BIOGRAPHY
Jefferson Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Kentucky. His family migrated to Wilkinson County, Mississippi, while Davis was still a young child. Davis graduated from West Pont University in 1828. In 1832, he served in the Black Hawk War. In 1835, Davis resigned and married Sarah Knox Taylor, who soon died. He married Varina Howell in 1845. He ran a cotton plantation in Warner County, Mississippi, and in 1844, he was elected to the US House of Representatives. He resigned his seat in 1846 to command a regiment of Mississippians in the
Mexican War, where he was wounded at the Battle of Buena Vista. After the
Mexican War, Davis was elected to the US Senate, where he served until becoming
a member of President Franklin Pierce’s Cabinet , serving as Secretary of War.
After Pierce’s tenure in office, Davis returned to Mississippi where he was
elected again to the US Senate. Davis served in the Senate until January 1861,
resigning when the state of Mississippi seceded from the Union.
On
February 9, 1861, the Provisional Government of the Confederacy appointed Davis
President of the Confederacy, and he was officially elected President in
November 1861. As President he tended to support Generals who did not perform
very well. However, he did have a good relationship with Robert E. Lee. Davis
didn’t get along with many in the Confederate Congress or his cabinet.
After the war, Davis was captured in Irwinville, Georgia, by Federal troops and imprisoned at Fortress Monroe. After his release in 1867, he settled on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and wrote an autobiography, The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, where he blamed others for failure of the Confederate States of America. He died on December 6, 1889, in New Orleans, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
After the war, Davis was captured in Irwinville, Georgia, by Federal troops and imprisoned at Fortress Monroe. After his release in 1867, he settled on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and wrote an autobiography, The Rise and Fall of the Confederacy, where he blamed others for failure of the Confederate States of America. He died on December 6, 1889, in New Orleans, and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.