American Historical Ephemera and Photography

TEBAULT, Dr. Christopher H. (1838-1914). Autograph manuscript "The Treatment of President of the Southern Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, as Federal Prisoner, And How He was Finally Liberated." New Orleans, 1905 and 1910. Post-war manuscript report of the capture and imprisonment of Jefferson Davis written by Dr. Christopher H. Tebault, MD, Surgeon General of the United Confederate Veterans. 9pp, 8 1/2 x 11 in., on letterhead of "Headquarters / United Confederate Veteran, Surgeon General's Office" which identifies "C.H. Tebault, M.D., Surgeon General." Ink, with one page consisting of the title page of an article "The Shackling of Jefferson Davis" adhered to reverse of UCV letterhead.

Manuscript prepared by Tebault for presentation at the 1905 UCV Reunion held in Louisville, Kentucky. The manuscript is not a firsthand account of Davis's imprisonment, but rather an analysis of the events related to the imprisonment as gathered and relayed from a variety of sources, in particular War of the Rebellion and a May 1905 Pearson's Magazine article titled "The Shackling of Jefferson Davis." Tebault quotes these sources within his manuscript, including footnotes for specific passages and references. Pages 1-8 were prepared for the 1905 presentation, with page 9 being related to the presentation of the same paper at the 1910 UCV Reunion in Mobile, Alabama. Tebault is not an unbiased reporter. Instead, his writings and arguments reflect the strong pro-Southern sentiment that permeated long after the end of the war.

C.H. Tebault was born in Mississippi, attended Georgetown College in Washington, D.C., and received his M.D. from the Medical Department of the University of Louisiana, New Orleans (now Tulane University) in 1862. He would become one of the most well-known citizens of New Orleans. Among the top physicians of the Confederacy, Christopher H. Tebault distinguished himself as a surgeon during the Civil War. HDS indicates he enlisted as an assistant surgeon on 3/1/1862 and was commissioned into Field & Staff Louisiana 21st Infantry, with prior service after a June 1861 enlistment with the SC 10th Infantry (date and method discharge not given). In November 1862 he returned to the SC 10th. Later he reported to Quintard Hospital, Cleveland, TN, moved to the General Hospital, Albany, GA, moved to Ocmulgee Hospital, Macon, GA, was an assistant surgeon in Johnson's Corps, and eventually was paroled in 1865 by the U.S. Army. Recognized for his medical contributions after the war, he was nominated Surgeon General of the United Confederate Veterans, a position he used to compile the history of Confederate medicine, advocate for veterans and contribute to Southern literature. A staunch "Lost Cause" proponent, he also fought Reconstruction policies and the enfranchisement of the formerly enslaved.

At the end of the Civil War, Tebault practiced medicine in New Orleans, serving as Health Officer for the city of New Orleans, a Professor of Diseases of Children, was visiting physician of a charity hospital, and he helped frame the law creating the State Board of Health. He died at his home in New Orleans in 1914, and is buried in Tomb of the Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division, Metairie Cemetery.