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^ , - ?" ? McKISSlCK'S ADDRESS OF HISTORIC INTEREST ^ ( CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2) "with other forces farther south. > v'1n consideration of all the declarations that were made to him by his military advisers in Abbeville, it must have been plain to President Davis that the end of the Confederacy had come. General Duke, in speaking of the council of war at Abbeville, says: 4I have never been atte to form a positive opinion as ] to what Mr..Davis's real purpose was ; at that date. It was perfectly mani- < fest to everyone else that there was Vav\A nl' oii.mocofnl VA. I - iiv UV|/C VI 1 VUVI OUVVVOMUt J sistance. It was the genera^ opinion < that Mr. Davis could escape if he ] really wished to do so, but we feared < t^at his pride would prevent his mak- i ing the attempt.' *- s "In his book, 'The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government,' Mr. 1 Davis says that his object in fleeing j dofcth was to make his way to the j Confederate forces in Alabama or in I the Trans-Mississippi department who 1 bad not then surrendered. More than ^ne bbserver records, on the other j 'hand, that Mr. Davis traveled very t slowly, apparently indifferent as to whether or not he was. captured. If r be expected to join Confederate 1 Jorces farther south or west, why a did he .pot make more speed? Did e he not really give up hope at Abbe- li Tille? Did not his exclamation at the ti meeting there that all indeed was 1; lest indicate his realization that it b was really useless for him to go on? G Ob more than one occasion the Con- a Jederate chief executive had shown p himself unwilling to yield to the cold V fogic of facts. It may have been that w at Abbeville he st'll hoped against t< hope, but his better judgment told tl him that all was lost. In referring N "to the consideration shown him by w the cavalry escorting him after he in left Charlotte, he says that 'the dark le shadows which gathered round us al foretold the coming night.' bi . , "In view of what took place at al Abbeville, our contention is that re here the Confederate Government ^ ceased to exist because the officers s* of that government perceived that *i the last hope was gone and abandon- te ed it and because President Dapis himself must have seen that the fxuse for which he had so long and CI ae desDeratelv strup-?led was Inst. Tf I to the Confederate Government went ^ oat of existence at Abbeville?and to we hold that it did?then the Cabi- di . net meeting at Abbeville?and we m hold that there was one at Abbeville P! I ?was the final session of that body. w 1 "Yet, although it has been proved ^ that the last Confederate council of ^ war was held at Abbeville, what ai proof is there that the last meeting er of the Confederate cabinet was held A at Abbeville beyond that offered by r* local tradition which, nevertheless, in usually has sound basis in truth? re "Major Armistead Burt, host of hi President Davis at Abbeville, is quoted by Mr. Miller as often say- ^ ing that the last meeting of the Confederate cabinet was held in his house. This may have been only his ?* opinion, or it may have been an au- th thoritative statement based on some fr' contemporaneous declaration made to feim by his illustrious guest, Presi- m dent Davis. *8 "The New York World, in an issue R< published many years ago, said of the Pr v- meeting at Abbeville: - " ' " 'In gloomy loneliness Da via and ,ac 'bis cabinet assembled in. one of the 8? sitting rooms. They held their last e(* consultation, discussed plans that Te Were discussed only to be abandoned and finally decided that the end had co come and they had better try to es- Al cape. Then they examined such pa- wh pen as they had with them,, and thi L when the hour of twelve struck, the cai ashes of nearly all of those papers Tr were smouldering in the glowing in* ceals of the big wood fire.' it < "What is the testimony of those wa who participated in the cabinet meet- cid ing at Abbeville? to "President Davis is silent. He does ' not mention his stay in Abbeville. He ten refers to only one cabinet meeting silc after the Confederate government the ov>/^ woo +Vin a? A ma ici b Mivuuiuim cum wuab noo ^uc vsuo uic at Greensboro. He does not mention Co: the session of his cabinet which took Sts place at Danville and Charlotte, so sou Ids omission of Abbeville carries with dea it no implication unfavorable to Ab- sisl beville. One of his most i?ecent bi- cus egraphers, Dr. Wm. E. Dodd of the ' University of Chicago, refers to the of *- cabinet meeting at Charlotte, but cab -fco none of the others on the retreat tan fiom Richmond. Rei "8f the four members of the cabi- net * A*. ' - net present at Abbeville, only onej afterward wrote or said anything about the last cabinet meeting, so far as I have been able to learn. "Secretary of State Benjamin immediately after leaving Abbeville went to the coast of Florida, made his way to England and never returned to the United States. In his letters to his kindred in this country shortly after his escape he made no reference to the cabinet. His sole published utterance concerning the Confederacy after he settled in England \tas a vindication of President Davis and contained no mention of cabinet meetings. "Secretary of War Breckinridge, 30 far as I can find, had nothing to say on the subject, nor did Secretary Mallory who wrote a brief account jf the last days of the government ivithout mentioning the final cabiftet ' iession. ' "Tiie only cabinet member who ' lad anything to say about the sub- 1 iect was Postmaster General Rea- 1 ran. In a letter written in 1899 to ' tfr. D. Wjratt Aiken of Abbeville, 1 le said: " 'You make inquiry as to the >lace at which the last meeting of 1 he Confederate Cabinet was held. 1 'I have to make a statement ' ather than a direct answer. The^ ast full cabinet meeting, in which ,? 11 the cabinet members participat- ^ d, was in Richmond, Va. Before we r aft there Mr. Trenholm, the secre- 1 ary of the treasury, became serious- r Y sick and left that city before the r alance of the cabinet and went to * treensboro, N. C. .President Davis ? nd the balance of the cabinet stop- e ed at Danville, Va., several days. 11 Fhen we reached Greensboro, N. C., ^ re found Mr. Trenholm still too sick t ) participate in the cabinet meeting ;v lere, and he went on to Charlotte,!8 '. C. When we reached there he | d as still auite sick and unable to r' teet with the cabinet. When we'^ :ft Charlotte he left with us, but Ci 9 j fter traveling about half a day he cjcame too ill to go further with ua, ^ id there resigned the office of sec- r< stary of the treasury. There was * ten a cabinet meeting, where we c< ayed the night after his resigna-! ^ on, which I was not invited to at- s< nd and at which it was determined ^ tat I should be appointed secretary ' the treasury ad interim. And at ^ harlotte the Hon. George Davis, at- ^ rney-general, with the approval of a' ie president afld cabinet, remained *r i take- care of his motherless chil- ^ :en, and met us no more. The next t( eeting, and one much interest, w irtly on account of conferences ith the officers of some brigades of ?' \e- cavalry, was at Abbeville. All a1 ie members, except Mr. Trenholm tJ id' the attorney-general, were pres- G it at this meeting. After we left H bbeville- and passed the Savannah ? ver, and before we reached Washgton, Ga., Mr. Benjamin, the sec- bi tary of state, left us, and we saw tt m no more. The next meeting of liat was left of the cabinet was at rt at place. Besides the president, ^re were in that meeting Gen. to eckinridge, Mr. Mallory, secretary si the navy and myself, representing cc e postoffice department and the n; easury department.' ce ""Even stronger still is the testi- m ony of M. H. Clark, written fn ni 182, seventeen years before Mr. hi iagan's statement. Mr. Clark was a esent at Charlotte, Abbeville and P* ashington, Ga., serving finally as C( ting treasurer of the Confederate erfiment, the lasj officer appoint- th by President Davis. He was a th mnessean. He declared: of " 'The last cabinet meeting which th aid be called such was held at be >beville on the second of May at th lich it seems to haye been decided en 4L. V 1 A_ wie tivuciiip^ was uujjeieas tu rry the organized force to the by ans-Mississippi department, it be- rii j too small to cope with the enemy wl would have to encounter and it thi s left free to the soldiers to de- di< e their own action?the move was wfc be a voluntary one.' off 'The official records and the con- pe: iporary issues of newspapers are in* snt, as far as my examination of go1 m has gone. No officials records of the etings of the cabinets of either the to nfederate States or the United mi: ites have been kept, for the rea- evj l that no record is necessary or fee lirable since cabinet meetings con- ' ; mainly of free and informal die- go^ isions, more or less confidential. on 'D:d the last Confederate council; bet war at Abbeville include the last'ere kinet meeting? Were they simul-jwo eously' held? Postmaster General po^ igan says-that the Abbeville cabi- ine meeting was 'one of much inter- al est, partly on account of conferenc with the officers of some brigades < cavalry.' Evidently the cabinet mei bers participated, although it is po sible that the cabinet held a separa session before or after the counc of war. It is significant in this coi nection that at Greensboro there wi a session of the cabinet at which Coi federate commanders were presei and it is reasonable to infer that tl same procedure was followed at A1 beville. General Duke says that on] the brigade commanders and Pres dent Davis were present, but Pos master General Reagan contradici him on this point. "It has been proved on high at thority that there was a session c the Confederate cabinet at Abb< ville, but was it the last meeting? "Acting Treasurer Clark declare that 'the last cabinet meeting -^luc could be called such was held at At beville.' No other person competes to testify contradicts that stat< tnent Postmaster General Reaga >ays that the next meeting, not o the cabinet, but of "what was left o Jie cabinet' was at Washington SVhat was left of the cabinet a (Washington, Ga.? Only Secretary o ;he Navy Mallory and Postmaster General Reagan. Secretary of Wa 3reckinridge was not there, althoug: lome Georgia historians say he was The plain inference from the state nent of President Davis ih his boo! s that he never saw General Breckin idge after he left him at the Savan lah river, while Acting Treasure; ]lark removes the last vestige o: loubt by the declaration that 4Gen ral Breckinridge arrived in Wash ngton an hour or so after President )avis left.' Secretary Benjamin qui he party just after crossing the Sa annah river and, therefore, was nol t Washington. There is no test tc etermine how many members art equired to constitute a session ei tie cabinet, but common sense indiates that two men do not make a abinet. There were four cabinet ofcers present and five departments jpresented at Abbeville, but at Fashington only two cabinet officers Duld have been present and three epartments could have been repre;nted, not enough to compose an orinary quorum.' "But was there a session of the onfederate cabinet at Washington? Hiete is the proof? I have been unble to find any. Stovall and Phillips i their lives of Robert Toombs, and very in his history of Georgia consnd that the last cabinet meeting as held at Washington, but do not ttempt to produce proof to make Dod the assertion. Joseph T. Derry, uthor of a school history of the nited States and of the history of eorgia in the Confederate Military istory, in the latter volume menons that President Davis and some I his party stopped at Washington, nt is silent as to a cabinet meeting lere. Praci/lflnf Tiotno o*?/J 4-Via * *W<UV1IV A/U V AO OliU KUU ITTV jmaining members of his cabinet ild any sort of meeting in Washingn, it was merely the informal seson of three directors of a bankrupt >ncern after it had gone into bankiptcy arid ceased to be a going conirn. It is true that some of the oney-left in the Confederate treas y was disbursed at Wtshington, it that was only the distribution of part of the bankrupt's assets to its eferred creditors, the long unpaid jnfederate soldiers. "Were the acts of the officers of e Confederate government after e last cabinet meeting and council war at Abbeville consistent with e theory that the government had en dissolved there? Did the course ey then followed indicate that the d had come? "Mr. Miller cites a letter written ' a daughter of Thomas Chiles Per1 who was' at her father's house ten Mr. Benjamin was a guest sre.' She said: 'After the last sol;r left, father went into the library lere Mr Rpnfnmin WAS Vinminff tViP icial papers.' What were those pars? There would be no use in takj.so m(ich care to destroy ordinary rernment records. It is suggested it the papers were those referred in Pierce Butler's life of Benjan. After noting the approaching icuation of Richmond as the Conlerate capital, Mr. Butler says: " 'For some weeks the packing of irernment archives had been going quietly and Mr. Benjamin had ;n preparing to destroy the se:t service papers whose capture uld compromise persons within the wer of the enemy so that when the vitable moment came and GenerLee's message was delivered to ;.v V _ I' : H.1-.. : es Mr. Davis in St. Paul's church all of was ready for immediate removal to n- some spot that might, for the time, s- be safer.' to "Wefee not the papers destroyed in iil the Perrin home by Mr. Benjamin n- the secret service papers referred to? is Why had Mr. Benjamin kept them i- so Ion? Was it because they were of it value to the Confederate government ie so long as it existed and did he burn b- them because there was no longer a ly government to which they could be i- of use? "Colonel Perrin's daughter says ^ further that when her father went into the library Mr. Benjamin pointed to the official seal which was lying on ^ the table and said that he did not know what to do with it, as he could not burn it and yet he was unwilld ing for the Federals to get it. 'Fath^ or suggested that he throw it into >_ the Savannah, which he had to cross and he said that he would do so.' The great seal is the traditional official n symbol of sovereignty which must be * affixed to all important state papers, * including proclamations by the Presi* dent. Why should Mr. Benjamin] * have desired to secrete it or dispose * of it unless he was convinced that there would be no, further use for it, r since the Confederate government k had come to an end? If he thought ' that the Confederate government still " existed or would continue, the natur^ al thing for him to have done was to " turn the seal over to the President " td be entrusted to his successor, since r the Secretary of State is the customf (ary custodian of the great seal. What " I became of the seal? That question " | has never b'een answered satisfactorit ly. About twenty years ago an Ab^.beviJJe writer in a South Carolina -' ? ?;J ii-.i. .1 * | iicrrapayer SttiU Ulttl/ 1116 iraQltlOTl ^. here was that the seal had been > dropped into Mr. Burt's well, hut the ! commoner tradition is that it was! dropped into the Savannah River.; James. Jones, trusted negro body ser1 vant of Mr. Davis, said that only he and Mr. Davis knew what became of 1 the seal and that he would never tell : ?and he nevefr did. About 1913 a 1 group of patriotic gentlemen of Richmond were offered an opportunity to buy the great seal of the Confederacy from a retired fear admiral of the United States Navy. After j Careful investigation, they became convinced that the seal was authentic, bought it and placed it in the 1 Confederate Museum in the former White House of the Confederacy in . Richmond. ' "Another interesting statement made by Colonel Perrin's daughter is: ' I 1 | " 'Mr. Benjamin gave father a 1 handsome inkstand and he gave moth- j er a small box of loaf sugar and also < about five pounds of tea in a little ( box. Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Reagan ; left their trunks at our house. Mr. j Benjamin afterward had his shipped j to England, and Mr. Reagan, came for his in person a few months later. , Messrs. Breckinridge and Benjamin ] were well dressed, but Messrs. Mai- ; lory and Reagan looked as if they ^ had been meeting with all the hard- \ ships of war. Messrs. Breckinridge, 1 Mallory and Reagan seemed to real- t ize that a great calamity had befallen ( us; but Mr. Benjamin was more jo- ? vial, and did not seem depressed. The last named spent a good while out { in the garden admiring the flowers.' "This is significant as displaying ^ the demeanor of Mr. Benjamin, for his good cheer in the face of heavy misfortune was characteristic. Burton Harrison and others who were in the t Presidential company before it reached Charlotte noted that, despite hardships, discomforts and ad- t versity, Mr. Benjamin was in high j spirits, singing and jest, the life of the party. Disaster had again be- ^ fallen him at Abbeville and he met it smiling again. j j "Mr. Miller is authority for the <( statement that during the night spent g| at Abbeville discharges were issued 0 to thousands of soldiers. He adds: S( 'the day that Mr. Davis left Abbe- w ville many of the soldiers threw a- el way their arms. On the same day a portion of?-the cavalry, which had J been accompanying the President re-jcf turned to Abbeville with a white flag j w at their head, looking for Federal; troops to whom they expected to ? surrender.' The Press and Banner in 1886 said that 'it was here that the failure of the Confederate arms was formally acknowledged. It was here that the Confederate Government collapsed and the remaining officers and men were released from military duty.' "Moreover, General Duke says that! on the night the party was in Abbe-1 / ville he was ordered /by Genera Breckinridge, secretary of .war, t< take charge of the removal sand trans portation of the specie of the Con federate government. General Breck inridge said then that the greater part of this was gold and that the total amount was between $500,00C and $600,000?he did not know tht exact amount. At the Savannah rivei President Davis himself says he ordered that enough silver coin be taker from the treasury train to make a partial payment to the soldiers oi his escort. About one hundred and eight or ten thousand dollars was Daid nnt in tliio urow M TT M ... ?M>W ?f WJ VIOiAj acting treasurer, estimated that the amount on the tram when it left Richmond was $567,032; of which $230,000 belonged to Virginia banks. What finally became of the remainder of the treasure after the payment of silver to the soldiery is veiled in mystery, but the hands of the Confederate officials were clean when they turned it over to the Federal authorities. "The destruction of official documents, the issuance of discharges to many soldiers, the disposition of the great seal, the? payment of part of the funds in the treasury to the soldiers, all go to prove that the Confederate government was dissolved in Abbeville. These, considered as a whole, are most logically explained on the hypothesis that the government had ceased to function. "One most significant development after the party left Abbeville shortly after midnight and before it reached Washington deserves special emphasis. It was the departure of Secretary Benjamin. Practical, cold-blooded in his'views, long before the Confederacy fell he Drobablv had are science of its fate. It is likely that he was the mysterious Mr, X, described by John Estees Cook, in his great war novel 'Mohun,' as foretelling ifi the summer of 1864 almost the exact date of the doom of the Confederacy Mr. Benjamin occupied a singular position in the Confederate government. He was a member of the- Confederate cabinet from first to last, serving successively as Attorney General, Secretary of War and Secretary of State. Schouler, the 1 historian, terms him 'the brains of the Confederacy,' for in sheer intellectual power he loomed above all other Confederate statesmen. Pierce Butler, his biographer, cites evidence to show that President Davis leaned heavily on Benjamin and transferred bo his shoulders some of the responsibilities of the chief executive. In the last phase of the Confederacy, Presi Jent Davis, by office a civilian but by temperament, by mental processes and by individuality a soldier, con:erned himself largely with the con-1 duct of military, affairs, while Ben- j jamin to some extent took his place j n directing the civil affairs of the government. J "Secretary Benjamin was the only nember of the cabinet who sided with President* Davis'against ,$he .negotiation of peace at the joint council of var and cabinet meeting at Greens>oro, yet under his veneer of optinism he was a pessimist as to the fu;ure and long had been, out of pity >r sympathy seeking to <heer and lustain his chief. "Did Benjamin reach the decision it ABbeville Mhat the Confederate government had to be abandoned here? ' v l "Pierce Butler says: " 'Benjamin evidently considered he cause hopelessly ruined, for he old Dr. L. Hoge that he would, if he worst came, use every means to scape, having resolved never to be aken alive. When the news of Gen. . E. Johnston's surrender arrived nd Mr. Davis had announced his etermination to try to make his ray to Texas and join Kirby Smith, Ir. Benjamin, writes Mrs. Davis, :ame to him (President Davis) and ( aid, 'I couldn't bear the fatigue * f riding as you do and as I can s ?rve our people no more just now, * ill you consent to my making an * Tort to escaDe throueh Florida? If 1 ou should be in a condition to re*|r aire me again, I will answer your( ill at once.' This, says Mrs. Davis,' as 'his considerate manner of say-,^ EAGLE "M1KAD0">^^| For Sale at your Dealer ASK FOR THE YELLOW PEN&l EAGLE M1K EAGLE PENCIL COMR 1 ing all was lost in his opinion.' > "As Mr. Miller observed, after the ' cabinet meeting at Abbeville, 'every one was free to take care of himself - and, consequently, we find Mr. Benfjjamin separating from the party and : we also find the troops disbanded.' > "In consideration of all the circum! s^nces at Abbeville and the testi' mony of the men who were pTomi nent actors in the closing scene of i the vast drama there, it seems to i me that it is established that the last \ " cabinet meeting which could be callI *.A V-1J -4. *u --J vu auv.il, nas uciu at. AUVCVIW ttUQ i that the last chapter in government , of the Confederate States of Ameri ca was written there. I have not. ex* v ; amined all the evidence, for that i would take months, nor have I *had > ^n opportunity to acquaint myself with the details of local traditions, yet, upon such data as I have been liable to find in a spirit of impartial \ inquiry, I believe that the honor and distinction so long claimed by Abbeville are hers by good and rightful title. "Fate, with that fondness for coincidence it has so often manifested, ordained, in accordance with tbeftbness of things that the last meeting of the Confederate cabinet should be held in the little town in which the first Secession meeting in the South tocfk place. Where the star of a hew nation had risen, there it was destined to fall. The Confederacy / received its death blow at Appomattox, but its heart ceased to beat at Abbeville, the home of John C. Calhoun, the master architect of those political theories upon which the short-lived , government was reared, of the brilliant Chancellor Francis Hugh Wardlaw who supplied the' draft upon which the Ordinance of Secession was I modeled, of Thomas Chiles Perrin. the first signer of that ordninanpe,, V. and of legions of gallant sons who fought with unsurpassed valor iir the world's history and died for the nation that was. "And so, this memorial will stand i ^ V ' forevermore to remind' successive generations that Abbeville holds i? proud and hallowed remembrance j v unparalled historic connection - with the rise and fall of a nation that hy the fortitude, sacrifice and sublime heroism ef its people, will command </ the admiration of the world more and more through all the ages A* come." STATE OF SOUTH CAROLINA, COUNTY OF ABBEVILLE. ; Probate Court, 'X . ' >v 4$ /<! -.! t I .u A vuairan i or ueiicri or /\amjni5ir?Hon. By J. F. MILLER, Judge of Probate: .. 7 Whereas, James A. Hill hath made suit to me, to grant him letters of administration of the estate and effects of Frank H. Flynn, late of Abbeville County, deceased, These are therefore, to cite an4' admonish all and singular the kindred and creditors of the said Frank H. Flynn, deceased, that they be and ~ . appear before me, in the Court -of Probate, to be held at Abbeville Court House, on Oct. 17th, 1921. after publication hereof, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon, to show cause, if 1. 1 1L - !J L J ttii/ buey nave, way me saiu aaininistration should not be granted. Given under my hand and seal of the court this 3rd day of October in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one and .'in the 146th year of American Independence. Published on the 3rd day of October 1921 in the Press and Banner f and on the Court House door for the time required by law. J. F. MILLER, 3t Judge of Pro'oate. TOP SOIL ROAD. The Abbeville Co\inty Highway Commission will receive sealed bids ?or construction of 7.36 miles of top oil road from Donalds to Greenwood County line until noon October 20th. Certified check for $1009 equired with bid. Right reserved to eject any or all bids. L. W. KELLER, Secretary, Abbeville, S. C. [. B. HUMBERT, Engineer, Abbeville, S. C. ^^^^Pencil No. 174 jMide In fire grade* L WITH THE RED BAM) ADO \NY, NEW YORK