Jefferson
Davis (1808-1889)
Jefferson
Davis was a famous soldier and politician. He is
best known for serving as the president of the Confederacy
from 1861-1865. He was the Confederacy's only president.
Jefferson
Davis was born in Christian County, Kentucky on
June 3, 1808. He was the youngest of ten children.
In 1818, Davis attended Jefferson College in Mississippi,
before transferring to Transylvania University in
Lexington, Kentucky. In 1824, Davis entered the
United States Military Academy and was commissioned
as a second lieutenant in 1828.
The
next fifteen years of Davis' life were rather uneventful.
In 1844, however, he was elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives. In 1845, Davis married Varina
Howell. After fighting bravely in the Mexican War,
in particular, at the Siege of Monterrey, Davis
was appointed acting Senator of Mississippi when
Senator Jesse Spright died suddenly in 1847. Soon
after, the Senate made Davis Chairman of the Committee
on Military Affairs. Davis, however, resigned his
seat in the Senate and ran for Governor of Mississippi
in 1851. He was defeated by Henry Stuart Foote by
999 votes.
Left
without political office, Jefferson Davis campaigned
strongly for Franklin Pierce's bid for the presidency.
Davis and Pierce shared a strong view that the Federal
Government should not interfere with the states
rights. Pierce was elected as America's 14th president
and made Jefferson Davis his Secretary of War. Although
Pierce served only one term as president, Davis
successfully re-entered the Senate in 1857.
As
talk of secession ruminated throughout the southern
states concerning the issues of states rights and
slavery, Davis urged preservation of the Union.
Nevertheless, with the election of Abraham Lincoln
as president (a slavery opponent), South Carolina
officially seceded from the Union. Though he was
fundamentally against secession, Jefferson Davis
then announced the secession of Mississippi from
the Union, and resigned from the Senate.
Four
days after announcing secession, Davis was commissioned
Major General of Mississippi troops in the Confederate
Army. On February 9, 1861, Davis was made provisional
president of the Confederacy. Davis and his family
then took up residence at the White House of the
Confederacy at Richmond, Virginia in May of 1861.
Davis was elected to a six-year term, and promptly
put General Robert E. Lee in command of the Confederate
Army.
After
initial success in the Civil War, it soon became
clear that the Confederacy was at a major disadvantage.
In July of 1863, after The Confederate defeat at
the Battle of Gettysburg, Davis refused Lee's offer
to surrender to Union forces. Most scholars believe
that Davis' leadership was poor during the Civil
War. He was responsible for the idea that all lands
in the southern territory should be defended with
equal strength and firepower. This theory played
directly into the hands of the Union army, which
was able to coordinate efforts to strike lethal
blows at crucial southern locations. Davis is also
blamed for allowing Confederate generals to invade
hostile northern territory, while essential ports
along the Confederate portion of the Mississippi
River were falling into Union hands. Davis was also
seemingly poor at handling his generals and judging
their competence.
As
the Confederacy fell, Davis escaped to Danville,
Virginia. While trying to flee to Meridian, Mississippi,
Davis was captured and imprisoned along the Virginia
coast. He was indicted for Treason in 1866, but
was released from jail after bail was posted by
prominent politicians. In 1870, Davis became president
of the Carolina Life Insurance Company. After writing
several books about the Confederacy, Davis died
in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 81 in 1889.
