Letter by Gen. Nelson Miles reporting on prisoner Jefferson Davis, August 22, 1865

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Letter from Nelson Miles re Jefferson Davis RG810.pdf (113.43 KB)

Date

2023-01-13

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Cameron, Chantal

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Abstract

A letter from Gen. Nelson A. Miles, in command of Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia, to an unnamed General. The letter was likely addressed to Assistant Adjutant General Edward D. Townsend. The letter is dated at Fort Monroe, August 22, 1865 and concerns the condition of prisoner Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States. The letter also refers to Clement Clay, a Confederate spy who lived in St. Catharines for a time during the American Civil War. The text of the letter follows:

“I have the honor to state that the prisoner ‘Davis’ is feeling quite comfortable this morning, complaining a little however of erysipelas in the face and a carbuncle on his leg. I also enclose a communication from [Clement] Clay to the ‘Sec of War’ together with a letter to his wife which he desires, forwarded. In regard to the Sentinels, when they were taken out of his room he said they did not disturb or waken him, lately they have been required to make as little noise as possible and not to walk around in the room. I do not think it possible for him to escape, even if the sentinels are taken out of the front room, he will still be under two locks, aside from the Guard in front of his cell.”

Description

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was an American soldier, plantation owner, and politician. He served as the American Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce. Davis then served in the U.S. Senate representing Mississippi. At this time tensions between the North and the South were high, and Davis joined the “Committee of Thirteen” in an effort to find a compromise and avoid war. However, Mississippi left the Union and Davis resigned in January 1861. The following month he was elected President of the Confederate States. He remained in this position during the American Civil War. In 1865 Davis was captured by Union troops. He was indicted for treason and sent to prison for two years. Clement Claiborne Clay (1816-1882) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the Confederate Congress during the Civil War. Jefferson Davis sent Clay to Canada to work as an agent in an attempt to undermine the Union. In 1864 he was living in St. Catharines. His work in Canada proved to be unsuccessful and he left to return to the United States several months later. He was later implicated in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and decided to surrender to the authorities, hoping that this would help prove his innocence. He was imprisoned at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, with Jefferson Davis. Both men were released from prison in 1866 or 1867.

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Jefferson Davis, Clement Claiborne Clay, United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865

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http://hdl.handle.net/10464/17188

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CC0 1.0 Universal
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