The Escape of General John Breckinridge, CSA
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Did You Know...? On the Run through Florida: The Escape of General John Breckinridge, CSA By Richard A, Marconi Just after the Civil When they reached Miami, the men exchanged gunfire War ended, on June with another group of armed men. When both groups 1, 1865, six haggard men stopped firing, the Confederates were able to obtain in a sailboat fleeing from supplies from the Miami ruffians. Soon after, a schooner federal soldiers arrived on the Indian River. On the run were appeared and chased the runaways through Biscayne Bay, Confederate General John Breckinridge; his aide, Colonel firing its cannon at them. Only by crossing over a reef did James Wilson; Tom Ferguson, the general’s slave; Colonel the Confederates escape. They spent the night at Elliot’s John Taylor Wood; and two paroled Confederate soldiers, Key. Sergeant Joseph O’Toole and Corporal Richard Russell. On June 11, 1865, they arrived in Cárdenas, Cuba. Local O’Toole and Russell were helping the others escape. officials were cautious of the group but after learning who John Breckinridge had been a Confederate general and they were, sent word to Governor-General Domingo Dulce, had served as the Secretary of War for the Confederate who welcomed Breckinridge and his companions. They States of America. Prior to hostilities, he had served as vice then traveled to Havana and met the governor-general. president of the United States under James Buchanan and Breckinridge traveled on to Europe and later to Canada. as a senator from Kentucky. He had even run for the US He returned to Kentucky only after President Andrew presidency in 1860. But since the CSA had surrendered, the Johnson pardoned him in December 1868. Two months Union army had been arresting the Confederate leaders. So later, Breckinridge settled in Lexington and joined a local far Breckinridge and Wood had eluded their pursuers. law firm. He served on the board of the Elizabethtown, Once the rag-tag group arrived on the Indian River, the Lexington, and Big Sandy Railroad and as the head of the men rowed southward with quietened oarlocks, passing Kentucky branch of the Piedmont Life Insurance Company Union lookouts in the dark of night, reaching the Jupiter of Virginia. While Breckinridge returned home, Wood did Inlet on June 4. They had hoped to sail for The Bahamas, not. but weather conditions were not ideal for the attempt. John Taylor Wood had been born in the Northwest From Jupiter, they continued their journey southward, Territory, Minnesota, in 1831. His mother, Margaret stopping on present-day Palm Beach to rest and search Mackall Taylor, was the daughter of US President Zachary for food. When approached by a Union naval patrol, the Taylor and the older sister of Sarah Knox Taylor, who quick-thinking Wood convinced their would-be captors married Confederate States of America President Jefferson that they had been paroled and were just looking for Davis. turtle eggs, which they exchanged with Union sailors for During the Mexican-American War, Wood served in the food and tobacco. After this close encounter, the men left US Navy on two warships, and as an instructor at the US Palm Beach and continued south to the area of modern- Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. At the beginning day Boynton Beach. Here they traded with Seminoles and of the Civil War, he resigned. He instead enlisted in the on June 7, spotted and stole a sailing vessel from Union navy of Virginia, then with the Confederate Navy, where deserters at New River (Fort Lauderdale). he served on the CSS Virginia as Jefferson’s aide-de-camp The Tustenegee 48 and as a colonel in the cavalry, commanded the CSS Tallahassee, and Escape route of captured numerous Union vessels. From Madison to General Breckinridge Fort Butler (Astor) After General Robert E. Lee’s surrender, Wood accompanied Jefferson on his flight south. When Union forces captured Jefferson Stop Overland Route and his party in Georgia, Wood escaped by bribing a guard, then joined Water Route Breckinridge at Madison, Florida. After the group made it to Cuba, Wood traveled to Nova Scotia, where he lived until his death in 1904. According to an article written by Wood in 1885, Russell and O’Toole returned to Florida, and both Breckinridge and Wilson had “crossed the great river.” The fate of Breckinridge’s slave Tom Ferguson remains unknown. Bibliography Bell, John. Confederate Seadog: John Taylor Wood in War and Exile. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2002. Dillon, Rodney E. Jr. “The Civil War On The Gold Coast,” New River News XIX, no. 4, (1981): 3-6. Snyder, James D. A Light in the Wilderness: The Story of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse & the Southeast Florida Frontier. Jupiter, FL: Pharos Books, 2006. Wood, John Taylor. “Escape of General Breckinridge,” Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil Stops: War, edited by G.W. Cable, 298-338. New York: The Present day Palm Beach Present day Boynton Beach Century Company, 1893. PDF e-book. New River Inlet Wynne, Nick and Joe Crankshaw. Florida Civil War Fort Dallas (Miami) Blockades: Battling for the Coast. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011. At right: A map of Breckinridge’s escape route. Courtesy Historical Society of Palm Beach County. Below: Breckinridge’s party taking a sailing vessel from Union deserters. Courtesy Florida State Archives. To Cuba 49 Fall 2015.