Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, was a hero of the U.S. Army during the Mexican War and U.S. Secretary of War.  Born in Kentucky, Jefferson Davis represented the state of Mississippi in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  Jefferson Davis was the only individual to serve as President of the Confederacy.  In the last days of the war, Jefferson Davis fled the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, and was captured by Union cavalry in Georgia.  Jefferson Davis was imprisoned and indicted on treason charges but received a presidential pardon in 1868.  He died in 1889 at the age of 81.

Jefferson Davis

Old Rough and Ready at Monterrey

By Chris Dishman

On the morning of September 19, 1846, General Zachary Taylor and his advance party could see little through the mist that shrouded the city of Monterrey, Mexico, Taylor’s next objective in his ongoing northern campaign. Read more

Jefferson Davis

William T. Sherman: A Hard Lesson in War

By Arnold Blumberg

With the fall of Vicksburg in the first week of July 1863, the strongest remaining Confederate presence in Mississippi was a recently thrown together force of 26,000 soldiers under General Joseph E. Read more

Jefferson Davis

Civil War Generals: Albert Sidney Johnston

By Roy Morris Jr.

Confederate President Jefferson Davis considered his old West Point classmate Albert Sidney Johnston “the greatest soldier, the ablest man, civil or military, Confederate or Union, then living,” and it is safe to say that no other general in either army began the Civil War with a more glittering—or fleeting—reputation. Read more

Locals still live with reminders of the Chattanooga Campaign and its aftermath 150 years after the American Civil War.

Jefferson Davis

The Chattanooga Campaign: Then and Now

by Roy Morris, Jr.

Living in Chattanooga is a little like living inside a museum. American Civil War reminders are all around: many of us remember going as students on field trips to Point Park and Chickamauga Battlefield and spending long Sunday afternoons driving with our families along the winding, monument-strewn Crest Road on Missionary Ridge. Read more