Civil War History - Secession and PoliticsWas it Slavery, or was it States Rights? Perhaps it was the election of Lincoln? What were the real reasons for Southern Secession and what were the political issues in this time of war? Find your answers here in the Secession and Politics Disussion.
From Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, Chapter LXIX
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Wilson’s raid resulted in the capture of the fugitive president of the defunct confederacy before he got out of the country. This occurred at Irwinsville, Georgia, on the 11th of May. For myself, and I believe Mr. Lincoln shared the feeling, I would have been very glad to have seen Mr. Davis succeed in escaping, but for one reason: I feared that if not captured, he might get into the trans-Mississippi region and there set up a more contracted confederacy. The young men now out of homes and out of employment might have rallied under his standard and protracted the war yet another year. The Northern people were tired of the war, they were tired of piling up a debt which would be a further mortgage upon their homes.
Mr. Lincoln, I believe, wanted Mr. Davis to escape, because he did not wish to deal with the matter of his punishment. He knew there would be people clamoring for the punishment of the ex-Confederate president, for high treason. He thought blood enough had already been spilled to atone for our wickedness as a nation. At all events he did not wish to be the judge to decide whether more should be shed or not. But his own life was sacrificed at the hands of an assassin before the ex-president of the Confederacy was a prisoner in the hands of the government which he had lent all his talent and all his energies to destroy.
All things are said to be wisely directed, and for the best interest of all concerned. This reflection does not, however, abate in the slightest our sense of bereavement in the untimely loss of so good and great a man as Abraham Lincoln.
He would have proven the best friend the South could have had, and saved much of the wrangling and bitterness of feeling brought out by reconstruction under a President who at first wished to revenge himself upon Southern men of better social standing than himself, but who still sought their recognition, and in a short time conceived the idea and advanced the proposition to become their Moses to lead them triumphantly out of all their difficulties.
The story of the legislation enacted during the reconstruction period to stay the hands of the President is too fresh in the minds of the people to be told now. Much of it, no doubt, was unconstitutional; but it was hoped that the laws enacted would serve their purpose before the question of constitutionality could be submitted to the judiciary and a decision obtained. These laws did serve their purpose, and now remain “a dead letter” upon the statute books of the United States, no one taking interest enough in them to give them a passing thought.
Much was said at the time about the garb Mr. Davis was wearing when he was captured. I cannot settle this question from personal knowledge of the facts; but I have been under the belief, from information given to me by General Wilson shortly after the event, that when Mr. Davis learned that he was surrounded by our cavalry he was in his tent dressed in a gentleman’s dressing gown. Naturally enough, Mr. Davis wanted to escape, and would not reflect much how this should be accomplished provided it might be done successfully. If captured, he would be no ordinary prisoner. He represented all there was of that hostility to the government which had caused four years of the bloodiest war—and the most costly in other respects of which history makes any record. Every one supposed he would be tried for treason if captured, and that he would be executed. Had he succeeded in making his escape in any disguise it would have been adjudged a good thing afterwards by his admirers.
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Any comments?
Tim
__________________ "Let us, then, consider all attempts to weaken this Union, by maintaining that each state is separately and individually independent, as a species of political heresy, which can never benefit us, but may bring on us the most serious distresses."
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, 1740-1824, Revolutionary War soldier, one of the authors of the US Constitution in 1787, speaking at the South Carolina Ratifying Convention in 1788.
Grant's memoirs are essential reading on the Civil War. They are only matched on the Confederate side, by Porter Alexander's book.
In this passage, Grant is correct in thinking that Lincoln wanted Davis to escape. Lincoln said so himself. He is also correct is his assessment of Andrew Johnson as well IMO.
As far as Davis's garb when captured, Grant again shows one of his more attractive qualities, his dislike of humiliating other people.
Grant's memoirs are essential reading on the Civil War. They are only matched on the Confederate side, by Porter Alexander's book.
In this passage, Grant is correct in thinking that Lincoln wanted Davis to escape. Lincoln said so himself. He is also correct is his assessment of Andrew Johnson as well IMO.
As far as Davis's garb when captured, Grant again shows one of his more attractive qualities, his dislike of humiliating other people.
How long, O Lord, will the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
If any of you gets to the MOC before the LEFT dismantles it, and scatters it to the four winds, the suit of clothes Davis was wearing when captured are displayed....
They are indeed quite male, and handsome clothes. A grey suit.
He was wearing a waterproof ragland, and a shawl, which may have been his wife's he picked up (or she threw about him) by mistake. It was early, dark, and it was foggy and cold... And they were living in a freaking tent.
Ask any reenactor how hard it is to find your... clothes... early in the morning in a tent! In the dim light.
Grant speaks well, but off-base. Lincoln wanted to let the
WHIG (Left Wing) South up easy, and control Southern patronage through the executive office, by reuniting Cottom Whigs and Conscience Whigs, which had been separated in the 1850's... due to slavery.
If the South comes back in as captured provinces, instead of states, Lincoln's former party of radicals in Congress get to control patronage and Sumner and Stevens get to decide
the rules for forced repatriation of these states...
And they get to decide the patronage, and the graft and corruption...
Which, after Lincoln was 'mysteriously' shot dead, they did get to do!
The majority of soldiers in the CW were not living in tents, especially not CS soldiers. A tent was a luxury.
I suppose there is a difference between a soldier who is used to living and surviving in the dark of night on campaign and a politician who isn't. Almost as much difference between a re-enactor and a soldier in the field circa 1865.
I'm sure the those Cav boys were quite amused to see Davis in his wife's shawl. Besides "Jeff Davis in a Dress" is a "catchy" tune.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
The majority of soldiers in the CW were not living in tents, especially not CS soldiers. A tent was a luxury.
I suppose there is a difference between a soldier who is used to living and surviving in the dark of night on campaign and a politician who isn't. Almost as much difference between a re-enactor and a soldier in the field circa 1865.
I'm sure the those Cav boys were quite amused to see Davis in his wife's shawl. Besides "Jeff Davis in a Dress" is a "catchy" tune.
Tell me again what Lincoln was wearing when he slithered into Washington City, to keep from being known as who and what, he was, and represented?
I think this bit of irony was what the easily-amused Yanks so enjoyed this retribution for...
Tell me again what Lincoln was wearing when he slithered into Washington City, to keep from being known as who and what, he was, and represented?
According to David Herbert Donald in his biography of Lincoln, as well as Maury Klein in his book 'Days of Defiance', Lincoln was wearing a brown felt Kossuth hat.
Donald also says Lincoln wore his long overcoat loosely over his shoulders without his arms in his sleeves to conceal his identity because of a rumor of assassination. He reluctantly did this at the behest of several of his advisors, not the least of whom were Allan Pinkerton and Ward Lamon.
Lincoln was criticized unmercilessly for "sneaking" into Washington DC., and cartoons with variations on his dress were common. It fit with the idea that Lincoln was uncouth, and not a gentleman. At a time when he was trying uphold the authority of the federal government, it was a political blunder, and a contrast to the indifference to his personal security he demonstrated for the rest of his presidency.
So Jefferson Davis's behavior at his capture becomes a comic bookend, with Davis satirized trying to escape in woman's garb, fitting with the idea that the aristocratic Davis and his aristocratic South had abandoned their dignity in the scramble for safety.
It is of course, both un true and unfair to Davis, as Grant himself notes.
It does however fit with the narrative that Davis seemed to have every quality to be a great national leader(the man and the hour have met), but would be whittled down by his carping critics and the ordeal of war, while the much mocked Lincoln would grow in stature and dignity to overshadow his rival.
The majority of soldiers in the CW were not living in tents, especially not CS soldiers. A tent was a luxury.
I suppose there is a difference between a soldier who is used to living and surviving in the dark of night on campaign and a politician who isn't. Almost as much difference between a re-enactor and a soldier in the field circa 1865.
I'm sure the those Cav boys were quite amused to see Davis in his wife's shawl. Besides "Jeff Davis in a Dress" is a "catchy" tune.
...and there was an actual skirmish (with killed and wounded) between Federal cavalry units over the capture of Davis.
Who ended up with the prize money?
__________________ POWER & MONEY
"Your New-York bankers and merchants are shrewd people, but I never gave them credit for so much sagacity as when they took the Government Loan. It was not merely patriotism, it was a high stroke of policy. It has saved the Government, and what they will regard as equally important, saved them from a great financial disaster."
Does it matter? That prize money, or the promise of it kept Davis alive.
__________________ Few take the trouble to understand or to view the American scene with perspective. And we Americans love to find ourselves guilty of something. However, it is never I who am guilty, but those other Americans, the past or present government or the other political party. Americans almost never find other countries guilty. It is always ourselves or our fancied influence in other countries. Louis L'amour
According to David Herbert Donald in his biography of Lincoln, as well as Maury Klein in his book 'Days of Defiance', Lincoln was wearing a brown felt Kossuth hat.
Donald also says Lincoln wore his long overcoat loosely over his shoulders without his arms in his sleeves to conceal his identity because of a rumor of assassination. He reluctantly did this at the behest of several of his advisors, not the least of whom were Allan Pinkerton and Ward Lamon.
So what's the issue? Sounds reasonable to me.
Good choice for a disguise! I'd have never known him in that!
Of course it sounds reasonable to you; you have been taught to love this man. We all have.... But think about it HE IS BEING ASKED TO SNEAK INTO OFFICE...
Because he is a dangerous candidate who may get assassinated... and he isn't even in the White House, yet...
This mandatory adulation had not yet occurred, and there were many who felt that he would destroy the country. It's just a good thing the South lost, and can all blame them with the incumbent loses... and tragedy.
So we can enjoy Lincoln and his Temple...
Thanks also go out to the Institution of Slavery, for a wonderful buzz word.
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Grant on the capture of Davis 
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