Profile of the Day: Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Do you have ancestors that fought for the Confederacy during the American Civl War? On this day in 1861, Jefferson Davis was notified by telegraph that he had been chosen as the provisional President of the Confederate States of America.

Although he was the strongest and first choice to lead the new Confederate States, Davis was reluctant to take the position. He was at his plantation gardening when he received the news that he was unanimously elected president of the provisional government. His wife Varian later noted, “Reading that telegram he looked so grieved that I feared some evil had befallen our family.” Despite worries that he was not up to the task, Davis accepted the position out of a sense of duty to his country. He was inaugurated on February 18, 1861.

Davis remained President of the Confederacy until the government was dissolved at the end of the war. He was imprisoned for two years before he was finally released. Davis died on December 6, 1889 in New Orleans, Louisiana at the age of 81.

Explore Jefferson Davis’s family tree on Geni and discover your connection to the Confederate president.
 

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Image: Library of Congress