Early Life and First Military Career
Davis was born on June 3, 1808 in Christian County, Kentucky, the last child of ten of Jane (née Cook) and Samuel Emory Davis. Both of Davis' paternal grandparents had immigrated to North America from the region of Snowdonia in the North of Wales; the rest of his ancestry can be traced to England. Davis' paternal grandfather, Evan, married Lydia Emory Williams. Samuel Emory Davis was born to them in 1756. Lydia had two sons from a previous marriage. Samuel served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, along with his two older half-brothers. In 1783, after the war, he married Jane Cook (also born in Christian County, in 1759 to William Cook and his wife Sarah Simpson). Samuel died on July 4, 1824, when Jefferson was 16 years old. Jane died on October 3, 1845.
During Davis' youth, his family moved twice: in 1811 to St. Mary Parish, Louisiana and in 1812 to Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Three of Jefferson’s older brothers served during the War of 1812. In 1813 Davis began his education at the Wilkinson Academy, near the family cotton plantation in the small town of Woodville. Two years later, Davis entered the Catholic school of Saint Thomas at St. Rose Priory, a school operated by the Dominican Order in Washington County, Kentucky. At the time, he was the only Protestant student at the school. Davis went on to Jefferson College at Washington, Mississippi in 1818, and then to Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky in 1821.
In 1824 Davis entered the United States Military Academy (West Point). While at West Point, Davis was placed under house arrest for his role in the Eggnog Riot in Christmas 1826. He graduated 23rd in a class of 33 in June 1828. Following graduation, Second Lieutenant Davis was assigned to the 1st Infantry Regiment and was stationed at Fort Crawford, Wisconsin. Davis was still in Mississippi during the Black Hawk War of 1832 but, at its conclusion, his colonel Zachary Taylor assigned him to escort the chief Black Hawk to prison. Davis made an effort to shield Black Hawk from curiosity seekers and the chief noted in his autobiography that Davis treated him "with much kindness" and showed empathy for Black Hawk's situation as a prisoner.
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