Where Georgia keeps its history right where it happened.
The Story
The Jefferson Davis Memorial State Historic Site in Irwin County marks the spot where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by U.S. cavalry at dawn on May 10, 1865, ending his month-long flight from Richmond and effectively closing the Civil War in the East. Two Union cavalry units, the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan, converged on Davis's camp in the pine woods and briefly fired on one another by mistake before seizing the president and his party. A United Daughters of the Confederacy granite monument with a bronze bust stands at the capture site, and a Civil War museum built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 interprets the flight; the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
About this site
Jefferson Davis Memorial State Historic Site is a state historic site in Irwin County, Georgia. It is one of 68 historic sites cataloged in Irwin County on Georgia Roam.
The site sits at 31.6840, -83.3870. The nearest cataloged historic site is Irwinville (historical marker), about 1.3 miles away. Others within a short drive include Big Creek Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Jefferson Davis, and Ebenezer Cemetery.
This record is drawn from the Georgia DNR Historic Preservation Division. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
The Jefferson Davis Memorial State Historic Site in Irwin County marks the spot where Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured by U.S. cavalry at dawn on May 10, 1865, ending his month-long flight from Richmond and effectively closing the Civil War in the East. Two Union cavalry units, the 1st Wisconsin and 4th Michigan, converged on Davis's camp in the pine woods and briefly fired on one another by mistake before seizing the president and his party. A United Daughters of the Confederacy granite monument with a bronze bust stands at the capture site, and a Civil War museum built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 interprets the flight; the property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
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