The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-06-03
JEFFERSON DAVIS

The man whose memory the South
honors today was born in Christian,
now known as Todd county. Kentucky.
on the Bird Of June, 1908. He was the
son of a gallant revolutionary soldier
with the finest strain of Welsh blood
flowing in his veins.
He began life we'll, had a clean boy
hood. with no tendency to vice or i'm
morality. That is the testimony of
neighbors. teachers, and FELLOWSHIP
dents His nature was as trans parent
as the light that shone about him; his
heart was as open as the soft skies that
bent in benediction over his country
home, and his temper as sweet and
CHEEKY as the limpid stream that
made music in its flow through the
neigh boring fields and forests.
At the age Of sixteen he received an
appointment TO West Point Military
Academy, and graduated with honor.
He received a commission in the army
and served until 1885, winning distic-
tion in the Black Hawk War. In 1885,
he resigned, and went to Mississippi,
where he became a cotton planter, and
took a leading part in politics. In
1914 he was elected to Congress, but
on the breaking out of war with Mex
leo gave up his seat in Congress and
joined the American army under Gen
eral Taylor on the Rio Grande. AS
colonel of the Mississippi Volunteers
he bore distinguished part at Mon
terry, and at the battle of Buena Vista
he and his regiment saved the Ameri-
can army, driving back at the most
critical moment of the contest the
charge of an overwhelming force of
Mexican lancers.
Colonel Davis married a daughter of
General Taylor against her fathers
wishes, which caused him to be under
the severe displeasure of "Old Rough
and Ready" but after Buena Vista a
reconciliation took place and the two
distinguished men were warm friends
till General Taylor's death.
vacancy having occurred by the
death of Senator Spaight, Mr. Davis.
in 1S47, was appointed by the governor
to represent Mississippi in the United
States Senate. There sat Jno. c. Cal
houn, of South Carolina; Daniel Web
ster, of Massachusetts; Henry Clay. of
Kentucky; Thomas H. Benton of Mis-
souri,; Louis Cass. of Michigan Salmon
P. Chase, of Ohio; Stephen A Doug
lass, of Illinois. In that company
took rank among the greatest; worthy
to be the premier at any council table
of American statesmen. Among these
distinguished men he worthily repre-
scented his state until Mississippi Sc
coded in December, 1860.
On Feb %, 1861, Mr.. Davis was chos-
en- president of the Southern Confed-
eracy, and carried the burden of that
most honorable office until his govern
ment was crushed under overwhelm
ing numbers in April, 1865. HIS was
captured May 10. at Irwinsville. Ga,
and confined in Fortress Monroe. await
ing trial for treason for two years.
The utmost endeavors OF the Unions
leading lawyers not being able to
make case against him, he
leased on bail bond signed by Horace
Greedy and other prominent northern
men in 1867. After his release, he
went to Europe for year. On his re-
turn. he accepted the presidency of a
life insurance company in Memphis.
Some years later he retired to a plan
tation given him by a Southern lady
a Beauvoir, on the picturesque Mis-
sissippi coast. where he passed the re-
mainder of his life in literary work,
broken only by occasional visits to the
his presence as often as it could be OBJ
tanned. He died while on a visit to
New Orleans, Dec. 6, 1889.
Mr.. Davis conduct as president of
the Confederacy was more bitterly
criticised in the South than in the
North, and for years a large proper
ton of the Southern people held him
responsible for the failure of the cause
Mr.. Davis doubtless made mistakes
but the cooler judgment of later years
shows that no man could have succeed
ed where he failed. The task was too
immense. Mr.. Davis was a man of the
highest grade of personal character
His devotion to his friends, to his word
of honor and to the South was unsur-
passa BILE. He would have Jared better
if his nature had been rougher and
less scrupulous. The nation, as we'll
as the South, now realizes that it never
possessed a man of higher aims or
purer motives