Jefferson Davis Ship Island Collection

Collection

Identifier: THR/01/2021.s231

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains correspondence from a prisoner at Ship Island, Mississippi to Jefferson Davis. It also contains an article by Lee Meriwether regarding his childhood encounter with Davis.

Dates

1862 - 1953

Conditions Governing Use

The materials represented in this finding aid have been made available for research, teaching and private use. For these purposes, you may reproduce (print, make photocopies, or download) these items without prior permission on the condition that you provide proper attribution of the source in all copies. Please contact the Newton Gresham Library's Special Collections and University Archives department to request permissions to reproduce materials for any other purpose, or to obtain information regarding the copyright status of a particular digital image, text, audio or video recording.

Biographical / Historical

Jefferson Davis was born to a wealthy farming family in Mississippi in 1808. During his lifetime, he served as a politician and military official, most notably during the Mexican American War and Civil War. Davis was appointed as the President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War after the succession of the South. By the end of the war in 1865, Davis became a strong proponent of reconciliation between the North and South. He died in 1889 due to acute bronchitis accompanied with malaria.