List of memorials to Jefferson Davis

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Jefferson Davis in National Statuary Hall Flickr - USCapitol - Jefferson Davis Statue.jpg
Jefferson Davis in National Statuary Hall

The following is a list of the memorials to Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America.

Contents

Sculpture

Statue formerly at Memphis Park. Removed in 2017. Jefferson Davis Monument, Memphis.jpg
Statue formerly at Memphis Park. Removed in 2017.
Statue formerly at Monument Avenue, Richmond. Removed in 2020. Jefferson Davis statue, Richmond VA, USA.jpg
Statue formerly at Monument Avenue, Richmond. Removed in 2020.
Bust of Davis at Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site 19-23-001-davis.jpg
Bust of Davis at Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site
Bust of Davis at Old Warren County Courthouse 22-28-040-davis.jpg
Bust of Davis at Old Warren County Courthouse
Memorial at Vicksburg National Military Park Jefferson Davis Monument, Vicksburg National Military Park.jpg
Memorial at Vicksburg National Military Park
The Jefferson Davis monument in New Orleans "subtly improved by local artists", May 2004. It was eventually dismantled in 2017. Jefferson Davis, Slave Owner.jpg
The Jefferson Davis monument in New Orleans "subtly improved by local artists", May 2004. It was eventually dismantled in 2017.

Schools

Inhabited places

Stamps

J Davis 1861-5c.jpg
five cent 1861 issue
Jefferson Davis in CSA Stamps (5 cent Scott-6 1862).jpg
five cent 1862 issue
Jefferson Davis in CSA Stamps (10 cent Scott-11 1863).jpg
ten cent 1863 issue
Jefferson Davis postage stamps
J. Davis on Stone Mountain 1970 issue Stone Mountain Memorial 6c 1970 issue.JPG
J. Davis on Stone Mountain 1970 issue

Davis appeared on several postage stamps issued by the Confederacy, including its first postage stamp (issued in 1861). In 1995, his portrait appeared on a United States postage stamp, part of a series of 20 stamps commemorating the 130th anniversary of the end of the Civil War. [29] [30] Davis was also celebrated on the six-cent Stone Mountain Memorial Carving commemorative on September 19, 1970, at Stone Mountain, Georgia. The stamp portrayed Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson on horseback. It depicts a replica of the actual memorial, carved into the side of Stone Mountain at 400 feet (120 m) above ground level, the largest high-relief sculpture in the world. [31]

Holidays

The birthday of Jefferson Davis is commemorated in several states. His actual birthday, June 3, is celebrated in Florida, [32] Kentucky, [33] Louisiana [34] and Tennessee; [35] in Alabama, it is celebrated on the first Monday in June. [36] In Mississippi, the last Monday of May (Memorial Day) is celebrated as "National Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis's Birthday". [37] In Texas, "Confederate Heroes Day" is celebrated on January 19, Robert E. Lee's birthday; [35] Jefferson Davis's birthday had been officially celebrated on June 3 but was combined with Lee's in 1973. [38]

Miscellaneous

Jefferson Davis grave at the Hollywood Cemetery Davis statue2 copy.jpg
Jefferson Davis grave at the Hollywood Cemetery
Memorial of Jefferson Davis's final speech. JeffDavis.jpg
Memorial of Jefferson Davis's final speech.

Controversy

Many memorials and statues commemorating Davis have been removed as part of a larger, society-wide reckoning with the historical legacy of the Confederacy, as many states and municipalities have re-examined the appropriateness of using public space to honor figures that supported slavery and secession. [66] [67] [68]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Davis</span> President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865

Jefferson F. Davis was an American politician who served as the first and only president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a member of the Democratic Party before the American Civil War. He was the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Daughters of the Confederacy</span> American hereditary association

The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) is an American neo-Confederate hereditary association for female descendants of Confederate Civil War soldiers engaging in the commemoration of these ancestors, the funding of monuments to them, and the promotion of the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Memorial Day</span> Observance in some Southern U.S. states

Confederate Memorial Day is a holiday observed in several Southern U.S. states on various dates since the end of the American Civil War. The holiday was originally publicly presented as a day to remember the estimated 258,000 Confederate soldiers who died during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John H. Reagan</span> American politician (1818–1905)

John Henninger Reagan was an American politician from Texas. A Democrat, Reagan resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives when Texas declared secession from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America. He served in the cabinet of Jefferson Davis as Postmaster General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monument Avenue</span> United States historic place

Monument Avenue is a tree-lined grassy mall dividing the eastbound and westbound traffic in Richmond, Virginia, originally named for its emblematic complex of structures honoring those who fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Between 1900 and 1925, Monument Avenue greatly expanded with architecturally significant houses, churches, and apartment buildings. Four of the bronze statues representing J. E. B. Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, Jefferson Davis and Matthew Fontaine Maury were removed from their memorial pedestals amidst civil unrest in July 2020. The Robert E. Lee monument was handled differently as it was owned by the Commonwealth, in contrast with the other monuments which were owned by the city. Dedicated in 1890, it was removed on September 8, 2021. All these monuments, including their pedestals, have now been removed completely from the Avenue. The last remaining statue on Monument Avenue is the Arthur Ashe Monument, memorializing the African-American tennis champion, dedicated in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sons of Confederate Veterans</span> American neo-Confederate organization

The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers that commemorates these ancestors, funds and dedicates monuments to them, and promotes the pseudohistorical Lost Cause ideology and corresponding white supremacy.

Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lost Cause of the Confederacy</span> Negationist myth of the American Civil War

The Lost Cause of the Confederacy is an American pseudohistorical and historical negationist myth that claims the cause of the Confederate States during the American Civil War was just, heroic, and not centered on slavery. First enunciated in 1866, it has continued to influence racism, gender roles, and religious attitudes in the Southern United States into the 21st century. Historians have dismantled many parts of the Lost Cause mythos.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Davis Highway</span> Historic long-distance highway in the United States

The Jefferson Davis Highway, also known as the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway, was a transcontinental highway in the United States in the 1910s and 1920s that began in Arlington, Virginia, and extended south and west to San Diego, California; it was named for Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, United States senator, and Secretary of War. Because of unintended conflict between the National Auto Trail movement and the federal government, it is unclear whether it ever really existed in the complete form that its United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) founders originally intended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard W. Dowling</span> Confederate States Army officer

Richard William Dowling was an Irish-born artillery officer of the Confederate States Army who achieved distinction as commander at the battle of Sabine Pass (1863), the most one-sided Confederate victory during the American Civil War. It is considered the "Thermopylae of the Confederacy" and prevented Texas from being conquered by the Union. For his actions, Dowling received the "thanks of Congress", Davis Guards Medal, Southern Cross of Honor, and Confederate Medal of Honor. Over a dozen other memorials have also been dedicated in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site</span> Historic site in Irwin County, Georgia

Jefferson Davis Memorial Historic Site is a 12.668-acre (5.127 ha) state historic site located in Irwin County, Georgia that marks the spot where Confederate States President Jefferson Davis was captured by United States Cavalry on Wednesday, May 10, 1865. The historic site features a granite monument with a bronze bust of Davis that is located at the place of capture. The memorial museum, built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration, features Civil War era weapons, uniforms, artifacts and an exhibit about the president's 1865 flight from Richmond, Virginia to Irwin County, Georgia.

Confederate monuments and memorials in the United States include public displays and symbols of the Confederate States of America (CSA), Confederate leaders, or Confederate soldiers of the American Civil War. Many monuments and memorials have been or will be removed under great controversy. Part of the commemoration of the American Civil War, these symbols include monuments and statues, flags, holidays and other observances, and the names of schools, roads, parks, bridges, buildings, counties, cities, lakes, dams, military bases, and other public structures. In a December 2018 special report, Smithsonian Magazine stated, "over the past ten years, taxpayers have directed at least $40 million to Confederate monuments—statues, homes, parks, museums, libraries, and cemeteries—and to Confederate heritage organizations."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials</span> Ongoing controversy in the United States

More than 160 monuments and memorials to the Confederate States of America and associated figures have been removed from public spaces in the United States, all but five since 2015. Some have been removed by state and local governments; others have been torn down by protestors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Jefferson Davis (U.S. Capitol)</span> Statue of Jefferson Davis by Henry Augustus Lukeman in Washington, D.C., U.S.

Jefferson Davis, created by Henry Augustus Lukeman, is a bronze sculpture of Jefferson Davis – a U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of War, plantation owner and the only President of the Confederate States of America – commissioned by the U.S. State of Mississippi for inclusion in National Statuary Hall Collection at the United States Capitol's National Statuary Hall, in Washington, D.C. The statue was controversial at the time of its unveiling and there have been multiple efforts to remove it from the Capitol since 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Davis Memorial (Richmond, Virginia)</span> Former monument in Virginia, US

The Jefferson Davis Memorial was a memorial for Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865, installed along Richmond, Virginia's Monument Avenue, in the United States. The monument was unveiled on Davis' birthday, June 3, 1907, a day celebrated in Virginia and many other Southern states as Confederate Memorial Day. It consisted of a bronze statue of Davis by Richmond sculptor Edward Valentine surrounded by a colonnade of 13 columns represented the Southern states, and a tall Doric column topped by a bronze statue, also by Valentine, representing Southern womanhood.

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