GLORIOUS! JEFF. DAVIS CAPTURED: Official Announcement by Secretary Stanton (5/14/1865)

The following dispatch, just received from Gen. WILSON, announces the surprise and capture of JEFFERSON DAVIS and his staff, by Col. PRITCHARD and the Michigan Cavalry, on the morning of the 10th inst., at Irwinsville, in Irwin County, Georgia.

I have the honor to report that at daylight of the 10th inst., Col. PRITCHARD, commanding Fourth Michigan Cavalry, captured JEFF. DAVIS and family, with REGAN, Postmaster-General; Col. HARRISON, Private Secretary; Col. JOHNSON, A.D.C.; Col. MORRIS, Col. LUBBIC, Lieut. HATHAWAY, and others. Col. PRITCHARD surprised their camp at Irwinsville, in Irwin County, Ga., seventy-five miles southeast of this place. They will be here to-morrow night, and will be forwarded under strong guard without delay. I will send further particulars at once.

Free Republic University, Department of History presents U.S. History, 1861-1865: Seminar and Discussion Forum
The American Civil War, as seen through news reports of the time and later historical accounts

First session: November 21, 2015. Last date to add: May 25, 2025.
Reading: Self-assigned. Recommendations made and welcomed.

Posting history, in reverse order

https://www.freerepublic.com/tag/by:homerjsimpson/index?tab=articles

To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by reply or freepmail.

Link to previous New York Times thread

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4316697/posts

Glorious: Jeff. Davis Captured: Official Announcement by Secretary Stanton – 2
Arrest of R.M.T. Hunter: The Ex-Senator and Peace Commissioner Placed on Board a Gunboat in the James River – 2
The Homeward March: The Army of the Potomac near Washington – 2
From North Carolina: Condition of the People – 2-3
Our Charleston Correspondence: Trade With the South – 3-4
The Assassins: The Court Decides to Admit Reporters for the Press – 4-5
Editorial: Jeff. Davis Captured – 5
The Assassination in Europe – 5
The Pope and Victor Emanuel – 5
The Metropolitan Police Organization – 5
The Times – 5
For Colored Soldiers – 5

The fake story that he was dressed in woman’s clothes has made it to the northern media and gained currency.

Maybe not. Sounds to me like democRats just being democRats.

Except for Lindsey Graham who self identifies as a "trans-Republican, you never see Republican men in dresses.

Then there was the painting of Bill Clinton in the blue dress. LOL!

He was trying to get to Texas to continue the fight.
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My take is that he was traveling down into North Florida to go out the mouth of the Suwannee River in an effort to get to Mexico, to set up a government in exile.

His baggage train with part of the treasury ended up in Archer, Florida at David Yulee Levy's Cottonwood Plantation. What remained of the treasury was buried and then dug up. All the Union troops found was empty holes, when they arrived at Cottonwood Plantation. That treasure then disappeared into the mists of history.

There are some who think that treasure was buried in Fowler's Bluff on the banks of the Suwannee River, and then partly recovered around 1890 Eberle J. Baird.

After digging what he claimed was a treasure at Fowler's Bluff on the banks of the Suwannee, Baird disappeared, He then reappeared much later in Gainesville and built Baird hardware. He claimed it was Jean Laffite’s treasure, but some think it was the Confederate treasury that disappeared after being delivered to Cottonwood.

What's interesting is that Baird seems to have had an abundance of 1860 double eagle gold coins. Hence the conjecture that what he dug up was contents of the Confederate treasure train. There have been efforts since the 1890's to recover addition chest(s) at the site. Reports say that there is at least one chest that keeps sinking deeper towards the Florida aquafer. The last effort was about ten years ago here in Levy County.

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