FEBRUARY 18

On this date in 1861, Jefferson Davis was named the President of the Confederate States of America.  Davis was 52 years-old, a former U.S. military officer, U.S. Representative to Congress and a U.S. Senator.  Under President Pierce, he served as the U.S. Secretary of War.  He represented the State of Mississippi in the Congress.  Mississippi was one of the states that had seceded from the Union.

Our Civil War began in April of 1861.  He moved the Capital of the South to Richmond, Virginia.  Davis was responsible for the prosecution of the war by the South.  Historians give him low marks for his effectiveness.  He was captured at the end of the war and was imprisoned for two years.

Davis' wife was the daughter of Zac Taylor who was the 12th President of the United States and later this year will attempt to win the AFC North Division of the NFL.  Jefferson Davis died in 1889.

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