Should of your own accord, put a little brandy in it unbeknownst to me why, it will be all

right.
Sherman was tyring to carry out the wishes of the man with the loving heart. At Charlotte
Davis was handed a telegram announcing the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His thin face
went death white. Handing the telegram to his Secretary, he quietly said I am sorry. We have
lost our noblest and best friend in the court of the enemy. He immediately telegraphed the
news to his wife who had fled further south to Abbeville, South Carolina. Mrs. Davis burst
into tears on reading the fatal message. Her womans intuition saw the vision of horror which
the tragedy meant to her and to her stricken people.
The President left Charlotte with an escort of a thousand cavalrymen for Abbeville. His
journey was slow. The wagons were carrying all that remained of the Confederate Treasury
with the money in currency from the Richmond banks which had been entrusted to the care of
the Secretary of the Treasury. Davis stopped at a little cabin on the roadside and asked the
lady who stood in the doorway for a drink of water. She turned to comply with his request.
While he was drinking a baby barely able to walk crawled down the steps and toddled to him.
The mother smiled. Is this not President Davis she asked tremblingly. It is, Madam, he
answered with a bow. She pointed proudly to the child Hes named for you The President
drew a gold coin from his pocket and handed it to the mother. Please keep it for my little
namesake and tell him when he is old enough to know. As he rode away with Reagan, his
faithful Postmaster General, he said The last coin I had on earth, Reagan. I wouldnt have had
that but for the fact Id never seen one like it and kept it for luck.
I reckon the wars about finished us, the General replied. Yes, Davis cheerfully answered. My
home is a wreck. Benjamins and Breckinridges are in Federal hands. Mallorys fine residence
at Pensacola has been burned by the enemy. Your home in Texas has been wrecked and
burned He paused and drew from his pocketbook a few Confederate bills. That is my estate at
the present moment. He received next day a letter from his wife which greatly cheered him
Abbeville, S. C. April. My dear old Husband
Your very sweet letter reached me safely by Mr. Harrison and was a great relief. I leave here
in the morning at oclock for the wagon train going to Georgia. Washington will be the first
place I shall unload at./ From there we shall probably go on to Atlanta or thereabouts, and
wait a little until we hear something of you. Let me beseech you not to calculate upon seeing
me unless I happen to cross your shortest path toward your bourne, be that what it may. It is
surely not the fate to which you invited me in the brighter days. But you must remember that
you did not invite me to a great heros home but to that of a plain farmer. I have shared all
your triumphs, been the only beneficiary of them, now I am claiming the privilege for the
first time of being all to you, since these pleasures have passed for me.
My plans are these, subject to your approval. I think I shall be able to procure funds enough
to enable me to put the two eldest to school. I shall go to Florida if possible and from thence
go over to Bermuda or Nassau, from thence to England, unless a good school offers
elsewhere, and put them to the best school I can find,