1865 September 9: More on Jefferson Davis–Speculation on His Trial, Connection with Wirz; a Pardon Revoked and a Colonel Attacked

The following summary of the news comes from the September 9, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.  Due to the length of the article it was split into two parts, this being the second part, with the first part published yesterday.

Telegraphic Summary.

[continued]

Governor Fletcher [John C. Fletcher], of Missouri, has written a letter declaring that the constitutional provision requiring preachers and teachers to take the oath of loyalty, will be enforced by the employment, if necessary, of the entire military strength of the State.

A public meeting was held in Richmond, Virginia, on Tuesday last, at which resolutions were adopted avowing sincerity in the taking of the oath of allegiance, acquiescing in the results of the war, (the abolition of slavery included), and expressing confidence in President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] and Governor Pierpont [Francis H. Pierpont].

It is reported that the brother of Alexander H. Stephens has received permission to visit the rebel “vice-president” at Fort Warren.

Davis [Jefferson Davis], Clay [Clement C. Clay] and Mitchell [sic: John Mitchel], are now permitted to read newspapers.  The letter of Davis to his counsel, Gillett, is the only communication which he has as yet been allowed to send off.

The Lincoln monument fund (at Springfield, Illinois) now amounts to $50,600.

It is said that the President and Secretary Stanton [Edwin M. Stanton] favor an early trial of Jeff. Davis, by a civil court—Knoxville, Tennessee, being preferred by Mr. Johnson as the locality of the proceedings ;  that, if the trial shall be held before Chief Justice Chase [Salmon P. Chase], it will take place at Norfolk, Virginia, which point will suit the friends of the prisoner ;  and that, when the trial shall occur, General Butler [Benjamin F. Butler] will take a prominent part in the prosecution of the rebel chief.

The report that Davis, in a conversation with a visitor, had disavowed all knowledge of the existence of Wirz [Henry Wirz], and of the cruelties perpetrated at Andersonville, is pronounced untrue.  The only person who has had an interview with Davis, beyond the officers in charge, is a son of the President’s ;  and the conversation on the occasion of his visit, related merely to the physical condition of the prisoner.

Herald’s Richmond correspondent says orders revoking the pardon of Mr. Dudley,² president of the York River R. R., emanated from President Johnson himself in consequence of Dudley, subsequent to receiving the executive clemency having indulged in strongly disloyal language.

Col. Mellon,³ of Vicksburg, was attacked by a band of robbers, near that place, a few days ago.  He killed three or four and succeeded in making his escape.

FORTRESS MONROE, Aug. 31.—Jeff. Davis has been attacked with erysipelas¹ for the second time since his confinement ;  the first attack was very slight, but this one is more severe, although not looked upon as serious.  The health of Mr. Clay is improving.

1.  Erysipelas, Greek for red skin, also known as “Ignis sacer,” “holy fire,” and “St. Anthony’s fire” in some countries), is an acute infection that typically has a skin rash on any of the legs, toes, face, arms, and fingers. It is an infection of the upper dermis and superficial lymphatics, usually caused by Beta-hemolytic group A streptococcus bacteria on scratches or otherwise infected areas. It can recur in 18-30% of cases.
2.  An Alexander Dudley of King and Queen County, Virginia, was pardoned by President Johnson on July 6, 1865. The Richmond and York River Railroad was instrumental to the Confederate war effort on the Peninsula, but was wrecked during the Peninsula Campaign.

Alexander Dudley’s pardon of July 6, 1865, from Pardons Under Amnesty Proclamations, compiled 1865–1869. A1 1005, 26 rolls. ARC ID: 638273. General Records of the Department of State, 1763–2002, Record Group 59. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C. ; digital image available on Ancestry LibraryEdition.

3.  Probably Thomas Armour Mellon (1826-1873), who was colonel in the 3rd Mississippi Infantry, CSA. He had served in the Mexican War in the 5th Mississippi Infantry at Vicksburg (1846), and lived in Hinds County, Mississippi, which is the next county over from Vicksburg (Warren County).

1865 September 2: Death of Governor Brough; Provost Marshals’ Offices to be Discharged; News of Davis, Clay, and Mitchel

Following are smaller news items from The Prescott Journal of September 2, 1865.

— Gov. BROUGH of Ohio, died on Tuesday last.  [John Brough]

  While in La Crosse, this week, we viewed a few things around that town, with a more genial, vigorous people, we have never known.—Found JOE ELWELL running the Daily Republican, making it a live, spicy sheet.  The office is well stocked with new material and presses, and showing every evidence of prosperity at which we rejoice greatly.—Had the pleasure of meeting “HEARTSEAGE,” the pleasant lady contributor to the Republican.  The name is comfortably suggestive one, and her writings sparkle with pleasant sentiment and quiet satire.  We shall read them with even more pleasure now that the charm of acquaintanceship with the writer is added.—Called a few moments at “BRICK” POMEROY’S well ordered office [M.M. “Brick” Pomeroy].  Brick, as is well known, is bundle of contradictions.  Personally affable and courteous, and politically loathsome, it can truly be said of him, as JOHN RANDOLPH once said of a cotemprorary [sic], that “like a rotten mackerel, he shines and stinks, and stinks and shines.”—Spent a little time pleasantly with Gen. WASHBURN [C. C. Washburn], and met Dr. CAMERON, who kindly furnished us with a certificate of exemption from the next draft.  He does not see so much of hernia now as he did.—MILTON BARLOW, who should be elected President of “Gideon’s Band,” still contributes to the virtues and good fellowship of La Crosse, and Postmaster LOR TADGE [?], cares nothing about caucuses, and refrains from “figuring” as much as ever.—Called at MICHEL’S Brewery, the best in Northern Wisconsin, and viewed TOM. DAVIS’ splendid livery stables, where the horses have bedsteads to sleep on nights.  La Crosse is thriving.  Everything about it gives evidence of fast increasing business and wealth.

— The New York Times has good authority for the statement that Mr. Robert Lincoln, son of the late President, is shortly to be married to a daughter of Secretary Harlan [James Harlan].

Discharge of Clerks and deputy Provost Marshals.

The following was received at the Provost Marshal’s office at Madison last Wednesday,

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22.

To Lt. Col. G. R. Giddings, A. P. M. G.

Require your provost marshals to discharge their deputies and special agents not heretofore discharged and all of their clerks at the end of the present month.

Signed,                    .JAS. B. FRY.  [James B. Fry]

Davis, Clay, and Mitchell [sic].

The correspondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer at Fortress Monroe writes under the date of August 20th :

There is at present nothing to write of Davis and Clay [Jefferson Davis and Clement C. Clay].  Both of them are enjoying the best of health, and are becoming accustomed to their case mate life, agreeably diversified as it is by their daily out-door walks, the perusal of the papers and the daily visits of Chaplain Kerfoot.  And as their trial is deferred day after day and week after week, their once severe regimen much ameliorated, these prisoners are laying the flattering unction to their souls that if ever they should be brought to a tribunal to answer for their enormous crimes, their sentence will be lenient in the extreme.  Ostracism would suit them exceedingly well.

John Mitchell [sic: John Mitchel] is sick.  He has never complained ;  this dogged ingrate never murmured save once, and that was occasioned by his glimpse of Davis and Clay enjoyed their out-door promenade, a privilege denied him.  The physician who visits Mitchell daily, not withstanding  his sullenness, has given it as his opinion that Mitchell [sic] is laboring under the insidious attacks of pulmonary consumption, and that in a few more weeks he will be prostrated if not allowed out-door exercise and a more generous diet than the soldiers’ fare upon which he has hitherto subsisted.  On the conscientious representations of the doctor, Mitchell’s [sic] diet was changed two days ago, and a full and true statement of his physical condition forwarded to the War Department, with the request and recommendation that he too be allowed the privilege of out-door exercise accorded to Davis and Clay.

1865 August 12: How Jefferson Davis Spends His Time in Confinement

The Prescott Journal of August 12, 1865, reprinted the following article, about former Confederate President Jefferson Davis, from the New-York Times of July 27.  The Times prefaced the article with:  “The very few here who are permitted to know the facts about Jeff. Davis’ health, his prison habits, diet, privileges, and so on, are much amused at the manufactured fol-de-rol that appears periodically in the New-York and Philadelphia papers.  One would imagine, did he credit the statements of these sensationalists, that Jeff, is in the hands of brutish tyrants rather than of Christian gentlemen :  that he is being worn away between the upper and nether stones of official restriction and prison torture, instead of enjoying to his full capacity every comfort which the necessary caution and watchfulness of his guardians will permit. ”

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

Jeff. Davis.

He is confined in a large casemate, where there is ample room for his bed, a table, several chairs and a bath-tub.  He is in no way hampered about his person, everything being as free to-day as when he stamped defiance with his foot in Washington and waved adieu to his compeers of the Senate.  To be sure he is not permitted to be alone, but the guard are cautioned against intrusion ;  and at no time has he complained of either officers or men.  Should he do so, and were his complaint based on the slightest foundation, it would be attended to.  At night a lamp burns within his room.  This, however, was done as a measure of precaution rather than annoyance.  At first he complained of it, thinking it would interfere with his sleep ;  but as experience demonstrated the folly of his fear, he withdrew the request that it should be removed.  The guard is changed every two hours ;  an inspection of the guard is made twice each day.  The floor is neatly swept and every care taken to furnish water in abundance.  The regularity with which Mr. Davis takes his morning bath is evidence of the care he yet takes of his person.  His toilet is as faultless as ever, and he presents the same precise and well-ordered exterior as in earlier and happier days.

HIS FOOD.

I have seen it stated that Jeff’s food was the same as is furnished the rank and file of the army.  If it was it would be sufficiently better than that given our prisoners at Richmond, but as retaliation is not the practice of the government, it may be as well to state that this report is as far from the truth as is the other which says that he is allowed all the delicacies of the season.  The fact is, strange as it may seem to some of our Copperhead friends, that Davis is taken care of by people who have at least an ordinary amount of common sense, and who know the folly of going to extremes.  The food furnished the rebel chief is such he can eat with relish.  He doesn’t have strawberries and cream, nor boned turkey and mince pie, but he does have tea and coffee, beef and other meats, vegetables and cigars.  These complaints about food do not originate with the prisoner, and until he sees fit even to intimate to those in charge that his diet disagrees with him, it is hardly necessary for the newspaper oppositionists to worry themselves about it.  Dr. Craven [John J. Craven], who has been with Mr. Davis every day since his arrival, is a gentleman and a practitioner of acknowledged merit, who would not forfeit the approval of his conscience for all the advancement in the power of his superiors, and to his opinion the officers in charge invariably yield the most implicit respect.  At his advice sundry changes, vegetable mainly, were made in the bill of fare, but they were suggested as precautionary, rather than as absolutely necessary.

It is not true that Davis neither speaks nor is spoken to.  Such rigor would be childish and absurd.  With Maj. Gen. Miles [Nelson Miles], with Dr. Craven and other officers of the post he converses freely and unrestrainedly.  They have no desire to be uncivil, nor would they consent to such a depth of degradation as would be needful were they expected in any way to irritate, annoy or disturb their prisoner.  With the soldiers of the guard he is not permitted to talk, nor would he be if he was a simple visitor.  It is customary at all military posts for visitors, and especially prisoners, to refrain from conversation with any soldier on duty.  In case he needs anything at any time he has only to tell the sentinel, who calls the officer of the guard, who reports to the officer of the day.

HOW HE SPENDS HIS TIME.

Rising at an early hour, Mr. Davis takes a bath, then dresses, after which he is visited by the officer of the guard, the officer of the day, and the medical attendant.  He then breakfasts, after which he walks up and down his room, converses with Gen. Miles, who generally visits his quarters about that time, or with Dr. Craven, reads the Bible, and quite likely longs for books and papers ;  that he has not thus far been permitted either is a fact.  Whether it is best to wholly deprive him of the society of books is a fair matter of argument.  Many think that he should have everything of the kind with which to while away his time and make the tedious hours pass less slowly.  Then there are many who entertain the idea that Jeff, deserves a little punishment, and that it is not at all desirable that his time should pass pleasantly or rapidly.  Quite likely the government are of that opinion ;  at all events, he don’t get the papers.

WHAT HE RECEIVES.

It has also been stated that no letters of sympathy had been received for him.  This is incorrect.  Mrs. Davis and other members of the family have written frequently, and although Mr. Davis is not permitted to read the letters, he is furnished with all items of domestic news and interest, such as the state of health and movements of the family generally.  In addition to these, numerous letters of counsel and advice have been received, although none of them, with one exception, have been given him.  It is not deemed right that intercourse by letter should be permitted with any one, although one would suppose it could do no harm if the mere home letters were allowed to pass freely.  Of course there are hundreds of silly people in the country, and it would be strange if they who pester the President for opinions, bother persons of note for autographs, and deluge officials with advice, should not occasionally scribble a line of abuse to old Jeff.  His friends, however, may rest easy on this point ;  he is never annoyed by these impertinences, because he never sees nor hears of them.  It is said that he rarely talks about or cares to have reference made to political or military matters.  Quite likely this is in deference to the good advice of his counsel.  When Davis was first incarcerated, he made application for pen, ink and paper; the application was refused.  He then made no requests for several days, until after the reception of a letter from an eminent lawyer, when he again requested stationery.  It was granted on one condition ;  finding it difficult to comply with the terms, he returned the materials.  He has several times expressed a desire for free correspondence with his wife and family, and seemed annoyed at the determined refusal given at each application.

HOW DAVIS LOOKS.

What earthly honest purposes the presses hope to gain by circulating lies about Jeff.’s health it is difficult to conceive.  He is in better condition to-day than he has been in five years.  It will be remembered that a hacking cough seriously affected his throat and lungs during his last days at Washington ;  it has gone entirely.  He has been blind of one eye for many years, and the sight of the other was exceedingly poor of late.  The power of his eye is greater now than at any time in ten years.  He wears at times the famous green goggles, but there is not the need for them now that there used to be.  During his rule at Richmond, the constant strain upon his eye wore upon it, and it was the opinion of his best and most intimate friends that he would eventually lose sight altogether.  This is changed for the better.  Regular hours, much sound sleep, almost total abstinence from wear and tear, are doing much for his health generally and very much for his eye-sight.  His carriage is still erect.  His hair is changing color, his cheeks, always sunken, are now covered with a light beard, making him look fatter and sounder, his physique is in good repair, his limbs are firm and his step square.

Of his mental condition, it is more difficult to speak.  He is as eager for books, for mind food, as he is for the substantials needed by his body.  Naturally nervous, years of ill health have made him irritable.  Other years of absolute power made him impatient, and trouble seems to have made him querulous.  Still he sleeps like a top.  He retires early, and sometimes never turns till morning.  If the people who write labored editorials about the “treatment of Jefferson Davis,” could contrast his appearance with that of thousands who barely escaped starvation and death at his hands, they would be compelled to keep quiet or change their tune.

Nor is it true that he has been denied the privileges of an occasional walk, any more than is the story that his near approaching dissolution compelled a change of programme.  Gen. Miles, a prudent, efficient officer, has been in charge of the prisoner’s person and health.  He is, in fact, held responsible for him by the President and the Secretary of War.  At first, before the excitement of capture and confinement wore away, it was deemed best that he should be kept quietly in his ample room.  Since then, however, at various times, at the suggestion of the General or of Davis, as the case might be, they have walked out upon the ramparts in the cool of the early evening, and sniffed the fresh air together.  With Gen. Miles, Mr. Davis has ever been courteous and decorous in his bearing and conversation.  There is no reason why he should not be, for so far as the externals of life and society go, he is as proper a person as can be found in a day’s tramp.  The heat having become intense at the fort, Gen. Miles has made these little excursions more “frequently, and with great benefit to his mental and physical condition.

[The Times’ article ends with:

“Surmises are always in order.  It is the matured opinion of one “well informed circle,” that he’ll be tried by a military commission, convicted and hanged.

“Another equally well informed circle is confident that he’ll be tried by a civil court and acquitted.

“One opinion is just as good as the other, and the reader can take his choice.  Of one thing they may rest assured.  The government has not yet determined what to with him, and when it does, it will do nothing inconsistent with its dignity.”]

1865 August 12: The Rebellion Finds Good Friends in New York, Another Andersonville Horror Story, and More

The following news comes from the August 12, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

General News. 

— The citizens of Galena have built General Grant a new house, furnished it from top to bottom, and laid a side walk in front.  Now they want him to come back home.  The Philadelphians have given him a splendid mansion; and want him to stay there.  He will have trouble to decide.  How happy he could be with either, were it the other dear charmer away.  [Ulysses S. Grant]

B Y   T E L E G R A P H 

The Rebel Meeting in New York

What was Said and Done. 

NEW YORK, Aug. 5.—It is reported that 24 officers, recently discharged from our army have proffered their services to the Mexican minister here, and propose to join the Mexican Army.

Mr. R. Brown¹ who was present at the Jeff. Davis meeting here, the other day, makes an affidavit to the following facts.  [Jefferson Davis]

The meeting was first composed of citizens of New York, when, at the suggestion of some one, several Southern gents outside, were invited inside, when the doors were closed.

There were then ten men present.  The object of the meeting being to raise funds to pay the expenses of defending Davis, a committee was appointed for that purpose, consisting of Mayor Gunther,² who was not present, Carlos Butterfield, Messrs. Douglass and Clancy.

A general conversation ensued, and they all agreed that the Davis trial was the most important one in the world’s history.

Mr. Cutler³ quoted from the Declaration of Independence to show that the southern States had a right to secede.  Other New Yorkers took the same ground, citing the actions and opinions of citizens of New York and Massachusetts, when the Constitution was framed.  Mr. Livingston⁴ of Alabama, read from several free State Constitutions the expressed right to secede.  It was said that the effect of the trail of Davis would be a resolution of sentiment everywhere in favor of the South.  It would be proved on trial that the secession cause was right and entitled to sympathies of the world.

Mr. Livingston declared that in twenty-five years, the man that now accuses the south of having committed treason, will be looked upon as a madman and a fool.  One New Yorker denounced the execution of Mrs. Surratt [Mary Surratt], as a cool and deliberate murder.  Mr. Martin [sic]⁵ said the court had no legal jurisdiction, and that the execution was a deliberate murder.  Mr. Livingston said several Englishmen had told him that this cruel murder would send a thrill of horror through Europe, and the howl that would be sent back, would so strike terror to the American Government, that it will be afraid to bring Davis to trail.  He asserted that the intention was to keep him lingering in prison.

NEW YORK, August 5th.—The Times’ Washington special has the following :  The internal revenue receipts since our last report foot up $280,316,286, viz: yesterday’s receipts 108,641,715, and today’s receipts, 171,675,671.  It has been announced in some of the papers that the President [Andrew Johnson] would leave here to-day for Cape May.  We understand the President had no such intentions.  His health is improving.  The Seamens’ Societies in this city are preparing an entertainment for the benefit of the Lincoln National Monument, to be erected here.  The Baltimore Firemens’ Societies propose to take action to the same end.  The monument associations already have a handsome sum on hand.

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 5.—By the recent completion of the line between Pine Bluffs and Camden, Ark., telegraphic communication is opened to Galveston, via Shreveport.  The Marshall and Houston lines, in course of construction in western Texas, will soon give the Washington authorities connection with San Antonia, Brownsville, and other points on the frontier.

WASHINGTON, Aug, 5.—The Postmaster General [William Dennison] has been ordered to renew the mail service on the Mobile & Ohio Railroad, from Mobile, Ala., to Columbus, Ky., including Macon, and other important points.

Capt. H. Dryden, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, died last night.—He had been sick only two days.  He participated with Admiral Dupont [sic: Samuel F. Du Pont] in the taking of Port Royal, and other important places.

NEW YORK, Aug. 4.— The Post publishes the following affidavit, made by Peter J. Smith :

“I was a corporal in Co. I, 6th Conn. Vols., and was captured in front of Petersburg, July 18th, 1863, and taken to Libby Prison, thence to Belle Island, and to Andersonville, Sept. 5th, 1863.  While there, the rations were served out by Maj. Allen of the 2d Va. Rebel cavalry.  Allen would sometimes go to the U. S. men and ask them if they would take the oath to the confederacy, and upon their declining would say, “Don’t give them a d—d mouthful to eat to-day.”  At one time he took eight of us, (myself among that number,) all non-commissioned officers, and upon our refusing to take the oath and persuade the privates to do so, tied each of us by our hands and arms, to our sides, and our feet together, so we could not use them, and then laying us upon our sides, took a pistol and resting it on our ears, fired it, causing the greatest agony, and the blood to flow from our ears.

He caused the pistol to be fired on my ear twelve times, saying he would make me so I could not hear the order of another Yankee general.  The hearing of my right ear has been destroyed in consequence of this treatment.  Upon my return through from my imprisonment I saw Major Allen in Richmond, Va., serving out provisions furnished by the United States government, to the poor of Richmond.  There is now in Richmond a Mr. Wm. Schaffer who was baker for the military prison, who can substantiate this.”

1.  Robert Brown.
2.  Charles Godfrey Gunther (1822-1885) was the Democratic mayor of New York City from 1864-66. Gunther was actively involved with the Tammany Hall political machine.
3.  Peter Y. Cutler was a New York City lawyer.
4.  Robert M. Livingston, of Mobile, Alabama.
5.  Theodore Martine (1806-1877)

1865 July 8: Report on the Confederate Prisoners in Fort Monroe

The following report comes from the July 8, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

GENERAL INTELLIGENCE.

 The State Prisoners.

The Fortress Monroe correspondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer, of the 23d inst., gives the following sketch of Mitchell [sic: John Mitchel], Clay [Clement C. Clay] and Jeff. Davis [Jefferson Davis]:

JOHN MITCHELL [sic]

Is treated very much in the style of the more important rebels.  He subsists on Government army rations, is closely guarded, and is not allowed the wherewithal to manufacture treasonable newspaper articles; nor is he furnished with papers or any reading matter, save the Bible, or any prayer book that he may desire.  John wiles away the weary hours of his prison life with smoking.  He brought a pipe with him, and is allowed tobacco.  No conversation is permitted with him, nor does he court any.  Thus far he has shown himself rather taciturn than otherwise.

CLEM CLAY

Smokes with philosophic indifference.  He occasionally addresses a pleasant remark to his guards.  As a prisoner he has given very little trouble. From the beginning, he has subsisted on the army ration.  He eats but little, smokes a great deal, and has evidently made up his mind that neither fretting nor grumbling will help his case, and the best course to be pursued is to take things easily and quietly.

JEFF. DAVIS

The chief of all offenders, has fully recovered his health.  He has not yet been returned to his first diet, the army ration.  His food is prescribed by Dr. Craven,¹ and is such as will conduce most to his health.  Since the tone of his physical health has been restored, he, too, has taken to puffing the Indian weed.  He uses an elegant meerschaum pipe, which he brought with him into the Fortress. The bowl is wrought in the semblance of a turbaned head a la zouave.  The stem and mouth-piece are of the pure amber.  This pipe is doubtless a relic of the pseudo royalty that Jeff maintained while presiding over the fortunes of the ignis fatuus² Confederacy.³

Not a word is allowed to be said to Davis, he speaks very little.  No one is allowed to see him.  Occasionally a highly imaginative or positively mendacious individual, passing through here, gives out that he has seen Jeff Davis.  These statements are utterly false; no one, whatever, excepting only the guards, and Gen. Mills [sic: Nelson Miles], have looked upon the “fallen Lucifer” since his incarceration.  Cabinet officers have visited the Fortress since Jeff’s imprisonment there, but not even to them was accorded the privilege of looking upon him.  Passes to enter the Fort can only be obtained by persons well known here, and these must have most urgent business.  Then, when within the coveted inclosure, they are obliged to transact their business and then leave, not even seeing the row of casements where Jeff’s cell is situated.  The Jeff Davis see-ers had better not be taken at their word.

1.  John Joseph Craven (1822-1893) was Jefferson Davis’ first, of two, doctors while he was at Fort Monroe. Craven was a carpenter, an inventor, a gold miner, a physician-soldier, a respected community physician and a tinkerer. When the Civil War started, he received a commission in the 1st New Jersey Militia, a three-month regiment. When his time was up, he was commissioned in the U.S. Volunteers Medical Staff and promoted to full surgeon on September 4, 1861. He was appointed Brigade Surgeon in General Sherman’s Expeditionary Corps, and in February, 1862, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of General Wrights Brigade and served in Florida and Tybee Island, Georgia. In September he became Medical Purveyor of the Department of the South, CMO to General Gillmore at Fort Pulaski, CMO to field operations against Forts Wagner , Gregg and Sumter. In January, 1865 he moved to the position of Medical Purveyor, and CMO of the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. This included duties at Fortress Monroe. During this period, he attended lectures at Baltimore Academy of Medicine and was awarded an M.D. degree. Following his dismissal from Fort Monroe, he was honorably discharged a month later and returned home to New Jersey with a final rank of brevet lieutenant colonel.
2.  A Latin phrase meaning something deceptive or deluding.

Jefferson Davis’ pipe

3.  Davis was suffering from tobacco withdrawal, among other things, when Dr. Craven first saw him, so Craven gave him tobacco to use. When Craven was dismissed in December 1865, for getting too friendly with the prisoner, Davis gave him the pipe. The pipe today can be seen in the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe National Monument.

1865 June 24: General Grant’s Speechmaking, St. Croix Baptist Association’s Resolutions on the War, the Latest from Texas

Several shorter articles on a variety of topics from The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal of June 24, 1865.

From The Polk County Press:

Gen. Grant’s Speeches.

One of these days somebody or or [sic] other will be giving us “The Life and Speeches of Ulysses S. Grant.  And some of the orations of the little man of Granite will read as follows:

SPEECH AT THE COOPER INSTITUTE.

My friends I thank you for this reception.

SPEECH AT THE ASTOR HOUSE DINNER.

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :—I rise only to say that I do not intend to say anything.  [Laughter.]  I thank you for your kind words and hearty welcome.  [Applause.]

SPEECH AT THE SERENADE OF THE N. Y. SEVENTH REGIMENT.

Gentlemen of the Seventh Regiment, I thank you for this compliment.  Good night.

SPEECH AT THE CHICAGO FAIR.

I never make speeches, and will, therefore, call on Senator Yates to express the thanks which I feel but cannot express.  [Richard Yates]

Thus it will be seen that the man of great deeds is a man of very few words.

THERE are various speculations concerning the effect of the disbandment of the army upon the country.  The precedents in other countries will scarcely apply to this.  Ours is a citizen army, impelled by a patriotic interest in the preservation of the country, to take up arms in its defense.  Many of its members left farms, workshops, and professions, to which they can return.  The action of our armies, both under Gen. Meade [George G. Meade] and Sherman [William T. Sherman], which do not bear a stain fo [sic] rapine or violence, shows that the vicious element in the army is small.—The great majority of those who on disbandment will not be able to resume at once former regular pursuits, will, we think, be desirous to obtain work, and we hope will be cordially assisted to consumate [sic] that desire.  We can already judge something of the disposition of the soldiers, on retirement from the army, by the fact that 100,000 men, who have served in the ranks for a greater or less time, are now absorbed in the community, and we imperceptible as a class.—We believe that a similar result will follow the complete disbandment of the army.  The returned soldiers will, of course have no inconsiderable effect upon the competition of labor and upon the general tone of thought of the community, but will soon melt into the general mass, and become absorbed in the duties of labor and the interests of citizenship.  The theory that a great era of crime is to succeed the disbandment of the army, is insulting to the brave men who have fought our battles.—What the soldier was as a citizen before he went to the war, he will soon be after his return from it.  He never looked upon his life in the army as anything more than an episode, and never surrendered his plan of business and pleasure which before enlistment he had devised for the future.

The London Standard says :

“President Davis [Jefferson Davis], we are happy to say, has not yet fallen into the hands of the sleuth hounds who have been set up on his track.  If the worse should be all him, and his escape be found impossible, it is supposed he will die fighting rather than fall into their hands.  Such a death of such a man would enlist the sympathy of Europe in the cause of a suffering people ;  but his life and leadership would be preferred by that people to his martyrdom.  The spectacle of the heroic leader at bay, with his two thousand followers, among the myriads of the North, disdaining while living to surrender the cause for which he has struggled during these terrible four years, is of such absorbing interest to the civilized world that all political topics pile into insignificance beside it, and the attention of the civilized world is facinated [sic] by it in a longdrawn agony of mingled hopes and fears.”

Realization :  Jeff Davis taken in a woman’s dress about the time the predictor was predicting.

RECEIPT for making trowsers last.—Make the coat and vest first.

From The Prescott Journal:

Resolution,

Passed by the St. Croix Baptist Asso-
ciation, June 14th and 15th, 1865.

RESOLVED, That we owe humble heart felt and profound gratitude to Almighty God, who has brought our country victoriously through the terrible struggle of four years of such civil war as the earth has seldom or never witnessed, leaving us still a proud and honored name and peace among the nations of the earth.

2d.  That in this war the hand of God is plainly visible, visiting and scourging us for all our national sins, and especially for the accursed system of American Slavery, of which both North and South have been guilty ;  and that we accept the favorable termination of the war as an unmistakable providential indication that God means to preserve us a nation, obliterating all traces of Slavery from the land, and fitting us to be more largely instrumental in evangelizing the nations of the earth.

3d.  That in the emancipation of 4,000,000 of bondmen by the fiery or deal through which we have passed, we see some compensation for the untold miseries and sacrifices of the war, culminating as they did in the sudden and violent death of our beloved leader, who stood higher in the hearts of the people than any other since the days of Washington.

4th.  That we execrate the foul crime by which the life of a great and good man was violently taken and the nation deprived of its honored and chosen President, and that we regard with unutterable detestation the vile miscreant, who, in the hands of the slaveholder’s rebellion, was the instrument of its accomplishment.

5th.  That as the ministers and churches of the South were largely guilty in inciting the crimes of Secession, they ought to show a penitent spirit for these heinous offences before we can cordially fellowship and fraternize with them.

6th.  That it is the christian duty of the hour to labor earnestly for the intellectual, moral and religious elevation of the Freedmen, so that they may be fitted for the enjoyment of all their rights, responsibilities and privileges as citizens of these United States, that of suffrage included, and also for the enlightenment and evangelization of the poor whites.

The Battle Flags.

FARNHAM, of the Sparta Eagle, has been visiting the Chicago Fair.  We extract the following eloquent passage from his description of Trophy Hall :

Suspended from the galleries above and floating over the marvelous array of objects that cover the floor of that hall can be seen the tattered banners carried upon almost every battle field of the rebellion.  As we stand within the circle of five hundred battle flags that sweep the hall of trophies, we are led to contemplate what terrible scenes that strange horizon of bloody tattered banners have witnessed; what thunder and clamor of war has rolled around them.  How have they shivered as passing souls went up; how they flared like torches in the face of the foe!  How did the wild aurgea [sic] drift them out to glory !—Amid what clouds and dyings [sic], what bursts of sun and gusts of ringing cheers have they shaken like the wings of an eagle !  And where are the hands that held them, and where are the hearts that loved and vindicated them before God and mankind !  The apostrophe of Morton to the bones of Warren comes to us like a fresh utterance, as we look at them :  “Illustrious relics !  What tidings from the grave !”¹  Uncover the brow and be still, for the dead are here !

NEW YORK, June 17.—The Herald’s correspondent, in the Gulf Department, furnishes interesting accounts of the incidents preceding, attending and following the occupation of Brownsville, Texas, on the 31st ult., by the National troops under Gen. Brown.  The rebel troops, previous to evacuating the place, mutinied, pillaged the town, and made prisoners of some of their officers, until their demands for the payment of their back dues were complied with.

The rebels left the day previous to Gen. Brown’s arrival, not waiting to be paroled, or to comply, in any manner, with the terms of Gen. Kirby Smith’s surrender.  Large numbers of them moved across the Rio Grande, into Mexico, taking with them their arms.—Their artillery they sold to the Mexican Imperialists at Matamoras.

It is said that the last of the rebels were driven from Brownsville by Mexican residents, who organized a home guard for the preservation of order.

Soon after the evacuation commenced, after taking possession of Brownsville, General Brown wrote a letter to General Mejia, the Imperialist commander at Matamoras, assuring him that neutrality would be observed by the American forces in regard to the contest in Mexico between the republicans and imperialists.

It is said that the rebel General Magruder [John B. Magruder], as well as Kirby Smith, has gone to Mexico.  The latter carried with him a considerable amount of money.

On the 2d inst., the rebel Generals Kirby Smith and Magruder were received on board the U. S. steamer Fort Jackson, Capt. Sands, off Galveston, when the articles of surrender of all the rebel trans-Mississippi forces were signed by Gen. Smith.  The next morning the rebel officers were conveyed back to Galveston, and on the 5th inst. Capt. Sands, and other officers, proceeded up to the town, landed, and received its surrender from the hands of the Mayor, and once more unfurled the National flag over the public building, in the presence of a large but undemonstrative and orderly assemblage of people.

1.  From Perez Morton’s (1751-1837) funeral oration for Revolutionary War General Joseph Warren (1741-1775), who had spent the night in the Morton home just before the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he died.

1865 June 10: W. W. Holden and John Mitchel, Jefferson Davis and Various Confederate Ex-Governors, News of the Sewards

Following are more national news items from The Polk County Press of June 10, 1865.

— Ex-Governor Latcher [sic], of Va., has been captured.  [John Letcher]

— Gov. McGrath [sic], of South Carolina, has run away from Columbia.  [Andrew G. Magrath]

— Gen. Logan retires to civil life, refusing a brigadiership in the regular army.  [John A. Logan]

— Gen. Thomas is to command the Department of Virginia, headquarters at Richmond.  [George H. Thomas]

— Davis has arrived in Washington and is confined in the Old Capitol prison.  It is not true that he has been ironed.

— Over three million dollars has been disbursed in Chicago by the government, for mules and horses during the past year.

— W. W. Holden,¹ editor of the Raleigh Standard, has been appointed Military Governor of North Carolina.  He will at once proceed to re-organize the State government.

— The Commercial’s special says that President Johnson has fully decided in favor of permitting our soldiers to retain their arms used in battle, as honorable reminiscences and heirlooms of the services.  [Andrew Johnson]

— The Secretary of War has ordered that the returned prisoners enlisted, and who have endured the hardships of Andersonville, and other rebel prisons, be mustered out as soon as possible, and that they be allowed three months extra pay.

— The Post’s Washington special says the trial of Jeff. Davis in the U. S. Court, in this city,  will take place before a full bench consisting of Carter of the District of Columbia, Judge Olin of New York and Judge Wylie of Virginia.

— Secretary Seward [William H. Seward] has fully resumed official duties at the State department.  He was, last week, enabled to take his arm out of the sling and write his signature to the Amnesty proclamation.  Fred. Seward is slowly but surely improving [Frederick Seward].

— Col. Pritchard [Benjamin D. Pritchard], who captured Jeff. Davis, explains the female attire.  It consisted of Mrs. Davis’ water-proof cloak, and shawl so as as [sic] much as possible, to conceal the masculine features of Davis’ face.—Under the cloak the rebel commander-in-chief wore a suit of drab, with trowsers [sic] tucked into a pair of cavalry boots.

— The Tribune’s special dispatch from New Orleans, dated the 26th ult., says the ordinance department and magazine at Mobile exploded at 2 o’clock.  The shock was fearful. The city shook to its very foundation—eight squares of buildings were destroyed and 500 persons buried in the ruins.  The loss is estimated at eight million dollars.  The origin of the explosion has not yet been ascertained.

— Among the many rumors flying about to-day in regard to the confinement of Jeff. Davis, is one to the effect that yesterday afternoon he was manacled, in order to prevent, no doubt, any injury to his guard, should he, as Mrs. Davis remarked, become provoked by the strict surveillance held over him.  The strictest regulations respecting persons visited the fortress, are still rigidly enforced by Gen. Miles, the commander of the post.  No person, either officer of civilian, is allowed to enter the fortress unless duty provided with the requisite passes.

—A Washington special says Gen. Rosecrans has been granted a six month leave of absence, and proposes to visit the Pacific coast.  At the end of that time he will probably resign.  [William S. Rosecrans]

— It is understood that the President has decided to appoint James F. Smith of Selma, Alabama, U. S. District Attorney for that State.  Mr. Smith was arrested for his devotion to the Union cause, but made his escape and has resided for the past two years in Nashville.

— Ex-Governor Aiken² affirms that not til after the Union forces had occupied Charleston did he see a copy of President Lincoln’s first inaugural.  A spurious paper was published, pretending to be a copy, but was in no respect the original.

— A French paper at New Orleans believes that a war between France and the United States inevitable.

— Gen. Banks [Nathaniel P. Banks] has been ordered to report at Waltham, Mass., his place of residence.  His case is under investigation by the war department.

— About this time of his capture, Jeff. Davis had abandoned war, and was getting ready to raise cotton!

— Howell Cobb was recently paroled that he might visit his family.

— Gov. Brown of Ga. has been released from prison on parole.  [Joseph E. Brown]

— Gen. Sherman is reported to be poor, not having made any money out of the war.  [William T. Sherman]

— The Boston Herald states that the cloak Davis wore when captured was made in Boston.

— President Johnson is said to be preparing an official announcement of peace.  [Andrew Johnson]

— Judge Caton, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died at Nashville on the 29th ult.

— Gen. Sherman, in his farewell order to his troops, advised them to beware of the Mexican emigration scheme.

— It is thought that Kentucky will rescind her vote against the Constitutional amendment.

— It is stated, on good authority that General Hancock veteran corps will be immediately increased to 40,000 men.  [Winfield S. Hancock]

— Secretary Seward has fully resumed official duties at the State department.  He was, last week, enabled to take his arm out of the sling and write his signature to the Amnesty proclamation.  Fred. Seward is slowly but surely improving.

— Apprehensions are felt for the safety of the boys from this village who are in the Wisconsin Special Scouts.  The recent explosion of the magazine at Mobile destroyed the steamer on which they were quartered, when the last-tidings from them was received by their parents and friends.  We trust that fortune has favored them as heretofore.

— The Tribune’s special dispatch from New Orleans, dated the 26th ult., says the ordinance department and magazine at Mobile exploded at 2 o’clock.  the shock was fearful.—The city shook to its very foundation—eight squares of buildings were destroyed and 500 persons buried in the ruins.  the loss is estimated at eight million dollars.  The origin of the explosion has yet been ascertained.

— It is stated by a Washington correspondent of the Rochester Democrat that a man who has been with Jeff. Davis’ official family for the past four years, has testified in the secret session of the court now trying the assassins of President Lincoln, that he has seen a letter from Jefferson Davis to George N. Sanders, advising as a last resort the assassination of President Lincoln and his whole Cabinet.  Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant], the correspondent adds, was in the room at the time the testimony was given, and vouched fro the credibility of the witness.

A Fit Change.—The notorious John Mitchel,³ who poured out his pro-slavery ribaldry through the columns of the Richmond Enquirer till the concern went up with the rebellion, has now transferred his services to the New York Daily News, the ultra Democratic organ.  The change was natural, for Mitchel was under no necessity of leaving behind any of his Richmond principles.  But it seems a little curious that a man who is cut off from the ventilation of his rebel malice at Richmond, can go right to New York, the metropolis of the loyal country, and resume operations.—St. Paul Press.

1.  William Woods Holden (1818-1892) was the 38th (1865, May-December) and 40th (1868-71) governor of North Carolina. Holden was the first governor in America to be impeached, convicted, and removed from office. The main charges against he related to the rough treatment and arrests of North Carolina citizens by state militia during the enforcement of Reconstruction civil rights legislation.
2.  William Aiken, Jr. (1806-1887) was the 61st governor of South Carolina, serving from 1844-46. He also served in the South Carolina state legislature (1838-44) and the U. S. House of Representatives (1851-57). He lost the election of Speaker of the House in 1855 to Nathaniel P. Banks, future Union Civil War general. He was a successful businessman and planter who lived in Charleston, South Carolina.
3.  John Mitchel (1815-1875) was an activist for Irish nationalism, author,and political journalist. As a journalist, Mitchel was controversial before the Civil War for his defense of slavery, claiming that slaves in the southern United States were better cared for and fed than Irish cottiers, or English industrial workers. His views were explicitly racist and claimed that slavery was inherently moral. He founded a new paper, the Southern Citizen, in 1857 in Knoxville, Tennessee, to promote “the value and virtue of slavery, both for negroes and white men.” He moved the paper to Washington in 1859, and in 1861 moved to Richmond to edit the Richmond Enquirer. Although a spokesman for the Southern cause, Mitchel fell out with Jefferson Davis, whom he regarded as too moderate. In 1865, he moved to New York City to edit the Daily News. Slavery was dead and Mitchel returned his focus to the issue of Ireland. Mitchel returned to Ireland where in 1875 he was elected in a by-election to be an MP in the Houses of Parliament.

1865 June 10: News Items Showing the Country Coping with Post-War Life

Another summary of the week’s news, also from The Prescott Journal of June 10, 1865, plus one small article from The Polk County Press of the same date.

News Items—Original and Selected.

— We see by the St. Paul Press, that the people on the Minnesota frontiers are about to procure bloodhounds to hunt the Indian murderers.  This is what reformers call a “move in the right direction.”  The idea of humanizing these red devils by sending them polyglot bibles and ivory toothpicks is played out.

— Jeff. Davis [Jefferson Davis] will be tried at a special term of the United States District Court, before a full bench of Judges.

— Judge Catron [John Catron], Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, died at Nashville, Tennessee, on the evening of the 30th ult.

— The President [Andrew Johnson] is about to issue a proclamation announcing the restoration of peace, and will also shortly abolish all military tribunals.

— President Johnson has advised the negroes of the District of Columbia to petition Congress for the right of suffrage.

— President Johnson has finally decided to allow the soldiers to retain their arms, as honorable heir-looms of their services.

— The cemetery at Richmond, Va., is said to contain more than 60,000 new graves.  And this is but one of the spots where the plowshare of war has turned up the sod to hide its victims.

— Gen. Grant [Ulysses S. Grant] has presented to the Northwestern Sanitary and Soldiers’ Home Fair at Chicago his old clay bank war horse “Jack.”  This horse he rode when he first entered the service as Col. of the 21st Illinois Volunteers, and which he continued to use until appointed Lieutenant-General.  Gen. Grant, accompanied by Mrs. Grant, will probably attend the Fair before its close.

— A member of the English Parliament has offered Gen. Lee [Robert E. Lee] a residence in London, with a sum of money the interest of which would support himself and family for life.  Whether Gen. Lee will accept the gift of the English secesh sympathizer, will depend upon circumstances over which our Government has as yet some control.

— A gentleman who called on Gen. Scott [Winfield Scott] in New York the other day found him in excellent health and much rejoiced at the successful termination of the war.  The conversation turning on Jeff. Davis, the old General very pointedly and emphatically remarked, “I hope he will be hung by the neck, sir ;  I hope he will hang by the neck.”

— It is known that President Johnson counselled [sic] a committee of negroes, who recently called on him, to petition the next congress to grant them the right of franchise in their district.  It is believed that while he leaves to States the decision of the question within their limits, he will give his whole moral influence to the extension of the right of franchise to colored people.

— Gen. Butler [Benjamin F. Butler] has declined to orate at Falls River, Mass, on the Fourth of July, because of other engagements.

— Gen. Scott was walking about the streets of New York on Wednesday in civilian’s dress, and in good health and spirits.

— As Washington is the Father of his Country, so will Jeff. Davis be known henceforth as the Mother of the South.

— A correspondent writing from the Mississippi valley, says that by reason of his cotton operations, Kirby Smith is undoubtedly the richest man in America.

— Gen. Beauregard [P. G. T. Beauregard], of whom we have heard very little for the past two months was in New Orleans on the 22d, and registered his name at Gen. Banks’ headquarters as a paroled officer [Nathaniel P. Banks].

— Over one hundred repentant rebels a day are reporting themselves at the Provost Marshal’s office in St. Louis, to take the oath and get permission to go home.

— Thomas S. Bocock, of Virginia, Speaker of the Rebel House, the “fortunate” individual, upon whom, in the absence of Davis and Stephens [Alexander H. Stephens], devolves the Presidency of the Southern Confederacy, if any of it is left, has not yet reported, and probably will not.

— A returned soldier purchased a pair of boots in Buffalo and left his old ones.  A while after, he called for them, when they were brought to him, he ripped open the lining and took from beneath $1,550 in greenbacks, in denomination of $50 and $500, which he had placed there and forgotten.

Leutze portrait of Lincoln

— A portrait of Mr. Lincoln by Leutze¹ is on exhibition in New York.  It represents the President in the act of delivering an address while a group of soldiers and ladies forms the background.  It is considered one of the best pictures of the great man ever painted.

— A “Conservative” made a speech at Frankfort, Ky., on Saturday last, in which he stated that the Constitutional amendment would never  be ratified by Kentucky.  About a hundred negroes immediately secured their freedom by enlisting in the army.

— The Presbyterian General Assembly now in session in Brooklyn, decided, on Tuesday, after a long and spirited discussion, to place for the present, in a state of probation, ministers of the church from the South who have supported the rebellion.  A revolution authorizing the Assembly to send ten ministers to East Tennessee was adopted.

— There are now seventy-four prisoners confined in Castle Thunder,² fifteen of whom are negroes.  The rest are soldiers, principally deserters.  A portion of the prisoners are sentenced to the chain-gang for thirty-six and ninety days.  These are furnished by Captain O’Brien, the commander of the prison, to Lieut. Leahe, the Chief of Police, whenever he needs their services for the cleansing of the streets and alleys of the city.

— In the State of Ohio the last ditch has been found by no less an ardent sympathizer with treason than Clement L. Vallandigham.  He has written a letter owning that he was wrong about the war for the Union.  He rejoices that slavery is destroyed and the Union saved ;  sees at present no reason why the democracy should not give a cordial support to President Johnson, in his effort to restore the prosperity of the country under the Constitution ;  and declares that without slavery the Southern States, with perhaps two or three exceptions, “will become more populous, prosperous and powerful than any section.”

Booth’s Body Again.—A correspondent of the New York News, who, by way of illustration, spoke of the disfigurement of Booth’s lifeless remains, as rumor told the tale, now says :

“For the honor of the country I am glad to say there is no truth in the shocking tale. Booth’s body was buried without disfigurement.  It was buried in secret and in the night, and no stone marks, or ever will mark the spot ;  but this was the choice of his family. The body was given to them.  They had it carried far away to the North, away beyond New York, and there interred, and there to remain until the last day, when the quick and the dead are to be judged.”

From The Polk County Press:

Indictment of Jeff. Davis.

The indictment y the Grand Jury of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia against Jefferson Davis recites that Jefferson Davis late of the county of Henrico, in the State of Virginia, being an inhabitant of and resident within and owing allegiance and fidelity to the United States, wickedly devising and intending to disturb the peace and to subvert the Government of the said United States, to stir, move and excite rebellion, insurrection and war against the United States, on the 1st day of June, 1864, at the county of Henrico aforesaid, unlawfully, falsely, maliciously and traitorously, did compass, levy and cary [sic] on war and rebellion against the United States, for the subversion of the Government, in the District of Columbia aforesaid, and being leagued in conspiracy with a conspiracy with a large number of insurgents, and being the leader and commander-in-chief of said inurgents [sic], did march and proceed to invade the said county of Washington, and then and there, on the 12th day of July, 1864, did make war upon a certain fort called Fort Stevens, did kill and wound a large number of said troops of the United States, contrary to the duty of said allegiance and fidelity to the United States.

The above is the substance of the indictment, omitting the verbiage, wich [sic] extends it to a great length.

1.  Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze—pronounced Loyt-za—(1816-1868) was a German-American painter best known for his painting of George Washington Crossing the Delaware.
2.  Castle Thunder was a former tobacco warehouse in Richmond, Virginia, that was converted to a prison to house civilian prisoners, including captured Union spies, political prisoners and those charged with treason. After Union forces captured Richmond, they used the prison for similar purposes.

1865 June 3: Surrender of Kirby Smith and His Army in Texas, Annual Report of the Wisconsin Adjutant General, Local Party to Support Soldiers Home, and More News

Following are the smaller items from the June 3, 1865, issues of The Polk County Press and The Prescott Journal.

From The Polk County Press:

— The rebel ram Stonewall, that lately created such a scare among our shipping, has surrendered at Havana.  The crew escaped.

— The project to pay the National debt by individual subscription, is being favorably responded to.  Over $2,375,000 have been subscribed in New York.

— The rebel ex-Secretary of War, MALLORY [Stephen R. Mallory], and HOWELL COBB have arrived at Nashville, en-route for Washington, under close guard.

— Dispatches to the St. Paul Press state that 3,000 Sioux Indians are marchin on Fort Abercrombie, D. T.

— Gen. CANBY [Edward Canby] has notified the Government of the entire surrender of  KIRBY SMITH and his army in Texas.

WELCOME HOME BRAVE BOYS !—An official order from Washington announces that all the volunteers, in all the various departments, are to be immediately returned to their respective States, and mustered out of service.  KIRBY SMITH’S surrender is the last nail, driven into the cofin [sic] of the “Southern Confederacy.”

Adj. Gen. Gaylord’s Report.

The annual report of Gen. Gaylord [Augustus Gaylord] contains a statement of the trasactions [sic] in his Department, together with a historical record of the volunteer organizations in the service of the general government from this State.  The following are the most important statistics contained therein :

	Orignal [sic] strength of the various regt’s	45,941
	Gain by recruits in 1863,	2,750
	Gain by recruits in 1864,	11,252
	Gain by substitutes before draft,	742
	Gain by substitutes after draft,	479
	Gain by draft in 1863,	5,807
	Gain by draft in 1864,	2,380
	Veteran re enlistments,	5,782
	One hundred day troops.	2,134
	…..Grand Total,	77,267
	Loss by deaths, discharges and deser’s,	35,104
	Present numerical strength	42,163

The date of this report is for the year ending Dec. 31st, 1864.

The historical record contains interesting mention of nearly all the regiments with an account of their engagements, also particular, and we are proud to say, honorable mention of their brilliant achievements and heroic deeds.

FROM FORTRESS MONROE.

Jeff. Davis Manacled for fear he will Hurt Somebody—
Mrs. Davis and Family gone to Savannah.

FORTRESS MONROE, May 24.

A steamer sailed from here this forenoon for Savannah, under sealed orders.  Mrs. Davis, her four children, brother and sister, and Mrs. Clay, go to Savanah [sic] in the Clyde, as permission for them to proceed North had been refused by the War Department.

Yesterday afternoon a guard was sent out to the Clyde and searched the steamer and all the baggage and effects of the rebel party remaining on the boat.  A large amount of gold and valuable jewelry, &c., was found in the baggage of the ladies, but, with the exception of several important documents which were found by the guard, everything was left unmolested.

From The Prescott Journal:

 The Capture of Davis. 

The Herald’s correspondent says it was fully a week before Gen. Wilson [James H. Wilson] received the proclamation of President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] offering a reward for the capture of Davis [Jefferson Davis] and others.  He had sent scouts in all directions, and took every precaution to preclude the possibility of any fugitives escaping who were within the range of his cavalry division.  He gained information that Davis and escort had been at Washington, Ga., and immediately sent forces in all directions to picket the ferries on Ocmulgee and Flint Rivers ;  also the cross roads leading thereto.  Col. Pritchard [Benjamin D. Pritchard] left Macom at 8 o’clock, resting on the seventh, with orders for pushing on by forced marches, until 100 miles down the Ogmulgee, from 25 to 30 miles beyond our outposts, take possession of all ferries, and throw scouts on the opposite side of the river, to ascertain the approach or passage of parties from Richmond.  They had special directions to look out for Jeff Davis and cortege.  Colonel Pritchard marched all night of the 7th, and went into camp at 6 o’clock A. M., on the 8th, thirty-six miles form the place.  Starting at 10 o’clock he again set out in pursuit.  He arrived at Hawkinsville at 6 o’clock.  Here he found a detail of officers and twenty-five men guarding the ferry, and the citizens had gathered in a body threatening to mob the soldiers.—Col. Pritchard rode up to the mob, told them if they harmed the soldiers in any way, after he left, he would return and burn the town to ashes.  This had a salutary effect, and the mob disbanded.

— The War Department has received from Richmond two large trunks filled with private correspondence of George N. Sanders.¹

— Jeff. Davis made an old woman of himself.  Women have their trials, and we suppose Jeff. will soon have one.

— A $1,000 dressing case has been sent from London to the Chicago Fair, and it is to be voted to the prettiest girl in Chicago at $1 a vote.  What an excitement such a vote would create in Philadelphia.

— The Louisville Democrat learns that the Secretary of War [Edwin M. Stanton] will, in the course of ten or twelve days, appoint commissioners to fix the value of slaves who have enlisted or been drafted into the United States armies from the State of Kentucky.

— A large number of officers and soldiers retiring from the American army, are about to establish a new settlement at the headquarters of the Yellow Stone River, not far from the north-western boundary.  So says the Toronto Globe.

— Brigadier General B. J. Hill, who has been in command of a rebel force in Alabama, arrived at Chattanooga on Tuesday morning last, with an escort of one hundred Fifty of his men, to surrender himself and them to our forces.  He reported to General Judah.

—  It is understood that all the rebel officers concerned in the atrocious starvation of our prisoners will be excluded from the benefits of the amnesty proclamation ;  also, the Fort Pillow murderers.  It will also break up the great landed estates, by requiring all possessing such to take the oath of allegiance.

— The Evening Post suggests that the Government permit the returning regiments to bring their muskets home with them, and not send them home without arms, as though they had not shown themselves worthy to bear them.  The suggestion is a good one, and we hope it will be adopted.  The arms can be collected as easily at the different State capitals as at Washington, and every Governor, with his military staff, will readily undertake the required trouble and responsibility.
.

1.  George Nicholas Sanders (1812-1873) was a financier, lobbyist, and Confederate agent in Europe. Inspired by European revolutionaries of the 1840s, in the early 1850s Sanders was one of the leaders of the “Young America” movement. He became involved in what, at the time, were regarded as revolutionary and anarchist causes. He had supposedly been involved in plans to assassinate heads of state or foment causes to bring about democratic reform. Sanders is perhaps better known as a Confederate operative during the Civil War, although the details of some of his activities can be difficult to document. He did negotiate with the Confederate government for the construction in England of several vessels that could
run the Union blockade, he was a member of the failed peace conference in Niagara, New York, attended in the summer of 1864 by Horace Greeley and John Hay, and later in 1864 was in Canada to represent the Confederate raiders of St. Albans, Vermont. Sanders initially was suspected of having been part of the conspiracy to assassinate President Abraham Lincoln, and a $25,000 bounty was put on his head in May 1865. His papers were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1914.

1865 June 3: Governor Lewis Addresses the 35th Wisconsin; How the Male Population of the South was Wasted by the War; More on the Capture of Jefferson Davis

The following articles all come from the June 3, 1865, issue of The Prescott Journal.

Governor Lewis and the 35th Regiment.

Governor Lewis [James T. Lewis], who is on a visit to our soldiers, made the following address at the camp of the 35th regiment, on the 12th inst. :

SOLDIERS OF WISCONSIN :  It is with a feeling of mingled joy and sadness that I meet you on this occasion.  Joy that so goodly a number of you have been spared to us by a kind Providence through so many hard fought battles.  Joy that you, together with every Wisconsin regiment in the field, have in the face of a common enemy gloriously maintained the honor of your State and country, and joy beyond measure at the crowning success of this unparalleled struggle to crush a rebellion greater than has hitherto shook to its foundations any nation, and now that peace is restored that you can soon go home to your own firesides, and industrial pursuits, where the State of your adoption will welcome and honor you.  But sadness, because the cruel sods of disloyal, though chastened Virginia, cover the lifeless forms of so many brave and noble men, whose presence is so much missed in your camp circles.

Men whose warm hearts beat high with patriotism, and around whose every fibre clustered affection’s dearest bands.  Sadness and sympathy for your brave wounded comrades who are eking out a miserable death-in-life in our hospitals, and deep sadness for the cruel, cruel murder of our loved and honored Chief Magistrate.  [Abraham Lincoln]     *          *          *          *          *          *

Your greatest anxiety undoubtedly is to be mustered out and sent home.  I have anticipated that, and will do all in my power to hasten that day.  The Secretary of War assures me that he will send you home at the earliest possible moment.  As soon as he hears from Texas and Arkansas he will be able to say, and that will probably be within ten days.  I hope you will be on your way home within that time.  I want you to go home as a regiment and see you marching proudly through the streets of our own Capital city.  I am glad of this opportunity to meet you as soldiers and shall be still more glad to meet you at home as citizens.

The Male Population of the South—Terrible Destruction by the War.

Some of the facts disclosed by Lee’s surrender [Robert E. Lee] show how frightfully the male population of the South has been wasted by the war.  In many localities it will be found to be nearly annihilated.  A few months ago, a general consolidation of companies and regiments took place, in several of the rebel corps, whole regiments, that once numbered one thousand men and more, being absorbed in single companies of less than fifty men.  The following figures were taken from the rolls of Hardee’s corps [William J. Hardee], including present and absent :

Ten regiments consolidated, 237 men ;  three regiments, 210 ;  twenty regiments, 627 ;  eleven regiments, 819 ;  five regiments, 456 ;  representing 100,000 men on the original rolls ;  one regiment, 201 ;  eight regiments, 424, representing 10,000 Texas troops ;  one regiment, 40 left out of 1,200 ;  reserve artillery, ten batteries, 560 ;  seven regiments, 419 ;  eighteen regiments, 719.  Single regiments consolidated, and not represented above, showed the following numbers on their rolls :  21, 82, 16, 46, 124, 22, 50, 31, 185, 24, 41, 65, 180, 35, 50, 11, 42, 40, 100.

Eight companies consolidated amounted to 38 men ;  five companies, 66 ;  ten companies, 82 ;  eleven companies, 59 ;  ten companies, 65 ;  fifteen companies, 54 ;  ten companies, in one case, 81 ;  in another, 69.  The average in Lee’s corps, before consolidation, was about 80 men to the regiment, and these corps represented over half the army.

General Bates’ [sic: William B. Bate, so Bate’s] division has lost every general and field-officer, and three-fourths of the men in battle, since the army left Dalton.  It lost thirty per cent, at the battle of Bentonville alone.  Other facts of the same kind might be stated, if it were possible to place the matter in a stronger light.

The Capture of Davis.

The Herald’s correspondent says it was fully a week before Gen. Wilson [James H. Wilson] received the proclamation of President Johnson [Andrew Johnson] offering a reward for the capture of Davis [Jefferson Davis] and others.  He had sent scouts in all directions, and took every precaution to preclude the possibility of any fugitives escaping who were within the range of his cavalry division.  He gained information that Davis and escort had been at Washington, Ga., and immediately sent forces in all directions to picket the ferries on Ocmulgee and Flint Rivers ;  also the cross roads leading thereto.  Col. Pritchard  [Benjamin D. Pritchard] left Macon at 8 o’clock, resting on the seventh, with orders for pushing on by forced marches, until 100 miles down the Ocmulgee from 25 to 30 miles beyond our outposts, take possession of all ferries, and throw scouts on the opposite side of the river, to ascertain the approach or passage of parties from Richmond.  They had special directions to look out for Jeff. Davis and cortege.  Colonel Pritchard marched all night of the 7th, and went into camp at 8 o’clock A. M., on the 8th, thirty-six miles from the place.  Starting at 10 o’clock he again set out in pursuit.  He arrived Hawkinsville at 6 o’clock.  Here he found a detail of officers and twenty-five men guarding the ferry, and the citizens had gathered in a body, threatening to mob the soldiers.  Col. Pritchard rode up to the mob, told them if they harmed the soldiers in any way, after he left, he would return and burn the town to ashes.  This had a salutary effect, and the mob disbanded.