Jefferson Davis

This article is about the president of the Confederate States. For the governor of Arkansas, see Jeff Davis (Arkansas governor). For other uses, see Jefferson Davis (disambiguation).

Jefferson Davis
Photograph by Mathew Brady, c. 1859
President of the Confederate States
In office February 22, 1862 – May 5, 1865 Provisional: February 18, 1861 – February 22, 1862
Vice President	Alexander H. Stephens
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Office abolished
United States Senator from Mississippi
In office March 4, 1857 – January 21, 1861
Preceded by	Stephen Adams
Succeeded by	Adelbert Ames (1870)
In office August 10, 1847 – September 23, 1851
Preceded by	Jesse Speight
Succeeded by	John J. McRae
23rd United States Secretary of War
In office March 7, 1853 – March 4, 1857
President	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Charles Conrad
Succeeded by	John B. Floyd
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Mississippi's at-large district
In office December 8, 1845 – October 28, 1846 Seat D
Preceded by	Tilghman Tucker
Succeeded by	Henry T. Ellett
Personal details
Born	Jefferson Finis Davis (1808-06-03)June 3, 1808 Fairview, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	December 6, 1889(1889-12-06) (aged 81) New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Resting place	Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Other political affiliations	Southern Rights
Spouses	Sarah Knox Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1835; died 1835)​ Varina Howell ​ (m. 1845)​
Children	6, including Varina
Education	United States Military Academy (BS)
Signature
Website	Presidential Library
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army United States Volunteers
Years of service	1825–1835 1846–1847
Rank	First lieutenant Colonel
Unit	1st U.S. Dragoons
Commands	1st Mississippi Rifles
Battles/wars	American Indian Wars Black Hawk War Mexican-American War Battle of Monterrey Battle of Buena Vista (WIA)

Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American politician who was the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party before the American Civil War. He had previously served as the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce.

Davis, the youngest of ten children, was born in Fairview, Kentucky to a moderately prosperous farmer couple. He grew up in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, and also lived in Louisiana. His eldest brother Joseph Emory Davis secured the younger Davis's appointment to the United States Military Academy. After graduating, Jefferson Davis served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. He fought in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. Before the American Civil War, he operated in Mississippi a large cotton plantation which his brother Joseph had given him, and owned as many as 113 slaves. Although Davis argued against secession in 1858, he believed the states had an unquestionable right to leave the Union.

Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of general and future President Zachary Taylor, in 1835, when he was 27 years old. They were both soon stricken with malaria, and Sarah died after three months of marriage. Davis recovered slowly and suffered from recurring bouts of the disease throughout the rest of his life. At the age of 36, Davis married again, to 18-year-old Varina Howell, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, who had been educated in Philadelphia and had some family ties in the North. They had six children. Only two survived him, and only one married and had children.

Many historians attribute some of the Confederacy's weaknesses to Davis's poor leadership. His preoccupation with detail, reluctance to delegate responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with powerful state governors and generals, favoritism toward old friends, inability to get along with people who disagreed with him, neglect of civil matters in favor of military ones, and resistance to public opinion all worked against him. Historians agree he was a much less effective war leader than his Union counterpart, President Abraham Lincoln. After Davis was captured in 1865, he was accused of treason and imprisoned at Fort Monroe in Hampton, Virginia. He was never tried and was released after two years. While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Robert E. Lee. Davis wrote a memoir entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union. Ex-Confederates came to appreciate his role in the war, seeing him as a Southern patriot. He became a hero of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause of the Confederacy in the post-Reconstruction South.

Early life

Birth and family background

Jefferson F. Davis was born at the family homestead in Fairview, Kentucky on June 3, 1808. Davis, who was named after then-incumbent President Thomas Jefferson, was the youngest of ten children born to Jane (née Cook) and Samuel Emory Davis. Samuel Davis's father, Evan, who had a Welsh background, came to the colony of Georgia from Philadelphia. Samuel served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, and for his service received a land grant near what would become Washington, Georgia. He married Jane Cook in 1783, a woman of Scots-Irish descent whom he had met in South Carolina during his military service. Around 1793, Samuel and Jane moved to Kentucky. When Jefferson was born, the family was living in Davisburg, a village Samuel had established that later became Fairview.

Early education

In 1810, the Davis family moved to Bayou Teche. Less than a year later, they moved to a farm near Woodville, Mississippi, where Samuel began cultivating cotton and gradually increased the number of slaves he owned from six in 1810 to twelve. He worked in the fields with his slaves, and eventually built a fine house, which Jane called Rosemont. During the War of 1812, three of Davis's brothers went off to serve in the military. When Davis was around five, he received a rudimentary education at a small schoolhouse near Woodville. When he was about eight, his father sent him away with a party consisting of Major Thomas Hinds and his relatives to attend Saint Thomas College, a Catholic preparatory school run by Dominicans near Springfield, Kentucky. In 1818, Davis returned to Mississippi, where he briefly studied at Jefferson College in Washington. He then attended the Wilkinson County Academy near Woodville for five years. In 1823, Davis attended Transylvania University in Lexington. While he was still in college in 1824, he learned that his father Samuel had died. Before his death, Samuel had been in debt and had sold Rosemont and his slaves to his eldest son Joseph Emory Davis, who already owned a large plantation along the Mississippi River in Davis Bend, Mississippi.

West Point and early military career

Davis's oldest brother Joseph, who was 23 years older than him, took on the role of being his surrogate father. Joseph got Davis appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1824. He became friends with his classmates, Albert Sidney Johnson and Leonidas Polk. During his time there, he frequently challenged the academy's discipline. In his first year, he was court-martialed for drinking at a nearby tavern; he was found guilty but was pardoned. In the following year, Davis was placed under house arrest for his role in the Eggnog Riot during Christmas 1826, in which students defied the discipline of superintendent Sylvanus Thayer by getting drunk and disorderly, but was not dismissed. He graduated 23rd in a class of 33.

Following his graduation, Second Lieutenant Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment. In spring 1829, he was stationed at Forts Crawford and Winnebago in Michigan Territory under the command of Colonel Zachary Taylor, who would later become president of the United States. While serving in the military, Davis brought James Pemberton, an enslaved African-American that he an inherited from his father, with him as his personal servant. The northern winters were unkind to Davis's health, and one winter he developed a bad case of pneumonia. After his bout with this lung infection, he was vulnerable to catching colds and bronchitis. Davis went to Mississippi on furlough in March 1832, missing the outbreak of the Black Hawk War. Davis returned after the capture of Black Hawk and escorted him for detention in St. Louis. In his autobiography, Black Hawk stated that Jefferson treated him with kindness.

After his return to Fort Crawford in January 1833, he and Taylor's daughter, Sarah, had become romantically involved. Davis asked Taylor if he could marry Sarah, but Taylor refused. In spring, Taylor had him assigned to the United States Regiment of Dragoons under Colonel Henry Dodge. Davis was promoted to first lieutenant and deployed at Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory. In February 1835, he was court-martialed for insubordination. Davis was acquitted, but he had requested a furlough, and tendered his resignation, which was effective on June 30. He was twenty-six years old.

Planting career and first marriage

Miniature of Davis around age 32 (c. 1840)

When Davis returned to Mississippi he decided to become a planter. His brother Joseph was successfully converting his large holdings at Davis Bend, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Vicksburg, Mississippi, into Hurricane Plantation, which would eventually have 1,700 acres (690 ha) of cultivated fields and over 300 slaves. He gave Davis 800 acres (320 ha) of his land to start a plantation at Davis Bend and begin his career as a planter, though Joseph retained the title to the property. He also loaned Davis the money to buy ten slaves to clear and cultivate the land, which Jefferson would name Brierfield Plantation.

Davis had continued his correspondence with Sarah. They agreed to marry, and Taylor gave his implicit assent. Sarah went to Louisville where she had relatives, and Davis traveled on his own to meet her there. They married at Beechland on June 17, 1835. In August, Davis and Sarah traveled south to Locust Grove Plantation, his sister Anna Smith's home in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Within days, both became severely ill with malaria. Sarah died at the age of 21 on September 15, 1835. They had been married only three months. Davis gradually improved, and briefly traveled to Havana, Cuba to restore his health and returned home via New York and Washington, D.C., where he visited his old schoolmate from Transylvania College, George Wallace Jones.

For several years following Sarah's death, Davis spent much of his time at Brierfield supervising the enslaved workers who cleared the land and developing his plantation. By 1836, he possessed 23 slaves; by 1840, he possessed 40; and by 1860, 113. He made his first slave, James Pemberton, its overseer, a position he held until his death around 1850. Meanwhile, Davis also developed intellectually. Joseph maintained a large library on Hurricane Plantation, allowing Davis to read up on politics, the law, and economics. Joseph, who became particularly concerned with national attempts to limit slavery in new territories during this time, often served as Davis's advisor and facilitator as they increasingly became involved in politics, and Jefferson was the beneficiary of his brother's political influence.

Early political career and second marriage

Wedding photograph (a daguerrotype) of Jefferson Davis and Varina Howell (1845)

Davis first became directly involved in politics in 1840 when he attended a Democratic Party meeting in Vicksburg and served as a delegate to the party's state convention in Jackson; he served again in 1842. In November 1843, he was chosen to be the Democratic candidate for the state House of Representatives for Warren County less than one week before the election after the original candidate withdrew his nomination; Davis lost the election.

In early 1844, Davis was chosen to serve as a delegate to the state convention again. On his way to Jackson, Davis met Varina Banks Howell, then 18 years old, when he delivered an invitation from Joseph for her to stay at the Hurricane Plantation for the Christmas season. She was a granddaughter of New Jersey Governor Richard Howell; her mother's family was from the South. At the convention, Davis was selected as one of Mississippi's six presidential electors for the 1844 presidential election.

Within a month of their meeting, the 35-year-old Davis asked Varina to marry him, and they became engaged despite her parents' initial concerns about his age and politics. For the remainder of the year, Davis campaigned for the Democratic party, advocating for the nomination of John C. Calhoun over Martin Van Buren who was the party's original choice. Davis preferred Calhoun because he advocated for southern interests including the annexation of Texas, reduction of tariffs, and building naval defenses in southern ports, but he actively campaigned for James K. Polk when the party chose him as their presidential candidate.

A few months after the campaign ended, Davis and Varina got married on February 26, 1845. During their marriage, they had six children: Samuel Emory, born in 1852, who died of an undiagnosed disease two years later; Margaret Howell, born in 1855, who married, raised a family and lived to be 54 years old; Jefferson Davis, Jr., born in 1857, who died of yellow fever at age 21; Joseph Evan, born 1859, who died from an accidental fall at age five; William Howell, born 1864, who died of diphtheria at age 10; and Varina Anne, born 1872, who remained single and lived to be 34.

In July 1845, Davis became a candidate for the United States House of Representatives and began canvassing for the election. He ran on a platform that emphasized a strict constructionist view of the constitution, states' rights, a reduction of tariffs, and opposition to the creation of a national bank. He won the election and entered the 29th Congress. He argued for the American right to annex Oregon but to do so by peaceful compromise with Great Britain. Davis spoke against the use of federal monies for internal improvements that he believed would undermine the autonomy of the states, and on May 11, 1846, he voted for war with Mexico.

Mexican–American War

Watercolor of The Defeat of the Mexican Lancers by the Mississippi Rifles by Samuel Chamberlain (c. 1860, San Jacinto Museum of History)

At the beginning of the Mexican-American War, Mississippi raised a volunteer unit, the First Mississippi Regiment, for the U.S. Army. Davis expressed his interest in joining the regiment if elected its colonel, and in the second round of elections in June 1846 he was chosen. Though Davis accepted the colonelcy when offered, he did not resign his position as a U.S. Representative, but left a letter of resignation with his brother Joseph to submit when he thought it was appropriate.

Davis was able to get his entire regiment armed with new percussion rifles instead of the conventional smoothbore muskets used by other regiments. President Polk had given his approval for their purchase as a political favor in return for Davis marshalling enough votes to pass the Walker Tariff Polk had wanted. Davis was able to arm his entire regiment with the rifles despite the objections of the commanding general of the U.S. Forces, Winfield Scott, who felt that the guns had not been sufficiently tested and deplored the fact that they could not be fitted with bayonets. Because of its association with the regiment, the rifle became known as the "Mississippi rifle", and Davis's regiment became known as the "Mississippi Rifles".

Davis's regiment was assigned to the army of his former father-in-law, Zachary Taylor in northeastern Mexico. Davis distinguished himself at the Battle of Monterrey in September by leading a charge that took the fort of La Teneria. He then went on a two month leave and returned to Mississippi, where he learned that Joseph had submitted his resignation from the House of Representatives in October. Davis returned to Mexico and fought in the Battle of Buena Vista on February 22, 1847. His tactics stopped a flanking attack by the Mexican forces that threatened to collapse the American line, although he was wounded in the heel during the fighting. In May, President Polk offered Davis a federal commission as a brigadier general. Davis declined the appointment, arguing he could not directly command militia units because the U.S. Constitution gives the power of appointing militia officers to the states, not the federal government. Instead, Davis accepted an appointment by Mississippi governor Albert G. Brown to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, which had been vacated by the death of Senator Jesse Speight.

Senator and Secretary of War

Senator

Daguerrotype of Representative Davis of the 29th U.S. Congress (c. 1846)

Davis took his seat in December and was appointed as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. The Mississippi legislature confirmed his appointment in January 1848. He quickly established himself as an advocate of the South and its expansion into the territories of the West. He was against the Wilmot Proviso, which was intended to assure that any territory acquired by Mexico would be free of slavery. He asserted that only states had sovereignty, and that territories did not. According to Davis, territories were the common property of the United States and Americans who owned slaves had as much right to move into the new territories with their slaves as other Americans. Davis unsuccessfully attempted to amend the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War by requiring Mexico to cede additional land to the United States and the Oregon Bill, which established Oregon as a territory, so that it too could not prohibit slavery.

During the 1848 presidential election, Davis did very little campaigning because he did not want to campaign against his former father-in-law and commanding officer, Zachary Taylor, who was the Whig candidate. The Senate session following Tyler's inauguration in 1849 was a brief one that only lasted until March 1849. Davis was able to return to Brierfield for seven months. He was reelected by the state legislature for another six-year term in the Senate, and during this time, he was approached by the Venezuelan adventurer Narciso López to lead a filibuster expedition to liberate Cuba from Spain. Davis turned down the offer, saying it was inconsistent with his duty as a senator.

After the death of Calhoun in the spring of 1850, Davis became the senatorial spokesperson for the South. During 1850, Congress debated the resolutions of Henry Clay. These resolutions aimed to address the sectional and territorial problems of the nation and would form the basis for the Compromise of 1850. Davis was against the resolutions, as he felt they would put the South at a political disadvantage. For example, one of the first issues for discussion in early 1850 was the admission of California as a free state without its first becoming a territory. Davis countered that Congress should establish a territorial government for California, which would give Southerners the right to colonize the territory with their slaves as well. He suggested that extending the Missouri Compromise Line, which defined which territories were open to slavery, to the Pacific was acceptable, arguing that the region south of the line was favorable for the expansion of slavery. He stated that not allowing slavery into the new territories would deny the political equality of Southerners, and that it would destroy the balance of power between Northern and Southern states in the Senate.

Davis continued to oppose the Compromise of 1850 after it passed. In the autumn of 1851, he was nominated to run for governor of Mississippi on a states' rights platform against Henry Stuart Foote, who had favored the compromise. Davis accepted the nomination and resigned from the Senate. Foote won the election by a slim margin. Davis, who no longer held a political office, turned down reappointment to his seat by outgoing Governor James Whitfield. He would spend much of the next fifteen months at Brierfield. He remained politically active, attending the Democratic convention in January 1852 and campaigning for Democratic candidates Franklin Pierce and William R. King during the presidential election of 1852.

Secretary of War

Daguerreotype of United States Secretary of War Davis (1853)

In March 1853, Davis became the Secretary of War when President Franklin Pierce formed his cabinet. Davis championed a transcontinental railroad to the Pacific, arguing it was needed for national defense, and was entrusted with overseeing the Pacific Railroad Surveys to determine which of four possible routes was the best. He promoted the Gadsden Purchase of today's southern Arizona from Mexico, partly because he preferred a southern route for the new railroad; the Pierce administration agreed and the land was purchased in December 1853. Davis presented the surveys' findings in 1855, but they failed to clarify which route was best, and sectional problems arising with any attempt to choose one made constructing the railroad impossible at the time. Davis also advocated for the acquisition of Cuba from Spain, seeing it as an opportunity to add the island, a strategic military location, as another slave state to the Union. He felt the size of the regular army was insufficient to fulfill its mission and that salaries would have to be increased, something which had not occurred for 25 years. Congress agreed, adding four regiments, which increased the army's size from about 11,000 to about 15,000 soldiers, and raising its pay scale. He ended the manufacture of smoothbore muskets for the military and shifted production to rifles, and worked to develop the tactics that would go with them. He oversaw the building of public works in Washington D.C., including federal buildings and the initial construction of the Washington Aqueduct.

Davis also helped get the Kansas-Nebraska Act passed in 1854 by allowing President Pierce to endorse it before it came up for a vote. This bill, which created Kansas and Nebraska territories, explicitly repealed the Missouri Compromise's limits on slavery and left the decision about a territory's slaveholding status to popular sovereignty, which allowed the territory's residents to decide. The passage of this bill led to the demise of the Whig party, the rise of the Republican Party and civil violence in the Kansas Territory. The Democratic nomination for the 1856 presidential election went to James Buchanan. . Knowing his term was over when the Pierce administration ended in 1857, Davis ran for Senate once more, was elected, and re-entered it on March 4, 1857. In the same month, the United States Supreme Court decided the Dred Scott case, which ruled that slavery could not be barred from any territory.

Return to Senate

Photograph of Senator Davis of the 35th United States Congress by Julian Vannerson (1859)

The Senate recessed in March and did not reconvene until November 1857. The session opened with the Senate debating the Lecompton Constitution submitted by a convention in Kansas territory that would allow it to be admitted as a slave state. The issue divided the Democratic Party. Davis supported it, but it was not passed, in part because the leading Democrat in the North, Stephen Douglas, refused to support its passage because he felt it did not represent the true will of the settlers in Kansas. The controversy further undermined the alliance between northern and southern Democrats.

Davis's participation in the Senate was interrupted by a severe illness in early 1858. Davis, who regularly suffered from ill health, had a recurring case of iritis, which threatened the loss of his left eye and left him bedridden for seven weeks. He spent the summer of 1858 in Portland, Maine. While recovering, he gave speeches in Maine, Boston, and New York, emphasizing the common heritage of all Americans and the importance of the constitution for defining the nation. Because his speeches had angered some states' rights supporters in the South, Davis was required to clarify his comments when he returned to Mississippi. He stated that he felt positively about the benefits of Union, but acknowledged that the Union could be dissolved if states' rights were violated and one section of the country imposed its will on another. Speaking to the Mississippi Legislature on November 16, 1858, Davis stated "if an Abolitionist be chosen President of the United States ... I should deem it your duty to provide for your safety outside of a Union with those who have already shown the will ...to deprive you of your birthright and to reduce you to worse than the colonial dependence of your fathers."

In February 1860, Davis presented a series of resolutions defining the relationship between the states under the constitution, including the assertion that Americans had a constitutional right to bring slaves into territories. These resolutions were seen as setting the agenda for the Democratic Party nomination, ensuring that Douglas's idea of popular sovereignty, known as the Freeport Doctrine, would be excluded from the party platform and Douglas would not be nominated as the presidential candidate. At the Democratic convention, the party split: Douglas was nominated by the Northern half and Vice President John C. Breckinridge was nominated by the Southern half. During the 1860 election, the Republican Party nominee Abraham Lincoln gained 40% of the popular vote and the majority of the electoral vote.

Davis counselled moderation, but South Carolina adopted an ordinance of secession on December 20, 1860, and Mississippi did so on January 9, 1861. Davis had expected this but waited until he received official notification. On January 21, the day Davis called "the saddest day of my life", he delivered a farewell address to the United States Senate, resigned, and returned to Mississippi.

President of the Confederate States

Photograph of inauguration of Davis as provisional President of the Confederate States of America in front of the Alabama State Capitol in Montgomery by A.C. Whitmore (February 18, 1861)

Inauguration

Before his resignation, Davis had sent a telegraph message to Mississippi Governor John J. Pettus informing him that he was available to serve the state. On January 27, 1861, Pettus appointed him a major general of the Army of Mississippi. On February 10, Davis learned that he had been unanimously elected to the provisional presidency of the Confederacy by a constitutional convention in Montgomery, Alabama, which consisted of delegates from the six states that had seceded: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Alabama. Davis was chosen because of his political prominence, his military reputation, and his moderate approach to secession, which could bring Unionists and undecided voters over to his side. Davis had been hoping for a military command, but he accepted and committed himself fully to his new role. Davis and Vice President Alexander H. Stephens were inaugurated on February 18. The procession for the inauguration started at Montgomery's Exchange Hotel, the location of the Confederate administration and Davis's residence.

Davis then formed his cabinet, choosing one member from each of the states of the Confederacy, including Texas which had recently seceded: Robert Toombs of Georgia for Secretary of State, Christopher Memminger of South Carolina for Secretary of the Treasury, LeRoy Walker of Alabama for Secretary of War, John Reagan of Texas for Postmaster General, Judah P. Benjamin of Louisiana for Attorney General, and Stephen Mallory of Florida for Secretary of the Navy. Davis stood in for Mississippi. The Confederate Congress quickly confirmed Davis's choices. During his time as president, Davis's cabinet often changed; there were fourteen different appointees for the positions, including six secretaries of war.

Civil War

Main article: American Civil War

The war begins

Colored lithograph of the Bombardment of Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor by Currier and Ives (c. 1861)

As the Southern states seceded, state authorities had been able to take over most federal facilities without bloodshed. But four forts—Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, Fort Pickens near Pensacola, Florida, and two in the Florida Keys—had not surrendered. Davis preferred to avoid a crisis as he realized the Confederacy was still weak and needed time to organize its resources. In February, The Confederate Congress advised Davis to send a commission to Washington to negotiate the settlement of all disagreements with the United States, including the evacuation of the Federal forts. Davis did so and was willing to consider compensation, but President of the United States Lincoln refused to meet with the commissioners. Instead, they informally negotiated with Secretary of State William Seward through an intermediary, Supreme Court Justice John A. Campbell. Seward hinted that Fort Sumter would be evacuated, but gave no assurance.

In the meantime, Davis appointed Brigadier General P. G. T. Beauregard to command all Confederate troops in the vicinity of Charleston, South Carolina to ensure that no assault was launched without his direct orders. After being informed by Lincoln that he intended to resupply Fort Sumter with provisions, Davis convened with the Confederate Congress on April 8 and then gave orders to Beauregard to demand the immediate surrender of the fort or to reduce it. The commander of the fort, Major Robert Anderson, refused to surrender, and Beauregard began the bombardment of Fort Sumter in the early dawn of April 12. The fort surrendered on April 14, with no one having been killed during the artillery exchange. When Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, four more states–Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas—joined the Confederacy. The American Civil War had begun.

1861

Colored lithograph of Jefferson and his generals by Goupil (1861)

In addition to being the constitutional commander-in-chief of the Confederacy, Davis was operational leader of the military, as the Confederacy's military departments reported directly to him. Davis had a habit of overworking, particularly in minor military issues that could have been delegated. Some of his colleagues—such as Generals Joseph E. Johnston and his friend from West Point, Major General Leonidas Polk—encouraged him to lead the armies directly, but he let his generals direct the combat.

The major fighting in the East began when a Union army advanced into Northern Virginia in July 1861. It was defeated at Manassas by two Confederate forces commanded by Beauregard and Joseph Johnston. After the battle, Davis had to manage disagreements with the two generals: Beauregard, who was now a full general, was upset because he felt he was not given sufficient credit for his ideas; Joseph Johnston was upset because he felt he was not given the seniority of rank in the Confederate army due to him.

In the West, Davis had to address another issue caused by one of his generals. Kentucky, which was leaning toward the Confederacy, had declared its neutrality. Polk decided to occupy Columbus, Kentucky in September 1861, violating the state’s neutrality. Secretary of War Walker ordered him to withdraw. Davis initially agreed with Walker, but then changed his mind and allowed Polk to remain. The violation of its territory led Kentucky to request aid from the Union, effectively losing the state for the Confederacy. Walker resigned as secretary of war and was replaced by Judah P. Benjamin. Around this time, Davis appointed his long-time friend, General Albert Sidney Johnston, as commander of the western military department that included much of Tennessee, Kentucky, western Mississippi, and Arkansas.

1862

In February 1862, Union forces in the West captured Forts Henry and Donelson, including nearly half the troops in A. S. Johnston's department, which led to the collapse of the Confederate defenses. Within weeks, Kentucky, Nashville and Memphis were lost, as well as control of the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. The commanders responsible for the defeat were Brigadier Generals Gideon Pillow and John B. Floyd, political generals that Davis had been required to appoint. Davis gathered troops defending the Gulf Coast and concentrated them with A. S. Johnston's remaining forces. Davis favored using this concentration in an offensive. Johnston attacked the Union forces at Shiloh in southwestern Tennessee on April 6. The attack failed, and A. S. Johnston was killed, following which General Beauregard took command, first falling back to Corinth, Mississippi, and then to Tupelo, Mississippi. Afterwards he put himself on leave, and in June, Davis put General Braxton Bragg in charge of the army.

Photograph of President Davis of the Confederate States of America (1862)

Around the time of the fall of Forts Henry and Donelson, Davis was inaugurated as president on February 22, 1862. In his inaugural speech, he admitted that the South had suffered disasters, but called on the people of the Confederacy to renew their commitment. He replaced Secretary of War Benjamin, who had been scapegoated for the defeats, with George W. Randolph, although he subsequently made Benjamin secretary of state to replace Hunter, who had stepped down. Davis vetoed a bill to create a commander in chief for the army in March 1862, but he did select General Robert E. Lee to be his military advisor. They formed a close relationship, and Davis relied on Lee for counsel until the end of the war.

In the East, Union troops began an amphibious attack in March 1862 on the Virginia Peninsula, 75 miles from Richmond. Davis and Lee wanted Johnston, who commanded the Confederate army near Richmond, to make a stand at Yorktown. Instead, Johnston withdrew from the peninsula without informing Davis. Davis reminded Johnson that it was his duty to not let Richmond fall. On May 31, 1862, Johnston engaged the Union army less than ten miles from Richmond at the Battle of Seven Pines, and he was wounded. Davis then put Lee in command. Lee began the Seven Days Battles less than a month later, pushing the Union forces back down the Virginia Peninsula and eventually forcing them to withdraw from Virginia. In August, Lee beat back another army moving into Virginia at the Battle of Second Manassas in August 1862. Davis expressed his full confidence in Lee. Knowing Davis desired an offensive into the North, Lee invaded Maryland on his own initiative, but retreated back to Virginia after a bloody stalemate at Antietam in September. In December, Lee stopped another invasion of Virginia at the Battle of Fredericksburg.

In the West, Bragg shifted most of his available forces from Tupelo to Chattanooga in July 1862 for an offensive toward Kentucky. Davis approved, suggesting that an attack could gain the Confederacy both Kentucky and Tennessee, but he did not create a unified command. He had created a new department independent of Bragg under Major General Edmund Kirby Smith at Knoxville, Tennessee, assuming that Bragg and Kirby Smith would work together. In August, both armies invaded Kentucky. Frankfort was briefly captured and a Confederate governor was inaugurated, but the attack collapsed, in part due to lack of coordination between the two generals. After a stalemate at the Battle of Perryville, Bragg and Kirby Smith retreated to Tennessee. In December, Bragg was defeated at the Battle of Stones River, afterward retreating to Tullahoma, Tennessee. In the meantime, Confederate positions along the Mississippi near Vicksburg remained relatively secure. Confederate raids had stopped the advance of one Union army by destroying its supplies at Holly Springs in December; Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton, who was appointed the commander of Vicksburg had stopped another Union advance at the battle of Chickasaw Bayou in December 1862.

In response to the defeat and the lack of coordination, Davis reorganized the command in the West in November, combining the armies in Tennessee and Vicksburg into a department under the overall command of Joseph Johnston. Davis expected Johnston to relieve Bragg of his command because of his defeats, but Johnston refused. During this time, Secretary of War Randolph resigned because he felt Davis refused to give him the autonomy to do his job; Davis replaced him with James Seddon.

In the winter of 1862, Davis turned to religion, eventually joining the Episcopal Church in May 1863. He was baptized at St. Paul's Episcopal Church.

1863

Colorized photograph of the White House of the Confederacy (Jefferson Davis's Executive Mansion) in Richmond (1901)

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Davis saw this as evidence of the North's desire to destroy the South and as incitement to the enslaved people of the South to rebellion. In his opening address to Congress on January 12, he declared the proclamation "the most execrable measure recorded in the history of guilty man". Davis requested a law that Union officers captured in Confederate states be delivered to state authorities to be tried and executed for inciting slave rebellion. In response, the Congress passed a law that Union officers of United States Colored Troops could be put on trial and executed upon conviction, and that captured black soldiers would be turned over to the states they were captured in to be dealt with as the state saw fit. Nevertheless, no Union officers were executed under the law during the war.

In May, Lee broke up another invasion of Virginia at the Battle of Chancellorsville, and countered with an invasion into Pennsylvania. Davis approved, thinking that a victory in Union territory could gain recognition of Confederate independence, but Lee's army was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg in July. After retreating to Virginia, Lee was able to block any major Union offensives into the state.

In April, the Union forces under Grant resumed their attack on Vicksburg. They crossed the river south of the town, and headed northeast to encircle it. Davis concentrated troops from across the south to counter the move, but Joseph Johnston did not stop the Union forces. After being defeated at the Battle of Champion Hill, Pemberton retreated to Vicksburg where he was besieged. He surrendered on July 4, and he last major Confederate outpost on the Mississippi, Port Hudson fell five days later. Davis relieved Johnston of his department command. During the summer, Bragg's army was maneuvered out of Chattanooga and had fallen back to Georgia. In September, Bragg attacked the Union army at the Battle of Chickamauga and forced it to retreat to Chattanooga, which he then put under siege. After the battle, Davis visited Bragg's army to settle ongoing problems that Bragg was having with his command. Davis acknowledged that Bragg did not have the confidence of his immediate subordinates, but decided to keep him in command. In mid-November, the Union army counterattacked and Bragg's forces retreated to northern Georgia, following which Bragg resigned his command. Davis replaced him with Joseph Johnston, and assigned Bragg as an informal chief of staff.

Davis also had problems in Richmond. During 1863, the Confederate people were starting to suffer from food shortages and rapid price inflation, particularly in cities that depended on shipments from a transportation system that was breaking down. These resulted in what were known as the bread riots. During one riot in Richmond in April, a mob protesting food shortages started breaking into shops. After the mayor of Richmond had called the militia, Davis arrived, stood on a wagon, and promised the mob he would get food and reminded them of their patriotic duty. He then ordered them to disperse or he would command the soldiers to open fire. The crowd dispersed. In October, Davis went on a month-long journey around the South to give speeches, meet with political and military leaders, and rally the citizenry for the ongoing struggle.

1864–1865

Colored lithograph of the fall of Richmond by Currier and Ives (c. 1865)

In his address to the Second Confederate Congress on May 2, 1864, Davis outlined his strategy of achieving Confederate independence by outlasting the Union will to fight. Davis expressed that this would be accomplished by the Confederates continuing to show the Union they could not subjugated, and that he hoped continued resistance would convince the North to vote in a president who was open to making peace.

Near the beginning of 1864, Davis encouraged Joseph Johnston to begin active operations in Tennessee, but Johnston refused. In May, the Union armies began advancing toward Johnston's army, which repeatedly retreated toward Atlanta, Georgia. In July, Davis replaced Johnston with General John B. Hood, who immediately engaged the Union forces in a series of battles around Atlanta. The battles did not succeed in stopping the Union army and Hood abandoned the city on Sept 2. The victory raised Northern morale and assured Lincoln's reelection. Confronted by only light opposition, the Union forces marched to Savannah, Georgia, capturing it in December, then advanced into South Carolina, forcing the Confederates to evacuate Charleston and capturing Columbia in February 1865. In the meantime, Hood advanced north and was repulsed in a drive toward Nashville in December 1864, forcing him to retreating to Mississippi. Hood resigned in January 1865 and was replaced by Johnston.

In Virginia, Union forces began a new advance into Northern Virginia. Lee put up a strong defense and they were unable to directly advance on Richmond, but managed to cross the James River. In June 1864, Lee fought the Union armies to a standstill; both sides settled into trench warfare around Petersburg, which would continue for nine months.

In January, the Confederate Congress passed a resolution making Lee general-in-chief, and Davis signed it in February. Seddon resigned as Secretary of War and was replaced by John C. Breckinridge, who had run for president in 1860. During this time, Davis sent envoys to Hampton Roads for peace talks, but Lincoln refused to consider any offer that included an independent Confederacy. Davis also sent Duncan F. Kenner, the chief Confederate diplomat, on a mission to Great Britain and France, offering to gradually emancipate the enslaved people of the south for political recognition. In March, Davis convinced Congress to sign a bill allowing the recruitment of African-Americans in exchange for their freedom.

End of the Confederacy and capture

Illustration of the capture of Davis by John Barber and Henry Howe (1865)

At the end of March, the Union army broke through the Confederate trench lines, forcing Lee to withdraw and abandon Richmond. Davis intended to stay as long as possible, but evacuated his family, which included Jim Limber, a free black orphan they briefly adopted, from Richmond on March 29. On April 2, Davis and his cabinet escaped by rail to Danville, Virginia, where William T. Sutherlin's mansion served as the seat of Government. Davis issued a proclamation on April 4, encouraging the people of the Confederacy to continue resistance. Pursued by Union forces, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9. After unofficially hearing of Lee's surrender, the president and his cabinet headed to Greensboro, North Carolina, hoping to join Joseph Johnston's army.

In Greensboro, Davis held a summit with his cabinet, Joseph Johnston, Beauregard, and Governor Zebulon Vance of North Carolina, arguing that they must cross the Mississippi River and continue the war there. The generals argued that they did not have the forces to continue; Davis finally gave Johnston authorization to discuss terms of capitulation for his army. Davis continued south, hoping to continue the fight. When Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, the Union government implicated Davis, and a bounty of $100,000 (equivalent to $3,600,000 in 2023) was put on his head. On May 2, Davis met with Secretary of War Breckinridge and Bragg in Abbeville, Georgia to see if they could pull together an army to continue the fight. He was told that they were not able to. On May 5, Davis met with his cabinet in Washington, Georgia and officially dissolved the Confederate government. Davis continued on, hoping to join Kirby Smith's army across the Mississippi. Davis was finally captured on May 9 near Irwinville, Georgia when Union soldiers found his encampment. He tried to evade capture, but was caught wearing a loose-sleeved, water-repellent cloak and a black shawl over his head, which gave rise to depictions of him in political cartoons fleeing in women's clothes.

Civil War policies

National policy

Colorized print of Jefferson Davis and his first cabinet with General Robert E. Lee, published by Thomas Kelly (1897)

Davis's central concern during the war was to achieve Confederate independence. When Virginia seceded, the state convention offered Richmond as the Confederacy's capital and the provisional Confederate Congress accepted it. Davis favored the move. Richmond was a larger city and had better transportation links than Montgomery and it was home to the Tredegar Iron Works, one of the largest foundries in the world. It ensured Virginia's support for the war, and it was associated with the revolutionary generation of leaders, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Davis arrived in Richmond at the end of May 1861, moving into the White House of the Confederacy in August. In November, Davis was officially elected to a full six-year term, and was inaugurated on February 22, 1862. As soon as he arrived in Richmond, Davis had attempted to create public support for the war by describing it as a battle for liberty, claiming the original U.S. Constitution as the sacred document of the Confederacy.. He deemphasized the role slavery played in the secession, but asserted white citizens' right to have slaves without outside interference.

Davis had to create a government structure out of almost nothing. At the beginning of the war, the Confederacy had no army, treasury, diplomatic missions, or bureaucracy. Davis quickly built a strong central government to address these problems. For instance, he created a Bureau of Ordnance and convinced Josiah Gorgas to be its head. Gorgas successfully built an arms industry from the ground up, building a network of government-supervised factories for war materials and using innovative measures to produce a stable supply of gunpowder.

Though he supported states' rights, Davis believed the constitution gave him the right to centralize authority to prosecute the war. Learning that the Confederacy's military facilities were controlled by the individual states, he worked with the Congress to bring them under national authority. He received authorization from Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus when needed. Contrary to the desires of state governors who wanted their troops available for local defense, he intended to deploy military forces based on national need and was authorized to create a centralized army that could enlist volunteers directly. When the soldiers in the volunteer army seemed unwilling to re-enlist in 1862, Davis instituted the first conscription in American history. He also challenged property rights. In 1864, he recommended a direct 5% tax on all property, both land and slaves, and implemented the impressment of supplies and slave labor for the military effort. These policies made him unpopular with states' rights advocates and state governors, who was him as creating the same kind of government they had seceded from. In 1865, Davis's commitment to independence led him to compromise on slavery; he convinced Congress to pass a law that allowed African-Americans to earn their freedom by serving in the military, though it came too late to have an effect on the war.

Foreign policy

Colorized political cartoon by Stimson & Co, (1861). It shows England as John Bull kneeling on an enslaved African-American before King Cotton.

See also: King Cotton and Cotton diplomacy

The main objective of Davis's foreign policy was to achieve foreign recognition, which would allow the Confederacy to secure international loans, receive foreign aid to open trade, and provide the possibility of a military alliance. Diplomacy was primarily focused on getting recognition from Britain. Davis was confident that Britain's and most other European nations' economic dependence on cotton from the South would quickly convince them to sign treaties with the Confederacy. Cotton had made up 61% of the value of all U.S. exports. The South filled most of the European cloth industry's need for cheap imported raw cotton: 77% of Britain's, 90% of France's, 60% of the German states', and 92% of Russia's. Around 20% of British workers were employed in the industry and half of British exports were finished cotton goods. Despite Britain's imperative need for cotton, the Confederacy was prepared to downplay the role of slavery as the British Empire had outlawed it in 1833. One of Davis's first choices for envoy to Britain, William Yancey, was a poor one. He was a strong defender of slavery and had advocated for the return of the slave trade, creating the impression that he was impulsive and erratic. British opinion did not turn against the South in the first year of the war, but that was because the Union had initially failed to declare that abolition was a war goal.

There was no Southern consensus on how to use cotton to gain European support. Davis wanted to make the cotton available, but require the Europeans to obtain it by violating the blockade declared by the Union; Secretary of War Benjamin and Secretary of the Treasury Memminger wanted to export cotton to Europe and warehouse it there to use as credit; the majority of Congress wanted to embargo cotton until Europe was coerced to help the South. Davis did not allow an outright embargo; he thought it might push Britain and France away. This stance gave him a chance to be an advocate of open trade, but one was effectively put into place anyway. In May 1861, Britain declared neutrality, recognizing the Confederacy as a belligerent who could buy arms but not as a nation that could make treaties. In midsummer, Britain agreed to honor the Union's blockade. By 1862, the price of cotton in Europe had quadrupled and European imports of cotton from the United States were down 96%, but instead of joining with the Confederacy, European cotton manufacturers found new sources of the commodity around the globe, such as India, Egypt and Brazil.

British intervention on the side of the Confederacy remained possible for a short while after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, which many of the British initially saw as a desperate political gesture that risked causing a race war by sparking a slave rebellion. Davis's view of the proclamation was similar, but the Confederates needed to achieve decisive victories to demonstrate their independence before the British would consider being involved. Over time, the proclamation undermined foreign support for the South as no slave rebellion occurred and it became apparent that the Union aimed to end slavery. By the end of the war, not a single foreign nation had recognized the Confederate States of America.

Financial policy

Davis $50 CSA treasury note issued between April and December 1862

See also: Confederate war finance

Although Davis thought the war might be a long one, he did not propose legislation or take executive action to create the needed financial structure for the Confederacy. Davis knew very little about public finance, and tended to let Secretary of the Treasury Memminger run the finances. Memminger's knowledge of economics was limited, and he was ineffective at getting Congress to listen to his suggestions. Until 1863, Davis's reports on the financial state of the Confederacy to Congress tended to be unduly optimistic; for instance, in 1862 he stated that the government bonds were in good shape and debt was low in proportion to expenditures.

Initially, the Confederacy raised money through loans. The first loans were bought by local and state banks using specie. This money was supplemented by money confiscated from U.S. mints, depositories and custom houses. Much of this specie was used to buy military goods in Europe. In 1861, Memminger initiated "produce loans" that could be purchased with goods like cotton or tobacco. Though the government could not sell much of the produce due to the blockade, it did provide the government with collateral for foreign loans. The most important of these loans was the Erlanger loan in 1862, which gave the Confederacy the specie needed to continue buying war material from Europe throughout 1863 and 1864.

Davis's failure to argue for needed financial reform allowed Congress to avoid unpopular economic measures, such as taxing planters' property—both land and slaves—that made up two-thirds of the South's wealth. At first the government thought it could raise money with a low export tax on cotton, but the blockade prevented this. Though the provisional Congress levied a war tax of one-half of one percent on all property, including slaves, the government lacked the apparatus to efficiently collect it. The adoption of the Confederate Constitution prohibited further direct taxation on property. Instead, the Confederate government relied on printing treasury notes. By the end of 1863, the amount of currency in circulation was three times more than needed by the economy, leading to inflation and sometimes refusal to accept the notes. In his opening address to the fourth session of Congress in December 1863, Davis intervened directly by demanding the Congress pass a direct tax of 5% on property despite the constitution. Congress complied, but the tax had too many loopholes and exceptions, and failed to produce the needed revenue. Throughout the existence of the Confederacy, taxes accounted for only one-fourteenth of the government's income; consequently, the government used the printing press to fund the war, thus destroying the value of the Confederate currency. By the end of the war, the government was relying on impressments to fill the gaps created by lack of finances.

Imprisonment

Sketch of Davis in Fort Monroe casemate by Alfred Waud (1865)

On May 22, Davis was imprisoned in Fort Monroe, Virginia under the watch of General Nelson A. Miles. Initially, he was confined to a casemate, forced to wear fetters on his ankles, required to have guards constantly in his room, forbidden contact with his family, and given only a Bible and his prayerbook to read. Over time, his treatment improved: due to public outcry, the fetters were removed after five days; within two months, the guard was removed from his room, he was allowed to walk outside for exercise, and he was allowed to read newspapers and other books. In October, he was moved to better quarters. In April 1866, Varina was permitted to regularly visit him. In September, Miles was replaced by General Henry S. Burton, who permitted Davis to live with Varina in a four-room apartment. In December, the Pope Pius IX sent a photograph of himself to Davis.

President Andrew Johnson's cabinet was unsure what to do with Davis. They considered trying him by military court for war crimes—his alleged involvement in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln or the mistreatment of Union prisoners of war at Andersonville Prison— but couldn't find any reliable evidence directly linking Davis to either. In late summer 1865, Attorney General James Speed determined that it would be best to try Davis for treason in a civil trial. In June 1866, the House of Representatives passed a resolution by a vote of 105 to 19 to put Davis on trial for treason. Davis also wanted a trial to vindicate his actions, and his defense lawyer, Charles O'Conor, realized a trial could be used to test the constitutionality of secession by arguing that Davis did not commit treason because he was no longer a citizen of the United States when Mississippi left the United States. This created a dilemma for the Johnson administration. The trial would have to be set in Richmond, which might be sympathetic to Davis, and an acquittal could be interpreted as validating the legality of secession.

Illustration of Jefferson Davis leaving the Richmond court house by Harper's Weekly (1867)

After two years of imprisonment, Davis was released at Richmond on May 13, 1867, on bail of $100,000, which was posted by prominent citizens including Horace Greeley, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Gerrit Smith. Davis and Varina went to Montreal, Quebec to join their children who had been sent there while he was in prison, and they moved to Lennoxville, Quebec. Davis remained under indictment until after Johnson's proclamation on Christmas 1868 granting amnesty and pardon to all participants in the rebellion; in February 1869, Attorney General William Evarts informed the court that the federal government declared it would no longer be prosecuting the charges against him. Though Davis's case never went to trial, his incarceration made him into a popular martyr for many white southerners.

Later years

Seeking work

After his release from prison, Davis faced continued financial pressures, but he refused to accept any work that he thought would diminish his status as a former U.S. Senator and Confederate President. Just after his release, he refused a position as head of Randolph-Macon Academy in Virginia because he was still under indictment and did not want to damage its reputation. In the summer of 1869, he traveled to Great Britain and France looking for business opportunities, but failed to find any. After the federal government had dropped its case against Davis, he returned to the United States in October 1870 to become president of the Carolina Life Insurance Company of Memphis, Tennessee. Davis threw himself into work, and he hired former friends to serve as agents, including Braxton Bragg. Davis lived at the Peabody Hotel, leaving his family in England because he was not financially stable enough yet to provide them a home. Soon after his arrival, he was also offered the top post at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, but he declined because of the insufficient salary.

Photograph of Jefferson Davis in Glasgow (c. 1869)

Davis went back to England to get his family in late summer of 1870. While there, he learned that his brother Joseph had died. When they returned, they first stayed at the Peabody Hotel, but eventually rented a house. When Robert E. Lee died in 1870, Davis delivered a public eulogy at the Lee Monument Association held in Richmond on November 3, emphasizing Lee's character and avoiding politics. He received other invitations. He declined most, but he gave the commencement speech at the University of the South in 1871 and a speech to the Virginia Historical Society at White Sulphur Springs declaring that the South had been cheated, and would not have surrendered if they had known what to expect from Reconstruction, particularly the changed status of freed African Americans. After the Panic of 1873 severely affected the Carolina Life Company, Davis resigned in August 1873 when the directors merged the company with another firm over his objections. Davis went back to England in January 1874 looking to convince an English insurance company to open a branch in the American South, but heard that animosity toward him in the North was too much of a liability. He also explored other possibilities of employment in France, but none worked out.

Around this time, Davis began to take action to reclaim Brierfield. After the war, Davis Bend had been taken over by the Freedmen's Bureau which employed former enslaved African Americans as laborers. Joseph had successfully applied for a pardon and was able to regain ownership of his land, including both Hurricane and Brierfield plantations. Unable to maintain the property, Joseph sold it to his former slave Ben Montgomery and his sons,Isaiah and William. When Joseph died in 1870, he made Davis one of his will's executors, but his will did not specifically deed the land to Davis. Davis litigated to gain control of Brierfield, and when a judge dismissed his suit in 1876, he appealed. In 1878, the Mississippi supreme court found in his favor. He then foreclosed on the Montgomerys who were in default on their mortgage and in December 1881, Brierfield was back in his hands,} although he did not live there again and it did not produce a reliable income.

After returning from Europe in 1874, Davis continued to explore ways to make a living, including investments in railroads and mining in Arkansas and Texas, and in building an ice-making machine. During this time, he gave a few speeches at county fairs as well. In 1876, the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas offered him the presidency, but he turned it down because Varina did not want to live in Texas. He also worked for an English company, the Mississippi Valley Society, to promote trade and European immigration. Davis traveled through the South and Midwest, and in 1876, he and Varina again went to Europe. After determining that the business was not succeeding, he returned to the United States while Varina stayed in England.

Author

Portrait of Jefferson Davis by Daniel Huntington (1874)

In January 1877, the author Sarah Dorsey invited him to live on her estate at Beauvoir, Mississippi, and to begin writing his memoirs. He agreed, but insisted on paying board. He began writing his memoirs almost immediately. Davis's desire to write a book showing the righteousness of his cause had begun taking tangible form in 1875, when he authorized William T. Walthall, a former Confederate officer and Carolina Life agent to find a publisher. Walthall worked out a contract with D. Appleton & Company, according to which Walthall would get a monthly stipend for preparing the work for publication and Davis would receive the royalties for the completed book. The deadline for the contract was July 1878. As he worked on his book, Davis occasionally agreed to speaking engagements. In his speeches, which were to veterans of the Mexican-American War or Confederate veterans, he defended the right of secession, attacked Reconstruction, and promoted national reconciliation.

When Davis began writing at Beauvoir, he and Varina lived separately. When Varina came back to the United States, she initially refused to come to Beauvoir because she did not like Davis's close relationship with Dorsey, who was serving as his amanuensis. In the summer of 1878, Varina relented, moving to Beauvoir and taking over the role of being Davis's assistant. Dorsey died in July 1879, and left Beauvoir to Davis in her will, providing him with a permanent home until the end of his life. In 1878, Davis missed the deadline to complete his work, and eventually Appleton intervened directly. Walthall was dismissed and the company hired William J. Tenney, who was experienced with getting manuscripts into publishable condition. In 1881, Davis and Tenney were able to publish the two volumes of The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. The book was intended as a vindication of Davis's actions, reiterating that the South had acted constitutionally in seceding from the Union and that the North was wrong for prosecuting an unjust, destructive war; additionally it explicitly downplayed slavery's role in the origins of the Civil War.

Photograph of Jefferson Davis at his home in Beauvoir by Edward Wilson (c. 1885)

In the 1870s, Davis was invited to become a member of the Southern Historical Society, an organization founded by Reverend J. William Jones with the former Confederate general Jubal A. Early as its president. The society was devoted to presenting the Lost Cause explanation of the Civil War: the South was morally and constitutionally right to secede from the Union, Confederate military leaders and soldiers, who fought to free themselves from Northern tyranny, were superior to the Union's soldiers; and the South only lost because of treachery, and the superiority of Union resources. Davis became a life-time member, and appreciated the society as a depository of information on the Confederate States of America. Early works about the Lost Cause had scapegoated political leaders like Davis for losing the war, but the society shifted the blame for the South's defeat to the former Confederate general James Longstreet, particularly for his performance at the Battle of Gettysburg. Davis generally avoided public disputes regarding who was to blame for the Confederacy's defeat, but he did defend himself when William T. Sherman accused him of plotting not for secession, but to rule all the United States. He also responded in a personal letter to Theodore Roosevelt when the future president accused him of being a traitor like Benedict Arnold. Davis publicly maintained that he had done nothing wrong and that he had always upheld the Constitution.

Davis spent most of his final years at Beauvoir. In 1886, Henry W. Grady, an advocate for the New South, convinced Davis to lay the cornerstone for a monument to the Confederate dead in Montgomery, Alabama and to attend the unveilings of statues memorializing Davis's friend Benjamin H. Hill in Savannah and the Revolutionary War hero Nathanael Greene in Atlanta. The tour was a triumph for Davis, and got extensive newspaper coverage, which emphasized national unity and the South's role as a permanent part of the United States. At each city and on stops along the way, large crowds came out to cheer Davis, solidifying his image as an icon of the Old South and the Confederate cause, and making him into a symbol for the New South. In October 1887, Davis participated in his last tour, traveling to the Georgia State Fair in Macon, Georgia for a grand reunion with Confederate veterans. He also continued writing. In the summer of 1888, he was encouraged by James Redpath, editor of the North American Review, to write a series of articles. Redpath's encouragement also helped Davis to completed his final book A Short History of the Confederate States of America in October 1889; he also began dictating his memoirs, although they were never finished.

Death

Funeral procession of Jefferson Davis in New Orleans(1889)

On November 1889, Davis left Beauvoir and embarked on a steamboat in New Orleans in a cold rain to visit his Brierfield plantation. He fell ill during the trip, but refused to send for a doctor. An employee at Brierfield telegrammed Varina, who took a northbound steamer from New Orleans and transferred to his vessel mid-river. He finally got medical care and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis complicated by malaria. When he returned to New Orleans, Davis's doctor Stanford E. Chaille pronounced him too ill to travel and he was taken to the home of Charles Erasmus Fenner, the son-in-law of his friend J. M. Payne. Davis remained bedridden but stable for the next two weeks. He took a turn for the worse in early December, and died at 12:45 a.m. on Friday, December 6, 1889, in the presence of several friends and holding Varina's hand.

Funeral and reburial

See also: Funeral and Burials of Jefferson Davis

Davis's body lay in state at the New Orleans City Hall from December 7 to 11. During this period the prominence of the United States flag above that of the Confederate flag emphasized Davis's relationship to the United States, but the room and the hall were decorated by crossed U.S. and Confederate flags. Davis's funeral in the city was one of the largest funerals held in the South, over 200,000 mourners were estimated to have attended. During the funeral his coffin was draped with a Confederate flag and his sword from the Mexican-American War. The coffin was transported on a two-mile journey to the cemetery in a modified, four-wheeled caisson to emphasize his role as a military hero. The ceremony was brief; a eulogy was pronounced by Bishop Galleher, and the funeral service was that of the Episcopal Church.

Statue of Davis by George Julian Zolnay (1899, Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia)

After Davis's funeral, various Southern states requested to be the final resting site for Davis's remains. Varina decided that Davis should be buried in Richmond, which she saw as the appropriate resting place for dead Confederate heroes. She chose Hollywood Cemetery. In May 1893, Davis's remains traveled from New Orleans to Richmond. Along the way, the train stopped at various cities, receiving military honors and visits from governors, and the coffin was allowed to lie in state in three state capitols: Montgomery, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; and Raleigh, North Carolina. After Davis was reburied, his children were reinterred on the site as Varina requested, and when Varina died in 1906, she too was buried beside him.

Legacy

Jefferson Davis served in many roles. He was a soldier and a politician. He served as a United States senator and a Mississippi congressman and was active and accomplished, although he never completed a full term in any elected position. As a plantation owner, he employed slave labor as did most of his peers in the South, and supported slavery. As president of the Confederate States of America, he is widely viewed as an ineffective wartime leader; although the task of defending the Confederacy against the much stronger Union would have been a great challenge for any leader, Davis's performance in this role is considered poor. After the war, he contributed to reconciliation of the South with the North, but remained a symbol for Southern pride. Davis's U.S. citizenship was posthumously restored with the passing of Senate Joint Resolution 16 on October 17, 1978. In signing the law, President Jimmy Carter wrote that it "officially completes the long process of reconciliation" following the Civil War.

See also

• List of memorials to Jefferson Davis

Writings by Jefferson Davis

Photograph of Davis by W. W. Washburn (c. 1888)

Books

• The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Vol. I. D. Appleton. 1881. OCLC 1084571088.
• The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government. Vol. II. D. Appleton. 1881.
• A Short History of the Confederate States of America. Belford. 1890. OCLC 1084918966.
• Andersonville and Other War-Prisons. Belford. 1890.

Articles

• "The Indian policy of the United States". The North American Review. 143 (360): 436–446. 1886.
• "Life and character of the Hon. John Caldwell Calhoun". The North American Review. 145 (370): 246–260. 1887.
• "Lord Wolseley's mistakes". The North American Review. 149 (395): 472–482. 1889.
• Davis, Jefferson (1889). "Robert E. Lee". The North American Review. 150 (398): 55–56. JSTOR 25101921.
• "The doctrine of state rights". The North American Review. 150 (399): 204–219. 1890.
• "Autobiography of Jefferson Davis" 1889. in Rowland, Dunbar, ed. (1923). Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers, and Speeches. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. pp. xx–xxxi.

Collections of letters, speeches, and papers

• Cooper, William J. Jr., ed. (2003). Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings. Modern Library. ISBN 0812972082. OCLC 70773557.
• Rowland, Dunbar, ed. (1923). Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers, and Speeches. Jackson: Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Available online:

• Vol I. (1824-1850), Vol. II (1850–1856), Vol. III (1856–1856), Vol. IV (1856–January, 1861), Vol. V (January, 1861–August 1863), Vol. VI (August 1863–May 1865), Vol. VII (May 1865–1877), Vol. VIII (1877–1881), Vol. IX (1881–1887), Vol. X (1887– 1891 includes letters to Varina about Davis)

• Crist, Lynda L., ed. (1971–2015). The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Rice University. (14 Volumes)

• A selection of documents from The Papers of Jefferson Davis is available online:"List of Documents Available Online". Rice University: The Papers of Jefferson Davis.
• Volume 1 is available online: Monroe, Haskell M. Jr.; McIntosh, James T.; Crist, Lynda L., eds. (1971–2012). The Papers of Jefferson Davis:1808–1840. Vol. 1. Louisiana State University Press.

Bibliography

Further information: Bibliography of Jefferson Davis

• Ball, Douglas B. (1991). Financial Failure and Confederate Defeat. University of Illinois Press Press. ISBN 9780252017551. OCLC 1148617048.
• Beckert, Sven (2015). Empire of Cotton: A Global History. Vintage Books. ISBN 9780375713965. OCLC 1301977762.
• Black Hawk (1882). Patterson, J. B. (ed.). Autobiography of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak or Black Hawk. Translated by LeClair, Antoine. J. B. Patterson. OCLC 1039980047.
• Cashin, Joan E. (2006). First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674022942. OCLC 0674022947.
• Cooper, William J. Jr.; Terrill, Tom E. (1991). The American South: A History. Knopf. ISBN 9780394589480. OCLC 1150030909.
• Collins, Donald E. (2005). The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9780742543041.
• Cooper, William J. (2000). Jefferson Davis, American. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-3077-7264-0. OCLC 1035904007.
• Cooper, William J. (2008). Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807133712. OCLC 1302084578.
• Crackel, Theodore J. (2002). West Point: A Bicentennial History. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 0700611606. OCLC 1036965649.
• Davis, William C. (1991). Jefferson Davis: The Man and his Hour. Harpercollins. ISBN 0060167068. OCLC 1150103061.
• Davis, Harry A. (1927). The Davis Family (Davies and David) in Wales and America; Genealogy of Morgan David of Pennsylvania. Washington, D. C., H. A. Davis, 1927.
• Dugard, Martin (2009). The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846–1848. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 9780803228122. OCLC 1302546114.
• Eaton, Clement (1977). Jefferson Davis. Free Press. ISBN 0029087007. OCLC 1035928281.
• Eckert, Edward K. (1987). "Fiction Distorting Fact": Prison Life, Annotated by Jefferson Davis. Mercer University Press. ISBN 0865542015. OCLC 1200471494.
• Escott, Paul (1978). After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate Nationalism. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807118078.
• Escott, Paul D. (2009). "What Shall We Do With the Negro?": Lincoln, White Racism, and the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 978-0807103692. OCLC 1145788949.
• Hattaway, Herman; Beringer, Richard E. (2002). Jefferson Davis, Confederate President. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700611706.'
• Hermann, Janet S. (1981). The Pursuit of a Dream. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195028872. OCLC 1151068422.
• Hermann, Janet Sharp (1990). Joseph E. Davis: Pioneer Patriarch. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9780878054886. OCLC 1200479903.
• Hubbard, Charles M. (1998). The Burden of Confederate Diplomacy. University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 1572330023. OCLC 1301784875.
• Icenhauer-Ramirez, Robert (2019). Treason on Trial: The United States v. Jefferson Davis. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 9780807170809. OCLC 1056201876.
• Jones, Howard (2010). Blue & Gray Diplomacy : A History of Union and Confederate Foreign Relations. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9780807833490. OCLC 1148012149.
• Lavender, David S. (1966). Climax at Buena Vista: The American Campaigns in Northeastern Mexico. Lippincott. OCLC 1029283882.
• Owsley, Frank L. (1959). King Cotton Diplomacy: foreign Relations of the Confederate States of America. University of Chicago Press. OCLC 1150138640.
• Maizlish, Stephen E. (2018). A Strife of Tongues: The compromise of 1850 and the Ideological Foundations of the American Civil War (eBook). University of Virginia Press. ISBN 9780813941202. OCLC 1043555666.
• McPherson, James M. (2014). Embattled Rebel: Jefferson Davis as Commander in Chief. Penguin Press. ISBN 9781594204975. OCLC 1204326178.
• Nicoletti, Cynthia (2017). A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861–1868. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 9781108415521. OCLC 975998333.
• Potter, David M. (1976). Fehrenbacher, Don E. (ed.). The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861. Harper & Row. ISBN 0060134038. OCLC 1149517693.
• Rennick, Robert M. (1984). Kentucky Place Names. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 0813115035. OCLC 1302092929.
• Roland, Charles P. (1991). "Confederate Government and Administration". An American Iliad:The Story of the Civil War. Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0807103691. OCLC 1145788949.
• Roland, Charles P. (2000). Jefferson Davis's Greatest General: Albert Sidney Johnston. McWhiney Foundation Press. ISBN 9781893114210. OCLC 1200489297.
• Rubin, Anne S. (2005). A Shattered Nation: The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, 1861–1868. University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0807829285. OCLC 1256491263.
• Stoker, Donald J. (2010). The Grand Design: Strategy and the U.S. Civil War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195373059. OCLC 1149215547.
• Sulzby, James F. (1960). Historic Alabama Hotels and Resorts. University of Alabama Press. ISBN 9780817353094.
• Todd, Richard C. (1954). Confederate Finance. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 0252017552. OCLC 1244725167.
• Wallner, Peter A. (2007). Franklin Pierce: Martyr for the Union. Vol. II. Plaidswede. ISBN 978-0-979078422. OCLC 436298116.
• Winders, Richard B. (2016). Panting For Glory: The Mississippi Rifles in the Mexican War. Texas A & M University. ISBN 9781623494162. OCLC 933438558.
• Woodworth, Steven E. (1990). Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the West. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 9780700604616.

Journal articles

• Beckert, Sven (2004). "Emancipation and empire: Reconstructing in worldwide web of cotton production in the age of the American Civil War". American Historical Review. 109 (5): 1405–1438. doi:10.1086/530931. JSTOR 10.1086/530931. S2CID 161634950.
• Bleser, Carol K. (1999). "The Marriage of Varina Howell and Jefferson Davis:"I gave the best and all my life to a girdled tree."". Journal of Southern History. 65 (1): 3–40. doi:10.2307/2587730. JSTOR 2587730.
• Ewan, Christopher (2005). "The Emancipation Proclamation and British Public Opinion". The Historian. 67 (1): 1–19. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6563.2005.00101.x. JSTOR 24452869. S2CID 145486064.
• Fleming, Walter L. (1920). "Some documents related to Jefferson Davis at West Point". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 7 (2): 146–152. doi:10.2307/1902656. JSTOR 1902656.
• Gentry, Judith F. (1970). "A Confederate success in Europe: The Erlanger Loan". The Journal of Southern History. 36 (2): 157–188. doi:10.2307/2205869. JSTOR 2205869.
• Hattaway, Herman (December 1992). "Jefferson Davis: The Man and his Hour by William C. Davis". Review. The Journal of American History. 79 (3): 1178–1179. doi:10.2307/2080868. JSTOR 2080868.
• Johnson, Ludwell H. (1960). "Fort Sumter and Confederate Diplomacy". Journal of Southern History. 26 (4): 441–447. doi:10.2307/2204623. JSTOR 2204623.
• Lorimer, Douglas A. (1976). "The role of anti-slavery sentiment in English reactions to the American Civil War". Historical Journal. 19 (2): 405–420. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00010220. JSTOR 2638570. S2CID 154661136.
• Muldowny, John (1969). "Jefferson Davis: The postwar years". The Mississippi Quarterly. 23 (1): 17–35. JSTOR 26473833.
• Scanlan, P. L. (1940). "The military record of Jefferson Davis in Wisconsin". The Wisconsin Magazine of History. 24 (2): 174–182. JSTOR 4631371.
• Starnes, Richard D. (1996). "Forever Faithful: The southern historical Society and confederate historical memory". Southern Cultures. 2 (2): 177–194. doi:10.1353/scu.1996.0006. JSTOR 26235410. S2CID 143650397.
• Todd, Richard C. (1958). "C. C. Memminger and the Confederate treasury department". The Georgia Review. 12 (4): 396–410. JSTOR 41395577.
• Waite, Kevin (2016). "Jefferson Davis and proslavery visions of empire in the Far West" (PDF). Journal of the Civil War Era. 8 (4): 536–565. doi:10.1353/cwe.2016.0072. JSTOR 26070455. S2CID 164302059.
• Williams, Kenneth H.; Cooper, William J. Jr.; Roland, Charles P. (2003). Williams, Kenneth H. (ed.). "Slavery, the Civil War, and Jefferson Davis: An Interview with William J. Cooper Jr. and Charles P. Roland". The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 101 (4): 400–456. JSTOR 23387081.

Online

• "About Jefferson Davis". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on February 5, 2018. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; February 5, 2022 suggested (help)
• "Joseph Evan Davis". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; July 2, 2013 suggested (help)
• "Margaret Howell Davis Hayes". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on July 2, 2013.
• "Preventing Diplomatic Recognition of the Confederacy, 1861–1865". United States Department of State: Office of the Historian. Archived from the original on August 28, 2013. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
• "Varina Anne Davis". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; July 2, 2013 suggested (help)
• "William Howell Davis". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020.

Primary sources

• Davis, Jefferson (1923) [1858]. "Speech of Jefferson Davis before the Mississippi Legislature, November 16, 1858". In Rowland, Dunbar (ed.). Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist: His Letters, Papers, and speeches. Vol. III. Mississippi department of Archives and History. pp. 339–360. ISBN 9780404020002. OCLC 49736253.
• Davis, Jefferson (1861). "Jefferson Davis's Farewell Address: Senate Chamber, U.S. Capitol, January 21, 1861". Rice University: The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on June 27, 2017. Retrieved October 3, 2022.
• Davis, Jefferson (1862). "Jefferson Davis' Second Inaugural Address, Virginia Capitol, Richmond, February 22, 1862". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020.
• Davis, Jefferson (1906) [1863]. "Jefferson Davis' Message to the Third Session of the First Confederate Congress, Delivered in Richmond, January 12, 1863". In Richardson, James D. (ed.). A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865. United States Publishing. pp. 279–297 – via wikisource.
• Davis, Jefferson (1906) [1864]. "Jefferson Davis' Message to the First Session of the Second Confederate Congress, Delivered in Richmond, May 2, 1864". In Richardson, James D. (ed.). A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Confederacy, Including the Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1865. United States Publishing. pp. 443–448 – via wikisource.
• Davis, Jefferson (1865). "To the People of the Confederate States of America. Danville, Va., April 4, 1865". The Papers of Jefferson Davis. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020.

• Johnson, Andrew (1868). "December 25, 1868.- Granting Full Pardon and Amnesty to All Persons Engaged in the Late Rebellion". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on February 22, 2020.
• McPherson, Edward (1868). "Trial of Jefferson Davis". A Handbook of Politics for 1868. Philp & Solomons. p. 113.

External links

Official

• Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum
• The Jefferson Davis Estate Papers at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History
• The Papers of Jefferson Davis at Rice University
• United States Congress. "Jefferson Davis (id: D000113)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Other

• Jefferson Davis at the Digital Library of Georgia
• Jefferson Davis at Encyclopedia Virginia (encyclopediavirginia.org)
• Works by Jefferson Davis at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• Works by Jefferson Davis at Miami University
• Cooper, William J. Jr. (January 31, 2001). Booknotes interview with William J. Cooper on Jefferson Davis, American (video interview). Interviewed by Lamb, Brian. C-SPAN.
• Works by Jefferson Davis at Open Library
• Works by Jefferson Davis at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Jefferson Davis at the Internet Archive
• Song "Jeff in Petticoats" on IMSLP