Last Meeting of the Confederage Government - Commentary by Lewis Regenstein

May 5th is the anniversary of the last meeting held and the last order given, by the Confederate government, which by then consisted of President Jefferson Davis and some of his cabinet officers and soldiers fleeing pursuing Yankee troops after the end of the War in 1865.

General Robert E. Lee had surrendered about 3 weeks earlier and the Confederate government's last official meeting was held in Washington, Georgia (Wilkes county), with the final order of the government being given to my great great uncle, Major Raphael Moses, from Columbus, GA, who was General James Longstreet's chief commissary officer.

Moses was given possession of the Confederacy's last supply of gold and silver bullion, and was ordered to deliver it to help the thousands of defeated Confederate soldiers straggling home, many of them shoeless, hungry, sick, exhausted, in tattered uniforms, in desperate need of help.

Moses gathered some armed men to help protect the bullion from mobs of armed men who were trying to seize it, and succeeded in carrying out his orders. He got receipts for everything, of course.

The complete story is told in Mel Young's "Last Order of the Lost Cause," and in less detail in several other publications, including Robert Rosen's authoritative, "The Jewish Confederates."

Moses is an interesting but little remembered historical figure, who pioneered the commercial growing of peaches in Georgia, so it could be said that he is a major reason Georgia is called The Peach State.

He knew well and wrote in his memoirs about General Robert E. Lee (whom he was with at Gettysburg) and other major Confederate figures. He is mentioned very favorably in several important books on the Civil War, including the authoritative "Lee's Lieutenants" by Douglas Southall Freeman, who called Moses "...the best commissary officer of like rank in the Confederate service."

As Longstreet's commissary, he was responsible for supplying and feeding up to 54,000 troops. General Lee had forbidden him from entering private homes in search of supplies in raids into Union territory (such as the incursions into Pennsylvania), even when food and other provisions were in painfully short supply. And he always paid for what he did take from farms and businesses, albeit in Confederate tender. This often caused him to be the target of harsh verbal abuse from the local women (who, in the end, were always careful to make sure they received the exact amount owed). This he endured in good humor, including the teasing he received from his men on returning to camp.

The contrast is striking between the humane Confederate policies and those of the North, wherein Union generals Sherman, Grant and Sheridan regularly burned and looted homes, farms, courthouses, churches, libraries, and entire cities full of civilians, such as Atlanta and Columbia.

Moses' three sons also fought for the South, and one was killed at Seven Pines in May 1862 after performing acts of amazing valor -- Lt.Albert Moses Luria, at age 19, the first Jewish Confederate to fall in battle. (The last Confederate Jew to be killed was Major Moses' nephew, Joshua Lazarus Moses, of Sumter, S.C., the brother of my great grandfather, killed in the battle of Fort Blakeley, Alabama a few hours after Lee surrendered.)

Joshua Lazarus Moses

I thank all of you who are working to keep alive the memory of the brave and beleaguered Confederate soldiers who served their country against overwhelming odds with such valor and honor, in whom we rightly take great pride.

It is called "The Lost Cause", but it was an honorable one, which should never be forgotten.

Sincerely yours,

Lewis Regenstein
Atlanta, GA

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Lewis Regenstein, a native Atlantan, is a writer and author. {regenstein@mindspring.com}