INNOVATION/DAVIS HOMEPAGEThe
Jefferson Davis trial was probably the most highly anticipated
courtroom drama that never took place. After Davis's capture and
incarceration at Fortress Monroe in mid-1865 there were plans
afoot for a drumhead court-martial and swift execution. Secretary
of War Edwin Stanton, Judge Advocate General Joseph Holt and Administration
staff lawyer William Evarts advocated this approach but delayed
too long before attempting the measure.
They had learned that Davis's harsh treatment at Fortress Monroe
had mollified even his worse critics in the North. Although Davis
was indicted, the country was now divided over the advisability
of a criminal trial. Because of the adverse repercussions in the
event that Davis was acquitted of treason, by 1867 President Andrew
Johnson wants the whole legal mess to go quietly away. Instead
the trial date is postponed time and time again.
In
this hypothetical account the whole legal mess does not go quietly
away. The prosecution was moreover convinced that Davis was involved
in some manner in the murder of Abraham Lincoln. For dramatic
impact I have shifted some residences and occupations to the time
frame of the trial, early fall of 1868. This is to better illustrate
the situation of the participants between the end of the war and
the time of the trial.
Bailiff.
Dress court functionary
Court Recorder. Dress court functionary
Judge John Underwood: age 59, clean-shaven, experienced jurist, strict, professional, fair, slim.
U.S. Attorney General William Evarts: age 50, clean-shaven, previously to government service a prominent civil attorney, quiet, professional. Dress formal judicial gray suit.
Assistant Prosecutor Edwin Stanton: age 54, long straggly black beard, wire glasses, once a prominent corporation attorney: tense, agitated, nervous. Dress black suit.
Defense Attorney Charles O'Conor: age 64, short trim beard, reactionary: against black and women rights, formidable, debonair. Dress dark gray suit, white boutonniere.
Defendant Jefferson Davis: age 59, gaunt, small white goatee, stiff, cold, unmoving, uncompromising. Dress Confederate gray broadcloth suit.
Witness Robert Lee: age 61, trimmed white beard, erect, courteous, dignified, balding, hair across scalp. Dress Confederate general's uniform without grade or decoration.
Witness Joseph Johnston: age 61, white Napoleon III goatee, erect, agitated, defensive, slim, stiff. Dress gray suit.
Witness John Pemberton: age 54, full trimmed black beard, quiet, pained, heavy build, nervous. Dress plain dark suit.
Witness James Seddon: age 53, lawyer, trimmed short black beard, planter, dignified, deliberate, solemn, knowledgeable. Conservative dark suit.
Witness Francis Lieber: age 70, medium build, clean-shaven, gray hair, scholarly, elderly, erudite, knowledgeable. Professorial dark gray suit.