Dean Ellis (New York, 1920 - 2009) "Jefferson Davis" Signed lower right. Original Oil painting on Masonite.

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

This artwork was originally published on the Fleetwood Commemorative Cover for The Shapers of America series issued in 1987.

A graduate of West Point, Jefferson Davis had fought in the Black Hawk War and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He served as Secretary of War under President Pierce and President Zachary Taylor. Kentucky born, he moved to Mississippi and there served as Congressman, Senator, and then returned to the Senate to be the leading spokesman for States Rights. When the seceding States met at Montgomery, Alabama to establish the Confederate States of America, they chose Davis as President of the new nation. As a wartime president, he was respected, and proved to be as able, decisive, wise in his choice of generals and of diplomats as could be expected. But, under the Confederate Constitution, he was unable to impose national law or use the judiciary system in the absence of a Supreme Court. Inevitably all of his -- and the South's -- expectations were disappointed: Britain did not intervene, the North rallied around Lincoln; internal lines of communication did not allow the vastly outnumbered Confederates to shift their forces easily and, most importantly, Lincoln finally found generals -- Grant and Sherman -- who could hold their own with Lee and his lieutenants. After Appomattox, Davis sought to flee, but was captured and briefly imprisoned for treason. But he was never brought to trial. He spent his last years writing a history of the Confederate States of America.

Image Size: 18 x 21 in.
Overall Size: 24 x 27 in.
Unframed.
(B10591)

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