Jefferson Davis still remembered in Dixie

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You have probably heard about or seen the movie “Lincoln” which was produced and Directed by famed film Director Steven Spielberg in 2012. The movie has been called superb and did have an excellent cast that included veteran actors Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field. Hollywood has produced movies about Abraham Lincoln, some good, some bad and others forgettable like “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” but I do not remember any made about the life and times of Jefferson Davis. Polls reflect the Southern people’s equal admiration for Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln but…. During these “political correct” times Southerners are often depicted on TV and in the movies as backward and dumb. The truth is that the South is the birth place of many intelligent, well-spoken and patriotic people like that of Jefferson Davis who was a great orator and there was standing room only on the floors of the United States Senate when he delivered his February 9, 1861 resignation speech as Mississippi Senator.

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Mr. Spielberg, would you direct and produce a movie about Jefferson Davis who like Lincoln was born in the State of Kentucky? The time is long overdue for school teachers throughout this nation to teach not only the historical facts about Abraham Lincoln, but also those about Jefferson Davis. Jefferson Davis like many Southerners was against secession but recognized the sovereignty of each state of the Union and their Constitutional right to secede. Jefferson Finis Davis was born on June 3, 1808, in Christian County, Kentucky. Davis would become the first and only President of the Confederate States of America. He was a strong Unionist and a strong defender of the United States Constitution. Here are a few of his many accomplishments:

• Graduate of West Point Military Academy
• Fought valiantly in the War with Mexico
• United States Senator
• Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce
• First to suggest the transcontinental railroad to link the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
• First to suggest the Panama Canal Zone
• Suggested the purchase of Cuba
• Appointed Robert E. Lee Superintendent of West Point Military Academy

Jefferson Davis' last marriage to Varina was a good one. Varina gave her husband four sons and two daughters (Billy, Joseph, Jefferson, Samuel, Margaret and Winnie). Joseph was killed by an accidental fall at the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia in 1864, Samuel died at age 2 and an abused black child named Jim Limber was virtually adopted as a member of the Davis family. In 1865, Jim was forcibly removed by Union soldiers and never seen again. It is said that the Davis children were crying at the scene and poor Jim was kicking and not making it easy for his abductors. After the War Between the States, Jefferson Davis tried to locate the whereabouts of Jim Limber, but was not successful. The funeral for Jefferson Davis was attended by thousands of mourners. Milo Cooper, a former servant, traveled all the way from Florida to pay his last respects. It is written that, upon entering Davis' sick room, Cooper burst into tears and threw himself on his knees in prayer that God would spare the life of his old master and bless the Davis family. Davis is buried at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. The Jefferson Davis Monument State Historic Site is a Kentucky State Park preserving the birthplace of Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America. It is located in Fairview, Kentucky, in Todd County. God bless America’s Heroes of yesterday and today!

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