Jefferson Davis, American

by William J. Cooper

  48. On the releases, see Dorris, Pardon, chaps. 9, 11, 12.

  49. Ibid., 281–84.

  50. McCulloch, Men, 410; Charles O’Conor to VD, August 29, 1866, JD Papers, MC; Memoir, II, 769–70.

  51. Re Davis’s case: Roy F. Nichols, “United States Versus Jefferson Davis,” AHR, XXXI (April 1926), 266–84, still has enormous value; also consult Charles M. Blackford, The Trials and Trial of Jefferson Davis (Richmond, Va., 1900), and George Shea, Jefferson Davis: A Statement…(London, 1877; originally printed in the New York Tribune, January 24, 1876). An extraordinarily valuable collection of documents is Bradley T. Johnson, Reports of the Cases Decided by Chief Justice Chase in the Circuit Court of the United States Fourth Circuit, 1865–1869 ([1876]; New York, 1972), which includes filings, writs, rulings, arguments, agreements. The entire Davis record is reprinted in JDC, VII, 138–227, which I cite for convenience. In addition, letters from two attorneys general to the president are illuminating: James Speed on January 4, 1866, and Henry Stanbery on December 12, 1866, PAJ, IX, 570–72, XI, 345–47. All of these provide the foundation of my account; individual citations occur only where appropriate.

  52. On Underwood, see DAB, XIX, 113–14; John Niven has the best study of Chase, Salmon P. Chase: A Biography (New York, 1995), esp. chap. 30 and 408–10; Chase to Johnson, October 12, 1865, PAJ, IX, 231–32. Chase also confided in Horace Greeley concerning his requirements for holding the trial, Chase to Greeley, June 5, 1866, Greeley Papers, NYPL.

  53. Taylor to VD, November 10, 1866, Mrs. Jefferson Davis Letters, IA; George Shea to VD, October 20, 1865, JD Papers, MC; Greeley Memorial (draft and finished copy), ibid., Memoir, II, 768; Burton Harrison to Mother, June 13, 1866, Walmsley, ed., “Harrison Letters,” 81–82.

  54. VD to Greeley, June 22, 1865 (copy), Greeley to VD, June 27, 1865, Greeley to Frank Blair, August 29, 1865, JD Papers, MC; George Shea to Greeley, August 22, 1865, Greeley Papers, NYPL; Greeley to Chase, May 31, 1866, Chase Papers, LC; J. Glancy Jones to James Buchanan, May 15, 1867, James Buchanan Papers, HSP; John Russell Young, Men and Memories: Personal Reminiscences (2 vols.; New York and London, 1901), I, 117–19 (I am grateful to Charles Royster for this reference); Smith to Johnson, August 24, 1866, PAJ, XI, 135; New York Times, June 12, November 21, 1866; New York Tribune, summer 1865—spring 1867 passim, examples September 12, 21, November 9, 1866; Shea, Jefferson Davis.

  55. O’Conor to Johnson, November 1, 1865, O’Conor and Thomas G. Pratt to Johnson, June 13, 1866, PAJ, IX, 322–24, X, 583–84; Memorandum “Thursday, June 7, 1866,” Bradley T. Johnson Papers, Duke. Re coordination: Stephen Mallory to Wife, June n.d., 1866, Stephen Mallory Papers, UNC, George Shea to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1865, Greeley Papers, NYPL, to VD, October 20, 1865, JD Papers, MC.

  56. O’Conor to James M. Mason, December 26, 1865, Mason Papers, LC, to W. P. Johnston, December 30, 1865, to JD, October 2, 1866, to VD, October 21, 1866, JD Papers, MC.

  57. O’Conor to JD, February 8, 1878, JD Papers, MC.

  58. JD to James Lyons, January 27, 1876, JDC, VII, 483; Harrison to Mother, June 13, 1866, Walmsley, ed., “Harrison Letters,” 82.

  59. Geo. W. Brown to Franklin Pierce, July 14, 1866, Pierce Papers, LC; O’Conor to John C. Breckinridge, July 6, 1865, Breckinridge Papers, VHS; O’Conor to VD, October 18, November 19, 1866, January 25, 1867, JD Papers, MC; F. A. Aiken to George Shea, September 16, 1865, ibid.

  60. Harrison to [Mother], June 20, 1866, Harrison, ed., Avis Sonis, 197.

  61. Ibid., 196–97; O’Conor to Burton Harrison, July 13, 1866 (quotation), Harrison Papers, LC; Blackford, Trial, 24; Reed to Mary Brodhead (JD’s niece), [1866], JD Papers, MC.

  62. VD to JD, March 28, [31], 1867, JD Papers, UA; VD to Garrett, April 10, May 1, 1867, Garrett Papers, LC.

  63. JDC, VII, 166–68 (writ), 168–69 (order).

  64. O’Conor to VD, April 17, 27, May 2, 1867, JD Papers, MC; Harrison to Mother, May 18, 1867, Walmsley, ed., “Harrison Letters,” 83–85; William Reed to Harrison, May 5, 1867, Harrison Papers, LC.

  65. On JD en route to and in Richmond, see Harrison to Mother, May 18, 1867, Walmsley, ed., “Harrison Letters,” 83–85; W. Asbury Christian, Richmond: Her Past and Present (Richmond, Va., 1912), 284–89 (second quotation 285); Virginia King, “Three Days,” in her “Reminiscences,” Virginia King Papers, UNC; James Millward to JD, July 11, 1887, JDC, IX, 575–76; ibid., VII, 169–76 (O’Conor quotation 169). All quotations come from the Harrison letter unless otherwise noted.

  66. Of the three major sureties, only Greeley was present in the courtroom; agents represented Smith and Vanderbilt.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: “These Days of Our Hard Fortune”

  1. Harrison to [mother], May 18, 1867, James Elliott Walmsley, ed., “Some Unpublished Letters of Burton N. Harrison,” PMHS, VIII (1904), 85.

  2. Benjamin to Mason, May 29, 1867 (copy), Accession No. 7733-A, UVA; Mason to JD, May 14, 1867, Mallory to JD, May 14, 1867, Reagan to JD, May 21, 1867, Breckinridge to JD, June 15, 1867, Cobb to JD, July 31, 1867, JD Papers, MC; Lee to JD, June 1, 1867, R. E. Lee Letterbook No. 4, DeButts-Ely Collection of Lee Family Papers, VHS; Pierce to JD, May 14, 1867, Samuel W. Richey Collection of the Southern Confederacy, MU; Students to JD, June 3, 1867, JD Papers, Alabama Department of Archives and History.

  3. A. J. Clark, “When Jefferson Davis Visited Niagara,” Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records, XIX (1922), 87–89; Virginia Mason, The Public Life and Diplomatic Correspondence of James M. Mason (New York and Washington, D.C., 1906), 589; George T. Denison, Soldiering in Canada: Recollections and Experiences by Lt. Col. George T. Denison (Toronto, 1890), 68–70 (quotation 69).

  4. VD to Burton Harrison, n.d. (received June 15, all quotations), August 24, 1867, Burton Harrison Papers, LC; VD to Robert Garrett, May 3[0], 1867, Robert Garrett Family Papers, ibid.; VD to JD, July 10, 1867, and Howell Cobb to JD, July 31, 1867, JD Papers, MC; VD to Col. Taylor, June 3, 1867 (typescript copy), VD Subject File, 1866–1899, MDAH; Memoir, II, 797–99.

  5. JD to Joseph, July 22, 1867, Lise Mitchell Papers, TU, to Harrison, July 7, 1867, Harrison Papers, LC.

  6. M. H. Clark to VD, August 30, October 30, November 13 (copy), 1865, January 15, 27, 29, 1866; M. H. Clark to Harrison, February 20, March 20, 1866, August 26, 1867; Van Benthuysen to VD, March 13, 1866, to A. Y. Stokes, May 9, 1867; W. E. Dickinson to VD, February 8, 1866; Tench Tilghman to VD, February 24, 1866, W. Winder to VD, March 2, 1866, J. D. Smith to VD, November 21, 1865; JD to Harrison, July 7, September 4, 1867 (quotation), to Van Benthuysen, July 5, 1867 (copy); Harrison to Van Benthuysen, August 20, 1867 (copy), and Memorandum, August 21, 1867, all Harrison Papers, LC; [M. H. Clark] to Van Benthuysen, August 27, 1865, Van Benthuysen Papers, ibid.; Van Benthuysen to Joseph Davis, March 12, 1867, Davis Family Papers, MDAH.

  7. VD to Mary Ann Cobb, July 6, 1868 (first quotation), Howell Cobb Papers, UGA; Memoir, II, 799–800; Virginia Frazer Boyle, “Jefferson Davis in Canada,” CV, XXXVII (March 1929), 89–93; George E. Carter, “A Note on Jefferson Davis in Canada—His Stay in Lennoxville, Quebec,” JMH, XXXIII (May 1971), 133–36; JD to “My dear Daughter,” October 28, 1867, JD Papers, UA, to Col. Helm, October 30, 1867 (copy, second quotation), JD-Charles J. Helm Papers, UM; JD Pocket Diary, June 1, 1868, JD Papers, MC.

  8. O’Conor to JD, October 2 (quotation), 18, 29, November 5, 12, 13, 1867, to VD, October 21, 1867, JD Papers, MC; JD to “Dear William [Howell],” November 6, 1867, JD Papers, Beauvoir.

  9. Roy F. Nichols, “United States Versus Jefferson Davis,” AHR, XXXI (April 1926), 276–77; JDC, VII, 176–79.

  10. Memoir, II, 799–800, 803; [Margaret Howell] to “My Dear Daughter,” October n.d., 1867, JD Papers, UA; PJD, II, 56n.; JD to Children, February 15, 1868, JD and Family Papers, MDAH.

  11. Lee to Mary C. Lee, November 26, 1867, Lee Family Papers, VHS.

  12. Memoir, II, 803–04; JD to Children, February 15, 1868, JD and Family Papers, MDAH.

  13. On Joseph’s pardon and the land, b
oth Janet Sharp Hermann, The Pursuit of a Dream (New York, 1981), chap. 4, and Frank Edgar Everett, Jr., Brierfield: Plantation Home of Jefferson Davis (Jackson, Miss., 1971), chap. 9, provide details on which I have based my account. Also see Jonathan Truman Dorris, Pardon and Amnesty Under Lincoln and Johnson: The Restoration of the Confederates to Their Rights and Privileges, 1861–1898 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1953), 237–38.

  14. JD to Joseph, December 17, 1866, Bowmar, 586–87.

  15. Memoir, II, 804; Everett, Brierfield, 91.

  16. VD to Mary Ann Cobb, July 6, 1868, Cobb Papers, UGA.

  17. JD to Children, February 15, 1868, JD and Family Papers, MDAH; JD to Col. George Young, February 25, 1868 (second quotation), Evans Memorial Library, Aberdeen, Miss.

  18. JD to [J. M. Howry], February 8, 1868, Howry Family Papers, LC.

  19. JD to Gen. W. N. Pendleton, August 1, 1867 (first quotation), University Papers, W&L; JD to Col. George H. Young, February 25, 1868 (second quotation), Evans Library; JD to [J. M. Howry], February 8, 1868 (third quotation), Howry Family Papers, LC; JD to Joseph, July 22, 1867, Mitchell Papers, TU.

  20. JD to Col. George Young, February 25, 1868, Evans Library; JD to Joseph D. Smith, March 7, 1868, JD Papers, TU; Greenville [S.C.] Southern Enterprise, April 22, 1868; Chronology (Box 36), JD Papers, MC.

  21. To the basic sources cited in chapter sixteen at note 51, add Richard Henry Dana’s informative “The Reasons for Not Prosecuting Jefferson Davis,” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, LXIV (April 1931), 201–09, which concentrates on the government attorneys in the post-bail period; JDC, VII, 179–95; O’Conor to Gentlemen, March 30, 1868, I. H. Carrington Papers, DU.

  22. Lee to W. H. F. Lee, March 30, 1868, George Bolling Lee Papers, VHS.

  23. Memoir, II, 805 (first quotation); VD to Col. Walter Taylor, July 6, 1868 (typescript, second quotation), VD Subject File, 1866–1899, MDAH; JD to Howell Cobb, July 6, 1868, JDC, VII, 243; JD Pocket Diary, April 2—June 25, 1868, and Chronology, JD Papers, MC.

  24. O’Conor to Greeley, April 24, 1868, Horace Greeley Papers, NYPL; O’Conor to JD, April 9, 10, 18, 19, 26, May 13, 19, 27, 1868, Robert Ould to JD, April 8, 1868, JD Papers, MC; JDC, VII, 195–96; JD to I. H. Carrington, n.d., 1868 (typescript), JD Papers, UA.

  25. Memoir, II, 805; JD to [Lucinda Boyle], June 4, 1868, JD Family Papers, LSU; VD to Mary Ann Cobb, July 6, 1868, Cobb Papers, UGA; Joseph to JD, n.d., 1868 (typescript), JD Papers, UA.

  26. JD to Joseph Davis, July 22, 1867, Mitchell Papers, TU; Memorandum of Agreement re: Investment, July 11, 1867, Frederick Terrill to JD, August 24, 1867, January 15, July 3, 22, 1868, E. Clark to JD, July 20, 1868, JD Papers, MC.

  27. Joseph Davis to JD, n.d., 1868 (typescript), JD Papers, UA; VD to Col. Walter Taylor, July 6, 1868 (typescript), VD Subject File, 1866–1899, MDAH; JD to Howell Cobb, July 6, 1868, with VD postscript, JDC, VII, 242–43. Because of JD’s injuries, VD wrote both letters.

  28. A. J. Beresford Hope to JD, June 7, 1867, JD Papers, MC.

  29. VD to Mary Ann Cobb, July 6, 1868, Cobb Papers, UGA; JD Pocket Diary, JD Papers, MC.

  30. Memoir, II, 807. Three sources are critical for places and dates in Europe: Chronology compiled by Patricia Cooper (in my possession, cited hereafter as PHC), the Chronology, and JD Pocket Diary, JD Papers, MC. I will not cite them constantly.

  31. Memoir, II, 808; Pocket Diary, September 11, 1868.

  32. Wirt Adams to JD, August 16, September 1, 1868, JD Papers, MC.

  33. A. J. Beresford Hope to JD, April 25, June 2, 1869, Earl of Shrewsbury to JD, August 28, 1868, Lord Abinger to JD, April 7, 1869, Lady Lothian to JD, May 4, 1869, Calling Card of Lady Eardley, n.d., ibid.; Lord Henry Percy to VD, July 10, [1869], JD to VD, September 4 (quotation), November 22, 1868, JD Papers, UA; JD to Beresford Hope, August 8, 20, 1868, JDC, VII, 244–45.

  34. VD to Lise Mitchell, April 20, 1869 (first quotation), Mitchell Papers, TU; VD to Mary Ann Cobb, January 31, 1869, Cobb Papers, UGA; Louis de Rosset to Mother, August 5, 1869, de Rosset Family Papers, UNC.

  35. Benjamin to JD, August 6, 1868, JD Papers, UA; Memoir, II, 810; Eli N. Evans, Judah P. Benjamin: The Jewish Confederate (New York, 1988), chaps. 18, 20.

  36. Memoir, II, 809–10; JD to Charles J. Leigh, December 28, 1868, Lewis Leigh Collection, Archives Branch, U.S. Army Military History Institute, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., to VD, February 7, 1869, JD Papers, TR.

  37. JD to VD, February 9, 1869 (quotations), JD Papers, UA, February 7, 1869, JD Papers, TR.

  38. JD to VD, February 7, 1869, JD Papers, TR.

  39. For this discussion, see the sources cited in note 21 above, and add Hans L. Trefousse, Andrew Johnson: A Biography (New York, 1989), 337, 347. JDC, VII, 196–227, has the court proceedings.

  40. O’Conor to JD, December 7, 1868 (quotation), January 6, 1869, JD Papers, MC.

  41. Wirt Adams to JD, August 16, September 1, 1868, Alfred Bland to JD, January 2, [1869], ibid.; Benjamin to JD, December 20, 1868, and JD to Editor, December n.d., 1868, JDC VII, 246–51; James P. Shenton, Robert John Walker: A Politician from Jackson to Lincoln (New York, 1961), 195–98.

  42. JD to VD, November 22, 1868, August 26, 1869 (quotation), JD Papers, UA.

  43. VD to Mary Ann Cobb, January 31, 1869, Cobb Papers, UGA, to Lise Mitchell, April 20, 1869, Mitchell Papers, TU; JD to VD, November 22, 1868 (second quotation), January 27, 1869, to Polly May 10, 1869 (first quotation), to Dudley Mann, April 19, 1869, Polly to JD, April 30, 1869, JD Papers, UA; JD to Cora Ives, April 25, 1869, JD Papers, DU; Sir Henry Holland, Recollections of Past Life (New York, 1872), 191n. (third quotation).

  44. On JD and Scotland, see: Smith to JD, August 7, 1868, JDC, VII, 244; Lord Abinger to JD, July 26, [1869], William Blackwood to JD, July 2, 1869, Mackay to JD, July 19, 1869, JD Papers, MC; JD to VD, July 26, 30 (first quotation), August 2 (third quotation), 9, 11, 17 (final quotation), 22, 26, 1869, to [Polly], August 6, 1869, JD Papers, UA; Memoir, II, 810–11; Mrs. Gerald Porter, Annals of a Publishing House. John Blackwood (Edinburgh and London, 1898), 2000–03 (second quotation 201).

  45. JD to VD, September 25, 1869, and VD to JD, September 27, 1869, JD Papers, UA.

  46. JD to VD, October 11, 15, November 9, 1869, ibid.; JD to Dr. M. Clayton, September 16, 1869 (typescript), JD-Clayton Letters, UM; JD to [Isham Harris], June 23, 1869, Forbes Magazine Collection, New York City; Isham Harris to Joseph Davis, May 27, 1869, Mitchell Papers, TU. On workers’ earnings, consult Harry N. Scheiber et al., American Economic History (9th ed.; New York, 1976), 247 (I am grateful to Paul F. Paskoff for this reference).

  47. J. C. Blackwell et al. to JD, June 9, 1868, JD Papers, MC; R. E. Blackwell to W. L. Fleming, August 17, 1910, Walter L. Fleming Papers, NYPL; JD to Bishop Green, January 5, 1870, Small Collection, Research Center, Houston Public Library; JD to Josiah Gorgas, January 6, 1870 (quotation), Josiah Gorgas Papers, UA; JD to VD, October 11, November 9, December 25, 1869, JD Papers, ibid.

  48. JD to VD, October 11, November 9, n.d. (quotation), 1869, JD Papers, UA; Circular dated November 17, 1869, Avery Family Papers, UNC.

  49. JD to A. M. Clayton, September 16, 1869 (typescript), JD-Clayton Letters, UM; JD to VD, October 15 (first quotation), November 23 (second quotation), [n.d.] (third quotation), 1869, JD Papers, UA.

  50. JD to VD, November 9, 23, December 4, 25, 1869, JD Papers, UA; JD to James M. Mason, June 11, 1870, JD Papers, DU.

  51. JD to Lafayette McLaws, November 19, 1870 (quotation), Lafayette McLaws Papers, UNC; Bragg to JD, December 1, 1869, Braxton Bragg Papers, Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas; JD to “My dear Genl.,” January 26, 1870, Charles H. Collins Collection of Historical Manuscripts, Colorado College; JD to Early, April 16, 1870, John S. Preston to JD, August 4, 1871, JD Papers, DU; William Preston to JD, January 22, 1871, John S. Preston to JD, August 4, 1870, Joseph Wheeler to JD, January 22, 1871, JD Papers, MC; JD to VD, August 1, September 18, October 3, 1872, July 14, 1873, JD Papers, UA; JD to Mary Stamps, August n.d., 1870, Mary Stamps Paper
s, UNC; Sidney Lanier to P. H. Hayne, August 9, 1870, Paul H. Hayne Papers, DU; John S. Preston to JD, January 24, 1871, JDC, VII, 288–89; Memoir, II, 812; Chronology, JD Papers, MC. For the Clays, see note 56 below.

  52. JDC, VII, 281–85 (quotations 281, 282).

  53. JD to VD, November 23, December 4, 1869, March 13, May 17, [summer], 1870, July 27, 1873, JD Papers, UA; JD to Mary Stamps, January 7 (fourth quotation), August n.d., 1870 (second quotation), Stamps Papers, UNC; Corinne [Goodman] to [Virginia Clay], January 23, 1870 (first quotation), and JD to Virginia Clay, November 1, 1871 (third quotation), C. C. Clay Papers, Duke; VD to Robert Garrett, December 2, 1874, Garrett Family Papers, LC.

  54. JD to Lise Mitchell, November 30, December, 1869, January 14, February 14, 19, 1870, Mitchell Papers, TU; Lise Mitchell to JD, February n.d., 1870, Howell Family Papers, MDAH; JD to VD, May 31, 1870, JD Papers, UA; JD to Virginia Clay, March 22, 1870, Clay Papers, DU; Janet Sharp Hermann, Joseph E. Davis: Pioneer Patriarch (Jackson, Miss., 1990), 163.

  55. VD to JD, October 2, December n.d. (her first quotation), 3 (second and third quotations), 28, 1869, February 28, March 4, April 1, June n.d., August 1, 1870, and JD to VD, November 23, [November n.d.], December 25, 1869, January 17, February 26, March 13, May 17, 31, 1870, to [Winnie], June 1, 1870, to Children, June 22, 1870, JD Papers, UA; JD to Lise Mitchell, November 30, 1869 (his quotation), Mitchell Papers, TU.

  56. There are numerous letters from JD to Virginia Clay, mostly from 1870 and 1871, in the Clay Papers, DU. The quotations: January 23, 1870 (first), May 31, 1870 (second and third), May 18, 1870 (fourth, seventh, ninth), February 21, 1870 (fifth), August 15, 1872 (sixth), March 22, 1870 (eighth).

  57. JD to VD, August 1, 1870, JD Papers, UA; JD to Joseph, July 17, August 9, 20, 1870, Mitchell Papers, TU; PHC Chronology.