MILITARY: Sabre Strokes of the Pennsylvania Dragoons in the War of 1861-1865 - Chapter 19 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/1pa/1picts/dornblaser/sabre-strokes.htm ________________________________________________ SABRE STROKES of the PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS in the WAR OF 1861-1865. INTERSPERSED WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES By T. F. DORNBLASER 230 SABRE STROKES CHAPTER XIX. CAPTURE OF JEFF DAVIS. THE Confederate President and his Cabinet retreated from Richmond in advance of Lee's army. At Danville, on the southern border of Virginia, the train halted long enough for Davis to issue a flaming proclamation, designed to inspirit the fainting and sinking hearts of the Confederacy, 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." Davis was very good at urging others to face the danger; but as for himself, he preferred to keep out of harm's way. He pretended to be utterly astounded at the news of Lee's surrender to Grant. The Confederate government now took to wheels again, and retreated to Greensboro, N. C., where it halted for a few days, cooped up in a railroad car, ready to move at the cry of the conductor, "All aboard." The imminence of Johnston's surrender to the invincible Sherman necessitated another flitting. PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 231 But this time their progress was impeded by the destructive raid of Stoneman's cavalry. This time the car had to be abandoned, and Davis and his associates were compelled to flit in wagons and on horseback across the country to Charlotte, N. C., where the Confederate ark rested a few days. The inglorious surrender of Johnston, and the uncomfortable nearness of Stoneman's cavalry, compelled these devoted priests of the ark to resume their journey southward, in quest of some "Canaan," - some land of cotton and of corn where the "Yankees" ceased from troubling, and the weary ark might rest. Davis, the high priest, and Breckenridge, his subordinate, conceived the idea that Texas, the empire beyond the mighty river, was ordained by the Architect of the universe to be the land of promise. Accordingly the high priest, and the Sanhedrim, with an escort of two thousand hired horsemen, determined to ride into Canaan, or, as the sequel proved, into some other place. In the meantime, the Federal cavalry was spreading a net across the Southern States to catch these distinguished fugitives. Col. W. F. Palmer, of the Fifteenth Pennsylvania, with a division of Stoneman's cavalry, was patrolling the headwaters of the Savannah river as far down as Augusta. General Wilson laid his net farther south and west, in the State of Georgia. 232 SABRE STROBES. General Upton was sent to Augusta; Winslow, with the Fourth division, was sent to Atlanta to watch all the fords and ferries across the Chattahoochee; McCook, with a small brigade, was sent to Tallahassee, Florida; Croxton distributed his division along the line of the Ocmulgee as far south as Macon; Colonel Minty extended his troopers along the Ocmulgee, Altamaha, and Flint rivers, from Macon southward as far as Jacksonville. Turning again to the fugitives, we find them in worse perplexity. They had journeyed southwest through Yorkville, Unionville, and Abbeville, S. C.; but as they approached the Savannah river, which was guarded by Palmer's Videttes, the members of the Sanhedrim began to resign - Trenholm, Secretary of the Treasury; George Davis, Attorney-General, and Rabbis Benjamin and Mallory, left the fallen President to his fate, and the armed escort of two thousand dissolved into a corporal's guard. This remnant of the Confederacy succeeded in slipping through the fingers of Palmer's troopers, and having reached Washington, Georgia, they were discussing the safest route to take with their forlorn hope. Wilson's complete cordon of cavalry in the west forbid any further attempt to reach Texas, and the ill-fated President turned his longing eyes toward the coast of Florida, where he hoped some friendly PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 233 ship would take him in, and land him on some island far away. Turning southward, he sent his family and a small escort in wagons on the main roads, while he, in the garb of a drover, was hunting his way through the by-ways and hedges. Passing Milledgeville on the east, he crossed the Oconee at Dublin, and was aiming to cross the Ocmulgee near Abbeville. On the seventh day of May, four days after Davis had left Washington, Ga., there was great excitement in our camp at Macon. Minty's brigade was ordered to move at once, with three days' rations, in pursuit of Davis. Every "bone-rack" in camp was mounted and spurred to the utmost speed. Colonel Harnden, of the First Wisconsin, moved south on the east side of the Ocmulgee, and struck the trail of the fugitives at Dublin, and followed in hot pursuit. Minty's brigade galloped south on the west side of the river, and struck the trail at Abbeville. We camped for the night near the deserted camp-fire of Davis's party the night before. At midnight, a citizen reported the exact location of Davis's camp, one mile south of Irwinsville. Colonel Minty would naturally give his own regiment, the Fourth Michigan, the preference. He sent Lieut. Col. Pritchard with his regiment in advance, followed two hours later by the Seventh 234 SABRE STROKES. Pennsylvania. The Fourth Michigan surrounded Davis's camp before daylight on the tenth of May, 1865. At the same time the advance of Colonel Harnden's regiment approached from the opposite direction, and being halted by Pritchard's men, a sharp skirmish took place in the dark, each supposing the other to be the remnant of Davis's escort, and two of the Fourth Michigan were killed, and a number wounded out of both parties, before the mistake was discovered. At daylight Col. Pritchard gathered up his trophy, consisting of Davis and family, postmaster Reagan, four officers, eleven soldiers, and a few colored servants. Our column halted by the roadside, to let Davis's train pass to the rear. The train consisted of several wagons, and an ambulance for the Davis family. The train halted a few minutes, while we got a good square look at the crest-fallen president. Davis held in his lap a little girl, and a ten-year-old boy of his; by his side sat Mrs. Davis and Miss Howel. He was well protected. No one, however, seemed to have any desire to kill him. A few citizens along the way said to us, "Why don't you hang him to the first tree you come to ?" The band very naturally struck up a patriotic air suited to the words, "We'll hang Jeff. Davis on a sour apple tree." This ragtag of the Confederacy, drawn by hun- PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 235 gry-eyed mules through an interminable pine forest, guarded by the gleaming sabers of a victorious army, was enough to sink the proud heart of the ex-Confederate President into the bottomless pit of despair. At Macon, Davis junior, the ten-year-old boy, said to our soldiers, "If the Yankees hang papa, I'll be avenged." This boy had some of his mother's grit, and doubtless spoke his mother's sentiments. The friends of Davis have always denied that he attempted to deceive his captors by disguising himself as a woman. The only reliable information, concerning this matter, must be gathered from the testimony of eye-witnesses. It is a fact that all the officers and members of the Fourth Michigan, who participated in the capture of Davis, agree in the following statements: that during the skirmish referred to, three persons, in female attire, emerged from one of the large tents, and were seen by one of the guards hurrying toward the thick woods. They refused to obey the summons to "halt," and were at once confronted by Corporal Munger, who, recognizing one of them as Jeff. Davis, demanded his immediate surrender. He noticed the old lady's hair cropping out above the little shawl, worn as a head-dress. In walking back to the tent Adjutant Dickinson noticed, under the skirt of the waterproof, his high-top boots, which helped to confirm his identification. 236 SABRE STROKES. Captain G. W. Lawton, of the Fourth Michigan, says in an article in the Atlantic Monthly of September, 1865, that the testimony of eye-witnesses is, "that Davis, in addition to his full suit of Con-federate gray, had on a lady's waterproof cloak, gathered at the waist, with a shawl drawn over the head, and carrying a tin pail on his arm." Colonel Pritchard, in his official report, says, "that he secured from Mrs. Davis the identical shawl and cloak used by Mr. Davis on that occasion." The testimony is clear that the three women, (supposed to be) who tried to escape the vigilance of the guards, and hide in the thickets, were Mrs. Davis, Miss Howel, and Jeff. Davis. On the way back to Macon, we encamped, one sunny afternoon on the banks of the Ocmulgee; and after our dusty march, the whole regiment seemed to turn in for a bath. Some of the boys dived down from the limbs of trees overhanging the water, and swam to the opposite shore with the ease and grace of a mandarin-duck. The writer did not wish to be outdone, although he had never before ventured far from shore in water where he could not touch bottom on tip-toe. What possessed him to make the venture, he has never been able to explain. Nevertheless, he plunged in like the rest, and swam with comparative ease to the farther shore. After a short rest, he PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS. 237 swung in on the home-stretch. In the middle of the river he felt some obstacle strike his foot: immediately his imagination pictured to his mind a huge alligator, with jaws wide open ready to devour at one gulp this average-sized "Yankee." He knew that the extravagant stories of "John," our colored cook, about riding astride of alligators, were all legendary, yet they helped somewhat to magnify the impression of this horrid picture. The excited swimmer struck out with a double set of oars, and before reaching the shore his breath was gone, and his strength was exhausted. He let himself down, but failing to touch bottom, he made one more desperate effort to near the shore. Dropping his oars the second time, he was just able to touch bottom on tip-toe. Having effected a safe landing, the writer resolved never to make another such a foolish venture. On the thirteenth of May, we arrived at Macon with our distinguished prisoners. Colonel Pritchard and a small detachment of the Fourth Michigan conducted ex-President Davis, Vice-President Alex. H. Stephens, and Clement C. Clay, jr., to Washington. Davis was confined as a prisoner for two years in Fortress Monroe, when his worst enemies during the war, such as Horace Greeley, took pity on him, and secured his release on a bail-bond of one hundred thousand dollars, the same sum which had 238 SABRE STROKES. been offered for his arrest. The conduct of our soldiers and of the Federal government toward this fallen enemy, affords an exhibition of soldierly magnanimity and judicial clemency, unparalleled in the history of nations! Other historians do not seem to know it, nevertheless, the "Seventh" was there, and paid its respects to the ex-President!