during the civil war russian navy offered to help jefferson davies

He was released without trial after two years. When the Confederacy was defeated in 1865, Davis was captured, accused of treason, and imprisoned at Fort Monroe. He resigned in 1861 when Mississippi seceded from the United States.ĭuring the Civil War, Davis guided the Confederacy's policies and served as its commander in chief. After Franklin's administration ended in 1857, Davis returned to the Senate. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed him Secretary of War.

He was appointed to the United States Senate in 1847, resigning to unsuccessfully run as governor of Mississippi. From 1846 to 1847, he fought in the Mexican–American War as the colonel of a volunteer regiment. During the same year, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives, serving for one year. Davis became a cotton planter, building Brierfield Plantation in Mississippi on his brother Joseph's land and eventually owning as many as 113 slaves. Sarah died from malaria three months after the wedding. After leaving the army in 1835, Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor, daughter of general and future President Zachary Taylor. Upon graduating, he served six years as a lieutenant in the United States Army. His eldest brother Joseph Emory Davis secured the younger Davis's appointment to the United States Military Academy. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857.ĭavis, the youngest of ten children, was born in Fairview, Kentucky, but spent most of his childhood in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party before the American Civil War. Davis (June 3, 1808 – December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the first and only president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865.

During the civil war russian navy offered to help jefferson davies