DAVIS
DAVIS
of the army of northern Virginia. On March 1,
1862, Gen. Leroy Pope Walker resigned the port-
folio of war, and Judah P. Benjamin was ap-
pointed his successor. In April a general
reorganization of the cabinet followed. Judah
P. Benjamin was confirmed as secretary of state
and of war ; C. G. Memminger as secretary of the
treasury; S. W. Mallory as secretary of the
navy; J. H. Reagan as postmaster-general; and
Thomas H. Watts as attorney -general. The only
change before this official one had been the ap-
pointment of R. M. T. Hunter as secretary of
state, early in 1861, to succeed Secretary Toombs,
who resigned to enter the army, and when Sec-
retary Hunter soon after resigned to enter the
Confederate senate, Judah P. Benjamin took his
place. Upon the resignation of Charles G. Mem-
minger, secretary of the treasury in 1864, Presi-
dent Davis appointed George A. Trenholm of
South Carolina to succeed him, and when dissat-
isfaction arose as to the conduct of the war
department bj^ Secretary Benjamin he was suc-
ceeded by John C. Breckinridge in March, 1865.
President Davis visited the army operating in
the west, and directed the general conduct of the
war with much skill, keeping the expectations
of the people at a high point by his cheerful assu-
rances of tlie hopeful condition of affairs. He left
Richmond when Lee's lines were broken, and
while making his way to the trans-Mississippi
under escort of a small party, hoping to rally
the southwestern army, he was captured at
Irwinsville, Ga., May 10, 1865, taken to Fort
Monroe and confined as a state prisoner for two
years, first in a gun casemate heavily ironed, and
afterward he was allowed more freedom. On
May 8, 1866, he was indicted for treason by the
grand jury of the U.S. court for the district of
Virginia under Judge Underwood, at Richmond,
and on June 5, 1865, Charles O'Conor and James
T. Brady of his counsel urged before the court
then in session at Richmond, that the trial pro-
ceed, or the prisoner be bailed. The court re-
fused either, and on May 13, 1867, the prisoner
was brought before the court at Richmond on a
writ of habeas cot^yus issued by Judge Under-
wood at Alexandria, Va., May 1, 1867, and on
May 14 he was delivered to the civil authorities
and admitted to bail on the sum of §100,000. The
bail bond was signed by many prominent public
men including Horace Greeley, Gerrit Smith,
Augustus Schell, and Horace F. Clark, the last
two also representing Cornelius Vanderbilt. He
was brought to trial at Richmond, Va., Dec. 3,
1867, and after hearing the arguments. Chief
Justice Chase was in favor of quashing the
indictment. Judge Underwood opposed, and
the case was certified to the supreme court to
decide, when a nolle prosequi was entered by the
government. His name was included among
those under the general amnesty of December,
1868. Mr. Davis declined always to take the oath
of allegiance or ask pardon, consequently he had
no vote. He returned to Mississippi and was for
a time interested in the Mississippi valley com-
pany, a project for encouraging trade between
New Orleans and South America and European
ports, which proved premature and he tlien re-
paired to Beau voir where he commenced the prep-
aration of The Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Oovernment. His constituents were very de-
sirous to test the question of his disfranchise-
ment by sending him to the senate, but lie did
not desire to raise disturbing questions in the
country and declined their urgent appeals. He
rented a cottage known as the Pavilion, in the
grounds of Mrs. Sarah A. Dorsey's residence.
She was a schoolmate of Mrs. Davis, and he sub-
sequently purchased the place. Upon the death
of Mrs. Dorsey he was made executor of the es-
tate and found by the terms of her will that he
was her legatee, and in order to render it impos-
sible for him to refuse the gift the reversion was
made to his youngest daughter. In November,
1889, he visited his plantation, Brierfield, where
he was attacked with the grippe and when he
became very ill he attempted to return to Beau-
voir house on a steamer, by way of New Orleans,
but could not be moved from the house of his
friend, I. U. Payne. He was followed to his
grave at Richmond by thousands of his people.
He published. Rise and Fall of the Confederate
Government (2 volumes, 1881) ; and his wife,
Varina Jefferson Davis, wlio for purposes of
identification assumed his name at his death,
finished an autobiography begun by him and
published it as Jefferson Davis, Ex-President of the
Confederate States of America: A Memoir (2 vols.,
1891). He died at New Orleans, La., Dec. 6, 1889.
DAVIS, Jefferson Clarke, soldier, was born in
Clarke county, Ind., March 2, 1828. His ances-
tors were among the early settlers of Kentucky
and Southern Indiana at the falls of the Ohio,
and liad been celebrated as Indian fighters. He
was educated at the county academy and enlisted
in the Indiana regiment recruited by Colonel
Lane for the Mexican war. He won at Buena
Vista a commission as 2d lieutenant in the 1st
artillery which he received June 17, 1848. He
was promoted 1st lieutenant in 1852. In 1858 he
was stationed with the 1st U.S. artillery in Fort
Moultrie, Charleston, S.C., an officer under
Major Anderson and took part in the evacuation
of the fort and the occupation and defence of
Fort Sumter through a bombardment of thirty-
six hours. In recognition of his bravery in this
trying ordeal he was promoted captain and
allowed leave of absence to recruit the 22d
