The Davis family moved to Mississippi while Jefferson was still a boy. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1828 and served in the army until 1835. He owned a plantation in Mississippi which he ran until the outbreak of hostilities in the Mexican War, where he served in 1847. Davis was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1847 and served until 1851.Appointed to the post of Secretary of War in the Pierce administration (1853-57), he returned to the Senate from 1857 to 1861 and the outbreak of the Civil War and the secession of Mississippi from the Union. Initially, Davis was appointed the President of the Confederate provisional government, but in February of 1862 he was inaugurated president of the Confederate States. He quickly gained a reputation for interfering in military matters during the war and was attacked by Southern leaders for violating states' rights. Nevertheless, it is doubtful that any man could have succeeded in defeating the industrial North, and Davis gained a great deal of respect, both during and after the conflict. Upon the fall of Richmond and Lee's surrender, Davis and his cabinet fled, but were captured in Georgia and he spent two years in confinement in Fortress Monroe. Although he was indicted for treason, he was never brought to trial and retired to Beauvoir, Mississippi near Bilouxi where he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (1881). |
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