.. If there was a delegate from Mississippi, or any other
State, who was opposed to the election of Jefferson Davis as
President of the Confederate States, I never heard of the fact.
I had the idea that Mr. Davis did not desire to be President,
and preferred to be in the military service, but no other man
was spoken of for President within my hearing....
"It is within my personal knowledge that the statement of the
interview, that Mr. Davis did not have a just appreciation of
the serious character of the contest between the seceding States
and the Union, is wholly untrue. Mr. Davis, more than any man I
ever heard talk on the subject, had a correct apprehension of
the consequences of secession and of the magnitude of the war to
be waged to coerce the seceding States. While at Montgomery, he
expressed the belief that heavy fighting must occur, and that
Virginia was to be the chief battle-ground. Years prior to
secession, in his address before the Legislature and people of
Mississippi, Mr. Davis had earnestly advised extensive
preparation for the possible contingency of secession.
"After the formation of the Confederate States, he was far in
advance of the Constitutional Convention and the Provisional
Congress, and, as I believe, of any man in it, in his views of
the gravity of the situation and the probable extent and
duration of the war, and of the provision which should be made
for the defense of the seceding States.
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