The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-03-10
THE CAPTURE OF JEFF. DAVIS.
AN EXPOSURE OF GEN. WILSON'S
FALsEHOODs CONCERNING THE
CAPTURE OF DAVIS.
The Retreat from Rlchm0nd-The March
Towards the rans-MIssIsstppi De-
partment - Why Mr.. Davis surren-
dered.
BY MAJOR W. wALTHALL, LATE A. A. e., CON- |
FEDERATE ARMY.

The publication, in the Philadelphia Weekly
en James e H W S Of "a aee to give H
account Of the capture of the Confederate
President in 1865 has not only revived a tc
ticious story circulated soon after that event
occurred,. perhaps still current among the
surrounded it with cluster OF new embel
lishments which has hitherto been either
"unwritten history or unimagined fiction.
To which of these classes they belong, the
reader may be better able to determine after
an examination of the evidence which it is
one of the objects of this paper to lay before
him.
The key note to the temper, as well as the
truthfulness, of Gen Wilson's narrative, may
be found in its first paragraph, which | quote
entire:
con the first Sunday of April. 1865, while
seated in St. Paul's church in Richmond, JEFF
fersOn Davis received q telegram from Lee,
announcing
THE FALL OF PETERSBURG, O
the partial destruction OF his army, and the
immediate necessity for flight. Although he
could not have been entirely unprepared for
this intelligence, il appears that he did not re-
ceiye it with self-possession or dignity: but
with tremulous and nervous haste like a weak
man in the hour of misfortune, he left the
house of worship and hurried home, where
he and his more resoute wife spent the rest
Of the day in packing their personal bag
gage. Those who are acquainted with
tine character of Mrs. Davis can readily i'm
agine with what energy and determination
she must have prepared her family for flight,
and with what rage and disappointment she
resigned the sceptre she had welded over the
social and fashionable life of Richmond on
the James They may be sure, too, that
although 1eur tsiCk HHd disgu5teC, there was
nothing irresolute or vascillating in her ac-
tons. At nightfall everything was in read-
ness; even the gold then remaining in the
treasury, not exceeding $4,000 was pacLe
among the baggage, and under cover OF dark
ness the President OF the Confederacy, accom-
panied by his family and three members of
his Cabinet, Breckenridge, BENJAMIN and Rea-
gan, drove rapidly to the train which had
been prepared to carry them from Richmond.
This train, it is said, was the one which had
carried provisions to Amelia Courthouse for
having been ordered to Richmond had taken
those supplies to that place, where they were
abandoned for more ignoble freight AS a
matter OF course the starving rebel soldiers
suffered but Davis succeeded in reaching
Danyile In safety, where he rapidly recov-
cred from the fright he had sustained, and
astonishcd his followers by proclamation as
and and ed%py as his rtun
Whether the tone of this extract is that of
chlyalrous generosity and courtesy, or OF
coarse and bitter vulgarity, is a minor ques-
ton. which 1t is not necessary to discuss.
whether It's statements are true or false, is |
one OF more interest, with regard to which it |
will be found on analysis that there is but
one positive truth in the whole passage |
There are at least four positive falsehoods in
proof; one assertion of a sort perhaps not
capable of being finally tested by positive |
evidence, but contrary to the statements of
witnesses and to all moral and circumstan-
tial proof to which it can be subjected; and |
tar0 others, with regard to which | am not |
fully informed, but which are at least i'm |
probable and not in harmony with known |
facts.
NJ, ,,,,,, b., VI, ~; ,,1a,,z A.. ..,. 4.., , ~,
contained in the first sentence that a certain |
telegram was received on q certain day by |
President Davis, while seated in St. Paul's |
church, Richmond, O
The statement Immediately following, that |
he did not receive this dispatch with self
possession or dignity" but that he left the |
house with tremulous and nervous haste |
like weak mag in the hour of misfortune
Is that which have classified as one perhaps
not capable OF &eing tested by positive proof
and this not fro anyoloubt of its entire UNI
truth, but on al ount of the subjective char
acter Of the only evidence that can be applied
to IT, Two observers, the one sef-possessed |
and impartial, the other either frightened
himself, or imbued with the malignant spirit
that seems to animate the pen of Zen Wilson.
might form very different estimates of the
pemeanor of the object of their observation.
Gen. Wilson does not profess to have been q
witness Of what he describes, nor does he give
the name Of his informant, although his nc-
count IS directly contrary to all the statements
oil actual witnesses that have heretofore been
generally received. Whatever other acc,lsa-
tions may be entertained no one familiar
with the character and history of Jefferson
Davis whether honest friend or candid foe,
Will believe that he ever exhibited weakness
or lack of self-posscsson in time of peril or
calamity.
Let us hurry on, however, to an examina-
ton OF the positive, patent falsehood in respect
to matters of fact contained in Gen Wilson's
1irst paragraph. Il am very DESTROYS of
q hnrT
euphemism for falsehood at all applicable to
this case.
l., '"He left the house of worship arGa hur-
ried home"
On the contrary, he went to the executive Of
nee, which was not in the same part of the
city with his home, and there called meet
ing OF his Cabinet, which continued in session
Tor several hours. at this session there was
no hurry or confusion. On the contrary. the
calmness with which the grave questions ,ln-
der consideration were discussed by the prir-
cipal member of the council, and his apparent
lndl1erence to his personal safety and private i;
de did not go to his home until late
~ the afternoon. O
2. He and his more resolute wife spent the
rest IT. Of the day in packing their persoSll bag
This statement and the highly-colored de-
scrption which follows, of the opacking" and {
q the rage and disappointment" of Mrs. !
DAVIS, are pure fiction, presumably of Gen. {
" Visions own invention for it is well known c
that Mrs Davis and all the President s family i
had left Richmond some time before and were L
at this very time either in Raleigh or Char
.otte, North Carolina. The packing of Mr..
Davis official papers was done by the gentle Nv
men OF his personal staff; that of his wear g
ng apparel by his servants. t
1t would be beyond the scope Of my present C
purpose to pause here to pay more than 2
casual tribute to the soldierlike and chival- c
rous ,magnanimity that could invent story 3
ike this Tor the sake of making an opport,i-
nifty to jeer and sheer at the distress of a lady u
n time OF danger and calamity
). HE drove rapidly to the train, *lA
by his family IN
This statement is merely a variation of the Ii
previous fiction, without even an atom of h
in fact, and needs no further COM a
nent. %