Davis surprised at his election

The Davises receive news of his election at Brierfield

• At home at Brierfield just south of Vicksburg, Mississippi, while pruning roses with his wife Varina Howell Davis, Jefferson Davis is completely taken aback at a telegram he receives today announcing his unanimous election to the Presidency of the new Confederacy of Southern States.   

Mrs. Davis would later write, "He looked so grieved that I feared some evil had befallen our family. After a few minutes' painful silence, he told me, as a man might speak of a sentence of death ..."  

Immediately he is involved in a swirl of activity involving plans to travel to Montgomery, Alabama, to take part in his inauguration. 

The new Montgomery government keenly wants to hold Davis’ inauguration before Lincoln can take over the White House on March 4./1861