Jefferson Davis (Civ5)/Civilopedia

===History===
Jefferson Davis, born in 1808, was an American politician and military officer elected to lead the Confederate States of America following the secession of southern states in 1861. After attending the United States Military Academy in West Point and serving at Fort Crawford, Davis moved to Mississippi where he operated a plantation. After serving briefly in the Mexican-American war, Jefferson Davis returned to Mississippi and was appointed by the governor to serve in the U.S. Senate in 1848. As a slave owner and military veteran, Davis was seen as the embodiment of southern values, a sentiment that would help him in his burgeoning political career.
===Secession===
In 1853, Davis was appointed Secretary of War under newly elected president Franklin Peirce. After serving his term, he returned to the Senate in 1857, where he urged restraint against secessionist movements brewing in the southern states. However, following Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860, Mississippi joined six other states in seceding from the union, and Davis resigned his senate seat to return home. Although Davis had only anticipated serving the newly formed Confederate States of America in a military leadership role, he was selected by acclamation to serve as provisional President of the Confederacy in 1861.
===Fort Sumter===
As the Confederate President, Davis attempted to negotiate for the acquisition of several Union-held forts that remained within the new Confederate territory. President Lincoln had no interest in ceding any territory to the South, and sent orders for Fort Sumter in South Carolina to be resupplied with food and materials. Viewing this as an act of war, the Confederate troops under General P.G.T. Beauregard bombarded the fort - marking the beginning of the American Civil War.
===Limited Resources===
Jefferson Davis took it upon himself to directly oversee many of the strategies employed by the Southern armies. He was quick to recognize that the Confederacy had limited resources and equipment in comparison to the larger Union army, and sought to rely on a staunch defense rather than an aggressive offensive approach. However, after this strategy proved successful in protecting the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia, Davis and his senior advisor, General Robert E. Lee, pressed forward with plans for an invasion of the North.
===Invasion of the North===
Despite General Lee's brilliance as a military tactician and leader, the Confederate campaign to invade the northern states was met with hard fighting at every turn. At the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862, the Confederates suffered over 10,000 casualties, and later still at the Battle of Gettysburg another 20,000 men or more were killed or wounded (an event widely considered the turning point of the war.)
===Surrender===
By 1865, the Confederacy was in dire shape, and by April of that year Union commander Ulysses S. Grant was nearly ready to seize the Confederate capital in Richmond. General Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered just days later, and Jefferson Davis and his Cabinet fled south. On May 5, 1865, the Confederate government was officially dissolved in Washington, Georgia.
===Capture===
On May 10th, Davis was captured by Union troops and held in confinement for just over two years. Eventually released on bail, Davis spent much of the next decade working quietly, avoiding much in the way of public appearances or discourse on the outcome of the war. 
===Judgement of History===
Jefferson Davis passed away in 1889 at the age of 81, after suffering from an unknown illness that kept him bedridden for several months. Following his death, numerous memorials were constructed in his honor, and his legacy is still held in high regard among historians and the descendants of those who fought and died for the Confederacy.