Jefferson Davis

Front matter

CHRONOLOGY

1808 — June 3, born in Christian County, Ky., the tenth child of Samuel Davis and Jane Cook, one of Georgia, the other of South Carolina origin.

1811 — The Davis family settles in Wilkinson County in southwestern Mississippi.

Preface

The purpose of this short biography of Jefferson Davis is not to justify or even defend the course of the foremost leader of the Confederate cause ; but simply to relate the story of that remarkably tragic life and, in so far as the limitations of time and space permit, correlate Jbis career to the main current of American history. If ardent admirers of the Confederate President find reason to complain, I have only to say that I have kept as close to the " sources " as possible ; if on the other hand extreme advocates of nationalism are displeased, I must say that it is extremely doubtful whether there was a real and vital nation within the limits of our republic before the issues for which Davis gave his life were settled.

Whether the American public as a whole is ready for a "life" of Davis is a question which may be debated j that interest in him is steadily growing is shown by the fact that since the writer began his labors three other students of Southern history have entered the field. Jefferson Davis and his work will then certainly be discussed anew in the near future, and with less acrimony than in the past. Let us hope that a juster estimate of his services may be the result.

In the preparation of these pages I have been greatly aided by the authorities of the Confederate Museum in Eichmond, of the Virginia State Library, of the Library of Congress, of the Carnegie Institu-

8 PEEFACE

tion and of the Charleston City Library. Mr. Thomas M. Owens, of the Alabama Department of History and Archives, and Mr. Dunbar Eowland, of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, very kindly placed at my disposal the resources of their valuable collections. Dr. Ellis P. Oberholtzer and the publishers have also been unfailing in attention and courtesy while the book was going through the press. To all these and to others who have " lent a hand" I wish here to make hearty acknowledgment.

Wm. E. Dodd.

Randolph Macon College, October 21, 1907.

Contents

Chronology

I. Early Years and Training . . 15

II. On the Western Border . . . 28

Chapter II On The Western Boeder

From West Point Davis journeyed, in July, 1828, to his brother's home, in Warren County, Mississippi, to enjoy his first vacation since 1821. In these years the old homestead in Wilkinson County had been in part broken up. The older brothers and sisters had received their portions of the estate and had settled in the counties along the Mississippi, one going as far south as Bayou Sara in Louisiana. The mother still lived at the old home, but spent a large part of her time at "Hurricane," Joseph Davis' s estate. Here Jefferson stayed during the summer and early autumn. How much property he received from his father cannot very well be determined, since it remained in the hands of the older brother as guardian and administrator. One thing is known ; late in the fall, he carried with him to his new post of duty in southwestern Wisconsin, a sturdy, promising young negro slave, who was to become widely known as James Pemberton, long his personal servant.

The two took passage at the beginning of cold weather on a Mississippi River steamer for St. Louis. There Davis received orders to proceed to Fort Crawford, at Prairie du Chien, in the southwest corner of the present state of Wisconsin, near the junction of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. But he remained in the metropolis of Missouri some days, renewing

OK THE WESTERN BOKDEK 29

acquaintance with his old school-fellows, Albert Sidney Johnston and Thomas F. Drayton. Johnston had been a Transylvania student who had preceded Davis at West Point by two years ; Drayton was a cadet classmate and a scion of Revolutionary stock in lower South Carolina.

The next we hear of Davis he is at Fort Crawford, spending his " off hours" with George W Jones, another Transylvania graduate, who now lived at Sinsinawa, some twenty-five miles south of Prairie du Chien. The fort was under command of Colonel Willoughby Morgan, who died three years later and who was succeeded by Colonel Zachary Taylor, a Southern planter-soldier, of whom the country was to hear much in later years. This new region, into which Davis had come for his initial service as an officer of the national government, was a typical border land. Northern Illinois, western Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota then constituted a vast wilderness, with here and there a few prairie tracts on which the buffalo had not ceased to graze. The northern part was a sort of amphibious section like central Prussia, lake, river and bog, relieved now and then by thick - grown land. Here John Jacob Astor had established his trading posts, whence he received a part of his vast harvest of furs. At these centres there dwelt a motley sort of people — Indians, and American and French- Canadian trappers. The language and civilization of these isolated settlements were unique — a mixture of French- English -Indian symbols and ideas. There were no churches, schools or other meeting-places. The expanding wilderness, the rough experience of the wild woods, the occasional struggle with rival trapper or with jealous Indian, were their teachers. They lived in single-room log huts built for protection against an enemy as well as the severe winter weather. Superstition and belief in witchcraft were general. If a cock crowed at sunset some member of the family was expected to die ; a rabbit that crossed the hunter's path from right to left invariably brought bad luck ; the cows were bewitched in spring by Indian squaws belonging to unfriendly tribes. It was a state of culture close akin to that of the Middle Ages of England, as well as that to be found in the mountain fastnesses of the South to-day.

In the early months of 1829, Davis was detailed to superintend the cutting of timber on the banks of the Eed Cedar Eiver, a tributary of the Chippewa. The party camped near the site of the present town of Menomonee. Owing to the proximity of unfriendly Indians, it was necessary to fortify the camp and maintain guards or small outposts. A large part of Davis's duty was to protect his men against the savages. Notwithstanding precautions, on one occasion they were attacked, and Davis, it seems, having become isolated from his party, escaped being scalped only by hiding in the dense underbrush. The main business of the detail was to cut logs on the banks of the river, drag them into the water, and fasten them together in large rafts, which were then guided down the stream to the Chippewa, thence to the Mississippi and finally landed at Prairie du Chien, where they were hewn or sawed into the proper shapes, and used in the construction of the fortifications or other buildings which the government was erecting. It was sometimes hazardous work to direct the rafts over the rap-

ON THE WESTEBN BOEDEE 31

ids of the smaller streams ; but no fatalities were reported. What the young West Pointer, still under twenty-one years of age, reared in school, and utterly unused to the lumber business, could do in such a place as this we are at a loss to know. But his mission was successful and two years later he was sent to the Yellow Eiver camp to superintend the building and management of a sawmill, — proof, perhaps, of his adaptability and talent, certainly of the confidence of his superiors.

Fort Winnebago, near the junction of the Fox and Wisconsin Eivers, was an important point on the northwestern border in 1830. It commanded the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Eivers and was besides a strategic centre of operations in case of any concerted attack by the many tribes of Indians living between the Wisconsin and the Mississippi. John Jacob Astor had indicated its significance to the national government years before, and had succeeded in having it made a garrisoned stronghold. Davis was sent there in the fall of 1829 j he remained one year and gained for himself something of a reputation as an adept in improvising comforts for the inmates of the post. He had some furniture made of the heavy timbers of the region^ pieces of which have been preserved and are still highly valued by the antiquarians of Wisconsin. The clumsy wardrobes of his manufacture were the source of some amusement to the wives of the officers ; they gave them the name " Davis," which they have borne ever ince. W- S. Harney was then in command of the i»rt, and Saterlee Clarke was also stationed there, larney afterward played a role in the Civil War, bein kept in Richmond under arrest for some time at the opening of the struggle. He was released on the order of the Confederate President and went to St. Louis to serve the Union cause. He had been a member of the United States Senate with Davis during the crisis of 1850. There were other "West Pointers at Winnebago, and they seem to have formed a very pleasant and friendly group. Theatricals were improvised by the ladies and young officers ; some of the older men cultivated gardens in season ; others were fond of hunting deer, then plentiful enough in the neighborhood. Excursions and reconnaissances were made in every direction, Davis recognizing and pointing out for the first time, perhaps, the surpassing beauty of the site of the present city of Madison and its environs. His spare hours were not altogether devoted to these outings or to card playing, the popular diversion of the inmates of the place, but to reading. "What was the nature of the literature of this far-off point cannot now be ascertained. The significant fact is that he was a student and won the reputation of being chary of losing time from his books. From hints given out by his friend Jones and others, it had been this fondness for literature that had retarded his progress at Transylvania and caused him to graduate below the middle of his class at West Point. The same habit, it will be recalled, characterized Emerson at Harvard and Poe at the University of Virginia. Notwithstanding his love of the quiet corner, Davis was well liked at the fort and his transfer to another post; next year was much regretted.

As already noted, he was sent to the upper waters of the Yellow River to continue the work of cutting timber for use in the rebuilding and enlarging of Foe

ON THE WESTERN BOEDER 33

Crawford, which was still going on. Here it was a repetition of the experiences of the first winter at Red Cedar River, except that now he was to superintend a sawmill and protect it against Indian invasions. It required something of the diplomat to keep on good terms with the natives, and Davis learned that flattery and management were much cheaper than cold lead, and much easier to apply. He made himself so popular with his dusky neighbors that they installed him as titular head of one of their tribes, being afterward known among them as the " Little Chief."

The young Mississippian fell a victim to the severe weather of that winter, known ever since in the West and Northwest as "the winter of the deep snow." Beginning to fall about Christmas, it continued until three feet deep. Then it rained, the temperature going down to some degrees below zero, and in a short time a thick, almost impenetrable, crust of ice was formed. The extreme cold lasted for many weeks the snow remaining on the grouT j. until spring. The isolation of the Yellow River lumber camp can hardly be imagined. Nicolay and Hay describe the conditions in central Illinois during this winter ' as almost unbearable. What must it have been in upper Wisconsin, above Chippewa Falls, some three hundred miles from Fort Crawford and nearly as far from Winnebago, with Indians of uncertain friendliness for neighbors and only the few comforts of a lumber camp 1 It is not surprising that Davis contracted pneumonia ; the wonder is that he did not succumb. But he was tenderly nursed by his faithful servant, James Pemberton, and recovered after a long illness, though it is doubtful if he ever again 1 See chapter on Illinois in the Life of Lincoln.

34 JEFFEESON DAYIS

was as strong as he had been. From this time forward he was very susceptible to colds, which invariably developed into acute neuralgia, frequently rendering him almost totally blind for several days. While Davis's work at this place was entirely successful, he was not returned to it the following autumn. His next post was nearer Prairie du Chien, and it was much more agreeable, since he was not so far from the borders of civilization.

In the neighborhood of Galena, 111., valuable deposits of lead ore had been found several years before. About 1825 the region attracted much attention ; hundreds, even thousands, of adventurers hastened to the spot in the hope of preempting lands which might prove rich in minerals. Meanwhile the Indian claims had not been extinguished ; consequently the newcomers were soon in conflict with the original owners of the soil. A state of war ensued and it became the duty of the United States troops to intervene. The government, following its well-known policy of safeguarding the redskins, ordered a regiment to Eock Island, near the seat of the difficulty. The natives, being more timid than their opponents, retreated to the western side of the Mississippi, and the prospective miners at once occupied the lands so recently vacated. Naturally the Indians protested and began to threaten the peace of the neighborhood. A small body of troops was ordered by Colonel Zachary Taylor, now the commandant at Fort Crawford, to march to the lead mines and eject the interlopers, keeping the place clear of all parties until the rights of the natives could be bought off by some general treaty agreement. In the meantime, General Gaines, operating from

ON THE WESTEEN BOEDEE 35

St. Louis, had charge of the soldiers at Eock Island and superintended the movements of the Indians. The miners at once complained that their government was favoring the red men at the cost of its own people and refused to move when the troops appeared on the scene. Feeling ran high and whiskey flowed freely. The situation became critical. A second detachment was sent, with Lieutenant Davis in command. Having somehow made a favorable impression, perhaps through the influence of his friend Jones, now a prominent resident near by, he was able to bring about an understanding by which the prospective miners were to give up their claims, each.one filing a record of his own case with Davis, until the government could determine its policy. This step having been taken, he then received the complainants day by day until the place was entirely vacated. The affair was deftly managed and the young lieutenant won the just thanks of his superiors for his share in it.

The treaty which followed, June 30, 1831, though for the moment it satisfied the objections of the Indians, did not appease Black Hawk, their most influential chief. Indeed, he had never been a friend of the white man since the battle of the Thames, in which he played a distinguished but a losing part. From the close of the War of 1812, the western boundary of the United States had been steadily expanding, and each new enclosure of unoccupied lands pushed him farther westward until now he was forbidden to come on the eastern side of the Mississippi ; — even the buryingground of his race near Eock Island was not to be visited by him. The reason for this strict limitation of his freedom was the presence, on the upper waters of the Eock and Wisconsin Eivers, of the Winnebagoes and Pottawatamies, who might be encouraged by the persuasions of such a powerful leader to join in hostile expeditions against the isolated settlements along the border.

But paper treaties had no terror for so old a warrior ; he crossed the Mississippi with a group of "young men" in the spring of 1832, and marched up the Eock Biver, with the aim of effecting a union with his former allies of that region. Governor Eeynolds, of Illinois, issued a proclamation, calling out the militia ; and the United States authorities ordered Colonel Atkinson to move with a strong force in the direction of Dixon, 111., on Eock Eiver, twenty miles from its mouth. The militiamen, under command of Colonel Whiteside, had reached the designated ground first, on May 6, 1832. At this rendezvous there appeared also two battalions of horsemen led by Majors Stillman and Bailey, who were restless for the fray. Permission was given them to proceed. Finding Black Hawk and his forces at Old Man's Creek, near by, they advanced with no order or concerted plan, and soon met the enemy, killing two or three of them without difficulty. By this time the party was much scattered and as jubilant as though they were on a fox chase. Black Hawk suddenly rallied his men and struck a blow that brought consternation to the volunteers ; the Illinoisians began to run. The run became a rout, and there was no halting them until they reached Whiteside's camp, whence they had come so expectantly a few hours before. Eleven of their number had been killed and but for their fleet-footed horses, it would have been a wholesale massacre. Black Hawk

ON THE WESTEEN BOEDEE 37

and his followers then drew off to avoid the larger white force, and began raiding and scalping wherever unprotected settlements were found. By this time both the Illinois volunteers and the United States regulars saw that there was serious work ahead.

Black Hawk was followed up later in the summer and defeated, on July 21st, near the falls of the Wisconsin. From here the broken ranks of the Indians retreated in disorder toward the Mississippi. They were attacked near the great river, in what is called the battle of the Bad Axe, on August 3d, and utterly routed. Their chief escaped ; but being reported as still roaming about the border, Lieutenant Davis was sent with a detachment of troops to an island in the Mississippi, a few miles above Port Crawford, to capture the remnant of the savages. From his own account, 1 a band of Indians was discovered on the eastern side of the island and they approached their pursuers under cover of a white flag. They proved to be friendly Winnebagoes, and said that they had captured Black Hawk, whom they now proposed to surrender. Davis accepted the offer and led the old chieftain to Colonel Taylor's headquarters, the Winnebagoes following to claim a reward from the United States for their services. Black Hawk was willing that they should enjoy the honor of his capture and receive whatever might be awarded them. Davis then conducted the fallen hero with about sixty of his braves to Jefferson barracks at St. Louis. Cholera broke out among the captives on their way down the river and some of the victims begged to be put off to die together on land. Davis yielded and two poor fellows were left ashore in a 1 Letter of his in Memoir, Vol. I, p. 141.

dying condition, the stronger trying to minister to the needs of his weaker companion. The lieutenant delivered his prisoners and returned to his post.

It was at this time that Davis was first brought face to face with the problem of state versus national loyalty. He says in a speech on the Compromise of 1850 1 and Mrs. Davis repeats the statement in her book, 1 that the rumor of the conflict with South Carolina on the question of nullification reached the army and that the regiment to which he belonged would probably be sent to Charleston, in the event of open hostilities. His own words will best set forth his position, as he viewed it in 1850: "Then, much as I valued my commission, much as I desired to remain in the army, and disapproving as much as I did the remedy resorted to, that commission would have been torn to tatters before it would have been used in civil war with the state of South Carolina." He then goes on to add that the circle of officers in which he moved had the same conception of their duty. How much of this is the sentiment of 1850 cannot be ascertained. One of his friends, Thomas F. Drayton, of South Carolina, would certainly have resigned his commission, and it is not unlikely that all had the same feeling on the burning question of 1832-33. The probability is that Davis remembered and correctly reported the views of himself and his fellows ; but there were other reasons than those of states' rights, per se, which may have unconsciously played a part at that time. While Davis had been brought up to honor Jackson, he and his friends of West Point were none too fond

1 Congressional Globe, 31st Cong. , 1st sesa. , July 13, 1850.

2 Memoir, Vol. I, pp. 89-90.

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of the sturdy backwoods President, whose popularity had not become universal, and whose appeal to the "gallery" was not taken as the vox Dei — certainly not with high-bred officialdom.

Soon after the close of the Black Hawk war, a regiment of dragoons was formed and added to the regular service. Henry Dodge of Iowa was made the colonel of the new organization. Davis was promoted to the position of first lieutenant of one of the companies and still further honored by being appointed immediately thereafter adjutant of the regiment — a choice that indicates better than anything else what manner of man he was. The office of adjutant of a corps of troops or regiment is generally filled by one who is proud of the service, punctilious as to the performance of the details of military duty, and careful of his own appearance as well as that of the officers and men. He is besides usually possessed of a clear, ringing voice, able to read the long evening reports before the regiment in such a way that every one may understand them. The promotion from second to first lieutenant was indication enough of the success of Davis's life of four years as a soldier ; the assignment to the new regiment of horse with the adjutancy was a signal honor and was so regarded by his fellow officers.

A short time afterward, he was detailed as a recruiting officer and sent to Kentucky to collect horsemen to fill the ranks of the new organization. He remained a little while in Louisville and Lexington, renewing the acquaintances of former days. When engaged on this mission his fibre was tried rather severely by a cholera epidemic. He did not take to flight ; and on one occasion it became his duty to bury the remains of two victims of the disease, which he did with the help of a carpenter. His return to the garrison at Fort Crawford brought him again to the neighborhood of Galena, 111., and Dubuque, la., at which latter place he was stationed a large portion of his time. Being conveniently located, he paid frequent visits to his friend Jones at Siusinawa. It was a pleasant year, that of 1833, with its joy in successful work and its occasional relaxation from military duty in a neighborhood already grown dear to him for its associations.

It was during this year, too, that there sprang up a devoted attachment to Miss Knox Taylor, daughter of Colonel Taylor at the fort, and the twenty-five-yearold lieutenant began to dream of the felicities of married life, and to think of becoming the head of a household. His advances were returned by the young woman, and their plans were beginning to mature, when for some cause or other the stern father interposed his authority and forbade his house to the ardent lover.

Colonel Dodge, with a select company of his dragoons, was sent in 1834 to Fort Gibson on the borders of Arkansas and the Indian Territory near Red River, Davis accompanying the detachment. The policy of the government to collect the remnants of the many tribes of Indians, both southern and northern, in this far-off portion of the country, had been developing since the transfer of the Cherokees and Creeks from western Georgia, upper Alabama, and Mississippi to that reservation. Whether Davis desired to join the commander of his regiment, or whether his superior, Colonel Taylor, caused him to be selected for this duty

ON THE WESTEEN BOEDEE 41

has not come out in the controversies that have waged concerning him and his love affairs. It would have been only natural for the father of Miss Taylor to think that a long stay at this far distant post might cool the ardor of her suitor. Whether or not it was by design that he was sent on this mission, it is most likely that Davis regarded it in this wise and began to lay his plans to defeat the parental scheme. At any rate, it was here that the young man passed his last years in the United States Army. However he may have felt, a long confinement to this remote post was, to one who had become soundly attached to the Fort Crawford neighborhood, cause enough to suggest the idea of a resignation. There was no longer any prospect of war, and he had served more than the term of years required to repay the government for his training at the academy. After a year and a half at Fort Gibson, he tendered his resignation on June 30, 1835, and thus, in what seemed to outsiders rather hasty action, severed his connection with the army whose service he had certainly loved. His experiences had been very varied. He had manifested decided capacity for successful military command ; and his talent for management, aud for ready decision in emergencies, had been clearly developed. His habits had been temperate and selfrestrained, with a tendency to books and the scholarly life.

Miss Taylor was as much displeased at her father's decision as the young man himself; and after his transfer to Fort Gibson, she spent most of her time near Lexington, Ky., at the home of Colonel Taylor's sister, who, judging from subsequent events, was more favorably inclined to the suit. In all probability,

Davis saw his fiancee when occasion offered ; for, when he resigned, they were married at once, leaving time to heal the breach with the father. The young couple traveled by way of the Ohio and Mississippi boats to his brother's plantation in Warren County, where arrangements were speedily made for them to establish a home of their own. In lieu of the negroes his father had left him, Joseph Davis gave Jefferson a tract of a thousand acres adjoining his own estate. A house was built and land cleared for the coming cotton season. Here a new life begins for Davis, — that of the cotton planter of the far South.

Many stories of his marriage have been told and one cannot be sure that the statement given above is absolutely correct. It is the account which the majority of reliable evidence supports. Mrs. Davis, in the Memoir of her husband, 1 offers his own version, which is substantially the same as mine. But there are some slightly contradictory statements in the chapter which she devotes to the subject, and we are left a little uncertain about the whole matter. All accounts but one, that of George W Jones, agree that the father was never reconciled to the match ; that he never saw his daughter again ; and that he never met Davis after his transfer until the battle of Buena Vista in 1846. Why he felt so incorrigible an aversion to the young man cannot now be ascertained. The reason which the son-in-law gave was that the colonel was inveterate in his likes and dislikes and that antagonism for any one once acquired was never eradicated from his mind. We know that Taylor was positive and decided enough in his way of thinking. But this hardly

ON THE WESTEEN BOEDER 43

accounts for his persistent attitude. Davis also says, 1 that a disagreement over a trivial matter coming up in a court-martial of which both were members, was the beginning of the trouble. The explanation is at the expense of Taylor's good sense and cannot be accepted. Mrs. Davis states that it was Taylor's objection to his daughter's becoming a soldier's wife — likewise a rather poor excuse, since we find a little further on that they were not reconciled when Davis was no longer in the army. So leaving his relations with his father-in-law thus unsatisfactorily touched upon, let us follow the fortunes of the exceedingly interesting young couple.

The husband and wife began life together resolutely. They bought ten negro slaves with money lent them by the ever kindly brother and in the spring of 1836 a crop of cotton was planted on the rough new land "cleared up" during the preceding winter. Davis worked with his own hands and directed personally and through his trusty foreman, James Pemberton, the labor of the fields. A promising harvest was approaching when the ' ' chill and fever" season came on. Not being acclimated and to escape the added dangers of living on a freshly-cleared plantation, he left the responsibility of the estate to Joseph Davis and moved down the river with his wife to the home of a sister, Mrs. Luther Smith, near Bayou Sara in southeastern Louisiana.