That is very interesting. I didn’t know that Joseph Davis’ slave wound up owning both plantations after the war. The article says Joseph ‘gifted’ Brierfield to Jefferson. I don’t know if that is strictly true. As I recall from this bio there was never a formal agreement and Jefferson never got title to his patch. So it was more of a loan.
Good post.
Trying to farm lowland near the Mississippi river is a risky thing. You might have a great crop, or you might get flooded out. The Davis family, and others, made a fortune, with land and slave labor purchased on easy credit. As the book notes, Jefferson Davis’ plantation suffered in his absences serving in Washington.
We see that, in 1857, he was already talking in code about secession. In 1861, he generally opposed secession until it happened, realizing how outnumbered the Confederates were. He hoped to be the commanding general of the Confederate Army, and was somewhat saddened to be appointed mere CSA President. As President, he got the largest share of the blame for the Confederate defeat.