The Missing Pages in Jefferson Davis's Life.

By Troy Cowan

 

The gaps in Jefferson Davis's life story occurred from 1835 to 1840. The information that fills in the missing pieces comes from John Riley Davis. I'll talk more about him later. Soon, the reader will learn about the missing pieces and why they were necessary for Jefferson Davis's Presidency. 

After graduating from West Point in 1828, Lieutenant Davis was assigned to Fort Crawford at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Jefferson wanted to know all about the Indians and made friends with many. Jefferson met a beautiful Indian maiden named Novella. They formed a mutual attraction.

The men at the fort referred to her as Chief Black Hawk's daughter. She wasn't his daughter. Novella's mother was an Indian squaw, and her father was a French fur trapper. When Novella was a teenager, her father went to check his traps. He never returned. Then, a few years later, her mother died. Black Hawk and his wife, Singing Bird, would watch after her and see she had everything she needed.

Novella was a good dancer, and she was always welcome at the dances held in the fort. One day, Jefferson invited Novella to a dance. The men at the fort always welcomed Novella. She had social and dancing skills. A few days after the dance, Jefferson went looking for Novella. He couldn't find her, and no one would tell him where she was. Black Hawk put an end to their budding relationship.

When the army informed the Indians that they would have to move west of the Mississippi, trouble with the Indians began. Black Hawk didn't want to leave the land where his ancestors' bones lay buried. Black Hawk refused to move, and the army had to remove Black Hawk and his followers. The military severely outgunned the Indians. This short struggle is called the Black Hawk War.

After the Black Hawk War, Colonel Taylor's wife, seventeen-year-old daughter, and two small children arrived at Fort Crawford to stay. When Colonel Zachary Taylor introduced his wife and children to Lt. Jefferson Davis, Jefferson was immediately attracted to Sarah. They began seeing each other and fell in love. A few months later, Jefferson proposed marriage, and Sarah accepted. When Jefferson asked Colonel Taylor for his daughter's hand in marriage, Colonel Taylor refused and told Jefferson he could no longer see his daughter.

Jefferson and Sarah Knox Taylor were in love and secretly continued to see each other. Sarah would take her brother and sister out for a walk where she knew Jefferson would be waiting. She would tell the children they could play while she talked to Jefferson. While the children were playing, Sarah and Jefferson would embrace.

When Colonel Taylor learned Sarah was secretly meeting Lt. Davis, he had Jefferson transferred to Fort Gibson. They could no longer see each other, but they wrote to each other for two years and planned their reunion and marriage.

Sarah devised a plan to be married in her aunt's home. After her aunt agreed to host the wedding, she would get permission from her father to visit his sister in Lewisville, Kentucky. Sarah would travel down the Mississippi by a steamwheeler. When the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers came together, Jefferson would join her. Together, they would travel up the Ohio River to Louisville. The couple would be married in Louisville at her aunt's home.

Sarah's plan was working. She received permission from her father to visit her aunt. Also, She received a letter from her aunt saying she and Jefferson would be welcomed in her home, and she was planning the wedding. With everything coming together, Jefferson resigned his commission in the army.

Many believe that Colonel Taylor and his sister were in communication, and he knew everything about the wedding. Indeed, he never gives permission for their marriage, but some believe he realizes their intense love for each other and does not try to stop them. They were married at the home of Knoxie's aunt.

Jefferson wanted to show off his new bride to his sister. After a short stay with his brother, Joseph, he took Sarah to Louisiana to see his sister, Anna. While traveling down the Mississippi, Jefferson and Sarah caught the fever. When they arrived at Anna's, they were both very sick. Jefferson recovered; Sarah died.

Jefferson Davis was very weak after his illness with malaria, and an all-encompassing sadness hung over him. A friend convinced him that an ocean voyage and stay in a tropical climate would benefit him. He sailed from New Orleans to Havana and spent three weeks there. The climate agreed with him, and his health improved, but his sadness remained.

When he returned from Havana, he was seriously depressed and could not stay anywhere, which reminded him of Sarah. Those places contained too many unrealized dreams of a wonderful life. Jefferson wanted to return to a time before he knew Sarah. He decided to live in seclusion at the cabin in the woods he built near Fort Crawford.

Jefferson took a steamer up the Mississippi and got off when he was near the cabin. He bought a horse and continued on his way. As he passed the Indian village, he fell asleep on his horse. Jefferson Davis fell from his horse and hit his head. He was confused and decided not to go any further. He spent the night in the woods.

In the morning, Jefferson heard a loud crack. Then, the trunk of a dead tree fell across his legs. The tree was heavy, and he could not move it. He lay there all day. No one was around, and he thought he might die.

That night, someone tripped on his body and fell on top of him. It was Novella, the Indian maiden he socialized with at Fort Crawford years earlier. She was able to dig around him and provide enough space for him to get free. He was sore and disoriented. Novella found his horse and helped him find his cabin. She cared for Jefferson until he was better. Six weeks later, Parson James Vernon Dobson married Jefferson and Novella. About nine months later, Novella was three weeks away from giving birth. She was very sick, and Jefferson found a doctor. The doctor could do nothing for her. Novella died. The doctor immediately cut her open and removed the baby. The baby lived. Jefferson named him Finis.

The doctor found Jefferson a nanny for Finis. Belle was a slave, and she had a four-month-old son. She would make an excellent caretaker for Finis.

The loss of his first wife, Knoxie, and his second, Novella, deeply saddened him. But he didn't have time to feel sorry for himself; he had a baby who depended on him.

Jefferson packed a few things for the trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi. They (Jefferson, Belle,  Finis, and Belle's baby, Moxley) left by paddle-wheeler to his brother's plantation.

After a short stay with his brother,  Jefferson, Belle, Moxley, and Finis traveled fifty miles down the Mississippi to Natchez, Mississippi. After they arrived in Natchez, Jefferson bought a yellow stucco house for them to live in. He informed the local merchants to send him the bills for Belle's purchases. With Belle firmly in control of the house, Jefferson returned to his brother's plantation. Jefferson would visit Natchez weekly to see his son and check in on Belle.

Eight years later, Belle became very sick and died. Jefferson came and got both boys and took them to his home, the Briarfield. On the trip home, Finis called Jefferson— father. Jefferson didn't want anyone to know he was once married to an Indian. Jefferson asked his son to call him cousin. It wasn't a problem for Finis, he agreed.

Finis grew into a fine young man. He married a Navajo maiden named Juanita. They had a baby girl they named after the baby's grandmother, Novella. Finis and Juanita died before the baby was two. Jefferson was now responsible for his granddaughter. Jefferson was the President of the Confederacy, and he couldn't allow anyone to find out that he was once married to an Indian. At the time, it was unforgivable to be married to a black or an Indian.

Jefferson arranged for his cousin, John Riley Davis, to take Novella and raise her as his daughter. John welcomed Novella into his family. They eventually moved to Sweetwater, Texas. No one would ever know that Jefferson Davis was once married to an Indian.

Much later, John Riley Davis wanted to write a book about the hidden facts surrounding the Davis family, but he never got around to it. On his deathbed, John asked his granddaughter, Jane Davis, to tell the Davis family's story. In 1970, toward the end of her life, she did as he asked. She began telling the family secrets to anyone who would listen. No one seemed to care.

Jane Davis was my aunt. I am a collector of her stories. I will tell them to anyone willing to listen. The story you just read is one of many.