Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1883-01-05
JEFF. DAVIs'S MARRIAGE
n rf"s eO.sI~~sf~troH vr srorres ne
Gently Published In -. Louis.

ST. LOUIS, January 4.-A correspondent
writes to the St. Louis Globe Demserat as
follows: The letter of @Johannes Factoium,n
in your journal of January 1st, contains a
complete refutation of the slanderous gossip,
forty eight years old, Which he had been
misled into reporting in his previous letter
TO you OF December I'd, about Mr.. Jefferson
Davis. The attention Of Mr.. Davis having
been called to that gosssp, he thought proper
to send 10 an old personal friend private
letter, from which the writer of this COM
munication takes the liberty, without con-
sultation with him, to give some extracts, as
furnishing the most authentic disproof OF
the incidents, to which the letters of "Johan-
mes Factotum" relate, in the early life of the
chief of the late Southern Confederacy.
Mr.. Davis says of the letter of December
2, 1882, that "every incident it relates is to.
tally destitute of the least foundation in
truth" That letter placed him At Prairie
du Chen in 1884, and he continues: II was
then serving in the First Dragons, United
States army, west OF Arkansas. The letter
describes me as engaged in a game of draw
poker-a game which, 30 far as know, did
not then exist, and of which / have never
learned even the first rules. No officers
of the names given belonged to the First
Infantry when 1 served in it, and 1
never knew the John Lorraine it
describes. There was no officer Of
the name OF Harrison who ever served
with me at Prairie du Chen, and 1
had no such difficulties as those the letter
details with any one. While was on duty
at Dubuque my orders required me fire.
quently TO 60 TO Galena. The son of the
hotel.keeper, Reading Bennett, was we'll
known 10 me, and, if he were living, would
promptly brand the statement of the letter,
SO far as he and / are concerned, as false
hood. The truth is, l never drank nor
gsmbed, and any one who ever served with
me would probably say that in my youth /
was overwilling TO fight.
The story of the elopement with Gen. Tay-
lor's daughter is as upfounded as the rest
was one OF the tw F6cers selected from
the First Infantry for Promotion In tue nsw
regiment OF dragons organized in March,
1s4S, which separated me from COL Taylor's
regiment. In 1885 went TO Kentucky,
where Miss Taylor wss with her fathers sis
ter, near Louisville, and there married her
in the presence Of Gen. Tsylor's brother,
sister, his son.in-law and daughter fDr. and
Mre. Wood), with many other members of
the Taylor family. I served under Gen
Qormerly COLI Zachary Taylor in the siege
OF Monterey, and was one of his commits
sioners to arrange for its capitulation. This
TACT sumciently explodes the scene described
ss occurring at Buena Vista.p
This statement OF Mr. Davis effectually
disposes of the oft-repeated tale of Gen
Tayloris ill-feeliug toward him and their
reconciliation on the battlefield of Buena
Vista; that brilliant victory toward which
the then Col. Jefferson Davis 30 ably and
gallantly contributed, was gained several
| months after the capitulation OF Monterey,
and what is thus lost to the quasi "romsnce
| OF history" will be q gain to the accuracy o.
biography, which will always be OF interes
10 all students of the true history Of tn,
| great American civil war.