr. Williams was urgent in demanding the sacrifice for himself, Mr. Pritchard considered his own independence and comparative freedom from responsibilities as superior reasons for being the first to enter active service, and he was soon engaged in the recruiting of a company Allegan county men for the cavalry service. This became Company L of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, of wh! ich he was commissioned captain August 13, 1862. His military career was brilliant. In active service through the south, he was promoted captain to lieutenant-colonel of his famous regiment, and as its acting commander took part in the culminating event of the war, the capture of the deposed president of the Confederacy, for which achievement he was brevetted a brigadier-general of the United States Volunteers. The capture of Jefferson Davis and the subsequent controversy over that episode made General Pritchard a national figure. For some fifteen years after the war the capture of Confederate president in disguise excited a profuse an often bitter discussion between the partisans in the north and south, In General Pritchard’s report to Washington he told in detail the story of the capture of Davis, and some fifteen years later he felt it proper to say a final word concerning his part in the matter. The article which he then wrote, and which was published in Allegan Journal, is st! ill in his judgment the most accurate version of the affair. This account, which has not before be published in the history the county, has been deemed of sufficient importance to reproduce in its essential details, and is quoted at the conclusion of this personal sketch.

At the close of the war General Pritchard returned to Allegan and resumed practice of law with Mr. Williams. But as elsewhere stated General Pritchard’s success had been gained principally in other lines than the law. In public life he has been eminent. In 1866 he was elected on the Republican ticket commissioner of the state land office, being re-elected two years later. He was elected state treasurer of Michigan in 1878, also holding this office two terms.

In business General Prichard is best known as banker. In 1870 he organized the First National Bank of Allegan and was its president until 1905, since which time he has been president of the First State Bank, as mentioned on other pages! of this work. He also owns a farm south of the village, and keeps in active touch with these and many other interests. In 1864 General Pritchard married, in Ohio, Miss Mary B. Kent, a native of that state. Mrs. Pritchard died in 1890, leaving two children, Bertha P., wife of C.R. Wilkes of Allegan, and Harry D., cashier of the First State Bank. The latter married Miss Gale Wheeler, of Allegan, and they have two children, Dudley H. and Kent R. General Pritchard is one of the prominent Odd Fellows of the state having been grand treasurer of the order for the past twenty five years. He is a charter member of Bassett Post No, 56, G. A. R., having served several terms as its commander.

General B. D. Pritchard’s Account Of The Capture of Jeff Davis- The orders under which I acted were received from Col. R. H. G. Minty, commanding the second division of the cavalry corps, military division of the Mississippi, and from whom, on the afternoon of Sunday, M! ay 7, 1865, I received direct orders to report immediately to him in person for instructions. On my arrival he detailed to me the information received by General Wilson from his forces in the direction of Augusta, regarding the movements southward of the principal parties connected with the Confederate government and the desire to effect their capture, if possible, directing me to proceed with my regiment, the 4th Michigan cavalry, from its camp near Macon, Georgia, down the southerly side of the Ocmulgee river a distance of 75 or 100 miles, to take possession of all the fords and ferries below Hawkinsville, and to picket the river and scout the country north and south of the river as thoroughly as the strength of my command would permit. Certain places appearing upon the maps were thought to be desirable points for establishing the headquarters of my regiment, but that matter was left to my own discretion upon arriving upon the ground; and, if pursuit became necessary! , I was authorized to disregard all points and communications, and pursue as far as might be deemed necessary even to the gulf or the ocean. In obedience to the orders above stated, which were verbal and strictly secret, I moved with my command from camp at Macon at 8 o’clock the same evening, pursuing the main highway leading down the south side of the Ocmulgee river, in the general direction therewith, leaving everything in camp which might in any way impede our free and rapid movement. As this article is not intended to describe in detail the incidents of the march, I will simply say that we pressed forward by rapid forced marches, night and day, only halting long enough to feed and rest our horses, until on the 9th day of May at 3 o’clock p.m., when we arrived at Abbyville, 75 miles from Macon, where we first struck the trail of what proved to be the train of the Davis party, and which had gone on in the direction of Irwinsville the night before. Here we also met Lieut.-Colonel Harnden, commanding a detachment of the 1st Wisconsin cavalry, with whom a brief consultation was held, when it was decided that we could not plan any concerted action for the two commands, and that each had better act independently; and then we separated, Col. Harnden with his command pursuing the train on the direct road to Irwinsville with the announced intention on his part of pressing through to that place that night before going into camp. I continued my march down the river after sending Company H of my regiment, under Lieut. Fisk, to take possession of Brown’s ferry, one mile and a half above Abbyville.

After moving three miles further we met persons who gave us additional information regarding the character of the train, and also of the roads. Learning that there was another road leading into Irwinsville from a point known as Wilcox’s Mills, about 15 miles below Abbyville, I decided to press forward by this road in the directio! n of Irwinsville, believing that if Mr. Davis was traveling apart from the train, as he was reported as doing, communicating with it from time to time, he would be likely to be traveling on the road which I proposed to take; and if Col. Harnden pressed through to Irwinsville as he expected to when we separated we would place them between us and thus greatly increase the chances of a capture. I accordingly ordered a detail of 150 of the best mounted men of my regiment, and seven officers beside myself, but the full detail of enlisted men was not filled owing to the jaded condition of the horses. At 4 o’clock I put the column in motion, moving still down the river road a distance of 12 miles to Wilcox’s Mills, where a halt of one hour was made to feed and cool the horses. From thence we proceeded by a blind woods road through an almost unbroken pine forest for a distance of eighteen miles to Irwinsville, where we arrived at about 1 o’clock on the morning of May 10th. Th! e roads were first closely examined in all directions, but no traces could be discovered of the passage of a train or a mounted force, at which we were much surprised, as we had confidently expected to either meet Co. Harnden at that point or fall in rear of his command and concluded at first that the train must have taken some other course; but upon inquiry, and passing ourselves as Confederates, we soon learned that a considerable party had gone into camp just at dark the evening before, about a mile and a half out of town on the Abbyville road. I at first thought it must be the 1st Wisconsin, but upon further inquiry learned that they had tents and wagons which I knew was no the case with Col. Harnden’s command. I at once turned the head f the column in that direction, impressing a Negro for a guide, moving my command up to within about a half mile of the camp, where I halted under cover of a small eminence and dismounted 25 mean and sent under command of Lieut. Purin! ton, with instructions to make the circuit of the camp and gain position on the road in rear of the enemy to cut off escape in that direction, to gain the position designated, undiscovered if possible, but, if discovered and alarm raised, I would charge the camp from the front, and he was to move upon the camp from any position he might then hold; but if no alarm was raised I should take it for granted that he had successfully executed his orders, where he should remain quiet until I should assault the camp, as I had not the decided whether I would attack at once or delay until the appearance of daylight - but finally determined upon the latter course as the moon was getting low and the deep shadows of the forest would render it easy for parties to elude us in the darkness. After waiting in our position about an hour and a half, and until the appearance of early dawn. I put the column quietly in motion and was enabled to approach within a very few rods of the tents before discovery, ! when a charge was ordered, and in an instant the camp with its inmates, was wholly within our power without the necessity of firing shot. The surprise was so complete that not the slightest show of resistance was made, the men not even having time to grasp their weapons which were lying by their sides. The camp was located in the thick pine forest close by a swamp. A chain of mounted sentries, composed of a force specially designated for that duty, swept rapidly around the camp on the instant when the main force dashed into it, This chain of sentries, under the command of an officer, were to maintain their position until all of the prisoner were gathered in and placed under guard. Immediately after taking possession of the camp my adjutant, Lieut. Dickinson, notified me that there were ladies in the tent, when I directed him to station guards at each of the tents and allow none of the men to enter them. All of the men with the party, except Mr. Davis, I believe, were sleeping on t! heir blankets outside of the tents in different parts of the camp, partially dressed, and as soon as they were aroused sprang from their beds and were immediately placed under guard and allowed to put on the balance of their clothing, which consumed several minutes, after which the prisoners were gathered together and placed under a regular detailed guard. But before this was fully completed, and before any of the persons occupying the tents had completed their toilet and come out, or a list of the names of the captured parties had been made up a volley was fired down the road and across the swamp alluded to, and about eighty or on hundred rods north of the camp, where the force twenty-five dismounted men under Lieut. Purinton were stationed. I at once ordered the men to resume their places in the column. Leaving Adjutant Dickinson with a sufficient force in camp to gather the rest of the prisoners in and guard them until my return, I in person pushed forward across the swamp wi! th the balance of the command to the aid of Lieut. Purinton, whom I supposed to be engaging the force guarding the train, but which proved to be the 1st Wisconsin cavalry under Col. Harnden, whose men had come upon the force under Lieut. Purinton, and through a misunderstanding in the challenge and response each had taken the other for the enemy, it still being so dark that they could not distinguish the uniform, and as I came up the road in column, mounted, we received a raking fire from a dismounted force concealed behind trees and logs which killed one man and severely wounded Lieut. Bouttle. This sad mistake was not discovered until two men were killed in the 4th Michigan cavalry and eight or ten men wounded in the 1st Wisconsin cavalry. As soon as the firing ceased, I returned to the camp and as I crossed the swamp I was met by Lieut. Dickinson, who, in a hurried way, informed me that he had carried out my order, and who said we captured an ol! dish man whom he believed was Jeff Davis, and that he came out of one of the tents dressed up in woman’s clothes and attempted to escape as a woman. I got the impression that Mr. Davis had refused to reveal his name up to that time, but will not be positive on that point.

I rode on up to the point where prisoners were gathered under guard, and, as I approached them, I was accosted by this man, who proved be Mr. Davis, with the inquiry if I was the officer in command. I replied that I was, and asked him return whom I was to call him. He replied that I might “call him what, or whoever I pleased.“ when I replied that I would call him Davis; and after a moment’s hesitation he said, “That is my name.” He then drew himself up in a very dignified and imposing manner and exclaimed, “ I suppose you consider it bravery to charge a train of defenseless women and children, but it is theft, it is vandalism.” Davis had thrown off the garments constituting his disguise, and was clad in! a suit Confederate gray at the time of my meeting him. I then proceeded to taken an inventory of our capture when I ascertained that we had captured Jefferson Davis, wife and four children; John H. Reagan, his postmaster general; Cols. Johnson and Lubbock, aides-de-camp on Davis Staff; Burton N. Harrison, his private secretary; Major Murand, Capt. And Lieut. Hathaway, Jeff D. Howell, brother of Mrs. Davis, and midshipman in the rebel navy; thirteen private soldiers, Miss Maggie Howell, sister of Mrs. Davis; two waiting maids and several servants. We also capture five wagons, three ambulances, about fifteen horses and twenty-five or thirty mules. The train was principally loaded with commissary stores and private baggage, with a few arms and a few boxes of fixed ammunition. After allowing time for the prisoners to breakfast, we started on our return, taking the direct road back to Abbyville, where we arrived at dark on the evening of the same day and encamped for the night. During ! the night I recalled the remainder of the regiment, which had been left on the day previous under command of Captain Hathaway to picket the line of the Ocmulgee river and scout the country, at the same time sending carriers forward to Macon announcing the results of our expedition. On the morning of the 11th we resumed our march in the direction of Macon, and on the afternoon of that day, when a few miles below Hawkinsville, we met the rest of our brigade just coming out from Macon, and received from them the first knowledge we had of President Johnson’s proclamation, accompanied by General Wilson’s order offering a reward for the capture of Davis and others Retaining my independent command I continued my march toward Macon, halting for the night two or three miles above Hawkinsville. Moving on again early in the morning of the 12th, we arrived within fifteen or twenty miles of Macon, where we again encamped for the night.

At this place occurred some incidents which I deem sufficiently important to warrant a full and specific statement. It will be remembered by those acquainted with the fact that the cavalry command under General Wilson had drawn no regular government supplies since leaving camp on the Tennessee river March 22nd, and had been dependent wholly upon the resources of the country for substance, and my command was expected to subsist by foraging while on this expedition; but, as the country through which we passed was very sparsely settled and a great portion of the land covered with pine forests and unproductive, we found it very difficult to gather the necessary supplies for our men and horses, and my men were really in a suffering condition for food, and as there was a surplus of provisions in the train, I decided to distribute that surplus among my men. After we had got settled in camp that evening, I went to Mr. Davis and informed him of my purpose, requesting him to have his cook set apart f! rom his supplies a sufficient quantity to fully supply his party for a certain number of hours, by which time we would reach Macon, when they could be amply provided for. Mr. And Mrs. Davis, who were both present during the conversation, strenuously objected to the course I proposed, arguing that all the supplies in their wagons were private property, and that I had no right to take them in the manner proposed, and Mrs. Davis said she felt certain that when we got to General Wilson’s headquarters all their property would be returned to them and they be permitted to proceed on their journey. I told Mr. Davis if he did not feel disposed to have his servant set apart the necessary amount of supplies I would direct my commissary to do so, after which I would distribute the remainder. Mr. Davis became very angry at that and said he had never expected to be compelled to undergo such indignities as that, and if he could have got possession of his arms at the time of his capture he would n! ot have been compelled to. To which I replied (perhaps a little acrimoniously, for I had become somewhat irritated at his course) that I did not think the garments worn by him on that occasion were particularly adapted to rapid locomotion or the use of fire arms; to which Mrs. Davis retorted, very sharply, saying; “I want you to understand distinctly that Mr. Davis assumed that disguise at my instance.” This admission of Mrs. Davis in regard to her husband’s disguise was wholly voluntary and drawn out under the circumstances above stated, and was the first conversation which I had with Mr. and Mrs. Davis in person in regard to the disguise worn by the husband at the time of the capture, and is the same conversation referred to by General Wilson in his “Annals of the War.” as occurred at the I first met Mr. Davis in camp, immediately after the capture. General Wilson is correct in regard to the substance but in error as to time and place. On the morning of the 13th we res! umed our march and arrived at macon at three o’clock p.m., and received orders from General Wilson to provide myself with a detail of three officers and twenty men from my regiment and prepare to start for Washington at once in charge of the Davis party. We left Macon by special railway train at seven o’clock p.m., having turned over all private soldiers captured with the Davis party except two, and receiving an accession of Clement C. Clay and wife. Proceeding by the way of Atlanta we reached Augusta at sunset May 14th, and there received Alexander H. Stephens and General Wheeler and staff, of the rebel army, whom I also took through as prisoners. We then proceeded by boat via Savannah and Hilton Head to Fortress Monroe, where we arrived at noon on the 19th day of May. Anchoring out in the harbor, I proceeded in person on shore and telegraphed the adjutant general notice of my arrival and received orders to remain at anchor off shore and wait further orders. We remained on board ship until the 22nd of May Davis and Clay were transferred to the casement of Fortress Monroe and myself and men assigned quarters within the fort. Mrs. Davis and children and Mrs. Clay still remaining on board the steamer Clyde.





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