MAY 7, 1865:
“Listen to my tale of woe” --- Lyrics to a popular air
I
Major
Henry Wirz, the Swiss-born physician appointed as Commandant of the notorious
Camp Sumter (Andersonville, Georgia) Prisoner of War Camp, is arrested and
charged with conspiring with Jefferson Davis to "injure the health and
destroy the lives of soldiers in the military service of the United
States." Of the more than 45,000 Federal P.O.W.s held at Andersonville,
13,000 died.
II
Jefferson
Davis moved southwestward through the Georgia countryside with a relatively
small escort of several hundred infantrymen and cavalrymen (most of whom were
violating their paroles to travel with the Confederate President). Davis was
seeking his wife, who he knew was in the general vicinity with her own escort. But
he was also dawdling along the way to talk to Confederate families and shake
the hands of Southern soldiers. Some of the “Southern” soldiers happened to be
Northern spies in disguise, and Davis’ exact location was soon known to the
Federal commanders in the area.
John
H. Reagan and Braxton Bragg, who had remained traveling with Davis, were
stunned at Davis’ seemingly oblivious mien. Despite the fact that he was a
hotly pursued man and that they were passing through regions of Georgia burned
by Sherman, Davis was, even now, encouraging further resistance to the Yankees.
Many Georgians, seeking a scapegoat for their woes, blamed Davis for the
destruction of their farms and shops, and jeered at him as he passed. Some sang,
“And we’ll hang
Jefferson Davis from a sour apple tree . . .”
With
great dignity, Davis refused to react. However, when news that (formerly
Confederate) raiders intended to interdict Varina Davis’ entourage, Davis rode
off heedless of his own safety, to find his wife and children. Reagan and part of the escort could do nothing
but follow.
III
The
demobilization of the United States armies begins. Ira Lucas U.S.A. writes to Sarah Sherburne:
Dear Friend Sarah
This is probably the
last letter that I shall write you from Cav Corps. Hospital as all those who needed
further medical treatment were sent to Gen. Hospital yesterday and we are to
turn in all hospital stuff too morrow.
We will probably go to
Washington soon and we hope soon to be at home.
May 4th I went to
Richmond by way of Petersburg. I saw the rebel Capital and went into the Sennet
chamber and sat in the chare of the traitors president this I did not considder
very honorable. I saw Jeff. Davis' mansion and picked a flower and a leaf from
one of the trees in the yard which I intend to keep as a memento of the
pleasant places in which treason flourised and decayed and died.
I saw Libby prisson that
wretched den in which so many patriots have sickened and died I saw the hole
that Capt Strait and his noble fellows dug to escape from that awful denn.
I procured a few
mementos from the prison. The main St of the city is in ruins and it looks
desolate indeed. Washingtons statue yet remains in the state house and also one
on his horse in the yard.
no more at present.
From your Friend
Ira.
IV
Confederates
raid and burn the town of Kingsville, Missouri. Eight civilians are killed and
two are wounded.
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