POTCS Davis, Jefferson Finis

Jefferson Finis Davis
President of the Confederate States of America

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Born: June 3, 1808

Birthplace: Christian County, Kentucky

Father: Samuel Emory Davis 1756 – 1824
(Buried: Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery, Biloxi, Mississippi)​

Mother: Jane Cook 1759 – 1845
(Buried: Davis Family Cemetery, Woodville, Mississippi)​

1st Wife: Sarah Knox Taylor 1814 – 1835 (Married: September 15, 1835)
(Buried: Locust Grove Cemetery, Saint Francisville, Louisiana)​

2nd Wife: Varina Banks Howell 1826 – 1906 (Married: February 26, 1845)
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​

Children:

Isaac Cook Davis 1845 – 1863​
Samuel Emory Davis 1852 – 1854​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​
Margaret Howell Davis Hayes 1855 – 1909​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​
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Jefferson Finis Davis Jr. 1857 – 1878​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​
Joseph Evan Davis 1859 – 1864​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​
William Howell Davis 1861 – 1872​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​
Varina Anne “Winnie” Davis 1864 – 1898​
(Buried: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia)​

Signature:
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Education:

Attended Jefferson College in Washington, Mississippi​
Attended Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky​
1828: Graduated from West Point Military Academy (23rd in class)​

Occupation before War:
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1828: Brevet 2nd Lt. United States Army Infantry​
1828 – 1833: 2nd Lt. United States Army 1st Infantry Regiment​
1833 – 1835: 1st Lt. United States Army 1st Dragoons Regiment​
1835: Resigned from United States Army on June 30th​
Owner and Manager of Brierfield Plantation (900 acres of land)​
1844: Democratic Party Presidential Elector​
1844: Campaigned in Mississippi for James K. Polk for President​
1845 – 1846: United States Representative from Mississippi​
1846 – 1847: Colonel of 1st Mississippi Rifles Volunteers​
1847: Declined Brigadier General in United States Army​
1847 – 1851: United States Senator from Mississippi​
1847 – 1851: United States Senate Chairman on Military Affairs​
1851: Unsuccessful Candidate for Governor of Mississippi​
1852: Campaigned in Mississippi for Franklin Pierce for President​
1853 – 1857: United States Secretary of War​
1857 – 1861: United States Senator from Mississippi​
1861: Delivered his farewell Address in the United States Senate​

Civil War Career:

1861: Major General of the Army of Mississippi​
1861 – 1865: 1st & Only - President of Confederate States of America
1865 – 1866: Imprisoned at Fortress Monroe on cost of Virginia​

Occupation after War:

1878: President of Carolina Life Insurance Company​
1879 – 1889: Farmer in Beauvoir, Mississippi​
1881: Author of “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”
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Promoter of Society in South America to stimulate United States trade​
1886 – 1887: Toured the South Promoting the book he wrote​

Died: December 6, 1889

Place of Death: New Orleans, Louisiana

Cause of Death: Acute Bronchitis and Malaria

Age at time of Death: 81 years old

Original Burial Place: Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, Louisiana

Final Burial Place: Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia

In 1978: On October 17, President Jimmy Carter posthumously restored the full rights of citizenship to Jefferson Davis by signing an act from Congress.

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Isn't there also a Davis Island that used to be part of the Davis plantation?
Davis Island, 15 miles or so below Vicksburg, was Hurricane Plantation and Brierfield was carved from that, owned by Joseph Davis who allowed Jefferson, his brother, to use Brierfield. A swampy, oft-flooded area now on the Louisiana side of the ever-shifting river, Brierfield is a private hunting club last I knew. Invitation only visitation.
 
Davis Island, 15 miles or so below Vicksburg, was Hurricane Plantation and Brierfield was carved from that, owned by Joseph Davis who allowed Jefferson, his brother, to use Brierfield. A swampy, oft-flooded area now on the Louisiana side of the ever-shifting river, Brierfield is a private hunting club last I knew. Invitation only visitation.
The entire history of Davis Island is fascinating.
 
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Almost everyone knows something about Jefferson Davis. One if the things about him that I recently learned was that even though he considered himself a great Military man it was more in the "Army" side of it. He admitted he knew very little about Naval matters and gave his Navy Secretary,Stephen Mallory, a free rein in most matters concerning the Navy. But it was "hands-on" with Army concerns.
 
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