A magazine article in 1989 caught my eye about a black child, a Confederate President’s First Lady and the Southern Presidential Family. The story was written by Gulfport, Mississippi freelance writer Mrs. Peggy Robbins and is entitled, “Jim Limber Davis.”

This is my summary of Mrs. Robbin’s wonderful story.

On the morning of February 15, 1864, Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Southern President Jefferson Davis, had concluded her errands and was driving her carriage down the streets of Richmond, Virginia on her way home. She heard screams from a distance and quickly went to the scene to see what was happening.

Varina saw a young black child being abused by an older man. She demanded that he stop striking the child and when this failed she shocked the man by forcibly taking the child away. She took the child to her carriage and with her to the Confederate White House.

Arriving home Mrs. Davis and maid ‘Ellen’ gave the young boy a bath, attended to his cuts and bruises and feed him. The only thing he would tell them is that his name was Jim Limber. He was happy to be rescued and was given some clothes of the Davis’ son Joe.

The Davis family were visited the following evening by a friend of Varina’s, noted Southern Diarist-Mary Boykin Chesnut, who saw Jim Limber and wrote later that she had seen the boy and that he was eager to show me his cuts and bruises. She also said, “the child is an orphan rescued yesterday from a brutal Negro Guardian.” and “there are things in life that are too sickening, and such cruelty is one of them.”

There were some children who addressed Jim as Jim Limber Davis for fun. This was fine with him because he felt he was indeed a member of the family. The Davis letters to friends are an indication of his acceptance as they were written that he was a member of their gang of children.

The Christmas of 1864, would be memorable for the Davis family and probably the best Christmas Jim Limber would ever have. A Christmas tree was set up in Saint Paul’s Church, decorated and gifts placed beneath it. On Christmas evening orphans were brought to the church and were delighted with the presents they got. Jim was happy to help decorate the tree.

Mrs. Robbin’s wrote, in her story, that Mrs. Jefferson Davis was a very good story teller who was able to make sounds of different animals in the stories about the critters. Jim was always eager to help.

The end of the War Between the States was coming and Richmond was being evacuated. Varina and the children left ahead of Jefferson Davis. The president and his staff left just hours before the occupation of Union troops.

Varina and the children were by the side of Jefferson Davis at his capture near Irwinville, Georgia and again the family was separated. Jefferson Davis was taken to Virginia to spend two years in prison.

Mrs. Davis and her children were taken to Macon, Georgia and later to Port Royal outside of Savannah. At Port Royal their Union escort, Captain Charles T. Hudson, made good at his earlier threats to take Jim Limber away.

As the Union soldiers came to forcibly take young Jim, he put up a great struggle and tried to hold onto his family as they to him. Jim and his family cried uncontrollably as the child was taken. His family would never again see him or know what happened to him. The Davis’ tried in later years to locate Jim but were unsuccessful.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia is home to a portrait of Jim Limber Davis in the Eleanor S. Brookenbrough Library. I thank Mrs. Peggy Robbin’s who wrote the Jim Limber Davis story in 1989 and the Southern Partisan Magazine for publishing her story in the second quarter Issue-Volume IX of 1989.

Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Speaker, Writer, author of book “When American Stood for God, Family and Country and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, www.scv.org.

 

WesternFront America

The following true story should be part of Black History Month tributes in February.

In 1989, a magazine article caught my eye which I had to read from beginning to end. This was not an ordinary story but about a black child, a Confederate President’s First Lady and the Southern Presidential Family. The story was written by Gulfport, Mississippi freelance writer Mrs. Peggy Robbin’s and is entitled, “Jim Limber Davis”.

While Black History Month mostly focuses on black adults in history, this story is about a black child. This is a summary, in my own words, of Mrs. Robbin’s splendid story.

On the morning of February 15, 1864, Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Southern President Jefferson Davis, had concluded her errands and was driving her carriage down the streets of Richmond, Virginia on her way home. She heard screams from a distance and quickly went to the scene to see what was happening.

Varina saw a young black child being abused by an older man. She demanded that he stop striking the child and when this failed she shocked the man by forcibly taking the child away. She took the child to her carriage and with her to the Confederate White House.

Arriving home Mrs. Davis and maid ‘Ellen’ gave the young boy a bath, attended to his cuts and bruises and feed him. The only thing he would tell them is that his name was Jim Limber. He was happy to be rescued and was given some clothes of the Davis’ son Joe who was the same size and age.

The Davis family were visited the following evening by a friend of Varina’s, noted Southern Diarist-Mary Boykin Chesnut, who saw Jim Limber and wrote later that she had seen the boy and that he was eager to show me his cuts and bruises. She also said, “the child is an orphan rescued yesterday from a brutal Negro Guardian.” and “there are things in life that are too sickening, and such cruelty is one of them.”

There were some children who addressed Jim as Jim Limber Davis for fun. This was fine with him because he felt he was indeed a member of the family. The Davis letters to friends are indication of his acceptance and they said he was a member of their gang of children.

The Christmas of 1864, would be memorable for the Davis family and probably the best Christmas Jim Limber would ever have. A Christmas tree was set up in Saint Paul’s Church, decorated and gifts placed beneath it. On Christmas evening orphans were brought to the church and were delighted with the presents they got. Jim was happy that he helped decorate the tree.

Mrs. Robbin’s wrote, in her story, that Mrs. Jefferson Davis was a very good story teller who was able to make sounds of different animals in the stories about the critters. Jim was always eager to help.

The end of the War Between the States was coming and Richmond was being evacuated. Varina and the children left ahead of Jefferson Davis. The president and his staff left just hours before the occupation of Union troops.

Varina and the children were by the side of Jefferson Davis at his capture near Irwinville, Georgia and again the family was separated. Jefferson Davis was taken to Virginia to spend two years in prison.

Mrs. Davis and her children were taken to Macon, Georgia and later to Port Royal outside of Savannah. At Port Royal their Union escort, Captain Charles T. Hudson, made good at his earlier threats to take Jim Limber away.

As the Union soldiers came to forcibly take young Jim, he put up a great struggle and tried to hold onto his family as they to him. Jim and his family cried uncontrollably as the child was taken. His family would never again see him or know what happened to him. The Davis’ tried in later years to locate Jim but were unsuccessful.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia is home to a portrait of Jim Limber Davis in the Eleanor S. Brookenbrough Library. I thank Mrs. Peggy Robbin’s who wrote the Jim Limber Davis story in 1989 and the Southern Partisan Magazine for publishing her story in the second quarter Issue-Volume IX of 1989.

Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Speaker, Writer, author of book “When American Stood for God, Family and Country and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans

 

WesternFront America

“Nothing fills me with deeper sadness than to see a Southern man apologizing for the defense we made of our inheritance. Our cause was so just, so sacred, that had I known all that has come to pass, had I known what was to be inflicted upon me, all that my country was to suffer, all that our posterity was to endure, I would do it all over again.”
—-Jefferson Davis

Monday, the 31st day of May, in the year of our Lord 2010, is Memorial Day. It was on Memorial Day–Wednesday May 31, 1893, when the remains of Jefferson Davis was re-interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

Thursday June 3rd, is the 202^nd birthday of Jefferson Davis.

Jefferson Davis served the United States as a soldier, statesmen and Secretary of War. He was also the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. On Saturday, April 24, 2010, a statue depicting Jefferson Davis and two of his sons Joseph and adopted Black son Jim Limber was unveiled at Beauvoir,  the last home of Jefferson Davis located on the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast.

If you listen closely, and the wind blows in the right direction, you might hear a train whistle in the distance.

When I was growing up near Atlanta, Georgia this and the sound of “taps” from nearby Fort McPherson were special sounds. Today, air conditioners and closed windows segregate the sounds of the trains, owls and the wonderful sounds that are nature’s symphony at night.

On Sunday, May 28, 1893, a few days before “Memorial Day”, in New Orleans, a story began that overshadowed all other events reported in the newspapers of the South and that of the North.

This was the day when the remains of Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, laid in state at Confederate Memorial Hall in the historic crescent city of New Orleans.

Jefferson Davis died in 1889 and was buried at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. Four years later, May 27, 1893, his body was moved from the burial site, placed in a new heavy brass trimmed oak casket and taken to Confederate Memorial Hall where it was placed on a huge oaken catafalque.

At 4:30PM, May 28th, a funeral service was held for Mr. Davis and a moving memorial address was delivered by Louisiana’s Governor Murphy J. Foster as thousands listened. There were no sounds of cars, planes, sirens, cell phones or sound systems. They did not exist. A reverent silence fell among the people as the casket was given to the commitment of veterans from Virginia who had been sent to receive it.

The procession then formed for a slow march to the railroad station on Canal Street.

Train No. 69, with Engineer Frank Coffin, waited patiently as the casket was taken to the platform and passed through an open observation car to a catafalque. The cars wall could not be seen due to the many flowers.

This was the vision of Mrs. (Varina) Jefferson Davis when she began three years previous to secure a funeral train and military escort for a 1,200 mile train trip from New Orleans, Louisiana to Richmond, Virginia.

Train engine No. 69, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad slowly pulled out of New Orleans Station at 7:50PM. L and N Railroad later became CSX Railroad.

Newspaper reporters from New Orleans, Richmond, Boston, New York and the Southern Associated Press were guests on the train.

After a brief stop at Bay Saint Louis, and a slow-down at Pass Christian, where hundreds of people lined the tracks, the Jefferson Davis Funeral Train stopped at Gulfport, Mississippi, near Beauvoir which was the last home of Jefferson Davis. It was here that Davis wrote his book, “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.”

Uncle Bob Brown, a former servant of the Davis family and a passenger on the train, saw the many flowers that the children had laid on the side of the railroad tracks. Brown was so moved by this beautiful gesture that he wept uncontrollably.

In Mobile, Alabama, the train was met by a thousand mourners and the Alabama Artillery fired a 21-gun salute. Locomotive No. 69 was retired and Locomotive No. 25 was coupled to the train. The new train’s Engineer was C.C. Devinney and Warren Robinson was its fireman.

Church bells rang in Montgomery, Alabama when the train pulled into the city at 6:00AM on May 29th. A severe rainstorm delayed the funeral procession to about 8:30AM when a caisson carried the body of Davis to Alabama’s state capitol. A procession carried the casket through the portico where Jefferson Davis, in 1861, had taken the oath of office as President of the Confederate States of America.

The casket was placed in front of the bench of the Alabama Supreme Court. Above the right exit was a banner with the word “Monterrey” and above the left exit was a banner with the words “Buena Vista.” During the War with Mexico Jefferson Davis was a hero at Monterrey and wounded at Buena Vista.

All businesses and schools closed, and church bells toiled during the procession to and from the capitol. In final tribute, thousands of people of Montgomery, including many ex-soldiers and school children filed by the casket.

At 12:20PM the funeral train departed over the Western Railway of Alabama and Atlanta and West Point Railroad for Atlanta. At West Point, Georgia the train stopped under a beautiful arch of flowers to pick up Georgia’s Governor William J. Northen and staff.

At 4:30PM the funeral train pulled into Union Station in Atlanta, Georgia. It is estimated that 20,000 people lined the streets as the funeral procession made their way to the state capitol. Atlanta’s Gate City Guard, which had served as Company F, 1st Georgia (Ramsay’s) during the War Between the States, stood guard over the president.

At 7:00PM the train went north on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which later became Southern Railway and, today, Norfolk Southern Railroad. The train traveled through Lula, Georgia, Greenville, South Carolina and stopped at the North Carolina capitol at Raleigh.

A brief stop was made in Danville, Virginia where a crowd of people gathered around the train and sang, “Nearer My God To Thee” as city church bells toiled.

Finally, the train reached Richmond, Virginia on Wednesday, May 31, 1893, at 3:00AM. It was Memorial Day. Mrs. Davis met the train and her husband’s casket was taken to the Virginia State House.

At 3:00PM, May 31st, the funeral procession started for Hollywood Cemetery. The caisson bearing the casket was drawn by six white horses. Earlier rains kept the dust from stirring from the dirt roads.

With Mrs. Jefferson Davis were her daughters, Winnie and Margaret. Six state governors acted as pallbearers. It was estimated that 75,000 people attended this final salute to President Davis. The ceremony concluded with a 21-gun salute and “Taps.

© Calvin E. Johnson

Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Speaker, Writer, Author of book “When America Stood for God, Family and Country” and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

 

WesternFront America

On Thursday, March 12, 2009, the Georgia State Senate passed bill No. 27, by a vote of 48-2, designating April as Confederate Heritage and History Month. I understand that it has now been voted out of committee for a full House vote. Supporters of this bill say,

“The measure would be a boom to the state’s tourism industry, encouraging visitors to come to Georgia’s Civil War Battlefield sites.”

Read information on the bill at http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2009_10/sum/sb27.htm

The diversity of the Old South still holds the imagination of many people who come from around the world to see; Southern Belle’s with hoop skirts, Confederate flags and soldier memorials like the Confederate Memorial carving of: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis at Stone Mountain Memorial Park near Atlanta.

This story is written in the spirit of the Sesquicentennial, 150th Anniversary of the War Between the States, which will be commemorated throughout the USA from 2011 to 2015.

Americans observe Black, Jewish, Hispanic, Native American and Women’s History Month…..And in April we also remember ‘Confederate History Month’ in tribute to those Americans who took their stand for what some historians call the ‘Second American Revolution.’

April is an important month in America’s history. The Great Locomotive Chase, where Union spies attempted to steal the Confederate Locomotive “The General” and destroy rail lines and bridges, took place on April 12, 1862. The month of April has become to be known as Confederate History and Heritage Month when proclamations will be signed by Governors, Commissioners and Mayors.

The Congress of the United States has officially in past years recognized America’s war, of 1861 to 1865, as the War Between the States. This tragic war claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of brothers, uncles and husbands. Though they were enemies on the battlefield, after the war, the men of blue and gray sponsored reunions at such places as Gettysburg. The soldier told war stories while the United States and Confederate flags flew briskly in the warm summer breeze.

Why do some schools ignore the teaching of American history? Boys and girls once learned about American soldiers who for over 200 years marched off to war. The church hymn book once included “Onward Christian Soldiers.” The young people read about: George Washington, Robert E. Lee and Booker T. Washington. Northern and Southern children stood up proudly to sing patriotic songs from a standard song book that included “Dixie”.

After the end of the War Between the States, Northern and Southern women formed memorial organizations. They made sure all soldiers were given a Christian burial and a marked grave. Memorial Days were begun in many states North and South of the famous Mason-Dixon Line. Confederate graves were also cared for in the North and Union graves in the South. Great monuments were also erected that still cast a giant shadow over many town squares and soldiers’ cemeteries across the U.S.A.

April 26, has become to be recognized as Confederate Memorial Day in many states. For over one hundred years the Ladies’ Memorial Association, United Daughters of the Confederacy and Sons of Confederate Veterans have held memorial services on or near this day. Other Southern States recognize this day, which began as Decoration Day, on May 10th and June 3^rd, which is the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Efforts to mark Confederate graves, erect monuments and hold memorial services were the idea of Mrs. Charles J. Williams. It is written that she was an educated and kind lady. Her husband served as Colonel of the 1st Georgia Regiment during the war. He died of disease in 1862, and was buried in his home town of Columbus, Georgia.

Mrs. Williams and her daughter visited his grave often and cleared the weeds, leaves and twigs from it, then placed flowers on it. Her daughter also pulled the weeds from other Confederate graves near her Father.

It saddened the little girl that their graves were unmarked. With tears of pride she said to her Mother, “These are my soldiers’ graves.” The daughter soon became ill and passed away in her childhood. Mrs. William’s grief was almost unbearable.

On a visit to the graves of her husband and daughter, Mrs. Williams looked at the unkept soldiers’ graves and remembered her daughter as she cleaned the graves and what the little girl had said. She knew what had to do.

Mrs. Williams wrote a letter that was published in Southern newspapers asking the women of the South for their help. She asked that memorial organizations be established to take care of the thousands of Confederate graves from the Potomac River to the Rio Grande. She also asked the state legislatures to set aside a day in April to remember the men who wore the gray. With her leadership April 26 was officially adopted in many states. She died in 1874, but not before her native state of Georgia adopted it as a legal holiday.

Among the gallant women of the Confederacy was Captain Sally Tomkins, CSA who was the only woman to be commissioned on either side of the War Between the States. Commissioned by Jefferson Davis, she took care of thousands of soldiers in Richmond, Virginia until the end of the war.

Those who served the Confederacy came from many races and religions. There was Irish born General Patrick R. Cleburne, black Southerner Amos Rucker, Jewish born Judah P. Benjamin, Mexican born Colonel Santos Benavides, Cherokee American Indian General Stand Watie- the highest ranking officer on either side, and Major Gen. Camille Armand Jules Marie, Prince de Polignac born in France.

Please go to: http://confederateheritagemonth.com or http://confederatehistorymonth.com

to read more about Confederate History Month.

Sir Winston Churchill said that the Confederate Army’s fight against overwhelming odds is one of the most glorious moments in Anglo-Saxon history.

Lest We Forget!!

——————————————————————————-

Calvin E. Johnson, Jr., Chairman of the National and Georgia Division,

Sons of Confederate Veterans, Confederate History Month Committee—www.scv.org

[print_link]

 

WesternFront America

God’s children, of African, Asian, European, Hispanic, American Indian, and Jewish ancestry, were once told stories about the men and women who helped make America great. When I was a child, the heritage of our ancestors was very important to both young and old but, today, political correct thought has taken the place of historical truth and many schools, streets and parks, named for our beloved forefathers and mothers have been changed.

I write this article as the Sons of Confederate Veterans of Virginia, a Southern fraternal-historical group–www.scv.org, is looking for a location to unveil a historically correct statue depicting Confederate President Jefferson Davis and two of his sons Joe and Jim Limber. Jim was a black child adopted by the Davis family and Joe was tragically killed by a fall in 1864 at the Confederate White House in Richmond , Virginia.

It is ironic that a statue of Abraham Lincoln, Union President, 1861-65, was earlier unveiled in Richmond, Virginia but plans of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to erect a statue of Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, has apparently been met with less enthusiasm…And this comes from the old Confederate Capitol and where Davis and his family are buried. It is also reported that the SCV has even received a cool reception from Jackson , Mississippi , as a possible site for the statue, the state Davis and his family called home during the last years of the president’s life…But, there is good news with the following show of support recently published in Jackson Mississippi Clarion Ledger newspaper:

The Director of Beauvoir— Davis ’s last home—says he’d love to have the life size bronze sculpture of the former President of the Confederacy. Richard Forte says the statue of Davis , with his hand extended, looks like it’s welcoming people to Beauvoir.  (www.beauvoir.org)

Why do today’s Historians praise the memory of Abraham Lincoln but ignore the many accomplishments of Jefferson Davis?

Some people write that Lincoln supported the abolition of slavery but Davis was a racist. If you read Lincoln ’s first inaugural address from 1861, you will discover that Lincoln supported a bill that would have given the South a way to stay in the Union with slavery protected by a Constitutional amendment. If the South’s only intention in seceding from the Union was to keep their slaves, wouldn’t they have accepted such a deal?

In 1989, a magazine article caught my eye which I had to read from beginning to end. This was not an ordinary story but about a black child, a Confederate President’s First Lady and the Southern Presidential Family. The story was written by Gulfport , Mississippi freelance writer, Mrs. Peggy Robbins and is entitled, “Jim Limber Davis.” This is my summary of Mrs. Robbins’ splendid story.

On the morning of February 15, 1864, Mrs. Varina Davis, wife of Southern President Jefferson Davis, had concluded her errands and was driving her carriage down the streets of Richmond , Virginia on her way home. She heard screams from a distance and quickly went to the scene to see what was happening.

Varina saw a young black child being abused by an older man. She demanded that he stop striking the child and when this failed she shocked the man by forcibly taking the child away. She took the child to her carriage and with her to the Southern White House.

Arriving home Mrs. Davis and maid ‘Ellen’ gave the young boy a bath, attended to his cuts and bruises and fed him. The only thing he would tell them is that his name was Jim Limber. He was happy to be rescued and was given some clothes of the Davis ‘ son Joe who was the same size and age.

The Davis family were visited the following evening by a friend of Varina’s, noted Southern Diarist-Mary Boykin Chesnut, who saw Jim Limber and wrote later that she had seen the boy and that he was eager to show me his cuts and bruises.

The Christmas of 1864, would be memorable for the Davis family and probably the best Christmas Jim Limber would ever have. A Christmas tree was set up in Saint Paul ‘s Church, decorated and gifts placed beneath it for orphan children.

The end of the War Between the States was coming and Richmond was being evacuated. Varina and the children left ahead of Jefferson Davis. The president and his staff left just hours before the occupation of Union troops.

Varina and the children were by the side of Jefferson Davis at his capture near Irwinville , Georgia and again the family was separated. Jefferson Davis was taken to Virginia to spend two years in prison.

Mrs. Davis and her children were taken to Macon , Georgia and later to Port Royal outside of Savannah . At Port Royal their Union escort, Captain Charles T. Hudson, made good at his earlier threats to take Jim Limber away.

As the Union soldiers came to forcibly take young Jim, he put up a great struggle and tried to hold onto his family as they to him. Jim and his family cried uncontrollably as the child was taken. His family would never again see him or know what happened to him.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond , Virginia is home to a portrait of Jim Limber Davis in the Eleanor S. Brookenbrough Library. I thank Mrs. Peggy Robbins who wrote the Jim Limber Davis story in 1989 and the Southern Partisan Magazine for publishing her story in the second quarter Issue-Volume IX of 1989.

———————————————————————————–

Calvin E. Johnson, Jr.,  Freelance writer, author of  ‘When America Stood for God, Family and Country’ and member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

 

WesternFront America

A Southern President was laid to rest on Memorial Day.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans have proclaimed 2008, as the “Year of Jefferson Davis” and Davis’ 200th birthday, June 3, 2008, will be celebrated with many great events including the reopening of his last home “Beauvoir” on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Please share the following Memorial Day story with your family and remember Monday, Mary 26th, is Memorial Day in the USA.

Listen closely, when the wind blows, and you may hear a train whistle from the distance.

Many songs have been written about the passenger trains. On Sunday, May 28, 1893, a few days before Memorial Day, a story began in New Orleans, Louisiana that overshadowed all other events reported in the newspapers of the north and south.

Jefferson Davis died in 1889 and over 200,000 people witnessed his temporary burial at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. Four years later on a rainy Saturday, on May 27, 1893, the remains of Jefferson Davis was removed and taken to Confederate Memorial Hall where many people paid their last respects.

At 4:30 PM, May 28th, a funeral service was held for Mr. Davis and a moving memorial address was delivered by Louisiana’s Governor Murphy J. Foster as thousands listened. A reverent silence fell among the people as the casket was given to the commitment of Veterans from Virginia.

The procession then formed for a slow march to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Station on Canal Street.

Train No. 69, with Engineer Frank Coffin, waited patiently as the casket was taken to the platform and passed through an open observation car to a catafalque. The cars wall could not be seen due to the many flowers.

This was the vision of Mrs. (Varina) Jefferson Davis when she began three years previous to secure a funeral train and military escort for a 1,200 mile train trip from New Orleans, Louisiana to Richmond, Virginia.

Train engine No. 69, of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, slowly pulled out of New Orleans Station at 7:50 PM. L and N railroad later became CSX Railroad.

Newspaper reporters from New Orleans, Richmond, Boston, New York and the Southern Associated Press were guests on the train.

After a brief Stop at Bay Saint Louis, and a slow-down at Pass Christian, where hundreds of people lined the tracks, the Jefferson Davis Funeral Train stopped at Gulfport, Mississippi and “www.beauvoir.org” Beauvoir, that was the last home to Jefferson Davis and his family. It was here that Davis wrote his book, “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.”

Uncle Bob Brown, a former servant of the Davis family and a passenger on the train, saw the many flowers that the children had laid on the railroad tracks. Brown was so moved by this beautiful gesture that he wept uncontrollably.

In Mobile, Alabama, the train was met at midnight by parents who let their children stay up late to witness the historic ocassion that included a artillery salute. Locomotive No. 69 was retired and Locomotive No. 25 was coupled to the train with Engineer C.C. Levinney and Fireman Warren Robinson taking over.

The Atlanta Journal reported, quote, “The Cradle of the Confederacy is ablaze with life and light tonight. Everything is ready for honoring the memory of Jefferson Davis.

Tomorrow morning with the rising of the sun the funeral train from New Orleans will reach Montgomery.&unquote;.

The train pulled into Montgomery at 6:00 AM, on the 29th. A severe rainstorm delayed the funeral procession until 8:30 AM when a caisson carried the body of Davis to Alabama’s capitol building. A procession carried the casket through the portico where Jefferson Davis, in 1861, had taken the oath of office as President of the Confederate States of America.

The casket was placed in front of the bench of the Alabama Supreme Court. Above the right exit was a banner with the word “Monterrey” and above the left exit was a banner with the words “Buena Vista.” During the Mexican War Jefferson Davis was a hero at Monterrey and wounded at Buena Vista.

All Businesses and schools were closed, and church bells toiled during the procession to and from the capitol. In a final tribute, thousands of people in Montgomery, including ex-Confederate soldiers and children, filed by the casket.

At 12:20 in the afternoon the funeral train departed over the Western Railway of Alabama and Atlanta and West Point Railroad for Atlanta. At West Point, Georgia the train stopped under a magnificently-beautiful arch of flowers to pick up Georgia’s Governor William J. Northern and his staff.

The funeral train pulled into Atlanta’s Union Station at 4:30 PM. It is written that over 20,000 people lined the streets as the funeral procession made their way to the state capitol. Atlanta’s Old Gate City Guard stood guard over the president’s remains. Among those in attendance was former Confederate General John B. Gordon who had also been Governor of Georgia.

The Boston Globe reported, quote, ” Davis Funeral Train on way north. Visions of the past called up. Living links of the past cause. Sumter’s flag appears once more. Both banners on the walls of Georgia’s capitol. Thousands look upon the dead leader. Women of the South show their affection by flowers.” unquote.

At 7:00 PM the train pulled out of the station going north on the Richmond and Danville Railroad, which later became Southern Railroad and, today, Norfolk Southern Railroad. The train traveled through Lula, Georgia, Greenville, South Carolina and stopped in North Carolina at Raleigh. Davis’ remains were taken to the North Carolina capitol building to lie in state.

A brief stop was made in Danville, Virginia where a crowd gathered around the train and sang, “Nearer My God To Thee” as the church bells toiled.

Finally, the train reached Richmond, Virginia on Wednesday, morning, May 31, 1893. It was Memorial Day. Mrs. Davis met the train and her husband’s casket was taken to the Virginia State House to lay in state. There was no school this day and many children brought flowers that they scattered about the casket.

At 3 PM on May 31, 1893, the funeral procession started for Hollywood Cemetery with former Gen. John B. Gordon as Chief Marshall. The caisson was driven by six white horses and earlier rains kept the dust of the dirt roads from stirring.

With Mrs. Jefferson Davis were two of her daughters, Winnie and Margaret. Six Southern governors acted as pall bearers. Two hundred thousand people lined the streets and nearly 100,000 took part in the ceremony at the cemetery. The ceremony concluded with a 21-gun salute followed by “Taps.”

It had been 28 years since the War Between the States ended, but they came by the thousands to pay tribute to their former president. In truth, they came to remember a hope and a dream. And all across the South hundreds of thousands heard that train.

The Sons of Confederate Veterans of Virginia are planning to erect a statue to Jefferson Davis and his African-American adopted Son, Jim Limber.

Lest We Forget!!

Calvin E. Johnson Jr.

 

WesternFront America