Chris Calle (American, B. 1961) "Robert E. Lee" Signed lower right. Original Mixed Media painting on Illustration Board.

Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation.

This painting is the original painting which was published on the Fleetwood First Day Cover of the U.S. 32c Jefferson Davis stamp issued June 29, 1995.

Graduate of West Point, hero of the Mexican War, U.S. senator and U.S. secretary of war, Jefferson Davis believed fervently that the federal government should respect the right of property in slaves. Any interference, he felt, was unconstitutional and a threat to state sovereignty. On January 5, 1861, declaring that the Union was composed of independent states, voluntarily confederated and free to resume their sovereignty, he joined fellow senators in urging Southern states to secede and organize a Confederacy. Secession was not revolution to Davis, but a legal remedy. After his home state of Mississippi seceded, he resigned from the Senate and returned home to accept the rank of major general and command of the state's military forces. When the Provisional Congress selected him as president of the Confederacy, however, he reluctantly took office on February 18, 1861. Confident that law and right were on his side, President Davis was equally convinced that might was on the side of the North. The lightly-industrialized South had about nine million people, compared to the heavily-industrialized North's 22 million. After the war, accused of treason and of taking part in Lincoln's assassination, Davis was imprisoned. Held in leg chains and treated harshly, he was twice indicted, but never brought to trial. He was released on May 13, 1867, to become a symbol of the Confederacy second only to Robert E. Lee. Never requesting or receiving a pardon, he died on December 6, 1889.

Image Size: 15.5 x 12.75 in.
Overall Size: 23.25 x 18.25 in.
Unframed.
(B15023)

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