Jefferson Finis DAVIS
Biography

JEFFERSON DAVIS, an officer, states man and legislator of prominence in America, gained the greater part of his fame from the fact that he was president of the southern confederacy. Mr. Davis was born in Christian county. Kentucky, June 3, 1808, and his early education and surroundings were such that his sympathies and inclinations were wholly with the southern people. He received a thorough education, graduated at West Point in 1828, and for a number of years served in the army at western posts and in frontier service, first as lieutenant and later as adjutant. In 1835 he resigned and became a cotton planter in Warren county, Mississippi, where he took an active interest in public affairs and became a conspicuous figure in politics. In 1844 he was a presidential elector from Mississippi and during the two following years served as congressman from his district. He then became colonel of a Mississippi regiment in the war with Mexico and participated in some of the most severe battles, being seriously wounded at Buena Vista. Upon his return to private life he again took a prominent part in political affairs and represented his state in the United States senate from 1847 to 1851. He then entered President Pierce's cabinet as secretary of war, after which he again entered the United States senate, remaining until the outbreak of the Civil war. He then became president of the southern confederacy and served as such until captured in May, 1865, at Irwinville, Georgia. He was held as prisoner of war at Fortress Monroe, until 1867, when he was released on bail and finally set free in 1868. His death occurred December 6, 1889.

Jefferson Davis was a man of excellent abilities and was recognized as one of the best organizers of his day. He was a forceful and fluent speaker and a ready writer. He wrote and published the "Rise and Fall of the Southern Confederacy,' a work which is considered as authority by the southern people.

A Biographical Record Of Schuyler County, New York, S. J. Clarke, 1903

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