Jefferson Davis, (born June 3, 1808, Christian county, Ky., U.S.—died Dec. 6, 1889, New Orleans, La.), U.S. political leader, president of the Confederate States of America (1861–65). He graduated from West Point and served as a lieutenant in the Wisconsin Territory and later in the Black Hawk War. In 1835 he became a planter in Mississippi. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1845–46), he resigned to serve in the Mexican War, in which he distinguished himself at the Battle of Buena Vista. A national hero, he served in the U.S. Senate (1847–51) and as Pres. Franklin Pierce’s secretary of war (1853–57). He returned to the Senate in 1857, where he advocated states’ rights but tried to discourage secession. After Mississippi seceded in 1861, he resigned and was chosen president of the Confederacy. He conducted the South’s war effort despite shortages of manpower, supplies, and money and opposition from radicals within his administration. After Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered without Davis’s approval in April 1865, Davis fled Richmond, Va., the Confederate capital, hoping to continue the fight until he could secure better terms from the North. Captured and indicted for treason, he was never tried. After two years imprisonment, he was released in poor health in 1867. He retired to Mississippi. His citizenship was restored posthumously in 1978.
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