The conflict grew out of an order of the military governor to take a female fugitive slave from the custody of the marshal and deliver her into the hands of the military. The deputies to whom the order was shown declined to obey the command, giving as a reason for their refusal that she was held under due process of law, and that they had no authority to give her up without the order of the court. Military officers, with a strong guard, then arrested the deputy marshals, seized the jail, released the slave, and left a military guard in charge of the captured jail.[L] [L] WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, D. C., May 22, 1862. _Captain Sherwood, or Officer in Command at Central Guard House_: SIR,--You will send a sentinel at once to the city jail, with orders to relieve the man now on duty there at the jail door, and give him orders to allow _no person whatsoever_ to enter or leave the jail, without permission from General Wadsworth. This guard will be maintained until further orders. By Command of Brigadier-General Wadsworth, JOHN A. KRESS, _A. D. C._ I was temporarily absent at the time of the seizure. When I returned I arrested the military guard, recaptured the jail, liberated the prisoners placed therein by the military, and held the military guard as prisoners. I was supported by the police and other civil authorities, and by the citizens of Washington; the military governor was supported by forces under his command, intended for the defence of the city. The matter was eventually laid before the President. He called to his aid his Attorney-General, who gave a prompt but decisive opinion that in the present state of things in the District of Columbia the civil authority outranked the military; and he gave the further opinion that the military governor's conduct had been misguided and unauthorized, however philanthropic might have been his purposes and intentions.