[544]
N. C., the cavalry force also took the route South under command of General John C. Breckinridge.
We arrived at Abbeville, S. C., the morning of the 2nd of May. Mr. Haldeman was there, according to recollection, and saw the party come in. While there, the President made his headquarters at Colonel Armistead Burt's, Colonel William Preston Johnston at Colonel Henry J. Leovy's, with that patriotic family, the Monroes, of Kentucky.
At Abbeville, S. C., the Treasury officers reported the train at the depot, having been a part of the time under escort of Admiral Raphael Semmes's little naval force to protect it from the Federal cavalry, who were raiding on a parallel line with our route, between us and the mountains.
Mr. J. A. Trenholm, the Secretary of the Treasury, having been left quite ill near the Catawba river, the President appointed the Postmaster-General, Hon. John H. Reagan, acting Secretary of the Treasury, who took charge of that department, and placed the train under charge of the cavalry to convoy it to Washington, Ga. The party, except General John C. Breckinridge, left for Washington that night, crossing the Savannah river on a pontoon bridge, stopping for breakfast and to feed horses a few miles from Washington.
Colonel Burton N. Harrison had previously left the party to join Mrs. Davis and her family.
At our breakfast halt, when the road was taken, Mr. Benjamin came to me and said “good-by,” as he did not intend to go farther with the party, and turned off south from that point.
I never saw him again, though traveling on his track over 400 miles. Mr. Mallory left the party at Washington, Ga., going to a friend's in the neighborhood.
President Davis's headquarters were at Dr. Robertson's, whose charming family were profuse in their hospitalities, as were many others, General A. R. Lawton's (the Quartermaster-General,) and General E. P. Alexander's among the rest.
Next morning Colonel William Preston Johnston informed me that Mr. Reagan had applied for me to act as Treasurer, to take charge of the Treasury matters, and I was ordered to report to him, and doing so was handed my commission, which is now before me and reads as follows, viz:
[This was the last official signature President Davis affixed to any paper.]
Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865.
M. H. Clark, Esq., is hereby appointed Acting Treasurer of the Confederate States, and is authorized to act as such during the absence of the Treasurer. [This was the last official signature President Davis affixed to any paper.]
