Jefferson Davis' body lain in state on this date in 1893

   Today is the 163rd Anniversary of the day the body of Jefferson Davis lay in state in the Supreme Court Chamber in the Alabama Capitol Building in Montgomery.

Although he had accepted the position of Confederate President, he had doubts about the coming war against the North:

"We are without machinery, without means, and threatened by powerful opposition but I do not despond and will not shrink from the task before me.”

     The men who joined him and voted to secede from the United States predicted the war would last a month. It lasted four years, with hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides, and widespread destruction.

Richmond after the war:

     Had the confederacy stayed in Montgomery, where it was founded, instead of moving to Richmond, the Alabama capitol building would certainly have been destroyed.

A description of the day Jefferson Davis' body was lain in the chamber in 1893:

 "The train pulled into Montgomery at 6:00 AM, on the 29th. A severe rainstorm delayed the funeral procession until 8:30 AM when a caisson carried the body of Davis to Alabama's capitol building. A procession carried the casket through the portico where Jefferson Davis, in 1861, had taken the oath of office as President of the Confederate States of America. The casket was placed in front of the bench of the Alabama Supreme Court. Above the right exit was a banner with the word "Monterrey" and above the left exit was a banner with the words "Buena Vista." During the Mexican War Jefferson Davis was a hero at Monterrey and wounded at Buena Vista. All Businesses and schools were closed, and church bells toiled during the procession to and from the capitol. In a final tribute, thousands of people in Montgomery, including ex-Confederate soldiers and children, filed by the casket. At 12:20 in the afternoon the funeral train departed over the Western Railway of Alabama and Atlanta and West Point Railroad for Atlanta."

More information HERE.

 

 This is what the former Supreme Court chamber looks like now. 

It serves as a memorial for

those killed from 9-11 and beyond.

 

(left) The first four Alabamans on the memorial. 

They died when the plane hit the Pentagon on 9-11.

The most recent name added was posted in 2020. 

Visit The Capitol building to see the entire memorial.