Did Jeferson Davis Commit Treason?

A story line in the  Wednesday, October 18, 1978 Montgomery Advertiser reads "Carter restores rights of citizenship to Davis".  The story goes on to say that President Carter restored citizenship rights posthumously on Tuesday, October 17, to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and declared "post-Civil War reconciliation is finally complete".

  Here is what Holmes Alexander, November 23, 1978 wrote in the Montgomery Independent."Treason against the United States", says the Constitution, Article 3, Section 3 "shall consist only in levying war against them..."

So the treason clause in the constitution, and nowhere else refers to the "more perfect Union" in the plural, as if the compact by the states was nothing more than a loose"organization" like the United Nations, through which member-states come and go at will. This was Davis' reason for believing that secession was no crime, according to Holmes Alexander.

So when President Andrew Johnson, no friend of Davis', offered him a pardon, Davis did something amazing. He proudly declined on the grounds that he had done nothing wrong in being a political leader in the War of Secession.

If that is true, according to Holmes Alexander, Carter in bestowing the Pardon, was not so much forgiving a sinner, but acknowledging another American President - number 40 - who survived shabby treatment as a Union prisoner, but never lost "The Iron Will of Jefferson Davis" (the title of Cass Canfield's biography.)

Maybe we need to learn more about treason. In the immediate postwar years, the New Yorker sent Rebecca West around the world to cover treason trials. She expanded her discoveries into a book "The New Meaning of Treason".She begins by admitting there is a case for the "traitor". She speaks of the relation between a man and his fatherland. Most interesting, don't you think?

Standing Like A "Stone Wall"

An email from a friend today reminded me of our recent trip to the Battle of Bull Run (or Manassas).There I was so moved with emotion when I saw the stature of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson on his horse "Little Sorrel". The statue stands where, during the heat of the battle, Jackson reportedly had stood like a stone wall,  and received the nickname that would follow him the rest of his life.

I walked over to it and put my hand on the horse and said to the General, "why did you have to die when the Confederate army needed you so badly"? I have always admired this man so much, because he seemed to be a Christian who tried to live up  the faith he professed.

Here are a few of his quotes which I took from Wikepeidea:

"Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible maneuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible."

—Jackson to General Imboden
"To move swiftly, strike vigorously, and secure all the fruits of victory, is the secret of successful war."

—Jackson, 1863
"The only true rule for cavalry is to follow the enemy as long as he retreats."

—Jackson to Colonel Munford on June 13, 1862
"War means fighting. The business of the soldier is to fight. Armies are not called out to dig trenches, to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time. This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance, and so would be an economy of life and property in the end."

—and Jackson (his last words)
"Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees."

There are a number of good biographies about his life and I think it is a life worth reading about and remembering, such as
Stonewall Jackson by James Robertson or Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War by Henderson.

Do you have a favorite? If so, let us know with a comment and thank you all who have commented on our blogs so much. We appreciate it!

Is Everyone In The South "Kin" Or Just "Connected"?

On the Greene County Daily World Blog today I was reminded again of the connection between George Washington and Robert E. Lee. Here is how it goes in a nutshell. First of all, Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, a wealthy widow,  after her husband, Daniel Custis died.

George and Martha raised her two surviving children, John "Jacky" Parke Custis and Martha "Patsy" Parke Custis. she was a beautiful girl, adored by her stepfather. Sadly, Patsy died, unmarried, at age 17.

Jacky, Martha's son became a wealthy man at an early age, thanks to a large inheritance from his biological father. Jacky married, and he and his wife had four children.

According to the  blog, even though Jacky was rather a scoundrel, Washington took him on as his aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War. Jacky died of dysentery at Yorktown. After he died his  widow remarried and took her two oldest children with her.She left the youngest two at Mount Vernon with Martha and George.

They were Eleanor "Nelly" Custis and her brother George "Wash" Washington Parke Custis. Nelly lived to be 73 and had seven children, only 3 of whom lived past the age of two.

 Wash graduated from Princeton and became a very successful businessman. He built a beautiful home on Arlington Heights and had four children, Mary Anne Randolph Custis, his only child to survive infancy married Robert E. Lee. The Lee's former home, Arlington House, which he lost to the Union when he decided to fight for the Confederacy, sits upon a hill overlooking Arlington national Cemetery. I visited it once upon a time back when I was a child.



 

Alabama Civil War Trails

There are so many places to visit if you take an Alabama Civil War Trail Tour. Alphabetically first there is the Admiral Raphael Semmes House in Mobile. He was a Captain in the Confederate Navy and had command of the C.S.S. Alabama. The Alabama cruised for nearly 75,000 miles and captured 65 union vessels. The great ship was sunk off the coast of Cherbourg, France on June 2, 1864. The Semmes House is open by appointment only.

Next  on the list is the Alabama Department of Archives and History which is located in Montgomery, next to the First White House. It is a repository for exhaustive research and reference materials on the Civil War and has an outstanding collection of Confederate flags.

Across the street from the Archives and the FWH is the Alabama State Capitol where Jefferson Davis was sworn in as Provisional President of the Confederate States of America on Feb. 18, 1861. There is a star on the Capitol steps that marks the inauguration spot. I have stood there - have you?

Next is the Arlington Antebellum Home, where Union troops planned their 1865 attack on Tuscaloosa. This site is in Elyton (Birmingham). And the last of the A's is Athens, the city of, which was burned and looted by Union  troops in May 1862.

Next time we will start with the B's and continue on. I had no idea there were so many Civil War sites in Alabama, did you?[

H.L.Hunley - A Real Mystery Story

Don't you love unsolved mysteries?  I mentioned in my last blog about the mystery as to whether LaFayette really slept in the bed later acquired by a Mr. Arthur Cook and donated to the First White House.

The Hunley submarine provides a mystery for sure. The Hunley was built in Mobile Alabama and then shipped to Charleston, SC. It was the Confederacy's secret weapon, and the first submarine to sink an enemy warship.

The Confederacy lost 21 crewmen in three sinkings of the Hunley in her short career. It was lost under the sea for 130 years. In 2000 the wreck was successfully recovered. Inside were the remains of her doomed third crew.

On April 17, 2004 the DNA-identified remains of the eight Hunley crew were interred in Charleston magnolia Cemetery with full military honors. But the mystery remains - what sank the Hunley?

We would love to hear your comments about this or any of our blogs. Maybe you have been to the museum in Charleston to see it. Thousands of reenactors and others were on hand for the burial of the crew members.

If you don't want to comment there are boxes you can check  that say  funny, interesting or surprising. Feel free to check a box any time for any of our blogs.

LaFayette Slept Here...Well, At Least In This Bed!

Yesterday we spoke about the Crazy Quilt that is on "The LaFayette Bed" in Mrs. Davis's bedroom at the First White House.

Today as promised I want to tell you about the bed. It is reported that it was slept in by Gen. LaFayette at a place called the Tavern in Worthington, Mass., on 13th June, 1825. Gen. LaFayette, then on his triumphant return tour of the United States was en route from Albany New York to Boston, Mass. where he was to dedicate the Bunker Hill Monument.

The bed was purchased by Mr. Arthur Cook of Montgomery who gave it to the First White House, and it was accompanied by affidavits attesting as to its historic authenticity. Our appraiser however believes that it is later than LaFayette's visit in 1825. It may have come from the bedroom which LaFayette occupied, but this being the bed in which he slept is doubtful. Another unsolved mystery!!!

What Is A Crazy Quilt?

 On Mrs. Davis's mahogany tester bed  in the First White House of the Confederacy is a Crazy Quilt, prompting the question: "what is a Crazy Quilt?" Well, gentle readers, let me tell you...

The Crazy Quilt was a late 19th century type quilt originating with the Centennial in Philadelphia in 1876, so it actually has no Civil War/Confederate Association. That being true, your next question should be " why is it in the First White House of the Confederacy"?

 The answer to this one is because it is a type with which Mrs. Davis would have been familiar in her later years. Crazy Quilts, such as this, were made of scraps of  fine silks and velvets, (in this case from neckties), and put together with nearly every stitch known to the skilled needlewoman.

Such quilts became textbook examples of the craft. They continued to be popular well into the twentieth century. The quilt in question is used as a coverlet on the "Lafayette" bed, which I will write about in my next blog.

The Quilt was donated by Mrs. Lela Legare, a descendant of the Glover family of Rosemount Plantation in Greene County, Alabama. Crazy Quilts are highly collectible on the modern antiques market. We have at least two others in the White House. Come and see if you can find them!!!