List of memorials to Jefferson Davis


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

Sculpture

Schools

Inhabited places

Stamps

Davis appeared on several postage stamps issued by the Confederacy, including its first postage stamp. 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. 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 above ground level, the largest high-relief sculpture in the world.

Holidays

The birthday of Jefferson Davis is commemorated in several states. His actual birthday, June 3, is celebrated in Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana and Tennessee; in Alabama, it is celebrated on the first Monday in June. In Mississippi, the last Monday of May is celebrated as "National Memorial Day and Jefferson Davis's Birthday". In Texas, "Confederate Heroes Day" is celebrated on January 19, Robert E. Lee's birthday; Jefferson Davis's birthday had been officially celebrated on June3 but was combined with Lee's in 1973.

Miscellaneous

[Image:JeffDavis.jpg|thumb|150 px|right|Memorial of Jefferson Davis's final speech.]
  • In 2009, a bronze plaque was dedicated at the site of the old courthouse in Mississippi City, Mississippi, to memorialize the final speech delivered by Jefferson Davis, where he pleaded for unity of all U.S. citizens after the American Civil War.
  • Jeff Davis Peak, a variant name of Doso Doyabi, the second highest summit in the Snake Range in Nevada, was named in honor of Jefferson Davis in 1855. Davis was then serving as Secretary of War in the United States government.
  • Jefferson Davis Hospital began operations in 1924 and was the first centralized municipal hospital to treat indigent patients in Houston, Texas. The building was designated as a protected historic landmark on November 13, 2013, by the Houston City Council and is monitored by the Historic Preservation Office of the City of Houston Department of Planning and Development. The hospital was named for Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederacy, in honor of the Confederate soldiers who had been buried in the cemetery and as a means to console the families of the deceased.
  • The United Daughters of the Confederacy monument to Jefferson Davis at the Fort Crawford Cemetery in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Davis was stationed at Fort Crawford, Michigan Territory in 1831.
  • Fort Davis National Historic Site began as a frontier military post in October 1854, in the mountains of western Texas. It was named after then-United States Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. That fort gave its name to the surrounding Davis Mountains range, and the town of Fort Davis. The surrounding area was designated Jeff Davis County in 1887, with the town of Fort Davis as the county seat. Other states containing a Jefferson Davis County/Parish include Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
  • When Davis evacuated Richmond, his belongings continued on the train bound for Cedar Key, Florida. They were first hidden at Senator David Levy Yulee's plantation in Florida, then placed in the care of a railroad agent in Waldo. On June 15, 1865, Union soldiers seized Davis's personal baggage from the agent, together with some of the Confederate government's records. A historical marker was erected to commemorate this site.The Papers of Jefferson Davis is an editing project based at Rice University in Houston, Texas to publish documents related to Davis. Since the early 1960s, it has published 14 volumes, the first in 1971 and the most recent in 2015; more volumes are planned. The project has roughly 100,000 documents in its archives.
  • The Confederate Memorial Hall Museum has a portrait of Pope Pius IX that he sent to Davis after he was captured. It is inscribed with the Latin words "Venite ad me omnes qui laboratis, et ego reficiam vos, dicit Dominus", which correspond to the Biblical passage of Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you, sayeth the Lord". A hand-woven crown of thorns that was probably woven by Davis's wife encircles it.

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.