A rare United Daughters of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway historical marker stands in front of the Old Mississippi State Capitol in Jackson MS. On 3 Jun 1926, this spot was well-traveled and a very prominent part of the road network of Jackson, a "prestige highway" if you will. The Jefferson Davis Highway through Mississippi was renamed and re-designated the US 51 after 1926.
The marker, elegantly carved into a fallen tree-trunk (O! the symbolism) reads as follows:
"Presented to
JEFFERSON DAVIS HIGHWAY by
W. D. Holder Chapter
United Daughters of the
CONFEDERACY [carved in bold].
JUNE 3, 1926"
Early 19-teens American highways were not the efficient Point A to Point B affairs we know today. Because there were no dedicated state or federal road funds to tap into OR government agencies to plan networks, early highways were built by private groups that built through towns willing to pay to have a leg of the road in their community. This gave rise to the early Auto Trails, whose purpose was to boost tourism and commerce between far-flung cities. Building an efficient transportation network was secondary to bringing in the new auto travelers who would spend money.
Some early examples of the Auto Trails linked to tourism and commerce: Glacier to Gulf Highway, Dixie Highway, Lincoln Highway, Old Spanish Trail, the King of Trails, and the Ozark Trail.
By the mid 19-teens it was becoming difficult to keep all these named Auto Trail routes straight, and governments saw the economic need for a modern paved road network. With no coherent national policy in place, states took it upon themselves to create new systems of identifying highways.
Eventually, Congress agreed that good roads were a national priority. In 1926 they enacted legislation creating the Federal Highway Administration and the Federal Aid Project. Highways that had been named and/or numbered by states were now renumbered according to a coherent system administered by the Federal Government. Read more here: (
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The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was an early American transcontinental highway route (called an Auto Trail) from Washington DC to San Diego, California sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, who wanted a Southern transcontinental highway route named in his honor. Confusingly, the UDC also wanted to name other roads that passed places that were significant in his life after Davis, so there were several other Jefferson Davis Memorial Highways that were not connected to the transcontinental route as it had been first thought out. One of these routes passed in front of the Old Mississippi State Capitol Building, where Davis (Then a US Senator from MS) made his famous 1858 "Gathering Storm" speech arguing that should an abolitionist ever be elected President of the United States, Mississippi should secede from the Union. Read that speech here: (
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The UDC marked the various routes with many different kinds of monuments which served to designate a particular part of road as part of the "Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway." This monument is unlike any other we have seen, but it is in a particularly significant place in Davis' life.
More on the Jefferson Davis Highway and its various routes can be found here: (
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Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway
by Richard F. Weingroff
The plan to designate a transcontinental highway to honor the President of the Confederate States of America was conceived in 1913. Today, remnants of that highway periodically generate controversy. The following is presented to explain the origins of this highway from America's past.
The Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was conceived in 1913 by the United Daughters of the Confederacy (U.D.C.). In that era, it was common for private organizations to identify a route, give it a name, and promote its use and improvement. In 1912, Carl Fisher had announced his plans for a "coast to coast" rock highway to be called the Lincoln Highway; the route was announced in September 1913.
Mrs. Alexander B. White conceived the idea of a comparable southern route named after the President of the Confederate States of America. She explained the origins of the route:
During the Chattanooga Confederate Reunion, May, 1913, while talking to my cousin, T. W. Smith, a Confederate Veteran of Mississippi, highways were mentioned, and I said, "I wish we could have a big, fine highway going all through the South."
He said, "You can. Get the 'Daughters' to start one. The Lincoln Highway is ocean to ocean, you can match that with" and I exclaimed, "Jefferson Davis Highway, ocean to ocean." All during that summer I considered the feasibility and wisdom of so great an undertaking for the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the probability of my being called on to put my project through.
Later, while I was preparing my report as president-general to the New Orleans convention, United Daughters of the Confederacy, in November, 1913, Mrs. Robert Houston, Mississippi, made this same suggestion to me. This increased my courage and ended my indecision, so into my report went this recommendation: "That the United Daughters of the Confederacy secure for an ocean to ocean highway from Washington to San Diego, through the Southern States, the name of Jefferson Davis National Highway; the same to be beautified and historic places on it suitably and permanently marked." This recommendation was adopted and the highway project endorsed as a paramount work.
In addition to the transcontinental route, the U.D.C. designated two auxiliary routes:
One from Jefferson Davis' birthplace at Fairview, Kentucky, south to Beauvoir, Mississippi, where he lived in later years; and
A route through Irwinsville, Georgia, following his route at the end of the Civil War before his capture.
. . .
All the transcontinental named routes, including the Lincoln Highway and the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, were split among several numbers when the American Association of State Highway Officials adopted the U.S. numbering plan in November 1926. The Jefferson Davis National Highway was split among U.S. 1, U.S. 15, U.S. 29, U.S. 80, U.S. 90, and others.
The Federal Government had no role in official designation of the named trails. In general, the trails were designated along roads that were owned by the States. As with the Jefferson Davis National Highway, some names were adopted by the State legislatures or through State administrative processes. The "U.S." route designation did not alter this relationship to denote Federal ownership or control. The U.S. numbered highway system was simply a marking device for identifying the Nation's best interstate roads to help motorists as they "navigated" around the country. The roads remained under State control.
As reflected in earlier comments, the U.D.C. continued to promote its route with designation ceremonies, placement of monuments, and extension along the West Coast. For years, the U.D.C. wanted to place a terminal marker in Washington, D.C. Mrs. Benjamin Grady, Director for the District of Columbia, "worked endlessly" to secure permission according to a U.D.C. history.
. . .
Although the named trails have mostly faded from today's road maps, some parts of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway still carry that name. For example, much of U.S. 1 in Virginia is still called the Jefferson Davis Highway, as is U.S. 80 in Alabama. In Alabama, the segment from Selma to Montgomery is the most famous part of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway today. On this road, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., led the 1965 Voting Rights March that helped prompt Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act. In 1996, the U.S. Department of Transportation designated the Selma-to-Montgomery Scenic Byway an All-American Road under the National Scenic Byways Program. In addition, under the National Park Omnibus Act of 1996, this stretch of the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway was designated the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail. The segment is still called the Jefferson Davis Highway and U.S. 80, but it is as a National Historic Trail that the Selma-to-Montgomery stretch of U.S. 80 has become an international symbol of freedom."