The Life of Jefferson Davis

“The circumstance of the capture of Mr. Davis, as given officially by General Wilson, were in harmony with that system of misrepresentation by which the popular mind was perverted as to all he said, and did, and designed. His alleged attempt to escape, disguised in female apparel – a naked fiction – served well enough for the moment to gratify and amuse the popular mind. Barnum, the showman, true to his proclivity for practical falsehood, presented to the eyes of Broadway a graphic life-size representation of Mr. Davis, thus habited, resisting arrest by Federal soldiers; and many thousands of children, whose wondering eyes beheld it will grow to maturity and pass into the grave, retaining the ideas thus created as the truth of history. Fortunately, however, history rarely leaves her verification wholly to the testimony of envy, hatred, malice, or falsehood, but contrives, in her own time and method, ways and means to bring truth to her exposition.

“It has been seen that before the President’s proclamation connecting him with the assassination, with every desired opportunity, and with every means of escape from the country at his command, Mr. Davis refrained from leaving it; and it is very doubtful whether, in face of the charge of complicity with this great crime, any power on earth could have induced him to leave.

“The sentiment to which the noble Clement Clay, of Alabama, gave utterance, upon learning that he was charged as particeps criminis in the assassination doubtless actuated Mr. Davis. Clay was able to escape from the country, and was prepared to do so; but when his heroic and loveable wife made known to him this charge, with indignation and scorn at its base falsehood breathing in every tone, he rose quietly, and said: ‘Well, my dear wife, that puts an end to all my plans of leaving the country. I must meet this calumny at once, and will go to Atlanta and surrender myself and demand its investigation.’

“Had Mr. Davis left the country, falsehood and malignity would have multiplied asserted proofs of this black charge against him; and the shortcomings, errors, and crimes, perhaps, of others, would have been conveniently attributed to the faults of his head or heart. But his long captivity, his cruel treatment, the patient, passive heroism with which, when powerless otherwise, and strong only in honor and integrity, he met his fate, have combined, not only to seal the lips of those of his Confederate associates who had wrongs, real or fancied, to resent, but to concentrate upon him the heartfelt sympathy of the Southern people, and no little interest and sympathy wherever heroic endurance of misfortune gains consideration among men.

“His escape from the country and a secure refuge in a foreign land, sustained by the respect and affection of the Southern people, were within his own control; and he might have reasonably looked forward to a return to his native State, as a result of a change in her political status, at no distant day. But he refrained from embracing the opportunities of escape which were his by fortune or by Federal permission.

“The suggestions of friends as to his personal safety were heard with all due consideration, and he manifested none of the airs of a would-be political martyr; and yet it was evident that captivity and death had lost with him their terrors in comparison with the crushing calamity of a defeat of a cause for whose triumph he had been ever ready to lay down his life.

“The general language and bearing of the people of the country through which he passed, their ardent loyalty to the South, their profound sorrow at the failure of her cause, and their warm expressions of regard for himself – all confirmatory of the conviction that, notwithstanding the odds against her, a thorough and hearty union of the people and leaders would have secured her triumph, affected him deeply.

“Throughout his journey he greatly enjoyed the exercise of riding and the open air, and decidedly preferred the bivouac to the bed-room; and at such times, reclining against a tree, or stretched upon a blanket, with his head, pillowed upon his saddle, and under the inspiration of a good cigar, he talked very pleasantly of stirring scenes of other days, and forgot, for a time, the engrossing anxieties of the situation.”

The solicitude of Mr. Davis for the safety of his family led to his capture. Several weeks had elapsed since he had parted with them, and almost the first positive information that he received, made him apprehensive for their safety. In the then disorganized condition of the country through which he was passing, the inducements to violence and robbery by desperate characters were numerous. Hearing that the route which Mrs. Davis was pursuing was infested by marauders, he determined to see that his family was out of danger, before putting into execution his design of crossing the Mississippi. While with his family, Mr. Davis was surprised by a body of Federal cavalry, and at the time being unarmed and unattended by any force competent for resistance, he was made a prisoner. On the 19th May, 1865, he was placed in solitary confinement at Fortress Monroe.

CHAPTER XXII

MOTIVE OF MR. DAVIS’ ARREST – AN AFTER-THOUGHT OF STANTON AND THE BUREAU OF MILITARY JUSTICE – THE EMBARRASSMENT PRODUCED BY HIS CAPTURE – THE INFAMOUS CHARGES AGAINST HIM – WHY MR. DAVIS WAS TREATED WITH EXCEPTIONAL CRUELTY – THE OUTRAGES AND INDIGNITIES OFFERED HIM – HIS PATIENT AND HEROIC ENDURANCE OF PERSECUTION – HIS RELEASE FROM FORTRESS MONROE – BAILED BY THE FEDERAL COURT AT RICHMOND – JOY OF THE COMMUNITY – IN CANADA – RE-APPEARANCE BEFORE THE FEDERAL COURT – HIS TRIAL AGAIN POSTPONED – CONCLUSION

All doubt has long since been dispelled as to the motive of the pursuit and arrest of Mr. Davis. His arrest and imprisonment were the after-thought of the saturnine Secretary of War, and his associate inquisitors of the Bureau of Military Justice, at Washington. The details given by Mr. Mallory, of the circumstances of Mr. Davis’ progress through North Carolina, South Carolina, and a part of Georgia, added to facts which are yet fresh in the public memory, fully justify the conclusion that the Federal authorities connived at his supposed purpose to escape the country. The reputation of Mr. Lincoln among his countrymen, for humanity as well as good sense, renders it extremely probable that such would have been his method of avoiding the perplexity which must arise from the capture of Mr. Davis.

Well understanding that the inflamed public sentiment of the North, regarding Mr. Davis as a political offender of the worst possible character, would not tolerate his immediate release, the Federal Government would have served the ends of humanity and sound policy by encouraging his escape. On the other hand the laws of the United States tolerate prolonged imprisonment only after trial and sentence. Hence the arrest of Mr. Davis must open an endless perspective of embarrassments. He could not be tried simply as an individual, nor could his punishment for any alleged crime of his own, be the sole object to be sought. His arraignment before a judicial tribunal, would be the arraignment of the principle of State Sovereignty, of the States which had sought to put that principle in practice, of the five millions of American citizens who had supported it, and who had cheerfully risked their lives and earthly possessions for its maintenance.

Nay, more, the trial of Jefferson Davis, upon a charge of treason, meant the trial of the North also. Should all efforts to convict the South in the person of Mr. Davis, of treason, fail, the recoil might well be dreaded by those who instigated the war upon the rights and existence of the States. It was not to be safely assumed that the legal decision of a constitutional question, which divided the framers of the Federal Constitution, would necessarily affirm the party and sectional dogmas upon which the North waged the war. Should secession be legally justified, what justification could the North claim, that is rightfully denied to Russia in her conduct towards Poland? What plea should England need for her outrages upon Ireland? With Jefferson Davis acquitted of treason, what could the conduct of the North for four years have been, but a revelry in blood – the wanton perpetration of a monstrous crime?

In this dilemma the industry of the Bureau of Military Justice, which afterwards achieved an immortality of infamy, by its record of judicial murders, aided by the ingenuity of Stanton, devised a scheme for the arrest of Mr. Davis, upon charges designed to cover him and the cause which he represented, with everlasting obloquy. Not content with having triumphed by superior numbers, in a war of political opinions, which in the beginning was declared not to be waged for social or political subversion; not content with having settled a grave constitutional question, by brute force, in a government founded upon the idea of popular consent, the Federal authorities were now made a party to infamous falsehoods, the circumstances and results of which have fixed a stigma upon the American name.

Contemporary with the announcement of events, which proclaimed the irretrievable downfall of the Confederacy, were the calumnies of the Northern press, under the alleged inspiration of Stanton, representing that Mr. Davis was escaping with wagons filled with plunder, and with the gold of the Richmond banks; and that he had endeavored to escape in the concealment of female apparel. No one knew better than those who promulgated this paltry defamation, its utter falsity, and we would not insult Mr. Davis and the Southern people by bestowing consideration upon such palpable calumnies. It was not calculated that such a portraiture of one, whose personal honor, courage, and manhood had triumphantly endured every test, would be accepted by the intelligence even of the North. But it nevertheless had an obvious purpose, which was well answered. It imposed upon the weak and credulous. The besotted and cowardly mobs of the Northern cities, who filled the air with clamor for the “blood of traitors,” while the men who had conquered the South, were touched with sympathy for the misfortunes of foes whom they respected, of course eagerly accepted any caricature of Mr. Davis agreeable to their own vulgar imaginations. In this manner was consummated the first step in the object of delaying the feeling of personal respect, and of sympathy for misfortunes, which eventually assert themselves in the masses, for a fallen foe, whom it was already resolved to persecute with oppression and cruelty previously unknown under the American political system.

Next came the atrocious proclamation charging Mr. Davis with complicity in the assassination of President Lincoln. It is safe to say that incidents hitherto prominent by their infamy, will be forgotten by history, in comparison with the dastardly criminal intent which instigated that document. Circumstances warrant the belief that not one of the conspirators against the life and honor of Mr. Davis, believed either then or now, that the charge had one atom of truth. Had the charge been honestly made, it would have been disavowed, when its falsity became apparent. But this would not have subserved the end of the conspirators, and the poison was permitted to circulate and rankle, long after the calumny had been exploded during the investigations of the military commission, in the cases of Mrs. Surratt and Captain Wirz. At length justice was vindicated by the publication of the confidential correspondence between Holt and Conover, which disclosed the unparalleled subornation and perjury upon which the conspirators relied. Well has it been said that the world will yet wonder “how it was that a people, passing for civilized and Christian, should have consigned Jefferson Davis to a cell, while they tolerated Edwin M. Stanton as a Cabinet Minister.”

We have no desire to dwell upon the details of Mr. Davis’ long and cruel imprisonment. The story is one over which the South has wept tears of agony, at whose recital the civilized world revolted, and which, in years to come, will mantle with shame the cheek of every American citizen who values the good name of his country. In a time of profound peace, when the last vestige of resistance to Federal authority had disappeared in the South, Mr. Davis, wrecked in fortune and in health, in violation of every fundamental principle of American liberty, of justice and humanity, was detained for two years, without trial, in close confinement, and, during a large portion of this period, treated with all the rigor of a sentenced convict.

But if indeed Mr. Davis was thus to be prejudged as the “traitor” and “conspirator” which the Stantons, and Holts, and Forneys declared him to be, why should he be selected from the millions of his advisers and followers, voluntary participants in his assumed “treason,” as the single victim of cruelty, outrage, and indignity? What is there in his antecedents inconsistent with the character of a patriotic statesman devoted to the promotion of union, fraternity, harmony, and faithful allegiance to the Constitution and laws of his country? We have endeavored faithfully to trace his distinguished career as a statesman and soldier, and at no stage of his life is there to be found, either in his conduct or declared opinions, the evidence of infidelity to the Union as its character and objects were revealed to his understanding. Nor is there to be found in his personal character any support of that moral turpitude which a thousand oracles of falsehood have declared to have peculiarly characterized his commission of “treason.”

No tongue and pen were more eloquent than his in describing the grandeur, glory, and blessings of the Union, and in invoking for its perpetuation the aspirations and prayers of his fellow-citizens. In the midst of passion and tumult, in 1861, he was conspicuous by his zeal for compromise, and for a pacific solution of difficulties. No Southern Senator abandoned his seat with so pathetic and regretful an announcement of the necessity which compelled the step. The sorrowful tone of his valedictory moistened the eye of every listener, and convinced even political adversaries of the sincerity and purity of his motives. His elevation to the Presidency of the Confederacy was not dictated by the recognition of any supposed title to leadership in the secession movement. His election was indeed a triumph over the extreme sentiment of the South, and was declared by those who opposed it to involve a compromise of the exclusive sectionalism which was the basis of the new government. His administration of the Confederate Government exhibited the same unswerving loyalty to duty, to justice and humanity, which his previous life so nobly exemplified. The people of the South alone know how steadfastly he opposed the indulgence of vengeance; how he strove, until the last moments of the struggle, to restrain the rancor and bitterness so naturally engendered under the circumstances. Yet, when Jefferson Davis lay a helpless prisoner in the strongest fortress of the Union, with “broad patches of skin abraded” by the irons upon his limbs, men were practically pardoned who had devoted years of labor to the purpose of disunion, and had reproached him for not unfurling the “black flag.” Is not the inference, then, justified that all of these tortures and indignities were aimed at the people and the cause which his dignity, purity, and genius had so exalted in the eyes of mankind?

But how impotent are falsehood and malignity to obstruct the illumination of truth! As subornation and perjury proved unavailing to convict him of atrocious guilt, so equally has persecution failed to accomplish its purpose. To all that shameful picture of barbarous violence and gratuitous insult; of insolent espionage and vulgar curiosity; of the illustrious leader of a brave people, whose whole life does not exhibit one act of meanness or shame, or one word of untruth, crushed by disaster, and prostrate with disease, fettered as if he were a desperate felon; restricted in his diet, and not even permitted a change of linen, except by the authority of a military jailer; an object of unrelaxed scrutiny, often driven to his cell by the peering curiosity of vulgar men and unsexed women – to all this there was but one relief – the patient and constant heroism of the sufferer, giving heart to his despairing countrymen, and ennobling his own captivity. History furnishes no similar instance of patient and dignified endurance of adversity and persecution.

The incidents of Mr. Davis’ history since his release from Fortress Monroe, do not require detailed narration. For the most part they are confined to that domain of privacy which decency holds to be inviolable. When two years – wanting a few days – from the date of his incarceration had elapsed, Mr. Davis was transferred by the military authorities to the custody of the Federal civil authorities at Richmond. Here, amid the congratulations of friends, and the rejoicings of the community, which loves him as it loves but one other – his constant friend and compeer in fame – he was released from custody under circumstances which are well known. The interval between his release in May, 1867, and his re-appearance before the Federal court, at Richmond, in the ensuing November, was passed by Mr. Davis in Canada. There he was the recipient of the respect and sympathy which his character and his sufferings might have been expected to elicit from a humane people. At the November term of the Federal court, Mr. Davis was again present, with his eminent counsel, awaiting trial, and was again released upon recognizance to appear on the 25th March, 1868.

In the face of the close proximity of the event, it would be unprofitable to speculate as to the sequel of this third appearance of Jefferson Davis before a judicial tribunal, to answer the charge of treason. Nor do we propose to add to the brief consideration, which has already been given in this volume, of the legal and historical question involved in the case of Mr. Davis. The subject has been exhausted. The masterly expositions by Mr. Davis of the theory of the Federal Government (some of which we have given), are at once the complete vindications of himself and his countrymen, and the sufficient monuments of his fame.

But are the issues of the war to be subjected to candid and impartial legal adjudication? Will the North approve this raising of a doubt as to its own justification, merely in the hope of vengeance upon one who is powerless for injury? But if there is to be admitted another jurisdiction than that of War; if the arbitrament of battle is to be carried to the higher tribunal of Law and Public Opinion; if there is to be a trial and not a judicial farce, with a foregone conclusion and a prejudged sentence, the South and its late leader will not shrink from the verdict. Of this, the world requires no more emphatic iteration than that furnished by past events.

But the decision of this question, whatever it may be, can not recover the wager which the South gallantly staked and irretrievably lost. Time will show, however, the amount of truth in the prophecy of Jefferson Davis, made in reply to the remark that the cause of the Confederacy was lost: “It appears so. But the principle for which we contended is bound to re-assert itself, though it may be at another time and in another form.”

notes

1

A pertinent remark of Macaulay is, “It is the nature of parties to retain their original enmities far more firmly than their original principles. During many years, a generation of Whigs, whom Sydney would have spurned as slaves, continued to wage war with a generation of Tories whom Jeffries would have hanged.”

2

Mr. Gladstone.

3

Mr. Davis has, since his withdrawal from the army until the breaking out of the war, resided on his plantation in Warren County, a few miles from Vicksburg.

4

Dr. Craven relates the following incident, which is an impressive illustration of the depth and intensity of Mr. Davis’ veneration for the character of Mr. Calhoun:

“General Miles observed, interrogatively, that it was reported that John C. Calhoun had made much money by speculations, or favoring the speculations of his friends, connected with this work (the Rip-Raps, near Fortress Monroe).

“In a moment Mr. Davis started to his feet, betraying much indignation by his excited manner and flushed cheek. It was a transfiguration of friendly emotion. The feeble and wasted invalid and prisoner, suddenly forgetting his bonds – forgetting his debility, and ablaze with eloquent anger against this injustice to the memory of one he loved and reverenced. Mr. Calhoun, he said, lived a whole atmosphere above any sordid or dishonest thought – was of a nature to which even a mean act was impossible. It was said in every Northern paper that he (Mr. Davis) had carried with him five millions in gold when quitting Richmond – money pilfered from the treasury of the Confederate States; and that there was just as much truth in that as in these imputations against Calhoun… Calhoun was a statesman, a philosopher, in the true sense of that grossly-abused term – an enthusiast of perfect liberty in representative and governmental action.” —Prison Life of Jefferson Davis. Library edition, pages 206, 207.

5

Massachusetts even refused military honors to the remains of a gallant son of her own soil, (Captain Lincoln,) and a descendant of one of her most eminent families, who was killed at Buena Vista. Her fanatical intolerance would not forget that he had fallen in a war which she did not approve.

6

“Our Living Representative Men,” by Mr. John Savage.

7

Lieutenant-Colonel A. K. McClung.

8

For this spirited account of the operations of the Mississippi regiment at Monterey, the author is indebted to a sketch of Mr. Davis in Mr. John Savage’s “Living Representative Men,” which was published a year or two prior to the war. Though having several other accounts, possibly more complete, I have selected this as the most graphic. The author readily acknowledges the assistance which he has derived from the work of Mr. Savage.

9

This Constitutional question was again raised by Mr. Davis, while President of the Confederacy, and his action with reference to similar legislation by the Confederate Congress, was in entire accordance with the reason assigned for declining Mr. Polk’s appointment.

10

Henry Clay, Jr., a graduate of West Point, and at the time of his death, Lieutenant-Colonel of volunteers. He fell at Buena Vista.

11

The repeal of the Missouri Compromise has been commonly alluded to as the special and leading measure of the Pierce administration. It was, in reality, not an administration measure. The well-known cordiality of Mr. Davis’ relations with President Pierce induced a number of Senators to call upon Mr. Davis, on the Sunday morning previous to the introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, and ask his aid in securing them the pledge of the President’s approval. They represented the measure as contemplating merely the assertion of the rights of property, slavery included, in the Territories. Mr. Davis objected, at first, to an interruption of the President, on the Sabbath, for such a purpose, but finally yielded. The President promptly signified his approbation of a measure contemplating such a purpose. It is not necessary to say that the legislation of Congress embraced a far greater scope than that indicated. The administration indorsed the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in full, because the principle was correct, though its assertion then was wholly unnecessary, unprofitable, and likely to lead to mischievous results. This was the real connection of the Pierce administration with a measure for whose consequences the ambition of Judge Douglas was almost solely responsible.