Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-10-04
THE LAST DITCH.
REBELS RECoLLEcTIoNs OF THE LAST
COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH
ERIN sfyONFEDERACY.-


ERIN CONFEDERACT.~
Edward A. Pollard contributes to the
Southern. Home Journal, new literary
paper, just started at Baltimore, tor the
benefit of rebel readers, an article on the
Last Council Board of the Southern Con-
federacy," from which we select the iol-
lowing: .----------
The fall of Richmond was the fatal event
of the Confederacy. The black banner
which the smoke from its contagration set
in the sky, signalled from the Potomac 10
the Mississippi the end OF the WAR, tne
despair and submission of the South. Y IL
was under that sign that the army OF zen,
eral Lee commenced its to1lsome retreat,
and tho train of officials set out to hnd
some theatre of the war beyond Virginia,
some remnant of government, the ami
hilation of which they had not yet 1utly
realized We have said that in these last
painful days of the Confederacy there was
but little of dramatic scene TO helghIen
and adorn the last act of the tragedy. mo
grand catastrophe mounted the stage. "a
tattered and travelled stained army moved
through the woods and on blind roads,
with struggling, distressed trains, It's march
dotted with dead and tamlshed soidlers,
until broken down by toll and hunger, IL
quietly surrendered, and, with mere IN
strument of writing, laid down its arms at
Appomattox Court House. Richmond mad
been deserted without q conference; there
had been no final scene at the council
board, no high debate, no official speech or
Inspiration that could properly mark the
great historical interest of the event 1t
hal fnd
crate capitol had been abandoned Tame
and unworthy were the last days OF an
empire whose proves had once challenged
the admiration Of the world, whose arms
had twice penetrated the enemy's country,
whose two hundred cannon had beloved
for, peace on the heights of Gettysburg,
whose camp.fires had more than once been
lighted in the very foreground of Wash
ington. ia lii .........f .4tt .;,,ttLf
But in this poverty of scenery and Incl
dent In which the Southern Confedercy
persisted, there was yet one remarkable in-
terview or council which has heretofore
been lost TO the current and popular his
tories of the war--a scene which though
taking place in small and obscure thea
tire, vailed from public knowledge, is Of
intense dramatic interest, and is likely yet
artistic historian of the war, who like
Macaulay shall produce the very images of
the past along with the record of events.
It was the last interview, the last confer
ence of jefferson Davis and his officers.
1t took place in o little town in South
Carolina; it was known only to the few
men who assembled there with their fugi-
tive chief /; yet it was properly the last
scene of the wars great drama. 1t had
q dignity that had not yet appeared in the
final chapter Of misfortune, and it is mem
orable alike for its artistic effects and its
historical Importance. tu II ~
The exp PRESIDENT of the Confederacy had
issued at Danville, Virginia, an ingenious
and sanguinc proclamation, which possibly
might have aroused his countrymen to fur
ther efforts in the war, had not the effusion
been checked by the news of General Lees
surrender. This event appeared to deter
mine the last hopes of the Southern people,
to convince them that further prosecution
of the war was useless, and even criminal in
q fruitlegs consumption of human life. Not
so with Mr., Davis. He was remarkable for
sanguine temperament he had that dis
position, at once imperious and weak,
which, demanding 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 proud man who never,
indeed, fully realized the extremity of his
cause until "the iron entered his soul in
the classmates of Fortress Monroe In his
strangely deliberate and leisurely retreat
through the Carolnag, he had not ap-
peared for moment to realize that hewas
q fugitive, and he looked with complacency
upon the dissolved fragments of the army
that had gathered on the line Of his flight,
and that pursued it with vague and un-
certain design. An officer who was con
stantly his company in what might be
thought days of anguish and despair to the
fallen chief testities: "Mr. Davis was ap.
parently untouched by any OF the de-
moralization which preVailed-he was
affable, dignifed, and looked the very per-
sonifcation Of high and undaunted
courage He yet persisted that the cause
was not lost although Lee had surrendered
although Johnston had furled his banners
without battle, and although all that was
visible of the great armies that had stood
from Richmond to Augusta, on the DOM
inant lines of the war, were the less than
one thousand soldiers, fragments of brig
AIDES that assembled around him at Able
there for final council with his Generals
There is something curious, even pain
full, in this delusion, yet admirable and
sublime. The exp PRESIDENT refused to read
the word Failure" which the public had
pronounced against him, and which he
might have seen written in the faces OF the
slouched and dispirited soldiers who yet
attended him His glittering eye was not
yet quenched bis slackened nerves were
strung up with new resolution and hope;
he was practising that most difficult art of
life, which maintains even manners In
sudden adversely. and with the trained
gamblers steady challenge coolly and de-
iberately tries the last resource of fortune.
But even that last resource was denied
him. Fortune had no moro stakes for
him and with the sharp pain of the game
ster, who prepares for the last chance, and
then finds he has miscounted, and has not
means even to try that the man who had
bargained for empire, and played withithe
destinies of whole communities suddenly
found himself without single soldier at
his command. and hunted fugitive in
perllof his life ~ n II
6 In the little town of Abbeville Mr.
Davis summoned his officers to council; he
was determined to try their resolution, and
The only full Generals who yet attended |
him were Bragg, his military adviser"
and Breckenridge, lately Secretary of War. |
There were FIVE brigade commanders
present at the conference. To this small |
but important audience Mr.. Davis adj |
dressed himself with all the powers of his
Az Ill