Poignant and at times pathetic. Jefferson Davis and his fleeing entourage were initially treated as heroes and honored guests in the mansions along their escape route. But as it became clearer that the cause really was lost and the victorious Yankees would not look so kindly on post-war Confederate accessories, the shrinking group was lucky to be allowed to sleep in the barn. Judah Benjamin escaped to England. A few other (lucky?) fellows made it to Mexico, and Davis was captured (though not disguised as a woman, as Northern propaganda claimed). Just as with many of those facing the inexorable approach of doom described in Inside Hitler’s Bunker, we can feel that some were bad men, or at least were flawed or misled in fighting for the wrong side (though I do not mean to equate the Confederate Government with the Nazis), but at the same time we can have sympathy for them in their increasingly hopeless plight. ( )

A superior history of the last days of the Confederacy, as Richmond falls, Lee surrenders, and the government flees. Davis is an excellent storyteller. ( )