OK, so I have to back track to my last day in Biloxi. BTW, you say Bull-oxi, otherwise they for sure know you are from out of town. As I've mentioned, i became interested in Civil War history while reading "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, by Karen Abbott. One of the spies had a freed black slave, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, who worked for her infiltrate the Confederate White House in Richmond. It was here I was first introduced to Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis' second wife. His first wife, a relatives of former president Taylor died of pneumonia three months after marriage. Jefferson mourned for about 10 years before marrying Varina.
Varina had been educated in Philadelphia and had northern relatives. Her loyalty to the Confederacy never seemed to be in question, but her aloofness made her an unpopular first lady. She was also friends with General Grant's wife Julia, which they continued after the war.
The guide talked about how the Civil War was really a chess match because most of the generals had gone to West Point together. They knew each other, their strategies, their quirks, their thought patterns. Surrenders were meetings of former friends and colleagues.
After Jefferson Davis served two years in prison following the war, he wanted to write his memoirs. A strong southern lady named Sarah Ann Dorsey, offered him a cottage on her estate Beauvoir which is right on the gulf. In fact, it was closed to the water then before an artificial beach was built in the early 1900s. (That is the fine white sand that Buddha so enjoyed rolling in.). Davis refused to take charity and insisted on paying for the cottage. Sarah arranged for a three payment plan.
It wasn't long before Sarah became ill with breast cancer and died in New Orleans. She did not want any of her property to go to her family, so she left Beauvoir to the Davis' daughter Winnie. She could not leave it to Davis directly as he was no longer a US citizen. Davis insisted on making the two remaining payments for the cottage to her family to show his good faith. Varina, meanwhile, was in Europe and said please don't make me live there...but he did.
She reconciled herself to it once she realized she could roses there which she loved. She developed a formal rose garden behind the house. Jefferson died while traveling from New Orleans to his Brierfield plantation near Vicksburg. His funeral was hel in New Orleans with great crowds following the funeral procession. His body was later re-interred in Richmond, VA per Varina's wish, and again crowds followed the procession. Below is the carriage used to transport the coffin.
After she died, she left the house to be a home for Confederate soldiers and their widow who were in need of a place to stay. When it was no longer needed for that, she wanted it to be preserved as a museum. The guide asked us to guess the oldest piece in the house. It is a grandfather clock that was a wedding present from Varina's father. It was made in Georgetown, MD. The sewing machine was Varina's and it had wheel you turned and it stitched until it ran out of motion, and then you turned it again.
The last Confederate widows moved out in 1957 to a nursing home. Yes, 1957. The museum is not federally funded and it took a bad hit for that "little temper tantrum" as the guide called Katrina. They did not have enough warning that Katrina was turning towards them so many items were damaged during the storm. The piano pictured below was found in a tree behind the house. It had been sucked up through a hole in the roof!
I then went in the presidential library. The building also housed a museum so it was a rather grand building but the library was not that large, but it has an extensive collection of books ont he civil war and the confederacy. Ironic that my first presidential library visit as a "damn Yankee" would be that of confederate Jefferson Davis. It is our country's history and as a student of history, I'm not here to make judgements. Only to learn.
Before heading north to Meridian, i had to have some more beach time. I had an early dinner and sat outside despite it being a bit chilly. It was sunny! I had a Muchaka sandwich which i'm not really sure what made if different from BBQ on a bun other than it came with friend plaintains. Buddha has some more rolls in the sand and I got another sunset.
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