A courier from Sherman conveyed the announcement to Johnston that Davis might leave the country on a United States vessel and take whoever and whatever he pleased with him. The answer of Jefferson Davis was characteristic. "Please thank General Sherman for his offer and say that I can do no act which will put me under obligations to the Federal Government." Sherman had asked Lincoln at their last interview whether he should capture Davis or let him go. A sunny smile overspread the rugged features of the National President: "That reminds me," he said, "of a temperance lecturer in Illinois. Wet and cold he stopped for the night at a wayside inn. The landlord, noting his condition, asked if he would have a glass of brandy. "'No--no--' came the quick reply. 'I am a temperance lecturer and do not drink--' he paused and his voice dropped to a whisper--'I would like some water however--and if you should of _your own_ accord, put a little brandy in it _unbeknownst_ to me--why, it will be all right.'" Sherman was trying to carry out the wishes of the man with the loving heart. At Charlotte Davis was handed a telegram announcing the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. His thin fate went death white. Handing the telegram to his Secretary, he quietly said: "I am sorry. We have lost our noblest and best friend in the court of the enemy." He immediately telegraphed the news to his wife who had fled further south to Abbeville, South Carolina. Mrs. Davis burst into tears on reading the fatal message. Her woman's intuition saw the vision of horror which the tragedy meant to her and to her stricken people. The President left Charlotte with an escort of a thousand cavalrymen for Abbeville. His journey was slow. The wagons were carrying all that remained of the Confederate Treasury with the money in currency from the Richmond banks which had been entrusted to the care of the Secretary of the Treasury. Davis stopped at a little cabin on the roadside and asked the lady who stood in the doorway for a drink of water. She turned to comply with his request. While he was drinking a baby barely able to walk crawled down the steps and toddled to him. The mother smiled. "Is this not President Davis?" she asked tremblingly. "It is, Madam," he answered with a bow. She pointed proudly to the child: "He's named for you!" The President drew a gold coin from his pocket and handed it to the mother. "Please keep it for my little namesake and tell him when he is old enough to know." As he rode away with Reagan, his faithful Postmaster General, he said: "The last coin I had on earth, Reagan. I wouldn't have had that but for the fact I'd never seen one like it and kept it for luck." "I reckon the war's about finished us," the General replied.