"Mr. Davis and I," he went on thoughtfully, "have had our quarrels. We
have none now. I want you to say to him that my men are around me here,
and if he desires it I will call them together and see him safely across
the Chattahoochee River at the risk of my life--"
"I'll tell him, General Toombs," Reagan cordially responded. "And I
appreciate your noble offer. It differs from others who have pretended
to be his best friends. They are getting away from him as fast as they
can. Some are base enough to malign him to curry favor with the enemy.
I've known Jefferson Davis intimately for ten years. The past four years
of war I've been with him daily under every condition of victory and
defeat, and I swear to you that he's the truest, gentlest, bravest,
tenderest, manliest man I have ever known--"
"Let me know," Toombs urged, "if I can serve him in any possible way."
When Reagan delivered the message to the President he responded warmly:
"That's like Toombs. He was always a whole souled man. If it were
necessary I should not hesitate to accept his offer."
He was slowly reading his wife's last letters which had been delivered
to him by scouts who were still faithful.
They were riding in a wagon with picked Mississippi teamsters twenty
miles below Washington:
"All well, with Winnie sweet and smiling.
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