“Holocausts of Herself”: The Life of Varina Howell Davis, First Lady of the Confederacy
Abstract:
Varina Howell was the eldest daughter of a prominent Natchez, Mississippi family. The Howells were poised on the edge of elite Southern society, but due to William Howell’s poor business skills lacked the financial backing to solidify their position. As a result, Varina grew up without an assured position in society. This changed, though, when she met Jefferson Davis at the age of seventeen. One year later, she married Davis, then about to launch his political career.
The first three years of the marriage were unhappy and Davis spent most of the time away from his wife. After a few years apart, the couple lived together in Washington, D.C. through the 1850s while Davis was a Senator and the Secretary of War. When South Carolina seceded, Mississippi and the rest of the Southern states followed, Davis was elected President of the Confederacy. The couple moved to Richmond, Virginia to assume their duties. Although Varina acted as the dutiful Southern wife and woman to the public, she concealed a private bitterness and regret. It was a veneer that she would maintain through the rest of her life, even to her widowhood.
The years after the war were difficult for Varina as she struggled to cope with her husband’s extramarital affairs, unemployment, unstable finances, and widespread criticism of both of the Davises. Throughout this, Varina masked her inner unhappiness, which she shared with her closest friends, with a veneer of happiness, dutifulness, and devotion to her husband.