Jefferson Davis

Every schoolchild knows that Jefferson Davis was president of the Confederacy. Most adults know little more. Who was this enigmatic man—reportedly aloof but temperamental, ravaged in health but dogged in spirit? What did he think and do as the Civil War clouds gathered and burst? This balanced biography, first published in 1907, gives focus to a character and career not well understood. From his Mississippi roots to West Point to the Mexican War to Congress to the Southern presidency and ruin—from his unique residency in the national house divided—Jefferson Davis begs better acquaintance.

Steven E. Woodworth

“A succinct and perceptive study of Davis . . . [A member of] the first generation of Americans trained in professional historical methods, able to look on the Civil War with perspective, yet able to draw substantially from living memory, William Dodd produced a genuine classic.”

William E. Dodd (1869–1939) taught southern history at Randolph-Macon College and the University of Chicago and served as U.S. ambassador to Germany in the 1930s.

Steven E. Woodworth is an assistant professor of history at Texas Christian University and the author of Jefferson Davis and His Generals: The Failure of Confederate Command in the West and Davis and Lee at War.