The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-09
Last Hours of Confederacy HoW Breckenridge Escaped.

tary Reagan remained for a short | while to transfer the treasury in his hands. except a few thousands. and then reJoined me on the road. This bonded officer of the navy. and his as sistant, Mir Tidball with instructions. as soon as 1t could be done. to trans l port it abroad. and deliver 1t to the commercial house which had acted as the financial agent of the Confederate ! government. and was reported to have incurred liabilities on its account" When the cavalry reached Washing | ton, the scouts reported that they were | surrounded on all sides by the Union l army. To get this treasure abroad I would have been impossible. Had Da- | wis been there then he would have | realized 1t. Had it remained in Wash fallen into the hands of the Federal | troops. 5fF
 Colin J. McRae. who was the Con | federacy's agent abroad was on his way to this country, when the Confed- eracy fell; he was joined by Mir. Ben janlin. the Secretary of State. and to- | gether. as soon as possible. they went l to France. Colin McRae said that new CT to his knowledge, or Mir. Benjamin's did any money of the Confederacy go l to Europe. Mir. Davis and his cabinet did not have any of tt, when they were captured.
 Pa.sionafe speeches. That night the soldiers knew pdsi- lively that General Johnston had sur rendered all the troops under his com- mand. There was meeting in the l open air, and, for the first time In it's history. General Ferguson's cavalry was dfsorderfy.
 l There were passionate speeches. and the question of submitting to the terms lrT Trrs e- sna .1s~ l Some said they would never surrender; they were for joining Maury and For rest in Alabama; thenDon to the trans- 1 Mississippi. and uniting with Kirby l Smith. They knew how to fight, these I veterans. but they did mot know how l to surrender.
 They had gone. when General Fergu- had obeyed every order he had given 1 them. but even that gallant. kind hearted leader, whom every man in his brigade loved could not control them I that night
 Finally. when the feeling was hot I test. there rose a man. who was ever e | leader among men. Burweli B Lewis and he spoke to them quietly, dignifi- ediy. as was his way, and he told them 1 that it was a soldiers duty. to obey; l when their commanders ordered them | to light it was their duty to fight; when they ordered them to charge, 1t was their duty to charge, 1t mattered | not what; when they ordered them to I lay down their arms. 1t was their duty I to lay down their arms. General I Johnston had surrendered them; they were part of bis armyv they were surrendered. S
 l When he ceased speaking there was the quiet of death over that little I camp, and each soldier knew whatever was done. would be done orderly. | That night they disb anded. so quietly that the citizens of Washington hardly knew it. The next morning there was l only about thirty-hve or forty soldiers left in Washington. These would stay, until their general told them to go. Some of them were his stan officers. They all clustered around him. for the | last fareweil: he looked at them. and | for the first time they saw him culver; 1 he. who had riden at their head, and without a tremor, ordered them to 1 charge. when 1t seemed as if he was l sending them into the very gates of | hell itself, and they had gone. gay, laughing. raising their rebel yell. but there. was not dry eye now. It was ] the tears, as can only come to the eyes l of brave men. He tried to speak to them; 1t was not much he could say. but he told them that parting with them was sadder than defect. I Farley With OppOnents.
 On the opposite side of the road. sit- ting on stump. was General Brecien- ridge. His son, who had joined him at | Washington was with him. General 1 Breckenridge was directing his pack ing: he was going through his bag gage. and throwing away everything 1 not absolutely necessary. While he 1 was thus engaged, one of the pickets came up. and reported that the Federal soldiers were just down the road. Q | little way. General Breckenridge turn ed to General Ferguson, and said, as coolly and composedly, as if he had been on one of his own Kentucky hunt l ing fields. General let some of your men go down the road, and barley with them awhile about the paroles" l This was done. Rnd General Brecken- ridge went on With his preparations: he took out of his baggage several boxes of fine c.gare. Well" he said. these are too good to leave behind for the Yankees, but don't see how I'm to carry them all."
 He filled his pockets with them, and handed them to his son. saying, 'fhand them round to the boys. and divide them out"
 | A few minutes more, and he had fn- ished; he bade those near him a touching goodbye; sprang on his horse: l saluted officers and men, as if he was
 
 can let them come on now. I'm ready"
 And straight south, right across the fields, with only h.s son accompanying him. and his enemy on every side of him. rode the Secretary of War of the Confederate States.
 There, on May ', 1865, with that dominent figure of the Kentuckian rid ing towards the sea went the last 1 of the Confectionery. Did they meet him, any of those Federal soldiers? If so. the country was full of soldiers re- turning to their homes. how little did they suspect that one of those two ap- parently unconcerned men was the man they were looking for7
 As soon as he had left. the soldiers started home. Tn a few hundred yards the met the Federal troops. Little did those Federal soldiers dream. when they met that small party of ragged. sub dued men, that If they had attempted to come into Washington one-half hour before, they would have had to come over the dead body of everyone of them to get there.
 A few days, later the forces of Maury and Forrest In Alabama and Kirby smith in Texas had laid down their arms, and the Confectionery was no more.
 The Tax Ga4hereP Is Sure to Appear. | Huntsville Mercury.
 1 The subjects of the Mikado now ! grooming under heavy load of war