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U. S. CIVIL WAR
PHOTOGRAPHS
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Jefferson Davis
1808 - 1889
JEFFERSON DAVIS
(Page One of Three)
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Jefferson Davis, (son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor), a Representative and
a Senator from Mississippi, was born in what is now Fairview, Todd County,
Kentucky, June 3, 1808.
He was the youngest of ten children, five sons and five daughters.
Three of the sons served in the war of 1812, the fourth was drafted to stay at
home. The fifth, Jefferson Davis, was then only five years old.
In 1818, Jefferson Davis moved with his parents to a plantation near Woodville,
Wilkinson County, Mississippi. From there he attended several schools, including
Jefferson College and Wilkinson County Academy in Mississippi and Transylvania
University in Kentucky.
Jefferson Davis was appointed to a cadetship in the U.S. military academy in
November, 1823, by President Monroe. He graduated from the academy in 1828 as
brevet 2nd lieutenant of infantry and was ordered to report to the school of
practice at Jefferson barracks, St. Louis, Missouri.
On March 4, 1833 he was promoted 1st lieutenant in the first dragoons "for
gallant service,"
After seven years in the army he resigned his commission in 1835 and moved to
his plantation, 'Brierfield,' in Warren County, Mississippi, to engage in cotton
planting. During this time he married Miss Sallie Knox Taylor, daughter of
Zachary Taylor.
Mrs. Jefferson Davis - 1860s
In 1845, Jefferson Davis was elected as a Democrat to the Twenty-ninth U.S.
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.
Mexican War - Landing of American Forces under
General Scott, at Vera Cruz, March 9th, 1847
After the war, he was appointed Secretary of War by President Franklin
Pierce 1853-1857. At the end of Pierce's term, Jefferson Davis was elected, as
a Democrat, to the United States Senate and served from March 4, 1857, until
January 21, 1861.
Davis resigned from the U.S. senate in January 1861.
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JEFFERSON DAVIS - PAGE 2
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Notes
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