Chapter XXX: The Government Yields Its Prisoner

Old Friends and New—Mme. Le Vert and Other Famous Personages
Return to the Capital—General Lee is Lionised—I Secure the
Liberty of the Fort for My Husband, and Indulge in a Little
Recreation—I Visit the Studio of Vinnie Reames and the
Confederate Fair at Baltimore—I Return to Washington and Resume
My Pleadings with the President—Mr. Mallory, Admiral Semmes, and
Alexander Stephens Are Released—Mr. Mallory and Judge Black
Counsel Me to Take Out the Writ of Habeas Corpus—The Release
Papers Are Promised—I Visit the Executive Mansion to Claim Them
and at Last Receive Them—“You Are Released!”—Congratulations Are
Offered—The Context of Some of These—“God Has Decreed That No
Lie Shall Live Forever”—We Turn Our Faces Once More to the
Purple Mountains of Alabama 367

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

MRS. CLAY, of Alabama _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

MRS. BENJAMIN FITZPATRICK, of Alabama 26

ADELINA PATTI, aged sixteen 38

MRS. ROGER A. PRYOR, of Virginia 44

MRS. GEORGE E. PUGH (THÉRÈSE CHALFANT), of Ohio. “The
most beautiful woman in Washington” 46

FRANKLIN PIERCE, President of the United States,
1853–’57 60

MRS. WILLIAM L. MARCY, of New York 62

MRS. J. J. CRITTENDEN, of Kentucky 84

MRS. CHESTNUT, of South Carolina 94

JENNY LIND 102

JAMES BUCHANAN, President of the United States, 1857–’61 108

MISS HARRIET LANE, mistress of the White House, 1857–’61 114

LADY NAPIER AND HER SONS 116

MRS. JEFFERSON DAVIS, of Mississippi 134

LORD LYONS, British Ambassador to the United States 140

CLEMENT C. CLAY, JR., United States Senator, 1853–’61 148

L. Q. C. LAMAR, 1862 164

MRS. PHILIP PHILLIPS, of Washington, D. C. 166

SENATOR JAMES H. HAMMOND, of South Carolina 212

GENERAL JOSEPH WHEELER, of Alabama 232

DR. HENRY C. VOGELL, Fortress Monroe, 1866 334

DR. GEORGE COOPER, Fortress Monroe, 1866 350

MRS. A. S. PARKER, of Washington, D. C. 368

JEFFERSON DAVIS and CLEMENT C. CLAY, JR. (after release
from Fortress Monroe) 374

A BELLE OF THE FIFTIES