Wheww! I thought you were talking about Jefferson Davis! That could have got real ugly around here.
U.S. political leader, president of the Confederate States of America (1861-65). Born in Christian Co., Ky., he graduated from West Point and served in Wisconsin Territory and later in the Black Hawk War. In 1835 he became a planter in Mississippi. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (1845-46), he resigned to serve in the Mexican War, where he distinguished himself at the Battle of Buena Vista. A national hero, he served in the U.S. Senate (1847-51) and as Pres. F. Pierce's secretary of war (1853-57). He returned to the Senate in 1857, where he advocated states' rights but tried to discourage secession. After Mississippi seceded in 1861, he resigned and was chosen president of the Confederacy. He conducted the South's war effort in the face of a lack of manpower, supplies, and money, and hampered by discord from radicals within his administration. On Lee's surrender, he fled Richmond, hoping to continue the fight until he could secure better terms from the North. Captured and indicted for treason, he was never tried; he was released in poor health in 1867. He retired to Mississippi and never sought amnesty or restoration of his citizenship, which was restored posthumously in 1978.