The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis (The American Crisis Series: Books on the Civil War Era) - Hardcover

A welcome addition to academic libraries and to public libraries serving Civil War enthusiasts. -- Gayla Koerting * Library Journal * Cultivating previously neglected ground, Donald Collins authoritatively details the impact of Jefferson Davis's late southern tours, his death, his funeral, his reinternment, and the effort to construct a Davis monument in Richmond. Collins's account illuminates the ascension of Davis into the Confederate Pantheon. Moreover, The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of both sectional reconciliation and the rise and fall of the Lost Cause. -- William Cooper, Louisiana State University This is a valuable contribution to the growing body of scholarship on the memory of the Civil War. Collins traces the spectacular arc of Jefferson Davis's image, beginning with that of the widely reviled wartime president, rising to become the foremost symbol of unrepentant Confederate nationalism, and subsequently falling again in the 20th century with the waning of Lost Cause ideology. Anyone who wants to understand how the Confederacy has been remembered will profit from this book. -- Gerald J. Prokopowicz, East Carolina University The slender but distinctive volume makes an important contribution to the entire story of the Confederate States of America. -- Brad Hooper * Booklist * According to Collins, Davis's tours through the South in 1886 and 1887-as well as the public sympathy surrounding his death and burial in 1889-were the key moments. Collins dutifully recreates these events from newspaper records. -- Joseph Crespino * The Review of Higher Education * Civil War buffs who revel in the precise details of Confederate and New South life will devour Collins' descriptions of the funeral train and exact floral arrangements at Davis's funeral procession. . . . The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis is a well researched, eloquently written chronicle of Jefferson Davis' last days and funeral. -- Chuck McShane * Charlotte Observer * The descriptions of the major events are fascinating and superbly complement the many books on Davis already available. . . . Collin's descriptions of the adoration that accompanied Davis's tour, the lamentation that surrounded his funeral, and the celebration of his monument's dedication mesh well with his examination of peoples' changing views of Davis to render this book emotionally heady. . . . The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis remains an excellent work. By providing scholars and general readers with the moving final chapters of Davis's biography and by illuminating his place in southern memory, Collins has rendered an invaluable service to those interested in the Confederate leader and his Lost Cause. -- Jeffrey E. Anderson, Middle Georgia College * Civil War Book Review * The Death and Resurrection of Jefferson Davis is an interesting book about the postwar restoration among southerners of Confederate president Jefferson Davis as one of the Civil War greats. Recommended. -- E. M. Thomas, Gordon College * CHOICE * Donald Collins has provided an important addition to our understanding of one of the last chapters of the Confederacy. The transformation of Jefferson Davis from pariah to paragon is a critical step in the formation of resurgent Southern nationalism at the dawn of the twentieth century. * Civil War History *

At the end of the Civil War, Jefferson Davis's life and reputation sunk to a seemingly-unredeemable low. The shackles and chains of Fort Monroe, where he awaited trial for treason, were a far cry from the successful political career and national recognition he enjoyed before the war. However, in the last years of his life and the first three years after his death, Davis's public image was resurrected to a stage of near adulation and his fellow southerners recognized him as one of the most important men of the south. In this long-awaited work, Donald E. Collins explores the rise in Davis's status and the changing image of the Civil War in the North and South following the conflict. Highlighting this conversion is the three-year competition between southern cities for the honor of becoming Davis' final resting place-culminating in a thousand-mile procession from his temporary vault in New Orleans to a second state funeral in Richmond. By recounting the public mourning and political maneuvering that accompanied Jefferson Davis's two funerals and final monument, Collins adds an essential piece to the legacy of Davis and the Civil War.