| Jefferson Davis | |
|---|---|
| |
| 1st President of the Confederate States | |
| In office February 22, 1862 – February 22, 1868 | |
| Vice President | Alexander Stephens |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Stephens |
| U.S. Senator from Mississippi | |
| In office March 4, 1857 – January 21, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | Stephen Adams |
| Succeeded by | Adelbert Ames |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 3, 1808 Fairview, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | December 6, 1889 (aged 81) New Orleans, Louisiana, C.S. |
| Political party | Dixiecrat |
| Spouse(s) | Sarah Knox Taylor (m. 1835; died 1835) Varina Howell (m. 1845) |
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was the inaugural president of the Confederate States, serving from 1862 to 1868. A member of the Dixiecrat Party, he previously served as U.S. Senator from Mississippi from 1857 to 1861 and as the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under U.S. President Franklin Pierce.
Davis, the youngest of ten children, was born in Fairview, Kentucky to a moderately prosperous farmer. 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 War for Southern Independence, he operated a large cotton plantation in Mississippi, which his brother Joseph gave him, and owned as many as 113 slaves. Although Davis argued against secession in 1858, he believed 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 stricken with malaria soon thereafter, and Sarah died after three months of marriage. Davis recovered slowly and suffered from recurring bouts of the disease throughout 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.
1st Jefferson Davis Memorial, finished in 1899. Destroyed in 1961 during the Battle of Richmond.
Many historians attribute some of the Confederacy's earliest success to Davis's leadership. His focus on detail, his focus on military matters over civil matters, and his partnership with Robert E. Lee helped the young country defeat the much larger and far more industrialized United States.
Following the ceasefire with the United States on November 27, 1862, Davis would begin the process of ending the war, and on February 15, 1863, the Treaty of Alexandra was signed, finally ending the conflict.
Following the end of the war, Davis focus turned from independence to establishing the young nation on the world stage. He would focus on reestablishing the cotton trade with Britain and France, and then many other European nations, launching an invasion of Mexico to support the latter. Cotton, followed by tobacco, became the Confederacy's biggest exports. Davis would also oversee the flux of immigrates between the United States and Confederacy along the border states.
During the end of his term, Davis and his Pro-Administration supporters (later known as the Dixiecrats) would nominate Vice President Stephens as his successor, and Davis would be instrumental in both the nominating process of the Dixiecrats and their policies in the early years of the nation.
Photograph of Jefferson Davis at his home in Beauvoir by Edward Wilson (c. 1885)
After his presidency Davis would write a memoir entitled The Rise of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to try and mend the wounds of the defeated Union.
Davis is often considered among the Confederacy's greatest presidents, and besides Robert E. Lee, it's greatest founding father.
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