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Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 63: the journey to Greensborough.—the surrender of Johnston. (search)
everal other Kentuckians I went to the depot. His first desire was to see the President, so we went with him to Mr. Davis. We found him sitting in a chair in the door which opened on the sidewalk. After shaking hands with General Breckinridge, he asked immediately: Is it true, General, that Mr. Lincoln was killed? Yes, sir, replied General Breckinridge (who had just come from the front). General Sherman received a telegram this morning that he was shot in Ford's theatre, at Washington, last night. Mr. Davis said promptly, and with feeling, I am sorry to learn it. Mr. Lincoln was a much better man than his successor will be, and it will go harder with our people. It is bad news for us. The letter that follows shows General Hampton's views of the surrender at the time, and his loyal feeling to our cause, which, however, like Mr. Davis's, were never doubted. Yorkville, May 1, 1865. My dear Sir: I left Hillsborough as soon as I learned of the agreement made betwe
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 64: capture of President Davis, as written by himself. (search)
ed that a regiment of the enemy was moving upon Washington, Ga., which was one of our depots of supplies, and Iwith my escort, trusting that we should arrive in Washington in time to rally the citizens to its defence. Wh join me in the trans-Mississippi Department. At Washington the Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Mallory, left me tnnah River. During the night after my arrival in Washington he sent in an application for authority to draw fese ten men and five of my personal staff, I left Washington. Secretary Reagan remained for a short time to th a limited measure of success. When I left Washington, Ga., my object was to go to the south far enough tod continue to uphold our cause. After leaving Washington I overtook a commissary and quartermaster's traine rest. On the second or third day after leaving Washington I heard that a band of marauders, supposed to be een since they left Richmond, but who, I heard at Washington, had gone with my private secretary and seven par
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 67: the tortures inflicted by General Miles. (search)
t Mr. Davis acknowledged to be good, though there were in it many annoyances of detail-such as the sentry's eye always fastened on his movements, and the supervision of his correspondence with his wife-unworthy of any country aspiring to magnanimity or greatness. October 25th. Mr. Davis had been for some time complaining that his light suit of gray tweed was too thin for the increasing cold of the days on the ramparts of the fortress, and finding that his measure was with a tailor in Washington, I requested a friend of mine to call there and order a good, heavy black pilot-cloth overcoat for the prisoner, and that the bill should be sent to me; and also ordered from a store in New York some heavy flannels to make Mr. Davis comfortable for the winter. I had also sent a box of like garments, but they had, General Miles said, never been received; a subsequent one, however, was received, These acts to me appearing innocent, and even laudable, cause great trouble, as may be seen b
found to mean myself) as desired to see him would call at his office. To which I answered, that I thought illness and my circumstances constituted an extraordinary case; but that I was sorry to have asked anything which he felt called upon so curtly to refuse. On the following day I went, accompanied by General Hugh Mercer. Need I say that General — did himself justice, and verified my preconceived opinion of him in our interview, in which he told me he guessed I could not telegraph to Washington, write to the heads of departments there, or to anybody, except through the regular channel approved; and I could not write to my friends, except through the Provost-Marshal's office; and that I was permitted to pay my expenses, but must remain within the limits of Savannah. With many thanks for this large liberty accorded so graciously, I bowed myself out, first having declined to get soldiers' rations by application for them to this Government. In this condition I remained for m
hteous will not be forsaken has also been to me the suggestion of comfort. When Franklin was brought before the privy council of George III., and a time-serving courtier heaped the grossest indignities upon him, he bore them with composure, and afterward attributed his ability to do so to the consciousness of innocence in the acts for which he was reviled. I have no means of communicating with any one but you, and, as I understand the orders, all communications to you must pass through Washington, and be viseed. What, under Providence, may be in store for us I have no ability to foresee. I have tried to do my duty to my fellow-men, and while my penitent prayers are offered to our Heavenly Father for forgiveness of the sins committed against Him, I have the sustaining belief that He is full of mercy; and, knowing my inmost heart, will acquit me where man, blind man seeks to condemn. From our mediating Saviour I humbly trust to receive support, and, whatever may befall me in th
ungry for the children's little faces, and have habitually to resist the power of tender feelings which may not be gratified. To look only to those hopes of which man cannot deprive me, and to such relief as a record may afford, in the event to which my enemies refer as a means, not of learning the truth and doing justice, but of condemnation and punishment. From President Davis to Mrs. Davis. Fortress Monroe,Va., February 17, 1866. 19th day. Mrs. Clay, after her return to Washington, sent me a coffee-pot, to enable me to make coffee for myself. Dr. Cooper came and gave me full instructions as to its use, making very good coffee as a part of the lecture. I have followed directions not with the best success; indeed, I am led to doubt whether cooking was designed to be my vocation. This little coffee-pot is now in my possession. In his first effort at cooking he wrenched off the soldered top instead of taking off the dripper, and he gently and apologetically explai
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 43: visit to New Orleans and admission to Fortress Monroe. (search)
his skill to support the sinking frame which had borne up so bravely, but nothing seemed to give relief. I went to Washington to gain a personal interview with the President, with whom, though we had been in the same city at intervals for fifteereat influence with Mr. Stanton, and had come to beg my active aid for the release of Mr. Davis. She asked me to go to Washington with her, but that, I assured her, was impolitic; I would go alone, ascertain the prospect, and report to her. She was om Mr. McCulloch, on his way from Fortress Monroe, that she could rely on his aid in the matter. I went immediately to Washington, saw Mr. McCulloch, and told him that I had come to see Stanton about the release of Mr. Davis. Mr. McCulloch was thundry as one of Mr. Davis's bondsmen. It was decided that Mr. Charles O'Conor, one of Mr. Davis's counsel, should come to Washington and arrange the terms. Reporting the result of my interview to Mrs. Davis, it was arranged that William Prescott Smith
it charge made. The following account of the presentation of General Sherman's letter to the United States Senate appeared in the public prints, and one of the captions is quoted here: No Scapegoat Wanted. The South Responsible, not President Davis. Continuation of the Debate in the United States Senate on the Resolution to Print Senator Sherman's Historical Papers-Senators Vance and Brown Stand by their Record-General Sherman's Mendacity Thoroughly Exposed-The Resolution Passed.-Washington, January 13th.-In the Senate, at ten o'clock, on motion of Senator Hawley, his resolution to call upon the President for copies of the papers filed in the War Department by General Sherman, as a reply to certain strictures of Mr. Jefferson Davis, former President of the Confederate States, was taken up. Senator Vance said that as the Senate would probably pass this resolution and place on its record an unofficial paper by General William T. Sherman, which makes certain statements abou
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 80: General Joseph E. Johnston and the Confederate treasure. (search)
nderstanding between us all, before you left Washington, that as soon as the excitement subsided a lnd I saw Moses putting it in a warehouse in Washington before I left there. I also directed him toder charge of the cavalry to convoy it to Washington, Ga. The party left for Washington that night, and stopped for breakfast a few miles from Washington. At our breakfast halt, when the road was taow before me and reads as follows, viz.: Washington, Ga., May 4, 1865. M. H. Clark, Esq., is hehe left. General Breckinridge arrived in Washington, Ga., an hour or so after President Davis leftrs and gentlemen; and that when they reached Washington with the train fair payments should be made.d tell what would happen before they reached Washington, there was no good reason for delay. Genn reloaded, and the route was taken up to Washington, Ga. The boys told me they got about twenty-sid to each soldier. I was told by someone at Washington to draw that amount, but was too much engage[18 more...]
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 83: General Ransom's reminiscences of Mr. Davis. (search)
him as a friend, and he responded as follows: On July 5, 1856, I first met Mr. Davis. He was then Secretary of War, and I a lieutenant of cavalry visiting Washington for the purpose of marrying my first wife, a young lady resident in that city and an intimate friend of Secretary and Mrs. Davis. I had been in the city a few ough a life as full of extreme vicissitude as falls to the lot of man. During the exciting period of Kansas Troubles, in the autumn of 1856, I was again in Washington, and happened to be in company with Mr. Davis and other prominent men at a social gathering. The subject of the dispersion by Colonel E. V. Sumner, of the Firs and some other gentlemen, advanced to me, and after congratulations and compliments, said in words nearly as follows: If we had had this regiment at Manassas, Washington would have been ours. It is well known that the Confederate army, at the battle of the first Manassas, was without cavalry, excepting an irregular company or t