But after a time even
this hope failed them. Their escort melted away; members of the cabinet
dropped off on various pretexts, and Mr. Davis, abandoning the attempt
to reach the Mississippi River, turned again toward the east in an
effort to gain the Florida coast and escape by means of a sailing vessel
to Texas.
The two expeditions sent in pursuit of him by General Wilson did not
allow this consummation, which the government at Washington might
possibly have viewed with equanimity. His camp near Irwinville, Georgia,
was surrounded by Lieutenant-Colonel Pritchard's command at dawn on May
10, and he was captured as he was about to mount horse with a few
companions and ride for the coast, leaving his family to follow more
slowly. The tradition that he was captured in disguise, having donned
female dress in a last desperate attempt to escape, has only this
foundation, that Mrs. Davis threw a cloak over her husband's shoulders,
and a shawl over his head, on the approach of the Federal soldiers. He
was taken to Fortress Monroe, and there kept in confinement for about
two years; was arraigned before the United States Circuit Court for the
District of Virginia for the crime of treason, and released on bail; and
was finally restored to all the duties and privileges of citizenship,
except the right to hold office, by President Johnson's proclamation of
amnesty of December 25, 1868.
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