 Greensboro , fearing wrathful reprisal from the Union , gave the fugitives little hospitality , forcing Benjamin and the other Cabinet members to bunk in a railroad boxcar . Davis hoped to reach Texas , where rumor had it large Confederate forces remained active . The Cabinet met in Greensboro , and Generals Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston sketched the bleak military situation . Davis , backed as usual by Benjamin , was determined to continue to fight . The refugee government moved south on April 15 . With the train tracks cut , most Cabinet members rode on horseback , but the heavyset Benjamin declared he would not ride on one until he had to , and shared an ambulance with Jules St. Martin and others . For the entertainment of his companions , Benjamin recited Tennyson 's " Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington " . 
