The Life of Jefferson Davis

The statement of the Confederate commissioners, and all the known facts of the transaction, demonstrate, without argument, the injustice of holding Mr. Davis responsible, to any extent, for the results of the Hampton Roads conference. With one voice the South accepted the result as establishing the purpose of the Federal Government to exact “unconditional submission,” as the only condition of peace, and scorned the insolent demand of the enemy. If the South had shown itself willing to accept the terms of the Federal Government, or if Mr. Lincoln had suggested other propositions than that of unconditional submission, then only could Mr. Davis be charged with having presented obstacles to the termination of the war.

Nor is it to be assumed that the terms of his letter to Mr. Blair, referring to his desire for peace between the “two countries,” precluded negotiation upon the basis of reunion. His language was that of a proper diplomacy, which should not commit the error of yielding in advance to the demands of an enemy, then insolent in what he regarded as the assurance of certain victory. The period was opportune for magnanimity on the part of the North, but not propitious for the display of over-anxious concession by the South. Mr. Davis was at this time anxious for propositions from the Federal Government, for, while he had not despaired of the Confederacy, he was deeply impressed with the increasing obstacles to its success. His frequent declaration, at this time, was: “I am solicitous only for the good of the people, and am indifferent as to the forms by which the public interests are to be subserved.” Indeed, the Federal authorities had ample assurance that Mr. Davis would present any basis of settlement, which might be offered, to the several States of the Confederacy for their individual action. Nor did he doubt the acceptance of reconstruction, without slavery even, by several of the States – an event which would have left the Confederacy too weak for further resistance.

In view of the consistent record of Mr. Davis, during the entire period of the war, to promote the attainment of peace, it is remarkable that there should ever have been an allegation of a contrary disposition. In a letter, written in 1864, to Governor Vance, of North Carolina, he conclusively stated his course upon the subject of peace. Said Mr. Davis, in this letter:

“We have made three distinct efforts to communicate with the authorities at Washington, and have been invariably unsuccessful. Commissioners were sent before hostilities were begun, and the Washington Government refused to receive them or hear what they had to say. A second time, I sent a military officer with a communication addressed by myself to President Lincoln. The letter was received by General Scott, who did not permit the officer to see Mr. Lincoln, but promised that an answer would be sent. No answer has ever been received. The third time, a few months ago, a gentleman was sent, whose position, character, and reputation were such as to ensure his reception, if the enemy were not determined to receive no proposals whatever from the Government. Vice-President Stephens made a patriotic tender of his services in the hope of being able to promote the cause of humanity, and, although little belief was entertained of his success, I cheerfully yielded to his suggestions, that the experiment should be tried. The enemy refused to let him pass through their lines or hold any conference with them. He was stopped before he ever reached Fortress Monroe, on his way to Washington…

“If we will break up our Government, dissolve the Confederacy, disband our armies, emancipate our slaves, take an oath of allegiance, binding ourselves to obedience to him and of disloyalty to our own States, he proposes to pardon us, and not to plunder us of any thing more than the property already stolen from us, and such slaves as still remain. In order to render his proposals so insulting as to secure their rejection, he joins to them a promise to support with his army one-tenth of the people of any State who will attempt to set up a government over the other nine-tenths, thus seeking to sow discord and suspicion among the people of the several States, and to excite them to civil war in furtherance of his ends. I know well it would be impossible to get your people, if they possessed full knowledge of these facts, to consent that proposals should now be made by us to those who control the Government at Washington. Your own well-known devotion to the great cause of liberty and independence, to which we have all committed whatever we have of earthly possessions, would induce you to take the lead in repelling the bare thought of abject submission to the enemy. Yet peace on other terms is now impossible.”

The spirit in which the South received the results of the Hampton Roads conference is to be correctly estimated by the following extract from a Richmond newspaper, of date February 15, 1865:

“The world can again, for the hundredth time, see conclusive evidence in the history and sequel of the ‘Blair mission,’ the blood-guiltiness of the enemy, and their responsibility for the ruin, desolation, and suffering which have followed, and will yet follow, their heartless attempts to subjugate and destroy an innocent people. The South again wins honor from the good, the magnanimous, the truly brave every-where by her efforts to stop the effusion of blood, save the lives and the property of her own citizens, and to stop, too, the slaughter of the victims of the enemy’s cruelty, which has forced or deceived them into the ranks of his armies. We have lost nothing by our efforts in behalf of peace; for, waiving all consideration of the reanimation and reunion of our people, occasioned by Lincoln’s haughty rejection of our commissioners, we have added new claims upon the sympathy and respect of the world and posterity, which will not fail to be remembered to our honor, in the history of this struggle, even though we should finally perish in it. The position of the South at this moment is indeed one which should stamp her as the champion, not only of popular rights and self-government, which Americans have so much cherished, but as the champion of the spirit of humanity in both sections; for it can not be supposed that we have all the sorrows as well as sufferings of this war to endure, and that there are no desolate homes, no widows and orphans, no weeds nor cypress in the enemy’s country…

“One fact is certain, that whatever Seward’s design may have been, and whatever its success may be, the Confederacy has derived an immediate advantage from the visit of our commissioners to Fortress Monroe. Nothing could have so served to reanimate the courage and patriotism of our people, as his attempted imposition of humiliation upon us. Lincoln will hear no more talk of ‘peace’ and ‘negotiation’ from the Southern side, for now we are united as one man in the purpose of self-preservation and vengeance, and it may not be long before his people, now rioting in excessive exultation over successes really valueless, and easily counter-balanced by one week of prosperous fortune for the South, will tremble at the manifestation of the spirit which they have aroused.”

But the evidences of popular reanimation in the South were delusive. For a brief moment there was a spirit of fierce and almost desperate resolution. At a meeting held in the African church, in Richmond, President Davis delivered one of his most eloquent popular orations, and the enthusiasm was perhaps greater than upon any similar occasion during the war. But popular feeling soon lapsed into the sullen despondency, from which it had been temporarily aroused by the unparalleled insult of the enemy. Yet the ultimatum of Mr. Lincoln, and the declared will of the South, left President Davis no other policy than a continuation of the struggle, with a view to the best attainable results. Upon this course he was now fully resolved, looking to the future with serious apprehension, not altogether unrelieved by hope.

The report of the Hampton Roads conference and its results, was made by President Davis, to Congress, on the 5th February:

“To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Confederate States of America:

“Having recently received a written notification, which satisfied me that the President of the United States was disposed to confer, informally, with unofficial agents that might be sent by me, with a view to the restoration of peace, I requested Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, Hon. R. M. T. Hunter, and Hon. John A. Campbell, to proceed through our lines, to hold a conference with Mr. Lincoln, or such persons as he might depute to represent him.

“I herewith submit, for the information of Congress, the report of the eminent citizens above named, showing that the enemy refuse to enter into negotiations with the Confederate States, or any one of them separately, or to give our people any other terms or guarantees than those which a conqueror may grant, or permit us to have peace on any other basis than our unconditional submission to their rule, coupled with the acceptance of their recent legislation, including an amendment to the Constitution for the emancipation of negro slaves, and with the right, on the part of the Federal Congress, to legislate on the subject of the relations between the white and black population of each State.

“Such is, as I understand, the effect of the amendment to the Constitution, which has been adopted by the Congress of the United States.

    “JEFFERSON DAVIS.
    “Executive Office, Feb. 5, 1865.”

    “Richmond, Va., February 5, 1865.

“To the President of the Confederate States—

“Sir: Under your letter of appointment of 28th ult., we proceeded to seek an informal conference with Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, upon the subject mentioned in your letter.

“The conference was granted, and took place on the 3d inst., on board a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads, where we met President Lincoln and Hon. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State of the United States. It continued for several hours, and was both full and explicit.

“We learned from them that the Message of President Lincoln to the Congress of the United States, in December last, explains clearly and distinctly, his sentiments as to terms, conditions, and method of proceeding by which peace can be secured to the people, and we were not informed that they would be modified or altered to obtain that end. We understood from him that no terms or proposals of any treaty or agreement looking to an ultimate settlement would be entertained or made by him with the authorities of the Confederate States, because that would be a recognition of their existence as a separate power, which, under no circumstances, would be done; and, for like reasons, that no such terms would be entertained by him from States separately; that no extended truce or armistice, as at present advised, would be granted or allowed without satisfactory assurance, in advance, of complete restoration of the authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States over all places within the States of the Confederacy; that whatever consequences may follow from the reëstablishment of that authority must be accepted, but the individuals subject to pains and penalties, under the laws of the United States, might rely upon a very liberal use of the power confided to him to remit those pains and penalties if peace be restored.

“During the conference the proposed amendments to the Constitution of the United States, adopted by Congress on the 31st ult., were brought to our notice. These amendments provide that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, should exist within the United States or any place within their jurisdiction, and that Congress should have the power to enforce this amendment by appropriate legislation.

“Of all the correspondence that preceded the conference herein mentioned, and leading to the same, you have heretofore been informed.

    “Very respectfully, your obedient servants,
    “ALEX. H. STEPHENS,
    “R. M. T. HUNTER,
    “J. A. CAMPBELL.”

CHAPTER XXI

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE EARLY PART OF 1865 – LAST PHASE OF THE MILITARY POLICY OF THE CONFEDERACY – THE PLAN TO CRUSH SHERMAN – CALM DEMEANOR OF PRESIDENT DAVIS – CHEERFULNESS OF GENERAL LEE – THE QUESTION AS TO THE SAFETY OF RICHMOND – WEAKNESS OF GENERAL LEE’S ARMY – PREPARATIONS TO EVACUATE RICHMOND BEFORE THE CAMPAIGN OPENED – A NEW BASIS OF HOPE – WHAT WAS TO BE REASONABLY ANTICIPATED – THE CONTRACTED THEATRE OF WAR – THE FATAL DISASTERS AT PETERSBURG – MR. DAVIS RECEIVES THE INTELLIGENCE WHILE IN CHURCH – RICHMOND EVACUATED – PRESIDENT DAVIS AT DANVILLE – HIS PROCLAMATION – SURRENDER OF LEE – DANVILLE EVACUATED – THE LAST OFFICIAL INTERVIEW OF MR. DAVIS WITH GENERALS JOHNSTON AND BEAUREGARD – HIS ARRIVAL AT CHARLOTTE – INCIDENTS AT CHARLOTTE – REJECTION OF THE SHERMAN-JOHNSTON SETTLEMENT – MR. DAVIS’ INTENTIONS AFTER THAT EVENT – HIS MOVEMENTS SOUTHWARD – INTERESTING DETAILS – CAPTURE OF MR. DAVIS AND HIS IMPRISONMENT AT FORTRESS MONROE

Military operations in the first three months of 1865 tended to the concentration of forces upon the greatly-reduced theatre of war, which was now confined mainly to Virginia and North Carolina. The developments of each day indicated the near approach of critical and decisive events. With Sherman sweeping through the Carolinas, and the Confederate forces retiring before him; with Wilmington, the last port of the Confederacy, captured, and a new base thus secured for a column auxiliary to Sherman, it was evident that but a short time would develop a grand struggle, which should not only decide the fate of Richmond, but which should involve nearly the entire force at the command of the Confederacy.

The last definite phase of the military policy of the Confederate authorities, previous to the fall of the capital, was the design of concentration for the destruction of Sherman, who was rapidly approaching the Virginia border. This would, of course, necessitate the abandonment of Richmond, with a view to the junction of the armies of Lee and Johnston. The latter officer, with the remnant of Hood’s army, and other fragmentary commands, confronted Sherman’s army – forty thousand strong – with a force of about twenty-five thousand men. When Lee’s army should unite with Johnston’s, the Confederate strength would approximate sixty thousand – a force ample to overwhelm Sherman.

The success of this design was mainly dependent upon the question of the time of its execution. If the concentration against Sherman should be attempted prematurely, that Federal commander would be warned of his danger in time to escape to the coast, or to retire until reënforcements from Grant should reach him. It was thus highly important that Sherman should advance sufficiently far to preclude his safe retreat, while, at the same time, the distance between Lee and Johnston should be shortened. On the other hand, if the concentration should be delayed too long, General Grant might, by a vigorous assault upon Lee, either hold the latter in his works at Petersburg, or cut off his retreat, either of which events would defeat the proposed concentration. In the sequel, the activity of Grant, his overwhelming numbers, and the timely arrival of Sheridan’s cavalry, after the latter had failed in his original design against Lynchburg and the Confederate communications, precipitated a catastrophe, which not only prevented the consummation of this design, but speedily proved fatal to the Confederacy.

There was nothing in the calm exterior of President Davis, during the days of early spring, to indicate that he was then meditating an abandonment of that capital, for the safety of which he had striven during four years of solicitude, and in the defense of which the flower of Southern chivalry had been sacrificed. There was no abatement of that self-possession, which had so often proven invulnerable to the most trying exigencies; no alteration of that commanding mien, so typical of resolution and self-reliance. To the despondent citizens of Richmond, there was something of re-assurance in the firm and elastic step of their President, as he walked, usually unattended, through the Capitol Square to his office. His responses to the respectful salutations of the children, who never failed to testify their affection for him, were as genial and playful as ever, and the slaves still boasted of the cordiality with which he acknowledged their civility.

A similar cheerfulness was observed in General Lee. In the last months of the war, it was a frequent observation that General Lee appeared more cheerful in manner than upon many occasions, when his army was engaged in its most successful campaigns. Hon. William C. Rives was quoted in the Confederate Congress, as having said that General Lee “had but a single thing to fear, and that was the spreading of a causeless despondency among the people. Prevent this, and all will be well. We have strength enough left to win our independence, and we are certain to win it, if people do not give way to foolish despair.”

From the beginning of winter, the possibility of holding Richmond was a matter of grave doubt to President Davis. He had announced to the Confederate Congress that the capital was now menaced by greater perils than ever. Yet a proper consideration of the moral consequences of a loss of the capital, not less than of the material injury which must result from the loss of the manufacturing facilities of Richmond, dictated the contemplation of its evacuation only as a measure of necessity. When, however, the dilatory and vacillating action of Congress baffled the President in all his vigorous and timely measures, there was hardly room to doubt that the alternative was forced upon General Lee of an early retreat or an eventual surrender. When spring opened, the Army of Northern Virginia was reduced to less than thirty-five thousand men. With this inadequate force, General Lee was holding a line of forty miles, against an army nearly one hundred and seventy-five thousand strong. A prompt conscription of the slaves, upon the basis of emancipation, the President and General Lee believed would have put at rest all anxiety for the safety of Richmond. But when the threadbare discussions and timid spirit of Congress foretold the failure of this measure, preparations were quietly begun for a retirement to an interior line of defense.

These preparations were commenced early in February, and were conducted with great caution. Mr. Davis did not believe that the capture of Richmond entailed the loss of the Confederate cause should Lee’s and Johnston’s armies remain intact. That it diminished the probability of ultimate success was obvious, but there was the anticipation of a new basis of hope, in events not improbable, could Lee’s army be successfully carried from Petersburg. A thorough defeat of Sherman would obviously recover at once the Carolinas and Georgia, and give to the Confederacy a more enlarged jurisdiction and more easy subsistence, than it had controlled for more than a year. A reasonable anticipation was the re-awakening of the patriotic spirit of the people, and the return of thousands of absentees to the army, as the immediate results of a decisive defeat of Sherman. Then, even if it should prove that the Confederacy could not cope with the remaining armies of the enemy, it was confidently believed that the North, rather than endure the sacrifices and doubts of another campaign, would offer some terms not inconsistent with the honor of the South to accept. At all events, resistance must continue until the enemy abated his haughty demand of unconditional submission.

The movements of Sherman and Johnston reduced the theatre upon which the crisis was enacting to very contracted limits. The fate of the Confederacy was to be decided in the district between the Roanoke and James Rivers, and the Atlantic Ocean and the Alleghanies. General Grant, fully apprised of the extremities to which Lee was reduced, for weeks kept his army in readiness to intercept the Confederate retreat. It was greatly to the interest of the Federal commander that Lee should be held at Petersburg, since his superior numbers must eventually give him possession of the Southside Railroad, which was vital to Lee not only as a means of subsistence, but as an avenue of escape. But General Grant, sooner than he anticipated, found an opportunity for a successful detachment of a competent force against the Southside Railroad by the arrival of Sheridan’s cavalry, ten thousand strong – as splendid a body of cavalry as ever took the field. The swollen condition of James River had prevented the consummation of Sheridan’s original mission, which was, after he had effectually destroyed all Lee’s communications northward and westward, to capture Lynchburg, and thence to pass rapidly southward to Sherman. Finding the river impassable, Sheridan retired in the direction of Richmond, passed Lee’s left wing, crossed the Pamunkey River, and, by the 25th of March, had joined Grant before Petersburg. General Grant was not slow in the employment of this timely accession.

The fatal disaster of Lee’s defeat at Petersburg was the battle of Five Forks, on the 1st of April, by which the enemy secured the direct line of retreat to Danville. For, without that event, the fate of Petersburg and Richmond was determined by the result of Grant’s attack upon the Confederate centre on the 2d of April. With all the roads on the southern bank of the Appomattox in the possession of the enemy, there remained only the line of retreat upon the northern side, which was the longer route, while the pursuing enemy had all the advantage of the interior line. But for that disadvantage, Lee’s escape would have been assured, and the Confederate line of defense reëstablished near the Roanoke River.

President Davis received the intelligence of the disasters while seated in his pew in St. Paul’s Church, where he had been a communicant for nearly three years. The momentous intelligence was conveyed to him by a brief note from the War Department. General Lee’s dispatch stated that his lines had been broken, and that all efforts to restore them had proven unsuccessful. He advised preparations for the evacuation of the city during the night, unless, in the meantime, he should advise to the contrary. Mr. Davis immediately left the church with his usual calm manner and measured tread.[82 - The author has seen an absurd statement, made without any inquiry into the facts, that Mr. Davis was seen to turn “ghastly white” at the moment of receiving the intelligence of the disaster at Petersburg. It is simply one of a thousand other reckless calumnies, with as little foundation as the rest.We do not feel called upon here to relate the details of the evacuation of Richmond and the occupation of the city by the Federal army. They are, doubtless, known to every intelligent reader, and we are here specially concerned only in the movements of Mr. Davis.] The tranquil demeanor of the President conveyed no indication of the nature of the communication. But the incident was an unusual one, and, by the congregation, most of whom had for days been burdened with the anticipations of disaster, the unspoken intelligence was, to some extent, correctly interpreted.

The family of Mr. Davis had been sent southward some days before, and he was, therefore, under the necessity of little preparation for departure. Though his concern was obvious, his calmness was remarkable. In this trying exigency in his personal fortunes, he showed anxiety only for the fate of the country, and sympathy for that devoted community from which he was now compelled to separate.

On the night of Sunday, April 2d, 1865, Mr. Davis, attended by his personal staff, members of his cabinet, and attaches of the several departments, left Richmond, which then ceased forever to be the capital of the Southern Confederacy. In a few hours after, that city, whose defense will be more famous than that of Saragossa, whose capture was for four years the aspiration of armies aggregating more than a million of men, became the spoil of a conqueror, and the scene of a conflagration, in which “all the hopes of the Southern Confederacy were consumed in one day, as a scroll in the fire.”

In accordance with his original design of making a new defensive line near the Roanoke River, Mr. Davis proceeded directly to Danville. His determination was to maintain the Confederate authority upon the soil of Virginia, until driven from it by force of arms. Reaching Danville on the 3d of April, he issued, two days afterwards, the following proclamation:

    “Danville, Va., April 5, 1865.

“The General-in-Chief found it necessary to make such movements of his troops as to uncover the capital. It would be unwise to conceal the moral and material injury to our cause resulting from the occupation of our capital by the enemy. It is equally unwise and unworthy of us to allow our own energies to falter, and our efforts to become relaxed under reverses, however calamitous they may be. For many months the largest and finest army of the Confederacy, under a leader whose presence inspires equal confidence in the troops and the people, has been greatly trammeled by the necessity of keeping constant watch over the approaches to the capital, and has thus been forced to forego more than one opportunity for promising enterprise. It is for us, my countrymen, to show by our bearing under reverses, how wretched has been the self-deception of those who have believed us less able to endure misfortune with fortitude than to encounter danger with courage.

“We have now entered upon a new phase of the struggle. Relieved from the necessity of guarding particular points, our army will be free to move from point to point, to strike the enemy in detail far from his base. Let us but will it, and we are free.

“Animated by that confidence in your spirit and fortitude which never yet failed me, I announce to you, fellow-countrymen, that it is my purpose to maintain your cause with my whole heart and soul; that I will never consent to abandon to the enemy one foot of the soil of any of the States of the Confederacy; that Virginia – noble State – whose ancient renown has been eclipsed by her still more glorious recent history; whose bosom has been bared to receive the main shock of this war; whose sons and daughters have exhibited heroism so sublime as to render her illustrious in all time to come – that Virginia, with the help of the people, and by the blessing of Providence, shall be held and defended, and no peace ever be made with the infamous invaders of her territory.

“If, by the stress of numbers, we should be compelled to a temporary withdrawal from her limits, or those of any other border State, we will return until the baffled and exhausted enemy shall abandon in despair his endless and impossible task of making slaves of a people resolved to be free.

“Let us, then, not despond, my countrymen, but, relying on God, meet the foe with fresh defiance, and with unconquered and unconquerable hearts.

    “JEFFERSON DAVIS.”

Meanwhile, some semblance of order in several of the departments of government was established, though, of course, the continued occupation of Danville was dependent upon the safety of Lee’s army. Days of anxious suspense, during which there was no intelligence from Lee, were passed, until on Monday, the 10th of April, it was announced that the Army of Northern Virginia had surrendered.

Leaving Danville, Mr. Davis and his party went by railroad to Greensboro’, North Carolina. Here Mr. Davis met Generals Johnston and Beauregard. Consultation with these two officers soon revealed to Mr. Davis their convictions of the hopelessness of a farther protraction of the struggle.

Ex-Secretary Mallory gives the following narrative of the last official interview of President Davis with Generals Johnston and Beauregard: