Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky in 1808 but his family moved to Mississippi in the early years of his life. His parents sent him to boarding school in Kentucky and he eventually&nbsp;attended Transylvania University. He continued his studies&nbsp;the U.S. Military Academy at West Point where he graduated third in his class. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry of Wisconsin after graduating but did not serve in combat during the&nbsp;Black Hawk War (1832) because of illness. However, Davis did see action&nbsp;in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848) and was recognized for his valor during the Battle of Buena Vista. <br>In the coming years he would be a U.S. Senator for Mississippi and Secretary of War under President Pierce (1853-1857). In February 1861, he reluctantly accepted the position of provisional president of the Confederacy; he was officially elected president six months later. He was captured by Union forces on May 10, 1865 and held in prison for two years at For Monroe, Virginia. After the war he and his wife traveled to Canada, Europe and Cuba. In 1881 he wrote&nbsp;<i>The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government</i>, a defense of his actions and that of the Confederate cause. This work helped revive his reputation. He spent the later years of his life at an estate&nbsp;called&nbsp;<span>Beauvoir on the coast of Mississippi. He died while in New Orleans in 1889.</span>

The historical marker on the fence outside of the home.

The stone monument is situated next to the curb and features important dates in Davis' life.

The house in which Davis died is located in the historic and affluent Garden District of New Orleans.

President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, died in this home on December 6, 1889. The marker stating this historical event is placed on the fence in front of the home. There is a large stone block located next to the road on which important dates of Davis' life are inscribed. The home is privately owned but can seen from the sidewalk. Davis died of acute bronchitis.

Historical Marker: Jeﬀerson Davis

Lee Circle functions today as a traffic circle on the popular St. Charles Avenue, but its original name was<i> Place de Tivoli</i>. &nbsp;Designed by surveyor and geographer Barthlemey Lafon in 1807, <i>Place de Tivoli</i> was originally a small, circular island surrounded by a canal. &nbsp;The circle, or <i>place</i>, was likely intended to be an amusement park with a carousel in the center. &nbsp;The location of <i>Place de Tivoli</i> marked it as the gateway between the older, downriver portions of the city and the newer, upriver sections. &nbsp;As such, it was a popular meeting place and for decades was a favorite spot on the Mardi Gras parade route. &nbsp;<br><br>After the Civil War, pro-Confederate groups across the South honored their veterans and the lost Southern cause with monuments and memorials, and New Orleans was no exception. &nbsp;The local Robert E. Lee Monument Society raised over $36,000 (nearly $700,000 today)&nbsp;in the early 1870s for the construction of a monument to Lee in the city. &nbsp;Dedicated in 1884, the monument consists of a 60-foot marble Doric columnn mounted on a massive granite base and&nbsp;topped with a 161/2 foot bronze statue of Robert E. Lee. &nbsp;After its dedication, <i>Place de Tivoli</i> was renamed Lee Circle. &nbsp;By the turn of the 20th century, several important buildings were located on the circle. &nbsp;These included the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library and the Jerusalem Hall.<br>

In 1884, the city of New Orleans dedicated a statue and renamed this traffic circle was in honor of Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Prior to this time, the area was known as Trivoli Square. The movement to create a monument and rename the area in honor of the former Confederate leader was spurred by the Robert E. Lee Monumental Association, a group of Southerners who worked to create monuments following Lee's death in 1870. In recent years, this and other monuments that honor Confederate leaders has become a source of controversy. After renewed debates in 2015, the city council and mayor ordered the removal of this and three other statues. 

This monument was removed on May 19, 2017, following the removal of three other New Orleans monuments: the Liberty Place monument, a statue of Jefferson Davis, and a statue of Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard. You can watch a video and read the full transcript of Mayor Mitch Landrieu's May 19 speech at the link below.

Lee Circle

In the aftermath of the Civil War, the Republican Party began to win elections in the South owing to the temporary disenfranchisement of prominent Confederates and the fusion of newly-enfranchised African Americans with progressive Southern whites. Angered by the success of the Republican Party, a political organization that scarcely existed in Southern states prior to Reconstruction, angry whites under the auspices of the Ku Klux Klan and similar secret societies committed acts of terror against white Republicans and any African Americans.<br><br><div>The violence was repeated in the next two years, but so long as federal troops were present, the White League was forced to retreat and the democratically-elected government of Louisiana was restored. Following the Presidential election of 1876, however, national Republican leaders agreed to a compromise that included the withdrawal of federal troops from the South. The Republican Party won the next election, but without federal troops to enforce the results of that election, white paramilitary groups seized control of the state and installed members of the Democratic Party under the banner of "redeeming" the state from former slaves and white Yankees.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>Demonstrating the ways that historical interpretations change over time, this monument was created in 1891 to honor the white supremacists who, after several years of violent attacks, forced the legally-elected Republican officials of Louisiana to flee for their lives. Reflecting the long history of white supremacy, New Orleans officials added an additional plaque honoring the Crescent City White League.&nbsp;</div><div><br></div><div>In response to the protests by African American residents, the city added a sign next to the monument in the 1970s&nbsp;that attempted to appease both the white defenders of the monument and African American voters who had just elected the city's first back mayor. The sign&nbsp;offered a statement defending the historical significance of the monument but distancing the modern city of New Orleans from the racist sentiment behind its construction. In 1981, the city government attempted to have the monument removed but backed down in the face of angry protest by white residents.&nbsp;<br><br>The monument stood at a prominent location on Canal Street until 1989, when nearby construction led to it being placed in storage. The monument was moved to its present location in 1993 and a slab of granite was placed over the inscription that had once praised the White League's efforts to "overthrow [the] carpetbag government" by force of arms and install a new government that "recognized white supremacy in the South and gave us our state." The monument also &nbsp;received a new plaque, created in a compromise, calling for honor and remembrance for "Americans on both sides of the conflict."&nbsp;</div><br>

One of the most controversial monuments in the United States, this memorial was erected in 1891 to honor white supremacists who attempted to overthrow the government of Louisiana in 1874. The monument was moved and modified, and was the subject of decades of heated debate regarding its proper disposition. In April 2016, city officials called for the monument's removal. While a vast majority of New Orleans residents wanted the monument removed, the state legislature intervened and in a series of partisan votes, enacted measures that took the authority to remove monuments from city leaders. After two years of demands by residents, state legislators voted against further actions to block the city from removing the monument in early 2017. On April 24, 2017, (a date that a few states still celebrate as "Confederate Memorial Day") workers disassembled and removed the monument under the cover of darkness, protected against possible white supremacist violence by police snipers. Mayor Mitch Landrieu stated in a speech (in the video below), "We will no longer allow the Confederacy to literally be put on a pedestal."  

The controversy surrounding the monument reflects the violent event the monument was meant to commemorate. Following the victory of a Republican ticket composed of Black and white candidates in the election of 1874, five thousand members of the Crescent City White League attempted to seize control of the state government by force. The attempted coup led to an armed confrontation between members of the racially-diverse police force. Thanks to the presence of federal troops, the attempted coup failed. However, the Battle of Liberty Place continues to represent the most deadly attack on an American police force. While the interpretation of the battle has changed, it is important to note that this monument was created to honor the members of the White League. In the 1990s, the monument was altered to include a plaque that honors the fallen officers who attempted to preserve democracy. In 2015, a special commission established by the city council recommended the complete removal of this monument. Demonstrating the ways that political parties can change over time, modern-day Democrats are in favor of removing the monument while Republicans defend the structure as part of the state's heritage. 

Battle of Liberty Place Monument (1891-2017)

Beauregard&nbsp;commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Three months later he won the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Beauregard commanded armies in the Western Theater, including at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, and the Siege of Corinth in northern Mississippi. He returned to Charleston and defended it in 1863 from repeated naval and land attacks by Union forces. His greatest achievement was saving the important industrial city of Petersburg, Virginia in June 1864, and thus the nearby Confederate capital of Richmond, from assaults by overwhelmingly superior Union Army forces.

Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard was born in Louisiana in 1818 and became the first brigadier general in the Confederate Army. Beauregard led Confederate forces to several important victories and stalled the Union advance in several theaters of the war despite the Union army's superior manpower and resources. Following his military career, Beauregard returned to Louisiana and joined a group of businessmen who hoped to forge a political alliance and compromise with former slaves wherein members of the Democratic Party would soften their opposition to civil rights in exchange for political support from newly-enfranchised Black men. As Reconstruction politics became more violent and African Americans were disfranchised by force, Beauregard and other businessmen returned to the Democratic Party and abandoned the issue of accommodation and political rights for former slaves. The former General  worked as a railroad executive and promoted the state lottery as a way to make money for the government and as alternative to illegal gambling. In 1888, he was elected as commissioner of public works in New Orleans and died five years later.

Monumental History: Controversial Monuments in New Orleans

Historical Marker: Jeﬀerson Davis

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources