Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-10-01
ries of Richmond. The night was hoarse
with the roar of the great flight.

who was aware that eight o'clock had
been designated by General Lee as the
hour for evacuation. unless meantime he
succeeded in re-establishing his lines, in
which event he would telegraph again,
attended the room of General Brecken-
ridge at that hour and was admitted He
came out with a blank face. "There is
nohope,' said General breckenridge, and
he walked quietly from the room and
from the building to the house where the
President was then concealed, making
private preparations for his fight. There
was no last council or conference. All
that there was of deliberative assembly
all that remained of the once proud and
loquaeious government Of Jefferson Da-
vis-was to appoint the rendezvous and
time of flight, the cabinet members be-
ing instructed to meet the President at
the Danville depot little before mid
night
The capitol appeared deserted, but as
night fell, it was noticed the main door
was ajar. Hid away in an obscure room
in the third story, the City Council were
anxiously debating what ceremonies were
necessary for the surrender of the city,
since the President was supposed to have
already fled or to be concealed for the
present in Manchester. and the duty of
surrendering the capitol was thus devolv-
ed upon its municipal authorities l.
was cowardly debate removed from the
observation of its citizens. One of the
Councilmen was ostentatiously dressed in
a confederate uniform. So extreme was
the concern for the safety of the city,
such the anxiety for its humiliation, that
it was arranged that notification of
surrender should be given before the
next day broke, and three hours past
midnight, the Mayor despite his eighty
years of age, was started in dilapidated
vehicle on the mi sion of surrendering
Richmond before the enemy could get
in sight of it.
Before the mayor could mount on his
mission to the enemy, new and surpass-
ing terror fell upon the city. 1t had
been fired in various quarters, and there
were already CLEANS of confagration on
the dark horizon. While the leaving
and tumultuous city was even at this
hnnr of night filed with pillagers and
marauders-convicts from the peniten-
tiary, who had escaped, their guards
having fed, and lawless soldiers, who
were no lodger under any control, the
main command of General Ewell hav.
ing already tramped across the bridge
over the river-the wakeful and anxiou;
eyes of thousands of the terrified citizens
looking from their windows, beheld thi.
new apparition of horror arising from
the black wastes of night.
). The confagration had proceeded from
a strange negligence of President Davis
1t was a standing order in the Confeder
g acy that cotton and tobacco should b
burned on the approach of the enOsAy
/, and some weeks before, in general dis
cussion in the newspapers, as to wha
might possibly take place in Richmond
it was suggested that the little there wa
of the staples in the city should be re
moved and impounded in the fair ground
: outside the city, where they might be con
> veniently and cleanly destroyed in cas-
! of necessity. The suggestion was neve
. !, needed by Mr.. Davis.
The cotton and tobacco remaine
stored in large and scattered warehouse
: in the most thickly-built parts of tn
: city. In the trepidation of his figh
and in the excessive concern for his ow
: safety, Mr.. Davis appears to have lei
= the order for burning the cotton an
tobacco unchanged, at least the suppt
- sition of neglect is most charitable, fc
= it is hardly to be supposed that he woul
- have deliberately imperiled the home
~ of sixty thousand people, to destroy an
he to deprive the enemy of some insignil
nc cant stores, of the total value of whic
90 it has been computed that it would n,
furnish one days rations forthe whole
Grants army.-PotlarP Inside Vieac.
VI
e. INTERESTING RELIC.-The Montpeli
n Journal publishes the following lett,
I'd found among the papers of the late Til
e. othy Merrill
e, BURLINGTON, March z, 1918.
at TIMOTHY MERRILL, ESQ. The bea
OF er, Jacob Collamer, Esquire, has it
" view to commence the practice of law
$; Barre, in our county, and is desirous f
line of introduction to you. l ther
ch fore recommend him to your friendshi
to and introduce him to your acquaintanc
In as young gentleman of education an
,r- talents, and of character, both moral al
et' political. Any assistance you may re