Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was the first president of the Confederate States. Davis believed that corruption had destroyed the Union and that the Confederacy had to be pure to survive. A West Point graduate, Davis prided himself on the military skills he gained in the Mexican-American War as a colonel of a volunteer regiment, and as U.S. Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce.

Jefferson Davis in The Guns of the South
As president, Jefferson Davis was one of the few people who knew that the Rivington Men and their "repeating" rifles were from the year 2014. He and Robert E. Lee shared a number of conversations about the men and their intentions after the repeaters had secured victory for the C.S. Davis insisted that Lee run for the presidency, despite Lee's misgivings. After Lee's election, Davis served as Lee's Secretary of War.

Jefferson Davis in "Must and Shall
As president of the Confederate States, Jefferson Davis was targeted for retribution by United States President Hannibal Hamlin following the assassination of his predecessor Abraham Lincoln while the latter was inspecting the redoubts around Washington, DC in July 12, 1864. Upon the defeat of the Confederate States in 1865, Davis, along with other key Confederate politicians and military officials including Robert E. Lee and Joseph Johnston, were hanged.

Hannibal Hamlin then proceeded to punish the Confederacy by installing a harsh period of military occupation, destroying their economy and promoting the former black slaves to important offices which lead to long-term animosity between the inhabitants of the South and the North, as well as racial tensions throughout the former Confederate States. During World War II, Nazi Germany smuggled weapons into the South to stir up revolt and distract the U.S. government.

Jefferson Davis in Southern Victory
During Jefferson Davis' administration, his country ensured its independence by defeating the United States in the War of Secession. This was despite former soldier and US Secretary of War Davis's constant meddling in the affairs of the Army. In the fall of 1862, when the war was won, he was willing to defer to the generals of his two largest armies, Robert E. Lee and Braxton Bragg, who were personal favorites of his.

After the war, Davis founded the Whig Party.

In the early 1920s, when inflation was destroying the Confederate economy following the Great War, a portrait of Davis's inauguration decorated the reverse side of the Confederate fifty million dollar bill. Jake Featherston of the Freedom Party considered Davis, along with James Longstreet and Fitzugh Lee, to have been one of the three great Whig Presidents.