From Abbeville GA, it is a relatively quick 40 minutes drive to Irwinville GA. But in 1865, it was a day's journey for President Jefferson Davis and his escorts as he fled thru south Georgia on his way west after the fall of Richmond. It was in Irwinville on the morning of May 10, 1865 that Davis was captured by Union troops and taken to Fortress Monroe in Virginia where he remained in custody for two years, never charged or tried with any crimes or treason and "his hopes for a new nation in which each state would exercise without interference its cherished Constitutional Rights" dead forever, or perhaps to have a rebirth in a different time and in a different form. The Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park is in Irwinville GA. The park commemorates the spot where Davis was captured that fateful morning. The park is a terrific memorial site which has a museum with artifacts including period weapons, historic flags and interpretive displays as well as a picnic pavilion with restrooms and a playground for the kids. Two additional historic markers are positioned in front of the museum and down a slight hill in the midst of a few trees, a monument is found with a beautiful bronze bust atop it and a flagpole with the Stainless Banner flying adjacent to it. A somber sad place for reflection on the end of the great promise of the Confederate States of America.
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Historical Marker in Front of the Museum at the Jefferson Davis Memorial State Park In Irwinville GA
Monument with Bronze Bust of Jefferson Davis and the Stainless Banner
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