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Jefferson Davis |
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Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as President of the Confederate States of America for its entire history from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. During his presidency, Davis was never able to find a strategy that would defeat the larger, more industrially developed Union. Davis's insistence on independence even in the face of crushing defeat prolonged the war, and while not exactly disgraced, he was displaced in Southern affection after the war by the leading general, Robert E. Lee. After Davis was captured in 1865, he was charged for treason and had his U.S citizenship taken away. Davis regained his citizenship in 1978, 90 years after his death. A West Point graduate, Davis prided himself on the military skills he gained in the Mexican-American War as a colonel of a volunteer regiment, and as U.S. Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce. Early life and military careerDavis was born in what was then Christian County, Kentucky, near what is now the small town of Fairview, in Todd County, Kentucky home to the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site. Davis himself was unsure of his exact birth year. He wrote: "There has been some controversy about the year of my incarnation among the older members of my family, and I am not a competent witness in the case, having once supposed the year to have been 1807, I was subsequently corrected by being informed it was 1808, and have rested upon that point because it was just as good, and no better than another."[1]Davis was the youngest of the ten children of Samuel Emory Davis and his wife Jane Cook. The younger Davis' grandfather immigrated from Wales and had once lived in Virginia and Maryland. His father, along with his uncles, had served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War; he fought with the Georgia cavalry and fought in the Siege of Savannah as an infantry officer. Also, three of his older brothers served during the War of 1812. Two of them served under Andrew Jackson and received commendation for bravery in the Battle of New Orleans. During Davis' youth, the family moved twice; in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi. In 1813, Davis began his education together with his sister Mary, attending a log cabin school a mile from their home. Two years later, Davis entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, a school operated by the Dominican Order in Washington County, Kentucky. At the time, he was the only Protestant student. Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi, in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1821. In 1824, Davis entered the United States Military Academy (West Point).[2] He completed his four-year term as a West Point cadet, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in June 1828 following graduation. Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin. His first assignment, in 1829, was to supervise the cutting of timber on the banks of the Red Cedar River for the repair and enlargement of the fort. Later the same year, he was reassigned to Fort Winnebago. While supervising the construction and management of a sawmill in the Yellow River in 1831, he contracted pneumonia, causing him to return to Fort Crawford. ) First wife, Sarah Knox Taylor ) Second wife, Varina Howell ) Jefferson Davis and Varina Howell on their wedding day, 1845. Marriage plantation life, and early political careerDavis fell in love with Colonel Taylor's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor. Her father did not approve of the match, so Davis resigned his commission and married Miss Taylor on June 17, 1835, at the house of her aunt near Louisville, Kentucky. The marriage, however, proved to be short. While visiting Davis' oldest sister near Saint Francisville, Louisiana, both newlyweds contracted malaria, and Davis' wife died three months after the wedding on September 15, 1835. In 1836, he moved to Brierfield Plantation in Warren County, Mississippi. For the next eight years, Davis was a recluse, studying government and history, and engaging in private political discussions with his brother Joseph.[3]The year 1844 saw Davis' first political success, as he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, taking office on March 4 of the following year. In 1845, Davis married Varina Howell, the granddaughter of late New Jersey Governor Richard Howell whom he met the year before, at her home in Natchez, Mississippi. There is a portrait of Mrs Jefferson Davis in old age at the Jefferson Davis Shrine in Biloxi, Mississippi, painted by Adolfo Müller-Ury (1862-1947) in 1895 and dubbed 'Widow of the Confederacy.' It was exhibited at the Durand-Ruel Galleries in New York in 1897. The Confederate Museum at Richmond, Virginia, possesses Müller-Ury's 1897-8 profile portrait of their daughter Winnie Davis which the artist presented to the Museum in 1918. Second military careerThe year 1846 saw the beginning of the Mexican-American War. He resigned his House seat in June, and raised a volunteer regiment, the Mississippi Rifles, becoming its colonel. On July 21, 1846 they sailed from New Orleans for the Texas coast. Davis armed the regiment with percussion rifles and trained the regiment in their use, making it particularly effective in combat.In September of the same year, he participated in the successful siege of Monterrey, Mexico. He fought bravely at the Battle of Buena Vista on February 22, 1847, and was shot in the foot, being carried to safety by Robert H. Chilton. In recognition of Davis's bravery and initiative, commanding general Zachary Taylor is reputed to have said, "My daughter, sir, was a better judge of men than I was."[3] President James K. Polk offered him a Federal commission as a brigadier general and command of a brigade of militia. He declined the appointment, arguing that the United States Constitution gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, and not to the Federal government. Return to politicsSenatorBecause of his war service, the Governor of Mississippi appointed Davis to fill out the Senate term of the late Jesse Speight. He took his seat 5 December, 1847, and was elected to serve the remainder of his term in January 1848. In addition, the Smithsonian Institution appointed him a regent at the end of December 1847.) Portrait of Jefferson Davis by Daniel Huntington. Left without political office, Davis continued his political activity. He took part in a convention on states' rights, held at Jackson, Mississippi in January 1852. In the weeks leading up to the presidential election of 1852, he campaigned in numerous Southern states for Democratic candidates Franklin Pierce and William R. King. Secretary of WarPierce won the election and, in 1853, made Davis his Secretary of War.[4] In this capacity, Davis gave to Congress four annual reports (in December of each year), as well as an elaborate one (submitted on February 22, 1855) on various routes for the proposed Transcontinental Railroad. The Pierce Administration ended in 1857. The President lost the Democratic nomination, which went instead to James Buchanan. Davis' term was to end with Pierce's, so he ran successfully for the Senate, and re-entered it on March 4, 1857.Return to SenateHis renewed service in the Senate was interrupted by an illness that threatened him with the loss of his left eye. Still nominally serving in the Senate, Davis spent the summer of 1858 in Portland, Maine. On the Fourth of July, he delivered an anti-secessionist speech on board a ship near Boston. He again urged the preservation of the Union on October 11 in Faneuil Hall, Boston, and returned to the Senate soon after.On February 2, 1860, as secessionist clamor in the South grew ever louder, Davis submitted six resolutions in an attempt to consolidate opinion regarding states' rights, including the right to maintain slavery in the South, and to further his own position on the issue. Abraham Lincoln won the presidency that November. Matters came to a head, and South Carolina seceded from the Union. Though an opponent of secession in principle, Davis upheld it in practice on January 10, 1861. On January 21, 1861, he announced the secession of Mississippi, delivered a farewell address, and resigned from the Senate. President of the Confederate States 1861-1865) Third Confederate National Flag ) Jefferson Davis being sworn in as President of the Confederate States of America on February 18, 1861 on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol. ) Confederate postage stamp featuring President Jefferson Davis. In August 1863, Davis declined General Lee's offer of resignation after his defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg. As Confederate military fortunes turned for the worse in 1864, he visited Georgia with the intent of raising morale. On April 3, 1865, with Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant poised to capture Richmond, Davis escaped for Danville, Virginia, together with the Confederate Cabinet, leaving on the Richmond and Danville Railroad. He issued his last official proclamation as President of the Confederacy, and then went south to Greensboro, North Carolina. President Jefferson Davis met with his Confederate Cabinet for the last time on May 5, 1865 in Washington, Georgia, and the Confederate Government was officially dissolved. The meeting took place at the Heard house, the Georgia Branch Bank Building, with fourteen officials present. On May 10, he was captured at Irwinville, Georgia. After being captured, he was held as a prisoner for two years in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Administration and Cabinet) The original Confederate Cabinet. L-R: Judah P. Benjamin, Stephen Mallory, Christopher Memminger, Alexander Stephens, LeRoy Pope Walker, Jefferson Davis, John H. Reagan and Robert Toombs.
Imprisonment and retirement) Jefferson Davis at his home c.1885 The next year, after imprisonment of two years, he was released on bail which was posted by prominent citizens of both northern and southern states, including Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Gerrit Smith, who, as a member of the Secret Six, had earlier supported John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. Davis visited Canada, Cuba and Europe. In December 1868, the court rejected a motion to nullify the indictment, but the prosecution dropped the case in February 1869. In 1869 Davis became president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company in Memphis, Tennessee. Upon Robert E. Lee's death in 1870, Davis presided over the memorial meeting in Richmond, Virginia. Elected to the U.S. Senate again, he was refused the office in 1875, having been barred from Federal office by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also turned down the opportunity to become the first president of The Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas, which is now Texas A&M University. In 1876, he promoted a society for the stimulation of U.S. trade with South America. Davis visited England the next year, returning in 1878 to Beauvoir. Over the next three years there, Davis wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Having completed that book, he visited Europe again, and traveled to Alabama and Georgia the following year. He completed A Short History of the Confederate States of America in October 1889. Two months later, Davis died in New Orleans of unestablished cause at the age of eighty-one. His funeral was one of the largest ever staged in the South and ran a continuous march from New Orleans to Richmond, Virginia, day and night. He is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond. )
Legacy
Notes1. ^ The Papers of Jefferson Davis, 1:lxv-lxvi. Haskell M. Monroe, Jr., and James T. McIntosh, ed. 1971. 2. ^ Hamilton, Holman (1978). "Jefferson Davis Before His Presidency", The Three Kentucky Presidents. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813102464. 3. ^ DAVIS, Jefferson, (1808 - 1889). United States Congress. Retrieved on 2007-01-14. 4. ^ (1992) "Davis, Jefferson", in Kleber, John E.: The Kentucky Encyclopedia, Associate editors: Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter, Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813117720. ReferencesPrimary sources
Secondary sources
External links
Alexander Hamilton Stephens (February 11, 1812 – March 4, 1883) was Vice President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He also served as a congressman from Georgia and as Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883. ..... Click the link for more information. United States of America This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the United States Federal government Constitution Taxation President Vice President Cabinet Congress Senate ..... Click the link for more information. Sarah Knox "Knoxie" Taylor (June 3, 1814 in Vincennes, Indiana - September 15, 1835 in St. Francisville, Louisiana) was the daughter of General Zachary Taylor, later President of the United States, and Margaret Taylor. ..... Click the link for more information. Varina Howell Davis (May 7, 1826 – October 16, 1906) was an American author who was best-known as the First Lady of the Confederate States of America, second wife of CSA President Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), during the Confederate War. ..... Click the link for more information. A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ..... Click the link for more information. The Episcopal Church is the official name of the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States.[1][2][3][4] The Church was organized shortly after the American Revolution and became the first autonomous Anglican province outside ..... Click the link for more information. June 3 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events..... Click the link for more information. 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1770s 1780s 1790s - 1800s - 1810s 1820s 1830s 1805 1806 1807 - 1808 - 1809 1810 1811 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. December 6 is the 1st day of the year (2nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 0 days remaining. Events..... Click the link for more information. 19th century - 20th century 1850s 1860s 1870s - 1880s - 1890s 1900s 1910s 1886 1887 1888 - 1889 - 1890 1891 1892 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. Motto "In God We Trust" (since 1956) "E Pluribus Unum" ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional) Anthem ..... Click the link for more information. The Confederate States of America (also called the Confederacy, the Confederate States, and CSA) was the government formed by eleven southern states of the United States of America between 1861 and 1865. ..... Click the link for more information. 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1830s 1840s 1850s - 1860s - 1870s 1880s 1890s 1858 1859 1860 - 1861 - 1862 1863 1864 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1830s 1840s 1850s - 1860s - 1870s 1880s 1890s 1862 1863 1864 - 1865 - 1866 1867 1868 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. American Civil War (1861–1865) was a major war between the United States (the "Union") and eleven Southern slave states which declared that they had a right to secession and formed the Confederate States of America, led by President Jefferson Davis. ..... Click the link for more information. Union was a name used to refer to the United States, the twenty-three Northern states that were not part of the seceding Confederacy. OverviewBecause the term had been used prior to the war to refer to the entire United States (a "union of states"), using it to apply to..... Click the link for more information. The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States. ..... Click the link for more information. Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a career U.S. Army officer and the most celebrated general of the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. Lee was the son of Maj. Gen. ..... Click the link for more information. Crimes Classes of crime Infraction · Misdemeanor · Felony Summary · Indictable · Hybrid Against the person Assault · Battery Extortion · Harassment ..... Click the link for more information. United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, West Point or, for collegiate athletic purposes, Army) is a United States Army post and service academy. West Point was first a military post that was briefly under the command of Benedict Arnold[1]. ..... Click the link for more information. Mexican-American War[1] was an armed military conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas. Mexico did not recognize the secession of Texas in 1836; it considered Texas a rebel province. ..... Click the link for more information. The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. The Secretary of War led the War Department. At first, he was responsible for all military affairs. ..... Click the link for more information. Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804 – October 8, 1869) was an American politician and the fourteenth President of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He is to date the only president from New Hampshire and was the first president born in the nineteenth century. ..... Click the link for more information. Christian County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was formed in 1797. As of 2000, the population was 72,265. Its county seat is Hopkinsville, Kentucky6. ..... Click the link for more information. Todd County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population is 11,971. Its county seat is Elkton6. The county is named after John Todd an early frontier military figure. [1] GeographyAccording to the U.S...... Click the link for more information. The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site is a Kentucky State Park preserving the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. It is located in Fairview, Kentucky, in Todd County, nine miles east of Hopkinsville along U.S. Highway 68. ..... Click the link for more information. 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1770s 1780s 1790s - 1800s - 1810s 1820s 1830s 1804 1805 1806 - 1807 - 1808 1809 1810 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. 18th century - 19th century - 20th century 1770s 1780s 1790s - 1800s - 1810s 1820s 1830s 1805 1806 1807 - 1808 - 1809 1810 1811 : Subjects: Archaeology - Architecture - ..... Click the link for more information. Motto Cymru am byth (Welsh) "Wales forever" Anthem "Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" ..... Click the link for more information. Commonwealth of Virginia Flag of Virginia Seal Nickname(s): Old Dominion, Mother of Presidents Motto(s): Sic semper tyrannis Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city ..... Click the link for more information. 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at the Marriott Crystal Gateway Hotel, 1700 Jefferson Davis Hwy. The three shared half of a small, bright yellow duplex on Mary Street in Prentiss, Mississippi, a depressed town of 1,000 people in Jefferson Davis County, about halfway between Jackson and the Gulf Coast. Louisiana: The parishes of Acadia, Ascension, Assumption, Calcasieu, Cameron, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberia, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Lafayette, Lafourche, Livingston, Orleans, Plaquemines, Pointe Coupee, St. |
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Jefferson Davis