Davis Quits Senate: Civil War Begins
Jefferson Davis resigned his Senate seat on January 21, 1861, delivering a farewell speech that moved some of his colleagues to tears. He did not want civil war. He had served as Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce and was considered one of the most capable men in Washington. Mississippi's secession left him no choice in his own mind: loyalty to his state trumped loyalty to the Union. Within weeks he was inaugurated as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Alabama. His administration faced impossible odds from the start. The Confederacy had no navy, limited manufacturing capacity, and a population a third the size of the Union's. Davis spent the next four years micromanaging military operations while his government crumbled around him. He was captured by Union cavalry in Georgia in May 1865, wearing his wife's shawl against the morning cold.
January 21, 1861
165 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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