Davis, Jefferson Finis

Born in Kentucky, Jefferson Davis settled in Mississippi , and became a national political figure during the 1850s. He was a senator and secretary of war who was selected as president of the Confederacy. Richmond diarist (and Dickinson College attendee) Littleton Washington observed Davis closely during the war.

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Jefferson Finis Davis
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Siblings
    9
    No. of Spouses
    2
    No. of Children
    4
    Family
    Samuel Emory Davis (father), Jane Cook Davis (mother), Sarah Knox Taylor (first wife), Varina Howell Davis (second wife)
    Education
    West Point (US Military Academy)
    Transylvania
    Occupation
    Politician
    Military
    Farmer or Planter
    Relation to Slavery
    Slaveholder
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Government
    Pierce Administration (1853-57)
    Confederate government (1861-65)
    US Senate
    US House of Representatives
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Occupation in 1860
    US Senator
    Political Party in 1860
    Democrat
    Marital status in 1860
    Married

    Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Davis built a powerful central government. He saw himself as a strict constructionist but never doubted that the Confederate Constitution gave him war powers that were necessary in the crisis. From the first he insisted that state troops come under the central government's control, and when four state governors sought the return of state-owned arms he declared in disgust that "if such was to be the course of the States . . . we had better make terms as soon as we could." Despite enormous local pressures, Davis insisted that "the idea of retaining in each State its own troops for its own defense" was a "fatal error. . . . Our safety--our very existence--depends on the complete blending of the military strength of all the States into one united body, to be used anywhere and everywhere as the exigencies of the contest may require."
    Paul D. Escott, "Davis, Jefferson," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00300.html.

    Jefferson Davis, Conscription (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    After only one year of war he sought and obtained a power unprecedented in American history: conscription. The idea of compelling men to fight in the armies was anathema to some southerners and generated fierce protests from political leaders such as Governor Joseph Emerson Brown of Georgia. But Davis was convinced that the Confederacy could not survive without conscription, for, as Secretary of War James Seddon later admitted, "the spirit of volunteering had died out." Davis answered Brown's protests unflinchingly and argued for a Hamiltonian interpretation of the Constitution's "necessary and proper" clause. In another restriction of personal liberties Davis requested and obtained the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus on repeated occasions to deal with disloyalty in threatened areas. Although he scrupulously refrained from acting without congressional authority, he urged what he believed necessary even in the face of criticism.
    Paul D. Escott, "Davis, Jefferson," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00300.html.

    Jefferson Davis, Emancipation (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    The Confederate president's flexibility on slavery and commitment to independence emerged clearly late in the war, when he proposed arming and freeing the South's slaves. It is likely that Davis considered this possibility earlier, but he had hoped to influence the 1864 northern elections and could not afford a well-publicized, divisive debate within the South. After Lincoln's reelection, however, he straightforwardly argued that slavery was less important than independence and that slaves would fight and deserved freedom as a reward. These proposals aroused enormous opposition, but as was usually the case, Davis won Congress's approval for most of his plan.
    Paul D. Escott, "Davis, Jefferson," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00300.html.

    Jefferson Davis, Collapse of the Confedaracy (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    The common people of the Confederacy grew disaffected not for ideological reasons, but because their conditions of life became intolerable. Often they favored stronger government action if it would alleviate suffering. Impoverished soldiers' families also resented the privileges enjoyed by planters, particularly those related to the draft, such as the exemption of overseers and the ability of those with means to hire a substitute. The combination of poverty and resentment over a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" nourished a growing stream of desertions from the Confederate ranks. To these problems Davis was largely insensitive. He allowed inequitable policies to become law, and later, when more perceptive officials such as Commissioner of Taxes Thompson Allen or Secretary of War James Seddon urged measures to alleviate distress, he concluded that resources were too limited to allow action. His neglect of the common people's suffering led directly to military weakness...After the Civil War Davis was imprisoned for two years at Fortress Monroe in Hampton Roads. Despite damage to his health, he survived and carried himself through the postwar years as a defeated but unrepentant Confederate.
    Paul D. Escott, "Davis, Jefferson," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00300.html.

    Jefferson Davis (Congressional Biographical Directory)

    Reference
    DAVIS, Jefferson, (son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor), a Representative and a Senator from Mississippi; born in what is now Fairview, Todd County, Ky., June 3, 1808; moved with his parents to a plantation near Woodville, Wilkinson County, Miss.; attended the country schools, St. Thomas College, Washington County, Ky., Jefferson College, Adams County, Miss., Wilkinson County Academy, and Transylvania University, Lexington, Ky.; graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1828; served in the Black Hawk War in 1832; promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the First Dragoons in 1833, and served until 1835, when he resigned; moved to his plantation, ‘Brierfield,’ in Warren County, Miss., and engaged in cotton planting; elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth Congress and served from March 4, 1845, until June 1846, when he resigned to command the First Regiment of Mississippi Riflemen in the war with Mexico; appointed to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Jesse Speight; subsequently elected and served from August 10, 1847, until September 23, 1851, when he resigned; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs (Thirtieth through Thirty-second Congresses); unsuccessful candidate for Governor in 1851; appointed Secretary of War by President Franklin Pierce 1853-1857; again elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1857, until January 21, 1861, when he withdrew with other secessionist Senators; chairman, Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia (Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses); commissioned major general of the State militia in January 1861; chosen President of the Confederacy by the Provisional Congress and inaugurated in Montgomery, Ala., February 18, 1861; elected President of the Confederacy for a term of six years and inaugurated in Richmond, Va., February 22, 1862; captured by Union troops in Irwinsville, Ga., May 10, 1865; imprisoned in Fortress Monroe, indicted for treason, and was paroled in the custody of the court in 1867; returned to Mississippi and spent the remaining years of his life writing; died in New Orleans, La., on December 6, 1889; interment in Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, La.; reinterment on May 31, 1893, in Hollywood Cemetery, Richmond, Va.; the legal disabilities placed upon him were removed, and he was posthumously restored to the full rights of citizenship, effective December 25, 1868, pursuant to a Joint Resolution of Congress (Public Law 95-466), approved October 17, 1978.
    “Davis, Jefferson,” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774 to Present, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000113.

    Jefferson Davis (Dictionary of United States History)

    Reference
    Davis, Jefferson (June 3, 1808-December 6, 1889), President of the Southern Confederacy, was born in Kentucky, and graduated at West Point in 1828. He saw some service in the Black Hawk War, but resigned from the army and became a cotton planter in Mississippi. He represented that State in Congress in 1845-46, but left Congress to take part as colonel in the Mexican War. In the storm of Monterey and the battle of Buena Vista he distinguished himself and was straightway chosen to the U. S. Senate, where he served 1847-51 and 1857-61. In 1851 he ran unsuccessfully as the States-rights candidate for Governor of Mississippi. In President Pierce's administration Mr. Davis was the Secretary of War 1853-57. He had become one of the Southern leaders, received some votes for the Democratic nomination for President in 1860, and in January, 1861, he left the U. S. Senate. He was thereupon elected provisional President of the Confederacy February 9, 1861, and was inaugurated February 18. In November of the same year he was elected President and was inaugurated February 22, 1862. From the second year of the war till the close many of his acts were severely criticised in the South itself. Many Southerners admit that President Davis' actions, especially his interference in military matters, impaired the prospects of success. An instance in point was his removal of General J. E. Johnston from command in 1864. Early in 1865 he conducted unsuccessful negotiations for peace. On the second of April the successes of Grant's army obliged President Davis to leave Richmond; he took the train for Danville, and after consultation proceeded southward and was captured by the Federals near Irwinsville, Ga., May 10, 1865. Until 1867 he was confined as a prisoner in Fort Monroe. He was in 1866 indicted for treason, released on bail the following year, and the trial was dropped. He passed the remainder of his life at Memphis and later in Mississippi, dying in New Orleans. He is the author of "Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government," two volumes. There are lives by Pollard and Alfriend.
    J. Franklin Jameson, "Davis, Jefferson," Dictionary of United States History, 1492-1895 (Boston: Puritan Publishing Co., 1894), 186.

    Jefferson Davis (American Cyclopaedia)

    Reference
    DAVIS, Jefferson, an American soldier and statesman, born June 3, 1808, in that part of Christian co., Ky., which now forms Todd county. Soon after his birth his father removed to Mississippi, and settled near Woodville, Wilkinson county. Jefferson Davis received an academical education, and was sent to Transylvania college, Ky., which he left in 1824, having been appointed by President Monroe a cadet in the military academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1828. He remained in the army seven years, and served as an infantry and staff officer on the N. W. frontier in the Black Hawk war of 1831-'2, and in March, 1833, was made first lieutenant of dragoons, in which capacity he was employed in 1834 in various expeditions against the Comanches, Pawnees, and other hostile Indian tribes. He resigned his commission June 30, 1835, and having married the daughter of Zachary Taylor, afterward president of the United States, but at that time a colonel in the army, he returned to Mississippi, and became a cotton planter. For several years he lived in retirement, occupied chiefly with study. In 1843 he began to take an active part in politics on the democratic side, and in 1844 was one of the presidential electors of Mississippi to vote for Polk and Dallas. In 1845 he was elected a representative in congress, and took his seat in December of that year. He bore a conspicuous part in the discussions of the session on the tariff, on the Oregon question, on military affairs, and particularly on the preparations for war against Mexico, and on the organization of volunteer militia when called into the service of the United States. In his speech on the Oregon question, Feb. 6, 1846, he said : "From sire to son has descended the love of union in our hearts, as in our history are mingled the names of Concord and Camden, of Yorktown and Saratoga, of Moultrie and Plattsbnrgh, of Chippewa and Erie, of Bowyer and Guilford, of New Orleans and Bunker Hill. Grouped together, they form a monument to the common glory of our common country; and where is the southern man who would wish that that monument were less by one of the northern names that constitute the mass?" While he was in congress, in July, 1846, the first regiment of Mississippi volunteers, then enrolled for service in Mexico, elected him their colonel. Overtaking the regiment at New Orleans on its way to the seat of war, he led it to reinforce the army of Gen. Taylor on the Rio Grande. He was actively engaged in the attack and storming of Monterey in September, 1846; was one of the commissioners for arranging the terms of the capitulation of that city; and distinguished himself in the battle of Buena Vista, Feb. 23, 1847, where his regiment, attacked by on immensely superior force, maintained their ground for a long time unsupported, while the colonel, though severely wounded, remained in the saddle until the close of the action. At the expiration of the term of its enlistment, in July, 1847, the Mississippi regiment was ordered home; and while on his return he received at New Orleans a commission from President Polk as brigadier general of volunteers, which he declined accepting, on the ground that the constitution reserves to the states respectively the appointment of the officers of the militia, and that consequently their appointment by the federal executive is a violation of the rights of the states. In August, 1847, he was appointed by the governor of Mississippi United States senator to fill a vacancy, and at the ensuing session of the state legislature, Jan. 11, 1848, was unanimously elected to the same office for the residue of the term, which expired March 4, 1851. In 1850 he was reelected for the ensuing full term. In the senate he was chosen chairman of the committee on military affairs, and took a prominent part in the debates on the slavery question, in defense of the institutions and policy of the slave states, and was a zealous advocate of the doctrine of state rights. In September, 1851, he was nominated for governor of Mississippi by the democratic party, in opposition to Henry S. Foote, the candidate of the Union party. He resigned his seat in the senate on accepting the nomination, and was beaten in the election by a majority of 999 votes; a marked indication of his personal popularity in his own state, for at the "convention election," two months before, the Union party had a majority of 7,500...
    George Ripely and Charles Anderson Dana, eds.,  “Davis, Jeferson,” The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1874), 5: 711-712.

    Jefferson Davis (New Orleans Picayune)

    Obituary
    JEFFERSON DAVIS.
    Address of Hon. John W. Daniel Before the Virginia House of Delegates.

    RICHMOND, Va., Jan. 26.— Mozart Academy of Music, the larges public hall in the city, was crowded last night with ladies and distinguished citizens of the state to hear Senator John W. Daniel deliver an oration upon the life and character of Jefferson Davis upon invitation of the legislature.  Governor McKinney and General Jubal A. Early were among the prominent citizens present.

    Hon. F. Cardwell, speaker of the house of representatives, introduced Senator Daniel, who said:  “Noble are the words of Cicero when he tells us that ‘is is the first and fundamental law of history that it should neither dare to say anything that is false or fear to say anything that is true, nor give any just suspicions of favor or disaffection.

    “No less high a standard must be invoked in considering the life, character and services of Jefferson Davis,

    A GREAT MAN OF A GREAT EPOCH,

    whose name is blended with the renown of American arms and with the civil glories of the cabinet and congress hall—a son of the south who became the head of a confederacy more populous and more extensive than that for which Jefferson wrote the declaration of independence, and commander-in-chief of armies greater than those of which Washington was the general.  He swayed senates and led the soldiers of the union, and he stood accused of treason in a court of justice.  He saw victory sweep illustrious battle fields and became a native.  He ruled millions and was put in chains.  Creating a nation he followed its bier and he died a disfranchised citizen.

    “But though great in many things, he was greatest in that fortune, which, lifting him first to the loftiest height, and casting him hence to the depth of disappointment, found him everywhere the erect and constant friend of truth.  He conquered himself and forgave his enemies, but he bent to none but god.  Severe scrutiny of his life and character—no public man was ever subjected to sterner ordeals of character of closer scrutiny of conduct; he was in the public gaze for nearly half a century; and in the fate which at last overwhelmed the southern confederacy and its president, official records and private papers fell into the hands of his enemies.  Wary eyes now searched to see if he had overstepped the bounds which the laws of war have set to action; and could such evidence be found, wrathful hearts would have cried for vengeance, but though every hiding place was opened and reward was ready for any who would betray

    THE SECRETS OF THE CAPTIVE CHIEF,

    whose armies were scattered and whose hands were chained—though the sea gave up its dead in the convulsion of his country—there could be found no guilty fact, and accusing tongues were silenced.

    “Whatever record leaped to light his name could not be stained.

    “I could not, indeed, nor would I, divest myself of those identities and partialities which made me on with the people of whom he was the chief in their supreme conflict.  But surely if records were stainless and enemies were dumb, and if the principals pronounce now favorable judgment upon the agent notwithstanding that he failed, there can be no suspicion of undue favor on the part of those who do him honor, and the contrary inclination could only spring from disaffection.

    “The people of the south knew Jefferson Davis.  He mingled his daily life with theirs under the eager kin of those who had bound up with him all that life can cherish.

    “To his hands they consigned their destinies and under his guidance they committed the land they loved with husbands, fathers, sons and brothers to the God of battles.

    “Ruin, wounds and death became their portion, and yet they do declare that Jefferson Davis was

    AN UNSELFISH PATRIOT,

    and a noble gentleman; that as the trustee of the highest trust that man can place in man, he was clear and faithful, and that in his office he exhibited those grand heroic attributes which were worthy of its dignity and their struggles for independence.  Thus it was that when the news came that he was no more there was no southern house that did not pass under the shadow of affliction.  Thus it was that the governors of commonwealths bore his body to the tomb and that multitudes gathered from afar to bow in reverence.  Thus it was that throughout the south the scarred soldiers, the widowed wives, the kindred of those who had died in the battle which he delivered, met to give the utterance to their respect and sorrow.  Thus it was that the general assembly of Virginia is now convened to pay their tribute.  Completer testimony to human worth was never given and thus it will be that the south will build a monument to record their verdict that he was true to his people, his conscience and his God, and no stone that covers the dead will be worthier of the Roman legend:  Clarus et vir fortissimus.

    Senator Daniel’s speech consumed about two hours in its delivery.
    “Jefferson Davis,” New Orleans (LA) Picayune, January 27, 1890, p. 1: 5.
    Date Event
    U.S. Senate votes unanimously for a committee to investigate the Harpers Ferry Raid
    Outside the White House, thousands of Democrats hear President Buchanan speak in favor of Breckinridge
    Congressional Commission to examine the methods of training at West Point meets for the first time
    Benjamin Butler booed off the stage at Democratic meeting in Lowell, Massachusetts
    Jefferson Davis of Mississippi resigns from the United States Senate
    The Convention of Seceding States opens at the State House in Montgomery, Alabama
    The Convention of Seceding States passes the provisional constitution of the Confederate States
    Jefferson Davis selected as Provisional President of the Confederate States
    Jefferson Davis sworn in as Provisional President of the Confederate States
    Jefferson Davis appoints Pierre G.T. Beauregard commanding general of the troops around Fort Sumter
    Confederate president invites applications for "letters of Marque and Reprisal"
    The Congress of the Confederate States opens a special session session in Montgomery, Alabama
    The Confederate Post Office issues its first postage stamps, bearing the likeness of Jefferson Davis
    Jefferson Davis declares a day of "fasting, humiliation, and prayer" across the Confederacy
    Judah P. Benjamin is named as Confederate Secretary of War and Thomas Bragg as Attorney General
    In Knoxville, Tennessee, a condemned Unionist saboteur receives an eleventh hour reprieve from President Davis
    In a rainy Richmond, Virginia, Jefferson Davis is inaugurated to a full term as Confederate president
    Jefferson Davis declares martial law in and around the Virginia towns of Norfolk and Portsmouth
    Fast day of "humiliation, prayer, and thanksgiving" observed throughout the Confederacy
    Jefferson Davis declares martial law in the Richmond area and also bans the production of spirits
    In Richmond, former Constitutional Unionist congressman John Minor Botts is arrested in dawn raid
    Confederate president Jefferson Davis signs the first Conscription Act in American history
    Commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia badly wounded on the battlefield
    Robert E. Lee is appointed field commander of the Army of Northern Virginia
    Virginia working women demonstrate and then precipitate a "Bread Riot"in the Confederate capital
    Union troops ransack the plantation of Jefferson Davis on the Mississippi River below Vicksburg
    The Confederate Government evacuates its capital of Richmond, hours before victorious Union troops march in
    Fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis arrives with his cabinet and family in Washington, Georgia
    Union cavalry capture the fleeing Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his family south of Macon, Georgia
    In Lincoln County, Georgia, bandits make off with $250,000 of the last of the Confederate gold reserves
    The House of Representatives passes a non-binding resolution that Jefferson Davis be tried for treason
    Former Confederate president is transported from Fort Monroe to Richmond to appear in federal court under a writ of habeas corpus.
    In Richmond, former Confederate president Jefferson Davis appears in federal court under a writ of habeas corpus and is released on bail.
    Date Title
    Washington (DC) National Era, "The Future Judged by the Past," January 1, 1857
    New York Times, “Gen. Scott and the Secretary of War,” February 5, 1857
    New York Times, “Governor Walker in Washington,” December 15, 1857
    New York Times, “The Fight in Congress,” December 18, 1857
    (Concord) New Hampshire Statesman, “Douglas in the Senate,” March 6, 1858
    Recollection by Lew Wallace, Senator Stephen A. Douglas
    (Jackson) Mississippian, "Speech of Hon. Jeff Davis at Portland," July 27, 1858
    New York Times, “Bringing Men Together,” August 17, 1858
    Norman Buel Judd to Abraham Lincoln, November 20, 1858
    New York Times, “A Rule that Works Both Ways,” November 25, 1858
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The National Disgrace of “Honorable” Squabbling,” February 25, 1859
    New York Times, “The Political Future,” February 26, 1859
    Bangor (ME) Whig and Courier, “The Douglas Manifesto,” July 4, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “The Speech of Hon. Jeff. Davis,” September 5, 1859
    Chicago (IL) Press and Tribune, “Mr. Lincoln in Ohio,” September 19, 1859
    Charlestown (VA) Free Press, “Jeff. Davis on Platforms,” June 21, 1860
    New York Herald, “The Crisis and Its Solution,” December 10, 1860
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “What the South Intends to do on the Fourth of March,” December 15, 1860
    New York Herald, “Ex-Secretary Floyd on the Crisis,” January 15, 1861
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Bad For Virginia,” February 20, 1861
    New York Herald, “Should Mr. Chase Go Into the Cabinet?,” February 27, 1861
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, "Fort Sumter," March 15, 1861
    New York Times, “A Not Very Civil War,” March 23, 1861
    New York Times, “Ho! For The Road!,” April 4, 1861
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, "Alarming News," April 11, 1861
    New York Herald, “Apprehensions of an Attack on Washington,” April 14, 1861
    Richmond (VA) Dispatch, “Retaliation,” April 15, 1861
    Entry by George Templeton Strong, April 15, 1861
    Fayetteville (NC) Observer, “What Can We Believe?,” April 29, 1861
    William Willey to Waitman Willey, April 29, 1861
    Atchison (KS) Freedom’s Champion, “Are They Secessionists?,” May 4, 1861
    Cleveland (OH) Herald, “The Feeling in Alabama,” May 6, 1861
    Boston (MA) Advertiser, “Not Quite a Unit,” May 9, 1861
    New York Times, “The Reward of Treason,” May 16, 1861
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Help From England,” May 16, 1861
    New York Herald, “Our Fashionable Summer Resorts,” June 2, 1861
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Treason in Illinois,” June 7, 1861
    New York Times, “Famine Among the Confederates,” June 20, 1861
    New York Times, “Are They Pirates?,” June 23, 1861
    Chillicothe (OH) Scioto Gazette, “Davis’ Subjects Dumpish and Disgusted,” July 2, 1861
    New York Times, “How to Treat the Vallandighams,” July 13, 1861
    San Francisco (CA) Evening Bulletin, “The Critical Time of the Union Cause,” August 9, 1861
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “Secession Organs in the North,” August 20, 1861
    Chillicothe (OH) Scioto Gazette, “Disgraceful Fraud,” October 29, 1861
    New York Herald, “Mason and Slidell,” November 17, 1861
    President Jefferson Davis, Message to the Confederate Congress, November 18, 1861
    New York National Anti-Slavery Standard, "Speech of Rev. M.D. Conway," August 9, 1862
    New York Times, “What Pennsylvania has Escaped,” July 6, 1863
    Chicago (IL) Tribune, “A Great Peril Escaped,” July 7, 1863
    New Haven (NH) Palladium,“Port Hudson,” July 16, 1863
    Carlisle (PA) American Volunteer, “The Skedaddlers,” July 30, 1863
    Henry J. Raymond to Abraham Lincoln, August 22, 1864, New York City
    Abraham Lincoln to Henry Jarvis Raymond, August 24, 1864, Washington, DC
    Editorial, "The Fall of Richmond and Southern Feeling," New York Times, April 6, 1865
    "The Consequence," Chicago Tribune, April 17, 1865
    Andrew Johnson, Proclamation, Reward for the Conspirators, Washington, D.C.
    Charges and specifications against the Lincoln Conspirators on trial in Washington, D.C., May 8, 1865
    Georgia State Convention, "Plea for the release and pardon of Jefferson Davis..." Milledgeville, Georgia, October 30, 1865
    Resolutions, the Unconditional Union party of Maryland in Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, August 15, 1866.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Chadwick, Bruce. 1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and the War They Failed to See. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc, 2008. view record
    Coulter, E. Merton. “Amnesty for All Except Jefferson Davis: The Hill-Blaine Debate of 1876.” Georgia Historical Quarterly 56 (Winter 1972): 453-494. view record
    Davis, William C. Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. view record
    Dirck, Brian R. Lincoln & Davis: Imagining America, 1809-1865. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2001. view record
    Eaton, Clement. Jefferson Davis. New York: Free Press, 1977. view record
    Escott, Paul D. After Secession: Jefferson Davis and the Failure of Confederate Nationalism. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978. view record
    Hattaway, Herman, and Richard E. Beringer. Jefferson Davis, Confederate President. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2002. view record
    Holzer, Harold. "Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis: Rivals in Popular Prints." Journal of Mississippi History 70, no. 1 (2008): 41-66. view record
    Rable, George C. The Confederate Republic: A Revolution Against Politics. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994. view record
    Rowland, Eron. Varina Howell, Wife of Jefferson Davis. New York: MacMillan Company, 1927. view record
    Woodworth, Steven E. Davis and Lee at War. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Davis, Jefferson Finis," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/5545.