American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Lot of 5 items.

FOX, John A. The Capture of Jefferson Davis. Publ. by author, 1964. 8vo, printed heavy paper wraps, 40pp. (upper right corner a bit bent)

STANTON, Edwin M. and WILSON, James H. Letter of the Secretary of War, Communicating, In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 26th instant, the report of Major General J.H. Wilson on the capture of Jefferson Davis. [Washington, DC] Jan. 31, 1867. Senate Ex. Doc. No. 13. 8vo, no wraps, 8pp. (spine weakening)

HARRIS, J.H. Cabinet card of a wooded area. On verso: "The Only Photo in the Word of the Exact Spot where Hon. Jefferson Davis, President of Confederacy, was captured May 10th, 1865, by Fourth Michigan Cavalry, near Irwinville, Irwin county, Ga. Taken and copyrighted December 31st 1894, by J.H. Harris, Tifton, Berrien county, Ga." With manuscript gift inscription on one end.

CDV with printed identification in lower margin: Colonel B.D. Pritchard, The Capturer of Jeff Davis. With Ridgway Glover, Philadelphia backmark. (lower two corners trimmed).

Calling card signed by B.D. Pritchard.

Benjamin Dudley Pritchard (1835-1907) was a lawyer before the Civil War. He enlisted in the 4th Michigan Cavalry in July 1862 as a 27-year-old Captain at Allegan, MI. He was promoted to Lieut. Colonel in late 1864 after the Battle of Chickamauga, and awarded a Brigadier Generalcy by brevet in March 1865. He married Mary Kent while on a short leave in 1864. She was injured in a railroad accident just after Pritchard returned to his unit and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. He became a national hero when he captured Jefferson Davis on May 10, but he declined to run for state or federal office in spite of appeals for him to do so.