Jefferson Davis
1808–1889Davis, Jefferson, born in Kentucky, June 3, 1808; graduated at West Point at the age of twenty; served in the army during several Indian wars, and resigned his commission in 1835. He soon after married a daughter of Gen. Taylor, subsequently President, and became a cotton-planter. He was elected to Congress in 1844, and in 1845 was chosen colonel of a Mississippi regiment, with which he served during the Mexican war. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1847, and became Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Pierce in 1851. He was re-elected in 1858 to the United States Senate, from which he withdrew after the election of Mr. Lincoln, in 1860.
In February, 1861, Mr. Davis was inaugurated as provisional President of the Confederate States and in the year following was elected President for six years. After the fall of Richmond he was captured and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe for two years, was then admitted to bail, and was included in the general amnesty of 1868. He published a History of the Civil War. Died 1889.
Key events during the life of Jefferson Davis:
Image Links | ||
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 Jefferson Davis in Story of the Great Republic |
 Jefferson Davis in Builders of Our Country: Book II |
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| Robert E. Lee | General of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. |
| Stonewall Jackson | Leading Confederate General of the American Civil War, especially notable at Bull Run. Died at Chancellorsville. |
| Abraham Lincoln | President of the United States during the American Civil War. |
| Ulysses Grant | Commander and Chief of the Union forces in the Civil War, and President of the United States. |