1858 (33 page)

This portrait of Jefferson Davis was taken sometime in 1854, while he was secretary of war, when he first met Robert E. Lee.

Courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy

Jefferson Davis married Varina Howell in 1845. It was his second marriage and her first. Varina cared for him throughout his near-fatal illness in the winter of 1858.

Courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy

Brierfield, the Davises’ Mississippi plantation on the banks of the Mississippi River, was one of the state’s largest.

Courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy

These two photos show how rapidly Robert E. Lee aged as the nation plunged into the Civil War. The photo at the left was taken in the early 1850s, when Lee and his family resided at Arlington House between army assignments. The one at the right was taken in the spring of 1862.

Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial

Robert E. Lee and his son Rooney

Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial

Mary Lee aged rapidly during the 1850s and by 1858 was infirm and confined to the grounds of Arlington House. Her poor health was the primary reason Lee considered retiring from the army that spring.

Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial

This Benson Lossing painting of Arlington House captured the serene beauty of the mansion and estate overlooking the Potomac River that was home to the Lees for thirty years.

Union troops seized Arlington House in 1861 and used it as a camp throughout the Civil War. The Lees never returned.

Courtesy of Arlington House, the Robert E. Lee Memorial

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was a relatively unknown Illinois politician, but he had developed into a powerful public speaker and skilled debater.

Courtesy of the Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, IN (Ref. # O-17)

Stephen Douglas, the Little Giant, was considered the finest debater in the United States and his followers had no fear that he would easily best Lincoln in their seven historic encounters in 1858.

Courtesy of the Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, IN (Ref. # 65)

The enormous height difference between the six-foot-four Lincoln and five-foot-two Douglas is evident in this sketch of the pair during one of the debates.

Courtesy of the Lincoln Museum, Fort Wayne, IN (Ref. # 173)

President James Buchanan’s refusal to deal with the slavery issue throughout 1858 was one of the primary causes that North and South split apart so badly that year and why the Civil War followed in 1861.

Courtesy of Dickinson College