By Bob Davidsson
Two months after General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox, the fugitive Secretary of War for the Confederate States of America (CSA) briefly used the island of Palm Beach as a refuge from pursuing Union forces before making his escape to Cuba.
John Cabell Breckinridge refused to surrender at the war's end. He was the highest ranking official of the Confederacy still at large, when with the aid of five rebels, he paddled a captured Union lifeboat down the Jupiter Narrows and hid a few miles north of the Jupiter Inlet on June 3, 1865.
Prior to the Civil War, Breckinridge was elected as the 14th Vice President of the of the United States, serving with President James Buchanan from 1857-61. When the Democratic Party divided into northern and southern branches in 1860, he was nominated as the presidential candidate for the Southern Democrats.
Breckinridge finished second to Abraham Lincoln in Electoral College votes. Ironically, Breckinridge was the cousin of the new President's wife and First Lady - Mary Todd Lincoln. After the 1860 election, he continued to serve as a U.S. senator for his home state of Kentucky from March to December 1861.
When Union troops occupied Kentucky, breaching its neutrality in the war, Breckinridge joined the Confederate army. He was expelled from the U.S. Senate, and as of today remains the only senator convicted of "treason" against the United States by Congress.
Breckinridge served in the Confederate army for nearly four years, advancing to the rank of major general. CSA President Jefferson Davis appointed him as the Confederacy's Secretary War on Jan. 19, 1865. After the surrender of Lee's army, the CSA President and Cabinet fled to Abbeville, South Carolina, where it was finally decided the Confederate cause was lost.
As Secretary of War, Breckinridge was assigned the task of escorting by rail the remaining Confederate treasury - $150,000 in gold specie - to Washington, Georgia. Upon reaching their destination on May 4, the rebel troops in his escort demanded that the gold be divided among the soldiers.
Breckinridge paid the troops their back wages from the treasury, then discharged most of his escort the next day. The remaining Confederate gold was deposited within local banks in the town of Washington, with Breckinridge keeping just enough of the treasury to make good his escape. He then disbanded the Confederate War Department.
A few days later, President Jefferson Davis was captured, making Breckinridge the highest ranking and most wanted ex-Confederate official in the South. He assumed a false identity as "Colonel Cabell" and fled to Florida.
Escape to Florida
Breckinridge, with a small band of followers, crossed the George-Florida border and arrived in the town of Madison on May 15. He was joined by another Confederate fugitive, Colonel John Taylor Wood, the nephew and naval aide to Jefferson Davis. Wood escaped detention soon after he and his uncle were captured and fled to Florida.
Wood had an unusual war record as a colonel in the Confederate army, as well as holding the rank of commander in the CSA Navy. He served as a officer aboard the ironclad "Virginia" (Merrimac ) during its famous 1862 battle with the USN "Monitor" at Hampton Roads. Later in the war he would capture 35 Union vessels as captain of commerce raider CSN "Tallahassee" while stationed at Cape Fear.
While in Madison, Breckinridge and Wood decided to flee to the Bahamas to escape their Union pursuers. Joining them were two discharged rebel soldiers, Sgt. Joseph J. O'Toole and Cpl. Richard Russell; Breckinridge's aide-de-camp, Col. James Wilson; and his personal servant and former African slave, Tom Ferguson.
Traveling south to the City of Gainesville, the fugitives were aided by Confederate Col. J.J. Dickinson, who provided a captured Union lifeboat for their voyage up the St. Johns River. Wood assumed command during their voyage due to his naval experience.
They reached the river community of Fort Butler on May 29. The lifeboat was loaded onto a wagon and transported by land 26 miles to the Indian River. After a two-day portage, the boat was launched on the coastal waterway.
A Palm Beach Hideout
They paddled south on Indian River for two days, then encountered the sandbars and mangroves of the Jupiter Narrows. In his autobiography, Col. Wood described their ordeal.
"The channel is crooked, and often almost closed by dense growth of mangroves, junipers, saw grass - a jungle only a water snake could penetrate," he wrote. "Several times we lost our reckoning and had to retreat and take a fresh start; an entire day was lost in these everglades, which extend across the peninsula."
"Finally, by good luck, we stumbled on a short 'haul over' to the sea," he continued, "and determined to at once to take advantage of it, and run our boat across, and launch her in the Atlantic."
The fugitives crossed Jupiter Island and rowed their boat south, staying offshore of the Jupiter Inlet to avoid detection by Union troops and local residents. Wood reported, "We passed Jupiter Inlet with nothing in sight."
They rowed until exhaustion, hunger and strong headwinds forced them to land June 4 on the deserted island of Palm Beach. After hauling the lifeboat onto the beach, they began scavenging for sea turtle eggs above the tide line. The Confederates stayed on the island for three days, gathering food and debating the best escape route. The short journey from Jupiter Inlet to Palm Beach proved their lifeboat was not seaworthy for a long voyage.
On June 5, their beached lifeboat was spotted by a passing Union steam-driven gunboat. While Breckinridge hid in the interior of the island, Col. Wood and the two rebel soldiers, O'Toole and Russell, rowed their boat out to sea and greeted the Navy shore party.
The two rebel soldiers handed over their army discharge papers to a Navy officer. Wood told the shore party his papers were lost in the surf, and that they were just three local fishermen searching the beach for turtle eggs.
Wood exchanged their two buckets of turtle eggs for some bread and tobacco provided by the ship's crew. Deceived by their ruse, the Union gunboat continued its patrol along the Atlantic coast, and allowed the rebels to return to shore.
The six Confederate fugitives avoided capture, but at the price of trading away their supply of food to the gunboat's crew. Their luck changed two days later when a single-masted coastal sailboat passed close to the island. They pursued the larger sailboat, disarming the crew at gunpoint.
Breckinridge and Wood commandeered the sailboat, compensating the owner by giving him their lifeboat in exchange, $20 in gold from the Confederate treasury, as well as returning the crew's firearms prior to their departure from the island.
The six fugitives set sail from the island of Palm Beach, continuing their voyage south to the community of Fort Dallas (Miami) for supplies. Now in possession of a seaworthy craft, Wood set a course for Cuba and exile from the United States.
Exile and Return
After trading shots with ship wreckers in the Florida Keys, and surviving two storms at sea, the Confederates successfully completed their journey, arriving in Carevas, Cuba, on June 11, 1865. Confederate agents in Havana and London assisted the fugitives as they began a three-year exile from the United States.
Breckinridge eventually joined his wife and family in Canada and spent much of his exile touring Europe. He moved his family to Niagara, Canada, directly across the river from the United States, and waited for an opportunity to return to his native Kentucky.
President Andrew Johnson signed an executive order proclaiming amnesty for all former Confederates on Christmas Day, Dec. 25, 1868. Breckinridge moved his family back to Lexington, Kentucky, and remained there the remainder of his life.
He resumed his law practice, and served as the Kentucky manager of an insurance company. He also invested in three regional railroad ventures. The former U.S. Vice President and Secretary of War for the Confederacy died May 17, 1875 at age 54.
(c.) 2015.
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