Jefferson Davis, American

by William J. Cooper

  The troopers of the Dragoons long remembered the 450-mile journey to Fort Gibson. The march commenced before the recruits had received their full complement of uniforms and weapons. Traveling in a southwesterly direction over largely uncharted land, the regiment coped with a shortage of supplies as it battled both the elements and the terrain. On the third day out a snowstorm struck soldiers ill prepared for the freezing weather. The final part of the trek proved especially onerous. Struggling through thick canebrakes sapped the energy of tired and hungry troops. Food ran short. During the last two days on the trail many men “had eaten scarce a mouthful.” When the regiment finally reached Fort Gibson on December 14, “weariness and extreme fatigue” showed “upon every countenance.”49

  South-Central United States, 1808–40; State Boundaries, ca. 1840.

  Papers of Jefferson Davis, I, with permission of the LSU Press

  Fort Gibson was no paradise, but rather a primitive frontier post. A regimental officer lamented the absence of “comfortable quarters.” Many men spent a severe winter in tents, which provided little protection when the temperature plummeted to zero and even below. The horses fared no better. There were no stables and little corn. The troopers had to turn the animals loose “to sustain a miserable existence on cane in an Arkansas bottom.”50

  Colonel Dodge ordered the establishment of regimental headquarters for the winter at Camp Jackson, one mile west of Fort Gibson. The men assigned there did not fare much better than their comrades still at Fort Gibson. “We are now quartered in large barrack-rooms, built of oak shingles,” wrote a cavalryman. They offered little protection from the cold and the roofs leaked, but “buffalo robes kept water from saddles, knapsacks, and clothing, and preserved a dry sleeping place for the night.” All in all the barracks, in the words of an occupant, offered “comfort scarcely equal to a country barn.”51

  Jefferson Davis spent an eventful winter at Camp Jackson. For the first time in his twenty-five and a half years he became seriously ill. Bronchial difficulties plagued him. He even talked to a superior officer about getting a surgeon’s certificate that would declare him medically unfit for duty. He did not take that step, however. Similar symptoms reappeared the following winter when an army physician diagnosed “an affection of the lungs,” which he termed “a chronic complaint.” The doctor believed “the vicissitudes of the weather—the changible climate” responsible for Davis’s illness. Thereafter bronchial and respiratory problems would remain a constant throughout Davis’s life.52

  In February 1834 Lieutenant Davis resigned as adjutant. Precisely why he decided to relinquish this favored position is not at all clear. Army records only indicate his resignation and his reassignment to one of the new companies that joined the regiment. At least part of the reason was personal difficulties with Colonel Dodge. Although Dodge had selected Davis as his adjutant and had recommended his promotion to first lieutenant, the two had fallen out. Complaining that Davis and Major Richard Mason desired to “Harrass me in Small Matters,” Dodge condemned both officers as “Now two of My Most inveterate enemies.” There is no evidence concerning what brought about this sharp change in the men’s relationship. Despite his feelings Colonel Dodge did not attempt to discipline Davis formally or to have him transferred from the Dragoons.53

  In the spring of 1834 the War Department decided to send the Dragoons on an expedition to the Pawnee Pict village 250 miles southwest of Fort Gibson (in present-day Oklahoma). The government wanted to make a show of strength in the heartland of the Comanche, the Kiowa, and the Pawnee. No treaties had yet been made with these tribes, and they posed a danger both to the increasing number of traders on the Santa Fe Trail and to the Indians arriving in the territory from east of the Mississippi because of removal. The secretary of war believed that an appearance by the Dragoons in this country would encourage greater respect for the United States from the Indians.54

  By mid-June Colonel Dodge started westward with around 500 men, including Lieutenant Jefferson Davis. The Dragoons found the going extremely arduous. Rough terrain made great demands on horses and riders. The oppressive heat, as high as 105 degrees in the shade, debilitated all. One trooper exclaimed that “the sun with all his scorching rays came pouring down upon us almost hot enough to have roasted an egg in the sand.” Every day men fell by the way. Shooting buffalo and rabbits along with observing roving bands of Indians and herds of wild horses broke the monotony, but gave no relief from the sun and the shortage of provisions. On July 21, the force—reduced to 183—reached its destination. Colonel Dodge and the Indians met in council for several days. Impressed with the colonel and his mounted soldiers, several chiefs agreed to return with the Dragoons for further talks at Fort Gibson.55

  The Dragoons started east on July 25. Not having fully recovered from the harshness of the outward journey, the men experienced an even tougher return trip. Hunger, thirst, and the omnipresent heat so enervated the troopers that many believed they had reached their limits of endurance. Water was always scarce; the diet consisted chiefly of mule and horse meat bought from the Indians. Men and horses suffered mightily. Ravaged by heat prostration, exhaustion, typhus, and dysentery, the column finally reached Fort Gibson on August 15. The two-month trek had been almost as devastating as a battle. Colonel Dodge judged that “perhaps their never has been a campaign that operated more severely on men and horses.”56

  Lieutenant Davis came through the ordeal reasonably fit. The official journal kept on the mission usually specified sick officers; Jefferson Davis’s name was never listed. In later years he remembered sighting buffalo and killing a bear, though mostly the heat and the lack of food and water.57

  Back at Fort Gibson, Davis found himself assigned to a detachment commanded by his friend Major Mason. These companies were directed to construct a camp on the Arkansas River some twenty miles above Fort Gibson. On August 30 Major Mason appointed Davis acting assistant quartermaster and acting assistant commissary of subsistence, jobs he had previously held at Fort Winnebago. In these capacities Davis procured building supplies for what became Camp Jones and provisions for the troops who constructed and manned it. When Davis relinquished these duties in November, he spent much time supervising the actual construction.58

  Off-duty activities were quite similar to those he had known earlier in his army career. Attending horse races was a popular pastime. He and Lieutenant Lucius B. Northrop, with whom he had been a cadet, vied with each other in picking the fastest horse. Wolf fights also captured the attention of Davis and his peers.59

  Up to this time, the late fall of 1834, Jefferson Davis had never been in serious official trouble. Unlike Cadet Davis, Lieutenant Davis was not constantly at war with rules and regulations. Personal squabbles, like the difficulties with Colonel Dodge, surely took place, but they remained on a personal, not official, level. Such an episode had occurred at Fort Crawford, probably in 1832. Four officers were detailed to serve on a court-martial, including Lieutenant Davis, his commanding officer Colonel Zachary Taylor, Major Thomas Smith, and another, unknown lieutenant. According to custom, and Colonel Taylor’s preference, each officer sitting on such a court-martial was supposed to wear his full-dress uniform. The lieutenant, who had just been sent up from Jefferson Barracks, did not have that attire with him. He asked his fellow officers to excuse him from the requirement of wearing it. Colonel Taylor said no; Major Smith said yes. The colonel and the major soundly disliked each other. For whatever reason, perhaps not thinking it a significant issue, Davis sided with Major Smith. Thus, the court made the requested exception. It is not clear why Colonel Taylor did not exercise the prerogative of rank, but he evidently did not. He did become furious, however. “Highly incensed,” he forbade Davis from coming to his quarters as a guest. Still, there was no official repercussion.60

  One incident did become at least partially official. While serving as a quartermaster in 1830, Davis had an official altercation, but it led nowhere. Unhappy with the response by the quarter
master’s office in St. Louis to his requisition for stationery, Davis wrote, “I Shall avoid making any call on you, which it may be optionary with you to grant or refuse.” The quartermaster in St. Louis forwarded Davis’s letter to the quartermaster general in Washington, calling the language “insubordinate and highly disrespectful.” The quartermaster general agreed. Describing Davis’s conduct as “repugnant to every sound principle of service,” he asked Davis’s commanding general to take appropriate action. But there is no record of any such disciplinary measure being taken. In all probability the infantry general thought his infantry lieutenant had dealt with the quartermaster’s office just as it deserved.61

  In December 1834, however, Lieutenant Davis confronted serious official trouble. Following a run-in with Major Mason, his commanding officer as well as a friend and messmate, Davis found himself under arrest awaiting a general court-martial. On the cold, rainy morning of December 24, Davis, though awake and fully dressed, remained in his tent and missed reveille. Mason appeared, noticed Davis’s absence, and sent for his subordinate, who reported promptly. The difficulties arose when the major and the lieutenant faced each other that wet, wintry morning. Each interpreted their interaction dramatically differently. An offended Major Mason charged Lieutenant Davis with “Conduct subversive of good order and Military Discipline.” He stated his case in the specification brought before the court-martial, which convened at Fort Gibson on February 12, 1835.62

  At the court-martial Major Mason testified that when Lieutenant Davis responded to the order to present himself, he asked why Davis had been absent from reveille. Davis replied, “because I was not out of my tent, and Regulations require when it rains that roll shall be call’d in quarters by Chiefs of squads.” Mason said he then told Davis, “you know it is my order that all officers of this command attend the Reveille roll call of their respective Companies.” According to Mason, Davis listened, then in an “insubordinate and contemptuous manner” walked away uttering “Hum!” Believing that Davis was being disrespectful, Mason called him back and so stated to him. Further, he told Davis to consider himself under arrest and to return to his quarters. As Mason reported, Davis stood in place and “stared me full in the face.” In Mason’s version, not until the third statement of his order did Davis go to his quarters. And, in Mason’s words, Davis obeyed only after asking “in a disrespectful and contemptuous manner” whether his superior was finished with him.

  Lieutenant Jefferson Davis took this matter seriously. The accusation not only threatened his army career, it also maligned his public reputation and challenged his sense of himself. Put simply, his honor had been questioned. In his summation before the court-martial, Davis announced his desire to “wipe away the discredit which belongs to my arrest.” He asserted that “the humble and narrow reputation which a subaltern can acquire by years of the most rigid performance of his duty, is little worth in the wide world of Fame, but yet is something to himself.” This classic combining of the public and private dimensions of reputation formed the fundamental underpinning to the idea of honor in Jefferson Davis’s own mind and in the South.

  To defend himself before a panel of thirteen officers, with Brigadier General Matthew Arbuckle as president of the court, Davis presented an imaginative and thorough defense. Not surprisingly, he denied his accuser’s interpretation of the encounter. He knew, however, that denial alone would not suffice for a successful defense. To help him present his case he called eight witnesses: his company commander, three fellow lieutenants, a surgeon, two sergeants, and a private.

  Through the questioning of these witnesses Davis hoped to accomplish several goals. Citing the experiences of Captain David Perkins and Lieutenant James Izard, Davis cast doubt on the efficacy, and even the existence, of Major Mason’s order regarding attendance at reveille. Izard testified that because of sickness he had missed reveille and suffered no consequences. Captain Perkins followed with the statement that he had missed reveille because of bad weather with no adverse reaction from Major Mason; furthermore, he declared that he knew of no written order. Davis then produced Surgeon John Porter, who stated that the inclement weather on December 24 could have been detrimental to Davis’s bronchial condition, and the surgeon testified further that Mason was aware of Davis’s health problems.

  Davis also countered Mason’s version of their conversation, and his description of Davis’s attitude. While passing nearby at the moment the two officers were speaking to each other, Sergeant David Sample noted nothing disrespectful in Davis’s conduct. Finally, Lieutenant Northrop, who talked with Davis upon his return to quarters, maintained that Davis was in a good mood. The two discussed the incident, and neither thought anything would come of it.

  Captain Perkins and Lieutenant James Bowman helped Davis out on one aspect of this particular matter. When Davis asked Perkins whether calmness before Mason might irritate him, Perkins said it would when Mason was trying to correct someone. Perkins also revealed that Mason had spoken harshly to him, Perkins, on three occasions. Lieutenant Bowman went even further: He informed the court that he had known Mason to berate an officer in a fashion that no proud man could accept.

  The court also unknowingly offered its assistance. Intervening, the staff judge advocate asked Mason, “Might not the usual manner of the accused be considered disrespectful or even contemptuous by one not well acquainted with him?” This was surely Mason’s chance to buttress his charge and tarnish Davis. He did not do so, however. He answered that Davis’s general conduct had always been that of “a corteous gentleman.”

  Davis also took pains to demonstrate that he had been a good officer who carried out his assignments efficiently. Suggesting otherwise to the court, Major Mason described Davis as formerly conscientious but at Camp Jones lacking in energy. In contrast, Captain Perkins testified that since May, when Davis joined his company, the lieutenant had “habitually attended” to his duties. Both sergeants, Sample and John Budd, swore that Davis performed superbly supervising construction at Camp Jones. Their testimony made clear that Davis’s projects had not fallen behind others in completion. Lieutenant Izard affirmed that in his view Major Mason had been unnecessarily strict on small duties in camp. According to Izard, the major cared insufficiently about the progress and completion of a task and too much about whether an officer was continuously present on-site. In his defense Davis presented himself as an able, dedicated officer maltreated by a martinet who for whatever reason wanted to punish and embarrass a particular subordinate. Davis even suggested that Mason acted out of some undefined “irritation.”

  The trial lasted five days, three taken up with the presentation of the defense. After Davis’s summary statement on February 19, 1835, the room was cleared for the court to consider its ruling. As a part of deliberations the staff judge advocate read the entire proceedings to the court. The court decided in Davis’s favor. Although it held him guilty of the specification, or the basic facts, it excepted all references to “highly disrespectful, insubordinate and contemptuous conduct.” The court ascribed “no criminality to the facts of which he is found Guilty.” Thus, deciding he was not guilty of the charge, the court acquitted Lieutenant Davis.

  Following the verdict of the court-martial, Davis requested a furlough. As in his previous applications for leave, he specified personal and family matters as the reasons requiring his absence from duty. On March 10, he was granted a forty-day leave. There was a singular difference this time, however. When Davis departed from Fort Gibson, he left with General Arbuckle his resignation from the army, to be sent forward if he did not return to duty.63

  Davis did not take this step because he had failed as an army officer. His commanding officers at Fort Winnebago and Fort Crawford had been pleased with him. Colonel Taylor had sent him to the Dragoons, a signal recognition. Remembering Davis from Fort Winnebago, Lieutenant Colonel Twiggs in February 1835 asked that Davis be assigned to his command at New Orleans to help with major construction. “I have no hes
itation in Saying,” Twiggs wrote, “that [Davis] is as well, if not bettor qualified for that duty, than any officer of my acquaintance.”64

  In the Southwest he had also performed ably, and his acquittal vindicated his own version of his service. The commanding general at Fort Gibson concurred. Lieutenant Davis had clearly impressed General Arbuckle, who, when sending Davis’s resignation forward to the army’s Western Department, referred to the lieutenant as “a young officer of much intelligence and great promise.” He hoped that departmental headquarters would have information that Davis had changed his mind.65

  General Arbuckle’s hopes were in vain. In fact, Davis had also informed the Western Department of his wish to resign. Finally on June 24 the adjutant general in Washington published orders announcing Davis’s resignation, effective June 30, 1835.66

  Like many of his contemporaries in the 1830s, Jefferson Davis left the army for new opportunities. He had thought about it earlier. In 1832 he had seriously considered signing on with a proposed new railroad in Mississippi. And he had surely talked with his brother Joseph and his brother-in-law William Stamps about joining one of them in a farming venture. After his resignation he would follow that course with Joseph. But something even more important prompted the new direction taken by the twenty-six-year-old former first lieutenant—a young woman named Sarah Knox Taylor.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “Located in a Very Retired Place”

  In August 1832, eighteen-year-old Sarah Knox Taylor came with her mother, Margaret Smith Taylor, and a younger sister and brother, Elizabeth and Richard, to join her father, Colonel Zachary Taylor, at Fort Crawford. Commanding officer of the First Infantry Regiment, Colonel Taylor was also Lieutenant Davis’s superior at Fort Crawford from the spring of 1832 to the spring of 1833. There Sarah Knox met Jefferson Davis, and there a friendship developed that grew into love.