Wheeler was released by the end of June 1865. Only a handful such as Lieutenant General Joseph Wheeler, were arrested and imprisoned. The immediate capture and imprisonment of Confederate generals, the men most directly responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Union soldiers, did not generate much interest among Union politicians. Breckinridge would eventually return, but Benjamin stayed in Europe. They escaped through Florida, then to Cuba, then on to the United Kingdom. Breckinridge of the Confederate cabinet successfully eluded searching Federal authorities. Other prominent Confederates like Vice President Alexander Hamilton were taken by federal officers from their homes during May and June 1865.
They were the only two captured who were actively fleeing Union forces. Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Postmaster General John Henninger Reagan were captured on May 10, 1865, in southwestern Georgia by Federal cavalry. The fighting stopped at the Battle of Palmito Ranch, near Brownsville, Texas, on May 13, 1865, but before the details of occupation and Reconstruction could be developed, the nation faced the immediate issue of what to do with the prominent Confederate leaders, civilian and military, who had led the Confederacy out of the Union.
0 kommentar(er)
