Davis Named Provisional President

Date: February 9, 1861 • Location: Washington, United States

This milestone marked the outbreak and beginning of this historic period, which spanned 1861.

Jefferson Davis was named the provisional president of the Confederate States of America.

Jefferson F. Davis was the only president of the Confederate States, from 1861 to 1865, leading the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Before the war, he was a member of the Democratic Party who represented Mississippi in the House of Representatives from 1845 to 1846 and in the United States Senate from 1857 to 1861. From 1853 to 1857, he served as the 23rd United States secretary of war during the administration of President Franklin Pierce.