SOUTHWARD FLIGHT OF JEFFERSON DAVIS. spirit the Confederates to a determined prosecution of the contest; saying: "We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to move from point to point to strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free. "Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any one of the States of the Confederacy. That Virginia-noble State-whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent history-whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this war-whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious in all time to come-that Virginia, with the help of the people and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held and defendel, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory. "If, by the stress of numbers, we should ever be compelled to a temporary with drawal from her limits, or those of any other Border State, again and again will we return, until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people resolved to be free. Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen; but, relying on God, meet the foe with fresh defiance and with unconquered and unconquerable hearts. "JEFFERSON DAVIS." 755 citizens saw fit to throw open their houses when the imminence of Johnston's surrender compelled another flitting "—this time in wagons and on horseback: the railroad having been disabled by Stoneman―via Salisbury to Charlotte, N. C., where its foundering ark again rested for a few days; and where, unlike their fare at Greensboro', the falling President and his Cabinet were received with consideration and hospitality-until, alarmed by the reported approach of Stoneman's cavalry, it resumed its flittings southward, via Yorkville and Abbeville, S. C.; being now compelled to take entirely to horse, and escorted by 2,000 cavalry, who, as well as the Presidential cortege, gradually dwindled by the way: thus reaching" Washington, Ga., where the rapidly dissolving view of a Government was dispensed with— most of the Cabinet itself having by this time abandoned the sinking craft, leaving Davis attended by Reagan (late Postmaster-General, now acting Secretary of the Treasury) and his military staff; and the remaining fugitives, with a small but select escort of mounted men, took their way southward: perhaps intent on joining Dick Taylor or Kirby Smith, should either or both be still belligerent, or, at the worst, hoping to make their way to some petty port on the coast, and thence out of the country. Mr. Davis had even separated, for greater safety, from his family; but, on an alarm of peril to which they were said to be exposed from a conspiracy to rob them of the gold they were supposed to be carrying off, had rejoined them over night; when his He waited there several days, in anxious expectation of the approach of Lee, or at least of tidings that he was still confronting and baffling the Union forces; until astounded" by advices of his surrender at Appomattox. The Confederacy thereupon took to wheels again-there being no acceptable alternative-and retreated by rail to Greensboro', N. C., where another considerable halt was made -the days and nights spent mainly in the cars by President, Cabinet, and followers; since very few of the sylvan encampment near Irwinsville, liberty. Secretary Reagan-the only person of consequence captured with Davis-was taken to Boston, and confined, with Vice-President Stephens (captured about this time also in Georgia), in Fort Warren; but each was liberated on parole a few months thereafter. Ga., was struck" by Lt.-Col. Pritch- | Macon," whence Davis was taken, ard, 4th Michigan cavalry, who, upon via Savannah and the ocean, to Fortadvices that what remained of the ress Monroe; where he was long Rebellion was making its way fur- closely and rigorously imprisoned, tively southward through Georgia, while his family were returned by had been dispatched" by Gen. Wil-water to Savannah and there set at son from Macon in quest of him; as had also the 1st Wisconsin cavalry, Lt.-Col. Harden. These two commands, moving by different roads down the Ocmulgee, Pritchard at length struck the trail he was seeking, and followed it to the encampment aforesaid; which he surprised at early dawn; easily taking captive" Mr. Davis, his wife, her sister, and his children; but being, directly there-ed after, involved in a fight with the 1st Wisconsin, which was closing in on the quarry from another quarter, and -each taking the other for enemies -the two commands opened a reciprocal fire, whereby two men were killed and several wounded before the mutual mistake was discovered. The dead were borne sadly to Abbeville, and there buried; the wounded, with the prisoners, were conveyed to 24 With regard to Davis's alleged attempt to elude his captors in female guise, the following étatement by Lt. C. E. L. Stuart, of his staff, probably embodies the literal truth: "When the musketry-firing was heard in the morning, at 'dim, gray dawn,' it was supposed to be between the apprehended [Rebel] marauders and Mrs. Davis's few camp-defenders. Under this impression, Mr. Davis hurriedly put on his boots, and prepared to go out for the purpose of interposing, saying: They will at least as yet respect me.' "Ha, Federals !' was his exclamation. with emotion. "In a moment, she caught an idea-a woman's idea-and, as quickly as women in an emergency execute their designs, it was done. He slept in for a time to menace a protracted, The following general order seemthough not doubtful, struggle in Texas: "HEADQ'RS TRANS-MISSISSIPPI DEP'T., SHREVEPORT, La., April 21, '65. "Soldiers of the trans-Mississippi Army: "The crisis of our revolution is at hand. Great disasters have overtaken us. The Army of Northern Virginia and our Commander-in-Chief are prisoners of war. With you rest the hopes of our nation, and upon I appeal to you in the name of the cause you your action depends the fate of our people. have so heroically maintained-in the name a wrapper-a loose one. It was yet around him. This she fastened, ere he was aware of it, and then, bidding him adieu, urged him to go to the spring, a short distance off, where his horses and arms were. Strange as it may seem, there was not even a pistol in the tent. Davis felt that his only course was to reach his horse and arms, and complied. As he was leaving the door, followed by a servant with a waterbucket, Miss Howell flung a shawl over his head. There was no time to remove it without exposure and embarrassment; and, as he had not far to go, he ran the chance exactly as it was devised for him. In these two articles, consisted the woman's attire of which so much nonsense has been spoken and written; and, under these circumstances and in this way was Jefferson Davis going forth to perfect his escape. No bonnet, no gown, no petticoats, no crinoline-nothing of all these. And what there was, happened to be excusable under ordinary circumstances, and perfectly natural as things were. "But it was too late for any effort to reach his horses; and the Confederate President was at last a prisoner in the hands of the United States." "May 13. THE RAVAGES OF THE SHENANDOAH. of your firesides and families, so dear to you -in the name of your bleeding country, whose future is in your hands. Show that you are worthy of your position in history. Prove to the world that your hearts have not failed in the hour of disaster, and that, to the last moment, you will sustain the holy cause which has been so gloriously battled for by your brethren east of the Mississippi. "You possess the means of long resisting invasion; you have hopes of succor from abroad. Protract the struggle, and you will surely receive the aid of nations who already deeply sympathize with you. "Stand by your colors-maintain your discipline! The great resources of this department, its vast extent; the numbers, the discipline, and the efficiency of the army, will secure to our country terms that a proud people can with honor accept, and inay, under the providence of God, be the means of checking the triumph of our enemy and securing the final success of our E. KIRBY SMITH, General." cause. At a public meeting held at Shreveport on the receipt of news of President Lincoln's assassination, 26 Though the war on land ceased, and the Confederate flag utterly disappeared from this continent with the collapse and dispersion of Kirby Smith's command; it was yet displayed at sea by two of the British-built, British-armed, and (mainly) British manned cruisers engaged in the spoliation of our commerce; whereof the powerful iron-clad Stonewall, after having been for some time watched by the Niagara and the Sacramento in the Spanish port of Ferrol, finally ran across to Havana, where she arrived after the fall of the Confederacy, and was taken in charge by the Spanish authorities, who promptly handed her over, May 28, 1865, to Rear-Admiral Godon, who, with a formidable fleet, had been sent, May 16, to cruise among the West Indies in quest of her. Admiral Godon brought her into Hampton Roads June 12, and turned her over to the Navy Department. There still remained afloat the swift steamer Shenandoah, Capt. Waddell, built at Glasgow in 1863, and which, as 'the Sea King,' put to sea from London, Oct. 8, 1864, in spite of the protests of our functionaries; having cleared for Bombay: but which was met at a barren islet off Madeira, Oct. 17, by the British steamer Laurel, from Liverpool, with officers and men, nearly all British, who, with guns and munitions, were promptly transferred to the henceforth Rebel corsair Shenandoah, which at once engaged in 757 Gen. Sheridan had been sent to New Orleans, and was there fitting out a formidable expedition for the rethe capture, plunder, and destruction of our merchantmen; in due time, turning up at Melbourne, Australia, where she received a hearty and munificent welcome. Having left that port, Feb. 8, 1865, she was next heard of in the North Pacific, the Sea of Ochotsk, and northward nearly to Behring's straits, where she raided at will among our defenseless whalers, of which she burned 25 and bonded 4-many of them after she had received the news of Lee's and Johnston's surrender and Davis's capture. Finally, having been assured by a British sea-captain that the Confederacy was no more, she desisted, four months after the collapse, from her work of destruction, and made her way directly to her native country; anchoring Nov. 6, 1865, in the Mersey; whence Waddell addressed a letter to the British Minister, surrendering her in due form to the British Government; by which she was in turn tendered to ours, and most unwisely accepted. As she had never attempted to enter a Confederate port, nor (so far as is known) any other than British, and as she had never been manned by any other than a (substantially) British crew, and as she still stood, up to a very late day, on the official registry of British shipping as the British steamship Sea King, she ought to have been left on the hands of her legitimate owners. covery of Texas, when the good sense | low the rank of Colonel who would of the Rebel rank and file in that State saved her from a hopeless and damaging experience of the horrors of war. While the chiefs were still making preparations for a desperate resistance, their hitherto submissive followers bluntly refused to be thus foolishly sacrificed, and, dissolving their organizations, they helped themselves to whatever they could seize of the effects of the death take the oath of allegiance, and the mustering for review at Washington" of the two main armies of the Republic, gave earnest of the virtual termination of hostilities; which was soon afterward formally announced in the following General Order: "WAR 66 WASHINGTON, D. C., June 2, 1865. "Soldiers of the Armies of the United States: By your patriotic devotion to your country in the hour of danger and alarm, your magnificent fighting, bravery, and endurance, you have maintained the supremacy of the Union and the Constitution, Sheri-forcement of the laws and of the proclamaoverthrown all armed opposition to the entions forever abolishing Slavery-the cause and pretext of the Rebellion-and opened the way to the rightful authorities to restore order and inaugurate peace on a permanent and enduring basis on every foot of Ameriin distance, duration, resolution, and brilcan soil. Your marches, sieges, and battles, liancy of results, dim the luster of the world's past military achievements, and will stricken Confederacy, and dispersed be the patriot's precedent in defense of lib erty and right in all time to come. In obedience to your country's call, you left your re-homes and families, and volunteered in her defense. Victory has crowned your valor, and secured the purpose of your patriotic hearts; and, with the gratitude of your countrymen and the highest honors a great and free nation can accord, you will soon be permitted to return to your homes and families, conscious of having discharged the highest duty of American citizens. To achieve these glorious triumphs and secure to yourselves, your fellow-countrymen, and posterity, the blessings of free institutions, tens of thousands of your gallant comrades have fallen and sealed the priceless legacy with their blood. The graves of these a grateful nation bedews with tears, honors their memories, and will ever cherish and support their stricken families. "U. S. GRANT, Lt.-General." The wholesale discharge of Rebel prisoners of war-to whom was accorded transportation to their respective homes-was directed by an order from the Adjutant-General's office, dated May 6th. The number actu CONCLUSION-APPENDED NOTES ally released, after the close of hostilities, was 63,442; while the number surrendered and paroled in the several Rebel armies was 174,223. Among these were many regiments mustering from 11 up to 65 men; 10 regiments consolidated that mustered but 238; 8 regiments of Texans reduced from 10,000 to 456 in all; one regiment having 40 left, out of its original 1,200. It is doubtful that all the effective Rebels in arms on the morning of Lee's surrender were equal to 100 full veteran regiments of 1,000 men each; while the Union muster-rolls had shown, on the 1st of March, an aggregate force of 965,591 men; whereof 602,593 were "present for duty," beside 132,538 on detached service"-that fatal 66 759 subtraction from the efficiency of armies. Of the residue, no less than 179,047 were either in hospitals or absent on sick leave; 31,695 were either on furlough or prisoners of war, and 19,683 absent "without leave." By August 7, no less than 640,806 had been mustered out of service: and this aggregate was increased by Oct. 15 to 785,205. Thus rapidly, as well as peacefully and joyously, were the mightiest hosts ever called to the field by a republic restored to the tranquil paths of industry and thrift, melting back by regiments into quiet citizenship, with nothing to distinguish them from others but the proud consciousness of having served and saved their country. APPENDED NOTES. As many of these were mustered in twice, and some thrice, while hundreds of thousands deserted who were never under fire, it is probable that not more than 1,500,000 effectively participated in suppressing the Rebellion. The total population whence these were drawn, including the available portion of the Southern Blacks, can not be computed higher than 25,000,000: so, more than one-tenth of the entire male population of the United States who were not Rebels must have actively participated in the suppression of the Rebellion. Of the 1,500,000 who fought on our side, 56,000 fell dead on the field, and 35,000 more are recorded as dying in hospital of wounds; while 184,000 perished there by disease. It is probable that enough more died after their discharge, I. of diseases or infirmities contracted in the service, to swell our aggregate loss by the War from 280,420 to 300,000. Of our Whites enlisted, one-tenth died in the service; of the 180,000 Blacks, 29,298 died, or nearly one in six. Of these, eight in every nine died in hospital; proving the Blacks either less hardy than Whites, or their exposure far greater. Probably, their employment to garrison posts in the South-West, specially subject to miasmatic influences, may have enlarged their bills of mortality; but the comparative idleness of garrison life often proves more fatal than the exposures and hardships of active campaigning. If we may presume the losses of the Rebels equal to those of the Unionists (and the percentage of mortality among their wounded was probably greater, because of their inferior hospital service and sanitary arrangements), the actual aggregate loss of life because of the War is swelled to 600,000. Add 400,000 crippled or permanently disabled by disease, and the total subtraction from the productive force of our country because of the Rebellion reaches the stupendous aggregate of 1,000,000 men. |