Davis was imprisoned at Fortress Monroe for two years--a
thoroughly senseless procedure which only served to keep open a painful
wound--and on Christmas Day, 1868, was pardoned by President Johnson.
Davis's imprisonment had added immensely to his prestige. The South
forgot his blunders and short-comings, seeing in him only the martyr who
had suffered for his people, and welcomed him with a kind of hysterical
adoration, which lasted until his death. The last years of his life were
passed quietly on his estate in Mississippi.
When Davis was chosen President of the Confederacy, Alexander H.
Stephens was chosen Vice-President. Stephens had also had a picturesque
career. Left an orphan, without means, at the age of fifteen he had
nevertheless secured an education, and, in 1834, after two months'
study, was admitted to the Georgia bar. He at once began to win a more
than local reputation, for he was a man of unusual ability, and in 1836,
he was elected to the Legislature, though an avowed opponent of
nullification.
Seven years later, he was sent to Congress, and continued to oppose the
secession movement; but he saw whither things were trending, and in 1859
he resigned from Congress, remarking that he knew there was going to be
a smash-up and thought he would better get off while there was time.
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