The story seems too bizarre to be believed: three men, two former Union officers of French birth and a French viscount, bluff their way through Confederate lines and end up in Richmond with plans to
kidnap Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Yet this tale of intrigue was but one daring episode in the life of Companion Victor Vifquain.
Vifquain was born in Belgium in 1836 to French parents. His father was a cavalry officer under Napoleon Bonaparte, and later a leading engineer. Victor, after visiting the United States as a teenager, attended the Belgian military academy. He served only briefly before returning to America, marrying a woman he had met on his first visit, and settling in Nebraska.
In July 1861, Vifquain showed his devotion to his adopted country by enlisting as a private (soon promoted to 1st Lieutenant and Adjutant) in the 53rd New York Infantry, which consisted largely of French, or American French-speaking, soldiers. He and his friends Capt. Alfred Cipriani and Lt. Armond Duclos served well, but the Regiment was afflicted with discipline and gambling problems. The 53rd was disbanded in early March 1862, leaving Vifquain, Cipriani and Duclos embarrassed and itching for action.
Together the three, and a recent acquaintance, Viscount Maurice de Beaumont (a cousin of Confederate Gen. Prince Camille de Polignac), hatched a daring plan: travel through the Rebel lines to Richmond, commandeer Jefferson Davis’s boat while Davis traveled down the James River to Norfolk on an inspection tour, then continue just past that city to Union-held Fortress Monroe.
They would assume the guise of adventuring French citizens, merely observing life in the wartime South while traveling to visit Gen. de Polignac. (Interestingly, Richmond newspaper accounts from the time state that Vifquain and the others offered their services to the Confederate military; Vifquain apparently never claimed such a story was part of their ruse.) As extra security, de Beaumont carried a personal letter of introduction from the French minister in Washington to the French minister in Richmond.
In a memoir written late in life, Vifquain wrote of the plot (referring to his group in the third person): “Bold undertaking to be sure. They were fully aware of the danger of such an expedition, and indeed had little confidence in the success of their scheme; but they were bent on the ‘frolic…no matter the consequences.. They were well armed and had good pistols and trust swords at their belts and plenty of money in their pockets
They set out from Washington on March 30 1862. In Manassas, Duclos accidentally shot himself in the hand and had to turn back. The other three continued south, avoiding Confederate pickets and purchasing horses from a suspicious farmer (as Vifquain described him, “a most intense Rebel”.) Accosted by Confederate pickets near Fredericksburg, the three were taken to that city and briefly held there. The farmer from whom they had obtained their horses showed up and claimed the horses
had been stolen.
After much initial suspicion, the three mens’ aristocratic bearing, and de Beaumont’s letter of introduction, convinced the Confederate officer in charge to send them to Richmond for further investigation. There, the Provost-Marshall, Gen. John Winder, questioned the men before giving them the run of the city. They eventually lodged quite amiably with a Confederate officer, and socialized with dignitaries including Secretary of State Judah Benjamin.
Military developments, however, intervened. Major Gen. George McClellan’s advancing troops forced the evacuation of Norfolk. The kidnap scheme had been foiled by events beyond the three mens’ control, and they laid plans to leave Richmond. They first rode west, under the cover story they were heading to Nashville, but instead (after several more close calls) entered the Shenandoah Valley and moved north to Union lines and safety – less than two months after leaving on their mission.
In many ways, Vifquain’s fascinating story was just beginning. In June 1862, with a letter of introduction from Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in hand, Vifquain went to Illinois and offered his services. Governor Richard Yates was impressed by the young veteran and made him adjutant of the newly-formed 97th Illinois Infantry. Vifquain showed himself an able officer during Gen. Ulysses Grant’s Vicksburg Campaign of 1862-63 and earned promotion to Major. He led troops at Port Gibson, Champion Hill and elsewhere with notable courage under fire.
Vifquain served thereafter with distinction in Louisiana and Alabama. On April 9 1865, by then Lieutenant-Colonel of the 97th, he received orders to lead that regiment against the formidable defenses of Fort Blakely, near Mobile. In hand-to-hand fighting, Vifquain and his men stormed Redoubt No. 4, raised the flag of the 97th on its parapet, and captured three Confederate flags. Vifquain himself used his sword to cut the lines holding aloft the divisional headquarters flag of Confederate Maj. Gen. Samuel French.
For capture of that flag, and for his outstanding bravery in the overall attack, Vifquain received the Medal of Honor on June 8 1865, and was breveted brigadier-general.
The 97th Illinois was mustered out in August 1865. Vifquain’s adventures continued. He traveled to Ireland briefly in 1867 to serve in the Fenian resistance to British rule. Back home in Nebraska, with a wife and three children, he worked as a land surveyor, pathfinder, and newspaper publisher. He helped establish the town of Orleans. Active in Democratic politics, he ran unsuccessfully for Congress. In 1886, President Grover Cleveland named him an American consulate officer in Colombia, where he negotiated trade disputes, and he later also held diplomatic posts in Panama.
Vifquain joined the Loyal Legion in 1891 as Companion No. 08522. His military days, however, were not yet done. In July 1898, at age 62, Vifquain was commissioned in the 3rd Nebraska Regiment and made plans to serve in the Spanish-American War. He arrived too late for action, but was there to witness the lowering of the Spanish flag at Havana Harbor.
The struggles of the years eventually took their toll on the aging freedom fighter, but his triumphs were not forgotten. After his death on January 7 1904, Vifquain’s horse, with empty saddle and boots reversed in stirrups, led a large throng in procession to his grave in Lincoln’s Calvary Cemetery.
Written by Jeffry C. Burden, Past C-in-C, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS)
This article first appeared in the Loyal Legion Historical Journal, Winter 2022, permission was given to post here.
Sources:
Vifquain, Victor, The 1862 Plot to Kidnap Jefferson Davis (Smith and Tucker, eds), 1998.
Morton, J. Sterling, Illustrated History of Nebraska (1907).
History of Nebraska, https://history.nebraska.gov/publications/vifquain-victor
Richmond Daily Dispatch and Richmond Whig, April and May, 1862, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/