POTCS Davis, Jefferson Finis

Jefferson Finis Davis
President of the Confederate States of America

:CSA1stNat:
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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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"My gggrand-uncle, John Rupert(Ruppert), pvt. in the 4th Volunteer Michigan Calvary, died in the capture of Jefferson Davis by “friendly fire” from a Wisconsin Calvary unit. He was serving with 2 men from Michigan that married 2 of his sisters."

Dave Gray, have you been to the Jefferson Davis capture site in Georgia? It is a small park maintained by a private organization, if I remember correctly. I stopped by there several years ago and found it fascinating. Well worth a visit.....especially for someone like you.
 
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Old Sarge, no I have not. The last time I was in Georgia was 19-20 years ago! But someday I will make a visit to see the capture site. The Ruppert’s never forgot John’s sacrifice. I have a photo of John in his uniform, when I find it I will post that picture.
 
This is more of a question than a statement about Davis. When he was a inaugurated on Feb.18th, 1861, was it in this event where John Tyler's grand daughter raised the Confederate Flag over Montgomery? There is presently another thread concerning Tyler but it's more about His haunted estate than it is about him.
 
That first picture is a very nice one. I am doing program on his birthplace.

Some facts I have:

The town was Davisburg, later called Fairview, Christain County, later called Todd County, Kentucky. The cabin he was born in was a double log cabin or dog trot cabin, The cabin was on a 600 acre farm on a well traveled road and the Davis family operated an inn called Wayfarer's Rest in the cabin. The location of the cabin, which no longer exists, is now the site of Bethel Baptist Church.

We have visited the site several time.

Happy Birthday Jefferson Davis.
 
I've tried to find some birthday stories about President Davis, so far with no success. But late in life he had begun the process of writing an autobiography, and after he died what little he had said was incorporated into a biography by his wife, Varina. So in his own words, here is a short account of his his birth.

Shortly before his last journey to Briarfield he dictated to a friend, as an introductory chapter, this account of his ancestry and early boyhood. He was too weak to sit up long at a time, and lay in bed while his friend and I sat by and listened. No verbal or other change has been made in the dictation, which Mr. Davis did not read over:​

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"My parents lived near Augusta, Ga., where they had a farm, on which they resided until after the birth of several children, when they moved to what was then known as the Green River country, in the southwestern part of Kentucky. There my father engaged in tobacco-planting and raising blooded horses, of which he had some of the finest in the country.​
"I was born on the 3d of June, 1808, in what was then Christian County. The spot is now in Todd County, and upon the exact site of my birthplace has since been built the Baptist church of Fairview.*​
"During my infancy my father removed to Bayou Teche, in Louisiana; but, as his children suffered from acclimatization, he sought a higher and healthier district. He found a place that suited him about a mile east of Woodville, in Wilkinson County, Miss. He removed his family there, and there my memories begin.​
"My father's family consisted of ten children, of whom I was the youngest. - from pages 3, 5-6 "Jefferson Davis, ex-president of the Confederate States of America: A Memoir / by his wife." by Varina Davis 1890​
 
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