Letters from Prison: Jefferson Davis to his Wife, 1865-1866

The center of this book is Fortress Monroe, Virginia, inserted in the dateline of every one of the twenty letters printed here. Only a little note at the end, folded to make its own envelope, is different. Its place name is Prison. Both are accurate. Months before the first letter, the US Army converted one of the fort’s gun emplacements into a jail cell, complete with iron bars and an ever-pacing squad of armed soldiers—all to secure one man: Jefferson Davis.

After three months of anxiety a...