| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Jefferson Davis was born June 3, 1808 in a farm in Christian County, Kentucky, now called Todd County. Davis, the last of the ten children of Samuel Emory Davis and his wife, Jane, had come from a family of rich American history. The younger Davis's grandfather had immigrated to the United States from Wales and had lived in Virginia and Maryland, working as a public servant. His father, along with his uncles, had served in the Continental ArmyThe Continental Army was the unified command structure of the thirteen colonies fighting Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. The Army was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 15, 1775. Most of the Continental Army w during the Revolutionary WarThe American Revolutionary War ( 1775 1783), also known as the American War of Independence was a war fought between Great Britain and revolutionaries within thirteen of her North American colonies. The war, which eventually widened far beyond British Nor, his father serving with the GeorgiaThis article is about Georgia the U. For alternative meanings, see: Georgia. Georgia ( In Detail) (Full size) State motto: Wisdom, Justice, Moderation ''State nickname: Peach State or Empire of the South Other U. States Capital Atlanta Largest City Atlant cavalryAn army unit consisting of mounted soldiers are commonly known as cavalry . Cavalry fight from the backs of their mounts, which most often are horses or camels. Infantry travelling by horse and fighting on foot are instead known as dragoons. Modern cavalr and leading in the battle of SavannahSavannah is a city located in Chatham County, Georgia. The population was 131,510 for the city (and 257,889 for the metropolitan area) in the 2000 census. It is located at latitude 32°5'0" North, longitude 81°6'0" West. The city is the county seat of Chat as an infantryInfantry (or Infantrymen are soldiers who fight primarily on foot, using personal weapons. They may arrive on scene in various ways, and are deployed either in formations or as skirmishers and guerillas. In the modern period, the term "infantryman" is res officer. His older brothers, too, served: During the War of 1812, three of Davis's brothers fought the British, two of them serving with and were commended by Andrew Jackson for bravery in the Battle of New Orleans.
During Davis's youth, his family moved several times, in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi.
In 1813, Davis began his education together with his sister Mary, attending a log cabin school a mile from their home. Two years later, Davis entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Washington County, Kentucky. He went on to Jefferson College at Washington , Mississippi in 1818, and to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky in 1821. In 1824, Davis entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York as a cadet.
Jefferson Davis successfully completed his four-year term of study at West Point, and graduated as a Second Lieutenant in June 1828. He was assigned to the US 1st Infantry Division and stationed at Fort Crawford. His first assignment, in 1829, was to supervise the cutting of timber on the banks of the Red River for the repair and enlargement of the fort. Later the same year, he was reassigned to Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin. While supervising the construction and management of a sawmill in the Yellow River in 1831, he contracted pneumonia, causing him to return to Fort Crawford.
The next year, Davis was dispatched to Galena, Illinois, at the head of a detachment assigned to remove miners from lands claimed by Native Americans. His first combat assignment was during the Black Hawk War of the same year, after which he escorted Black Hawk himself to prison — it is said that the chief liked Davis because of the kind treatment he had shown. Another of Davis' duties during this time was to keep miners from illegally enterering what would eventually become the state of Iowa.
In 1833, Davis was promoted to First Lieutenant of the 1st Dragoon Division and made a regimental adjutant. 1834 saw his transfer to Fort Gibson. On June 17, 1835, Jefferson Davis married Sarah Knox Taylor at the house of her aunt near Louisville, Kentucky. (Sallie's father, then- Colonel Zachary Taylor, would go on to become a General and later U.S. President). On June 30, Davis resigned from the Army.