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Jefferson Finis Davis was born on June 3, 1801, in Christian County, Kentucky.
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He was the 10th and last son of Samuel Emory Davis, and Jane Cook Davis.
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Davis looked up to his oldest brother Joseph Davis.
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Education:
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Moved to Mississippi at the age of three.
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At age seven went to boy’s school in Kentucky.
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Attended Transylvania College at the age of thirteen.
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Spent four years at United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating 23rd in a class of 33.
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His best friend was future Confederate general Albert Sidney Johnstone.
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Childhood
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Served as lieutenant in the Wisconsin Territory and the Black Hawk War under future president Zachary Taylor.
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He married Sarah Knox Taylor who was Zachary Taylor’s daugher
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Unfortunately, three months after their wedding, Sarah died of malaria.
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In 1846 Davis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and married Varina Howell.
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Later that year, he resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives to serve in the Mexican-American War, as a colonial.
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He became a hero for winning the Battle of Buena Vista.
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After being severely wounded at battle, he returned to Mississippi and became a chairman of the Military Affairs Committee in the Senate.
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Unsuccessful in becoming a governor for Mississippi but became secretary of war in 1853.
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After President Franklin Perce left office, Davis returned to the senate during anxious times.
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Wrote his six resolutions on February 2, 1860.
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South Carolina seceded but Jefferson Davis did not support this
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Although Jefferson Davis was against secession, when Mississippi seceded he had to leave the Senate.
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Soon he became the president of the newly formed Confederacy.
Politics and military
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Davis first sent peace commission to Washington DC to prevent armed conflict.
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This failed and Lincoln sent armed ships to South Carolina.
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Jefferson Davis reluctantly ordered an attack on the fort and this marked the beginning of the American civil war.
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The South would not have been able to uphold during an invasion but Davis was able to create factories for producing powder, cannon, and sidearms.
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Unfortunately, Davis was not a very strong President during this time and the South was losing manpower and their military was gradually worsening.
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In the end, Robert E. Lee, the commander of Northern Virginia surrendered to the North without the approval of Davis.
american civil war
Capture and imprisonment
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Jefferson Davis was captured near Irwinville, Georgia, and was imprisoned in Fort Monroe, Virginia.
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Davis remained a prisoner for two more years and finally released on May 1867.
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He went to Canada to regain his health and was never put on trial for treason.
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Davis retired in Mississippi and wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government in 1880.
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Unfortunately, Jefferson Davis died in 1889 in New Orleans due to a complicated bronchial ailment.
