Jefferson Davis War date as Pres. Of Confederacy, Advice on Texas Brigadier General

In this letter to Senator Louis T. Wigfall of Texas, Confederate President Jefferson Davis asks for advice on appointing a brigadier general to command the Texas Brigade. Wigfall had resigned from its leadership in February 1862 to take a seat in the Confederate Senate, and Davis had replaced him with John Bell Hood (1831-1879), who was promoted to brigadier general in March. In July, Hood became a division commander over two brigades, including the Texas Brigade, and Davis wanted it to have its own commander.

Davis mentions that he was considering Kentucky-born physician and Texas politician Jerome B. Robinson (1815-1890), who had been colonel of the 5th Texas Infantry since June 1, 1862. Later the same day, Davis appointed Robertson to command the Texas Brigade and promoted him to brigadier general.

JEFFERSON DAVIS, Autograph Letter Signed, to Louis T. Wigfall, November 1, 1862, Richmond, Virginia. 1 p., 6.375" x 7.75". Expected folds; very good.

Complete Transcript
My dear sir,
I inquired for you today but suppose the message failed to reach you. The purpose to ask your opinion as to the selection of a Brigadier for your old Brigade.
Col. Robinson has been recommended, but I recollected that you had expressed a doubt as to the propriety of promoting either of the Texas Cols. now here.
It is desirable to hear the matter closed to night. Send me your advice.
Your friend
Jeffn Davis
Nov. 1, '62
Genl. L. T. Wigfall

Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) was born in Kentucky and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1828. After service under Zachary Taylor in the Black Hawk War, Davis married the future president's daughter, Sarah Knox Taylor, in 1835, but she died three months after their wedding. Davis established a plantation in Mississippi and became a Democratic politician. In 1844, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and a year later, married Varina Howell. Davis resigned his seat in Congress and raised a volunteer regiment for the Mexican War. He returned to politics after the war and served as a U.S. Senator (1845-1852, 1857-1860), and as Secretary of War (1853-1857). A moderate, he initially opposed secession, but when Mississippi seceded in January 1861, Davis resigned from the Senate and returned to Mississippi to raise troops. A month later, the Montgomery Convention named him as provisional president of the Confederacy, until he was elected to a six-year term as president in November 1861, and inaugurated on February 22, 1862. Davis took a direct role in the management of military affairs and worked with the Confederate Congress to expand the powers of the Confederate government, including conscription, impressment, and suspension of habeas corpus, which prompted some states' rights opposition to his administration. After the fall of Richmond, Union troops captured a fleeing Davis in Georgia. He was charged with treason and imprisoned for two years at Fort Monroe, Virginia. He was never brought to trial and was eventually released. After living for several years in Canada and Europe, he settled in Memphis in November 1870. He served as the president of a life insurance company from 1869 to 1873. He published his two-volume memoir, The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, in 1881.

Louis T. Wigfall (1816-1874) was born in South Carolina and attended the University of Virginia and South Carolina College, graduating from the latter in 1837 after taking three months off to fight in the Second Seminole War in Florida. He took over his brother's law practice in Edgefield in 1839, but his interest in alcohol and gambling led him into debt. He frequently participated in duels and was wounded in both thighs in a duel with future Congressman Preston Brooks. In 1841, he married his second cousin, Charlotte Maria Cross, and they had three daughters, including the Civil War diarist Louise Sophie Wigfall. He moved to Texas in 1848, practiced law, and served in the Texas House of Representatives (1849-1850) and Texas Senate (1857-1859). The Texas legislature elected him to the United State Senate in 1859, and he served from December 1859 to March 1861, when he withdrew. A passionate advocate of secession, Wigfall served as a member of the Texas delegation to the Provisional Confederate Congress, which elected Jefferson Davis as president of the provisional government of the Confederacy. He visited Charleston during the siege of Fort Sumter and rowed out to the fort without any official authorization to demand its surrender. He received a commission as colonel of the 1st Texas Infantry and was soon promoted to brigadier general of the Texas Brigade in the Confederate Army. He resigned his commission in February 1862 to take a seat in the Confederate Senate. Initially, a close friend of Davis, Wigfall split with him over states' rights, opposing the creation of a Confederate Supreme Court and challenging many of the Confederate president's military-related policies. At the end of the war, Wigfall escaped to Texas with a forged parole and then went into exile in London in 1866. He returned to the United States in 1870, purchased a mine in Colorado, and lived briefly in Baltimore, Maryland, and Galveston, Texas, where he died.

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