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When someone mentions the name Jefferson Davis, almost everyone knows he was the one and only President of the Confederacy from 1861 to 1865 during the Civil War. What most people do not know is that while he was a staunch supporter of state rights and the South, he was a strong advocate of the United States in his early life. At the age of 16, President James Monroe (5th President of U.S.), recommended him for his appointment at West Point. Upon graduating from West Point in 1828, Jefferson Davis joined the military and fought in the Black Hawk War of 1831.
In June of 1835, Davis married his commanding officer's daugher, Sarah Knox Taylor. His commanding officer would become the future 12th president of the United States, Zachary Taylor. Taylor was opposed to the marriage as he did not want his daughter marrying a military man; Davis abruptly resigned his military post to take of civic duties prior to the wedding. Sadly, Sarah died of malaria just three months after the wedding!
Jefferson returned to Mississippi where he became a cotton farmer and began his political career. In 1844 he was a presidential elector and he cast his vote for James K. Polk, a Tennessean and the 11th President of the United States. In 1845, he won election to the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi and he married Varina Banks Howell, an 18 year old daughter of a Mississippi planter. They would go on to have six children.
In June of 1846, Jefferson Davis resigned his position in Congress to fight in the Mexican-American War where he held the rank of colonel under his former father-in-law, General Zachary Taylor. He led his men to victory in the Battle of Monterrey and he was injured at the Battle of Buena Vista when he blocked a charge of Mexican swords--the incident earned him nationwide support. General Taylor was so impressed that he admitted that he has misjudged Davis's character... he said that "My daughter, sir, was a better judge of man than I was". Zachery Taylor would become the 12th President of the U.S. in March 1949 but would only serve for 16 months as he became suddenly ill in July of 1850 and died. Millard Fillmore then became the 13th President of the U.S.
Jefferson Davis became a Senator representing Mississippi in 1847-1851 and again in 1857-1861. In 1853, he served as the Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce (14th U.S. President). One of Davis's most outstanding accomplishments during his tenure as a U.S. senator was his strong support and advocacy for the expansion of the U.S. Capital building in Washington.
Jefferson Davis remained in the Senate until January 1861 when he resigned when Mississippi left the Union; he was named president of the Confederate States of America (CSA) on February 18, 1861 and the rest is history. After the surrender by General Lee to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia on April 9th, Jefferson Davis was captured by Union forces in Georgia on May 10, 1865 and charged with treason. Davis was imprisioned at Fort Monroe in Virginia for two years from May 22, 1865 to May 13, 1867.
Coincidentally, President Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 and died the next morning ... making Andrew Johnson, a Tennesean the next U.S. President. Andrew Johnson was partial to rebuilding the South during Reconstruction and he fell out of favor with the northern victors of the Civil War and was impeached by the House of Representatives and came within ONE vote of ultimately being impeached by the Senate. While some wanted to try Jefferson Davis for treason, many feared that he would become a martyr if convicted. On May 13, 1867, bail was set at $100,000 and bond was immediately posted by the abolitionist Horace Greely; a representative of Cornelius Vanderbilt; and a number of Richmond businessmen. Ultimately, he would never stand trial, the indictment was dismissed as were indictments against thirty-seven ex-confederates including Robert E. Lee. On October 17, 1978, a Joint resolution was passed by Congress and signed into law by Jimmy Carter restoring Davis' citizenship, effective December 25, 1868!
Jefferson Davis on $50 Confederate Bill
After his release from prison, he lived in Canada for a while and later took a job in Memphis as the head of the Carolina Insurance Company for $12,000 a year. Pictured on the right is the home where he lived from 1867-1878. The building was demolished in 1930. His 21 year-old son, Jefferson Davis, Jr. died of yellow fever in 1878 and they left Memphis for an estate called Beauvoir in Biloxi, Mississippi.
One of the little-known tragedies of Jefferson Davis’ life was that he survived all four of his sons. You can read about it here ... The Sons of Jefferson Davis
In 1881, he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government in an effort to defend his political stance.
He died on December 6, 1889 while on a trip to New Orleans. He was buried in New Orleans on December 11th before an estimated 200,000 people who viewed his casket. In 1893, his body was moved to Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy.
Primary Sources : The Papers of Jefferson Davis - Rice University, Houston, TX
Jefferson Davis Chair from his Beauvoir Home
Jefferson Davis was a friend and guest of the Polk family (Mecklenburg Place) and John H. Bills (The Pillars) in Bolivar, Tennessee. After the war, he spent eleven years in Memphis. This chair can be seen at the Little Courthouse Museum in Bolivar, Tennessee. It was in the study of Beauvoir, the last home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After his death in 1889, Varina Davis gifted the chair to Mrs. Octavia Polk Brooks of Hardeman County in gratitude for championing the release of Davis from prison after the Civil War.
Gothic Revival (1840-1865) was a popular style for furniture and architecture not only used for home furnishings but also popular for church furniture.
Beauvoir Home in Biloxi
Library Cottage at Beauvoir (Jefferson Davis On the Porch)
Both photos from the late 1880s and courtesy of Beauvoir
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