After leaving Richmond following its fall in April 1865, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy, traveled south trying to reach and rally the remnants of his army. On May 2, 1865, he spent the night at the home of Colonel Armistead Burt, where he held the last Confederate Council of War. There he met with Secretary of War Breckenridge, General Braxton Bragg, and five brigade generals, and all agreed that the only hope was for Davis to elude nearby U.S. cavalry and escape west. Although he passed safely through South Carolina, he was seized in Georgia on May 10th.