Jefferson Davis was the President of the Confederate States of America, leading the South's attempt to establish an independent slaveholding nation. A Mississippi planter, West Point graduate, Mexican War hero, and U.S. Senator, Davis was chosen to lead the Confederacy when Southern states seceded in 1861.
Davis proved a capable but difficult war leader—brilliant on military matters, poor at politics, unable to delegate, and prone to feuds with generals and governors. The Confederacy's defeat owed much to Northern advantages, but Davis's rigidity and micromanagement contributed to Southern failure.
Davis never apologized for the Confederacy. Imprisoned for two years after the war, he wrote The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government defending states' rights and denying that slavery caused secession. Davis represents the 'Lost Cause' mythology that dominated Southern memory for generations. His legacy is inseparable from slavery's defense and the Civil War's 620,000 dead.