CHAPTER XIII THE CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS W 1865. HEN Jefferson Davis and the remnant of the CH. XIII. Confederate Cabinet, with the more important of their department archives, left Richmond on the night of April 2, in consequence of Lee's retreat, they proceeded to Danville, southwest of Richmond, arriving there the following morning. In a conference between Davis and Lee, in which the probability of abandoning Richmond was discussed, they had agreed upon this point at which to endeavor to unite the armies of Lee and Johnston, first to attack and beat Sherman and then return and defeat Grant. But Grant, so far from permitting Lee to execute the proposed junction, did not even allow him to reach Danville. Lee had been pressed so hard that he had not found opportunity to inform Davis where he was going, and this absence of news probably served to give Davis an intimation that their preconcerted plans were not likely to reach fulfillment. Nevertheless, the rebel President made a show of confidence; rooms were obtained, and, he says, the "different departments resumed their routine labors," though it may be doubted whether in these labors they earned the compensation which the Confederate States promised them. CH. XIII. Two days after his arrival at Danville, Jefferson Davis added one more to his many rhetorical efforts April, 1865. to "fire the Southern heart." On the 5th he issued Davis, Fall of the a proclamation, in which, after reciting the late disasters in as hopeful a strain as possible, he broke again into his never-failing grandiloquence: 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, fellowcountrymen, 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 "Rise and 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. erate Govern ment." Vol. II., p. 677. In his book, Davis is frank enough to admit that this language, in the light of subsequent events, may fairly be said to have been oversanguine. He probably very soon reached this conviction, for almost before the ink was dry on the document a son of General Henry A. Wise, escaping through the Federal lines on a swift horse, brought him infor mation of the surrender of Lee's army to Grant. CH. XIII Rumor also reaching him that the Federal cavalry was pushing southward west of Danville, the Confederate Government again hastily packed its archives into a railroad train and moved to Greensboro', North Carolina. Its reception at this place was cold and foreboding. The headquarters of the government remained on the train at the depot. Only Jefferson Davis, and Secretary Trenholm who was ill, were provided with lodgings. From this point Davis sent a dispatch to General Johnston, soliciting a conference, either at Greensboro' or at the general's headquarters; and in response to this request Johnston went without delay to Greensboro', arriving there on the morning of April 12. Within an hour or two both Generals Johnston and Beauregard were summoned to meet the Confederate President in a council of war, there being also present the members of the rebel Cabinet, namely: Benjamin, Secretary of State; Mallory, Secretary of the Navy, and Reagan, PostmasterGeneral. The meeting was held in a room some twelve by sixteen feet in size, on the second floor Frank H. of a small dwelling, and contained a bed, a few chairs, and a table with writing-materials. The infatuation under which Davis had plunged his section into rebellion against the Government, pitting the South, with its disparity of numbers1 and resources against the North, still beset him in the hour of her collapse and the agony of her surrender. He had figured out how the united armies of Lee 1 "Dividing their free population between the two sections and the odds were six and a half VOL. X.-17 millions against twenty and a half 1865. Alfriend, "Life of Jefferson Davis," p. 623. |