APRIL 24-29TH, 1865: While in Augusta, Georgia, with the Confederate archives and treasury, Lt. W.H. Parker learned the federal Government had rejected the convention of surrender drawn up between Generals Sherman and Johnston. Parker withdrew his valuable cargo from the bank vaults, reformed his naval escort (consisting of Naval Academy midshipmen and sailors from the the Charlotte Navy Yard) and on the 24th set out for Abbeville, South Carolina.
He had previously concluded this to be most likely where the Davis party would pass en route to crossing the Savannah River. Near Washington, Georgia, Parker met Mrs. Jefferson Davis, her daughter and Burton Harrison, the President's private secretary, proceeding independently to Florida with a small escort.
Gaining no information on the President's whereabouts, Parker continued to Abbeville, while Mrs. Davis' party resumed its journey southward. On the 29th, Parker arrived in Abbeville, where he stored his cargo in guarded rail cars and ordered a full head of steam be kept in the locomotives in case of emergency.
Parker's calculations as to the probably movements of President Davis's entourage proved correct; the chief executive entered Abbeville three days after Parker's arrival,
--Old B-R'er
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