Varina Howell Davis
A short biography of the second wife of Jefferson Davis
Some interesting facts about the First Lady of the Confederacy, Varina Howell Davis...from her early days in Mississippi to her last years in New York City.
Natchez, Mississippi
Varina Howell was born in 1826 in Natchez, Mississippi, and when the Howell residence “Kempeton” was destroyed by fire they acquired another home ...“The Briars”... situated on fifty acres of land in Natchez. Here she spent much of her childhood and was tutored by one George Winchester.
For a few months in 1836 Varina attended a girls' academy in Philadelphia, which seems to have been the extent of her formal education.The academy's principal, Miss Deborah Greylaud, praised Varina's abilities, calling her “capable and very smart.”
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis was a widower when he met Varina in 1844. His first wife, Sarah Knox Taylor (daughter of Zachary Taylor), had died in September, 1835, after only three months of marriage. It didn't take long for Varina to fall in love, however, and the couple was married on February 29, 1845, at “The Briars.”
Varina Davis soon realized that her wishes would always be second to those of her husband, and this made for a difficult marriage at times.
She would, later in life, often tell people that she was weary of being compared with the “sainted Sarah.”
Washington
President Franklin Pierce, in 1852, named Jefferson Davis his Secretary of War, and the couple moved to Washington to a house on Thirteenth Street. For four years Varina held weekly receptions for several people and hosted the 234 Congressmen and 62 senators and their wives at parties. She was known far and wide as a gracious hostess.
The Confederacy Presidency
On the 21st of January, 1861, Jefferson Davis resigned from his position in the United States Senate.The family packed for the return journey to Mississippi, and on February 9th he was informed that he had been named provisional President of the Confederacy. Varina had severe misgivings about taking on the role of First Lady of the Confederacy, but through the years she would always outwardly support her beloved husband in his fight for what he believed to be right for his country.
Post Civil War
After the Civil War, when the south was defeated, Varina went to Montreal, Canada with the children. She was allowed to write to Jefferson providing they wrote only of family matters, and was later allowed to visit him.
Varina Howell Davis was a strong woman, a woman of definite convictions, and a woman with a caustic wit. After the death of Jefferson in 1889, she took charge of all her affairs and made the decision to move to New York City and pursue a career in journalism.
She was still famous, and was often stopped in the streets and asked questions about the Confederacy. She also was the recipient of hate mail.
When she was eighty years old, the white-haired lady with a cane caught a cold which turned into pneumonia. She died on October 16, 1906, with some family members, her pastor and a doctor at her bedside.
Source: "First Lady of the Confederacy" by Joan E. Cashin, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006, for detailed information about the life of Varina Howell Davis.
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