for its object, only his safety--that twenty-five hundred
brave men were enough to prolong the war, until the panic had passed
away, and they would then be a nucleus for thousands more. He urged us
to accept his views. We were silent, for we could not agree with him,
and respected him too much to reply. He then said, bitterly, that he saw
all hope was gone--that all the friends of the South were prepared to
consent to her degradation. When he arose to leave the room, he had lost
his erect bearing, his face was pale, and he faltered so much in his
step that he was compelled to lean upon General Breckinridge. It was a
sad sight to men who felt toward him as we did. I will venture to say
that nothing he has subsequently endured, equaled the bitterness of that
moment.

At the Savannah river, next day, the men were paid, through the
influence of General Breckinridge, with a portion of the gold brought
from Richmond. Each man got from twenty-six to thirty-two dollars--as he
was lucky. Generals Vaughan and Debrell remained at the river to
surrender. At Washington, Georgia, on the same day, the 7th of May, Mr.
Davis left us, with the understanding that he was to attempt to make his
escape. General Breckinridge had determined to proceed, with all the men
remaining, in an opposite direction, and divert if possible all pursuit
from Mr. Davis. That night, General Ferguson's brigade went to Macon to
surrender, Ferguson himself going to Mississippi. On the next morning,
some three hundred fifty of my brigade and a portion of William's
brigade, under Colonel Breckinridge, marched to Woodstock, Georgia.

Many men of my brigade, dismounted and unable to obtain horses, and many
of the paroled men, hoping to be exchanged, had followed us out from
Virginia, walking more than three hundred miles. When at length,
unwilling to expose them to further risk and suffering, I positively
prohibited their coming further, they wept like children. A great
portion of the men with Colonel Breckinridge were from his own regiment,
the Ninth Kentucky, and the former "Morgan men," so long separated, were
united just as all was lost. The glorious old "Kentucky brigade," as the
infantry brigade, first commanded by General Breckinridge, then by
Hanson and Helm, was not many miles distant, and surrendered about the
same time. Upon leaving Washington, General Breckinridge, accompanied by
his staff and some forty-five men, personally commanded by Colonel
Breckin