Jefferson Davis Refused to Surrender. So the Cavalry Hunted Him.

Jefferson Davis Refused to Surrender. So the Cavalry Hunted Him. — America at War, Episode 4 Lee surrendered. Johnston surrendered. Jefferson Davis did not. For five weeks in the spring of 1865 the Confederate president moved south by train, horse and wagon, still trying to keep a government alive, with a $100,000 reward on his head. This is the story of his flight, the dawn raid near Irwinville, Georgia, the legend of the petticoat, two years in a casemate at Fortress Monroe, and the trial for treason that never happened. Last episode: why Grant turned against Andrew Johnson. Next episode: the other Booth. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold open: the camp near Irwinville 0:59 Previously on America at War 1:35 Part One: The Last Train 2:27 Who Jefferson Davis was 3:28 Richmond burns 4:07 The Danville proclamation 5:18 Part Two: A Government on the Road 5:40 Johnston and Beauregard 6:37 A $100,000 reward 8:18 The last council of war 9:27 Part Three: The Hunt 10:52 Before dawn, May 10 12:10 The petticoat legend 12:41 To Fortress Monroe 13:10 Part Four: The Prisoner 14:12 Indicted, never tried 14:58 Released on bail 16:21 Beauvoir and the Lost Cause 17:23 Why he never surrendered ARCHIVAL IMAGES 48 public-domain images from the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, each credited on screen. Photographers and artists: Thomas Nast, Currier & Ives, Alexander Gardner, Henry F. Warren, Mathew Brady, Brady studio, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Tanner & Van Ness, William Sartain, Silsbee, Case & Co., Geo. Schlegel, Edward L. Wilson, R. E. Hinchey, Andrew J. Russell, John Reekie, James S. Baillie, Alfred R. Waud, Mathew Brady studio, Charles D. Fredricks & Co., Alexander Hay Ritchie. Maps: drawn for this episode from public-domain U.S. state boundary data (us-atlas). Routes and dates are approximate. Narration voiced with ElevenLabs. Original score and sound design created for this episode. Quotations are from the participants' own letters, proclamations and speeches, attributed on screen. Where the story rests on one account, it is labelled as such. CORRECTIONS • 12:41 After his capture, Davis went by train from Macon to Augusta, then by river tug to Port Royal, where he boarded the William P. Clyde (the narration says "by train to Savannah"). • 16:21 In 1876, James G. Blaine fought to keep Davis out of an amnesty bill, and the bill failed; there was no separate vote excluding him. SOURCES CONSULTED • The Papers of Jefferson Davis (Rice University) — chronology of the flight and imprisonment • Jefferson Davis, proclamation from Danville, April 4, 1865 • Andrew Johnson, proclamation of May 2, 1865 (rewards for Davis and others) • Federal Judicial Center — United States v. Jefferson Davis • New Georgia Encyclopedia — the capture of Jefferson Davis • Wisconsin Historical Society — the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan Cavalry at Irwinville • Dickinson College, House Divided Project — accounts of the capture • National Archives, U.S. Senate Historical Office and NMAAHC — Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment and the restoration of Davis's citizenship #JeffersonDavis #CivilWar #Confederacy #History #AmericaAtWar #BrotherAndEnemy