US statesman and soldier, president of the Confederate States during the Civil War (18615), born in Fairview, Kentucky, USA. He trained at West Point (1828) and served on the frontier for seven years. Shattered by the death of his wife of three months (the daughter of Zachary Taylor), he secluded himself on his Mississippi plantation, later marrying Varina Howell (1845).
He served in the US House of Representatives (Mississipi, Democrat, 18456), but resigned to volunteer for service in the Mexican War and was credited with securing the victory at Buena Vista. He returned to serve in the US Senate (184751) and then as US secretary of war (18537). Back in the US Senate (185761), he resigned when Mississippi seceded from the Union. Expecting to be given command of the Confederate armies, he was instead chosen president of the Confederate government (provisional, 18612; elected, 18625). He drew much criticism for intervening in the military's policies and for assuming near-dictatorial executive powers, and his intolerance of disagreement, inability to build a national consensus, and failure to select quality subordinates further handicapped his effectiveness as a war president.
Nevertheless, historians have judged him the best candidate for a difficult if not impossible job, for he constantly found himself opposed by Southerners who embraced extreme states' rights positions. He fled the capital, Richmond, rather than surrender, but was captured in Georgia (10 May 1865), and after two years' imprisonment (the first months in shackles), he was released without trial. He retired to his Mississippi plantation, travelled briefly in Europe, and failed at various business ventures. Refusing to request amnesty, he resolutely defended the Southern cause in speeches and books including The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (2 vols, 187881).
Jefferson Davis|
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| President of the Confederate States | |
|---|---|
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In office February 18, 1861 – May 10, 1865 |
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| Vice President(s) | Alexander Stephens |
| Preceded by | None (Creation) |
| Succeeded by | None (Dissolution) |
| 23rd United States Secretary of War | |
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In office March 7, 1853 – March 4, 1857 |
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| Preceded by | Charles Magill Conrad |
| Succeeded by | John Buchanan Floyd |
| Born |
June 3, 1808 Christian County, Kentucky |
| Died |
December 6, 1889 New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Political party | Conservative (Southern) Democrat |
| Spouse |
Sarah Knox Taylor Varina Howell |
| Profession | Politician |
Jefferson Davis (June 3, 1808–December 6, 1889) was an American statesman and advocate for States' Rights.
Before the Civil War, Davis served in the Mississippi Legislature, the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
Early life, education, and military career
Davis was born on a farm in Christian County, Kentucky, near the border with Todd County. (His birthplace is now the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site).
Davis was the last of the ten children of Samuel Emory Davis and his wife Jane. During the War of 1812, three of Davis's brothers fought the British, two of them serving under Andrew Jackson and receiving his commendation for bravery in the Battle of New Orleans.
During Davis's youth, the family moved several times, in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi. 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.
Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky in 1821.
Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin.
The next year, Davis was dispatched to Galena, Illinois at the head of a detachment assigned to remove miners from lands claimed by Native Americans. His first combat assignment was during the Black Hawk War of the same year, after which he was assigned by his colonel, Zachary Taylor, to escort Black Hawk himself to prison at Jefferson Barracks—it is said that the chief liked Davis because of the kind treatment he had shown.
In 1833, Davis was promoted to first lieutenant of the Regiment of Dragoons and made a regimental adjutant. 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 year 1844 saw Davis's first political success, as he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, taking office on March 4 of the following year.
This regiment was of particular note in that Davis armed it with percussion rifles and trained the regiment in their use, making the regiment particularly effective in combat.
Because of his war service, the Governor of Mississippi appointed Davis to fill out the Senate term of the late Jesse Speight.
Return to politics
The Senate made Davis chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He had not served a year when he resigned (in September 1851) to run for the Governorship of Mississippi on the issue of the Compromise of 1850, which Davis opposed.
Left without political office, Davis continued his political activity.
Pierce won the election and made Davis his Secretary of War. 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. Davis's term was to end with Pierce's, so he ran successfully for the Senate, and re-entered it on March 4, 1857.
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.
Though an opponent of secession in principle, Davis upheld it in practice on January 10, 1861.
Leadership of the Confederacy
Four days after his resignation, Davis was commissioned a Major General of Mississippi troops.
In conformity with a resolution of the Confederate Congress, Davis immediately appointed a Peace Commission to resolve the Confederacy's differences with the Union. The government moved to Richmond, Virginia in May, 1861, and Davis and his family took up his residence there at the White House of the Confederacy on May 29.
Davis was elected to a six-year term as president of the Confederacy on November 6, 1861.
In August 1863, Davis declined General Lee's offer of resignation after his defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg.
Davis has received criticism over his conduct of the military affairs of the Confederacy. Davis insisted on a strategy of trying to defend all Southern territory with ostensibly equal effort, which diluted the limited resources of the South and made it vulnerable to coordinated strategic thrusts by the Union into the vital Western Theater, such as the capture of New Orleans. Grant poised to capture Richmond, Davis escaped for Danville, Virginia, together with the Confederate cabinet, leaving on the Richmond and Danville Railroad.
Cabinet
| OFFICE | NAME | TERM |
| President | Jefferson Davis | 25 February 1861–(10 May)1865 |
| Vice President | Alexander Stephens | 25 February 1861–(11 May)1865 |
| Secretary of State | Robert Toombs | 25 February 1861–25 July 1861 |
| Robert M. Hunter | 25 July 1861–22 February 1862 | |
| William M. Browne (acting) | 7 March 1862–18 March 1862 | |
| Judah P. Benjamin | 18 March 1862–May 1865 | |
| Secretary of the Treasury | Christopher Memminger | 25 February 1861–15 June 1864 |
| George Trenholm | 18 July 1864–27 April 1865 | |
| John H. Reagan | 27 April 1865–(10 May)1865 | |
| Secretary of War | Leroy Pope Walker | 25 February 1861–16 September 1861 |
| Judah P. Benjamin | 17 September 1861–24 March 1862 | |
| George W. Randolph | 24 March 1862–15 November 1862 | |
| Gustavus Smith (acting) | 17 November 1862–20 November 1862 | |
| James Seddon | 21 November 1862– 5 February 1865 | |
| John C. Breckinridge | 6 February 1865–May 1865 | |
| Secretary of the Navy | Stephen Mallory | 4 March 1861–(20 May)1865 |
| Postmaster General | John H. Reagan | 6 March 1861–(10 May)1865 |
| Attorney General | Judah P. Benjamin | 25 February 1861–17 September 1861 |
| Wade Keyes (acting) | 17 September 1861–21 November 1861 | |
| Thomas Bragg | 21 November 1861–18 March 1862 | |
| Thomas H. Watts | 18 March 1862– 1 October 1863 | |
| Wade Keyes (acting 2nd time) | 1 October 1863–4 January 1864 | |
| George Davis | 4 January 1864–24 April 1865 | |
Imprisonment and retirement
On May 19, 1865, he was imprisoned in a casemate at Fortress Monroe, on the coast of Virginia.
While in prison Davis arranged to sell his Mississippi estate to one of his former slaves, Ben Montgomery.
In 1869 Davis became president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company in Memphis, Tennessee. Davis visited England the next year, returning in 1878 to Beauvoir (Biloxi, Mississippi). Over the next three years there, Davis wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.
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