Transcript

10.17.25 · History Hour

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Speaker 1: Hello and welcome. This is Radioized History Show and I'm
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your host and reader for today, Joseph Bolt. I'm happy
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to be with you for this time, and as always,
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before we begin today's show, I just want to remind
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you that Radio I is listener driven, so you, being
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the listeners, we welcome any of your comments or suggestions
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about what we do and how we present, and so
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if you have any thoughts, please call us at eight
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five nine four two two six three nine zero and
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let us know what you're thinking. As you know, Radio
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I is a reading service intended for people who are
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blind or have other disabilities that make it difficult to
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read printed material. I'll cite the sources later on as
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we go, so let's get to reading. Born Jefferson Finis
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Davis in Kentucky in eighteen o eight and raised in Mississippi,
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he was the tenth and youngest child in his family.
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The two Bee Confederate President was named after his father's
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political hero and the city and American president at the
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time of his birth, Thomas Jefferson. His parents gave him
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the middle name Phinis, meaning final in Latin. Davis was
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greatly influenced by his oldest brother, Joseph, a wealthy lawyer
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and planter who served as a father figure, particularly after
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their father's death in eighteen twenty four. Davis left his
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studies at Transylvania University in Kentucky that year to enter
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into the US Military Academy at West Point, where Joseph's
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connections had secured him an appointment. Although alcohol had been
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banned at the US Military Academy after a routy Fourth
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of July party the year before, the teenaged Davis was
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among the cadets who smuggled liquor into the barracks for
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a Yuletide drinking party before Revelle on Christmas morning in
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eighteen twenty six. Officers who discovered the illegal party placed
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Davis under arrest in his room. Nearly one hundred other
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inebriated cadets, however, disobeyed officers orders and began to break winds,
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smashed furniture, and even draw swords against their superiors. Davis
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was confined to his quarters for more than six weeks,
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but his compliance when arrested likely spared him the fate
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of a dozen of his fellow cadets who were expelled
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for their participation in the egnog Riot. Davis graduated four
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years later, finishing in the bottom third of his class.
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He was posted to an infantry regiment and went in
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Wisconsin after serving only briefly in the Blackhawk War. In
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eighteen thirty two, he fell in love with eighteen year
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old Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor.
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For two years, Taylor denied Davis' permission to marry his daughter,
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until finally relenting in eighteen thirty five. The couple married,
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and just months after their wedding, they both contracted malaria
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and Sarah died. Having resigned his army commission, Davis retreated
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to his cotton plantation, Briarfield, built on land provided by
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his brother Joseph, at Davis Bend, Mississippi. After eight years
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immersed in plantation life, Davis emerged to begin a career
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in politics. Deadfast supporter of states rights and slavery, he
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served as a delegate to the Democratic State Convention in
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eighteen forty and eighteen forty two, and ran unsuccessfully for
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the state legislature in eighteen forty three. In eighteen forty five,
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Davis married his second wife, Verena Howell, the young daughter
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of a prominent local family. The couple would have six children,
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four sons and two daughters, though only their daughters lived
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until adulthood. That same year, Davis won election to the
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US House of Representatives from Mississippi. It was the only
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electoral success of his career. All of his later posts
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would be appointed. When the Mexican American War broke out
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in eighteen forty six, Davis resigned his congressional seat to
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serve as colonel of the first Mississippi Rifle Regiment as
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part of a force commanded by his former father in law.
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Davis distinguished himself in battle at Monterey and Buena Vista.
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Davis's heroics at the Battle of Buena Vista reportedly caused
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the American general to say apologetically to his one time
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son in law, quote, my daughter, Sir, was a better
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judge of men than I was. General Taylor's praise of
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his heroism earned Davis national acclaim, and in August of
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eighteen forty seven, the Mississippi governor chose him to fill
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a vacant seat in the U. S. Senate. As a senator,
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Davis fiercely defended the interests of the South in the
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growing sectional battle over slavery that would put the nation
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on the path to division and civil war. He led
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a generation of Southern Democrats who joined the pro slavery
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crusade launched by John C. Calhoun and continued it after
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Calhoun's death in eighteen fifty. A strong supporter of manifest destiny,
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Davis advocated for the extension of slavery into the new
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Western territories and the protection of slaveholders property rights. He
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opposed letting the Oregon Territory bar slavery and battled against
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the Compromise of eighteen fifty, especially the admission of California
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to the Union as a free state. In eighteen fifty one,
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Davis resigned from the Senate to run unsuccessfully for governor
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of Mississippi. Two years later, President Franklin Pierce appointed Davis
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as Secretary of War. During his tenure, Davis focused on
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increasing the army's size and improving national defenses and weapons technology,
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as well as providing protection for settlers in the Western territories.
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Davis also advocated for the federal government to build a
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transcontinental railroad, since horses and mules had difficulty traversing the
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arid territories of the West newly acquired by the United States.
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In the eighteen forties and fifties, Secretary of War Davis
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received congressional approval to purchase camels from the Middle East
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to use as military pack animals. The Camel Corps experiment
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showed some promise, but ultimately fizzled when the outbreak of
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the Civil War took priority, and the development of the
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railroad ultimately proved the idea obsolete. Davis returned to the
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Senate in eighteen fifty seven. He frequently clashed with fellow
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Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, arguing that Douglas's doctrine of popular
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sovereigntry did not do enough to protect the rights of slaveholders.
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With the Democratic parties split between North and South, Republican
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Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election of eighteen sixty Davis
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resigned from the Senate in January of eighteen sixty one
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after Mississippi seceded from the Union. When the Confederate Congress
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met in Montgomery the following month, it unanimously chose Davis,
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the Southern leader with the most impressive political and military record,
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as President of the Confederacy. Over the next four years,
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Davis struggled to balance his leadership role in the Civil
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War with a difficult domestic task involved with running a country.
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Like Lincoln. He faced epic clashes with his generals, state lawmakers,
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and Congress, but he lacked the economic and military resources
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of his Northern counterpart. Davis's critics charged him with neglecting
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states' rights in his efforts to form a more effective
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central government, favoring certain military leaders like Braxton Bragg despite
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their shortcomings, and sidelining those who disagreed with him, including
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Joseph E. Johnston. On April second, eighteen sixty five, Davis
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and the rest of the Confederate government fled Richmond as
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the Union army advanced on the Confederate capitol. Union soldiers
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captured Davis near Erwinville, Georgia, on May tenth of that
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same year. When Davis was seized on the drizzly pre
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dawn morning of May tenth, eighteen sixty five, he was
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wearing a loose fitting water repellent overcoat similar to a poncho,
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and his wife's black shaw over his head and shoulders.
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Northern newspapers twisted the story and gleefully reported that Davis
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had been captured while disguised in women's clothing. While popular
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lithographs portrayed caricatures of Davis in hoopskirts and bonnets, Secretary
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of War Edwin Stanton kept the overcoat and shawl from
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public view rather than puncture the myth. Davis was imprisoned
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in Virginia's Fort Monroe for two years after his capture,
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during which time he was indicted for treason. In May
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of eighteen sixty seven, he was released on a hundred
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thousand dollars bail, most of which was posted by a
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surprising group prominent Northerners, including editor of the New York
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Tribune business magnet, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Jarrett Smith, who was
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among the secret six who funded John Brown's raid on
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Harper's Ferry. The Northerners advocated for a speedy trial or
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release of Davis in order to heal the country. Ultimately,
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the case of United States versus Jefferson Davis never went
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to trial, a decision finalized in eighteen sixty nine. The
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federal government reached its decision in part because it feared
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that Davis would either prove to a jury that secession
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was legally permitted under the US Constitution, or he would
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be transformed into a martyr if convicted and executed. An
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amnesty bill that restored citizenship to Confederate leaders in eighteen
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seventy six specifically included or excluded Rather Davis and the
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former Confederate President did not fight the decision. He's quoted
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as saying, it has been said that I should apply
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to the United States for a pardon, but repentance must
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precede the right of pardon, and I have not repented.
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If I were to do it all over again, I
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would again do just as I did in eighteen sixty one.
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Davis' emotional and physical health had deteriorated during this time
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in prison. After two years traveling in Europe, he and
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his family returned to Memphis, Tennessee, where he worked for
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a life insurance company. In eighteen seventy six, they returned
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to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where an admirer named Sarah
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Dorsey let them use a cottage on her seaside plantation
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near Biloxi. When Dorsey died, she willed the estate Bovoir,
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to Davis and his family. He would live there for
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the rest of his life. Publishing his account of the
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war in a two volume memoir entitled The Rise and
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Fall of the Confederate Government in eighteen eighty one. In
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December of eighteen eighty nine, Davis died of acute bronchitis
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in New Orleans. Some two hundred thousand people lining the
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city's streets for his funeral, held in Metaree. Four years later,
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in eighteen ninety three, Davis's body was relocated and reinterred
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in Hollywood Cemetery, located in the former Confederate capital of Richmond.
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Jefferson Davis remained a man without a country for more
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than a century until October seventeenth, nineteen seventy eight, President
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Jimmy Carter signed a measure passed by the US Congress
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that restored American citizenship to Davis. By the time the
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Civil War ended in eighteen sixty five, much of the
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South lay in ruins, physically and economically, and socially. Fears
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of Yankee reprisals in racial conflict percolated through society. Enslaved
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people had been freed. Confederate President Jefferson Davis was imprisoned
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for William H. Norris, a former Alabama state senator, and
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staunch Confederate it was all too much to bear. Rather
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than rejoining the United States, he and his son traveled
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to south eastern Brazil in eighteen sixty five, after securing
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a small fortune of gold kept safe in a hole
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in his yard throughout the war. Norris and son arrived
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in Brazil in December of eighteen sixty five and purchased
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about five hundred acres of rolling hills and reddish soil
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that reminded them of Alabama. They then bought three enslaved workers,
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planted cotton, sent for the rest of the family, and
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proceeded to live as if the Confederacy hadn't collapsed. The
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Norris family was not alone in their desire to avoid
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Yankee rule. In the decade after the Civil War, roughly
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ten thousand Southerners left the United States, with the majority
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going to Brazil, where slavery was still legal. Others went
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to such places as Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Honduras, Canada, and
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even Egypt. Though hardships prompted most to come right back,
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descendants of these so called Confederatos maintained a presence in Brazil,
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and even today, amid the post war chaos, Several countries
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tried to entice Southerners, largely for political agricultural reasons. In Mexico,
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for example, Emperor Maximilian the First, soon to be executed
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before a firing squad, awarded land and tax breaks and
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hired Confederate oceanographer Matthew Fontaine Maury to be his Imperial
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Commissioner of Immigration. In Venezuela, the authorities also provided land
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and tax breaks, and in Egypt and Ottoman viceroy brought
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over ex Confederate and ex Union officers to help invade Ethiopia.
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The best incentives, however, came from Brazilian Emperor dom Pedro
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the Second, a Confederate ally who had sheltered and supplied
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Southern ships during the Civil War. He offered land to
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the Confederatos for as little as twenty two cents an acre,
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subsidized their transport to Brazil, provided temporary lodging upon arrival,
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promised them quick citizenship, and at times even personally greeted
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them as they disembarked. Major Lanceford Hastings spread word of
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the Confederate outposts in Brazil. Hastings, an explorer whose guidance
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had led to the disastrous Donner Party incident published The
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Immigrant's Guide to Brazil in eighteen sixty seven, a sensational
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travel book that promised unlimited wealth to those Southerners brave
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enough to strike out for themselves in dom Pedro's empire.
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Much of the Southern media opposed the exodus, as did
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Roberty Lee, who believed all efforts should go toward rebuilding
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the South, but dom Pedro counter attack by taking out
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advertisements in US newspapers. Meanwhile, certain pro colonization Southerners produced
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glowing reports that portrayed Brazil as a tropical paradise. Of course,
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when they got there, it was nothing like what they
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thought it would be, said Cyrus B. Sunny Dawzy, a
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professor emeritus at Auburn University. Dom Pedro seemingly had two
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main motives for luring the Confederatos, the first of which
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was agricultural. He saw these people as bringing new technologies
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and new abilities in farming to Brazil, which in fact
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they did, Dawsy says, pointing out that they introduced watermelons
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and pecans to their new country, along with state of
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the art plows. Furthermore, it was public policy in Brazil
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to whiten society by bringing in Europeans and European descended Americans,
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said Luciana des Cruz Brito, a history professor at the
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Federal University of Riconcabo da Baia who studied slavery and abolition.
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At the time, slavery remained legal in Brazil, which over
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the course of its history imported more than ten times
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as many enslaved people as the United States. In fact,
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it did not ban the practice until eighteen eighty eight,
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becoming the last country in the Western Hemisphere to do so.
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Britto's research shows that some Southern immigrants to Brazil took
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enslaved African Americans with them in disregard of the US
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and Brazilian law. Others bought new enslaved people upon arrival,
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such as former Alabama State Representative Charles G. Gunter, whose
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family letters tell of his acquisition of thirty eight enslaved
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workers in Brazil. Descendants of the original Confederados tend to
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play down their ancestors' ties to slavery, Yet, according to Brito,
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the Confederados were largely attracted to Brazil both because they
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wanted to own enslave people and because they believed the
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institution of slavery would maintain strict racial hierarchies. Based on
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the documentation that I read, Brito says, I have no
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doubt that they came to Brazil because of slavery. Still,
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these American expatriots never came close to replicating the large
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slaveholding estates of the Deep South. The folks that moved
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to Brazil were not the wealthy plantation owners. Daughzy says.
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They were middle income farmers. Some were doctors, some were
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school teachers, some were machinists. He adds that many belonged
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to families that had traditionally been pioneers on the frontier.
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Whatever their reasons for emigrating, the Confederatos struggled to adapt
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to their new homes. In many of the Brazilian settlements,
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the climate and soil were ill suited to the types
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of crops they wanted to grow, such as cotton. Disease,
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insect infestations, and internal power struggles likewise took a toll,
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as did a lack of transportation infrastructure that made it
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difficult for them to get their crops to market. Political
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support also dried up, as Don Pedro became distracted by
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an economic downturn, his country's participation in the gruesome War
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of the Triple Alliance, and his own worsening health. At
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the same time, language and religious barriers the overwhelmingly Protestant
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Confederato weren't even allowed to bury their dead in the
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local Catholic cemeteries contributed also to the sense of isolation.
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You read the letters, Dawzy says, and they were just homesick,
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not just for their family members, but also for their
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way of life. What's more, Brazil's racial norms proved perplexing,
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particularly the more relaxed attitudes toward interracial marriage, the integrated
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army and police force, and the social mobility permitted to
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free blacks. All but one of the half dozen or
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so Confederato settlements in Brazil disintegrated within a few years.
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The lone exception was the William H. Norris Colony. It
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continued attracting immigrants from the South and from other failed
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Brazilian settlements, and would grow to encompass the town of Americano,
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so named in the Confederado's honor. But in the years
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following their arrival, the Confederados were soon dwarfed by massive
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waves of immigrants from Germany, Italy, and Japan, each bringing
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their own contributions and leaving even more obvious impressions on Brazil.
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But even today, as their numbers dwindle and their descendants
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speak more Portuguese and identify as Brazilian, the Confederados gather
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each year to celebrate their ancestry. Sources for today's show
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came from History dot Com. Jefferson Davis written by dot
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com editors February of twenty twenty five. In History dot Com.
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Ten Things you may not know about Jefferson Davis written
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by A. Christopher Klein, February of twenty twenty five, History
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dot Com. The Confederacy made its Last stand in Brazil
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written by Jesse Greenspan, January of twenty twenty five. And
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all that's interesting. Meet the Confederates. The Confederate royalist who
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fled to Brazil after the Civil War, written by Morgan Dunn,
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edited by Jacqueline Anglis in October of twenty twenty two. Well,
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that about does it for today's RADIOI History Show. I
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hope you enjoyed today's program. I thank you for listening
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and giving me your time to day, I'm your host,
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Joseph Bolt and I'll be back with another chapter of
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RADIOI history. Until then, happy trails to you,