Beech Tree News Network

 

In light of the recent squabble over the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky state capitol, I thought it would be good for us to examine Jefferson Davis’ life. Jefferson Finis Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Fairview, Kentucky. He was heavily influenced by his older brother, Joseph, who made sure that he was well-educated. Jefferson Davis attended college at Transylvania University before entering the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1824. As a military cadet, he was an average student. When Davis graduated in 1828, he graduated twenty-third out of thirty-four. Davis went on to serve briefly in the Black Hawk War in 1832. While stationed under Colonel Zachary Taylor the following year, Jefferson Davis met the colonel’s daughter, Sarah. The two were married in 1835, but both came down with a malaria a few months later and Sarah died because of the disease.
    Jefferson Davis lived an excluded life for the next eight years on his cotton plantation at Davis Bend, Mississippi. In 1845, he married his second wife, Varina Howell. In the same year, Mississippi sent Jefferson Davis to the U.S. House of Representatives. His Congressional term was short, however. Davis resigned in 1846 to fight in the Mexican War where he led his troops valiantly during the battles of Buena Vista and Monterrey. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1847.
    In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Jefferson Davis as the U.S. Secretary of War. He served with distinction and was recognized as one of the most capable individuals to hold the office. In 1857, Davis was elected to the U.S. Senate again where he was an outspoken proponent of states’ rights. He withdrew from the Senate on January 21, 1861, after Mississippi seceded from the Union.
    The Congress of the Confederacy chose Jefferson Davis to become President. On February 22, 1862, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated to a six year term as the President of the Confederacy. He was chosen as a political compromise, and Davis, however, did not want the job. He had hoped for a military position.
    As the Civil War dragged on, Jefferson Davis began to lose popularity in the South, and by 1865, everyone knew that the end was near. Confederate officials were forced to flee Richmond, Virginia, on April 2, 1865, and on May 10, 1865, Jefferson Davis was captured by Union soldiers near Irwinsville, Georgia. He was imprisoned at Ft. Monroe, Virginia, and was never tried for treason. Davis was released on bond in May 1867. After his release, Jefferson Davis and family traveled Europe for a few years before settling down in Biloxi, Mississippi, at an estate called Beauvoir. During this time, Davis wrote about his war-time experiences in a two volume series called The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government.
    In his final days, Jefferson Davis encouraged the young people of the South to reunite with the North in order to establish the Union once again. In 1888, Jefferson said the following in Mississippi City, Mississippi, during one of his last speeches, “The faces I see before me are those of young men; had I not known this I would not have appeared before you. Men in whose hands the destinies of the South land lie, for love of her I break my silence, to let it bury its dead, its hopes and aspirations ; before you lies the future - a future full of golden promise; a future of expanding national glory, before which all of the world shall stand amazed. Let me beseech you to lay aside all rancor, all bitter sectional feeling, and to make your places in the ranks of those who will bring about a consummation devoutly to be wished - a reunited country." Jefferson Davis realized that the South had been defeated, and it was time to repair the wounds that had been caused by the Civil War. Jefferson Davis passed away in New Orleans, Louisiana, on December 6, 1889.