JEFFERSON DAVIS
1861-1865

People cheered and guns were fired on the 26th of May, 1861 as Jefferson Davis, the new President of the Confederate States of America, entered the new capital of the Confederacy by train. The Mississippian arrived after a long journey that included stops in Montgomery, Alabama, and Petersburg, Virginia. His arrival stirred the emotions of passionate secessionists and proud Richmonders. Observers recalled that Davis’s arrival even brought some Richmonders to tears.

From this bright beginning, Davis’s fortunes darkened. Davis would spend some of the most unhappy years of his life in Richmond. As his problems as Confederate President mounted, Davis also experienced personal troubles, including a recurring bout of malaria and marital discord. Davis would evacuate Richmond in 1865 shortly before Union troops entered the city and returned in death to be interred at Hollywood Cemetery. Though only a visitor to Richmond, today Davis is entangled in the national memory of the city of Richmond as the capital of the Confederacy.

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Arrival of Jefferson Davis in Richmond, on Saturday, May 11th; passing up Main Street under escort of Gen. Burton and U. S. Cavalry, June 1, 1867, Courtesy of VCU Libraries