Varina Davis - Urban Life in Washington, DC

Urban Life in Washington, DC

Jefferson Davis was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and Howell Davis accompanied him to Washington, D.C., which she loved. She was stimulated by the social life with intelligent people and was known for making "unorthodox observations". Among them were that "slaves were human beings with their frailties" and that "everyone was a 'half breed' of one kind or another." she referred to herself as one because of her strong family connections in both North and South. The Davises lived in Washington, DC for most of the next fifteen years before the American Civil War, which gave Howell Davis a broader outlook than many Southerners. It was her favorite place to live; as an example of their many differences, her husband preferred life on their Mississippi plantation.

Soon he took a leave from his Congressional position to serve as an officer in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Howell Davis returned for a time to Brierfield, where she chafed under the supervision of her brother-in-law Joseph Davis. The surviving correspondence between the Davises from this period expresses their difficulties and mutual resentments. After his return from the war, Varina Davis did not immediately return with her husband to Washington when the Mississippi legislature appointed him to fill a Senate seat.

Ultimately the couple reconciled. Howell Davis rejoined her husband in Washington. As the son-in-law (by his late wife) and former junior officer of President Zachary Taylor, her husband had unusual visibility for a freshman senator. Varina Davis enjoyed the vibrant social life of the capital city and quickly established herself as one of the city's most popular (and, in her early 20s, one of the youngest) hostesses and party guests. The later memoir of her contemporary, Virginia Clay-Clopton, described the lively parties of the Southern families with other Congressional delegations, as well as international representatives of the diplomatic corps.

After seven childless years, in 1852 Howell Davis gave birth to their son Samuel Emory Davis. Her letters from this period express her happiness and portray Davis as a doting father. Of their six children, only three survived to adulthood. Winnie, the last daughter, survived her father but died in 1898 before her mother.

Their children were the following:

• Samuel Emory, born July 30, 1852, was named after his grandfather; he died June 30, 1854, of an undiagnosed disease.
• Margaret Howell, born February 25, 1855. She married Joel Addison Hayes, Jr. (1848–1919), and they lived first in Memphis; later they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. They had five children; she was the only Davis child to marry and raise a family. She died on July 18, 1909 at the age of 54.
• Jefferson Davis, Jr., born January 16, 1857. He died of yellow fever at age 21 on October 16, 1878, during an epidemic in the Mississippi River Valley that caused 20,000 deaths.
• Joseph Evan, born on April 18, 1859; died at five years old as the result of an accidental fall on April 30, 1864.
• William Howell, born on December 6, 1861, and named for Varina's father; died of diphtheria on October 16, 1872.
• Varina Anne "Winnie" Davis, born on June 27, 1864, several months after Joseph's death. She died on September 18, 1898, at age 34. She was unmarried, as her parents had refused to let her marry into a northern, abolitionist family.

The Davises were devastated in June 1854 when their son Samuel died in early childhood. Varina Davis largely withdrew from social life for a time. In 1855, she gave birth to a healthy daughter, Margaret Howell (1855–1909); followed by two sons, Jefferson, Jr. (1857–1878) and Joseph Evan (1859–1864), during her husband's remaining tenure in Washington, D.C.

During the Pierce Administration, Davis was appointed to the post of Secretary of War. He and President Franklin Pierce formed a personal friendship that would last for the rest of Pierce's life. Their wives developed a strong respect, as well. The Pierces lost their last surviving child, Benny, shortly before his father's inauguration. They both suffered; Pierce became dependent on alcohol and Jane Appleton Pierce had health problems, including depression. At the request of the Pierces, the Davises, both individually and as a couple, often served as official hosts at White House functions in place of the President and his wife.