Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Raab, George March 17, 1846 - March 11, 1935
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joanne Weimer joanneweimer@yahoo.com February 11, 2007, 6:09 pm

Author: Flint Journal Newspaper

Flint Man is Sole Survivor of Detachment Which captured Jeff Davis at Close of
Civil War; Will be 89 in March

Solve survivor of the detail which captured Jefferson Davis, president of the
southern Confederacy, at the close of the civil war, George Raab recalls his war
adventures of 70 years ago as though they were yesterday.

Sitting in his home at Sylvan court he recounts with unflagging zest the story
of how the Fourth Michigan cavalry and the First Wisconsin were sent to capture
Jefferson Davis, who was supposed to be going to Florida coast  and hence to
England.

It is a colorful story as he relates it. From the two regiments, 130 men, of
whom he was one, were sent ahead to surround Davis’s camp early in the morning.
The Davis expedition was a small one –including only Mr. and Mrs. Davis, their
two children, two of the Confederate cabinet members and some Negro servants,
all traveling in an ambulance in which the slept.

Tells of Capture
“When we came up, Jeff Davis came out dressed in a long water proof coat, with a
woman’s shawl over his head and a water pail over his arm,” Mr. Raab
recounts.”Mrs. Davis called to ask if her “mother” could go to the spring to get
some water, but as the confederate president started out, someone in the Union
forces called out to Mrs. Davis. ‘What in the hell is your mother wearing spurs
for?’ Davis ad his horse tied in the woods and was going to make a dash for it”

The capture was made near Irwinville. Ga., on May 10, 1865 and concluded with a
brief flurry of fighting between the detail and more of their own forces who
were mistaken for Confederate soldiers in the early morning. When the union
colonel arrived, Davis’ young son marched up to his captor and cried. ‘When I’m
a man, I’ll avenge my father.’

The colonel sent a dispatch to union general at Macon, who sent a brigade to
bring back the captives least an attempt be made to deliver the southern leader.
 Mr. Raab was one of the ten men assigned to guard he ambulance until the
brigade arrived.

Has Davis’ Mirror
He still owns a hand mirror from Davis’ effects and for a while had a gray felt
hat of Davis, which he is sorry now that he threw away a little late when he
bought a new hat. He also remembers a story to the effect that in Jefferson
Davis’ trunk when he was captured was $30,000, which a Union solider buried
until he could come back for it later. He is a little doubtful about the truth
of that tale, however.

The veteran remembers that the expedition to capture Davis was generally
unpopular, since the Confederate army had been allowed to go home safely, and
the opinion even of the soldiers who made the capture was that Davis should have
received the same treatment.

The Confederate leader, who Mr. Raab describes as ‘a fine man and no more a
traitor than any of the others,” was imprisoned in Fort Monroe for two years.
The veteran recalls that one of Davis’ horses—a dapple gray—was brought back to
this vicinity by a Lapeer man, who once rode the steed into Flint.

“War is an awful thing,” Mr. Raab said the other day.” People used to stand up
and shoot at each other and then chat back and forth when the shooting stopped I
hope the United States will never get into another war.”

89 Years Old
The veteran, who will be 89 years old on St. Patrick day, enlisted in Flint on
Jan 5, 1864 and was discharged Aug 15, 1865 in Nashville. Dr. George W. Fish
prominent Flint physician and later United States consul At Tunis Africa was his
regiment surgeon and Dr. Fish’s oldest son was the company commander.

Mr. Raab came through the war without being wounded, although he declares that a
bullet once came so close it blistered his nose.  He was thrown from his horse
however, and suffered a spine injury which has troubled him ever since.

He is the only surviving charter member of Gov. Crapo post of the G. A. R., of
which he was president three times.  The post now has only seven members, as
compared with 400 soon after the war. Mr. Rabb, who came to Flint when he was 10
years old, lived in the Fourth ward when it was a pine forest. He was supervisor
an assessor in the ward for 24 years. A cabinet maker by trade, he made many of
the pieces of furniture which are now in his home.



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