Part 2

Topping in interest the other pieces in the room is the oil painting of Winnie hanging over the mantel. It was painted by the Swiss artist, Rupel, for Mrs. A. McC. Kimbrough who presented it to the Shrine to make sure that a true likeness of this favorite daughter of the South would be preserved. In this picture Winnie is shown in the crown jewels and robe she wore as Queen of Comus for the New Orleans Mardi Gras in 1892. She had served as a Maid of this Court in 1884 when Mildred Lee, the daughter of Robert E. Lee, was its Queen.

MARGARET DAVIS HAYES MEMORIAL ROOM

The second room on the right is a memorial to Margaret Davis Hayes. It contains the bedroom suite of burled walnut formerly used in this room. This furniture had been sent from Beauvoir after it was no longer the Davis home, and thirty-nine years later it was shipped back in the same crates with labels in Mrs. Davis’ handwriting still on them. The pillow cases on Margaret’s bed were among the linens used by Mrs. Davis, when newly wedded to Jefferson Davis. Grouped around the mantel in this room are pictures of the homes, important in the lives of both Mr. and Mrs. Davis—the one in the center, Mrs. Davis’ girlhood home, “The Briars”, in Natchez, where she and Jefferson Davis were married; the one on the right, “Rosemont”, at Woodville, Mississippi, Davis’ boyhood home; and the one on the left, “Beauvoir”, the last home of Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson Davis. The most important of the Hayes family photographs, making this room distinctive as a memorial to Margaret Davis Hayes, is the one of Margaret herself with her baby, Jefferson Addison Hayes, whose name was legally changed to Jefferson Hayes Davis to make it possible for the renowned name, “Jefferson Davis”, to be passed from son to son for years to come.

JEFFERSON DAVIS ROOM

The rooms occupied by Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Davis, with a connecting door between, form an offset on the west side of the house to the left of the back parlor or family study. Jefferson Davis’ room faces the Gulf and has the advantage of being entered from the front or back without passing through any other room. The furnishings in this room, that were there when Jefferson Davis was an occupant of it, are the large rocking chair, the bed, the washstand and washstand set, towel rack, cigar stand, and the leather foot locker or small trunk used by him during the Mexican War and for trips abroad, when ex-President of the Confederate States of America. Hanging over the bed is a framed garland of flowers made from pieces of cloth, similar in color to the flowers copied to make this attractive but unusual piece. On the back of it is this explanation, written by Mrs. Davis—“Hearing Jefferson Davis was dying and lacked comforts in Fortress Monroe, the Southern women made this piece of work as a cushion cover and sent it to him among other things. 350 women took a few stitches on this gift sent in 1866”. The painting over the mantel is Mrs. Davis as she was in 1898. The photograph below on the left is Mrs. Davis as a young girl. On the right is one of Winnie as a child, and below it, one of Jefferson Davis, Jr., in costume.

1. Porch or Gallery 2. Reception Hall 3. Front Parlor 4. Winnie Davis Memorial Room 5. Back Parlor or Library 6. Margaret Davis Hayes Memorial Room 7. Rear Porch or Galley 8. Jefferson Davis’ Room 9. Mrs. Davis’ Room 10. Dining Room 11. Butler’s Pantry and Children’s Dining Room 12. Inside Stairway to Museum on Ground Floor

MRS. DAVIS ROOM

This room, opening into Jefferson Davis’ room, has the added attraction of having in it two of the five closets in Beauvoir House, as well as a north window overlooking Mrs. Davis’ rose garden. The original furnishings are the armoire, sewing machine, spool washstand table, washstand set, the candle stand or bedside table, and a treasured book, “Manual of Family Devotion”, presented to Mrs. Davis by Bishop C. T. Quintard (Bishop of Tennessee—1865-1898), and inscribed as follows: “To Mrs. Davis with God’s blessing from C. T. Quintard”. The sampler over the mantel was made by a granddaughter out of a black alpaca dress that belonged to Mrs. Davis. The wild turkey feather fan, displayed in a frame, was made for and used by Mrs. Davis. Two interesting pictures in the room are the picture of the Davis children made in 1865, and the one of Jefferson Davis, Jr., the last one made of him before he died.

DINING ROOM

The table, chairs, and large sideboard in the dining room are original Davis pieces, given to Judge and Mrs. A. McC. Kimbrough of Greenwood, Mississippi and the Gulf Coast, when Beauvoir was dismantled. They were kept intact by them as long as they lived, and by their family after their deaths. Later, responding to the need of these original pieces in making Beauvoir a Jefferson Davis Shrine, the Kimbrough family loaned them for use in their original setting. The painting on the board, forming a part of the mantel in this small but attractive dining room, was done by Winnie Davis. Draperies and glass curtains are replacements.

BUTLER’S PANTRY AND CHILDREN’S DINING ROOM

These rooms have been restored to their original state. In the children’s dining room separated from the well arranged butler’s pantry by a partial partition are a round oak table and chairs in a size suitable for children. The willow ware seen on the shelves was used by the Davis family when they lived at Beauvoir. The original kitchen, used first by the Brown family then the Davis family, was burned about 1927. A covered walkway connected the old kitchen with Beauvoir House, where the back stairway led to the butler’s pantry for dining room service.

THE DAVIS MUSEUM

The front portion of the ground floor has been put to excellent use as a Davis Museum. Its theme is Jefferson Davis and His Family. On this same ground floor, just back of the museum, is a bricked-in room in which the meat was hung and the wines stored. To the left of this room is the dry well which served, to some extent, the purpose of a refrigerator.

OTHER LARGE MUSEUM PIECES ON DISPLAY

The phaeton, used by Mrs. Davis on her visiting days, has been loaned by the Kimbrough heirs. Since Mrs. Davis was short in stature, it was necessary to have special steps put on the phaeton for her convenience.

The buggy that belonged to Jefferson Davis was purchased by Dr. A. D. Harmanson, and has been given to the Shrine by his daughters, Mrs. Pearl Harmanson Atkinson of Biloxi, Mississippi and Mrs. Lillie Harmanson Marsh of Dallas, Texas. Near the phaeton and the buggy is Winnie’s sidesaddle, used by her on many rides on her favorite saddle horse, Kitty.

The boat, Barbashela, is another interesting museum piece. Captain Boland Leathers, a friend of long standing of the Davis family, built this little boat for Winnie on the bow of his steamship, Natchez. He gave it its Choctaw Indian name, Barbashela, meaning “friend”. It also is on loan to the Shrine by the Kimbrough heirs.

_THE WEST COTTAGE or HAYES COTTAGE_

During the occupancy of Beauvoir by Jefferson Davis and his family, this West Cottage was enlarged to serve as their Guest Cottage. But later, because so frequently used by the elder daughter, Margaret Davis Hayes and her family, it became known as the Hayes Cottage.

In the front room of this cottage is an attractive cottage bedroom suite that was formerly used by Winnie Davis. The Gulfport Chapter UDC No. 1068 obtained possession of it and presented it to Beauvoir in 1907.

_THE LIBRARY COTTAGE or EAST COTTAGE_

This cottage, called the Pavilion by Mrs. Davis, was first used by Jefferson Davis as both his living quarters and his library. Later, when Mrs. Davis returned from Europe, he used it as a library and office in combination. It was here that he wrote “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”, and a “Short History of the Confederate States”. The office chair and desk were returned to Beauvoir by the Davis heirs. His original desk in the left hand front corner of the room and the desk in the center of the room were returned to Beauvoir by the White House of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia in 1956. The easel is the one Winnie used while painting either inside the cottage, on the porch, or on the grounds. The book shelves were built under the supervision of Mr. Davis. The valuable books now on these shelves are largely Davis family books. Many of them are autographed by members of the family. Added to this collection are Volumes I and II of the Memorial Edition of “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”, presented by the publishers, Garrett and Massie, for use in the cottage where the manuscript for the two volumes was written. It was in regard to Volume II of this great book, that President Davis’ friend, Judge C. E. Fenner, said, “The whole argument of secession is practically comprised in the fifteenth chapter of Part II of ‘The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government’”.

The picture of Franklin Pierce to the left of the period clock on the mantel was given by President Pierce to Jefferson Davis, his Secretary of War from 1853-57. The picture to the right is one of Senator Jesse Speight whose death in 1847 created the vacancy in the United States Senate which Jefferson Davis filled by appointment from the Governor of Mississippi.

THE CONFEDERATE MUSEUM

To the east is the large building that was the hospital for the Confederate Veterans Home during the many years it served the Confederate veterans, and their wives and widows. Today this hospital structure is the entranceway for the home.

This building houses a collection of valued gifts which has grown up with the home. Many items of historic interest in this period of history, not directly connected with the Davis family, were moved to this museum.

Also in this building, an interesting Souvenir Shop is owned and operated by Mrs. Salome Brady.

BEAUVOIR CONFEDERATE CEMETERY

WITH A SEMI-HISTORIC GLIMPSE OF THE REAR GROUNDS OF THE SHRINE

A hallowed spot on the land, comprising the property of the Jefferson Davis Shrine, is the Beauvoir Confederate Cemetery where about 800 inmates of the Jefferson Davis Confederate Soldiers’ Home lie buried. The grave of Samuel Emory Davis, father of Jefferson Davis, is near the center, the remains and marker having been moved from the Brierfield Plantation on the Mississippi River, south of Vicksburg, Mississippi.

On the way to this secluded but loved burial ground, visitors pass along the woodland pathway once used by Jefferson Davis in his frequent walks around the grounds of this home of his old age. Almost daily in these walks he would turn off, as the visitors might find it interesting to do, to the little spring that he loved to sit by for its quietude and surrounding natural beauty.

Somewhat as it was in Davis’ time, there are magnificent trees, some old and many young, bamboo, palmettos, ferns, wild flowers and other native plants which give the Beauvoir grounds today the special appeal they have to sightseeing guests. But of late years, along with this native growth, has been added an informal planting of azaleas, camellias, sasanquas, loquats and other flowering shrubs close by the winding lagoon that has replaced old Oyster Bayou. Further on toward Beauvoir House is a mass planting of camellias and shrubs, while on the opposite side is a pretty rose garden, significant because of its being in the same plot used by Mrs. Davis for her loved rose garden. It is this combination of native and cultivated spots of beauty that makes the rear of Jefferson Davis Shrine in keeping with the front of it, widely known for the architectural attraction of the buildings and the almost unadorned beauty of the surroundings.

_LIFE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS_

CHRONOLOGICAL OUTLINE

1808, June 3—Born in Fairview, Kentucky; moved to Woodville, Mississippi when a small child.

1813-1823—First 10 years of his education: home town log-cabin school; St. Thomas’ Catholic College near Springfield, Kentucky, when only 7 and 8 years old; Jefferson College near Natchez, Mississippi; back home to Wilkinson County Academy; and 3 years at Transylvania College, Lexington, Kentucky.

1824-1828—Attended West Point Military Academy 4 years, graduated at the age of 20; commissioned Second Lieutenant, 1st Infantry, July 1, 1828.

1828-1835—Promoted to 1st Lieutenant during his outstanding service on the Western Frontier.

1835, June 17—Resigned from the U.S. Army effective June 30; married Colonel Zachary Taylor’s daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, who died September 15.

1835-1844—Virtually a recluse for 7 years—time spent, for most part, in study of philosophy and Constitutional Law, then followed a period of travel with an enlivening interest in people and public affairs.

1845, February 26—Married Varina Howell of Natchez, Miss.

1845—Elected a member of the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress.

1846, July 21—Resigned from the House of Representatives for volunteer service with the Mississippi troops in the Mexican War; appointed Colonel of the First Mississippi Regiment which, under his heroic leadership, won great renown at Monterey and Buena Vista.

1847—Received a rousing welcome on his return from Mexico; appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, then elected to the Senate for the following full term.

1853-1857—Recognition given him for the outstanding worth of his services to the nation, while Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce.

1857—Again elected to the United States Senate.

1861, January 21—Resigned from the Senate when Mississippi seceded from the Union.

1861, January 25—Commissioned Major General of the State’s Military Forces by J. J. Pettus, Governor of Mississippi.

1861, February 9—Elected President of the Confederate States of America by the legally appointed delegates to the Convention of the Seceding States in session at Montgomery, Alabama.

1861, February 18—Inaugurated as President of the Confederate States of America at Montgomery, Alabama, the first capital of the new nation.

1862, May 6—Baptized at the Executive Mansion and later confirmed in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church by Bishop John Johns.

1861-1865—Gave 4 years of dedicated service as Chief Executive of the Confederate States of America and Commander-in-Chief of the Nation’s Military Forces.

1865, May 10—Captured with some of the members of his cabinet at Irwinville, Georgia, while in flight from Richmond, Virginia to set up a temporary capital elsewhere.

1865, May 22—Imprisoned at Fortress Monroe on two charges—treason and taking part in a conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln.

1867, May 13—Released from Fortress Monroe, Virginia on a bail bond signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt, Horace Greeley, Augustus Schell and others.

1867-1876—Visited relatives, friends and noted acquaintances in Canada, Cuba, England, Scotland, and Europe before returning to the United States, where he accepted the presidency of a new Life Insurance Company at Memphis, Tennessee.

1877—With the failure of this Life Insurance Company, he gladly accepted Mrs. Sarah Anne Dorsey’s solicitous offer of her home, Beauvoir, as the quiet, restful place needed for concentration on the books he was writing.

1879-1889—Significant were these last 10 years of Davis’ life—because of the completion of his great contribution to the history of the South, “The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government”; his satisfaction and deep-seated emotions over being the owner of loved Beauvoir; and his sweet contentment and reserved happiness in being again with his family and seeing, from time to time, his close friends as well as interested and admiring associates.

1889, December 6—With his wife at his bedside, died in New Orleans, Louisiana at the home of his dear friend, J. U. Payne—(was on his way back to Beauvoir from his Brierfield Plantation near Vicksburg, Mississippi).

1889, December 12—Body moved to City Hall, where it lay in state for over four days before temporary burial in Metairie Cemetery in the semi-underground vault of the Army of Northern Virginia, surmounted by the statue of Stonewall Jackson. Reporting on the funeral, the New Orleans Times Democrat said editorially: “This generation will never again look upon the like of this day’s funeral pageant—”.

1893, May 27—The remains of Jefferson Davis in a heavy brass trimmed oak casket removed from the temporary vault to Confederate Memorial Hall. On the following day, in a touching speech, Governor Murphy J. Foster of Louisiana, delivered the casket to the committee of Veterans from Virginia sent to receive it.

1893, May 28 to May 30—“The Great Chieftain’s Last Ride”—funeral train made a brief stop at Beauvoir before making three full stops for the body to lie in state in the capitols of Alabama, Georgia, and North Carolina.

1893, May 31—After lying in state in the Capitol at Richmond, Virginia during the morning, the funeral procession, with Mrs. Davis and her daughters, Margaret and Winnie, in a carriage directly back of the caisson drawn by six white horses, slowly made its way to Hollywood Cemetery, where there and along the streets leading to the cemetery were gathered at least 75,000 people. A 21-gun salute and taps were the final acts in the burial of the First and Only President of the Confederate States of America.

_THE FAMILY OF JEFFERSON DAVIS_

The following data were obtained from the Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Mississippi, and “Jefferson Davis’—Private Papers, 1823-1889” selected and edited by Hudson Strode—1966.

Morgan Davis, ancestor of Jefferson Davis, came to Pennsylvania in 1684 from Wales—the line of descent follows: Morgan Davis, father of John Davis; John Davis, father of Evan Davis; Evan Davis, father of Samuel Emory Davis; Samuel Emory Davis, father of Jefferson Davis.

The children of Jefferson Davis and wife, Varina Howell Davis, follow:

1. Samuel Emory: born July 30, 1852; died June 30, 1854.

2. Margaret Howell: born February 25, 1855; married J. A. Hayes January 1, 1876; died July 19, 1909.

3. Jefferson Davis, Jr.: born January 16, 1857; died October 10, 1878, unmarried.

4. Joseph Evan: born April 18, 1859; died April 30, 1864.

5. William Howell: born December 16, 1861; died October 16, 1872.

6. Varina Anne (Winnie), “The Daughter of the Confederacy”: born June 27, 1864; died September 18, 1898, unmarried.

PUBLICATIONS OF BEAUVOIR BOOKLETS

“Historic Beauvoir” was compiled in 1932-1933 by Mrs. A. D. Spooner and Mrs. R. C. Herron, Group Chairmen. It was revised and reprinted in 1939 by Mrs. I. F. Galloway, Group Chairman.

“Beauvoir—The Last Home of Jefferson Davis” was revised and renamed by the Beauvoir Historical Committee, Mrs. H. D. Lindsey, Chairman, Mrs. Rucks Yerger, Mrs. J. W. Atkinson, Mrs. W. F. O’Donnell and Dr. Margaret Caraway.

“Beauvoir—Jefferson Davis Shrine” was revised and renamed in 1945 by a committee, Mrs. John L. Heiss, Chairman, Mrs. J. W. Atkinson, Mrs. J. P. Pentecost and Mrs. George P. Hopkins.

“Beauvoir—Jefferson Davis Shrine” was republished in 1958 by Mrs. John L. Heiss, Chairman, Mrs. Hobart D. Shaw, Mrs. Salome Brady and Mrs. George W. Taylor.

“Beauvoir—Jefferson Davis Shrine” is again republished in 1968 by Mrs. Salome Brady, Chairman, Mrs. E. V. Shove, Mrs. J. L. Heiss, Mrs. Lillian Phillips, Mrs. Roy Craig and Mrs. J. O. Jones.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jefferson Davis, Constitutionalist, His Letters, Papers, Speeches Dr. Dunbar Rowland, _Editor_

Jefferson Davis—ex-President of the Confederate States of America “A Memoir by His Wife”

Harrison County, Mississippi, Chancery Court Records.

Abstract of Title to James Brown’s Gulf Coast property.

“The Great Chieftain’s Last Ride”—February 1955, L&N Magazine.

Chapter 25, Laws of Mississippi—1904 Session.

“Historic Beauvoir” Mrs. Wilbur M. Jones

“Questions and Answers”—several pamphlets concerning Beauvoir and the Jefferson Davis family Dr. W. A. Evans

Up-to-date information supplied by W. A. Blackledge, resident manager of the Jefferson Davis Shrine, Mrs. M. M. Murphy, Shrine hostess, and Mrs. Salome Brady.

Photographs by W. M. Cline Company, Audrey Murphy and Chauncey T. Hinman.

CEMETERY FOOT PATH FOOT PATH Lagoon BRIDGE SPRING FOOT PATH FOOT PATH KITCHEN WEST OR HAYES COTTAGE BEAUVOIR HOUSE EAST OR LIBRARY COTTAGE FORMER CONFEDERATE VETERANS HOME HOSPITAL FORMER AREA OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS HOME BUILDINGS PARKING AREA PARKING AREA U.S. HIGHWAY 90 SEAWALL AND SAND BEACH GULF OF MEXICO

ORIGIN OF THE BEAUVOIR BOOKLET

In 1932 members of the three Gulf Coast chapters of the Mississippi Division United Daughters of the Confederacy conceived the idea of the publication of a Beauvoir Booklet, proceeds from the sale of which would be used for UDC projects. Representatives of these chapters—Gulfport No. 1068, Beauvoir-Biloxi No. 623 and Beauvoir-Gulfport No. 621, have revised and enlarged the original booklet as improvements and development of the Home into a Shrine arose. This group is now designated in the Division as District V.

THE FLAGS OF THE CONFEDERACY

No. 1. The “_Stars and Bars_,” the first “National Flag.” No. 2. The “_Battle Flag_.” No. 3. In 1863 replaced No. 1 as the “National Flag.” No. 4. In 1865 replaced No. 3 as the “National Flag.” No. 5. “_The Bonnie Blue Flag_.”

No. 1. The “Stars and Bars” was the first National Flag of the Confederate States of America. It was adopted by the Confederate Congress, and raised at sunrise over the Confederate Capitol at Montgomery, Alabama, March 4th, 1861, where the Provisional Congress was holding its first session. At the time of its adoption, it was ordered that a star be added to the flag for each new state joining the Confederacy. This flag is used as the emblem of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

No. 2. The “Battle Flag” was designed after the first Battle of Manassas, and afterward was adopted by the Confederate Congress. The reason for its adoption was that, in battle, the “Stars and Bars” was frequently mistaken for the “Stars and Stripes”. It remained the Battle Flag until the close of the war. This flag was the insignia of the United Confederate Veterans, and is now the insignia of the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

No. 3. To prevent further confusion arising from the mistaking of the “Stars and Bars” for the “Stars and Stripes”, the Confederate Congress on May 1, 1863, adopted a new National Flag. This flag is used as the emblem of the Children of the Confederacy, and is well worth remembering for its use on Stonewall Jackson’s casket.