Jefferson Finis Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President of the Confederate States of America from its beginning to its collapse and his capture in 1865. Military Academy at West Point and fought in the Mexican–American War as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. He served as the United State
s Secretary of War under Democratic President Franklin Pierce, and as a Democratic U.S. senator from Mississippi. As a senator, he argued against secession, but did agree that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union. On February 9, 1861, he became the provisional President of the Confederate States of America; he was elected without opposition to a six-year term that November. Davis took charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to stop the conquest by the larger, more powerful and better organized Union. His diplomatic efforts failed to gain recognition from any foreign country. At home he paid little attention to the collapsing Confederate economy, and printed more and more paper money to cover the war's expenses, leading to runaway inflation.[2][3]
Historians, with few exceptions, have characterized President Davis "as stiff-necked, unbending, doctrinaire, and overbearing" and attribute many of the Confederacy's weaknesses to him.[4] His preoccupation with detail, reluctance to delegate responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with powerful state governors, favoritism toward old friends, inability to get along with people who disagreed with him, neglect of civil matters in favor of military ones, and a tendency to be out of touch with public opinion all worked against him.Historians agree that Davis was a much less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln. After Davis was captured on May 10, 1865, he was accused of treason but was not tried and was released after two years. While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in Southern affection after the war by his leading general, Robert E. Nevertheless, many Southerners empathized with his defiance, refusal to accept defeat, and resistance to Reconstruction. Over time, admiration for his pride and ideals made him a Civil War hero to many Southerners, and his legacy became part of the foundation of the postwar New South.By the late 1880s, Davis began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union.
