Chapter I: Front Matter

THE REAL JEFFERSON DAVIS

(From a photograph taken in 1865)]

The Real Jefferson Davis

_By_ LANDON KNIGHT

"Where once raged the storm of battle now
bloom the gentle flowers of peace, and
there where the mockingbird sings her night
song to the southern moon, sweetly sleeps
the illustrious chieftain whom a nation
mourns. Wise in council, valiant in war, he
was still greater in peace, and to his
noble, unselfish example more than to any
other one cause do we owe the indellible
inscription over the arch of our union,
'_Esto perpetua_.'"

PUBLISHED BY
THE PILGRIM MAGAZINE COMPANY
BATTLE CREEK, MICH.
1904

Copyright, 1904,
THE PILGRIM MAGAZINE CO.
Battle Creek, Mich.

DEDICATION

_To My Wife_

Is dedicated this little volume in appreciation of that innate sense of justice which has ever loved and followed the right for its own sake.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I Birth and Education 11

II Service in the Army 21

III His Life at Briarfield 29

IV First Appearance in Politics 35

V Enters Mexican War 41

VI The Hero of Buena Vista 45

VII Enters the Senate 49

VIII Becomes Secretary of War 53

IX He Re-enters the Senate 59

X Still Hoped to Save the Union 67

XI President of the Confederacy 75

XII His First Inaugural 79

XIII Delays and Blunders 85

XIV The Bombardment of Sumter 91

XV Conditions in the South 97

XVI The First Battle 101

XVII A Lost Opportunity 105

XVIII The Quarrel with Johnston 111

XIX The Battle of Shiloh 115

XX The Seven Days of Battle 121

XXI Butler's Infamous Order 28 125

XXII Mental Imperfections 131

XXIII Blunders of the Western Army 135

XXIV Davis and Gettysburg 139

XXV The Chief of a Heroic People 145

XXVI Sherman and Johnston 151

XXVII Mr. Davis' Humanity 155

XXVIII General Lee's Surrender 161

XXIX The Capture of Davis 167