Part 100 (1/2)

As the tug bore the fallen Chieftain from the s.h.i.+p, he bared his head, drew his tall figure to its full height, and, standing between the files of soldiers, gazed on his wife and weeping children until the mists drew their curtain over the solemn scene.

Mrs. Davis' stateroom was entered now by a raiding party headed by Captain Hudson. Her trunks were again forced open and everything taken which the Captain or his men desired--among them all her children's clothes. Jeff seized his little soldier uniform of Confederate gray and ran with it. He managed to hide and save it.

Captain Hudson then demanded the shawl which Davis had thrown over his shoulders on the damp morning when he was captured.

”You have no right to steal my property,” his wife replied indignantly.

”Peace has been declared. The war is over. This is plain robbery.”

Hudson called in another file of soldiers.

”Hand out that shawl or I'll take the last rag you have on earth. I'll pay you for it, if you wish. But I'm going to have it.”

Mrs. Davis took the shawl from Mrs. Clay's shoulders and handed it to the brute.

”At least I may get rid of your odious presence,” she cried, ”by complying with your demand.”

Hudson took the shawl with a grin and led his men away. Two of his officers returned in a few minutes and thrust their heads in the stateroom of Mrs. Davis' sister with whom Mrs. Clay was sitting.

”Gentlemen, this is a ladies' stateroom,” said the Senator's wife.

One of them threw the door open violently and growled:

”There are no ladies here!”

”I am quite sure,” was the sweet reply, ”that there are no gentlemen present!”

With an oath they pa.s.sed on. Little tugs filled with vulgar sightseers steamed around the s.h.i.+p and shouted a continuous stream of insults when one of the Davis party could be seen.

General Nelson A. Miles, the young officer who had been appointed jailer of Jefferson Davis and Clement C. Clay boarded the s.h.i.+p and proceeded without ceremony to give his orders to their wives.

”Will you tell me, General,” Mrs. Davis asked, ”where my husband is imprisoned and what his treatment is to be?”

”Not a word,” was the short reply.

His manner was so abrupt and boorish she did not press for further news.

Miles ventured some on his own account.

”Jeff Davis announced the a.s.sa.s.sination of Abraham Lincoln the day before it happened. I guess he knew all about it--”

The wife bit her lips and suppressed a sharp answer. Her husband's life was now in this man's hands.

”You are forbidden to buy or read a newspaper,” he added curtly, ”and your s.h.i.+p will leave this port under sealed orders.”

In vain Davis pleaded that his wife and children might be allowed to go to Was.h.i.+ngton or Richmond where they had acquaintances and friends.

”They will return to Savannah,” Miles answered, ”by the same s.h.i.+p in which they came and remain in Savannah under military guard.”

Jefferson Davis was imprisoned in a casemate of Fortress Monroe, the embrasure of which was closed with a heavy iron grating. The two doors which communicated with the gunner's room were closed with heavy double shutters fastened with crossbars and padlocks. The side openings were sealed with fresh masonry.

Two sentinels with loaded muskets paced the floor without a moment's pause day or night. Two other sentinels and a commissioned officer occupied the gunner's room, the door and window of which were securely fastened. Sentinels were stationed on the parapet overhead whose steady tramp day and night made sleep impossible.