Shop

Capture of Jefferson Davis Collection

[DAVIS, JEFFERSON].

Capture of Jefferson Davis Collection.

: .

Fine collection of pieces related to the capture of Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia on May 10, 1865. The collection includes an original carte-de-visite of Davis’s captor, Colonel B.J. Pritchard; a calling card signed by Pritchard; a cabinet card of “The Only Photo in the Word of the Exact Spot where Hon. Jefferson Davis, President of Confederacy, was captured May 10th, 1865, by Fourth Michigan Cavalry, near Irwinville, Irwin county, Ga. Taken and copyrighted December 31st 1894, by J.H. Harris, Tifton, Berrien county, Ga.”; a first edition of Edwin M. Stanton’s Letter of the Secretary of War, Communicating, In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 26th instant, the report of Major General J.H. Wilson on the capture of Jefferson Davis. [Washington, DC] Jan. 31, 1867; and a printing of John Fox’s The Capture of Jefferson Davis [Publ. by author, 1964]. Benjamin Dudley Pritchard (1835-1907) was a lawyer before the Civil War. He enlisted in the 4th Michigan Cavalry in July 1862 as a 27-year-old Captain at Allegan, MI. He was promoted to Lieut. Colonel in late 1864 after the Battle of Chickamauga, and awarded a Brigadier Generalcy by brevet in March 1865. He became a national hero when he captured Jefferson Davis on May 10, but he declined to run for state or federal office in spite of appeals for him to do so. In near fine to fine condition. A unique collection.

Price: $2,000.00     Item Number: 132583