What Ever Happened to Confederate President Jefferson Davis?

hello I'm Simon Whistler you're watching the today I found our YouTube channel that in the video today we're looking at what happens to Confederate President Jefferson Davis Jefferson Davis was attending a Sunday church service in the capital of the Confederacy Richmond Virginia when he heard the news Union General Ulysses s Grant had broken general robert e lee's defenses in petersburg less than 25 miles from Richmond's by nightfall the evacuation of richmond needed to be completed at approximately midnight confederate cabinet members officials their families and the entire treasury the mythical Confederate goals were finally making their way south to Danville Virginia they did this on the only railroad that was still open this was April the 2nd 1865 one week later on April the 9th General Grant and General Lee met at the apothem Attucks courthouse to sign the Confederacy's official surrender America's Civil War was finally over even with a surrender than the Civil War effectively over the president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis didn't want to admit defeat he set up a temporary government in Danville with his trusted advisors John H Regan Judah P Benjamin John Breckinridge and Burton Harrison among them he did this to try and figure out a way to reinforce their troops and push the fighting further west privately he began making plans to flee abroad to a sympathetic Britain or France in order to create a government in exile its was not to be on the 15th of April President Lincoln was assassinated now President Andrew Johnson was under the false assumption that Davis and his cohorts had been directly involved in the murder of the president Union troops with the US war department's $100,000 bounty about 1.6 million dollars today on Davis motivating them moved towards Danville Davis & Company retreated even further south they ended up in the town of Washington in Wilkes County Georgia on may the 4th Davis held what would be the Confederacy's final cabinet meeting in Washington's state of Georgia Bank building Davis authorized payments from the Treasury to his officials and left the rest in the care of Captain Clark in Washington where it disappeared under mysterious circumstances Davis with his family had been travelling throughout Georgia when they finally made camp in Irwin Ville in central Georgia on May the 9th the next morning they were awoken by gunshots the first Wisconsin and fourth Michigan Cavalry's had caught up to them there are several different interpretations of what happens in those final moments of freedom for Jefferson Davis while attempting to flee the northern Press wrote that he was wearing his wife's shawl and/or petticoat in an attempt to trick his captors he was called cowards and later a popular song of the era was titled Jeff in petticoats Davis's wife insisted backed up by other historical accounts that he was simply wearing a shawl because he had become quite ill over the last few days and she had given it to him to keep him warm either way there was no escape Jefferson Davis officially became a prisoner of the United States government he was transported to Fort Monroe in Virginia where he was held for two years as a military prisoner soldiers watched him 24/7 to ensure he didn't try to escape that he ate and didn't try to commit suicide the country debated how to handle the most famous war criminal from the Civil War at first President Johnson wanted to prosecute Davis as a co-conspirator in the assassination of President Lincoln however as the trial for the true assassination conspirators wound down in late June 1865 it became clear that Jefferson Davis had no direct connection to the parties within a year Davis was transported to much better quarters and his wife was even allowed to move to Fort Monroe to be near him according to the Virginia foundation of humanities Davis respected the way he had been treated by the governments he was afforded certain privileges like visitors exercise and time with his wife that they didn't necessarily have to give him on May the 13th 1867 he was released into civilian custody on $100,000 bail the editor of the New York Tribune Horace Greeley abolitionists Jared Smith and several other prominent northerners paid that bail said Smith on his reasoning for doing this my first reason for signing the bond was that mr. Davis was entitled either to his trial or to his Liberty that the prisoner should have had a speedy trial is a general which no one combats there may have been sufficient reasons for unusual delay in trying mr. Davis hardly however for a delay of two years President Andrew Johnson's own impeachment trial delayed any motions even further additionally there were several issues that the prosecution the US government ran into charging Davis with treason for one the defendant Davis demanded a trial which forced the government to figure out the correct way to prove the unconstitutionality of secession needless to say this was a tough task and the government asked for more time to gather their arguments finally in December 1868 a year and a half after he was released on bail preliminary motions were held for Davis on the charges of treason against the United States for organizing and arming the 1864 military invasions of Maryland and the District of Columbia the defense immediately called for a dismissal of the charges they said that since Davis would already be punished by the 14th amendment he could not be further prosecuted under the double jeopardy provision the 14th amendment had only been passed in July of that year and dealt with a lot of issues in regard to reconstruction but in section 3 it read no person shall be a senator or representative in Congress or elect on Presidents and vice presidents or hold any office civil or military under the United States shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof the case went to the Supreme Court that it was never tried for fear that the Supreme Court would rule in favor of the defense and make the US government's looking competent President Johnson issued a pardon on Christmas Day 1868 to all persons who participated in the rebellion Jefferson Davis was no longer a wanted man Davis and his family travelled to Europe for a time after his release no doubt disillusioned with the whole process of prosecution upon returning he took up residence in Tennessee he kept himself to himself and didn't comment publicly about reconstruction privately according to William Cooper's biography on Davis he thought of african-americans as inferior to white men and presented that the south was ruled by as he put it Yankees and Negro he moved to an estate called Beauvoir near Biloxi Mississippi in fact the state of Mississippi tried to make him a US Senator only for him to be denied due to the previously mentioned amendment as his quiet retirements continued he completed a two-volume book in 1881 about his wartime experiences called the rise and fall of the Confederate government in 1888 his reputation as a Confederate hero restored he said to an audience of supporters in Mississippi lay aside all rank or all bitter sectional feeling and make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wish'd a reunited country on December the 6th 1889 Jefferson Davis passed away in New Orleans Louisiana he was buried there for four years until 1893 when he was relocated to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond Virginia his remains remain there in the same city where his fall began so I really hope you found that video interesting if you did please do hit that thumbs up button below and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already for brand new videos just like this every single day of the week also over there on the right are a couple of other videos that you might enjoy if you enjoyed this one and thank you for watching you

Channel: Today I Found Out

Views: 2,408,460

Rating: 4.9070654 out of 5

Keywords: today i found out, tifovidz12, tifo, awesome, facts, didn't know, jefferson davis, who was jefferson davis, jefferson davis leader, confederate predident, confederate leader, confederate, civil war, us civil war, american civil war, what happened to jefferson david, after the war, end of the civil war, was jefferson davis killed, jefferson davis punishment, jefferson davis executed

Id: 5nHNTQ81QKg

Length: 7min 46sec (466 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 07 2017

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[u/soundofthesun]

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