1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis

Victor Vifquain's memoir is an engaging, firsthand account of a bold attempt to kidnap the president of the Confederate States of America. Archived for nearly a century, the chronicle of this previously unknown and daring plot has been brought to light by historians Jeffrey H. Smith, Vifquain's great-great grandson, and Phillip Thomas Tucker in a meticulously edited and annotated volume. The plot to ride into Richmond and capture Jefferson Davis was concocted by three brash adventurers, who, using pseudonyms from The Three Musketeers, were soon involved in escapades worthy of Dumas's trio. This stunning story provides a fresh perspective on Richmond during the Civil War and a personal account of a scheme devised to bring an early end to the war. Victor Vifquain (1836-1904) was born in Belgium. His family was among the first European settlers in the Nebraska Territory. Vifquain was awarded the nation's highest military honor for his valor in the Civil War. Jeffrey H. Smith is a professor of history at Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska, and is the author of "A Frenchman Fights for the Union: Victor Vifquain and the 97th Illinois". Phillip Thomas Tucker is a historian at the Air Force History Office in Washington DC. He is the author of several books on the Civil War, including "The Confederacy's Fighting Chaplain", winner of the Douglas Southall Freeman Award.