Flight Into Oblivion

Book excerpt: A well-researched and exciting tale of the flight of the Confederate Cabinet after the Southern defeat at the end of American Civil War, this book broke new ground, uncovered many new facts and was firmly established Alfred Jackson Hanna as a historical scholar. Hanna begins with General Lee’s fatal telegram and the hasty exodus of Jefferson Davis and high officials to Danville, then Greensboro and Charlotte. From there the Confederate Cabinet dispersed, and the author follows each man’s adventurous course in detail. Most of the fugitives headed for the pine barrens and scrub lands of Florida but were soon apprehended. Only John C. Breckinridge and Judah P. Benjamin successfully escaped, outwitting Federal officials and pirates along their way to Cuba. A classic work that makes for fabulous, spirited reading, Flight Into Oblivion, first published in 1938, soars once again.