The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-10


among the baggage" which from the context
seems to be intended to mean that it was
packed among the Presidents baggage; and
second, that the train in which the party
| Travelled, 1T is said,' was one which had car
ried provisions to Amelia Courthouse for
Lees army, had thence been ordered to Rich
| mond, and had abandoned the supplies for q
more ignoble freight"
With regard to the first of these statements,
1t need only be said that the gold which was
Secretary Of the Treasury. How and where
he packed it, am not informed; but it is
not at all likely that it was packed among
tho Presidents baggage
AS to the other point .waiving all question
of the nobility or ignobilty Of the Confed-
freight, it is enough to say that they travelled
by q passenger train, not adapted nor en-
ployed for carrying provisions; and more
over, that, il supplies had been sent by this
village on the Richmond and Danvile Rail
road, they were no doubt sent through
it, on the way to Richmond. The
mmissary General of the Confederate army
has shown in q recent publication Southern
Historical Society Papers for March, 1870,
that no requisition for supplies to be sent to
Amelia Courthouse was ever received by him
or his assistants, and that the Secretary of
War had no knowledge of any such. Mr..
Harvie, the president at that time of the Dan
plies could have been sent to Amelia Court
house for an army twice the size of Lees,
but that neither he nor the superintendent
had any notice that they were wanted there.
Gen Wilson qualities this particular state,
but the dit seems to be entitled to little
more credit than if it had been his Gym asser
ton.
Passing over all subordinate and incidental
matters, we come, in the next paragraph, to
s,of otf,r Infs
follows: o
cit is stated upon what appears to be good
authority othat Davis had, many weeks before
Lees catastrophe, made the most careful
and exacting preparations for his escape, dis
cussing the matter fully with his Cabinet in
profound secrecy, and deciding that, in order
to secure the escape of himself and principal
officers, the Shenandoah should be ordered to
cruise off the coast of Florida to take the
fugtives on board These orders were sent
to the rebel cruiser many days before Lees
lines wcre broken. It WIS Thought that the
party might make an easy and deliberate es-
cape in the way agreed upon, as the commit
nications with the Florida coast were at that
time scarcely doubtful, and once on the swift
slilng Shenandoah, the most valuable rem
nant of the Anglo-Confederate navy. they
might soon obtain an asylum on q foreign
shore"
Gen. Wilson, it will be observed, adopts
this remarkable story from some source
what appears to be good authority He
does Injustice both to its inventor and his
readers, in failing to specify the authority,
for it surpasscs in reckless audacty of nveIl-
ton anything else that he has told us.
To appreciate this, we musDremember that
THE SHENANDOAH
was at that time on the other side OF the
world. Indeed if | mistake not, she had
never been and never was ON or near the
AT11n
was not informed of the fall of
the COnfederacy and close of the war until
long afterward. 1t was late in tho autumn of
1868 before she was surrendered by him to
the British authorities. Blockaded as the
coast was, there could have been
no reasonable hope that such orders as those
described could reach her and be executed,
within six or eight months at the least. And
even ii she had been within reach, an order to
u ship of war to cruise "of the coast of
Florida'-a coast of more than thousand
miles in extent, with all its ports in possess
sion of the enemy-to take off a party of
fugitives at some point which could not pos
sibly be designated beforehand, would have
been too stupid a thing to have been done, or
discussed even Gin profound secrecy by a
government, the members of which have
never been charged even by their enemies,
with total insanity.
Gen. Wilson continues.
"When Davis and his companions left Rich
that Lee could avoid surrender only a short
time longer. A few days thereafter the news
)f this expected calamity reached them, wb,G,
they turned their faces again toward thn
South. Breckinridge, the Secretary OF War,
was sent to confer with Johnston, but found |
him only in time to assist in drawing up the
terms of his celebrated capituation to Sher-
man. The intelligence of this event caused |
ne j, !, rebel eh!eftain to renew his flight; but
while hurrying, onward, some tatuity induced |
nj ahl h ~,
of trying topush through thcSouth-
vest toward the reglonowhch he fondly be-
ievcd tobe yet under the don0nation of For
esq, Taylor and Kirby Smith, and within
which he hoped to revive the desperate for
,uncs of the rebellion. Ho confdcd his hopes
o Breckinridge, and when he reachsJ Able
lille, IS. c., he called a council Of war
SdelS'erate upon the plans which he hadd
for regencrating what had now be-
'ome in fact The Lost Cause This council |
md the commanders of the cavaIryoforce |
which was then eScortng him Ali united |
hat it was hopeless to struggle longer but |
hey added that they would not disband their
nen till they had guarded their chicftain to a
,lace of safety This was O
HE LAST COUNCIL OF THE CONFEDERACY. |
Davis, who had hitherto commanded with all |
he rlgor OF an autocrat, found himself pow |
rless and deserted From this day forth he |
vas little better than fugitive, for although |
lis escort gave him and his wagon train nom
nal company and protection till he had |
cached the village of Washington, just wi@l-
n the northeastern boundary of Georgia,
hey had long since learned the hopeessness
# further resistance, and now began to de-
pair even OF successful flight" O
In all this, as in what precedcs it. there is
carcely an atom Ell truth When MIR Davis
eft Richmond he did not expect Lee to have
Q surrender His propositions for defense
l. hu hoo rh,Jl