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Lot 344
Jefferson Davis Writes Fellow Southerner Who Had Been Exiled in Canada with Him
Description:

Jefferson Davis Writes Fellow Southerner Who Had Been Exiled in Canada with Him

In this letter from Beauvoir, to Henry Stotesbury, Davis recalls the times they were "domesticated together" in Lennoxville, Quebec, where their sons were students together at the Bishop's College School. Davis also thanks Stotesbury for the photograph of "Sissy's" children, likely Stotesbury's oldest daughter Cecilia. He also sends a requested letter of introduction, likely to Confederate Secretary of War and later Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin (1811-1884), who was living in England and France at the time.

JEFFERSON DAVIS, Autograph Letter Signed, to Henry Stotesbury, July 25, 1882, Beauvoir, Mississippi. 1 p., 6" x 8.25". Vertical and horizontal folds with small edge tears on some; mounting strip on left edge, not affecting text; irregular lower edge.

Complete Transcript
Beauvoir, Missi
25th July 1882
My dear Mr. Stotesbury
I have received your interesting letter of the 19th Inst. together with the Photos of "Sissys" beautiful children.
Mrs. Davis is now in Memphis, when she returns she will be delighted to have news of your family, as given in your letter and to see the likenesses of those who have added to your household since we were happily domesticated together.
With this I enclose a letter of introduction to Mr. Benjamin as you requested.
Every truly your friend
Jefferson Davis

Ex. Autograph book of Detroit pianist Kathleen S. Trowbridge, the volume is the result of a lifetime of collecting. She obtained most from her own correspondence or attendance at musical and theatrical performances in Detroit, but she also benefited from private school teachers who wrote to prominent acquaintances and received signatures for Trowbridge and the generosity of descendants of Senator Lewis Cass of Michigan. Her cousin Donald M. Dickinson was Postmaster General during the second Grover Cleveland administration, giving Trowbridge access to the White House, where she gained a letter from First Lady Frances Cleveland and access to other influential people. Many other items and the balance of the book are included in this auction.

Historical Background
After he was captured in Georgia while trying to escape at the end of the Civil War, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at Fortress Monroe in Virginia. His family joined him there for a while but then moved to Canada. Davis was indicted for treason, a course of action that the House of Representatives supported. After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released on bail of $100,000 and joined his family in Canada.

While in Canada, Davis and his family lived in Lennoxville, Quebec, where his son was a student at Bishop's College School. During the same period, the Stotesbury family from Georgia also lived there, and three of their sons attended Bishop's College School.

Davis remained in Canada until late July 1868, when he sailed to England and then France and Scotland. President Andrew Johnson issued a pardon and amnesty for treason to every person who participated in the rebellion on Christmas Day, 1868. The federal circuit court formally dismissed the case against Davis on February 15, 1869. Davis returned to North America in the fall of 1869, landing in Baltimore. He returned to Europe again from August to October 1870 before settling in Memphis in November 1870, though his family often lived in Baltimore.

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was born in Kentucky and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1828. After service under Zachary Taylor in the Black Hawk War, Davis married the future president's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, in 1835, but she died three months after their wedding. Davis established a plantation in Mississippi and became a Democratic politician. In 1844, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and a year later, married Varina Howell. Davis resigned his seat in Congress and raised a volunteer regiment for the Mexican War. He returned to politics after the war and served as a U.S. Senator (1845-1852, 1857-1860), and as Secretary of War (1853-1857). A moderate, he initially opposed secession, but when Mississippi seceded in January 1861, Davis resigned from the Senate and returned to Mississippi to raise troops. A month later, the Montgomery Convention named him as provisional president of the Confederacy, until he was elected to a six-year term as president in November 1861, and inaugurated on February 22, 1862. Davis took a direct role in the management of military affairs and worked with the Confederate Congress to expand the powers of the Confederate government, including conscription, impressment, and suspension of habeas corpus, which prompted some states' rights opposition to his administration. After the fall of Richmond, Union troops captured a fleeing Davis in Georgia. He was charged with treason and imprisoned for two years at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was never brought to trial and was eventually released. After living for several years in Canada and Europe, he settled in Memphis in November 1870. He served as the president of a life insurance company from 1869 to 1873. He published his two-volume memoir, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, in 1881.

Henry Stotesbury (1824-1896), was born in Georgia and married Cecilia White (1823-1891) in Savannah in 1844. They had at least six children, including Henry Stotesbury Jr. (1845-1926), Cecilia White Stotesbury (1848-1934), John H. Stotesbury (1850-1942), and Eugene Herbert Stotesbury (b. 1857). His daughter Cecelia married Herbert A. Ford (1850-1907) in 1876 in York, Canada, and they had at least three children. They later settled in Ocala, Florida. During the Civil War, the senior Stotesbury was a Confederate diplomat and made several trips to England to attempt to gain recognition for the Confederacy. In 1879, he moved to Leadville, Colorado, where he was involved in the Duncan mine, of which presidential candidate James G. Blaine was a partial owner.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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