Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1869-09-11
FLIGHT OF Jefferson DAVIS.
A Gard from Ex.Confcderatc Post
master General Resgan-The Rebel

NNarO rom ExsCOUfc0er0to Post
master General Reagan-The Rebe
Treasury. tT.
MIR. John H. Reagan, late Post
master General OF the Southern Con
federacy, has written q letter to TIL,
Galveston News concerning the cap
capture Of Jefferson Davis. The fol
lowing passages in a speech by Judg,
-. ID. Evans, i'm the Texas Conven
ton, last January, called out the let
ter:
"On the fall of Richmond, Jeffer
son Davis started the Con federal,
Treasury westward, deluding hlmsel
with the dream Of a Trans ississip
lpi Empire.
II asked his Postmaster General
Mr.. Reagan, how Ii was that tn,
President of their Confederacy SHOULD
be caught with his baggage wagons
In the awkward plight of being un,
der his wife's cloak. He informed
me that Davis had left his trains and
struck for the seaboard, when after {
days ride, hearing that the Confed
crate forces had disbanded, and woult
probably endanger the safety of his
family, he returned.
suspect that Davis feared more
for the safety of his Confederate
treasury, which he hoped to get safe
!y into Texas, where, had Magruder
been able to keep his army together
nucleus for the material Of wal
would have enabled him to continue
the struggle"
Mr.. Reagan denies the statement
IN the first paragraph, saying that
Davis left Richmond with the hope
of uniting the armies of Lee and
Johnston, and with no thought of a
Trans Mississippi Empire A
meeting effected, he hoped to defeat
the armies of Generals Sherman and
Grant before they could form juno
ton, or, If this could not be done, to
occupy the first good defensive line
which might be chosen. Desperate
as the fortunes of war then were for
the Confederacy, he had not abandon
ed the hope of carrying on the strug-
7 gle east of the Mississippi. AS to
the second paragraph, he says that
Mr.. Davis, and his Cabinet, and staff
officers, left their baggage-wagon and
all their personal baggage, except
such as each took for himself in his
saddle bags, at Abbeville, South Car
DINA. The train which carried such
supplies as We're taken, and what
funds still remained in the Confeder-
ate Treasury, were under the escort OF
the few remaining cavalry troops
And this train went no further than
Washington, Georgia. Some days
after leaving Washington, Mr.. Davis
was captured in the southern part OF
that State. While at Danville, Vir-
ginia, he learned of the surrender of
General Lee, and shortly after he left
Charlotte, n. c., he learned of the
surrender of General Johnston. He
was not "caught with his baggage
wagons" He had no train to return
to. Mr.. Davis family left Richmond
in March, perhaps in the early part
Of that month. Richmond was evac-
uated on the I'd Of April. He did not
see his family after they left Rich
mond until little before daylight on
the 18th of May, when he, happening
to hear that they were in serious
danger, accompanied by q few faith
full friends, went to their relief. He
and those friends Travelled with his
family that day, and camped with
them that night. The next morn
ing they separated, but, for some mac.
curate information as to roads, were,
again thrown together in the evening,
and camped together that night,
Travelled together the next day, and
We're captured at daylight the next
morning, the 10th of May. AS to
Davis special anxiety for his Treas
ury, Mr.. Reagan says that the Con-
federate treasure at Washington,
Georgia, consisted, as was supposed,
of some SS5, 200 in gold, some $50, 900
or $4,000 in silver coin, about the
same amount i'm silver bullion, and
between $500, 900 and 500, 900 in Con-
federate Treasury-notes. The silver
coin was paid to the troops who were
there, so much to each man and Off
Ger, without reference to rank, as it
was too bulky and Inconvenience, I'M
der the circumstances, to be safely
transported to the rebel repositories
at Bermuda, Nassau or Liverpool
The silver bullion was left at WASH
ington i'm an ordinary warehouse
The gold was placed i'm the hands Of
two officers of the Confederate Navy,
then there, with instructions to con-
vey 1t, as soon as this could safely be
done, to one of the repositories above
named. While in prison, Reagan
saw statements of gold and silver
bullion correspondending with the
above had been captured by the Fed
eral forces. Before leaving Wash
ington, he directed the Acting Treas
urer to burn the Confederate Treas
ury-notes above named, in the pres
ence of the Secretary of War, Gen
eral Breckenridge and himself. Mr..
Davis was captured nearly a week
after this, In Southern Georgia. Mr..
Reagan relates the following anec.
dote of the flight of Davis, which, he
says, has never been made public be-
fore, and which relieves him of such
charges as those of Judge Evans;
In coming through South CARROLL
ma, he and myself riding ahead of
our company, passed q cabin on the
roadside, when he asked woman
who was standing in the door for a
drink of water. On handing it to
him she said; "Are you President
Davis" On his replying in the afiir-
NATIVE, she said to him, pointing to
little boy barely large enough to
walk little: "That Is your name
sake; we call him JEFF Davis" He
took from his pocket gold coin, APP
parently the size of So piece or SOW
ereign, and, handing it to her, told
her to give IL to the little boy, saying
10 me, as he rode off, that that was
his last piece Of coin, which he had
kept as a sort of Keepsake on account
of its being coin seldom seen in
this country. Subsequently, when
In company with several members Of
his Cabinet, the subject Of their
finances was mentioned, and their
poverty was made, among them
selves, the subject of passing amuse-
ment. Mr.. Davis took out his pock-
et-book and counted, think, about
$40 In Confederate Treasury notes,
then almost entirely worthless, and
said, laughiugly, that was his fortune