Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1867-10-23


: scene to heighten and adorn the last ac
, Of the tragedy. No grand catastrophe
} mounted the stage. 4 tattered and
travel-stained army moved through the
J woods and on blind Dads, with struggling
distressed trains, its march dotted with
| dead and famished soldiers, until broken
, down Dy toll and hunger, it quietly sur
: rendered, and, with mere instrument OF
!, writing, laid down its arms at Appomat-
to1 Court House. Richmond had been
deserted without conference there had
been no final scene at the council board
no high debate, no official speech or in
spiration that could properly mark the
great historical interest Of the event It
was vulgar tumult 20 which the Con-
federata capitol had been abandoned.
: Tame and unworthy were the last days of
an empire whose proWess had once chal-
ienged the admiration of tie world, whose
arms had twice penetrated the enemy s
territory, whose two hundred cannon had
beloved for peace on the heights of Get
tysburg, whose camp-fres had more than
once been lighted in the very foreground
of Washington.
But IN this poverty Of scenery and in
cldent IN which the Southern ConfederacY
persisted, there was yet one remarkable
interview or council which has heretofore
been lost to the current and popular his
tories OF the War-a scene which though
taking place on a small and obscure the
atre, vailed from public knowledge, is of
intense dramatic interest, and is likely
yet to furnish the last Illuminated page to
same artistic historian Of the war, who
like Macaulay shall produce the very i'm
events. It vas the last interview, tue
last conference Of Jefferson Davis and his
officers. 1t took place in little town in
| South Carolina it was known only to the
few men who assembled there with their
fugitive chief; yet it was properly the
last scene OF the wars great drama. It
had dignity that had not yet appeared
Ia the final chapter Of misfortune, and it
is memorable alike for its artistic effects
and its historical Importance.
| The ex President Of the Confederacy
had issued at Danyille, Virginia, an IN
genious and sanguine proclamation, which
possibly might have aroused his country
| men to further efforts in the war; had not
the eIfu8l0n been checked by the news Of
General Lees surrender. The event ap-
pearvd to determine the last hopes of the
Southern people, to convince them that
further prosecution Of the war was useless,
and even criminal in fruitless consum3-
ton Of human life. Not so with Mr..
Davis. lie was remarkable for sangu-
Inc temperament; he had that disposition,
at once imperious and weak, which, de-
manding that all things must be as it
wishes, believes them so and what the
world thought the swollen boasts of
desperate and falling leader, were really
the sincere Illusions of a proud man who
never, indeed, fully realized the extrem-
ity Of his cause until 'the iron entered
his souP' In the casemates of Fortress
Monroe. La his strangely deliberate and
leisurely retreat through the Caroiinas,
he had not appeared for moment to re- |
alize that he was fugitive, and he looked |
with complacency upon the dissolved |
fragments Of the army that had gathered
Oh the line Of his flight and that pursued |
it with vague and uncertain design
An officer who was constantly III his com,
pany in what might be thought days OF
anguish aud despair 10 the fallen chief,
testiiies; MIR Davis was apparently un-
touched by any of the decentralization
which prevailea-he was AT BILE, digni,
aed, and looked the very personidcation
Of high and unduunted courage" He
yet persisted that the cause was not lost,
although Lee had surrendered, although
Johnson had fUrlsd his banners without
Is battle, and although ali that was visible
of the great armies that had stood from
Richmond to Augusta, On the dominant
| lines Of the war, were the less than one
thousand soldiers, fragments Of brigades
that assembled around him at Abbeville,
South Carolina, when he paused thore for
a final council with his Generals.
There is something curious, even pain
ful in this delusion, yet admirable and
sublime The ex-President refused to
read the word "failure," which the public
had pronounced against him, and which
he might have seen writ en- in the faces
of the slouched and dispirited soldiers
who yet attended him. His glittering
eye was not yet quenched; his slackened
nerves were strung up with new resolu-
ton and hope; he was practicing that
most difficult art Of life, which maintains
even manners in sudden adyersity; and
with the trained gamblers steady chal-
lenge, ooolly and deliberately tries the
last resource of fortune. But even that
last resource was denied him Fortune
had no more stakes for him and with
the sharp pain Of the gamester, who pre-
pares for the last chance, and then finds
ne has miscounted, and has not means
even to try that, the man who had bar
gained for empire, and played with the
lo., L,