JEFFERSON DAVISBy Nikhilesh KumarOn June 8, 1861, the last state joined the Confederate States of America. These 8 states were now a new nation, formed after the election of Abraham Lincoln. Their leader: Jefferson Davis, an American soldier and statesman. This man was the archenemy of the Union. He was the leading figure of the rebel Confederacy and was hated in the North. His life and actions forever changed the history of this nation. This man was one of the most influential people of the Civil War. Davis was born on June 3, 1808. He was the tenth child of Samuel Davis and Jane Cook Davis. His full name was Jefferson Finis Davis, finis means final in Latin, as his parents did not want any more children after Davis. Davis was born in Kentucky and raised in Louisiana. After turning 16, he decided to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point. Davis was in the same class as Robert E. Lee, a future general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. He wasn't as brilliant as Robert E. Lee, who finished near the top of his class. He finished 23rd in a class of 34, an average performance. He then promptly enlisted in the United States Army. Jefferson Davis' first war was the Black Hawk War in 1832. He served under Colonel Zachary Taylor, who would later become president. He met the colonel's daughter and married her against his father's wishes. She got malaria 3 months after the wedding and died. After 3 years he resigned from the army and returned to his plantation in Mississippi. He lived a quiet life for 8 years, constantly reading and thinking. He soon became convinced that slavery was essential. In 1845 he married again, this time to Varina Howell, an 18-year-old girl. They would have 6 children... middle of paper... raised and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe, where his health steadily declined. Two years later, Davis was freed. Davis wrote a book, A Short History of the Confederate States of America, and finished it in October 1889. During a trip to South America he contracted acute bronchitis and malaria. Slowly he became increasingly ill and on the evening of December 5, 1889 he died, with his hand in that of his wife. His funeral was gigantic, people from all over the South attended to bury this man. Now, over 100 years later, we see the importance of Jefferson Davis. He changed the destiny of all of us, without him we would not be a united nation. He was the most influential man in the South during the Civil War, and his poor leadership was what helped us win the war and progress to a new nation. We should all be indebted to this man, for without him we would not be here today.