President Andrew Johnson Pardons a Confederate Cabinet Member
He grants clemency to George A. Trenholm, Jefferson Davis’s Treasury Secretary.
George A. Trenholm was one of the most important men in the Confederacy. From his role as the war's premier operator of blockade runners to his position as Secretary of the Treasury, his actions had more influence on the Confederacy and its ability to fight the war than most generals and politicians.
...George A. Trenholm was one of the most important men in the Confederacy. From his role as the war's premier operator of blockade runners to his position as Secretary of the Treasury, his actions had more influence on the Confederacy and its ability to fight the war than most generals and politicians.
During the war, his firm, Fraser, Trenholm & Co., made significant contributions to the Confederate war effort. It acted as the exclusive overseas banker of the Confederate Government, and financed the supply of armaments, gunpowder and other essential goods in return for cotton, tobacco, and turpentine. The company also participated in blockade running, had vessels built for the Confederate Navy (such as the C.S.S. Alabama), assisted in the floating of Confederate loans, and encouraged support in Europe for the South. By war's end, the organization controlled over sixty large steamers and numerous sailing ships which operated out of Charleston, Savannah and Wilmington. Trenholm's successful blockade running ventures made him both wealthy and powerful. On July 18, 1864, he replaced Christopher G. Memminger as Secretary of the Treasury in President Davis’s Cabinet. As skilled as he was with money, Trenholm couldn't rescue the Confederate economy. After the fall of Richmond, he took flight southward with the rest of the Cabinet, but in ill health, was unable to continue running. He resigned with the approval of the President on April 27, 1865, but was captured by Union troops and imprisoned at Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Georgia.
Trenholm and some other imprisoned members of the Confederate Cabinet petitioned President Andrew Johnson for pardons. Johnson was cautious about granting pardons to the senior Confederate leadership and would not act quickly; the pardons were withheld. However, he did allow the applicants to be released from prison. On October 11, 1865, he issued an order providing: “Whereas the following-named persons, to wit, John A. Campbell, of Alabama; John H. Reagan, of Texas; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia; George A. Trenholm, of South Carolina, and Charles Clark, of Mississippi, lately engaged in rebellion against the United States Government, who are now in close custody, have made their submission to the authority of the United States and applied to the President for pardon under his proclamation; and Whereas the authority of the Federal Government is sufficiently restored in the aforesaid States to admit of the enlargement of said persons from close custody: It is ordered that they be released on giving their respective paroles to appear at such time and place as the President may designate to answer any charge that he may direct to be preferred against them, and also that they will respectively abide until further orders in the places herein designated, and not depart therefrom…”
A year went by and Trenholm sent President Johnson letters urging clemency signed by Union General Daniel Sickles and many others. His pastor even went to Washington to plead the case. On October 25, 1866, Johnson gave in and issued the pardon, and to make it official, executed the following document.
Document Signed as President, Washington, October 25, 1866. “I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to a warrant for the pardon of George A. Trenholm…” Trenholm family tradition holds that President Johnson signed the pardon because he remembered that he had written a personal check for $1,000 to George Trenholm as treasurer and sponsor of a school for children of all races being set up in Charleston. Since Jefferson Davis, Judah Benjamin, Robert Toombs and other high-ranking officials of the Confederate Government never applied for pardons, after the one given to Vice President Stephens, Trenholm’s pardon would have been one of the senior ones ever issued by Johnson. This is the only pardon warrant for a Confederate Cabinet member that we have ever seen on the market, nor did a search of auction records for the last 30 years disclose any having been offered.
After being pardoned and having most all of his earnings and property confiscated by the Federal Government, Trenholm returned to his native Charleston. He became involved in charity work, aiding churches, hospitals, schools and orphanages. Margaret Mitchell's character of Rhett Butler in Gone With The Wind is believed to have been inspired by Trenholm and his life.

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