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Recollections of Alexander H. Stephens: His Diary Kept When a Prisoner at Fort Warren, Boston Harbour, 1865; Giving Incidents and Reflections of His ... reminisc (Library of Southern Civilization)

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This book is a fascinating voyage through one of the great 19th Century Southern political minds; perhaps second only to John C. Calhoun. Alexander H. Stephens was a strange little man, never weighing more than 100 pounds, and standing only 5' 7" tall; but "Little Aleck" had the heart of a lion. He was possessed of a small head with protruding ears and piercing black eyes. Trained as a lawyer, with a frail almost boyish figure, he never married and was totally devoted to his half-brother, Linton, who served in the Georgia Legislature, on the Georgia Supreme Court and as a Confederate officer, and whose family Alexander Stephens adopted as his own.
This diary covers Stephens experiences as a prisoner after the War Between the States had ended. The War basically ended in April, 1865, but Stephens who had served as the Vice President of the Confederacy, had already gone home to Crawfordville, Georgia, his home town. On May 11, 1865, Tim, one of his servants, came running into the parlor saying: "Master! Yankees have come! a whole heap are in town, galloping all about with guns." Thus Stephens, who unlike other Confederate cabinet officials had never attempted to flee to the sanctuary of another country, came to be a prisoner. He was transported to Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and thus begins this diary.
Throughout the diary, Stephens was indignant that he was even a prisoner, for in his mind (he was probably right) he had done nothing wrong. He had always acted according to the principles of the United States Constitution to which he was totally devoted. He had served 16 years in Congress and had retired in 1859, and when the War started in 1861 he was called upon to serve the Confederacy. As he repeatedly points out the States created the Federal Government, not the other way around. The Federal Government's rights were limited. He had served as a Whig in Congress in the beginning of his career and served with Lincoln who also served as a Whig in the 30th Congress in 1847, when Lincoln served his only term in Congress before becoming president in 1861. Stephens felt he knew Lincoln well and this may be one of the reasons he was elected vice president of the Confederacy, in addition to the fact that he cautioned against secession and for this reason it was felt perhaps he may have had gained some influence with Lincoln.
In any case, the diary covers everything about his life at Fort Warren, where after an initial period of discomfort and apprehension (there was the possibility he may be hanged), he was treated rather kindly by his captors. Stephens read and discusses such books as the Bible, Prescott's Conquest of Mexico, Swedenborg's Doctrine Concerning the Lord, Cicero on Duties, Cicero on Oratory, Aristotle on Economics, Aristotle on Politics, and so forth demonstrating that he was a true intellectual. He discusses the food he ate, his living conditions, and people he met and dealt with such as his guards, other prisoners, and even the little girl who was the daughter of one of his wardens who would bring him flowers and thrust her little hand through the bars to put them in a little flower pot in his cell. Stephens only spent four months and nineteen days in prison. His treatment was much less harsh than that of Jefferson Davis who served two years at Fort Monroe. In the end, like Jefferson Davis and others, he was released and not prosecuted for any offenses. It has been said this was because in truth they had committed no offenses and acted against the Federal Government in much the same way the leaders of the 13 Colonies had acted against the Crown when the 13 Colonies sought their independence from England and thus could not have been convicted of anything.
All in all, a wonderful diary; I have not enjoyed reading a diary as much since I read James Boswell's London Journal 40 years ago.

This is a reprint of the original diary kept by Stephens while at the fort. It is the only book still in print that was written at Fort Warren. If you had a Confederate relative imprisoned at Fort Warren, this gives a terrific insight to the daily routine at the famous bastille.

Alexander Stephens was one of the most intelligent men in that era, and very informed on the written laws. He was familiar with Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Henry Baldwin's remarks in one 1833 Pennsylvania case -- In Johnson vs. Tompkins, 1 Bald., 597, Baldwin says: "Slavery is the corner-stone of the Constitution; the foundations of the government are laid and rest on the right of property in slaves, and the whole structure must fall by disturbing the corner-stone." That is the quote that many people erroneously attribute to Stephens and use that as a bogus claim that the War was 'all about slavery'; it was actually about keeping the original Constitution, states' rights, religious freedom, cultural differences, and other important issues. The US Congress issued a resolution in July 1861 stating in no uncertain terms that the war was about 'preserving the Union' and WAS NOT about slavery. Then there's the issue of the Corwin Amendment, which was the original 13th amendment, that would have guaranteed slavery in the entire US forever. If it had been 'all about slavery', all the South had to do was rejoin the Union and keep its slaves, and the North could keep their millions of slaves too. But since the confilict wasn't about that, the South declined the offer; Lincoln then started the illegal War to capture the South's resources.
In this book, Stephens describes his battle with the newspaper reporter who misquoted him on his Savannah speech and Stephens' attempts to get the newspaper story corrected. Stephens mentioned Baldwin's remarks in that court case about slavery in relation to the nation's laws, and Stephens also said he wanted to see slavery abolished. That one reporter badly mangled his speech and caused Stephens to become an innocent scapegoat for the South.
The book describes Stephens' daily life in the prison, his visitors, and his thoughts on a variety of weighty subjects. His clarity of mind and high intelligence is very evident throughout the memoirs.
History buffs should get this book, it is great reading.