766

LAST DAYS OF THE CONFEDERACY.

At tlie Savannah River, Mr. Davis ordered thatthe silver coin, amounting to one hundred andeight or ten thousand dollars, he paid to the troopsin partial discharge of the arrears of pay duethem. The quartermasters of the several brigadeswere engaged during the entire night in countingout the money, and until early dawn a throng of sol-diers surrounded the little cabin where they weredividing “the pile” into their respective quotas.The sight of so much money seemed to banishsleep. My brigade received thirty-two dollars percapita, officers and men sharing alike. GeneralBreckinridge was paid that sum, and, for the pur-pose, was borne on the roll of the brigade. Onthe next day, at Washington, Georgia , I turnedover the residue of the treasure to Mr. M. H.Clarke, acting Treasurer of the Confederate States,and experienced a feeling of great relief.

Mr. Davis , having apparently yielded to the ad-vice pressed upon him, that he should endeavor toescape, started off with a select party of twenty,commanded by Captain Given Campbell, of Ken-tucky , one of the most gallant and intelligentofficers in the service. I knew nearly all of thesetwenty personally. Among them were LieutenantsLee Hathaway and Winder Monroe of my brigade.Escort and commander had been picked as menwho could be relied on in any emergency, and thereis no doubt in my mind that, if Mr. Davis had reallyattempted to get away or reach the trans-Missis-sippi, this escort would have exhausted every ex-pedient their experience could have suggested, and,if necessary, fought to the death to accomplish hispurpose. I have never believed, however, thatMr. Davis really meant or desired to escape afterhe became convinced that all was lost. I thinkthat, wearied by the importunity with which therequest was urged, he seemingly consented, intend-ing to put himself in the way of being captured. Iam convinced that he quitted the main body of thetroops that they might have an opportunity to sur-render before it was too late for surrender uponterms, and that he rvas resolved that the smallescort sent with him should encounter no risk in hisbehalf. I can account for his conduct upon no otherhypothesis. He well knew— and he was urgently ad-vised— that his only chance of escape was in rapidand continuous movement. He and his party wereadmirably mounted, and could easily have out-ridden the pursuit of any party they were notstrong enough to fight. Therefore, when he de-liberately procrastinated as he did, when the fact

•fc The treasure brought from Richmondincluded about$275,000 belonging to some Richmond banks.— Editors.

i Jefferson Davis was captured on tile 10 th of Maynear Irwinsville, Georgia , by a detachment of the itiiMichigan Cavalry (belonging to General R. II. G. Minty’sdivision of General James II . Wilson’s cavalry corps),under Lieutenant-Colonel Benjamin D. Pritchard.Pritchard left Macon, Georgia , on the 7tli, and was mov-ing south along the west bank of the Ocnmlgee when hecrossed the route on which Mr. Davis and his party weremoving with about twenty-four hours’ start of theirpursuers. A detachment of the 1st Wisconsin Cavalry(belongingto General John T. Croxton’s division), underLieutenant-Colonel Henry Hamden, was following Mr.Davis in the direct road to Irwinsville, and Pritchard,making a swift march on another road, came upon the

of bis presence in that vicinity was so public, andin the face of the effort that would certainly bemade by the Federal forces to secure his person, Ican only believe that he had resolved not to escape.

Immediately after Mr. Davis ’s departure thegreater portion of the troops were notified that theirservices would bo no longer needed, and were givena formal discharge. Their officers made arrange-ments for their prompt surrender. General Breck-inridge requested Colonel W. C. P. Breckinridgeand myself to hold a body of our men together fortwo or three days, and, marching in a directiondifferent from that Mr. Davis had taken, divert at-tention as much as possible from his movements, jWe accordingly marched with 350 men of our re-spective brigades toward Woodstock, or Woodville,

— I do not certainly remember the name. I movedupon one road; Colonel Breckinridge, with whomthe general was, upon another. We were to meetat the point I have mentioned. I arrived first, andhalted to await the others. I found that a consid-erable force of Federal cavalry was just to the westof the place, and not more than three miles dis-tant. The officer in command notified me in verycourteous terms that he would not attack unless Iproceeded toward the west, in which event he saidhe would, very much to his regret, be compelled“to use violence.” He said that he hoped I wouldthink proper to surrender, as further bloodshedwas useless and wrong; but that he would notundertake to hasten the matter. I responded thatI appreciated his sentiments and situation, andthat I would give the matter of surrender imme-diate and careful consideration. That eveningColonel Breckinridge arrived. He had encoun-tered a body of Federals, who had made to himalmost the identical statement the officer in myfront had addressed to me. He had parleyed withthem long enough to enable General Breckinridge,with one or two officers who were to accompanyhim in his effort to escape, to get far enough awayto elude pursuit, and then, telling them where hewished to go, was allowed to march by upon thesame road occupied by the Federal column. Themen of the previously hostile hosts cheered eachother as they passed, and the “Yanks” shouted,“You rebs better go home and stop this nonsense ;we don’t want to hurt each other!” The colonelbrought an earnest injunction from General Breck-inridge that we should both surrender withoutdelay. We communicated his message to our com-rades, and for us the long agony was over. 4 .

fugitives in their camp, and arrested Mr. Davis just asthe advance of Hamden ’s command reached the scene.

— Editors.

ft. Among those who surrendered at the time, besidesMr. Davis ’s family and the guard, were Mr. Reagan andColonels Lubbock, Johnston, and I-Iarrison. GeneralBreckinridge and Colonel Wood escaped, and madetheir way to Florida, whence they sailed to Cuba in anopen boat.— Editors.

4 O 11 the 29th of May, 1805, President Johnson issueda proclamation of amnesty to all persons (with somenotable exceptions) who had particijiated in the rebel-lion, and who should make oath to support the Consti-tution and the Union, and the proclamations and lawsrelatingto emancipation. Amongthe exceptions, besidescertain civil and diplomatic officers and agents, and