For aid in the preparation of this narrative I am indebted to numerous descendants of chief actors in the drama, including:
Bertram Hayes-Davis of Richardson, Texas, great-grandson of Jefferson Davis; former Congressman Robert Grier Stephens of Athens, Ga., collateral descendant of Confederate Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens; George Rountree III of Wilmington, N.C., great-grandson of Confederate Attorney General George Davis; Mary Elizabeth Stokes of Gurley, Ala., great-granddaughter of Virginia Clay’s adopted daughter, Betty Lumsden; Mary Lewis Rucker Edmunds of Greensboro, N.C., great-great-granddaughter of N.C. Governor John M. Morehead; Frances Stern Loewenstein of Greensboro, N.C., great-granddaughter of Abram Weill; Anne Springs Close of Fort Mill, S.C., and Jane Carlton Anderson of Charlotte, N.C., great-great-granddaughters of Colonels A. B. Springs and Wm. Elliott White; Will Molineux of Williamsburg, Va., great-grandson of Gen. Edward L. Molineux, USA.
Also:
Ms. Mary Willey, Special Collections Librarian, Seymour Library, Knox College, Galesburg, Ill.; Dr. Martha Russell, director, and Ms. Ellen G. Gartrell, Manuscript Dept., Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, N.C.; Ms. Carolyn Wallace, Director, and Richard A. Strader, Reference Archivist, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C.; Ms. Linda L. Crist, Editor, The Papers of Jefferson Davis, Rice University, Houston, Texas; Newton W. Carr, Jr., Superintendent, Beauvoir, Biloxi, Miss.; R. C. Peniston, Director, and John Hughes, former Curator, Lee Chapel, Washington & Lee University, Lexington, Va.; Chester D. Bradley, M.D., former Director, Jefferson Davis Casemate, Hampton, Va.; William J. Moore, Director, Greensboro Historical Museum, Greensboro, N.C.; Jack Claiborne, Associate Editor, Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N.C.; Patricia Rosenthal, History and Genealogy Librarian, Rowan Public Library, Salisbury, N.C.; Ms. Pattie J. Scott, Richmond, Va. Public Library; Ms. Charlene S. Marinka Alling, Curator of Manuscripts and Archives, The Museum of the Confederacy, Richmond; Ms. Edie Jeter, Librarian, Valentine Museum, Richmond; Helmi Raaska, Research Assistant, Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Ms. Trudy Mignery, Archivist, duPont Library, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.
Dr. Lenox Baker, Durham, N.C.; J. Victor Brandt III, Charleston, S.C.; former Justice Francis O. Clarkson, Charlotte, N.C.; Mr. & Mrs. Archie K. Davis, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Mrs. William B. Guerrant, Williamsburg, Va.; Jack Huguley, Charleston, S.C.; Elizabeth Lawrence, Annapolis, Md.; Mrs. Thomas F. Motley, Chatham, Va.; D. J. Nickell, Lewisburg, W. Va.; Lowell Reidenbaugh, St. Louis, Mo.; Dr. Frances Roberts, Huntsville, Ala; Stephen Rowe, Raleigh, N.C.; Peter Browne Ruffin, Wilmington, N.C.; Mr. & Mrs. Leroy Simms, Huntsville, Ala.; Dr. Fred Hobson, Jr., Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Mrs. Benjamin Withers, Charlotte, N.C.
And I am particularly grateful to my wife and close collaborator, Juliet Halliburton Davis, and to my editor of more than thirty years, Robert D. Loomis.
Tsuga
—Burke Davis
Patrick County, Va.
Feb. 6, 1985