Jefferson Davis-GHM 077-5-Irwin Co
Posted by: 
Sprinterman
N 31° 39.840 W 083° 23.215
17R E 273695 N 3505668
Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park near Irwinville
Waymark Code: WMAG5R
Location: Georgia, United States
Date Posted: 01/11/2011
Views: 5
On May 4, 1865, Jefferson Davis arrived in Washington Georgia (178 miles NE), where he performed his last duties as President of the Confederate States of America. Soon thereafter, with a small staff and escort, he departed enroute to the trans-Mississippi Department where, undaunted by the tragic surrenders at Appomattox and Durham Station, he intended to unite he forces of Generals E. Kirby Smith, Taylor, Forrest, Maury and Magruder ´to form an army, which in the portion of that country abounding in supplies, and deficient in rivers and railroads, could have continued the war until our enemy, foiled in the purpose of subjugation, should, in accordance with his repeated declaration, have agreed, on the basis of a return to the Union, to acknowledge the Constitutional rights of the States, and by a convention, or quasi-treaty, to guarantee the security of person and property.´ His family joined him near Dublin.
On the night of May 9th, after a difficult journey via Sandersville, Dublin and Abbeville, he camped at this site, unaware that pursuit was close behind. At dawn, his camp was surrounded by Union Cavalry and the revered leader of the Lost Cause was taken to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, where, until May 13, 1867, he was held as a ´state prisoner,´ his hopes for a new nation, in which each state would exercise without interference its cherished ´Constitutional rights´ forever dead.
GHM 077-5 Georgia Historical Commission 1957
Type of Marker: Highway
Marker #: 077-5
Date: 1957
Sponsor: Georgia Historical Commission
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Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, yourself at the marker, your gps at the marker, or anything specific to the text on the marker. And don't forget to enjoy your visit.