I just read in a biography of Jefferson Davis that, as Secretary of War, he reprimanded Sumner for the action. As a cabinet official Davis seems to have done a fairly decent job. Not counting his really juvenile feud with Winfield Scott.
Whatever else we think of Davis for his role as POTCUSA, I generally looked at him as competent. Not everyone in this era was. During the war, he kept Braxton Bragg around far too long and under utilized Joe Johnston, but it’s not like Lincoln never had an incompetent general.