Jefferson Davis Statue - Vicksburg National Military Park
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iconions
N 32° 20.843 W 090° 51.274
15S E 701900 N 3580964
This statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, is located on Confederate Avenue at Tour Stop 12 at the Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, MS.
Waymark Code: WMN5MN
Location: Mississippi, United States
Date Posted: 12/30/2014
Views: 6
Jefferson Davis has this one major statue on the Vicksburg Battlefield along with a statue that is part of the Kentucky Memorial.
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1807/1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American soldier and politician, and was the President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War, 1861 to 1865. He took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to defeat the more populous and industrialized Union. His diplomatic efforts failed to gain recognition from any foreign country. At home he paid little attention to the collapsing Confederate economy; the government printed more and more paper money to cover the war's expenses, leading to runaway inflation and devaluation of the Confederate Dollar.
Davis was born in Kentucky to a moderately prosperous farmer and grew up on his brother's large cotton plantations in Mississippi and Louisiana. His brother Joseph secured his appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; after he graduated he served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. He fought in the first Mexican–American War (1846-1848), as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. He served as the U.S. Secretary of War, 1853 to 1857, under Democratic 14th President Franklin Pierce, (1804-1869), and as a Democratic U.S. senator from Mississippi. An operator of a large cotton plantation in Mississippi with over 100 slaves, he was well known for his support of slavery in the Senate. He argued against secession, but did agree that each state was sovereign and had an unquestionable right to secede from the Union. Davis lost his first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor, to malaria after three months of marriage, and the disease almost killed him as well. He suffered from ill health for much of his life. He had six children with his second younger wife, Varina Howell Davis, but only two survived him.
Many historians attribute the Confederacy's weaknesses to the leadership of President Davis. 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 resistance to public opinion all worked against him. Historians agree he was a much less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln.
After Davis was captured in 1865, he was accused of treason but was not tried and was released after two years. While not disgraced, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Robert E. Lee. Davis wrote a memoir entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, which he completed in 1881. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union. Ex-Confederates came to appreciate his role as a Southern patriot and he became a hero of the Lost Cause in the New South.
Statue of Jefferson Davis
Text on the front of the monument:
JEFFERSON DAVIS
President Confederate States
And Commander-in-Chief
Cadet U S Military Academy 1824
2nd Lt 1st U S Inf July 1 1823
1st Lieut Dragoons March 4 1833
Adjt Aug 30 1833 to Feb 5 1834
Resigned June 30 1835
Col 1st Miss Rifles July 18 1846
Hon mustered out July 12 1847
Sec of War Mar 7 l853 to Mar 6 1857
In Honor of
The Defenders
Of Vicksburg
From the NRHP nomination form:
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Structure Number: |
HS-002 |
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LCS ID: |
007255 |
Historical Significance:
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National Register Status:
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Entered - Documented
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National Register Date:
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12/09/1977
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National Historic Landmark?: |
No
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Significance Level:
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Contributing
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Short Significance Description:
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The monument contributes to the national significance of the park under NR Criteria A because it represents the national movement among veterans and related groups to commemorate and mark major Civil War battlefields.
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Short Physical Description
Heroic standing bronze sculpture of Jefferson Davis holding the Confederate flag mounted on nearly cubic granite pedestal. Pedestal has bronze inscription tablet.
Material(s)
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Structural Component(s)
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Material(s)
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1.
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Superstructure
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Bronze
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2.
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Substructure
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Concrete
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3.
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Superstructure
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Granite
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Construction Period:
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Historic
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Chronology:
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Physical Event
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Begin Year
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Begin Year AD/BC
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End Year
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End Year AD/BC
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Designer
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Designer Occupation
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1.
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Built
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1927
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AD
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Kitson, Henry H.
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Sculptor
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My Sources
1. Wikipedia -
Jefferson Davis
2. Wikipedia -
Siege of Vicksburg
3. National Register Application -
NRHP