Jefferson Davis in Blue: The Life of Sherman's Relentless Warrior. By Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes Jr. and Gordon D. Whitney. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2002. xx, 475 pp. $49.95, ISBN 0-8071-2777-9.)

Abstract

The ironic coincidence by which the Union general Jefferson Columbus Davis bore the same first and last names as the Confederate president provides the basis for the title of this excellent biography. Jefferson C. Davis served with credit in the Mexican war and was subsequently commissioned directly into the regular army as a second lieutenant. He served in the First Artillery and was part of the garrison of Fort Sumter when Confederates opened fire on it in April 1861. After his return from Sumter, Davis helped Indiana governor Oliver P. Morton raise and organize troops and then took the field himself in command of a brigade. He subsequently performed capably at the battles of Pea Ridge, Stone's River, and Chickamauga, rising to command a division. During the Atlanta campaign, Davis especially distinguished himself in the capture of Rome, Georgia, and in his successful attack at the battle of Jonesborough. He commanded the Fourteenth Corps in the march to the sea and the Carolinas campaign. After the war he became the first commander of the Military Division of Alaska. Transferred back to the states, he served ably in the Modoc war and died of pneumonia in 1879.