ridge had taken a different road from that upon which the brigade
had marched. When I arrived at Woodstock I did not find him there as I
had expected.

Hours elapsed and he did not come. They were hours of intense anxiety.
In our front was a much superior force of Federal cavalry--to go
forward would provoke an engagement, and it could only result in severe
and bloody defeat.

Retreat, by the way we had come, was impossible. Upon the left, if we
escaped the enemy, we would be stopped by the sea.

I could not determine to surrender until I had heard from General
Breckinridge, who was, at once, commander of all the Confederate forces
yet in the field, in this vicinity, and the sole remaining officer of
the Government.

Nor, until he declared it, could I know that enough had been done to
assure the escape of Mr. Davis.

The suspense was galling. At length Colonel Breckinridge arrived with a
message from the General.

While proceeding leisurely along the road, upon which he had left
Washington, General Breckinridge had suddenly encountered a battalion of
Federal cavalry, formed his forty-five men, and prepared to charge them.
They halted, sent in a flag of truce, and parlied.

General Breckinridge saw that he could no longer delay his own attempt
at escape, and while the conference was proceeding; set off with a few
of his personal staff.

After a sufficient time had elapsed to let him get all away, Colonel
Breckinridge marched by the enemy (a flag of truce having been agreed
on), and came directly to Woodstock. General Breckinridge directed him
to say, that he had good reason to believe that Generals Forrest and
Taylor had already surrendered. That if we succeeded in crossing the
Mississippi, we would find all there prepared to surrender. He counseled
an immediate surrender upon our part, urging that it was folly to think
of holding out longer and criminal to risk the lives of the men when no
good could possibly be accomplished. He wished them to return to
Kentucky--to their homes and kindred. He forbade any effort to assist
his escape. "I will not have," he said, "one of these young men to
encounter one hazard more for my sake." Bidding his young countrymen
return to the loved land of their birth, he went off into exile.

The men were immediately formed, and the words of the chieftain they
most loved and honored, repeated to them. They declared that they had
striven to do their duty and preserve their honor, an