The war is over; the South is conquered;

I have no longer any country but America,

and it is for the honor of America, as for my own honor and life,

that I plead against this degradation. Kill me!

Kill me, rather than inflict on me,

and on my people through me, this insult worse than death.

 

 

—Jefferson Davis

Protesting being shackled at Fortress Monroe, Virginia

May 23, 1865