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

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

Arming the Buckeyes: Longarms of the Ohio Infantry Regiments

Image
     A common question that comes up in conversation about Civil War Buckeye regiments is "What were they armed with?" We are fortunate in that the state of Ohio kept good records of how the regiments were armed when they went into service, this being especially true for those regiments which went into service in 1861 and 1862. The state adjutant general's reports for 1861 and 1862 have been heavily drawn upon to construct this article, as well as consultation with Phil Spaugy who has done extensive research on how Ohio's troops were armed during the war.      Buckeyes carried a fairly wide variety of weapons into the field, and the below article breaks this down into weapons of both domestic manufacture and imported arms. The early days of the war found the state of Ohio practically bereft of longarms; as an example, when the 1st and 2nd Ohio Volunteer Militia left the state in late April 1861, they left unarmed, being armed at Lancaster, Pennsylvania on t...
Read more

Bullets for the Union: Manufacturing Small Arms Ammunition During the Civil War

Image
       Civil War bullets are perhaps the most common item collected from the era; the two armies expended bullets by the millions during the four years’ conflict and spent or deformed bullets of all shapes and sizes have made fascinating and affordable collectibles since the guns went silent in 1865.       I recently acquired a display piece featuring 35 different types of small arms ammunition used during the Civil War, including everything from a small .28 caliber ball up to a .69 caliber three-ring Minie and it triggered some questions: how did the Federal army obtain its small arms ammunition during the war? Where did the lead come from to make the bullets, and where and how was the ammunition manufactured? This post seeks to answer those questions. A typical .58 caliber 3-ring Minie bullet   “Whenever the blasts of war blow in the ears of men who trade in the implements of destruction, they are apt to experience more joy than the true ...
Read more

Dressing the Rebels: How to Dye Butternut Jeans Cloth

Image
     In the early days of the Civil War,  the Southern states found themselves with an abundance of cotton but a shortage of cloth with which to make army uniforms. The trade in cloth prior to the war had largely been to send raw cotton or wool north to New England (or Great Britain) where it was converted into usable cloth; but now that trade was broken and the Southern states were thrown upon their own resources in their efforts to properly clothe the Confederate army.  This collection of Confederate enlisted men's frock coats and shell jackets gives some indication of the variety of shades of butternut worn during the war. All of them are shades of yellow brown, some heavier on the yellow and some heavier on the brown. The blue used around the collar or as rank insignia indicates that the soldier was in the infantry. Surviving Confederate uniforms are considered rather rare and command quite a healthy price in the collecting market. For an in-depth study of h...
Read more

The Wizard of Oz and the Civil War

Image
T he 1939 film The Wizard of Oz has delighted viewers for 85 years and ranks as a personal favorite, especially during the Halloween season. While watching it with the family the other night, I wondered if there were any connections between the film and the Civil War. Not surprisingly, the answer is yes and those connections touch both the blue and the gray.           Interestingly both “witches” in the film not only had Civil War ancestors but had connections with Civil War soldiers from Ohio. Margaret Hamilton, the “Wicked Witch of the West,” was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 9, 1902, to attorney Walter Jones Hamilton and his wife Mary Jane Adams; Margaret’s grandfather was Judge Edwin Timothy Hamilton. Judge Hamilton had served as a private in Co. D of the 84 th Ohio Infantry during the summer of 1862. The 84 th Ohio, a three months’ regiment, served nearly the whole of its service attached to the Railroad District in western Ma...
Read more

The Vaunted Enfield Rifle Musket

Image
     The English-made Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield Rifle Musket was widely regarded as the best infantry arm in the world at the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861. Favorable international press describing its efficiency in the Crimean War and in suppressing the Indian rebellion led to the widespread desire of American infantrymen (both Federal and Confederate) to be armed with these accurate and well-made arms. The lock plate of this well-worn P1853 Enfield rifle musket produced in 1862 shows the typical markings of a British-made weapon that made it through the Federal blockade.  ( Army of Tennessee Relics ) Enfield-pattern weapons were imported into the states by the tens and hundreds of thousands during the war years; one estimate stated that the Federal government purchased 500,000 while the Confederates purchased another 400,000. The Confederate government dispatched Captain Caleb Huse to Europe in April 1861 to purchase weapons and Huse focused on se...
Read more

In front of Atlanta with the 68th Ohio

Image
  The arrow corps badge of the 17th Army Corps was worn by many members of the 68th Ohio in the latter days of the war.       Private Edward A. Bigelow of Co. F of the 68th Ohio Volunteer Infantry wrote this brief account of the Battle of Atlanta just two days afterwards to his father back home in Henry County, Ohio. The regiment formed a part of Colonel Robert K. Scott's three regiment all-Ohio brigade consisting of the 20th, 68th, and 78th regiments, being designated the Second Brigade of the Third Division of Frank Blair's 17th Army Corps. Bigelow's letter originally appeared in the Napoleon Press newspaper and was copied in the Toledo Daily Commercial which was providential as no known copies exist today of the wartime Napoleon Press.  
Read more

Charging Battery Robinett: An Alabama Soldier Recalls the Vicious Fighting at Corinth

Image
W riting 30 years after the Battle of Corinth, James A. McKinstry of the 42 nd Alabama recalled his experiences storming Battery Robinett with Colonel William P. Rogers of the 2 nd Texas and expressed guilt that it was perhaps his action that brought about the colonel’s demise. “On seeing a line of Federals approaching, and before giving the situation a thought, I immediately raised my gun and fired full into the breast of a Federal sergeant, who was in front of the column, and only a short distance from us.  'Twas then that Captain George Foster shouted, "Cease firing, men! cease firing!" and waved his handkerchief, then I realized the true situation. 'Twas too late! That fatal volley had been turned on our little band from the muzzles of 1,500 muskets. I was still standing just as I was when I fired my last shot, and within a few feet of Colonel Rogers, when a Minie ball went crashing through my left hip and turned me half round; another went tearing through my ...
Read more

Cook & Brother of New Orleans

Image
    The lockplate of a New Orleans-made Cook & Brother Enfield rifle produced in 1862 shows the fine craftsmanship that became the hallmark of the maker throughout the Civil War. Note the stars and bars flag at left, an emblem used on C&B's production throughout the war and the Cook & Brother, N.O. 1862 markings. Earlier production weapons at New Orleans had the flag located just above the maker's name while later weapons produced in Athens, Georgia would have a modified flag and Athens on the plate followed by the serial number.        In the spring of 1861, two English-born businessmen, Ferdinand and Francis Cook of New Orleans, perceived the need for the South to have its own domestic production of firearms and  set out to prove "that rifles could made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe." The brothers  elected to produce copies of the British Model 1853 .577 caliber Enfield rifle as this was considered the benchmark longarm...
Read more

I Want to See a Battle: A Hoosier at Shiloh

Image
W riting in his diary, Private Manius Buchanan of the 29 th Indiana recalled the eagerness with which his regiment marched towards Savannah, Tennessee with the sounds of the battle of Shiloh ringing in their ears.           “The forced march was kept up until 2 p.m. when we were halted until 4 p.m,” he noted. “The rest was really needed, but the continual question is ‘Why are we stopped here?’ The sound of battle increased in volume and anxiety to be up and doing grows more intense. As I am weak from a late sickness, I am urged to fall to the rear; but no, in common with all, I want to see a battle and fear this will be my only chance.” The regiment would go into action the following afternoon, and of the four neighborhood boys who had enlisted together in Co. B, only Buchanan escaped unscathed. One afternoon's exposure to the horrors of battle was all it took to satisfy this Hoosier's desire to see the elephant. “I wanted to see a battl...
Read more

An Interview with Forrest in May 1864

Image
  “The noise of battle is the only music that ravishes the senses of Forrest.” I t was May 1864. Back east, the Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac were locked in the deadly dance of the Overland Campaign while in Georgia, General William Tecumseh Sherman's army squared off against General Joseph E. Johnston and the Army of the Tennessee in the campaign for Atlanta.       Based in relatively quiet northern Mississippi, General Nathan Bedford Forrest bided his time waiting for a Federal advance from Memphis. Earlier in the month, General Samuel Sturgis led a brief campaign into Mississippi but Forrest was sure Sturgis would venture out again. In the meantime, he tried to keep his reorganized command intact despite persistent demands from his superiors that he return the absentees and deserters who inflated his ranks (nearly 1,000 in number) to their original commands.      Around this same time,  an old acquaintance from Me...
Read more