Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-04-29
Mistellanepns &eadiua.
THE CONFEDERATE CHIEFTAIN.
4 DAY WITH EX-PRESIDENT JEFFERSON
DAVIS.
from the New York Sum-.

from the New York Sum-.
81 went out to the Exposition races at
New Orleans the other day with jeff
Davis" said Col. Pat DOMAIN recently. "The
party, for whom I had admission tickets,
included Mr.. Payne, an old friend of Mr..
Davis, and Col. Robert n. Ogden, popularity
known as Bob Ogden, and one of the most
brilliant men in Louisiana. Col. Ogden
had been telling me of: Mr.. Davis wonder
full memory, and I had often heard of it
from others, but when l met him l had a
personal demonstration of it that more than
realized all that had ever been said to me.
He had never seen me but once in my life,
and that was nearly twenty-three years ago,
when, as a boy with q face as smooth as a
girls, I was commissioned in Richmond to
raise a battalion of cavalry in the noun
tains of Virginia and Kentucky and yet
he recalled my face instantly.
"The Ex-President of the Southern Con-
federacy is apparently in much better health
now than he was then, and looks little DID,
er. He walks with a firm step, and carries
himself with military erectness. l told
him he seemed stronger than when | had
seen him all those years ago, and he said
I was right; his health is better and time
has, all things considered, touched him
lightly. Speaking of my living in Dakota,
he gave me many interesting reminiscent
ces of the time he was stationed in the
then unknown and savage wilderness, as an
officer in the United States army, fifty one
years ago. Then there was not a white
settlement north or south of Prairie du
Chen, and the whole vast region north
west of Fort Dearborn, now Chicago, swarm
ed with Indians.
II told him that 1 never took a party OF
friends wei the Chicago, Milwaukee and
st. Paul Railroad without pointing out to
them, near Portage City, Wisconsin, the
log cabins that mark the site of old Fort
Winnebeg,. where he was stationed more
than a half century ago, and that, assocl-
ated with his name, it was one of the places
of interest to which the railroad conductors
and brakemen always call the attention OF
tourists. He seemed pleased to learn that
his name had gone into the classics of that
beautiful region of lakes and dells. I did
not tell him the whole story that always
accompanies the view of the ancient fort
that it was here he came after clipping with
the only daughter of Old Zachary Taylor,
and that the people of Prairie du Chen,
then a frontier post, showed their sympathy
with the runaways by giving them a big
reception as they passed through to the
last outpost of civilization.
"Mrs. ClementC. Clay, of Alabama, whose
husband shared Mr.. Davis imprisonment
after the civil war, and who is one Of the
most remarkable women the South ever
produced, gave me the sequel of this elope-
ment scrape. Gen. Taylor never forgave
either Davis or his daughter until the night
after Davis led the famous charge of his
regiment of Mississippi rilemen at Buena
Vista. About midnight an orderly present
ed himself at Col. Davis tent and announc-
ed that Gen. Taylor wished to see him at
headquarters Immediately. The two men
had never spoken since the one had stolen
the daughter of the other. Davis knew
the passionate temper of the old man, and
instantly conjectured that the sudden and
preemptory summonsb BODIED no good to him.
In deep anxiety he hurried to the Generals
tent, entered the door and saluted, without
speaking OF moving a step inside. The
door was closed in moment, and odd Rough
and Ready with his arms outstretched
rushed forward and embraced his long-ig.
nored son-in-law, exclaiming, BY - my
daughter knew you better than 1 did. For
give me! forgive me!
INSTRUMENTATION SO dramatically brought
about was a lasting one, and to the day Of
Old Zach's death, sixteen months and four
days after his Inauguration as president of
the United States, he and Mr.. Davis were
friends.
Though he is now far past the Scriptural
life-limit of three-score years and ten, Mr..
Davis is a charming companion for an after
noon Of commonplace races, and the range
of his information seems almost infinite.
Col. Ogden gave me an amusing instance of
the effects of this semi-omniscience on an
untutored native of the Southern swamps.
Nick Ducheneville has a hunting lodge near
the east end of Lake P~ontchartrain, and is
a noted character in his region. He is an
expert on dogs, hunting and fishing and all
accessories to these sports, and is a good
hearted fellow, who will, now and then, or
%oftener, get on a bowling spree, and is al
ways g~rotesquely profane. Out on a gun
ming expedition with him three or four
weeks ago, Col. Ogden happened to mention
Jeff Davis. Nick said: That airs a man
I want to see. I was in his war four years,
o~1 r o;r3f ax,or 1oil ny,n ~, hty, Wit
What kim O. mar is he, Colonel"
"Col. Ogden replied: Nick, Mr.. Davis is
a great man, a very great man. There is
nothing he doesn't know. Why, Nick, he
knows more about medicine than any doc
tor you ever saw, and more about horses
than any of our sporting men. He can tell
you more about hunting and fishing than
any of our hunters and fishermen. He can
sail a boat or put on a fly better than eth
er of us. Why, Nick, he knows more about
boats and guns and dogs than both of us
put together
"Nick's eyes had been gradually swelling
during this eulogium, and here he burst
out with, BY gum, Colonel, he must be
a great man! Know more about boats
and guns and dogs than l do! Lord, what a
whale he must be! I'd give a dollar jist to
look at him, by gum!
"About week later Mr.. Davis was sitting
in the office of one of the little lakeside
hotels with a party of gentlemen who were
out on a d~uck-shooting excursion. One of
them had a handsome blue setter, and the
Confederate ex-chieftain was explaining
how that particular strain ofdogs originated
in this country, stating, 1 think, that the