On April 26, 1865, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet, traveling south from Richmond, Virginia, with a cavalry escort, stopped at Fort Mill. Davis spent the night at Springfield, the home of Colonel Andrew Baxter Springs, about 3.5 miles north, while others stayed at the home of Colonel William Elliott White. On the morning of April 27, 1865, Davis's Cabinet met on the lawn to discuss the resignation of Secretary of the Treasury George A. Trenholm and appointed Postmaster General John H. Reagan to succeed him. Hoping to join the few Confederates still in the field, the group left for Yorkville later that day.