Chapter One Hundred and Forty Two
The Trials that United a Nation – Part I
From “The Unyielding Office – the Presidency of Jefferson Davis” by James L. Caney
Buffalo
“It was surely with mixed feelings that Jefferson Davis received the news that he was not to be tried for treason. Ultimately the Attorney General had been convinced by outside counsel that such a charge would open a Pandora’s Box of legal debate that victory in the war had surely closed. However if Davis thought he would be placed on the first ship out of Boston Harbor he was sorely mistaken. He had been indicted in Virginia for the murder of 57 civilians, mostly women, during the Richmond Bread Riots. Further the Boston Military Commission moved charges against him for the murder of Major General David Hunter. To everyone’s astonishment Davis was transferred to Richmond to face the state trial first…”
From "The Fallen Idols" by Teddy Braddock
Grosvenor 2003
“Through the direct intervention of Attorney General Speed and, one suspects, the President, Jefferson Davis was to face multiple capital charges in a Richmond Courtroom before answering any Federal charges. The Richmond Bread Riots were still fresh in the minds of the Richmond citizenry, many of whom hated Davis with the red hot glow once reserved for Yankees. Sedgwick’s administration had done much to restore a modicum of grudging respect for the Federal Government. No such thaw had occurred in attitudes to “Bloody Jeff”…
It was a masterstroke. Davis would be placed on trial for the murder of Virginians. He would be tried by a Virginian judge and a Virginian jury. The witnesses against him were overwhelmingly Virginians and all were southerners (even the transplanted Englishman, Collett Leventhorpe, had held a rebel commission). Most singularly and to the astonishment and outrage of Davis himself, he could not testify on his own behalf, as the accused in murder trials in Virginia were prohibited from doing so…”
From “An Uncivil War” by Dr Guy Burchett
LSU
“The trial lasted eighteen days. Davis was lucky to survive them. On two occasions Union troops had to disburse assemblies with a riotous aspect that was entirely anti-Davis. The fact that the troops were mostly freed negros helped ensure order was maintained. On the eleventh day a would be assassin took a shot a Davis, injuring one of the Union guards. Henry Scroggins was found to be insane, having lost his wife to the riot and his daughters to typhoid fever…in the end Davis received as fair a trial as Virginia state law allowed…”
The Virginia Trial of Jefferson Davis
From "The Fallen Idols" by Teddy Braddock
Grosvenor 2003
“Davis found himself, or rather his counsel, making the invidious argument that Davis, as President of the Confederacy, had been vested with the lawful authority to give the order to the army to suppress the rioters and restore order. Whether Davis was recognized President of the Confederacy or the rogue leader of a rebel band was irrelevant argued the prosecution. In any event only the lawfully constituted state offices and bodies had the responsibility and the authority for policing Richmond. In a terrible twist of irony Jefferson Davis was painted as a usurper of state power. He became the tyrant and enemy of states-rights that he had accused Lincoln of being…”
From "The Great Constitutional Crisis" by Dr. Lee M. King
Carlotta 1962
“Leventhorpe testified in order to save himself from the hangman’s noose. He was only following orders as a good soldier does and those orders were Jefferson Davis’. It was an ill made bargain and Leventhorpe would still hang…
Howell Cobb was a longtime political enemy of Davis and like many was already heaping much of the blame for the south’s “behavior” in the war on Jefferson Davis. His own refusal to carry out Davis’ orders would stand him in good stead with the Federal authorities…
In short, with friend and foe alike lining up to testify against him, and nary a soul to speak in his defense, Davis’ conviction was inevitable. He was found guilty by the Unionist jury (expatriated former citizens being barred from such duty) on all 57 counts and sentenced to hang…”
From “A Day That Will Live in Infamy - the Hunter Controversy” by Prof. J. K. Lang
LSU 2003
“It could have ended there for Jeff Davis but the ghost of David Hunter would not rest…”
To the tune of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
David Hunter lies a-moldering in the grave,
While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;
But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,
His soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
Old Hunter was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,
And the nation knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;
Now, tho the grass grows green above his hallowed grave,
His soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
With the Fighting Lambs he marched, a gentleman volunteer,
And frightened the damned rebels till they shook in awful fear
They shot him with his brothers, freed men and pioneers
But his soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
The cause for which he died he looks from heaven down to view,
On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.
And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deeds those men did do,
For his soul is marching on.
(Chorus)
Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,
The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,
For the dawn of General Hunter has brightened into day,
And his soul is marching on.
The Hunter Memorial at Blackwater Park
