The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1907-03-12

To all suggestions that the young
people were in love with each other,
he would make the invariable reply
that mo honorable man would thus
defy the wishes of parents and no
truly affectionate daughter would be
so regardless Of her duty"
1t was not long before the whole
army knew of the Fort Crawford
e1opement, and Lieutenant Davis ask
ed for transfer to another station.
Shortly afterward he resigned from
the army and returned to Mississippi
to engage in cotton farming.
Doubtless time would have soften
ed the anger of the parents and in
the end reconciliation and forgive
ness would have followed this, as It
has many another runaway match.
But, Unexpectedly, few short months
after her marriage, the young bride
died, and their daughter, upon whom
they had lavished SO much affection,
passed away without having seen
again either of her parents.
This incident made a great impress
sion upon Colonel Taylor, who, how
ever stern in manner, had warm
heart and forgiving nature, and he
deplored the fact that he had no OPP
portunity to be reconciled to his
child.
Many years passed, and Colonel
Taylor had made a brilliant record
for himself in the Florida war, where
he had conquered and punished the
Seminoles of the Everglades.
Runaway Denied by Some Biographers
Some of the biographies of Jeffer-
son Davis, in denying the story, of the
runaway marriage, assert that Colonel
Taylor was a widower, and for that
reason the young couple went to a
relative Of the bride in Kentucky to
have the ceremony performed. Mrs.
Taylor lived to accompany General
Taylor through the Florida war, and
went to the White House with him,
after his election as the twelfth presi.
dent of the United States. She lived
short time after his death, and died
in East Pascagoula, La, in August,
1852.
Therefore, Miss Taylor did not go
from Fort Crawford to Kentucky to
be married, for the reason stated, for
both her parents lived then at Fort
Crawford, where young Davis was
also stationed. Under ordinary cir
cumstances, the wedding would have
occurred at General Taylor's house.
But be that as it may, none of the
Taylor family ever saw Jefferson
Davis again until he and General Tay-
lor met thirteen years afterward on
the field in Mexico.
General Taylor's family were liv-
ing at Fort Jessup, near Baton Rouge,
La, when he was named by President
Polk as commander-in-chief of the
army of occupation on the Texas bor-
der. Signs Of trouble with Merico
were giving the country great anxiety,
and there was sigh of relief when
it was known that Old Rough and
Ready was in command.
Mrs. Taylor and Miss Betty, the
youngest daughter, remained in their
home at the garrison while the war
continued. The eldest daughter had
married and was residing in Balti-
more. Both General and Mrs. Taylor
still felt their loss in the deah of
their daughter Sarah, and the inter-
vening years had not made them for
get that she had gone from them
against Their wishes.
Mr.. Davis had, after the death of
his wife, lived on his cotton farm
in Mississippi, remaining a widower
until 1916, when he married Miss
Varina Howell, whose death occurred
a short time ago in New York. At
the breaking out of the Mexican war
he was a member of congress, which
office he resigned to become colonel
of the First Mississippi regiment.
At Monterey the First Mississippi
was stationed at one of the forts in
the suburbs of the city and in the
battle that ended with the defeat of
Ampudia, its Mexican defender, JEFF
ferson Davis received slight wound.
Before this event, at the time and
subsequently it was noticed that Col
Onel Davis and General Taylor never
met, and it was evident that this was
by design and not the result of acct
dent. The cause of this was freely
discussed and it came to be known
that reconciliation had never taken
place between them.
So things remained until the close
of the three days struggle that ended
in triumph at Buena Vista.
1T was on this OCCASION" says the
author of the Ladies of the White
House" when victory seemed hesitat-
ing where she should bestow her
wreath, when the men of the North
and West had exhausted their ener-
giles, when Clay, Crittenden, Yell and
their brave compatriots slept in death
on the bloody field-at this moment,
when Santa Anna believed and an
nounced himself the hero of the field,
and when he concentrated his favorite
troops to make a last charge upon
our dispirited and exhausted columns,
that Colonel Davis, at the head of the
Mississippi regiment, nobly sustained
the shock and sent the foe back dis
appointed and dismayed. Then it was
that Old jack seeing by whom he,
his gallant men and his country's
honor had been saved, had no place
In his heart but for gratitude, and the
long-estrangei embraced each other
and wept tears OF reconciliation upon
the battlefield"
In his official report of the battle
n