Remembering
Jefferson Davis
By: 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
1064 West Mill Drive
Kennesaw, Georgia 30152
Phone: 770 428 0978
"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 202nd
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, http://www.beauvoir.org
, 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.
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