May 10, 1865

Michiganders captured Jefferson Davis.

Fleeing the U.S. government, Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederacy, was captured by members of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry near Irwinsville, Georgia. Colonel Benjamin Pritchard, a University of Michigan graduate from Allegan, Michigan, led the battle-hardened veterans of the Fourth. Pritchard transported Davis to Fort Monroe, Virginia, where he remained imprisoned for two years. The Fourth was mustered out of the federal service and came home. Several years later, they received part of the $100,000 reward that had been posted for Davis’s capture.

Thank you Michigan Start Pages for this glimpse into our past.  See more here.