John C. Breckinridge - Escape and Exile

Escape and Exile

Breckinridge continued to try to persuade Davis that further resistance would only lead to greater loss of life, but he also felt honor bound to protect the President from harm. Eventually, the two became separated in the confusion of the journey. After learning of Davis's capture, which left him as the highest-ranking former Confederate official still at large, he decided to concentrate on escaping himself. Previously accompanied by 45 men, he left most of them, including his son Cabell, in Madison, Florida, and continued his flight with only a military aide and a personal servant. On May 15, 1865, he was joined by John Taylor Wood, and the group reached the Indian River by May 31. Dragging their small boat across the river's mudflats and sandbars, they were spotted by a federal steamer, but convinced the crew they were hunters scavenging the coast. Two days later, they captured a larger boat from fellow river travelers.

After capturing the larger boat, Breckinridge and his companions decided to flee to Cuba. Departing from Fort Dallas, they survived an encounter with pirates, two significant storms, and a dangerous lack of provisions before arriving at Cardevas on June 11, 1865. The residents escorted them the 75 miles (121 km) to Havana, where Breckinridge was offered a house. He declined the offer, choosing to travel with Charles J. Helm, a fellow Kentuckian who had been operating as a Confederate agent in the Caribbean, to Great Britain. Shortly after arriving, he re-crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reunite with his wife and his sons Owen and Frances in Canada. They returned to Britain on August 21, 1865.

While in Europe, Breckinridge visited Turkey, Egypt, and the Holy Land. Desiring to return to the U.S. but still fearing capture, Breckinridge moved his family to Toronto in June 1868. Later, they settled in a house in Niagara that was within sight of the U.S. border. Although he refused to seek a pardon for himself, 70 members of the Kentucky General Assembly requested one on his behalf from President Andrew Johnson on February 10, 1866. On January 8, 1868, the Louisville City Council instructed the state's congressional delegation to seek assurance that Breckinridge would not be prosecuted on his return. James Beck, Breckinridge's old law partner, was then in Congress and wrote to him on December 11, 1868, that it appeared likely that Johnson would issue a general pardon for all former Confederates; he advised Breckinridge to return to the U.S. prior to the pardon being issued because he feared it might only apply to those in the country.