Jefferson Davis BicentennialThis year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Jefferson Davis, who was born in Fairview, Ky., on June 3, 1808, and at the age of 2 moved with his parents to Rosemont Plantation near Woodville, Miss. In 1835, Davis moved to Warren County where he spent the most productive years of his life. This is the second of a series of 11 articles about Davis as a local citizen.On Nov. 5, 1843, two men took their places at a speakers’ stand near the stairs of the Warren County Courthouse. It was election day, and voters would choose a member of the state Legislature.

One gentleman was Seargent S. Prentiss, the finest orator in the state, maybe in the nation, who represented the Whig party. The other was Jefferson Davis who, at age 35, was about to launch his career in politics.

Jefferson DavisDavis was a last-minute candidate. The Democrats’ choice had dropped out of the race only a few days before the balloting, and party leaders had urged Davis to take his place. The Whigs, the party with a decided local majority, had two men running, but one of them withdrew to assure a Whig victory. Prentiss was not the candidate — he was the spokesman for his party, a stand-in for Dr. Jefferson Nailor, who also lived in south Warren County.

The Vicksburg Sentinel, a local organ of the Democratic Party, printed the news of Davis’ entry into politics:

“Mr. Davis is a sterling Democrat, a man of unsullied private character, talents of a high order, extensive political information, and judging from his remarks before the convention, a fine public speaker. There may be some in the country to whom Mr. Davis, from the secluded privacy in which he has lived, is unknown. To these we repeat, Mr. Davis is what we have stated a man, every inch a man.”

Prentiss and Davis engaged in a rather informal debate on the day of the election, each taking 15 minutes on various topics under discussion. Voters had to pass the debaters on their way inside to cast ballots. The appearance at the courthouse was the only campaigning Davis did during the election.

When the votes were counted, Jefferson Davis, as most expected, lost, but the margin of defeat was not so great as was expected.

A Vicksburg newspaper remarked, “He will yet make his mark on history.”

And indeed he did, for that event launched a career that saw him as U.S. representative, senator, military hero, secretary of war and president of the Confederate States.

It was no doubt the most important event, historically, that ever took place on Court Square, and today a plaque reminds visitors to the Old Court House Museum of Jefferson Davis’ entry into politics.

Seventy years later, Thomas Dixon wrote, “He stepped forth to take his place in the world of action — the best equipped, most thoroughly trained, most perfectly poised man who had ever entered the arena of American politics.”

In less than two years he took his place in the U.S. House, where former President John Quincy Adams said, “That young man, gentlemen, is no ordinary man. Mind me, he will make his mark yet. He will go far.”

NEXT: The courting of Varina

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Gordon Cotton is an author and historian who lives in Vicksburg.