Davis Shaft

At Fairview, Ky., a concrete obelisk mounts 351 feet into the air. Built by Southern hands, it is a memorial to Jefferson Davis, onetime President of the Confederate States of America. Last week workmen were completing an elevator installation; on June 3 the monument, which stands on the estate where Davis was born, will be formally dedicated. With the exception of the Washington Monument, it is the highest memorial shaft in the world.

In 1833 Lieutenant Jefferson Davis mustered into the U. S. army Abraham Lincoln, head of a group of Illinois volunteers enlisting for the Black Hawk Indian war.

In 1845 Congressman Jefferson Davis of Mississippi spoke often in favor of state rights.

In 1846 Colonel Jefferson Davis was severely wounded at the battle of Buena Vista.

From 1847 to 1851 and from 1857 to 1861 United States Senator Jefferson Davis rose to a position of leadership among the Southern Senators.

From 1853 to 1857 (during Pierce's administration) Secretary of War Jefferson Davis performed the duties of his office with great distinction.

In 1861 President Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States of America began a six-year term which, largely through the activities of one Ulysses Simpson Grant he was never destined to complete.

After the collapse of the Confederacy in April, 1865, he was captured (May 10) in Georgia by Federal troops; spent the next two years as a prisoner in Fortress Monroe. He was admitted to bail in 1867, included in the general amnesty of 1868.

After his release he made a trip to Europe, then retired to Beauvoir, Miss., where he wrote histories of the Confederate movement, colored by his personal dislike to several of the most able Confederate generals.

He died in New Orleans in 1889.