Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Davis supported the annexation of Texas, and he first came here in 1846 at the head of the Mississippi volunteer regiment assigned to Zachary Taylor's army on the Rio Grande. As secretary of war he recommended in 1854 the Texas, or thirty-second-parallel, route for a Pacific railroad. In 1865, as the Confederacy collapsed, he tried to escape across the South toward Texas. After Reconstruction a Dallas group sought to buy him a Texas homestead, and on June 14, 1875, he was offered the presidency of the new Agricultural and Mechanical College, which he declined.

What the plaque says

Confederate President Jefferson Davis (1808-1889) Friend of Texas. Visited first as officer Mexican War 1847. As U. S. Secretary of War in 1855, built up frontier forts to open West Texas to settlers. Camels imported for patrols, hauling. His postmaster-general and personal aide were Texans, as were many on general staff. After post-war release from prison, visited state and old soldiers he once had told in wartime: "Troops from other states have their reputations to gain, but sons of the Alamo have theirs to maintain." County named for him in 1887.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Davis National Historic Site — 0.7 mi
  A frontier post of 1854 to 1891 on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, garrisoned after the Civil War by Black regiments, with its buildings restored to their 1880 look.
• Davis Mountains State Park & Indian Lodge — 2.5 mi
  A 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps park above Fort Davis, with the CCC's Skyline Drive, the white adobe Indian Lodge and a trail down to the old fort.
• Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center and Botanical Gardens — 4.8 mi
  The Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute's grounds south of Fort Davis, with an 18-acre botanical garden, a cactus museum and trails into the desert foothills.
• McDonald Observatory — 9.6 mi
  The University of Texas observatory on Mount Locke, founded with a Paris, Texas banker's fortune, with star parties three nights a week under some of the darkest skies in the country.

More markers nearby

• Old Fort Davis C. S. A. — steps away
• Jeff Davis County — steps away
• Hotel Limpia — steps away
• Pioneer Cemetery — 0.5 mi