ExecutedToday.com

They say, on the Internet, there’s a site for every topic.  I stumbled upon this one – dedicated entirely to a chronicle of executions – and discovered a trove of Civil War related histories. Here are tales of cases even Lincoln wouldn’t pardon.  Mosby and Sheridan’s retaliatory feuding.  Sue Mundy and Champ Ferguson.  And hopeless Henry Wirz.  They make for some very dark, but very engaging reading.

Executed Today is a blog of history, sociology, biography, criminology, law, and kismet — an unrepresentative but arresting view of the human condition across time and circumstance from the parlous vantage of the scaffold.

ExecutedToday.com » american civil war.

Transport of Jefferson Davis – Photo

I’ve been spending some time on Reddit lately, which is a dangerous place, as there are “subreddits” on every conceivable topic. (Sadly the Civil War one is not as popular as, say, Eyebombing.)  There is an image forum which invariably draws me in – “History Porn“. Despite the raunchy name it’s a totally safe-for-work collection of random historical photos.   There are always Civil War images in the mix, but today I noticed one that I’d never seen before.  Behold, the convoy escorting Jefferson Davis to captivity.

Transport of Jefferson Davis - IH157828 - Rights Managed - Stock Photo - Corbis

Union troops surround an ambulance carrying Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family to Washington, D.C., after Davis was captured at the end of the American Civil War.

NB: Another interesting subreddits for Civil War buffs is Ask Historians, which recently addressed questions like:

– How much did a telegram cost during the American Civil War, and can you put that price into context?

– When did Southerners start denying the Civil War was about slavery?

– Before the American Civil War, did anyone sell “slave-free” cotton the way organic foods are sold today?

 

via Transport of Jefferson Davis – IH157828 – Rights Managed – Stock Photo – Corbis.