Just as he was leaving Greensboro he received the news of President Lincoln's assassination. None who ever really knew Mr. Davis can doubt what his feelings were upon that occasion. General Reagan, who was with him, says his face expressed surprise and horror in the most unmistakable manner. "It is too bad, it is shocking, it is horrible!" he declared, and then after a moment's reflection added, "This is bad for the South. Mr. Lincoln understood us and at least was not an ungenerous foe." That very morning the little daughter of his host came running in and in wide-eyed terror said that some one had told her that "Old Lincoln was coming to kill everybody." Mr. Davis, taking her upon his knees, said soothingly: "You are wrong, my dear, Mr. Lincoln is not a bad man. He would not willingly harm any one, and he dearly loves little girls like you." These incidents, trivial enough in themselves, are nevertheless interesting as indices of Jefferson Davis' opinion of Mr. Lincoln. XXIX. The Capture of Davis Proceeding to Charlotte, Mr. Davis there learned of the surrender of General Johnston. Determining to make his way to Texas he decided to take a southerly route which he hoped to find free from Federal troops. A cavalry force of about two thousand accompanied him as far as the Savannah River, but there discovering General Wilson's brigade to be in the country in front it was deemed advisable for the force to disband and Mr. Davis, with Burton Harrison, his secretary, and a few others to go forward in the hope of escaping discovery. At Irwinsville, Ga., he learned that his family, which was also proceeding westward, was but a few miles away and he was advised that the country was filled with marauders who were rifling and robbing all strangers whose appearance indicated the possession of valuables. This information, coupled with the story that Mrs. Davis' party was believed to possess a valuable treasure, so alarmed Mr. Davis for the safety of his family that he resolved to join it at all hazards. This resolution cost him his liberty. Perhaps no event of history has ever been so grossly and malignantly misrepresented as the capture of Jefferson Davis. At the time an absurd story was published along with a cartoon in even so respectable a paper as _Harper's Weekly_, which represented Mr. Davis at the time of his capture arrayed in shawl, bonnet and hoop-skirts, and, strange as it may seem, this ridiculous screed is still accepted by thousands of intelligent people as correct history. The true facts of the case, as learned from Mr. Davis and corroborated by both General Wilson and Mr. Burton Harrison, are as follows: [Illustration: Richmond as Gen. Weitzel Entered It]