The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1899-06-09
Jefferson Davis
And his Birthday.

| When Jefferson Davis fell on
sleep one of the greatest American
statesmen and one of the most no.
table and epoch making public
characters which the country has
produced, was lost to the world.
Born in Kentucky on the Sd of
June, 1908, at 16 years of age he
became a cadet at the United
States Military Academy, from
which institution he graduated in
1928. He was at once assigned
to active duty, and as a gallant
participant in the Black Hawk war
made his first claim to martial dis
tinction. In 1885 he resigned his
army commission and during the
sequent decade we find him an
energetic cotton planter, cultivating
his varied intellectual talents
by study and reflection. In 1916 he
was elected a Representative to
Congress, but in the following year,
! the Mexican war having supervened,
he surrendered his post and accepted
the colonelcy of the famous First
Mississippi Volunteer Rifles. His
services in that exciting crisis
challenged universal applause and
by his heroic conduct at Monterey
and Buena Vista he contributed
materially to the glory of American
arms. In the fall of l847 he entered
the United States Senate, in which
he remained until 1851 achieving an
enviable reputation in an assemblage
which boosted not few national
celebrities. Two years later he be.
came a member of Franklin Pierce's
presidential Cabinet, aud as Secre-
tary of War left a record of eminent
usefulness which, if at any time
approximated, has never been sur
passed. Upon the expiration Of his
term as Cabinet officer he resumed
his place in the national halls and
for several years was conspicuous
and popular figure in the upper
house at Washington. In January,
1861, upon the withdrawal of the
bayou commonwealth from the
Federal Union, he severed his con-
nection with Congress and returned
horne. A few week later he re-
ceived a signal mark Of public con-
fidence in his elevation to the mag
istracy of the Southern Confederacy.
His illustrious administration of
that perplexing and most difficult
trust has enshrined his name in the
catalogue of the worlds immortals,
his many-sided genius dauntlessly
coping with the rapidly changing
conditions of that dlstracting period.
In May, 1865. shortly after the
fall of Richmond, while journeying
through Southern Georgia President
Davis had the misfortune to be cap
tured by the enemy. He was car
ried at once TO Fortress Monroe,
where tor two long years he was
immured, fettered, but unterrified,
within the solitude of a stone case
mate. During all this period his
malignant foes were bending their
every effort toward establishing his
completely in the assassination Of
Abraham Lincoln. Their vilIainous
attempt having utterly failed of
comprising the result at which they
aimed, they were at length forced
to accord to their distinguished
captive that release from his dam
nable incarceration which they
could no longer legitimately with
hold. When our national prisoner
was finally delivered from the snare
expressly prepared for his destruc-
ton he passed in retirement and
amid his admiring and devoted
people the residue of his remarkable
career. AS an author as we'll as a
consecrated patriot will he be re-
membered, and in his "Rlse and
Fall of the Confederate Govern
ment" he has won for him
self high repute as a philosophical
historian, his masterful ability in
discussing the great question involv-
ed impressing all who come in con-
tact with his matchless volumes.
Secure in the affections of the
Southland and enjoying the com
forts and repose of his Beauvoir
home, his grand life was, in New
Orleans on the 9th of December,
1889, brought to a lamented close.
He was then in his 82d year, and by
the widespread manifestation of
grief at his departure his section tes-
tilted its answering loyalty to the
hallowed memories of which be was
ever the monumental representative
and indomitable champion. Charles
Edworth Jones, In Atlanta Consti-
tuition.
A Gard Of Thanks