The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-08-10
Flight of Jeff Davis from Richmond.


while seated in st. Paups church in
Richmond, Jefferson Davis received n
telegram from Lee announcing the fall
of Petersburg, the partial destruction
of his army, and immediate necessity
for fight. Although he could not have
been entirely unprepared for this intel
ligence, it appears that he did not re-
ccivc 1t with self-possession or dignity |;
but with tremulous and nervous haste,
like weak man in the hour of misfor-
tune. He left the house of worship and
hurried home, where he and his more
resolute wife spent the rest of the day
in packing their personal baggage.
Those who are acquainted with the
character of Mrs. Davis can readily
imagine with what energy and deter
mination she must have prepared her
family for flight, and with what rage
and disappointment she resigned the
scepter she had welded over the social
and fashionable life of "Richmond on
the James" They may be sure, too,
that, although heartsick and disguised,
there was nothing irresolutc or vacillat-
ing in her actions. AT nieht-fhll every
thing was in readiness: even the gold
then remaining in the treasury, not ex-
ceeding in all $4,000, was packed
among the baggage, and under cover
of darkness the president of the Confed-
eracy, accompanied by his family, and
three members of his cabinet, Breckin-
ridge, Benjamin and Regan, drove rap
idly TO the train which had been prepar-
ed to carry them from Richmond. This
train, it is said, was the one which had
carried provisions to Amelia Court
House for Lees hard-pressed and hun
CRY army, and having been ordered to
Richmond had taken those supplies to
that place, where they were abandoned
for more ignoble freight. AS matter
of course the starving rebel soldiers suf-
fered, but Davis succeeded in reaching
Danville in safety, where he rapidly re-
covered from the fright he had sustain
ed, and astonished his followers by o
proclamation as bombastic and empty
as his fortunes were Strengthened and
desperate.
II is stated upon what appears TO be
good authority that Davis had, many
weeks before Lees catastrophe, made
"the most careful and exacting prepara-
tions for his escape, discussing the mat
ter fully with his cabinet in profound
secrecy; and deciding that, in order to
secure the escape of himself and his
principal officers, the Shenandoah
should be ordered to cruise off the coast
OF Florida 10 take the fugitives Oh
board" These orders were sent TO the
rebel cruiser many days before Lees
lines were broken. 1t was thought that
the party might make an easy and delib-
crate escape in the way agreed upon, as
the communications with the Florids
coast were at that time scarcely doubt
full, and, once OH the swift-sailing Shen
andoah, the most valuable remnant Of
the Anglo-Confederate navy, "they
might soon obtain an asylum OH for
cign Shore When Davis and his com
panions left Richmond in pursuance o.
this plan they believed that Lee conlt
avoid surrender only short time long
er. A few days thereafter the news O.
this expected calamity reached them
when they turned their faces again to
ward the south. Breckinridgc, the sec
rctary of war, was sent to confer will
Johnston, but found him only in tim,
to assist in drawing up the terms of hi
celebrated capitulation to Sherman. TIL,
intelligence of this event caused tn,
| lCDCl tiiiCitsiiii W ltIcW us DlSit, Dut
while hurrying onward, some fatuit,
induced him to change his plans, and t
adopt the alternative of trying to pusl
through the Southwesttowardt the regior
which he fondly believed to be yet unde
the domination of Forrest, Taylor ant
Kirby Smith, and within which he hop
ed to revive the desperate fortunes o
the rebellion. He confided his hope
to Breckenridge, and when he reached
Abbeville, s. C., he called council o
war to deliberate upon the plans whicl
he had conceived for regcnerating wha
had now become in fact "Thc Los
Cause" The council was composed o
Gems. Breckenridge, Bragg, and tn
commanders of the cavalry force whic
was then escorting him. All unite,
that it was hopeless to struggle longer
but they added that they would not dis
band their men till they had guarde
their chieftain to place Of safety. Tha
was the last council of the Confederacy