The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis (review)

Donald E. Collins's The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis is a fine addition to Steven Woodworth's American Crisis Series. Collins argues that most of Davis's biographers end their accounts with his death in 1889 and in so doing miss a remarkable opportunity to follow his story into the twentieth century. "The real intent of this work," Collins informs his readers, "is to tell the story of the resurrection of Davis in the eyes of his fellow southerners following his fall from grace and how he was viewed in the eyes of his fellow countrymen" (ix–x). Collins refines his "real interest" in the death, burial, and reburial "less in the story of those events themselves" and more in how people "viewed the man himself" (ix).

Collins makes two principal historiographical contributions. First, he convincingly demonstrates that Davis enjoyed a notable rebirth of public sentiment during the last three years of his life bordering on "near adulation" and that, in the three years following his death, his reputation only grew stronger, ultimately placing him in the Southern pantheon alongside Lee and Jackson. Second, Collins attacks historians who felt that Davis never accepted reconciliation or expressed willingness to participate in a united American future. Using numerous Davis speeches and newspaper accounts, Collins makes his case easily and effortlessly. Davis always maintained the constitutional right of secession, never accepted a pardon, and remained an ardent advocate of states' rights, yet he clearly recognized that the Confederacy was past and there was no question that all Americans should face the future as one people.

Collins's first chapter is an overview of Davis's life and many careers. Largely developed from secondary sources, the survey provides a useful review and an adequate context from which to consider the final years. Especially valuable is the section on Davis's exploits in the Mexican War and his emergence as an American war hero, a theme very much in play at the time of his funeral.

Collins is at his best in the next two chapters. In "The First Resurrection: Davis's Southern Tour of 1886–1887," the frail seventy-nine-year-old former president emerges from his self-imposed exile to accept an invitation to lay the cornerstone for a monument honoring the Confederate dead of Alabama in Montgomery. What followed was an unintended emotional outpouring that spread across the South and carried Davis beyond Montgomery to Atlanta and, finally, Savannah. Buoyed by well-wishers, Davis summoned the energy to greet tens of thousands of admirers as his special train with its entourage made its way across the region. Collins stresses that Davis's theme was reconciliation, not regret, and the proceedings featured that American future. American flags dominated the landscape but still honored a Confederate memory. The two banners adorning the train perfectly captured the tone: "Buena Vista" reminded people of his status as an American hero, and "He was manacled for us" suggested sympathy and humiliation, not a strident Southern nationalism.

Collins's next chapter richly describes the last days of Davis's life, his death and funeral in New Orleans, and his temporary burial in a Confederate vault in the city. Using newspaper accounts, Collins details the proceedings replete with dignitaries, including representatives from the GAR, and more than 100,000 people who paid their respects.

The final two chapters describe the negotiations over Davis's final resting place and the plans to memorialize him through the construction of a monument. After receiving bids from across the South, including Louisville, Memphis, Montgomery, Atlanta, Macon, New Orleans, and his native Mississippi, the Davis family settled on Richmond, and preparations were soon under way to begin the journey. Davis's second resurrection in 1893 was even more spectacular than his first. The train wove its way through the South accepting the prayers and thanks of an adoring people. Thousands lined the tracks and numerous receptions were staged along the way. A crowd...