Having been advised by General Robert E. Lee that the fall of Richmond was imminent, late on the evening of April 2, 1865, President Davis, his aides, and members of the presidential Cabinet, except C.S. Secretary of War John C. Breckinridge, departed the burning capital city, traveling southwest on the Richmond and Danville Railroad shortly before Union troops occupied it. Confederate President Davis and his Cabinet stayed at Danville, southwest of Richmond, until April 10, when hearing of General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House further northeast, they continued their flight farther south.