Jefferson Finis Davis (1808-1889)

Jefferson Davis became the first and only President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War though for most people little else is known about him. This is a brief history of the man who struggled to keep his fledgling nation afloat.

Jefferson Davis was born into a military family. His father and uncles fought in the Continental Army in the American Revolution. Three of his older brothers (Jefferson was the youngest of ten children) fought in the War of 1812. Jefferson went to college and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Infantry Regiment after his graduation of West Point.

At 36 years old, Jefferson Davis was elected to the United States House of Representatives. Only two years later, however, the Mexican-American War broke out and Davis resigned his House seat to form the Mississippi Rifles Volunteer Regiment. Jefferson fought bravely at the Battle of Buena Vista but refused promotion to brigadier general (he was a colonel) on grounds that it was unconstitutional for militia officers to be promoted to Federal military positions.

Jefferson Davis became a Mississippi Senator and was made chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs. He had various political appointments afterwards but the talk of secession and war was drawing near.

Jefferson Finis Davis by C.E. Emery, about 1888.

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If the Confederacy fails, there should be

written on its tombstone: Died of a Theory.

-- Jefferson Davis

While Jefferson Davis wanted the Union to be preserved between the North and the South, he believed the right for a state to secede from the Union must be preserved, and fought for, if necessary. Davis resigned and delivered a farewell address to the United States Senate when Mississippi adopted an ordinance of secession in January of 1861.

Days later Jefferson became a Major General of Mississippian troops. Before February was over, he was named provisional President of the Confederate States of America. Jefferson continued to urge his fellow southerners to remain at peace with the United States. He appointed a Peace Commission to offer to pay off their part of the national debt and to pay for Federal forts and government properties that remained on southern land. Though peace talks would not work out, and only a month later he approved the firing on Fort Sumter. The American Civil War had begun.

Virginia decided to join the Confederacy and Jefferson Davis moved his family to the new capitol, the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. Jefferson was elected to a six year term as President and Robert E. Lee was Davis' new appointed General of the Army of Northern Virginia. The beginning of the American Civil War was going well for the Confederates, but Jefferson knew the economical advantage always belonged to the North. After a series of stunning victories, Robert E. Lee was defeated at Gettysburg, and Davis refused General Lee's offer of resignation.

As the nature of the war changed and the southerners were being defeated through attrition, Ulysses S. Grant pushed closer to Richmond. On April 3, 1865, Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet fled to Danville Virginia, and then to North Carolina to flee northern capture. On April 9, 1865 General Ulysses S. Grant accepted the surrender of General Robert E. Lee. The Confederate government officially dissolved in May and Jefferson Davis was captured in Irwinville, Georgia and was held as a prisoner for two years in Virginia.

Davis was indicted of treason, but the indictments were dismissed and the case never went to trial. After the two years he was released on bail by prominent northern and southern citizens and he traveled overseas. Davis went on to become president of a life insurance company and was even elected to Senate again, though he was not allowed to serve because of the 14th amendment. Jefferson Davis continued to travel and author books and in 1889, 24 years after the American Civil War ended, died at the age of 81. His funeral was one of the largest ever in the South.

Compiled by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated September, 2010.