Confederate Heritage Month! 
provided by the:
Georgia Division of The Sons of Confederate Veterans
Confederate History and Heritage Month Committee

Jefferson Davis

Do you know what is considered by some people to be the largest monument to an American? I will give you the answer at the end of this "Confederate History Month Minute."

Jefferson Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian County (now Todd) Kentucky.

Jefferson Davis, who would become the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, was a strong Unionist and also a strong defender of the United States Constitution. Our Founding Fathers believed in the sovereignty of the states and so did Jefferson Davis.

Here are a few of his many accomplishments:

• Graduate of West Point Military Academy
   
• Fought valiantly in the War with Mexico
   
• United States Senator
   
• Secretary of War under President Pierce
   
• First to suggest the transcontinental railroad to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, first to suggest the Panama Canal Zone, suggested the purchase of Cuba, appointed Robert E. Lee Superintendent of West Point.

Jefferson Davis' last marriage was a wonderful one to Varina, who gave her husband two sons and two daughters (Jefferson, Margaret, Winnie and Billy). One child was killed by an accidental fall at the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia; in 1864, an abused black child named Jim Limber was adopted by the Davis'.

There are few people who have touched so many as did Jefferson Davis. His funeral services were attended by thousands of mourners. Milo Cooper, a former servant, traveled all the way from Florida to pay his last respects. It is written that, upon entering Davis' sick room, Cooper burst into tears and threw himself on his knees in prayer that God would spare the life of his old master and bless the Davis family. Davis was first buried in New Orleans but later was removed to the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

The answer to the question "What is the largest monument to an American?"

is: the Jefferson Davis Highway, which begins in Washington, D.C., and covers 3,417 miles as it passes through 173 counties and 13 states. The success of the Davis National Highway is also attributable to the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

Sadly, Hurricane Katrina did much damage to "Beauvoir" in Mississippi--the last home of Jefferson Davis. Please help restore this part of our American history---http://www.Beauvoir.org