hat day. He was at that time on the staff of the judge
advocate general, and they were on their way into Pine Bluff to hold a
court-martial. The women were, as they had said, the wives of some of the
officers.

Senator Davis was among the prominent Minnesotans who worked for our
parole, although he did not live to see it accomplished.

16. A CLASH WITH APACHES

In May, 1864, Col. George S. Jackson and a force of about 300, myself
among the number, were sent across the staked plains into Colorado to
intercept some wagon trains, and to cut the transcontinental telegraph
line from Leavenworth to San Francisco. We cut the line and found the
trains, but empty, and on our return were met at the Rio Grande by orders
to detail a party to cross the continent on a secret mission for the
Confederate states.

Two vessels of the Alabama type, built in British waters, were to be
delivered at Victoria, B.C., and a secret service officer named Kennedy,
who was entrusted with the papers, was given an escort of twenty men,
including myself, Capt. Jarrette and other veteran scouts.

While on this expedition we had a brief tilt with Comanches, but in the
country which Gen. Crook afterward fought over inch by inch, we had a real
Indian fight with Apache Mojaves which lasted through two days and the
night between practically without cessation.

We had a considerable advantage in weapons, but the reds were pestiferous
in spite of that, and they kept us busy for fully 36 hours plugging them
at every opportunity. How many Indians we killed I do not know, as we had
no time or curiosity to stop and count them. They wounded some of our
horses and we had to abandon one wagon, but we did not lose a man.

From El Paso we went down through Chihuahua and Sonora to Guaymas, where
the party split up, Capt. Jarrette going up the mainland, while Kennedy
and I, with three men, took a boat to San Francisco, disguised as Mexican
miners. We were not detected, and then traveled by stage to Puget Sound,
sailing for Victoria, as nearly as I have since been able to locate it,
about where Seattle now is. On our arrival at Victoria, however, we found
that Lee had surrendered at Appomattox and the war was at an end.

For a long time I was accused of the killing of several people at
Centralia, in September, 1864, but I think my worst enemies now concede
that it is impossible for me to have been there at the time.

Another spectre that rose to