Little tugs filled with vulgar sightseers
steamed around the ship 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 ship 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 assassination 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 ship will leave this port under sealed orders."
In vain Davis pleaded that his wife and children might be allowed to go
to Washington or Richmond where they had acquaintances and friends.
"They will return to Savannah," Miles answered, "by the same ship in
which they came and remain in Savannah under military guard.
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