"Well, you can have the limits that I have given you, and if you have got papers to show who you are, the Provost-marshal will write for you and get them."
From the General's quarters I went to the Provost-marshal, and requested him to write to General Denver for the order he took from me, when on my way to Vicksburg and Jackson, Miss. I learned from him that there was an order, from the commander of the post, requiring all citizens within the lines to take the oath of allegiance to the Federal Government by 9 o'clock of the next Day, or be sent outside of the lines toward Little Rock.
I went to General Prentiss the next morning, and again assured him that I was a Federal soldier, and asked him if he required me to take the oath of allegiance.
He replied, "Yes; and unless you do, you will have to leave the lines before 9 o'clock this morning." I then went to the Provost-marshal and took the oath.
I had hoped that in doing so I would be released, and allowed the full privilege of a citizen; but, for some reason not known to me, I was not released from the limits assigned to me. I could not make General Prentiss nor the Provost-marshal believe that I was a soldier. Several of the soldiers in the 25th Indiana Regiment, on provost duty, had known me in Memphis, in my assumed character; but I could not make them believe that I was a Federal soldier. I had very little hopes of getting the order that General Denver had taken from me; but I felt almost sure that among the great number of officers that I knew in General Grant's army, some of them would stop at Helena, either going up or down the river, and, with their assistance, I thought I could get released. It seemed to me as if every steamer would have on board some one of my numerous acquaintances; but one came, and then another, and still another, and in that way day after day passed by, and no familiar face was seen. In that way I spent nine days in anxious suspense.
At the levee, within the limits allowed me, lay the steamer Imperial. She was used for stationary purposes, and on board was kept a saloon and various refreshments. I was allowed to go on board of her whenever I desired.
On the ninth day after my arrest, I happened to be on board of her, when the steamer Continental came down the river, and, stopping, made fast alongside of her. Before the guards made their appearance, I jumped aboard the Continental and ran up into the cabin, in search of some person that I knew.
There I found Colonel Marsh, of the 20th Illinois Regiment. He knew me. I told him how I came to be there, and that I wanted to run away and report myself to General Grant. He was going on shore at the time. He handed me the key to his state-room and told me to make myself at home, and when the boat started he would join me. In the course of an hour we were under way, and without any molestation from the provost guards. Whether the Provost-marshal ever received my order from General Denver, or whether General Prentiss ever found out what became of me, is more than I know.
I reported to General Grant the result of my trip, and why I had been so long in getting to him. He said that I had done right in coming back when I did, but that I should have reported the cavalry movement to General Hurlbut, at Memphis. He then relieved me from duty for thirty days, and allowed me to return to my regiment.
I will here say, that I have no doubt that Generals Denver and Prentiss acted in good faith on their part, and had what seemed to them good and sufficient reasons for detaining me as they did.