The Rebel President and his family . . . ,

. . . have just met with a great affliction in the sudden and violent death of Joseph E. Davis, second son of the President, about four years old. He fell from the east portico on Saturday afternoon between three and four o’clock, a distance fully fifteen feet, fracturing his hip and injuring his head. Mr. Davis and his wife were absent from the mansion at the time of the accident, and some minutes must of elapsed before the facts of the accident and the discovery of the condition of the child was made by the servants.

SOURCE: “The Rebel President and his family . . . ,” Daily Evening Express, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Thursday, May 12, 1864, p. 2, col. 5