Apr 08, 2014 - Sale 2344

Sale 2344 - Lot 269

Price Realized: $ 6,656
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
(VIRGINIA.) Travel diary describing Jefferson Davis's day in court in Richmond, and his release from prison. 83 manuscript pages. 12mo, contemporary calf, minor wear; minimal wear to contents. Vp, 1867-71
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This diary includes a long description of Jefferson Davis's only day in court. After a two-year imprisonment on charges of treason, Davis was finally allowed to appear for a bail hearing at a federal court in Richmond, VA on 13 May 1867. There was little sentiment in favor of a long trial at this point. Even many who had been rabid abolitionists were arguing for the dismissal of the case, to allow the war-torn nation to heal. When Davis was brought to court, he was by prior arrangement offered his freedom on $200,000 bail, which was promptly posted by a group of wealthy ex-Confederates and northern Republicans including Horace Greeley, pending a later trial which never came; Davis was formally pardoned in 1869.
The author of the diary was an English tourist who happened to be staying with friends of friends in Richmond that week, from 10 to 16 May (pages 15-33). Their host was William Orgain Allan (1829-1875), who had served as a major in the Confederacy and was renowned as the wealthiest man in Virginia; the Allans had a permanent houseguest named Wilson who had lost a leg in the war. The diarist seemed generally sympathetic to the Confederate cause, although she found that Allan was "like all other Americans, especially planters, given to no end of mint juleps." The afternoon before the court appearance, Allan came home drunk after "a most profitable Sunday afternoon horseracing in company with the gentlemen who were looking after, or supposed to be looking after, Mr. Davis, and who were of course officers in the Federal service, Mr. Allan all the time hating the Federals, although he did call on General Schofield." Allan was "very pleasant and amusing, still he began to smoke under Ica's nose, and talked rather thick, much to his poor wife's disgust . . . but the extreme excitement and lowness of spirits which pervaded all the intimate friends of the President was the cause of all the extra amount of mints that were consumed that day by not a few in Richmond" (page 24).
Allan had a ticket to the Jefferson Davis court appearance, but said "any of the Confederate officers who had served under Mr. Davis were advised not to go, for fear it might look like a demonstration." Thus the ticket was bestowed upon his guest. They were seated just behind Davis, who "looked much older than his portraits made him out; his hair was nearly white, and he wore a beard. . . . The fact that several wealthy men from the North came down willing to bail him out in any amount proves that they are anxious to show their appreciation of such a great man, and to curry favour also with the south." Afterwards the diarist shook hands with Davis, who "was then much brighter, and looked very happy at the idea of being free, though he was so weak from his long imprisonment that he had always to sit down. . . . As the President was walking out, a burst of applause and cheering rose from the crowds who had assembled outside."
The author of this intriguing diary is unknown. It was apparently written by an English woman on a long trip to Canada and the United States. Discussed in this diary are stops in Boston, Washington, Richmond, Baltimore, New York, and Ottawa from May to July 1867. Later entries describe visits to Guernsey in 1870 and Brittany in 1871. The Richmond entries are the most extensive and significant.