The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-06-03
JEFFERSON DAVIS centennial
Natal Day Of Leader Of Lost Cause
Is Fitdnsly Celebrated.

are today celebrating the centennial
anniversary of the birth OF the
south 5 great leader, Jefferson Davis.
/ 1t was just I0e years ago today on
/ June 3, 1908, that the first and last
president OF the Southern ConfedeT-
acy was born in christian county.
/ Kentucky, and his admirers through
out the reunited nation are today
! paying homage to his memory In
! Washington the exercises were simple
| but impressive, and were participant
ed in by many men who wore the
blue in the warfare between the
north and the south.
Many statesmen of the old school
remember Davis as a United States
senator and recall his career in the
national capital prior to the war-a
career that ended on January 81,
1851, when Davis announced the Sc
cession of his state, Mississippi, from
the union and his consequent with
drawal from the senate. The speech
is declared, by those who heard it,
one of the most noteworthy ever de-
livered in the senate chamber, and
after its close every member gather
cred about the Mississippi senator
and babe him an affectionate fare
well.
The leader of the lost cause was a
son of Samuel Davis, a Welshman by
descent, a Baptist in religion and a
democrat in politics. As most of the
first families of Kentucky were Epis-
lcopalians and Federalists this shows
that Sam Davis, like Abraham Lin
coins father, Tom Lincoln, was not
bound by any rules of caste, and was
not to be reckoned an aristocrat. The
year after Jefferson's birth-June 3,
1S0S--SamueI Davis emigrated to
Mississippi territory, where he set
tied in a plantation in Wilkinson
county, about a mile from Woodville,
where the boyhood of Jefferson Da-
Wis was passed.
His schooling appears to have been
carefully looked after When but 7
years of age he was sent to the acad-
envy of the Dominican Friars in Ken
lucky, and remained there three
years. Then returning to Mississippi
ne matriculated at Jefferson college,
which he appears to have left at the
close of the year for the purpose of
going to the new Wilkinson County
Academy, where he had for teach
er John A Shaw, of Boston. under
whose tutelage he made much prog
ress. In 1921, when entering on his
| 4th year, he went to Pennsylvania
University at Lexington, Ky, then
considered the best institution of
learning west of the Alleghanies. In
July, 1924, Samuel Davis died; and
the following September jefferson
was appointed a cadet at West Point.
/ Here he came into intimate relation
ship with Robert Z. Lee. Albert Sid
ney Johnston and Joseph E. John
Iston-three leaders of the lost cause
whom he did much to recognize and
promote while serving as president
of the Confederacy
| We are told that the president was
faithful to personal friends. Some
times the devotion was to the injury
iof the public service; but it was
there, always; and it was not the
least lovable trait of his character
At the end of his four years at West
Point, in which he displayed no re-
markable aptitude for his studies, he
was graduate No. 20 in class OF
| 23---which shows that as cadet he
ranked just one point above General
Grant But the effect of his schooling
at the military academy was visible
! in the man down to the last day of
his life. He was always precise in
his attitude, something of marti-
net, and decidedly military in his
bearing. Moreover in very many
ways he evidenced his great love for
his alma mater.
| In 1858 he resigned his commits
sion in the United States army and
eloped with daughter of Col latter
wards president) Zachary Taylor. In
1916 Betty Taylor Davis died, and
! Davis after remaining widower for
eight years, married for his second
wife Miss Varina Howell, of Vicksl
burg, the granddaughter of Gov.
Howell. of New Jersey-who had
been governor of that state from
1874 to 1901. through the concluding
years of Washington's administra-
ton and through the whole OF John
Adams Gov. Howell was a staunch
old federalist, and Miss Varina at
first found 1t difficult to understand
how gentleman and democrat
| could be united in the same person.
In the end Jefferson proved as much
| of an aristocrat as even a Howell
could desire.
The year 1874 proved noteworthy
| in Davis life. Besides wedding Miss
Howell, he was chosen a presidential
elector on the Polk and Dallas ticket
and elected to congress. When he
reached Washington in 1916 he en-
tered into coalition with the south
erners who acknowledged John C.
Calhoun as their prophet-and whose
particular representatives in the
house at that time were Richard
Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina,
and William L. Yancey of Alabama.
In June, 1916, Jefferson Davis re-
signed his seat in congress to accept
the commission of colonel of the
First Mississippi Rifles enlisted for
the Mexican war. Here he won dis
tinction and divided with General
Zachary Taylor the glories of his
campaign. On the return home Col.
Davis and the First Mississippi Rifles
were lionized from New Orleans to
Vicksburg where they were muster
ed out He was later chosen United
States senator. In October, 1858, Mr..
Davis, who had been spending some
months in Portland, Maine, set out
for Washington. He was received all
1rnr h 10 tA