An Honorable Defeat: The Last Days of the Confederate Government
by William C. Davis
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Description
"By February 1865, the end was clearly in sight for the Confederate government. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg had dashed the hopes of its army, and Grant's victory at Vicksburg had cut the South in two. An Honorable Defeat is the story of the four months that saw the surrender of the South and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln by Southern partisans. It is also the story of two men, antagonists yet political partners, who struggled to achieve their own differing visions: Jefferson Davis, show more autocratic president of the Confederate States, who vowed never to surrender whatever the cost, and his secretary of war, General John C. Breckinridge, who hoped pragmatism would save the shattered remnants of the land he so loved ... William C. Davis traces the astounding journey of these men, and the entire Confederate cabinet, as they fled Richmond by train, then by mule, then on foot. Using original research, he narrates, with dramatic style and clear historical accuracy, the futile quarrels of the two men as they continued their flight from their eventual fate."--Jacket. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
An interesting presentation of the last days of the confederacy. After Lee's surrender, what did happen? Davis's cabinet was not the agreeable group to work together, and this book shows how personality can influence public opinion.
Well written story of flight of Confederate government after the surrender at Appamatox
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Author Information
144+ Works 10,229 Members
William C. Davis is a retired history professor who taught at Virginia Tech. An acclaimed expert on the Civil War, he has served on a number of advisory boards, including the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission; the American Battlefield Trust; the National Museum of the Civil War Soldier in Petersburg, Virginia; the National Park Service; and show more the Lincoln Prize and Pulitzer Prize nominating juries. show less
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Judah P. Benjamin; John Cabell Breckinridge; Jefferson Davis; Varina Howell Davis; Joseph E. Johnston; Robert E. Lee
- Important places
- USA; Virginia, USA
- Important events
- American Civil War (1861 | 1865)
- Epigraph
- Our children may forget this war, but we cannot. The war came and now it must go on till the last man of this generation falls in his tracks, and his children seize his musket and fight our battle. — Jefferson Davis, Presi... (show all)dent, CSA
This has been a magnificent epic. In God's name, let it not terminate in a farce. — John C. Breckinridge, Secretary of War, CSA
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 973.71 — History & geography History of North America United States Civil War Era (1857-1865) James Buchanan (1857-1861)
- LCC
- E487 .D277 — History of the United States United States Civil War period, 1861-1865 The Civil War, 1861-1865 Confederate States of America
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 355
- Popularity
- 88,744
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (4.27)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 4
