Jefferson Davis

1808-06-03 - 1889-12-06 Contemporaries

Jefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederate States, serving from 1861 to 1865 and leading the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Before the war he represented Mississippi in the U.S. House and Senate and served as the 23rd United States secretary of war from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce. A West Point graduate, he served six years as an Army lieutenant before becoming a cotton planter in Mississippi.