This is an interestingly told story of a life that has been of transcendant value to the student of human affairs in the importance and instructiveness of its experiences;—a life that the man of the North finds it easier to understand as the feelings engendered by the Civil War die away, and the man of the South more difficult as the national point of view becomes increasingly prevalent in his section. With the passage, however, of the present generation, and the disappearance of all personal memory of Davis and of the events culminating in the war, it is probable that his character and career will be as impossible of full appreciation, either in the North or South, as the dialect of "Uncle Remus" to the child that has never heard it spoken. It is well, therefore, that Mr. Dodd has undertaken this evaluation; and it will be well if the others to whom he refers in his preface as working on the same subject should also publish their conclusions.
Though Mr. Dodd's theme invited free rhetorical coloring, he has used it sparingly, which in this case at least is much to be commended. He writes of Mr. Davis sympathetically in the main, and with evident insight. This is especially marked in his dealing with the Civil War period of Davis's life. It may well be questioned whether Southerners in general have ever fully understood the difficulties which the President of the Confederacy had to face in carrying on the desperate struggle against the superior strength of the North, and particularly those due to the attitude of his powerful opposers in the South. These difficulties are forcibly described in the four chapters beginning with the "Rising Tide of Confederate Opposition," which are doubtless the most illuminating of the entire book.
Mr. Dodd evidently intends that what he says shall not be influenced by any prejudice due to his Southern antecedents. Indeed, he rather impairs the effect of his narrative by leaving the impression of a severe determination to avoid any such tendency by a safe margin; and even the judicial reader will probably be led to question whether, in his resolute impartiality, he does not sometimes, like the famous tree described by the Indian, stand so straight as to lean a little the other way. This, however, is better than partisan heat and unfounded assertion. Again, while it may be inadvisable to burden a popular biography with numerous footnotes, the student will wish for completer references at some points than are given. For example, the story that when Davis was taken he was dressed in his wife's clothing in order to avoid capture is related (p. 363) with a few words of explanation, but without any reference to show the evidence on which the author relies, or whether he has read all the varying testimony on the point of those who were present at the time. If he will examine Mr. Rhodes' cool and judicial analysis of it (History of the United States from 1850 to 1877, pp. 182-183), he will doubtless be led to revise his conclusions. In at least one case, he has apparently left himself open to misunderstanding. The reader must interpret what is said of R. J. Walker (pp. 55-56) as meaning that he was one of those who believed that slavery was "a necessity, . . . right and a blessing"; but this can hardly be what Mr. Dodd really meant, for he must know Walker's record too well to attribute any such opinions to him.
No life could be more fitly included in the "American Crisis Biographies" than that of Davis; and it is a matter of congratulation that one so capable and well equipped as Mr. Dodd has been found to prepare it.
G. P. G.
How to cite:
"Jefferson Davis", Volume 012, Number 4, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 315 - 316. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v012/n4/review_12.html
[Accessed Thu Dec 4 17:18:50 CST 2008]
