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First Lady of the Confederacy: Varina Davis's Civil War
When Jefferson Davis became president of the Confederacy, his wife, Varina Howell Davis, reluctantly became the First Lady. For this highly intelligent, acutely observant woman, loyalty did not come she spent long years struggling to reconcile her societal duties to her personal beliefs. Raised in Mississippi but educated in Philadelphia, and a long-time resident of Washington, D.C., Mrs. Davis never felt at ease in Richmond. During the war she nursed Union prisoners and secretly corresponded with friends in the North. Though she publicly supported the South, her term as First Lady was plagued by rumors of her disaffection. After the war, Varina Davis endured financial woes and the loss of several children, but following her husband's death in 1889, she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. Here she advocated reconciliation between the North and South and became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. She shocked many by declaring in a newspaper that it was God's will that the North won the war. A century after Varina Davis's death in 1906, Joan E. Cashin has written a masterly work, the first definitive biography of this truly modern, but deeply conflicted, woman. Pro-slavery but also pro-Union, Varina Davis was inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. In this pathbreaking book, Cashin offers a splendid portrait of a fascinating woman who struggled with the constraints of her time and place.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
June 11, 2008
Let's just state it right up front: Jefferson Davis was an ass who, the second time around, married way above himself. (His first wife was the daughter of Pres. Zachary Taylor. She died not long after they married.) But this book isn't about Jefferson Davis, per se. It's about his wife, an intelligent, cultured, outspoken woman who struggled to balance her intellect and independence against the expectations of Southern, and especially Richmond, society regarding her duties and roles as wife and First Lady of the Confederacy. Varina Davis made no bones about objecting to secessionism and instinctively knew the Confederacy would fail. Unlike many southern women of the period, Mrs. Davis was actually educated and well-read, which often put her at odds with women in her social circles, particularly during the Civil War while she was living in Richmond. Additionally, she was married to an itinerant politician who was rarely home and who cheated on her.
This is an excellent and illuminating book about a figure in American history who is little known and yet, in many respects, was a woman ahead of her time. If you want to read a good, unusual biography, get this book!
This is an excellent and illuminating book about a figure in American history who is little known and yet, in many respects, was a woman ahead of her time. If you want to read a good, unusual biography, get this book!
May 31, 2015
Near the end of Varina Davis' life, after an off-the-record conversation with journalist Horace White, the latter remarked, "If Mr Lincoln could only have had such a wife!" - and, reading this book, one cannot help but agree with the sentiment. Varina Davis would have been an ideal help-meet for Lincoln, a woman who could have supported him fully in his great work, a woman his intellectual equal, with witty and vivacious conversation skills, of unorthodox views and outlook. She would have suited him far better than the needy, unstable Mary Todd Lincoln, and he would probably have suited her better than her own husband, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States.
Varina Davis sacrificed much in her life for a cause she did not fully believe in and a husband who did not completely love her. She was ambivalent about the Confederate cause from the beginning, stating from the outset she believed the South would lose, and late in life she confessed the right side won. Whilst she was utterly loyal to her husband her devotion was not without struggle, and it cost her much to suborn her own will and become the dutiful compliant wife Jefferson Davis expected. She was never fully comfortable with her role as First Lady of the Confederacy and came in for much criticism, both during the War and after, from white Southerners who doubted her patriotism and commitment. These accusations were not entirely without merit - Varina Davis looked back on her years in Washington as a senator's wife as the happiest of her life, and she never cut ties with her Northern friends, secretly communicating with a number throughout the war years.
Joan Cashin writes with great sympathy and insight about Varina Davis, highlighting the ironies and inconsistencies of her life, the number of times she would teeter on the verge of truly radical views such as woman suffrage and racial equality and then back away. It reads as if Varina Davis' own instinctive beliefs were warring internally with her cultural compliance, and too often the latter won.
She always confessed herself to be a 'half-breed', born in the South but educated in the North, with many relatives and friends in the North. It seems she never entirely reconciled herself to either section, and perhaps the greatest tragedy of her life, like the lives of so many in that era, is that she was forever to be pulled in conflicting directions - the Union versus the Confederacy, her husband versus her own will and wishes, her embryo beliefs in the humanity of the slaves versus her life as a slave mistress. One wonders just what kind of woman she might have been had she married into the North rather than the South.
Varina Davis sacrificed much in her life for a cause she did not fully believe in and a husband who did not completely love her. She was ambivalent about the Confederate cause from the beginning, stating from the outset she believed the South would lose, and late in life she confessed the right side won. Whilst she was utterly loyal to her husband her devotion was not without struggle, and it cost her much to suborn her own will and become the dutiful compliant wife Jefferson Davis expected. She was never fully comfortable with her role as First Lady of the Confederacy and came in for much criticism, both during the War and after, from white Southerners who doubted her patriotism and commitment. These accusations were not entirely without merit - Varina Davis looked back on her years in Washington as a senator's wife as the happiest of her life, and she never cut ties with her Northern friends, secretly communicating with a number throughout the war years.
Joan Cashin writes with great sympathy and insight about Varina Davis, highlighting the ironies and inconsistencies of her life, the number of times she would teeter on the verge of truly radical views such as woman suffrage and racial equality and then back away. It reads as if Varina Davis' own instinctive beliefs were warring internally with her cultural compliance, and too often the latter won.
She always confessed herself to be a 'half-breed', born in the South but educated in the North, with many relatives and friends in the North. It seems she never entirely reconciled herself to either section, and perhaps the greatest tragedy of her life, like the lives of so many in that era, is that she was forever to be pulled in conflicting directions - the Union versus the Confederacy, her husband versus her own will and wishes, her embryo beliefs in the humanity of the slaves versus her life as a slave mistress. One wonders just what kind of woman she might have been had she married into the North rather than the South.
July 22, 2009
This was interesting, but frustrating for one reason: Here is a biography of a woman who maintained a voluminous correspondence with the notable people of her day, and later made her living as a professional writer. Yet you are scarcely ever, in the whole book, given a complete sentence of her own. For example: 'She was glad "the long agony" was over and that she had "relapsed" into her "normal obscurity," even if she was in "abnormal poverty"...' On and on like this, with her voice never coming through. A wealth of detail, but no sense of the subject as a person.
March 20, 2015
Varnia Howell Davis (1826-1906) wife of Jefferson Davis was the only First Lady of the Confederacy. My reading project this year is to read about the United States First Ladies. I felt I could not ignore the First Lady of the Confederacy. I found this book interesting in two ways. One learning about Varnia and her role as first lady and second learning about the role of women during the 1800 and what internal havoc occurred when women’s personal beliefs are not in agreement with her husband and she has no control except to adhere to her husbands’ belief.
VHD was raised in Mississippi but educated in Philadelphia and a long time resident of Washington D.C. when Jefferson Davis was a congressman, Senator for Mississippi and then Secretary of Defense under Pierce. According to the author VHD never felt at ease in Richmond. During the War she nursed confederate soldiers and Union prisoners of War and secretly corresponded with friends in the North.
Cashin paints VHD as a highly intelligent, acutely observant woman, who apparently spent long years struggling to reconcile her societal duties to her personal beliefs.
Women of this time were required to marry, have children and devote themselves to their family exclusively. They had no or little education, no vote, and no rights and were ruled by their husbands. They gave up autonomy for protection. Cashin masterfully reveals VHD as a deeply conflicted woman, pro-slavery but also pro Union. She was inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. Davis had numerous mistress including Virginia Clay and Sarah Dorsey. VHD made many sacrifices for a cause she did not support and for a husband who did not fully return her love and who was unfaithful.
After the War, VHD endured financial woes and the loss of several children. But following her husband’s death in 1885, she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. She advocated reconciliation between the North and South. She became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. I recently read the book “Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule “by Jennifer Chiaverini. The book also covered the friendship between Varnia Davis and Julia Grant. Mrs. Grant arranged Varnia Davis’s funeral.
Cashin has written the first definitive biography of VHD. The book is well written and researched. Cashin has done a splendid job painting a portrait of a fascinating woman. The book is 416 pages released in 2009. I read this on my Kindle app for my iPad.
VHD was raised in Mississippi but educated in Philadelphia and a long time resident of Washington D.C. when Jefferson Davis was a congressman, Senator for Mississippi and then Secretary of Defense under Pierce. According to the author VHD never felt at ease in Richmond. During the War she nursed confederate soldiers and Union prisoners of War and secretly corresponded with friends in the North.
Cashin paints VHD as a highly intelligent, acutely observant woman, who apparently spent long years struggling to reconcile her societal duties to her personal beliefs.
Women of this time were required to marry, have children and devote themselves to their family exclusively. They had no or little education, no vote, and no rights and were ruled by their husbands. They gave up autonomy for protection. Cashin masterfully reveals VHD as a deeply conflicted woman, pro-slavery but also pro Union. She was inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. Davis had numerous mistress including Virginia Clay and Sarah Dorsey. VHD made many sacrifices for a cause she did not support and for a husband who did not fully return her love and who was unfaithful.
After the War, VHD endured financial woes and the loss of several children. But following her husband’s death in 1885, she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. She advocated reconciliation between the North and South. She became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. I recently read the book “Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule “by Jennifer Chiaverini. The book also covered the friendship between Varnia Davis and Julia Grant. Mrs. Grant arranged Varnia Davis’s funeral.
Cashin has written the first definitive biography of VHD. The book is well written and researched. Cashin has done a splendid job painting a portrait of a fascinating woman. The book is 416 pages released in 2009. I read this on my Kindle app for my iPad.
August 24, 2009
Not a particularly enjoyable book in the sense of titillating political gossip - Varina Howell Davis' life was one of deep contradictions and not altogether happy circumstances (how could it have been happy - she was married to the man who was president of the failed Confederacy, and there was only grief to be had from that). Instead, this is an enjoyable book for the historian who desires to know the truth, however that revelation may contest popular theory.
Cashin's style is not to denigrate her subject, nor to unduly praise, and she mostly refrains from judging the political and social views of the era. The hardest thing, in a book like this, is keeping the reader engaged beyond the most interesting parts of the subject's life - in this case, the Civil War - and Cashin keeps the reader interested by breathing life into Varina Davis from the first page.
I highly recommend this to any and every Civil War scholar, novice or advanced, or even just the casual historian. A fair warning - Cashin will ruin for you other historians who seek to impose wishful thinking on their subjects, or who unnecessarily revise history to fit their agenda. That, I think, is an amazing feat.
Cashin's style is not to denigrate her subject, nor to unduly praise, and she mostly refrains from judging the political and social views of the era. The hardest thing, in a book like this, is keeping the reader engaged beyond the most interesting parts of the subject's life - in this case, the Civil War - and Cashin keeps the reader interested by breathing life into Varina Davis from the first page.
I highly recommend this to any and every Civil War scholar, novice or advanced, or even just the casual historian. A fair warning - Cashin will ruin for you other historians who seek to impose wishful thinking on their subjects, or who unnecessarily revise history to fit their agenda. That, I think, is an amazing feat.
March 10, 2019
Cash in does a fine (as in sterling) job of collecting, assessing, synthesizing, and writing this biography. No one had yet done the job of writing a bio of Varian Howell Davis past a sketch or micro-biography.
Why would that be? I have spent most my life in a Texas port city that would gain some importance after the fall of Vicksburg and after having lived in Jackson, MS ("Chimmneyville"). As a result, I have long known of the old-style Confederate Southerners. Knowing of commonplace love for the Confederacy and of Confederates' commonplace appreciation of the Cult of True Womanhood, I had occassionally wondered why lovers of the Confederacy do not honor Varina Davis.
Now I know why. When Jefferson Davis was proclaimed to be president of the CSA, no one much considered the wife. We in US may have learned our lesson. We now often look to the candidate' wife to see if she would be an acceptable First Lady.
Varina was not the ideal Confederate wife. She was ambivalent about South. She knew that the South did both have what it needed to win the war. This and more made her less than the example to be upheld and studied.
Writer Cashin provides her readers with everything that a good biography needs. Family backstory of subject and spouse. Social conditions during lifetime. Participation in larger events. How contributed or detracted from the larger events. (Varina did both.). . . . The perfect imperfections of humanity. How actions continued to effect society through time. All of that and more is included in this biography.
A good biography to read if the reader wants to know about pockets and breaks in the supposed monolithic Southern Confederacy. The Confederacy was not a Wall. It was more a fortified fence. Varina's being and actions reveals the fence to be a fence.
Why would that be? I have spent most my life in a Texas port city that would gain some importance after the fall of Vicksburg and after having lived in Jackson, MS ("Chimmneyville"). As a result, I have long known of the old-style Confederate Southerners. Knowing of commonplace love for the Confederacy and of Confederates' commonplace appreciation of the Cult of True Womanhood, I had occassionally wondered why lovers of the Confederacy do not honor Varina Davis.
Now I know why. When Jefferson Davis was proclaimed to be president of the CSA, no one much considered the wife. We in US may have learned our lesson. We now often look to the candidate' wife to see if she would be an acceptable First Lady.
Varina was not the ideal Confederate wife. She was ambivalent about South. She knew that the South did both have what it needed to win the war. This and more made her less than the example to be upheld and studied.
Writer Cashin provides her readers with everything that a good biography needs. Family backstory of subject and spouse. Social conditions during lifetime. Participation in larger events. How contributed or detracted from the larger events. (Varina did both.). . . . The perfect imperfections of humanity. How actions continued to effect society through time. All of that and more is included in this biography.
A good biography to read if the reader wants to know about pockets and breaks in the supposed monolithic Southern Confederacy. The Confederacy was not a Wall. It was more a fortified fence. Varina's being and actions reveals the fence to be a fence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 21, 2018
Enjoyed this full-length bio of Varina Howell Davis. Author did extensive research and wrote an engaging narrative to tell the story of this most complex and complicated woman. Learned quite a bit about her family, was especially interested to discover she had an extensive network of relatives in the North, some of whom fought for the Confederacy, and some she dared correspond with even during wartime. Cashin covers everything, from Davis' education, her outspokenness and wit, her issues with the much-older Jefferson Davis, the deaths of children, her pro-slavery but pro-Union views, her post-war life with Jeff and her later journalistic career, friendships with such disparate women as Mary Boykin Chesnut, Frances E. Willard, and Julia Grant, financial woes, long separations from her husband, her attempts at helping the country's reconciliation. She claimed that the happiest time of her life was when she lived in Washington during the decade before the war, and her remark that the "right side had won the war" shocked many people. Intelligently written, very readable, with great detail but not exhausting. Worthwhile read about a figure mostly forgotten today.
July 23, 2018
This is one of those books that just came along at the right time in my life. I had just come off of reading Charles Frazier's novel, "Varina" and found it wanting. A review of that book led me to Cashin's biography -- and I was hooked.
I appreciated that Cashin took a step back from both the stereotype of what the "Lost Cause" wanted Varina to be, but also refused to allow modern sensibilities to make her into an abolitionist. What Varina was, was a complex, realist, and woman of her times.
This was a lovely read.
I appreciated that Cashin took a step back from both the stereotype of what the "Lost Cause" wanted Varina to be, but also refused to allow modern sensibilities to make her into an abolitionist. What Varina was, was a complex, realist, and woman of her times.
This was a lovely read.
April 3, 2023
3.4 stars
Intriguing how much her life was similar to Mary Todd Lincoln's before and during the war. Their life diverged more so after the war. Mary's always in turmoil and Varina's in a more calm state.
Intriguing how much her life was similar to Mary Todd Lincoln's before and during the war. Their life diverged more so after the war. Mary's always in turmoil and Varina's in a more calm state.
May 11, 2018
THOUGHTS WHILE READING:
The author suffered two major handicaps in writing this account. First, one of the major responsibilities of an historian is to avoid projecting their own modern sentiments and perspective onto their subject. Cashin's depiction of Varina Davis doesn't live up to this rule. She frequently lends her modern take on Davis' situation as if her own impression of such circumstances are in any way akin to Varina's. Saying things like "Varina...basked in her new status of mother, because at last she was doing what a woman of her time was supposed to do" are clear cases of projecting, and she tellingly begins many evaluations of Davis' feelings with the phrase, "Although Varina didn't say..." This account is heavily clouded by the author's modern bias, which makes it difficult to accept as a true account of the First Lady.
The other handicap is even more serious, however. The author doesn't seem to understand the time period, which should be a prerequisite to anyone who wants to truly understand the people who lived during that era. Cashin makes frequent illusions to the workings of society in terms of gender and class, yes, but she reveals a serious deficit in regard to political knowledge. This statement, for example: "The Blairs' political views were somewhat inconsistent...Francis Preston's daughter Lizzie...was an ardent Unionist even though she too did not believe in racial equality." Is it possible that the author is under the impression that Unionists advocated racial equality? This is a misconception I can't overlook in a college essay, let alone an academic work. Furthermore, Varina Davis is the wife of one of the most controversial political figures in American history, and her political views are a major aspect of her historical significance; an understanding of the period's political history is imperative.
Overall, this book thoroughly confuses me. It's well researched in terms of information on Davis herself (though accompanied by a biased interpretation of those facts), and yet the author is glaringly ignorant of the world her subject lived in. To be honest, she calls herself a professional scholastic, but there is a serious lack of professionalism in this work. It disregards the importance of understanding an historical figure within their own world and (perhaps consequently) is content to be entirely ignorant of the workings of that world. I would not consider Cashin's book "the first definitive biography" of Varina Davis, as the dust-jacket claims. It's a thoroughly disappointing account.
The author suffered two major handicaps in writing this account. First, one of the major responsibilities of an historian is to avoid projecting their own modern sentiments and perspective onto their subject. Cashin's depiction of Varina Davis doesn't live up to this rule. She frequently lends her modern take on Davis' situation as if her own impression of such circumstances are in any way akin to Varina's. Saying things like "Varina...basked in her new status of mother, because at last she was doing what a woman of her time was supposed to do" are clear cases of projecting, and she tellingly begins many evaluations of Davis' feelings with the phrase, "Although Varina didn't say..." This account is heavily clouded by the author's modern bias, which makes it difficult to accept as a true account of the First Lady.
The other handicap is even more serious, however. The author doesn't seem to understand the time period, which should be a prerequisite to anyone who wants to truly understand the people who lived during that era. Cashin makes frequent illusions to the workings of society in terms of gender and class, yes, but she reveals a serious deficit in regard to political knowledge. This statement, for example: "The Blairs' political views were somewhat inconsistent...Francis Preston's daughter Lizzie...was an ardent Unionist even though she too did not believe in racial equality." Is it possible that the author is under the impression that Unionists advocated racial equality? This is a misconception I can't overlook in a college essay, let alone an academic work. Furthermore, Varina Davis is the wife of one of the most controversial political figures in American history, and her political views are a major aspect of her historical significance; an understanding of the period's political history is imperative.
Overall, this book thoroughly confuses me. It's well researched in terms of information on Davis herself (though accompanied by a biased interpretation of those facts), and yet the author is glaringly ignorant of the world her subject lived in. To be honest, she calls herself a professional scholastic, but there is a serious lack of professionalism in this work. It disregards the importance of understanding an historical figure within their own world and (perhaps consequently) is content to be entirely ignorant of the workings of that world. I would not consider Cashin's book "the first definitive biography" of Varina Davis, as the dust-jacket claims. It's a thoroughly disappointing account.
August 21, 2007
History and Biography. A refreshingly different perspective on the Civil War generally and Jefferson Davis, from the vantage of his wife. The author has put together a well-researched account based on Varina Davis's correspondence with friends, family, and others. Groundbreaking in many ways and well worth the reading.
May 1, 2020
Varina Howell Davis, was very much a lady of her time, girdled to the past and the ways of the southern womanhood but also some progressive ideas like education of women and voting rights. She was born in Natchez, Mississippi, but she educated up north in Philadelphia, however that was as far the money went for her education. True to culture of the south she had to stay in Mississippi, help her mother with her younger siblings which went to raise and support. Her marriage to Jefferson Davis, his elevation to Senator gave her the opportunity to be in political scene in Washington before the war. They gave her purpose and independence and she always remembered as a happy time. But along came the war and her family in middle of it all. She did her duty to her family and to the war effort, she nursed Confederate soldiers and Union prisoners.
After the war when Davis was captured, and sent to Fort Monroe she and the family went north, she held her sister future prospects and her own children's stability, at the same time work for husband's release. She had to be inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. She turned a blind eye to Davis's numerous mistress including Virginia Clay and Sarah Dorsey. Varina had stood by and made many sacrifices for a cause she did not support and for a husband who did not fully return her love and who was unfaithful.
After the War, and her husband’s death in 1885, she still worried about her financial security, so she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. She advocated reconciliation between the North and South. She became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. It was Mrs. Grant who arranged Varnia Davis’s funeral. The book is well written and researched, and a most informative read.
After the war when Davis was captured, and sent to Fort Monroe she and the family went north, she held her sister future prospects and her own children's stability, at the same time work for husband's release. She had to be inhibited by her role as Confederate First Lady and unable to reveal her true convictions. She turned a blind eye to Davis's numerous mistress including Virginia Clay and Sarah Dorsey. Varina had stood by and made many sacrifices for a cause she did not support and for a husband who did not fully return her love and who was unfaithful.
After the War, and her husband’s death in 1885, she still worried about her financial security, so she moved to New York and began a career in journalism. She advocated reconciliation between the North and South. She became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant. It was Mrs. Grant who arranged Varnia Davis’s funeral. The book is well written and researched, and a most informative read.
March 23, 2017
Ever since visiting Beauvoir--the post-Civil War home of the Davises on the Mississippi coast--I've been curious to know more about Varina Davis, so when I saw this on a library "women's history" display, I picked it up. It is fascinating to read her contradictory views on the war, as expressed in public statements and personal letters. From the beginning she thought the war was unwinnable for the South, yet as Jefferson Davis's wife she had to appear publicly to support it. Throughout her life she wavered back and forth between approving and rejecting the South's reasons for and conduct of the war, and those who fought it. In another contradiction, she showed some sympathy for the plight of enslaved people, while yet benefiting from and continuing to uphold slavery. Jefferson Davis demanded complete obedience from her, as was expected of wives of the period, but Varina was intelligent, well-educated, politically astute with a mind of her own--in short, she resisted the traditional role, which made maintaining the marriage difficult for both of them. She also faced continuing family losses: only one of her six children was still alive when Varina died.
All of this and much more makes Varina a sympathetic figure and the book compelling.
All of this and much more makes Varina a sympathetic figure and the book compelling.
September 7, 2017
The grand daughter of a Revolutionary War hero with many relatives in New England, and the wife of the President of the Confederacy, Varina Davis, born in Mississippi, was a woman conflicted by the times in which she lived. The author of this book does a fantastic job laying out the challenges of being a woman of the south and the society the planter community created. The author also did a good job documenting the life of Varina Davis, from Mississippi, to Washington DC, to Richmond, to being on the run as the Confederacy was failing, to life in England, and finally New York City. As much as Varina was the stereo-typical female of her times, she was so much more as the glue that held her family together in the best and worse of times. The best part of this book was the explanation of the "Lost Cause" myth and how it was created by the women of the south and how the reasons for it were spun to make the war a more positive event than it actually was. In reading the final chapter of this book I was able to conclude that yes, the Confederate Statues should be moved to less offensive locations.
July 28, 2019
I guess it is almost impossible to find a book about an historic figure that will not contain the author's viewpoint. But, I was disappointed that this one held a lot of Cashin's views in a politically correct kind of way. A biography is of course impossible to write years and years after someone has died. Unless that are at your elbow telling you all the things they felt and believed, the writer has to depend on letters, journals and written accounts by contemporaries. But that often falls well short, especially when the subject is as complex as Varina Davis. Often Varina's actions seem to contradict her statements, therefore one has to surmise what her actual intent was. Cashin tries to do this, but I think then interjects her own attitudes about certain things dealing with her subject and that made this book fall short for me. However, I really loved learning so much more about the Confederate First Lady than I knew, and that aspect of this well-researched book was good for me.
July 21, 2018
I liked this book - not too much bias or editorializing - just the facts in an easy-to-read style. This book filled in some holes left in Charles Frazier's historical fiction novel of Varina Davis. I have one question: Was she an opium user as she was in Frazier's book? Cashin never even hints at that and, if Varina Davis was not, why in the world would Frazier make an actual historical figure an addict? In the book, someone from the time period makes the observation: What if Abraham Lincoln was married to Varina Davis instead of Mary Lincoln. I had the same thought. Varina Davis and Mary Lincoln shared many of the same losses, especially of children. They had loved ones who fought on both sides of the Civil War. They were first ladies. However, Varina was emotionally stronger than Mary Lincoln. She was really quite a remarkable woman who has been lost to most people who are not Civil War scholars.
June 15, 2017
This is an interesting biography about Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Varina never came to fully support secession and doubted the South could win the Civil War. In her later years, she lived in New York City and wrote articles for the New York newspapers. She became friends with Julia Dent Grant, widow of U.S. Grant, and she said in print that the right side had won the war. This book gives insight into the numerous Southerners who were ambivalent about secession, as well as some Northerners who supported the Confederacy. There is an interesting account of the Davis family's flight from Richmond and capture by Union troops as the Confederacy crumbled following Lee's surrender.
August 16, 2020
I got this at Fort Monroe in Virginia and was intrigued by the story reported there of Varina Davis’ fight with General Miles who treated her and her incarcerated husband vindictively. He was horrible and it was a bad period for the Davis family, and their disdain for each other lasted until Varina’s death. So it was true and interesting, but there was so much more to her life. She was an intelligent, competent woman with great charisma whose opportunities were so limited by her marriage, times and circumstances that it’s amazing she achieved as much as she did. And until her death, much of the South denigrated and belittled her considerable contributions and abilities. She is to be commended for not just telling them all to f—- off.
April 11, 2018
Fascinating account of a complex lady. "Because she was married to Jefferson Davis, Varina was linked forever to the Confederacy, and she had to go along with the public role thrust upon her."(p.5) - but she had family and political connections and personal loyalties and leanings to the North that she had to tiptoe around. Very readable, personable, and eye-opening for anyone interested in learning more about what it was like to be a woman - or anybody else - in the South during the Civil War.
March 20, 2021
A long but interesting book of the life of Varina Davis, first lady of the Confederacy. She was raised in Mississippi and educated in Pennsylvania and married Jefferson Davis who became President of the Confederacy. She believed that women had equal rights within the bounds of marriage but her husband cared nothing about her opinions. After her husband's death she moved to New York City and supported herself as a journalist. She became friends with Julia Grant, the widow of Ulysses S. Grant.
November 29, 2017
Cashin does a great job of presenting the life of a fascinating woman that is overlooked when discussing the Civil War. She has done some solid research in presenting a woman who was, in many ways, contradictory. Cashin explores the reasons beyond that by placing David in the context of the time. At times, she seemed to present her as a First Lady Of The US, which may not sit well with some readers.
February 28, 2020
It lost me a little bit at points with some of the genealogy in the beginning but the overall narrative is solid. It definitely offered a fresh perspective on the Civil War from the point of view of one of its most prominent celebrities, who also happens to occupy a unique position in history as the one and only First Lady of the Confederacy. I found that I ended up liking her as a person more than I expected.
May 26, 2018
A very accessible, well researched history. I read it because I was intrigued by Frazier's Novell, Varina, and it was a good substantiation of the history in the novel. After reading it I can say Jefferson Davis was an ass, and that's not even including his role in the Civil War. Varina Davis was a tough woman, and though she was on the wrong side of history, I liked.her.
June 29, 2023
Upon reflecting on this book, I realized that for me, biography has become a "guilty pleasure." While the book is well-researched, ultimately it is the biographer's point of view. Cashin chose the passages she wanted to highlight and definitely had an agenda for point of view. I enjoyed the book but was forced to understand that only Varina herself could share her life and she chose not to.
March 18, 2020
A little dry but explains a lot more background. I read the Varina fiction book and found it hard to follow. This gives more information. Cashin shows a strong woman, but one who is held back by society's expectation.
September 27, 2022
This is a well-written and readable biography, and Cashin's historical work is really well done. Among the highlights are her parsing of both Jefferson Davis' interactions with his wife and others, and how she deals with Varina's sometimes inconsistent expression of opinions.
I found myself far more impressed with Varina than I expected to be-- she was an incredibly intelligent woman who seems to have felt the limitations of her time and place (as well as her particular marriage) quite keenly. As with so many historical women, you wonder what they might have been if they'd lived in another time and place-- and I suspect Varina would have been formidable.
I found myself far more impressed with Varina than I expected to be-- she was an incredibly intelligent woman who seems to have felt the limitations of her time and place (as well as her particular marriage) quite keenly. As with so many historical women, you wonder what they might have been if they'd lived in another time and place-- and I suspect Varina would have been formidable.
April 30, 2024
A bit long-winded and repetitive, but a interesting biography of Varina Davis, the wife of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President during the Civil War. The book highlights the difficult roles she had to fulfill during a very trying time, and being married to Jefferson Davis was no picnic.
April 22, 2018
Good Book. Learned a great deal about Varina Davis and her husband Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States during the Civil War.
March 17, 2019
Best book I read in 2018. Quandry that is difficult to imagine and appreciable position in today's times.
May 11, 2023
What could possibly be more exciting than learning you have a famous ancestor only to discover that that there is far more to her story than was originally presented.
My mother, a native Southerner, who worked on our family tree for years, was so proud that we are related to Varina Howell Davis, wife of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis. My siblings and I, having been raised in the North, had mixed feelings about this dubious honor.
It was only when the fictional historical novel, "Varina," written by Charles Frasier ("Cold Mountain") received so much attention that the true character and depth of this highly intelligent, courageous woman came to light.
At this point, I decided to learn more about Varina by reading a factual biography of her life. Joan Cashin's biography, "First Lady of the Confederacy," fully captures the true details of Varina's tragic life while making it read like an intimate but epic action novel. She follows Varina from her teenage years, married off to the promising, much older Confederate president-to-be, Jefferson Davis, her exciting years in Washington, D.C., the terrifying Civil War Years when she and her children had to flee for their lives, the impoverished aftermath of the war, the tragic deaths of several children over the years, and finally at age 60, leaving her painful past behind her by moving to NYC with her one surviving daughter, starting life anew as a successful, prominent journalist.
What is even more remarkable is her later friendship in NYC with Julia Grant (widow of General U. Grant). Together, they decided to openly display their friendship to illustrate how both sides could get along.
This gripping book will give you a true graphic picture of the Civil War years and a portrait of a fascinating, deeply conflicted woman who struggled with the constraints of her time. To quote Varina, "It was God's will that the North won the war."
My mother, a native Southerner, who worked on our family tree for years, was so proud that we are related to Varina Howell Davis, wife of the Confederate president Jefferson Davis. My siblings and I, having been raised in the North, had mixed feelings about this dubious honor.
It was only when the fictional historical novel, "Varina," written by Charles Frasier ("Cold Mountain") received so much attention that the true character and depth of this highly intelligent, courageous woman came to light.
At this point, I decided to learn more about Varina by reading a factual biography of her life. Joan Cashin's biography, "First Lady of the Confederacy," fully captures the true details of Varina's tragic life while making it read like an intimate but epic action novel. She follows Varina from her teenage years, married off to the promising, much older Confederate president-to-be, Jefferson Davis, her exciting years in Washington, D.C., the terrifying Civil War Years when she and her children had to flee for their lives, the impoverished aftermath of the war, the tragic deaths of several children over the years, and finally at age 60, leaving her painful past behind her by moving to NYC with her one surviving daughter, starting life anew as a successful, prominent journalist.
What is even more remarkable is her later friendship in NYC with Julia Grant (widow of General U. Grant). Together, they decided to openly display their friendship to illustrate how both sides could get along.
This gripping book will give you a true graphic picture of the Civil War years and a portrait of a fascinating, deeply conflicted woman who struggled with the constraints of her time. To quote Varina, "It was God's will that the North won the war."
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