The capture of Confederate president Jefferson Davis

Spring -- the time of the year when life renews itself and all the earth turns green again. In Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the Confederate States of America, daffodils bloomed just as they did in the north. But, on April 2, 1865, the Confederacy itself was dying. Deep down President Jefferson Davis realized that this was the case, but he stubbornly refused to accept inevitable.

On his way to church this Sunday morning, Davis was intercepted by Postmaster General John Reagan. A dispatch had been received at the War Office. General Robert E. Lee’s thin gray line had been shattered at Petersburg and the Rebel army was retreating. Davis didn’t believe it at first. There had been no official word from Lee.

After church, Davis called a hasty meeting of his cabinet. He showed them Lee’s telegram. Then he ordered the government’s immediate withdrawal from Richmond. They would establish a new capital at Charlotte, North Carolina.

Twelve days later, an actor named John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Lincoln. Davis and his cabinet had just arrived in Charlotte when he heard the news. Davis responded, “I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln; but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather have heard than this. I fear it will be disastrous for our people and I regret it deeply.”

Davis’ lament reflected his own knowledge of the makeup of the U.S. Congress at the time. It was filled with men called Radical Republicans -- members of Lincoln’s own party who vehemently opposed his liberal reconstruction policies. While Lincoln wished to welcome the returning states with open arms, the radicals wanted to severely punish the defeated Confederacy. While Lincoln had made it clear that he wanted Jefferson Davis to escape the country unmolested to avoid further antagonizing loyal Southerners who may be reluctant, but willing, to rejoin the Union, the radicals in Congress wanted to hang Jeff Davis from the proverbial sour apple tree.

Andrew Johnson was now president but the country was actually being run by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, an egotistical bully and foe of Lincoln who fit nicely into the radicals’ plans. Stanton’s rein of terror began when he started throwing suspects in the Lincoln assassination into jail on the flimsiest of evidence. Then he turned to Davis himself, imagining him to be central to the conspiracy to murder Lincoln.

Stanton offered a $100,000 reward for the capture of Jefferson Davis and lesser amounts for members of the Confederate Cabinet. Since there were reports that Federal cavalry was roaming the countryside looking for Davis, it was decided that the caravan, carrying Davis, various members of his cabinet, the Confederate archives, and much of the treasury, should move southward to Florida.

Although Lee had surrendered to Grant at Appomattox and talks were progressing for General Joseph Johnston to surrender his troops to Union general William T. Sherman in North Carolina, Davis still believed that the Southern cause was not totally lost. He would travel from Florida to Texas by boat to regroup and reorganize the government. But the large reward hanging over his head made an attractive prize for any bounty hunter who was brave enough to challenge the Confederate cavalry that accompanied him. He had to move fast.

Just outside Washington, Georgia, Davis discharged those troops who requested it. Most of the remaining soldiers galloped off in a westerly direction to confuse pursuers, leaving Davis with a small detail of soldiers to accompany him south. All the wagons were gone -- just men on horseback. Davis was almost assured of escape. But fate intervened in the form of his wife.

Varina Davis was traveling in a slow caravan with the couple’s children, also heading south. Davis had no more settled into camp for the night when he heard that a group of the soldiers that he had just discharged planned to double back and rob the wagons. Davis leaped into the saddle and galloped off toward Varina and the children, followed by Captain Given Campbell and a troop of cavalry.

Early the next morning Davis and his escort caught up with his wife’s caravan. Varina was both glad and disappointed to see her husband. He had put himself in great danger of being captured by attempting to rescue her. Davis traveled with his wife’s caravan that day, all the time Varina trying to persuade him to travel south without her. He would stand a better chance without the encumbrance of wagons and children.

In the meantime, the search for Davis by the Federals was becoming more frantic. Stanton knew he was headed south and would probably board a ship and slip away. Federal commanders were ordered to guard every port and ferry on the Ocmulgee and Altamaha Rivers.

Luck was with the Federals. An informer told Lieutenant Colonel B.D. Pritchard that Davis and his party had just passed through Abbeville, Georgia, and were headed in the direction of Irwinsville. Davis and his party had just made camp when the Federals attacked. Awakened by the firing, Davis jumped up fully dressed. When he looked out the tent flap he saw that blue-coated cavalry had already surrounded the camp. His wife was terrified, afraid that they would shoot her husband on sight.

“Go!” she screamed. “Get away!”

On his way out of the tent, Davis grabbed a waterproof sleeveless raglan that he assumed was his own. He was wrong. It belonged to his wife. Then Varina threw her shawl over his shoulders before he ran out into the night.

Davis hadn’t gotten 100 feet before he encountered a Federal trooper who ordered him to surrender. The former president of the Confederacy dropped his shawl and waterproof. He thought for a moment that he would attempt to unhorse the trooper and gallop away. But he was weary -- dog-tired from his flight South. Instead he murmured, “God’s will be done.” Then he sadly turned away.

NOTE: Much was made of the fact that Jefferson Davis was captured wearing his wife’s shawl and raglan. A rumor started in the North that he had been captured wearing one of his wife’s dresses. The Radical Republicans, wanting to degrade the former president of the Confederacy in any way they could, encouraged the report with such vigor that it soon became generally accepted as the truth.