Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1905-02-24
GEN. MILES ON THE TREAT
MENT OF DAVIS.

Though Gen. Nelson a. Mics ue-
clared in IN interview in Boston yester-
day that he did not intend to make any
reply to the letter of Mrs. Jefferson
Davis, in which she charged General
Miles with perpetrating cruelties as Gus
todian of her husband, Jefferson Davis,
at the close of the civil war, he has
written an article for this weeks issue
of the Independent on "My Treatment of
Jefferson Davis" in which, after refer
ring to the assassination OF President
Lincoln, General Miles mentions that
Mr.. Davis did not surrender with his
principal armies, but at was his inten-
lion. as he admits in his own book,
The Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government to try to escape and cross
the Mississippi so that he could join the
Confederate army in that section and
continue the war"
"He was hunted down and caught
near Irwinville, Ga. He was sent TO
Fortress Monroe to await trial on the
charge of completely in the assassination
of Mr. Lincoln. 1t was the expectation
and purpose of the government to bring
him to trial on that charge as soon as
the trial of the assassins then going on
was completed" A
General Miles quotes the proclamation
of President Johnson that it appeared
from the evidence in the Bureau of
Military Justice that the murder of the
late President. Abraham Lincoln, and
the attempted assassination of William
ii. Seward, Secretary of State, "were
melted, concerted and procured by and
between Jefferson Davis and
other rebels and traitors"
Details for the close study of Mr..
Davis were drawn up by Major-General
Halleck, aud Charles A. Dana, Assistant
Secretary of War, went by direction Of
the Secretary ofWar to Fortress Monroe,
where he issued an order that "Major-
General Miles is hereby authorized to
place manacles and letters upon the
hands and feet OF Jefferson Davis and
Clement G. Clay whenever he may think
it advisable, in order to render their
imprisonment more secure.
General Miles relates thai notification
was sent to Fortress Monroe of several
plots to effect the escape or rescue of
Mr.. Davis. To comply with what was
suggested by the orders of Assistant
Secretary Dana and General Halleck
eight anklets we're placed upon the
ankles Of Jefferson Davis in order to
prevent the possibility of his attempting
to jump past the guard or commit any
act OF violence while the wooden doors
were being removed from the room
which he occupied and grated doors
substituted. These did not prevent
his walking about the room. \ = The
change of doors was completed in
five days, and the anklets were then re-
moved"
General Miles says Mr. Dayis's physi-
cal condition at that time has been mis-
represented, that he was strong and
agile, that when the anklets were put
on him he knocked down one powerful
man and it took four strong men to hold
him.
"There was not the least desire"
continues Generul Miles, 'or purpose
on the part Of any official of the govern
ment to place any indignities upon Mr..
Davis or in any way to humiliate him."
General Miles inserts in his article the
following letter from Mrs. Jefferson
Davis as an answer TO the insinuations
that discourtesies were shown to Mr..
Davis:
Fort Monroe, Va, May %, 1865.
Please receive my thanks for your
courtesy and kind answers to my ques-
tons of this morning May 2s). can
not quit the harbor without begging you
again to look after my husbands health
for me. Yours very respectfully,
VARINA DAVIS.
Every precau:iou, says General Miles,
was taken to prevent the possibility OF
Mr.. Davis health being impaired by his
confinement. General Miles produces
evidence in the form of letters to SUBJ
stantiate this. He adds that all the
changes that were made from time to time
to give Mr.. Davis more liberty aud adj
ditional comforts were made by him
Miles or upon his recommendation.