Surely the Bottom Had Fallen Out: Escorting President Davis in the Final Days of the Confederacy

The author of this article, name unknown, served as a private in General George G. Dibrell’s cavalry command which had charge of the Confederate government’s archives during the final days of the Confederacy. He recounted those disheartening final days in an article originally published in the Chicago Tribune in 1892.

 

President Jefferson Davis and his government had been on the move for more than two weeks before our correspondent joined the column at Greensboro, North Carolina on April 17, 1865. When the column reached Salisbury a few days later, he became convinced that the "bottom of the Confederacy had fallen out. I felt it in my soul." Davis, however, remained confident of ultimate success. 

          There are not many of us left who accompanied Jefferson Davis from Greensboro, North Carolina to Washington, Georgia. We reached the former place at or about midnight on April 17, 1865, with orders to escort and guard the president and his Cabinet and the archives of the Confederate government.

          Solemn is no word to apply to that cortege. Still I don’t believe there was that agony that one beholds in Meissonier’s wonderful painting of 1812. But there was no hilarity, I can assure you. Mr. Davis was always affable, kind, cheerful, and resolute. We rode at the head of the column all the way. General Samuel Cooper and Judah P. Benjmain [Secretary of State] rode in an ambulance as did Mr. George Trenholm [Secretary of the Treasury] and family.

If I remember correctly, John Reagan [Postmaster General] and Lubbock of Texas and Preston Johnston, a nephew of Albert Sidney Johnston, ride to the right of President Davis while upon his left were George Davis [Attorney General] and General Isaac M. St. John. There were also Quartermaster General Alexander R. Lawton, Chief Engineer Gilmer, and their staffs. I had fought all through the war as a high private in General George Dibrell’s command and had never been in so much exalted company before.

I never put my eyes on Mr. Davis until then, nor anyone of those I’ve named. But you should have seen us when we arrived at Salisbury. Here were remnants of the lost armies from Georgia, Virginia, and various parts of the Carolinas, all being pushed to a common center by Grant, Sherman, Stoneman, Wilson, and other victorious Federals. No pen can describe or pencil delineate the heart-rending scene. Here we had the president of the lost cause, many civil functionaries, gilt-edged officers and half-starved soldiers, Negroes, and refugees. Here was the debris such as will never be aggregated again. Surely the bottom of the Confederacy had fallen out. I felt it in my soul.

General George G. Dibrell

But on we pressed and at every little town or crossroad we encountered refugees and furloughed Confederates who would thrill us with the unwelcome intelligence of Stoneman’s approach. I remember particularly after we had crossed Yadkin River that General Dibrell received word from General Samuel W. Ferguson that Stoneman was nearing Charlotte and so we marched all night, arriving at Charlotte about sunrise. I must admit we did not want to see Stoneman; still we felt somewhat disappointed when we discovered that he had deceived us and burned all the bridges over the Catawba. The end was near.

We were soon again on our way. General Ferguson moved out of Charlotte a few hours after we arrived and proceeded to Nation’s Ford at a point where the Columbia Railroad crossed the Catawba. Shortly afterward, General Basil Duke with about 480 veterans of John Morgan’s renowned cavalry put in an appearance on artillery horses and wagon mules, bareback and all other ways. These animals had been picked up here and there as the Kentuckians had been dismounted at Christianburg. Soon Echols and Vaughan came with about 400 men and the same day Mr. Davis made that speech which was so falsely reported. [President Davis and his Cabinet stayed in Charlotte from April 18-26, 1865.]

How many of us were there in all? I’d say about 2,800 men, 1,300 of whom were under Colonel W.C.P. Breckinridge. But there was not much fight left in us I can assure you. And a great many were disheartened and not a small number utterly demoralized. Two days afterward, General John C. Breckinridge [Secretary of War] arrived from Greensboro and informed us of his agreement with Sherman and the existence of a truce was officially promulgated.

On the morning of the 26th, we started for Abbeville, South Carolina. Our original intention was to cross the Catawba at Nation Ford, but high water, burnt bridges, and other obstacles necessitated a change of route and we went by way of Yorkville and Unionville to Cokesbury and arrived at Abbeville on May 1st.

In the meantime, news had reached us of Joe Johnston’s surrender and that General Bragg had disbanded the 2nd and 3rd South Carolina Cavalry. The fall of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakeley, the occupation of Mobile, and the successes of Wilson came along with the other shocks. Then came rumors of Forrest’s defeat at Selma and Stoneman’s capture of Athens and the occupation of Atlanta, Macon, Augusta, and the utter demoralization of that part of Johnston’s army that had not surrendered. I saw the utter hopelessness of reaching the Mississippi.

On the afternoon of May 2nd, President Davis had a meeting with his five brigade commanders as explained by historian James Walmsley. Davis expressed optimism of the ultimate success of the cause, but “one of the officers, local tradition says it was Basil Duke, when finally asked by Davis if the soldiers would fight said, “Mr. Davis, they will risk anything for you.” With some asperity Davis said, “I did not ask that, will they fight for the Confederacy?” Thus pressed, Duke said, “Mr. Davis, they think the war is over.” All agree that Davis seemed to collapse at this statement.”

Davis would push on, eventually escorted by only a select group of 20 horsemen and would be captured May 10, 1865, near Irwinsville, Georgia by a detachment of the 4th Michigan Cavalry.

For further details, I recommend Basil Duke’s article “Last Days of the Confederacy” which was featured in Volume 4 of Battles & Leaders.

Sources:

“In the Last Days: Stirring Scenes in the South During the Closing of the War,” Western Veteran (Kansas), August 10, 1892, pg. 3

“The Last Meeting of the Confederate Cabinet,” James E. Walmsley, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January 1916, pg. 344

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