MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF 1865--LAST PHASE OF THE
MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY--THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN--CALM
DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS--CHEERFULNESS OF GENERAL LEE--THE QUESTION
AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND--WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE'S ARMY--
PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAMPAIGN OPENED--A NEW
BASIS OF HOPE--WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICIPATED--THE CONTRACTED
THEATRE OF WAR--THE FATAL DISASTERS AT PETERSBURG--MR. DAVIS RECEIVES
THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH--RICHMOND EVACUATED--PRESIDENT DAVIS
AT DANVILLE--HIS PROCLAMATION--SURRENDER OF LEE--DANVILLE EVACUATED--
THE LAST OFFICIAL INTERVIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS JOHNSTON AND
BEAUREGARD--HIS ARRIVAL AT CHARLOTTE--INCIDENTS AT CHARLOTTE--
REJECTION OF THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT--MR. DAVIS' INTENTIONS
AFTER THAT EVENT--HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD--INTERESTING DETAILS--
CAPTURE OF MR. DAVIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE.
Military operations in the first three months of 1865 tended to the
concentration of forces upon the greatly-reduced theatre of war, which was
now confined mainly to Virginia and North Carolina. The developments of
each day indicated the near approach of critical and decisive events. With
Sherman sweeping through the Carolinas, and the Confederate forces
retiring before him; with Wilmington, the last port of the Confederacy,
captured, and a new base thus secured for a column auxiliary to Sherman,
it was evident that but a short time would develop a grand struggle, which
should not only decide the fate of Richmond, but which should involve
nearly the entire force at the command of the Confederacy.
The last definite phase of the military policy of the Confederate
authorities, previous to the fall of the capital, was the design of
concentration for the destruction of Sherman, who was rapidly approaching
the Virginia border. This would, of course, necessitate the abandonment of
Richmond, with a view to the junction of the armies of Lee and Johnston.
The latter officer, with the remnant of Hood's army, and other fragmentary
commands, confronted Sherman's army--forty thousand strong--with a force
of about twenty-five thousand men. When Lee's army should unite with
Johnston's, the Confederate strength would approximate sixty thousand--a
force ample to overwhelm Sherman.
The success of this design was mainly dependent upon the question of the
_time_ of its execution. If the concentration against Sherman should be
attempted prematurely, that Federal commander would be warned of his
danger in time to escape to the coast, or to retire until reënforcements
from Grant should reach him. It was thus highly important that Sherman
should advance sufficiently far to preclude his safe retreat, while, at
the same time, the distance between Lee and Johnston should be shortened.
On the other hand, if the concentration should be delayed too long,
General Grant might, by a vigorous assault upon Lee, either hold the
latter in his works at Petersburg, or cut off his retreat, either of which
events would defeat the proposed concentration. In the sequel, the
activity of Grant, his overwhelming numbers, and the timely arrival of
Sheridan's cavalry, after the latter had failed in his original design
against Lynchburg and the Confederate communications, precipitated a
catastrophe, which not only prevented the consummation of this design, but
speedily proved fatal to the Confederacy.
There was nothing in the calm exterior of President Davis, during the days
of early spring, to indicate that he was then meditating an abandonment of
that capital, for the safety of which he had striven during four years of
solicitude, and in the defense of which the flower of Southern chivalry
had been sacrificed. There was no abatement of that self-possession, which
had so often proven invulnerable to the most trying exigencies; no
alteration of that commanding mien, so typical of resolution and
self-reliance. To the despondent citizens of Richmond, there was something
of re-assurance in the firm and elastic step of their President, as he
walked, usually unattended, through the Capitol Square to his office. His
responses to the respectful salutations of the children, who never failed
to testify their affection for him, were as genial and playful as ever,
and the slaves still boasted of the cordiality with which he acknowledged
their civility.
A similar cheerfulness was observed in General Lee. In the last months of
the war, it was a frequent observation that General Lee appeared more
cheerful in manner than upon many occasions, when his army was engaged in
its most successful campaigns. Hon. William C. Rives was quoted in the
Confederate Congress, as having said that General Lee "had but a single
thing to fear, and that was the spreading of a causeless despondency among
the people. Prevent this, and all will be well. We have strength enough
left to win our independence, and we are certain to win it, if people do
not give way to foolish despair."
From the beginning of winter, the possibility of holding Richmond was a
matter of grave doubt to President Davis. He had announced to the
Confederate Congress that the capital was now menaced by greater perils
than ever. Yet a proper consideration of the moral consequences of a loss
of the capital, not less than of the material injury which must result
from the loss of the manufacturing facilities of Richmond, dictated the
contemplation of its evacuation only as a measure of necessity. When,
however, the dilatory and vacillating action of Congress baffled the
President in all his vigorous and timely measures, there was hardly room
to doubt that the alternative was forced upon General Lee of an early
retreat or an eventual surrender. When spring opened, the Army of Northern
Virginia was reduced to less than thirty-five thousand men. With this
inadequate force, General Lee was holding a line of forty miles, against
an army nearly one hundred and seventy-five thousand strong. A prompt
conscription of the slaves, upon the basis of emancipation, the President
and General Lee believed would have put at rest all anxiety for the safety
of Richmond. But when the threadbare discussions and timid spirit of
Congress foretold the failure of this measure, preparations were quietly
begun for a retirement to an interior line of defense.
These preparations were commenced early in February, and were conducted
with great caution. Mr. Davis did not believe that the capture of Richmond
entailed the loss of the Confederate cause should Lee's and Johnston's
armies remain intact. That it diminished the probability of ultimate
success was obvious, but there was the anticipation of a new basis of
hope, in events not improbable, could Lee's army be successfully carried
from Petersburg. A thorough defeat of Sherman would obviously recover at
once the Carolinas and Georgia, and give to the Confederacy a more
enlarged jurisdiction and more easy subsistence, than it had controlled
for more than a year. A reasonable anticipation was the re-awakening of
the patriotic spirit of the people, and the return of thousands of
absentees to the army, as the immediate results of a decisive defeat of
Sherman. Then, even if it should prove that the Confederacy could not cope
with the remaining armies of the enemy, it was confidently believed that
the North, rather than endure the sacrifices and doubts of another
campaign, would offer some terms not inconsistent with the honor of the
South to accept. At all events, resistance must continue until the enemy
abated his haughty demand of unconditional submission.
The movements of Sherman and Johnston reduced the theatre upon which the
crisis was enacting to very contracted limits. The fate of the Confederacy
was to be decided in the district between the Roanoke and James Rivers,
and the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghanies. General Grant, fully apprised
of the extremities to which Lee was reduced, for weeks kept his army in
readiness to intercept the Confederate retreat. It was greatly to the
interest of the Federal commander that Lee should be held at Petersburg,
since his superior numbers must eventually give him possession of the
Southside Railroad, which was vital to Lee not only as a means of
subsistence, but as an avenue of escape. But General Grant, sooner than he
anticipated, found an opportunity for a successful detachment of a
competent force against the Southside Railroad by the arrival of
Sheridan's cavalry, ten thousand strong--as splendid a body of cavalry as
ever took the field. The swollen condition of James River had prevented
the consummation of Sheridan's original mission, which was, after he had
effectually destroyed all Lee's communications northward and westward, to
capture Lynchburg, and thence to pass rapidly southward to Sherman.
Finding the river impassable, Sheridan retired in the direction of
Richmond, passed Lee's left wing, crossed the Pamunkey River, and, by the
25th of March, had joined Grant before Petersburg. General Grant was not
slow in the employment of this timely accession.
The fatal disaster of Lee's defeat at Petersburg was the battle of Five
Forks, on the 1st of April, by which the enemy secured the direct line of
retreat to Danville. For, without that event, the fate of Petersburg and
Richmond was determined by the result of Grant's attack upon the
Confederate centre on the 2d of April. With all the roads on the southern
bank of the Appomattox in the possession of the enemy, there remained only
the line of retreat upon the northern side, which was the longer route,
while the pursuing enemy had all the advantage of the interior line. But
for that disadvantage, Lee's escape would have been assured, and the
Confederate line of defense reëstablished near the Roanoke River.
President Davis received the intelligence of the disasters while seated in
his pew in St. Paul's Church, where he had been a communicant for nearly
three years. The momentous intelligence was conveyed to him by a brief
note from the War Department. General Lee's dispatch stated that his lines
had been broken, and that all efforts to restore them had proven
unsuccessful. He advised preparations for the evacuation of the city
during the night, unless, in the meantime, he should advise to the
contrary. Mr. Davis immediately left the church with his usual calm manner
and measured tread.[82] The tranquil demeanor of the President conveyed
no indication of the nature of the communication. But the incident was an
unusual one, and, by the congregation, most of whom had for days been
burdened with the anticipations of disaster, the unspoken intelligence
was, to some extent, correctly interpreted.
The family of Mr. Davis had been sent southward some days before, and he
was, therefore, under the necessity of little preparation for departure.
Though his concern was obvious, his calmness was remarkable. In this
trying exigency in his personal fortunes, he showed anxiety only for the
fate of the country, and sympathy for that devoted community from which he
was now compelled to separate.
On the night of Sunday, April 2d, 1865, Mr. Davis, attended by his
personal staff, members of his cabinet, and attaches of the several
departments, left Richmond, which then ceased forever to be the capital of
the Southern Confederacy. In a few hours after, that city, whose defense
will be more famous than that of Saragossa, whose capture was for four
years the aspiration of armies aggregating more than a million of men,
became the spoil of a conqueror, and the scene of a conflagration, in
which "all the hopes of the Southern Confederacy were consumed in one day,
as a scroll in the fire."
In accordance with his original design of making a new defensive line near
the Roanoke River, Mr. Davis proceeded directly to Danville. His
determination was to maintain the Confederate authority upon the soil of
Virginia, until driven from it by force of arms. Reaching Danville on the
3d of April, he issued, two days afterwards, the following proclamation:
"DANVILLE, VA., April 5, 1865.
"The General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such movements of his
troops as to uncover the capital. It would be unwise to conceal the
moral and material injury to our cause resulting from the occupation
of our capital by the enemy. It is equally unwise and unworthy of us
to allow our own energies to falter, and our efforts to become relaxed
under reverses, however calamitous they may be. For many months the
largest and finest army of the Confederacy, under a leader whose
presence inspires equal confidence in the troops and the people, has
been greatly trammeled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over
the approaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more
than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us, my
countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses, how wretched has
been the self-deception of those who have believed us less able to
endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger with
courage.
"We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from
the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to
move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far from his
base. Let us but will it, and we are free.
"Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never
yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my
purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I
will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any
of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia--noble State--whose
ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent
history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this
war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to
render her illustrious in all time to come--that Virginia, with the
help of the people, and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held
and defended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of
her territory.
"If, by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary
withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border State, we
will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in
despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people
resolved to be free.
"Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, meet
the foe with fresh defiance, and with unconquered and unconquerable
hearts.
"JEFFERSON DAVIS."
Meanwhile, some semblance of order in several of the departments of
government was established, though, of course, the continued occupation of
Danville was dependent upon the safety of Lee's army. Days of anxious
suspense, during which there was no intelligence from Lee, were passed,
until on Monday, the 10th of April, it was announced that the Army of
Northern Virginia had surrendered.
Leaving Danville, Mr. Davis and his party went by railroad to Greensboro',
North Carolina. Here Mr. Davis met Generals Johnston and Beauregard.
Consultation with these two officers soon revealed to Mr. Davis their
convictions of the hopelessness of a farther protraction of the struggle.
Ex-Secretary Mallory gives the following narrative of the last official
interview of President Davis with Generals Johnston and Beauregard:
"At 8 o'clock that evening the cabinet, with the exception of Mr.
Trenholm, whose illness prevented his attendance, joined the President
at his room. It was a small apartment, some twelve by sixteen feet,
containing a bed, a few chairs, and a table, with writing materials,
on the second floor of the small dwelling of Mrs. John Taylor Wood;
and a few minutes after eight the two generals entered.
"The uniform habit of President Davis, in cabinet meetings, was to
consume some little time in general conversation before entering upon
the business of the occasion, not unfrequently introducing some
anecdote or interesting episode, generally some reminiscence of the
early life of himself or others in the army, the Mexican war, or his
Washington experiences; and his manner of relating and his application
of them were at all times very happy and pleasing.
"Few men seized more readily upon the sprightly aspects of any
transaction, or turned them to better account; and his powers of
mimicry, whenever he condescended to exercise them, were irresistible.
Upon this occasion, at a time when the cause of the Confederacy was
hopeless, when its soldiers were throwing away their arms and flying
to their homes, when its Government, stripped of nearly all power,
could not hope to exist beyond a few days more, and when the enemy,
more powerful and exultant than ever, was advancing upon all sides,
true to his habit, he introduced several subjects of conversation, not
connected with the condition of the country, and discussed them as if
at some pleasant ordinary meeting. After a brief time thus spent,
turning to General Johnston, he said, in his usual quiet, grave way,
when entering upon matters of business: 'I have requested you and
General Beauregard, General Johnston, to join us this evening, that we
might have the benefit of your views upon the situation of the
country. Of course, we all feel the magnitude of the moment. Our late
disasters are terrible, but I do not think we should regard them as
fatal. I think we can whip the enemy yet, if our people will turn out.
We must look at matters calmly, however, and see what is left for us
to do. Whatever can be done must be done at once. We have not a day to
lose.' A pause ensued, General Johnston not seeming to deem himself
expected to speak, when the President said: 'We should like to hear
your views, General Johnston.' Upon this the General, without preface
or introduction--his words translating the expression which his face
had worn since he entered the room--said, in his terse, concise,
demonstrative way, as if seeking to condense thoughts that were
crowding for utterance: 'My views are, sir, that our people are tired
of the war, feel themselves whipped, and will not fight. Our country
is overrun, its military resources greatly diminished, while the
enemy's military power and resources were never greater, and may be
increased to any desired extent. We can not place another large army
in the field; and, cut off as we are from foreign intercourse, I do
not see how we could maintain it in fighting condition if we had it.
My men are daily deserting in large numbers, and are taking my
artillery teams to aid their escape to their homes. Since Lee's defeat
they regard the war as at an end. If I march out of North Carolina,
her people will all leave my ranks. It will be the same as I proceed
south through South Carolina and Georgia, and I shall expect to retain
no man beyond the by-road or cow-path that leads to his house. My
small force is melting away like snow before the sun, and I am
hopeless of recruiting it. We may, perhaps, obtain terms which we
ought to accept.'
"The tone and manner, almost spiteful, in which the General jerked out
these brief, decisive sentences, pausing at every paragraph, left no
doubt as to his own convictions. When he ceased speaking, whatever was
thought of his statements--and their importance was fully
understood--they elicited neither comment nor inquiry. The President,
who, during their delivery, had sat with his eyes fixed upon a scrap
of paper which he was folding and refolding abstractedly, and who had
listened without a change of position or expression, broke the silence
by saying, in a low, even tone: 'What do you say, General Beauregard?'
"'I concur in all General Johnston has said,' he replied.
"Another silence, more eloquent of the full appreciation of the
condition of the country than words could have been, succeeded, during
which the President's manner was unchanged.
"After a brief pause he said, without a variation of tone or
expression, and without raising his eyes from the slip of paper
between his fingers: 'Well, General Johnston, what do you propose? You
speak of obtaining terms. You know, of course, that the enemy refuses
to treat with us. How do you propose to obtain terms?'
"'I think the opposing Generals in the field may arrange them.'
"'Do you think Sherman will treat with you?'
"'I have no reason to think otherwise. Such a course would be in
accordance with military usage, and legitimate.'
"'We can easily try it, sir. If we can accomplish any good for the
country, Heaven knows I am not particular as to forms. How will you
reach Sherman?'
"'I would address him a brief note, proposing an interview to arrange
terms of surrender and peace, embracing, of course, a cessation of
hostilities during the negotiations.'
"'Well, sir, you can adopt this course, though I confess I am not
sanguine as to ultimate results.'
"The member of the cabinet before referred to as conversing with
General Johnston, and who was anxious that his views should be
promptly carried out, immediately seated himself at the writing-table,
and, taking up a pen, offered to act as the General's amanuensis. At
the request of the latter, however, the President dictated the letter
to General Sherman, which was written at once upon a half sheet of
letter folded as note paper, and signed by General Johnston, who took
it, and said he would send it to General Sherman early in the morning,
and in a few minutes the conference broke up. This note, which was a
brief proposition for a suspension of hostilities, and a conference
with a view to agreeing upon terms of peace, has been published with
other letters which passed between the two Generals.
"On or about the 16th of April, the President, his staff, and cabinet
left Greensboro' to proceed still further south, with plans unformed,
clinging to the hope that Johnston and Sherman would secure peace and
the quiet of the country, but still all doubtful of the result, and
still more doubtful as to consequences of failure."
Pending the negotiations between Generals Johnston and Sherman, Mr. Davis
was earnestly appealed to by his attendants to provide for his own safety,
in the event of the failure to obtain terms from Sherman. There would have
been no difficulty in his escaping either across the Mississippi into
Mexico, or from the Florida coast to the West Indies. Apparently
regardless of his personal safety, he was reluctant to contemplate leaving
the country under any circumstances. It is certain that he would not have
entertained the idea of an abandonment of any organized body of men yet
willing to continue in arms for the cause.
Accompanied by the members of his cabinet, General Cooper, and other
officers, some of whom were in ambulances, and others on horseback, Mr.
Davis went from Greensboro' to Lexington. Here he spent the night at the
residence of an eminent citizen of North Carolina. Continuing their
journey, the party reached Charlotte during the morning of the 18th of
April. At this place were extensive establishments of the Confederate
Government, and arrangements had already been made for the accommodation
of Mr. Davis and his cabinet. During the day of his arrival at Charlotte,
Mr. Davis received a dispatch from General Breckinridge--who, in company
with Mr. Reagan, had returned to Greensboro' to aid the negotiations
between Johnston and Sherman--announcing the assassination of President
Lincoln.
In connection with this event, Mr. Mallory writes as follows:
"To a friend who met him a few minutes after he had received it, and
who expressed his incredulity as to its truthfulness, Mr. Davis
replied that, true, it sounded like a canard, but, in such a condition
of public affairs as the country then presented, a crime of this kind
might be perpetrated. His friend remarked that the news was very
disastrous fur the South, for such an event would substitute for the
known humanity and benevolence of Mr. Lincoln a feeling of
vindictiveness in his successor and in Congress, and that an attempt
would doubtless be made to connect the Government or the people of the
South with the assassination. To this Mr. Davis replied, sadly: 'I
certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln, but there are a
great many men of whose end I would much rather hear than his. I fear
it will be disastrous to our people, and I regret it deeply.'"
Mr. Davis remained at Charlotte nearly a week. Meanwhile the terms of
agreement between Johnston and Sherman were received, and by Mr. Davis
submitted to the cabinet. At a meeting of the cabinet, held on the morning
after the propositions were received, the written opinions of the various
members were concurrent in favor of the acceptance of the Sherman-Johnston
settlement. Three days afterwards, Mr. Davis was informed by General
Johnston of the rejection, by the Federal Government, of the proposed
settlement, and that he could obtain no other terms than those accorded by
General Grant to General Lee. The surrender of General Johnston was, of
course, conclusive of the Confederate cause east of the Mississippi.
Whatever Mr. Davis' hopes might have been previous to that event, and
whatever his determination had been in case of disapproval by the Federal
Government of Sherman's course (a contingency which he anticipated), it
was plain that Johnston's surrender made resistance to the Federal
Government east of the Mississippi impracticable.
Fully recognizing this fact, Mr. Davis was yet far from contemplating
surrender at discretion. His hope now was to cross the Mississippi,
carrying with him such bodies of troops as were willing to accompany him;
these, added to the force of Kirby Smith, would make an army respectable
in numbers, and occupying a country of abundant supplies. In the
Trans-Mississippi region Mr. Davis would have continued the struggle, in
the hope of obtaining more acceptable terms than had yet been offered. In
this expectation he was greatly strengthened by the spirit of resistance
indicated by bodies of men who had refused to lay down their arms with the
surrendered armies of Lee and Johnston.
We again quote from the account of Mr. Mallory:
"No other course now seemed open to Mr. Davis but to leave the
country, and his immediate advisers urged him to do so with the utmost
promptitude. Troops began to come into Charlotte, however, escaping
from Johnston's surrender, and there was much talk amongst them of
crossing the Mississippi, and continuing the war. Portions of
Hampton's, Debrell's, Duke's, and Ferguson's commands of cavalry were
hourly coming in. They seemed determined to get across the river, and
fight it out; and, wherever they encountered Mr. Davis, they cheered,
and sought to encourage him. It was evident that he was greatly
affected by the constancy and spirit of these men, and that,
regardless of his own safety, his thoughts dwelt upon the possibility
of gathering together a body of troops to make head against the foe
and to arouse the people to arms.
"His friends, however, saw the urgent expediency of getting further
south as rapidly as possible, and, after a week's stay at Charlotte,
they left, with an escort of some two or three hundred cavalry, and,
two days afterwards, reached Yorkville, South Carolina, traveling
slowly, and not at all like men escaping from the country.
"In pursuing this route, the party met, near the Catawba River, a
gentleman, whose plantation and homestead lay about half a mile from
its banks, and who had come out to meet Mr. Davis, and to offer him
the hospitality of his house.
"His dwelling, beautifully situated, and surrounded by ornate and
cultivated grounds, was reached about 4 o'clock P. M., and the
charming lady of the mansion, with that earnest sympathy and generous
kindness which Mr. Davis, in misfortune, never failed to receive from
Southern women, soon made every man of the party forget his cares, and
feel, for a time at least, 'o'er all the ills of life victorious.'
* * * * *
"At Yorkville, Colonel Preston and other gentlemen had arranged for
the accommodation of Mr. Davis and his party at private houses, and
here they remained one night and part of the next day.
"A small cavalry escort scouted extensively, and kept Mr. Davis
advised of the positions of the enemy's forces--to avoid which was a
matter of some difficulty. With this view, the party from Yorkville
rode over to a point below Clinton, on the Lawrenceville and Columbus
Railroad, and thence struck off to Cokesboro', on the Greenville
Railroad.
"Here the party received the kindest attention at private houses. On
the evening of his arrival, Mr. Davis received news by a scout that
the enemy's cavalry, in considerable force, was but ten miles off, and
that he was pressing stock upon all sides; and it was deemed advisable
to make but a brief stay.
"At 2 o'clock in the morning Mr. Davis was aroused by another scout,
who declared that he had left the enemy only ten miles off, and that
they would be in the town in two or three hours. This intelligence
infused energy throughout the little party. It was composed of men,
however, familiar with real, no less than with rumored perils; men who
had faced danger in too many forms to be readily started from their
propriety; and preparations were very deliberately made with such
force as could be mustered to pay due honor to his enterprise.
"Several hours elapsed without further intelligence of the enemy's
movements, and at half-past six in the morning the party rode out of
Cokesboro' toward Abbeville, expecting an encounter at any moment, but
Abbeville was reached without seeing an enemy.
"At Abbeville the fragments of disorganized cavalry commands, which
had thus far performed, in some respects, an escort's duty, were found
to be reduced to a handful of men anxious only to reach their homes as
early as practicable, and whose services could not further be relied
on. They had not surrendered nor given a parole, but they regarded the
struggle as terminated, and themselves relieved from further duty to
their officers or the Confederate States, and, with a few exceptions,
determined to fight no more. They rode in couples or in small squads
through the country, occasionally 'impressing' mules and horses, or
exchanging their wretched beasts for others in better condition; and,
outside of a deep and universal regret for the failure of their cause,
usually expressed by the remark that 'The old Confederacy has gone
up,' they were as gleeful and careless as boys released from school.
Almost every cross-road witnessed the separation of comrades in arms,
who had long shared the perils and privations of a terrific struggle,
now seeking their several homes to resume their duties as peaceful
citizens. Endeared to each other by their ardent love for a common
cause--a cause which they deemed unquestionably right and just, and
which, surrendered not to convictions of error, but to the logic of
arms, was still as true and just as ever--their words of parting, few
and brief, were words of warm, fraternal affection; pledges of endless
regard, and mutual promises to meet again.
"From information gained here, it was evident that his cavalry was
making a demonstration; but whether to capture Mr. Davis, or simply to
expedite his departure from the country, could not be determined. The
country, or at least those familiar with military movements at this
period, have doubtless long since satisfied themselves upon this
point.
"To suppose that Mr. Davis and his staff, embracing some eight or ten
gentlemen, all superbly mounted, and with led horses, could ride from
Charlotte, N. C., to Washington, Ga., by daylight, over the highroads
of the country, their coming heralded miles in advance by returning
Confederate soldiers, without the cognizance and consent of the
Federal commanders, whose cavalry covered the country, would be to
detract from all that was known of their activity and vigilance.
"Political considerations, adequate to account for this unmolested
progress, may readily be imagined. Whether they influenced it is only
known to those who had the direction of public affairs at the time.
But be this as it may, Mr. Davis' progress could not well have been
more public and conspicuous.
"Mr. Davis, who was more generally known by the soldiers than any
other man in the Confederacy, was never passed by them without a
cheer, or some warm or kindly recognition or mark of respect. The
fallen chief of a cause for which they had risked their lives and
fortunes, and lost every thing but honor, his presence never failed to
command their respect, and to add a tone of sympathy and sadness to
the expression of their good wishes for his future. They knew not his
plans for the future, nor could they conjecture what fate might have
in store for him; but their hearts were with him, go where he might.
"Bronzed and weather-beaten veterans, who, when other hearts were sore
afraid, still hoped on and fought 'while gleamed the sword of noble
Robert Lee,' grasped his hand, without the power of giving voice to
thoughts which their tear-glistening eyes revealed. Of such men were
the great masses of the Confederate armies composed. Firm and
inflexible in their convictions of right, and yielding not their
convictions, but their armed maintenance of them only, to the stern
arbitrament of war, they may be relied upon to observe with inviolable
faith every pledge and duty to the United States, assumed or implied,
by their submission or parole.
"At Abbeville Mr. Davis was again urged by his friends to leave the
country, either from the southern shores of Florida or by crossing the
Mississippi and going to Mexico through Texas; but though he listened
quietly to all they had to say upon the subject, and seemed to
acquiesce in their views, he never expressed a decided willingness or
readiness to do so.
"To some of his friends it was apparent that his capture was not
specially sought by the military authorities, and that he had but to
change his dress and his horse, and to travel with a single friend, to
pass unrecognized and in safety to the sea-shore, and there embark.
Hitherto, as has been already said, his coming along his selected
route was known to the people miles in advance. Schools were dismissed
that the children might, upon the road-side, greet him. Ladies, with
fruits and flowers, presented with tears of sympathy, were seen at the
gates of every homestead, far in advance, awaiting his approach; and
it was hardly supposable that the general in command, whose spies, and
scouts, and cavalry covered the country, and were heard of upon all
sides, was the only person uninformed of Mr. Davis' movements.
"The assertion that General Sherman, aware of this journey, permitted
it to facilitate the departure of Mr. Davis and his friends from the
country, is not made or designed; for it is possible that his capture
was desired and attempted; but the facts are matters of history, and
are given regardless of the speculations which they may justify.
"The party left Abbeville at 11 o'clock the same night for Washington,
Georgia, a distance of some forty-five miles, and by riding briskly
they reached the Savannah River at daylight, crossing it upon a
pontoon bridge, and rode into Washington at about 10 o'clock A. M.
Just before leaving Abbeville they learned that a body of Federal
cavalry was _en route_ to destroy this bridge, and might reach it
before them, and hence they pushed on vigorously, meeting no enemy,
but delayed about an hour by mistaking the right road.
"The night was intensely dark, the weather stormy. In approaching the
bridge through the river swamp the guide and Colonel Preston Johnston,
and another of the party, rode a half mile in advance, and the latter
encountered a mounted Federal officer. The rays of blazing lightwood
within a wood-cutter's small cabin fell upon him as he stood
motionless beneath a tree, and revealed his water-proof riding-coat
and the gold band upon his cap. He hurriedly inquired, as he listened
to the tramp of the coming horsemen:
"'What troops are these?'
"'What force is this?'
"'Is this Jeff. Davis' party?'
"'Yes,' replied the party addressed, while revolving in his mind the
best course to pursue, 'this is Jeff. Davis' escort of five thousand
men.'
"The officer vanished in the darkness, and no others were encountered.
"At Washington it was found that squads of Federal cavalry scouts were
there. A few were in the town at the time, and Mr. Davis was again
urged to consult his safety. His family and servants, with a small
train of ambulances, accompanied by his private Secretary, Mr. Burton
Harrison, had passed through Washington twenty-four hours before, and
the enemy then only some twenty miles distant, and Mr. Davis
ascertained that he might readily overtake them; and before adopting
any plan to leave the country, he desired to see and confer with them.
"On the following morning, with his party somewhat reduced in numbers,
he left Washington and joined his family.
"The circumstance of the capture of Mr. Davis, as given officially by
General Wilson, were in harmony with that system of misrepresentation
by which the popular mind was perverted as to all he said, and did,
and designed. His alleged attempt to escape, disguised in female
apparel--a naked fiction--served well enough for the moment to gratify
and amuse the popular mind. Barnum, the showman, true to his
proclivity for practical falsehood, presented to the eyes of Broadway
a graphic life-size representation of Mr. Davis, thus habited,
resisting arrest by Federal soldiers; and many thousands of children,
whose wondering eyes beheld it will grow to maturity and pass into the
grave, retaining the ideas thus created as the truth of history.
Fortunately, however, history rarely leaves her verification wholly to
the testimony of envy, hatred, malice, or falsehood, but contrives, in
her own time and method, ways and means to bring truth to her
exposition.
"It has been seen that before the President's proclamation connecting
him with the assassination, with every desired opportunity, and with
every means of escape from the country at his command, Mr. Davis
refrained from leaving it; and it is very doubtful whether, in face of
the charge of complicity with this great crime, any power on earth
could have induced him to leave.
"The sentiment to which the noble Clement Clay, of Alabama, gave
utterance, upon learning that he was charged as _particeps criminis_
in the assassination doubtless actuated Mr. Davis. Clay was able to
escape from the country, and was prepared to do so; but when his
heroic and loveable wife made known to him this charge, with
indignation and scorn at its base falsehood breathing in every tone,
he rose quietly, and said: 'Well, my dear wife, that puts an end to
all my plans of leaving the country. I must meet this calumny at once,
and will go to Atlanta and surrender myself and demand its
investigation.'
"Had Mr. Davis left the country, falsehood and malignity would have
multiplied asserted proofs of this black charge against him; and the
shortcomings, errors, and crimes, perhaps, of others, would have been
conveniently attributed to the faults of his head or heart. But his
long captivity, his cruel treatment, the patient, passive heroism with
which, when powerless otherwise, and strong only in honor and
integrity, he met his fate, have combined, not only to seal the lips
of those of his Confederate associates who had wrongs, real or
fancied, to resent, but to concentrate upon him the heartfelt sympathy
of the Southern people, and no little interest and sympathy wherever
heroic endurance of misfortune gains consideration among men.
"His escape from the country and a secure refuge in a foreign land,
sustained by the respect and affection of the Southern people, were
within his own control; and he might have reasonably looked forward to
a return to his native State, as a result of a change in her political
status, at no distant day. But he refrained from embracing the
opportunities of escape which were his by fortune or by Federal
permission.
"The suggestions of friends as to his personal safety were heard with
all due consideration, and he manifested none of the airs of a
would-be political martyr; and yet it was evident that captivity and
death had lost with him their terrors in comparison with the crushing
calamity of a defeat of a cause for whose triumph he had been ever
ready to lay down his life.
"The general language and bearing of the people of the country through
which he passed, their ardent loyalty to the South, their profound
sorrow at the failure of her cause, and their warm expressions of
regard for himself--all confirmatory of the conviction that,
notwithstanding the odds against her, a thorough and hearty union of
the people and leaders would have secured her triumph, affected him
deeply.
"Throughout his journey he greatly enjoyed the exercise of riding and
the open air, and decidedly preferred the bivouac to the bed-room; and
at such times, reclining against a tree, or stretched upon a blanket,
with his head, pillowed upon his saddle, and under the inspiration of
a good cigar, he talked very pleasantly of stirring scenes of other
days, and forgot, for a time, the engrossing anxieties of the
situation."
The solicitude of Mr. Davis for the safety of his family led to his
capture. Several weeks had elapsed since he had parted with them, and
almost the first positive information that he received, made him
apprehensive for their safety. In the then disorganized condition of the
country through which he was passing, the inducements to violence and
robbery by desperate characters were numerous. Hearing that the route
which Mrs. Davis was pursuing was infested by marauders, he determined to
see that his family was out of danger, before putting into execution his
design of crossing the Mississippi. While with his family, Mr. Davis was
surprised by a body of Federal cavalry, and at the time being unarmed and
unattended by any force competent for resistance, he was made a prisoner.
On the 19th May, 1865, he was placed in solitary confinement at Fortress
Monroe.