Who was Jefferson Davis and where was he born?
Jefferson Davis was born in Fairview, KY– a small town 9 miles east of Hopkinsville. Fairview, Kentucky is approximately 100 miles southeast from Abraham Lincoln’s birthplace. He was born on June 3rd, 1808, less than a year earlier than Abraham Lincoln. Both men were president at the same time: Jefferson Davis for the Confederate States of America and Abraham Lincoln for the United States of America. Jefferson Davis can serve as a good example of the difficult choices southerners who were loyal members of the Union faced when the South succeeded. Jefferson Davis was a West Point graduate, served in the United States Congress as a representative of the state of Mississippi, was a member of the Senate Military Affairs Committee, and served as Secretary of War during the Franklin Pierce administration. Here is a man who was a prominent elected official of the United States, yet left the service of his country to serve in the Confederate government.
