biography
| name: |
Davis, Jefferson (Finis)
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1808–89)
|
| biography:
| US statesman and soldier, president of the Confederate States during the Civil War (1861–5), born in Fairview, Kentucky, USA. He trained at West Point (1828) and served on the frontier for seven years. Shattered by the death of his wife of three months (the daughter of Zachary Taylor), he secluded himself on his Mississippi plantation, later marrying Varina Howell (1845). He served in the US House of Representatives (Mississipi, Democrat, 1845–6), but resigned to volunteer for service in the Mexican War and was credited with securing the victory at Buena Vista. He returned to serve in the US Senate (1847–51) and then as US secretary of war (1853–7). Back in the US Senate (1857–61), he resigned when Mississippi seceded from the Union. Expecting to be given command of the Confederate armies, he was instead chosen president of the Confederate government (provisional, 1861–2; elected, 1862–5). He drew much criticism for intervening in the military's policies and for assuming near-dictatorial executive powers, and his intolerance of disagreement, inability to build a national consensus, and failure to select quality subordinates further handicapped his effectiveness as a war president. Nevertheless, historians have judged him the best candidate for a difficult if not impossible job, for he constantly found himself opposed by Southerners who embraced extreme states' rights positions. He fled the capital, Richmond, rather than surrender, but was captured in Georgia (10 May 1865), and after two years' imprisonment (the first months in shackles), he was released without trial. He retired to his Mississippi plantation, travelled briefly in Europe, and failed at various business ventures. Refusing to request amnesty, he resolutely defended the Southern cause in speeches and books including The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (2 vols, 1878–81). |
|
|
