The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-10-14

either Mr.. Cobb OF myself. but neither of us
were candidates, and neither would consent to
have a struggle, so they agreed with the three
States that had spoken. Texas, informally rep
resented, acquiesced, and MIR. Davis was elected.
/ was not on good terms with Mr.. Davis. He
appointed me Secretary of State. / declined to
accept If, preferring TO 60 at once to the field. l
was urged to reconsider, and at length did so,
fearing that my refusal might be considered as
significant of a lack of harmony"
Mr.. IOombs was never satisfied with his posi-
ton in the Cabinet. and resigned in September,
1861, to accept a position in the field. General
Toombs was a fine soldier and a brilliant fighter.
General Longstreet once said of him: II have
seen him in battle often, and | never saw a
Drawer man lead a brigade At tho battle of
Antietam. while the attack upon the confederate
left and center was in progress. General Burn
side made repeated efforts to force the bridge,
which bears his name. over Antietam creek, op-
posite Longstreets right wing, defended by
General Toombs with two regiments of his own
brigade and the batteries of General Jones.
This small force, under the immediate command
OF General Toombs, repulsed five different as
saults made upon it by greatly superior num-
bers.
General Toombs attributes the failure to es-
tablish a Southern Confederacy to the mistake
of having placed a West Point martinez, in the
person of jefferson Davis, in the presidential
chair. In his estimation a man Of a different
type was needed-one who would nave con-
ceded that men who had not graduated at
West Point were possessed of brains and
might be useful in organizing and defending the
nation that was to be. He says Davis was thor
oughly incompetent for the position he held.
His forte was magazine writing. He would
have been a successful magazine man, but in the
practical, everyday life he was utterly lost.
There was never a moment during the war
when Davis actually appreciated the situation.
Why. after the march of the confederates from
Rappahannock to Sharpsburg and back again,
when they had swept everything before them
numbers not awaiting anything against them
Davis thought the war was over, and actually
began to quarrel about who had whipped it. He
was as jealous as a Barbary hen, and once
started to have me arrested for ridiculing him.
l am thoroughly satisfied that the establishment
of a government under Mr.. Davis was an impos-
sibility. Indeed, the fight was haphazard from
beginning to end. without method or statesman
ship, and sustained by only the~most miraculous
valor as long as it was. The Constitution was a
good one, but there the praise of the confederate
government and its works must end"
The confederate government went to pieces in
the town where General Toonbs lives. Mr..
| Breckenridge, and Mr.. Reagan. and others came
to his house, and Mr.. Davis stopped at a neigh
boris house. From that point each man went to
save himself. General Toombs, who was pro-
tected by the terms of capitulation, remained at
his home in Washington, Ga. Secretary Stanton
issued an order for his arrest, and the federal
officer who was to execute it told an old comrade,
then An eX-confederate. He sent a courier to
Mr.. Toombs, and when the soldiers came to
make the arrest his wife was at the front door,
while the General put out the back gate on his
white mare. Gray Alice, for the mountains. He
reached Ebert county, twenty miles north of
Washington; then went over to Tallulah,
where he remained several weeks in dis
guise, and was known as Major Morton. A
detachment of the Twelfth Kentucky regiment
of cavalry and of a regiment from Michigan
were sent to Ebert county to capture him. 1t
soon became evident that he must either be
captured or leave the country. He bought a
small vessel near Columbus, and had worked
his way down the Chattahoochie river when the
federals captured his little ship. He then went
back to the mountains, and next struck out for
Mobile, where he was sheltered by Miss Evans,
the authoress of ''Beulah," 'St. Elmo" etc.
From Mobile he escaped to New Orleans. and
was taken to Havana by a British ship. From
thence he proceeded to France. and from thence
to England, where he was admitted to the bar
and ~practiced for some time. He then returned
to Canada and finally came home.
General Toombs's only public service since
the war. beyond work on the hastings, was to
take a seat in the State constitutional conven-
ton that put aside the old Constitution of 1867
and made "a new one. In this body General
Toomos was distinguished for a very determined
fight on the railroad monopolies. He advanced
the money out of his private pocket to pay
the expenses of the convention, and the
State REIN bursed him at a later period.
He was a princely liver, but a most careful
fnancier. Beneath all his apparent eck!essness
There was Il CuTFcnb VI SureWu puSlueSS SENSE
that led him to drive a sharp trade and knit a
bargain. He is quite wealthy, his estate being
valued at probably $500, 900. His income from
his law practice has reached $40, 900 per annum
His hopes OF political preferment died with the
COnfederacy, and he felt no ambition to 90 back
to the Senate and retrace his steps. AT the close
of the war he could have had anything within
the gift of the people. and he is still immensely
popular. Since the death of Mrs. Toombs, three
! years ago, he has united with the Methodist
Church, of which she was a lifelong member.
He has never taken the oath of allegiance under
the provisions of the amnesty proclamation, and
has the singular distinction of being the only
native born white man in this country, except
Jefferson Davis, who is debarred from the rights
and privileges of citizenship. He says life with
him now is too short for animosities, and that he
has 20 foes, and cherishes no resentments. He
has made all things ready for both worlds, and it
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