In Defeat, a Defiant Jefferson Davis Writes of the Confederacy That, “the cause for which we struggled was the community, liberty, and constitutional government our fathers left us”

The letter was published in an 1898 issue of “The Confederate Veteran”, but was lost and not known to be published since

After Jefferson Davis was captured in May 1865 he was taken to Fort Monroe and placed in irons. The irons were removed but he was confined for some time in an unheated, open casemate. A month later, his first indictment for treason was handed down. He was not afforded a trial, however, as the result of jurisdictional questions. Davis remained the most hated man in the North and pressure to try him continued. In May 1866, he was again indicted for treason and his lawyers urged that the trial be held without delay; but the government declined to proceed on the indictment, citing the importance of the trial and the necessity of preparation for it. The judge refused to admit the prisoner to bail. Months passed and still the trial did not proceed. By 1867, however, many northerners openly questioned the wisdom of trying Davis, arguing that to bring to trial the head of the late Confederate States would reopen the whole subject of the constitutionality of secession. If Davis should be acquitted, the Confederate cause would appear to have been justified. Holding the ill Davis in prison was likewise being seen as a risk, as if he died in captivity there would be undesired repercussions. So in May 1867 Davis was admitted to bail, Horace Greeley and Cornelius Vanderbilt being among those signing the bail bond. He and his family went straight to Montreal and then on to Europe. In December 1868 the U.S. court rejected a motion to nullify the indictment against him, but the prosecution dropped the case in February 1869. That September, Davis returned to the U.S. and became president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company in Memphis, Tennessee. He held that position until 1873.

The North had fought for the preservation of the Union and the abolition of the abomination of slavery; their victory had in a sense proven the justness of the Northern cause. But though the war was over and the cause lost, the price in suffering and treasure that they paid made the question of the legitimacy of the Confederacy paramount to Southerners. They claimed the mantle of the U.S. Constitution and the legacy of American Revolution.

In fact many Southerners continued to believe that their cause was just and marked the true American path. It is remarkable that 6 years after the end of the war, and only 2 years after his own case was dropped, the former President of the Confederacy would write in such stark terms of the oppression of the North and the truth that the Confederate effort was the right one.

Autograph letter signed, Memphis, Tenn., February 23, 1871, to Mr. J. Dean Esq. “My dear sir, I hope you have not attributed the long delay of this reply to your kind letter to indifference on my part.

“Your expressions of continued affection were most gratifying to me. It has seldom been the fate of a man overwhelmed by misfortune to be cheered and sustained by such true and generous friendship as it has been my fortune to enjoy. A less noble people than our own would in the depth of this desolation have turned upon their leaders with reproaches instead of affectionate consolation. To me, it has been the greatest comfort, has made me more proud of those I served faithfully, and makes me humbly wish I were more worthy of such lasting regard.

“I feel as you do that the cause for which we struggled was the community, liberty, and constitutional government our fathers left us; and that I would transmit to my children and their descendants the evidences of our struggle to uphold the principles for which the American Revolution was fought; hopeful that truth and justice may yet prevail, as well by their intrinsic force as by the purifying and stimulating influences of the traditions of Americans conflicts with tyranny and usurpation.

“With best wishes for you and yours. I am truly your friend, Jefferson Davis.” We obtained this from a descendant of the recipient. It has been professionally restored.

This is one of the most revelatory and instructive letters we have seen on Davis’s mindset, and self-justification, after the the Confederate defeat.