TOOMBS AS A FUGITIVE.
At the conclusion of the war, Secretary Stanton issued specific orders
for the arrest of Jefferson Davis, Alexander H. Stephens, and Robert
Toombs. Mr. Stephens was arrested quietly at his own home in
Crawfordville on the 12th of May, 1865, two days after Mr. Davis had
been overtaken. On the same day a squad of soldiers, most of them
negroes, reached Washington, Ga. They were commanded by General Wilde,
and their orders were to take General Toombs in charge. One of the
colored troops marched up town with the photograph of Toombs, which they
had procured to identify him, impaled upon his bayonet. General Toombs
was, at the time, in his private office at his residence. Hearing the
noise in his yard, he walked out of his basement to the corner of his
front steps. There he perceived the squad and divined their purpose. "By
God, the bluecoats!" was all he said. Walking quickly through his back
lot, he strode across his plantation and disappeared. By this time the
guard was clamoring at the front door, and Mrs. Toombs went out to meet
them. "Where is General Toombs?" the commander asked. "He is not here,"
the lady answered firmly. A parley ensued, during which Mrs. Toombs
managed to detain the men long enough to enable her husband to get out
of sight. "Unless General Toombs is produced, I shall burn the house,"
retorted the officer. Mrs. Toombs blanched a little at this, but, biting
her lip, she turned on her heel, and coolly replied: "Very well, burn
it." Among the listeners to this colloquy was a young man just returned
from the Confederate army. He was moved with indignation. He still wore
the gray jacket, and was deeply anxious for the Toombs family. He had
been a neighbor to them all his life, as had his father before him, and
he shared the pride which the village felt for its most distinguished
resident.
He was the son of Hon. I. T. Irvin, a prominent public man and lifelong
friend of General Toombs. Preparations were made for the threatened
fire. General Toombs did not come out. Furniture was moved and papers
destroyed, but the young Confederate was soon convinced that the threat
was a mere bluff. Relieved on that point, his loyal spirit yearned
toward the fugitive. Charles E. Irvin was the name of the young man, and
he had seen service in the artillery under Longstreet. Not yet
twenty-one years of age, he was fired with ardor and devotion, and had
already resolved to aid General Toombs in escaping.
Riding over to a neighbor's house, Mr. J. T. Wingfield, he failed to
find his friend, but left word for General Toombs to let him know where
to meet him with his horses. That night about two o'clock Lieutenant
Irvin got word from General Toombs to bring his horse to Nick Chenault's
by seven o'clock in the morning. This was a farm about eighteen miles
from Washington, near the Broad River. Here General Toombs mounted his
trusted horse and felt at home. It was the famous mare Gray Alice, which
had carried him through all his campaigns. He had ridden her during the
charges at Antietam, and she had borne him from the fire of the scouts
the night he had received his wound. Once more he pressed her into
service, and Robert Toombs, for the first time in his life, was a
fugitive. This man, who commanded men and had gained his own way by
sheer brain and combativeness, fled by stealth from a dreaded enemy. It
was a new role for Toombs. His plucky young guide was resolved to
accompany him in his flight--it might be to his death; it was all the
same to Lieutenant Irvin. Riding swiftly into Elbert County, the two men
crossed over to Harrison Landing, a picturesque spot on the Savannah
River. Here dwelt an old man, Alexander LeSeur, who led something of a
hermit's life. Before the war he had been a "Know-nothing," and had been
exposed to Toombs' withering fire upon that class of politicians.
LeSeur met the fugitive with a laugh and a friendly oath. "You have been
fighting me for forty years," he said, "and now that you are in trouble,
I am the first man you seek for protection."
[Illustration: RESIDENCE OF GENERAL B. W. HEARD, WASHINGTON, GA., WHERE
JEFFERSON DAVIS HELD LAST MEETING OF CABINET, APRIL, 1865.]
General Toombs had not traveled too fast. The country was swarming with
raiders. News of the capture of Davis and Stephens had fired these men
with desire to overhaul the great champion of secession. A Federal
major, commanding a force of men, put up at Tate's residence, just
opposite the hermit's island. While there, a negro from the LeSeur place
informed the officer that some prominent man was at the house. "If it
ain't Jeff Davis, it is just as big a man," said he. The hint was taken.
The island was surrounded and carefully watched, but when the party went
over to capture Toombs, the game was gone.
General Toombs now started out carefully up the Savannah River. In
Elbert, he was in the hands of his friends. This county, which had first
encouraged the struggles of the young lawyer, which had followed him
steadfastly in his political fortunes, which had furnished soldiers for
his brigade, now supplied protectors at every step. Before leaving this
county he was initiated into a Masonic lodge, and took the first degrees
of the order. More than once the signs and symbols of the mystic
brotherhood stood him in good stead on this eventful trip. He was
afterward a high Mason, and remained to his death a devoted friend of
the order.
Continuing his journey alone he stopped at the Tugaloo River in
Habersham County, and remained at the house of Colonel Prather until
Lieutenant Irvin, whom he had sent back to Washington with letters,
could rejoin him with funds and clothing. Here his young companion soon
found him, bringing, besides letters from home, some astonishing news.
"General," said Lieutenant Irvin, "what do you think? Your friend
General Joseph E. Brown has sold out the State of Georgia, and gone over
to the Republican party."
Toombs glared at him savagely.
"For the first time on this trip," says Lieutenant Irvin, "he looked
like he wanted to kill me. He brought his fist down heavily upon the
table and said: 'By God, I don't believe it!'
"'Well here it is in black and white.'"
Lieutenant Irvin gave him the paper in which was printed Governor
Brown's famous address to the people of Georgia.
"This news," said Lieutenant Irvin, "absolutely sent the old man to
bed."
Toombs remained a week at Colonel Prather's, and in the meantime sent
Lieutenant Irvin to Savannah with important letters. He desired to
escape, if possible, through the port of Savannah. The Savannah friends
were not at home, however, and Lieutenant Irvin, bearing these important
letters, actually fell into the hands of the enemy.
He was a high-strung, plucky young fellow, and was reproved by a Federal
officer for continuing to wear brass buttons. Irvin retorted sharply,
and was hurried into prison. Fearing that he would be searched and his
papers found, he slipped them to a friend, undetected by the guard.
After remaining in prison for several hours, Lieutenant Irvin was
released and censured by the officer, who reminded him that there were
bayonets about him.
"Yes," retorted young Irvin, "and brave men always avail themselves of
such advantages."
Trudging back from Savannah, Lieutenant Irvin found General Toombs at
the Rembert place, near Tallalah Falls. This was a beautiful home in a
wild, picturesque country, where Toombs was less liable to capture than
in middle Georgia, and where he was less known to the people. General
Toombs had already procured the parole papers of Major Luther Martin, of
Elbert County, a friend and member of his former command. He traveled
under that name, and was so addressed by his young companion all along
the route. General Toombs passed the time deer-hunting in Habersham. He
had the steady hand and fine eye of a sportsman, and he was noted for
his horsemanship and endurance.
Returning toward Washington through Elbert County, General Toombs
decided to spend a night with Major Martin. Lieutenant Irvin stoutly
opposed this and warned him that if the enemy were to look for him
anywhere, it would certainly be at Martin's house. Turning down the
road, he finally concluded to put up at the house of Colonel W. H.
Mattox. It was well he did. That night a party of thirty soldiers raided
the Martin plantation on a hot trail, and searched thoroughly for
Toombs.
During his travels General Toombs did not wear a disguise of any sort.
Dressed in a checked suit, and riding his gray mare, he was a prominent
object, and to most of the people was well known. One day he wore green
goggles, but soon threw them away in disgust. The nearness of troops
forced General Toombs to abandon his plan of going home for his family
before leaving the country. He dispatched Lieutenant Irvin to Washington
with letters to his wife, telling her that he would not see her again
until he had gone abroad, when he would send for her to join him. He
himself passed through Centreville, twelve miles from his home, and
directed his young guide where to meet him in middle Georgia. This
Lieutenant Irvin found it very hard to do. General Toombs was very
discreet as to whom he took into his confidence. Once or twice he
cautioned his companion against certain parties, to the surprise of the
young man. Toombs, however, read human nature pretty well, and, later,
when the real character of these persons developed, Irvin understood the
counsels of his older friend. So carefully did General Toombs cover his
tracks that Lieutenant Irvin, after his detour to Washington, was a long
time in overtaking him. Traveling straight to Sparta, Lieutenant Irvin
called on Judge Linton Stephens and asked about the general. This shrewd
Georgian came to the door and flatly denied knowing anything about
Toombs.
"He questioned me closely," said Lieutenant Irvin, "and finding that I
was really who I pretended to be, finally agreed to take me to Toombs.
Riding down to Old-Town, in Jefferson County, we failed to find Toombs,
but receiving a clew that he had passed through the David Dickson
plantation in Hancock County, I accosted Mr. Worthen, the manager. 'Has
an old man riding a gray horse passed this way,' Worthen was asked. He
promptly answered, 'No.' Believing that he was deceiving me, I
questioned him more closely."
Worthen tried to persuade the young man to get down and take some plums.
He was evidently anxious to detain him. Finally he eyed the stranger
more closely, and, convinced that he was the companion whom Toombs
expected, he confessed that General Toombs had been at his place and was
then at the home of Major Gonder in Washington County.
Lieutenant Irvin had ridden over two hundred miles in this search and
lost two or three days out of his way. Toombs covered his trail so
carefully that it was difficult even for his friends to find him. Small
wonder that he was not captured by the enemy.
Lieutenant Irvin was not yet "out of the woods." Reaching the home of
Major Gonder late in the evening, he rode up to the front fence, fifty
yards from the dwelling. Mrs. Gonder and her daughter were sitting on
the piazza. Lieutenant Irvin asked the usual question about the old man
and the gray horse. The lady replied that she knew nothing about them.
Lieutenant Irvin said: "But I was directed to this place."
Mrs. Gonder: "I should like to know who sent you."
Lieutenant Irvin: "But has no one passed or stopped here, answering my
description?"
Both ladies were now considerably worked up; the younger scarcely
suppressed her amusement.
"Come, ladies," said Lieutenant Irvin, "I see you both know more than
you will confess."
"If I do, I will die before I tell it," naively replied the elder.
"Now I know you know where General Toombs is."
"Then get it out of me if you can."
Finally the young man persuaded her that he was the friend of Toombs,
and Mrs. Gonder reluctantly directed him to Colonel Jack Smith's over on
the Oconee River.
Riding up to Colonel Smith's, his valiant pursuer spied General Toombs
through the window. The head of the house, however, denied that Toombs
was there at all.
"But that looks very much like him through the window," said Lieutenant
Irvin.
"Young man," retorted Colonel Smith, "what is your name?"
Of course this disclosure led to the reunion of the fugitive and his
friend.
Toombs realized that he was in almost as much danger from his own
friends as from the enemy. He was careful to whom he disclosed his
identity or his plans, for fear that they might indiscreetly comment on
his presence or embarrass him even by their willingness to befriend him.
So it was that he proceeded secretly, picking his way by stealth, and
actually doing much of his travel by night.
At the home of Colonel Jack Smith, the two men remained a week to rest
their horses and take their bearings. General Toombs spent much time on
the Oconee trolling for trout, while bodies of Union cavalry were
watching the ferries and guarding the fords, seining for bigger fish.
Passing into Wilkinson County, General Toombs stopped at the home of Mr.
Joseph Deas. When Lieutenant Irvin asked if the pair could come in, Deas
replied, "Yes, if you can put up with the fare of a man who subsists in
Sherman's track."
A maiden sister of Deas lived in the house. With a woman's sensitive
ear, she recognized General Toombs' voice, having heard him speak at
Toombsboro seventeen years before. This discovery, she did not
communicate to her brother until after the guests had retired. Deas had
been discussing politics with Toombs, and his sister asked him if he
knew to whom he had been talking all night? Deas said he did not.
"Joe Deas," she said, "are you a fool? Don't you know that is General
Toombs?"
Strange to say, a negro on the place, just as they were leaving, cried
out "Good-by, Marse Bob." He had driven the family to the speaking
seventeen years before, and had not forgotten the man who defended
slavery on that day.
"Good Lord!" said Toombs, "go give that negro some money."
This same negro had been strung up by the thumbs by Sherman's troops a
few months before because he would not tell where his master's mules
were hidden. He piloted General Toombs through the woods to the home of
Colonel David Hughes, a prominent and wealthy farmer of Twiggs County.
Colonel Hughes had been in Toombs' brigade, and the general remained
with him a week.
General Toombs was sitting on the piazza of Colonel Hughes's house one
afternoon when an old soldier asked permission to come in. He still wore
the gray, and was scarred and begrimed. He eyed General Toombs very
closely, and seemed to hang upon his words. He heard him addressed as
Major Martin, and finally, when he arose to leave, wrung the general's
hand.
"Major Martin," he said, brushing the tears from his eyes, "I'm mighty
glad to see you. I wish to God I could do something for you."
At the gate he turned to Colonel Hughes and said: "I know who that is.
It is General Toombs. You can't fool me."
"Why do you think so?" Colonel Hughes asked.
"Oh, I remember Gray Alice jumping the stone walls at Sharpsburg too
well to forget the rider now."
"Colonel," he continued, "this morning a man near here, who is a
Republican and an enemy of General Toombs, thought he recognized him
near your house. He saw him two hundred yards away. I heard him say he
believed it was Toombs and he wished he had his head shot off. I came
here to-night to see for myself. You tell General Toombs that if he says
the word, I will kill that scoundrel as sure as guns."
The veteran was persuaded, however, to keep quiet and do nothing of the
sort.
It was at this time that Lieutenant Irvin found that the ferries of the
Ocmulgee River were guarded from one end to the other. Near this place
Davis had been captured and the Union troops were on a sharp lookout for
Toombs. Convinced that further travel might be hazardous, General Toombs
and his friend rode back to the mountains of North Georgia, and there
remained until the early fall. It was in the month of October that the
fugitives again started on their checkered flight. The May days had
melted into summer, and summer had been succeeded by early autumn. The
crops, planted when he started from home that spring day, were now
ripening in the fields, and Northern statesmen were still declaring that
Toombs was the arch-traitor, and must be apprehended. Davis was in
irons, and Stephens languished in a dungeon at Fortress Monroe.
Passing once more near Sparta, Ga., Toombs met, by appointment, his
friends, Linton Stephens, R. M. Johnson, W. W. Simpson, Jack Lane, Edge
Bird, and other kindred spirits. It was a royal reunion, a sort of
Lucretia Borgia feast for Toombs--"eat and drink to-day, for to-morrow
we may die."
Traveling their old road through Washington County, they crossed the
Ocmulgee, this time in safety, and passed into Houston County. The
Federals believed Toombs already abroad and had ceased to look for him
in Georgia. After the passage was made General Toombs said: "Charlie,
that ferryman eyed me very closely. Go back and give him some money."
Lieutenant Irvin did return. The ferryman refused any gift. He said: "I
did not want to take what you did give me." Irvin asked the reason. The
ferryman said: "Tell General Toombs I wish to God I could do something
for him."
General Toombs had a wide personal acquaintance in Georgia. He seldom
stopped at a house whose inmates he did not know, and whose relatives
and connections he could not trace for generations. Sometimes, when
incognito, the two men were asked where General Toombs was. They
answered, "Cuba."
At Oglethorpe, in Macon County, General Toombs rode right through a
garrison of Federal soldiers. As one of his regiments came from this
section, General Toombs was afraid that some of his old soldiers might
recognize him on the road. A Federal officer advanced to the middle of
the street and saluted the travelers. Their hearts bounded to their
throats, and, instinctively, two hands stole to their revolvers. Pistols
and spurs were the only resources. Chances were desperate, but they were
resolved to take them. The officer watched them intently as they rode
leisurely through the town, but he was really more interested in their
fine horses, "Gray Alice" and "Young Alice," than in the men. Jogging
unconcernedly along until the town was hidden by a hill, General Toombs
urged his horse into a run, and left "his friends, the enemy," far in
the rear. It was a close call, but he did not breathe freely yet. There
was possibility of pursuit, and when the party reached the residence of
a Mr. Brown, a messenger was sent back to the town to mislead the
soldiers should pursuit be attempted. From the hands of the enemy,
General Toombs and his friend were now inducted into pleasanter scenes.
The house was decorated with lilies and orange blossoms. A wedding was
on hand, and the bride happened to be the daughter of the host. Brown
was a brave and determined man. He assured General Toombs that when the
wedding guests assembled, there would be men enough on hand, should an
attack be made, to rout the United States garrison, horse, foot, and
dragoons. At Dr. Raines' place, on the Chattahoochee River, a horse
drover happened to say something about Toombs. He gave the statesman a
round of abuse and added: "And yet, they tell me that if I were to meet
General Toombs and say what I think of him, I would either have a fight
or he would convince me that he was the biggest man in the world."
Tired of the long horseback ride, having been nearly six months in the
saddle, the men now secured an ambulance from Toombs' plantation in
Stewart County, and crossed the river into Alabama. His faithful mare,
which he was forced to leave behind, neighed pathetically as her master
rode away in a boat and pulled for the Alabama shore. At Evergreen they
took the train, and it seemed that half the men on the cars recognized
General Toombs. General Joseph Wheeler, who was on board, did not take
his eyes off him. Toombs became nervous under these searching glances,
and managed to hide his face behind a paper which he was reading. At
Tensas Station he took the boat for Mobile. There was a force of Federal
soldiers on board, and this was the closest quarters of his long
journey. There was now no chance of escape, if detected. The soldiers
frequently spoke to General Toombs, but he was not in the slightest way
molested.
At Mobile General Toombs took his saddle-bags and repaired to the home
of his friend Mr. Evans, about four miles from the city. There he was
placed in the care of Howard Evans and his sister, Miss Augusta J.
Evans, the gifted Southern authoress. Anxious to conceal the identity of
their guest, these hospitable young people dismissed their servants, and
Miss Evans herself cooked and served General Toombs' meals with her own
hands. She declared, with true hospitality, that she felt it a privilege
to contribute to the comfort and insure the safety of the brilliant
statesman. She was a Georgian herself, and with her this was a labor of
love.
These were among the most agreeable moments of General Toombs' long
exile. He loved the companionship of intellectual women, and the
conversation during these days was full of brilliant interest. Miss
Evans was a charming talker, as bright as a jewel, and Toombs was a
Chesterfield with ladies. The general would walk to and fro along the
shaded walks and pour forth, in his matchless way, the secret history of
the ruin of Confederate hopes.
General Toombs wrote home, in courtly enthusiasm, of his visit to
Mobile. Mr. Stephens sent Miss Evans a warm letter of thanks for her
attentions to his friend. "I have," said he, "just received a letter
from General Toombs, who has been so united with me in friendship and
destiny all our lives, giving such account of the kind attentions he
received from you and your father while in Mobile, that I cannot forbear
to thank you and him for it in the same strain and terms as if these
attentions had been rendered to myself. What you did for my friend, in
this particular, you did for me."
While General Toombs was in Mobile, General Wheeler called upon the
Evans family and remarked that he thought he had seen General Toombs on
the train. Miss Evans replied that she had heard General Toombs was in
Cuba.
Lieutenant Irvin went to New Orleans and secured from the Spanish Consul
a pass to Cuba for "Major Luther Martin." At Mobile General Toombs took
the boat _Creole_ for New Orleans. He seemed to be nearing the end of
his long journey, but it was on this boat that the dramatic incident
occurred which threatened to change the course of his wanderings at
last. While General Toombs was at supper, he became conscious that one
of the passengers was eying him closely. He said to Lieutenant Irvin:
"Charlie, don't look up now, but there is a man in the doorway who
evidently recognizes me."
"General, probably it is someone who thinks he knows you."
"No," replied Toombs quietly, "that man is a spy."
Lieutenant Irvin asked what should be done. General Toombs told him to
go out and question the man and, if convinced that he was a spy, to
throw him over the stern-rail of the steamer. Lieutenant Irvin got up
and went on deck. The stranger followed him. Irvin walked toward the
rail. The stranger asked him where he was from. He answered "North
Carolina."
"Who is that with you?" he questioned.
"My uncle, Major Martin," said Irvin.
The man then remarked that it looked very much like Robert Toombs. Irvin
answered that the likeness had been noted before, but that he could not
see it.
"Young man," said the stranger, "I don't want to dispute your word, but
that is certainly Toombs. I know him well, and am his friend."
Irvin then gave up the idea of throwing him overboard. Had the brave
young officer not been convinced that the party questioning him was
Colonel M. C. Fulton, a prominent resident of Georgia, he says he would
certainly have pitched him into the Gulf of Mexico.
General Toombs, when informed of the identity of Colonel Fulton, sent
for him to come to his room, and the two men had a long and friendly
conversation.
Arriving at New Orleans General Toombs drove up to the residence of
Colonel Marshal J. Smith. On the 4th of November, 1865, he boarded the
steamship _Alabama_, the first of the Morgan line put on after the war
between New Orleans, Havana, and Liverpool. A tremendous crowd had
gathered at the dock to see the steamer off, and Lieutenant Irvin tried
to persuade General Toombs to go below until the ship cleared. But the
buoyant Georgian persisted in walking the deck, and was actually
recognized by General Humphrey Marshall of Texas, who had known him in
the Senate before the war.
"No," said Toombs to his companion's expostulations, "I want fresh air,
and I will die right here. I am impatient to get into neutral waters,
when I can talk. I have not had a square, honest talk in six months."
By the time the good ship had cleared the harbor, everybody on board
knew that Robert Toombs, "the fire-eater and rebel," was a passenger,
and hundreds gathered around to listen to his matchless conversation.
Lieutenant Irvin never saw General Toombs again until 1868. He himself
was an officer of the Irvin artillery, Cutts' battalion, being a part of
Walker's artillery in Longstreet's corps. Entering the army at seventeen
years of age, Charles E. Irvin was a veteran at twenty-one. He was
brave, alert, tender, and true. He recalls that when his company joined
the army in Richmond, Robert Toombs, then Secretary of State, gave them
a handsome supper at the Exchange Hotel. "I remember," said he, "with
infinite satisfaction, that during the seven months I accompanied
General Toombs, in the closest relations and under the most trying
positions, he was never once impatient with me." Frequently, on this
long and perilous journey, Toombs would say; "Well, my boy! suppose the
Yankees find us to-day; what will you do?" "General, you say you won't
be taken alive. I reckon they will have to kill me too."
General Toombs often declared that he would not be captured.
Imprisonment, trial, and exile, he did not dread; but to be carried
about, a prize captive and a curiosity through Northern cities, was his
constant fear. He was prepared to sell his life dearly, and there is no
doubt but that he would have done so.
During all these trying days, Toombs rode with the grace and gayety of a
cavalier. He talked incessantly to his young companion, who eagerly
drank in his words. He fought his battles over again and discussed the
leaders of the Civil War in his racy style. He constantly predicted the
collapse of the greenback system of currency, and speculated
facetiously each day upon the chances of capture. He calculated shrewdly
enough his routes and plans, and when he found himself on _terra firma_,
it was under the soft skies of the Antilles with a foreign flag above
him.