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Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 11: the Black Hawk War. (search)
ch every imaginable atrocity was inflicted by the Indians upon their unhappy captives, General William Henry Harrison The same in whose honor I had in childhood seen many dough log-cabins baked and carried in procession, flanked by barrels of hard cider, to barbecues in the groves about Natchez, where rousing Whig speeches electrified the party. It was in praise of him, too, that the little children piped For Tippecanoe, and Tyler too, as they ran after the cortege. was directed by President Jefferson to make a treaty with the Sacs and Foxes, which was ratified in November, 1804, by which the United States bought the territory beginning on the Missouri River, thence in a direct line to the River Jeffreon, thirty miles from its mouth down to the Mississippi, thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Ouisconsin, and up that river for thirty-six miles in a direct line, thence by a direct line to where the Fox River leaves the Saukegan, thence down the Fox River to the Illinois, of
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 16: Hurricane and Brierfield, 1837-45. (search)
ed by offensive books. The brothers considered the Constitution a sacred compact, by which a number of sovereigns agreed to hold their possessions in common under strict limitations; and that, as in any other partnership or business agreement, it was not to be tampered with or evaded without the sacrifice of honor and good faith. The brothers occupied their evenings with conversations on grave subjects, and during the day they found abundant occupation attending to their plantations. Jefferson was an unusually observant and successful planter, and gave great care to the details of cultivating cotton. This unremitting attention to his affairs bore much fruit, and his cattle and crops had yielded him what used, in our young days, to be considered a moderately large fortune. Mr. J. E. Davis and his family generally went North for the summer, and then Mr. Davis was in charge of both places, and the only companions he had during their absence were the men employed about the gin an
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 40: social relations and incidents of Cabinet life, 1853-57. (search)
olonel Meigs's son an appointment as cadet at West Point, and followed the course of the promising boy with anxious interest. He became an officer in the Federal Army and was killed in the usual course of war, not murdered, as alleged, and our house was very sorrowful when his death was announced; he was little Johnnie Meigs to us, a boy we had seen grow up, and for whose success we had many aspirations. Just before the termination of Mr. Davis's service in the Cabinet our second son, Jefferson, was born, and I was ill unto death for many weeks. This was the year of the snow, when it drifted against the houses and in the streets to six feet in some places. On F Street it was so deep that Mrs. Henry Wayne, a dear friend and opposite neighbor, could not cross the street without the assistance of men to beat down the snow, and these could not be procured. Mr. Pierce was nearly an hour getting a square and a half, to inquire for me; he would not send a servant, for, said he, they
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, Chapter 42: summer outing. (search)
Chapter 42: summer outing. Mr. Davis still continued so weak and had so little appetite that our medical man ordered him to a higher latitude for a month or two, after the adjournment of Congress. So we took our two little children, Margaret and Jefferson, and embarked on a steamer from Baltimore for Boston. It was not a pleasant route, but Mr. Davis always improved at sea, and in this case he became much stronger; until, when we arrived at Boston, he was quite cheerful, and able to dispense with the shade over his eyes for some hours toward twilight. We made connection with the packet steamer at Boston, and sailed out again for Portland harbor. The Fourth of July fell upon one of the days we were on the ship, and there were prayers read and several speeches. Among those who made addresses was Mr. Davis. He spoke very urgently for peace, and of his devotion to the Constitutional Union. Every one present was stirred by his remarks, and showed the pleasure he had given
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 1, chapter 45 (search)
imed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for which it was made. The communities were declaring their independence; the people of those communities were asserting that no man was born, to use the language of Mr. Jefferson, booted and spurred, to ride over the rest of mankind; that men were created equal, meaning the men of the political community; that there was no divine right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; that there were no classes by which power and place descended to families; but that all stations were equally within the grasp of each member of the body politic. These were the great principles they announced; these were the purposes for which they made their declaration; these
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 18: the inauguration. (search)
y; the members of the Press; the mayor and the corporate authorities of the city; the reverend clergy and masonic and other benevolent societies. These assembled, at the hour indicated, and the procession, accompanied by an immense crowd, moved from the hall by the eastern door of the Capitol to the statue of Washington on the public square. A temporary platform and awning had been erected at the monument, which is a bronze equestrian statue of great size, surrounded by statues of Jefferson, Henry, and Mason. It was fortunate that an awning had been provided, since it commenced to rain early in the day, and has not yet stopped. An immense crowd had assembled around the monument, and bravely stood it out to the last, notwithstanding the rain. It was a panorama of umbrellas, and a wag who took the census of them found there were twelve blacks to one brown, eight blacks to one green, and the blues hid their diminished heads. The President and Vice-President were receive
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 20: the Executive mansion-the hospitals. (search)
ery large, but the rooms are comparatively few, as some of them are over forty feet square. The ceilings are high, the windows wide, and the well-staircases turn in easy curves toward the airy rooms above. The Carrara marble mantels were the delight of our children. One was a special favorite with them, on which the whole pilaster was covered by two lovely figures of Hebe and Diana, one on either side in bold relief, which, with commendatory taste, were not caryatides. The little boys, Jefferson and Joe, climbed up to the lips of these pretty ladies and showered kisses on them. The entablature was Apollo in his chariot, in basso relievo. Another was a charming conception of Cupid and Psyche, with Guido's Aurora for the entablature. A lady more in love with art than learned in pronouncing gazetteers, said, with pleasure shining through her eyes, I do so love Cupid and Pish, sometimes I forget anyone is talking to me in gazing at them. The tastes, and to some extent the occup
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 51: Yellow Tavern.—Death of Stuart. (search)
Chapter 51: Yellow Tavern.—Death of Stuart. On the morning of May 13th, Mr. Davis came hurriedly in from the office for his pistols, and rode out to the front, where Generals Gracie and Ransom were disposing their skeleton brigades to repel General Sheridan's raiders, who had been hovering around for some days. At the Executive Mansion, the small-arms could be distinctly heard like the popping of fire-crackers. I summoned the children to prayer, and as my boy Jefferson knelt, he raised his little chubby face to me, and said, You had better have my pony saddled, and let me go out to help father; we can pray afterward. Wherever it was possible, the President went to the battle-field, and was present during the engagement, and at these times he bitterly regretted his executive office, and longed to engage actively in the fight. A line of skirmishers had been formed near the Yellow Tavern, our forces were closely pressed, and seeing a brigade preparing to charge on the left
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 74: after release in 1867, to 1870. (search)
n. Poor in purse but moderate in our wants, we turned our faces to the world and cast about for a way to maintain our little children, four in number, Margaret, Jefferson, William, and Varina. Mr. Davis's fate hung upon the action of the United States Courts; we knew that one effort had been made to suborn a witness, The un Confederate, and died in preference to the infamy. My brothers were unable to trust themselves in the country; Becket on account of the Sum/er and Alabama, and Jefferson, whose causeless imprisonment had for a time invalided him. We had little, and my husband's health was apparently hopelessly gone. His emaciation was very greae he heard by cable of the death of his brother, Joseph E. Davis, and his grief was great. After a smooth voyage we reached Memphis, having left our two sons Jefferson and William at school near Emmorton, Md., with our well-beloved friend, the Reverend W. Brand, and our daughter Margaret with a governess in Liverpool, at the ho
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 75: reasons for not asking Pardon.—Mississippi Valley Society. (search)
of one whose character, talents, and personal beauty made the joy of our lives, and promised to justify the hope of our old age, was a blow which must leave us mourning until the end. The little boy used to go and sit with his father in his office, silent and observant if his pen dropped, or he wanted anything, and often when I missed him, his father would say, You will not grudge me our grave little gentleman's company when you know how I enjoy his presence. Now we had but one son left, Jefferson. Worn with sorrow, but undaunted by failure and heavy pecuniary loss, Mr. Davis looked about again for the means of making a livelihood. His health was far from good, and the people of Texas invited him to visit them. After much urging he went, and received a royal welcome all along the line. After his return, these dear generous people very much desired to give him a tract of land and stock enough to furnish and cultivate it, but we felt unwilling to accept so much, and the gift w
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