He saw in those years the muster rolls of the United States bear the names of three millions of men; while the muster-rolls of the Confederate army bore scant 600,000 names." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) While there were many victories in the battlefields against terrible odds, it is stated that "the end came on the 9th day of April 1865. The surrender of General Lee was followed by that of other commanders in the field, and the government of the Confederate States became a memory. Jefferson Davis was captured, hurried to Fortress Monroe, and there manacled like a common, vulgar ruffian." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) it is related that President Johnson had posted a reward of $100,000 for the capture of Jefferson Davis who had been accused of being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln. Davis writes his account of this occasion that he surrendered peaceably but Davis states that Colonel Pritchard claimed credit for his capture speaking of the "forbearance shown by his men in not shooting me when I refused to surrender." (Davis, 1890) When Davis was captured, he was placed in shackles of iron and taken to prison where he remained for almost two years.
DAVIS: THE LAST YEARS
The trial of Jefferson Davis for the crimes he was accused of never culminated. Davis is stated after this to have "gone quietly about his business, attending to his planting affairs, reading his favorite authors, enjoy the society of his friends, conscious that he possessed the respect and the confidence of every brave man and virtuous woman in the entire South." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) in early December, 1889, Jefferson Davis became critically ill while in the City of New Orleans. It is stated that the people of the South "were saddened by the intelligence....[and that they]"...watched the dispatches of the morning and evening journals with the deepest and most painful interest, until the end came at 12:45 in the morning of the 6th of December, 1889, and then every house in the South was covered with the pall of sorrow." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) Jefferson Davis was laid in state for three days and estimates given are that in those three days that approximately one hundred thousand "passed the bier to take a last look at those beloved features." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) Jefferson Davis...
Officiating at the funeral were "...the Episcopal Bishops of Mississippi and Louisiana, Right Reverend and Hugh Miller Thompson, and Right Revered John N. Gallaher, Bishop of Louisiana assisted by Reverend Thomas R. Markham, D.D. A native of Mississippi, in charge of a Presbyterian church in New Orleans and a number of other clerical gentlemen." (Lowry and McGardle, 1891) Reverend Gallaher states in a tribute following the funeral of Jefferson Davis that: "...this man as a Christian and as a churchman was a lover of all high and righteous things; as a citizen, was fashioned in the old, faithful type; as a soldier, was marked and fitted for more than fame, the Lord God having set on him the seal of a pure knighthood; as a statesman, he was the peer of the princes in that realm; and as a patriot, through every day of his illustrious life, was an incorruptible and impassioned defender of the liberties of men. Gracious and gentle, even to the lowliest-nay, especially to them - tender as he was brave, he deserved to win all the love that followed. Fearless and selfish, he could not well escape the long conflicts to which he was committed. " (Lowry and McGardle, 1891)
Bibliography
Davis, Jefferson (1890) a Short History of the Confederate States of America. Belford Company Publishers 1890 New York.
Alward, Mary M. (nd) Interesting Facts About Jefferson Davis. Suite 101 Online available at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/114335
Lowry, Robert and McGardle, William H. (1891) a History of Mississippi From the Discovery of the Great River, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. 1891 R.H. Henry & Co. Jackson, Mississippi.
Alward, Mary M. (nd) Interesting Facts About Jefferson Davis. Suite 101 Online available at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/history_for_children/114335
Davis, Jefferson (1890) a Short History of the Confederate States of America. Belford Company Publishers 1890 New York.
Lowry, Robert and McGardle, William H. (1891) a History of Mississippi From the Discovery of the Great River, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French, to the Death of…
