The Papers of Jefferson Davis

Rice University

Publisher: Louisiana State University Press

Additional information at https://jeffersondavis.rice.edu/

A selective edition of the papers of Jefferson Davis (1808 –1889), the only President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. A graduate of West Point, Davis served in the U.S. House of Representatives for a single term before joining the U.S. Army in the Mexican-American War. He was appointed by the governor of Mississippi to the U.S. Senate. From 1853 to 1857, he served as the Secretary of War under President Pierce before returning to the Senate. He resigned in 1861 and was elected provisional Confederate president by acclimation. After the Civil War, he was imprisoned and released on bail after two years. President Andrew Johnson issued a presidential pardon and amnesty of Christmas Day, 1868. After the Civil War he became a symbol of the Lost Cause.

Complete in 14 volumes