Recently, on one of
the online auction sites, a letter from Robert E. Lee to Jefferson Davis was
listed. Lee, writing on April 2, 1868, thanks Davis for a copy of Frank H.
Alfriend’s The Life of Jefferson Davis. Born in Richmond in January
1841, Alfriend was a graduate of William and Mary College and taught school in
Richmond during at least part of the war.[1]
By early 1863, he was writing for the Southern Literary Messenger, publishing
a piece entitled “The Great Danger of the Confederacy.”[2]
In December 1863, it was announced that Alfriend was now the editor of the
publication.[3]
Lee to Davis letter on eBay in 2026.
Alfriend continued writing
after the war, becoming a contributor to the Raleigh-based Field and
Fireside.[4]
Some of his pieces were biographical in nature, such as a piece on Italian
revolutionary Garibaldi.[5]
All the while, Alfriend was working on a biography of Jefferson Davis. The
Biblical Recorder reported in January 1868 that Alfriend, “an attractive
writer,” was working on as biography of Jefferson Davis. “The time for that
book has not yet arrived, but we feel sure that Mr. Alfriend will execute the
work in a manner fully equal to the expectations of his numerous admirers.”[6]
Alfriend’s book was
not the first. Alfred Taylor Bledso released Is Davis a Traitor, or was
Secession a Constitutional Right Previous to 1861 in 1866.
Alfriend reached
out to Davis on July 22, 1867, about the biography. Davis confessed that he had
“always been very reluctant to give an account of my own deeds.” Sketches that
had been released to date were “very defective and often erroneous.” Davis then
writes about his time in the U.S. Senate, the Missouri Compromise, working with
President Buchanan, and the Crittenden Compromise. Concerning treason, with which
Davis was being charged, he wrote “The first congress of the Confederation
defined treason, and there was unmistakably declared the doctrine to which the
founders of the Union steadily adhered, the paramount allegiance of the citizen
to his state. The departure from that creed has been the source of all our
ills.” Davis confessed that he had “no books to which to refer and write from memory
entirely.”[7]
Davis wrote in 1888 that he had only this one “conversation” with Alfriend
prior to the publication of the biography.[8]
The Life of
Jefferson Davis was released by the National Publishing Company in March
1868. It was not widely available, and readers needed to subscribe to obtain a
copy. The Cincinnati Commercial considered it possibly the best book on
the life of Davis, but noted Alfriend’s confession that he was writing from a Southern
viewpoint. Despite this bias, the Ohio newspaper believed Alfriend’s work “will
excite a lively interest and have a permanent historic value. . . All in all,
this volume is the most valuable contribution yet made to the history of the
war by any Southern author.”[9]
While some praised Alfriend’s biography, it did not meet the approval of
everyone. In the December 1868 issue of D.H. Hill’s The Land We Love
came a scathing review. “We regard this book as a great misfortune to Mr.
Davis,” wrote the editor. “This is much of real value in this book, and it is
to be regretted that Mr. Frank H. Alfriend did not confine himself to matters
he understood. His military criticisms are not worth a button.”[10]
Obviously, Davis
either asked Alfriend to send a copy of the book to Lee, or Alfriend took it
upon himself to send a copy to Lee. On April 2, Lee wrote to Davis: “I am very
much obliged to you for the copy of your “Life of Jefferson Davis” which you
have kindly sent me. I will take pleasure in its perusal.” Did Davis actually
mail the book to Lee? Probably not. Writing to Alfriend in April 1871, Davis
confessed that he had “not seen your biography of myself and have failed in my
efforts to get a copy.”[11]
Alfriend continued
to work for various newspapers, including the Wilmington Star, the
Louisville Courier-Journal, and the Atlanta Constitution. While
in Atlanta, he befriended John B. Gordon. When Gordon went to Washington, D.C.,
as a senator, he got Alfriend a job as an assistant librarian. Alfriend was
working on a revised biography on Davis when he died on May 3, 1887. He is
buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.[12]
While this letter has recently come to
light, does Lee’s copy of The Life of Jefferson Davis survive?
[1] Richmond
Dispatch, August 26, 1862, September 24, 1863, September 12, 1864.
[2] Staunton
Spectator, February 3, 1863.
[3] Richmond
Dispatch, December 30, 1863.
[4] Field
and Fireside, January 6, 1866.
[5] The
Field and Fireside, July 28, 1866.
[6] The
Biblical Recorder, January 22, 1868.
[7] The
Papers of Jefferson Davis, 12:239-43.
[8] Ibid,
12:244n20.
[9] quoted
in the Clarion-Ledger, March 7, 1868.
[10] Book
Notes. The Land We Love (December 1868): 179-181.
[11] The
Papers of Jefferson Davis, 13:20-21.
[12] The
Papers of Jefferson Davis, 12:243.
