(From the Richmond Examiner, May 2.)
The 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 of 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 have elapsed before the facts of the accident and the discovery of
the condition of the child were made known by the servant. The sufferer was
taken into the nursery, and a messenger despatched in haste for the President
and his lady. Drs. Peticolas, Conway and Garnett, the family physicians
successively came in and applied their skill without avail. The child was
insensible when picked up and never recovered consciousness, dying in about
three quarters of an hour later been taken up by the servant and carried into
the house. The funeral took place yesterday afternoon at five o’clock from St.
Paul’s church, the Rev. Dr. Minnegerode officiating. The occasion called forth
a large throng of sympathizing friends, and the service were of the most
affecting character. The interment took place at Hollywood, where the President’s
family have a vault.
SOURCE: “Accidental Death to a Member of the Rebel President’s Family,” The Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday Morning, May 12, 1864, p. 1, col. 8
