“To a friend who met him a few minutes after he had received it, and who expressed his incredulity as to its truthfulness, Mr. Davis replied that, true, it sounded like a canard, but, in such a condition of public affairs as the country then presented, a crime of this kind might be perpetrated. His friend remarked that the news was very disastrous fur the South, for such an event would substitute for the known humanity and benevolence of Mr. Lincoln a feeling of vindictiveness in his successor and in Congress, and that an attempt would doubtless be made to connect the Government or the people of the South with the assassination. To this Mr. Davis replied, sadly: ‘I certainly have no special regard for Mr. Lincoln, but there are a great many men of whose end I would much rather hear than his. I fear it will be disastrous to our people, and I regret it deeply.’”
Mr. Davis remained at Charlotte nearly a week. Meanwhile the terms of agreement between Johnston and Sherman were received, and by Mr. Davis submitted to the cabinet. At a meeting of the cabinet, held on the morning after the propositions were received, the written opinions of the various members were concurrent in favor of the acceptance of the Sherman-Johnston settlement. Three days afterwards, Mr. Davis was informed by General Johnston of the rejection, by the Federal Government, of the proposed settlement, and that he could obtain no other terms than those accorded by General Grant to General Lee. The surrender of General Johnston was, of course, conclusive of the Confederate cause east of the Mississippi. Whatever Mr. Davis’ hopes might have been previous to that event, and whatever his determination had been in case of disapproval by the Federal Government of Sherman’s course (a contingency which he anticipated), it was plain that Johnston’s surrender made resistance to the Federal Government east of the Mississippi impracticable.
Fully recognizing this fact, Mr. Davis was yet far from contemplating surrender at discretion. His hope now was to cross the Mississippi, carrying with him such bodies of troops as were willing to accompany him; these, added to the force of Kirby Smith, would make an army respectable in numbers, and occupying a country of abundant supplies. In the Trans-Mississippi region Mr. Davis would have continued the struggle, in the hope of obtaining more acceptable terms than had yet been offered. In this expectation he was greatly strengthened by the spirit of resistance indicated by bodies of men who had refused to lay down their arms with the surrendered armies of Lee and Johnston.
We again quote from the account of Mr. Mallory:
“No other course now seemed open to Mr. Davis but to leave the country, and his immediate advisers urged him to do so with the utmost promptitude. Troops began to come into Charlotte, however, escaping from Johnston’s surrender, and there was much talk amongst them of crossing the Mississippi, and continuing the war. Portions of Hampton’s, Debrell’s, Duke’s, and Ferguson’s commands of cavalry were hourly coming in. They seemed determined to get across the river, and fight it out; and, wherever they encountered Mr. Davis, they cheered, and sought to encourage him. It was evident that he was greatly affected by the constancy and spirit of these men, and that, regardless of his own safety, his thoughts dwelt upon the possibility of gathering together a body of troops to make head against the foe and to arouse the people to arms.
“His friends, however, saw the urgent expediency of getting further south as rapidly as possible, and, after a week’s stay at Charlotte, they left, with an escort of some two or three hundred cavalry, and, two days afterwards, reached Yorkville, South Carolina, traveling slowly, and not at all like men escaping from the country.
“In pursuing this route, the party met, near the Catawba River, a gentleman, whose plantation and homestead lay about half a mile from its banks, and who had come out to meet Mr. Davis, and to offer him the hospitality of his house.
“His dwelling, beautifully situated, and surrounded by ornate and cultivated grounds, was reached about 4 o’clock P. M., and the charming lady of the mansion, with that earnest sympathy and generous kindness which Mr. Davis, in misfortune, never failed to receive from Southern women, soon made every man of the party forget his cares, and feel, for a time at least, ‘o’er all the ills of life victorious.’
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“At Yorkville, Colonel Preston and other gentlemen had arranged for the accommodation of Mr. Davis and his party at private houses, and here they remained one night and part of the next day.