Winnie Davis

by Heath Hardage Lee

  While Varina battled depression and illness, Winnie slowly adjusted to convent life. The cold German landscape was a stark contrast to that of the sunbaked warmth of Memphis and the young girl’s cozy home on Court Square. A friend described Winnie’s German boarding school town of Karlsruhe as “a dreary place, with granite buildings and severe public squares, the school’s curriculum was rigorous and the students hailed from elite Continental families.”23

  Life at Karlsruhe proved spartan and regimented. Winnie was a good fit for this type of school, however, despite her pervasive homesickness. This was no place for young socialites-in-training to kick up their heels, shop for the latest fashions, and indulge in parties and gossip. Winnie, always serious and never frivolous, blossomed in such an environment.

  Indeed, Winnie was as sequestered at her German school as she had been under the eaves of the Davis household. The discipline Winnie received at the Misses Friedlanders’ School was of the strictest and most moral sort: day-to-day existence there was “as secluded and free from gaiety and frivolity as that of a convent.”24 For a cerebral young woman with little or no interest in the beau monde, the choice of school was congruent with both her personality and her interests.

  This school was also the perfect fit for Jefferson and Varina’s desires for their sheltered youngest child. Jefferson wrote Winnie from Mississippi City on March 17, 1877, about their reasons for sending her to Karlsruhe and his hopes for her future: “We look hopefully forward to your becoming a well-educated young Lady, but most of all to your acquiring systematic habits, to your learning how to study, and last and greatest the formation of a vigorous, healthy constitution.”25

  Winnie’s health was something that constantly worried both Varina and Jefferson because of her innate nervousness and her tendency toward stomach ailments. The fact the couple had already lost several children deepened their awareness of the fragility of life in general. Perhaps sending Winnie away in some way helped them fend off anxiety about her health.

  Both Varina and Jefferson were pleased that the stubborn streak they had noted in a younger Winnie seemed to be diminishing. Varina wrote to her husband after their daughter had been in school for a number of months that “she is learning self-control and fortitude which is very much for a woman to learn—God grant that she may comfort our old age.”26 Knowing the hard road that lay ahead for women who dared to disagree with male authority, the former first lady of the Confederacy cultivated her youngest daughter to be the type of subservient woman that she herself could never be.

  Winnie continued to have periodic bouts of homesickness even though she seemed to enjoy school. She wished fervently for visits from her parents, even calling upon her religious faith in hopes it would persuade her mother or father to come see her. She wrote Varina: “I must take my bibel [sic] to bed with me and when it gets warm I put my hand on it and try to think it is you—I have done some thing that gives me great hope. I prayed very hard that you and father would be hear [sic] in a month and so I asked the Lord to let me know by the Bible if I saw yes it should be yes if no-no and it came out yes 3 or 4 times.”27

  Despite her longing to see her parents, Winnie benefited immensely from her years living in Germany. Immersion in a new country helped her to develop and inform her critical and artistic eye, a trait she would be lauded for later in her life. Under the auspices of her school, the young girl was able to attend special events such as a concert at the Palace in Karlsruhe, where, she remarked to her mother, she had seen Princess Victoria, who was to become the queen of Sweden. Winnie wrote with childish honesty, “The Princess was a littel [sic] girl of about 12 or 13 and was dressed in pink silk and I can’t say I thought she was very pretty but she looked good-natured.”28

  Winnie was also fortunate to witness notable European historical events of the time. As she became older and more sophisticated, she provided political commentary for her parents from Germany. Winnie reported to her mother in May 1878 about the assassination attempt on Wilhelm I, king of Prussia and the emperor of Germany: “You know that as the Emperor and the Grand-Dutches [sic] of Baden were riding on the 11 of May and someone shot at them that the Grand-Dutches threw herself over her father to protect him.”29

  This event made a deep impression upon Winnie. The image of the daughter sacrificing herself for the father surely resonated with her and reinforced the lessons on this subject she had learned from Jefferson. She even drew pictures of the grand duchess throwing herself over the emperor in the margins of the letter to her mother to illustrate the tale.30

  Within a few years Winnie was at the top of her class, and “Miss Friedlander considered her ‘an example to the school’ with her bright and responsive mind.” She took advanced classes with a select group of her classmates in her senior year.31 The Davises’ youngest daughter stayed on the straight and narrow path at school, hoping for approval from her absent parents and her teachers.

  While Winnie lived within the strict confines of the convent, scandal was once again casting a shadow over the Davis family back in Mississippi. Jefferson had become the subject of more titillating gossip, much to Varina’s chagrin. Tales of a wealthy southern widow named Sarah Dorsey and her attentions toward the former president of the Confederacy were beginning to circulate on both sides of the Atlantic. Varina, still living in England because of her poor health, learned from a newspaper article that Sarah Dorsey, her former schoolmate in Philadelphia, had become her husband’s landlady in Mississippi. The paper insinuated that this unorthodox arrangement might lead to improper relations. Varina was undoubtedly stunned by the news.32

  Sarah was an avid admirer of both Jefferson and the Confederacy. She had been born and raised in Natchez, Mississippi, by wealthy parents who, like Varina’s parents, made sure their daughter received a superior education.33 Sarah married Samuel Worthington Dorsey in 1853, but the couple never had children. Instead, she wrote six novels and one non-fiction work between 1862 and 1877. From her writings, her upbringing in Natchez, her marriage, and her strong support of the Confederacy during the Civil War, Sarah developed a sentimental view of the prewar South that led her to idealize both Jefferson Davis and the “Lost Cause” he was so closely associated with.34

  After learning of Jefferson’s financial problems and his desire to write his memoirs, Sarah offered Jefferson the use of a cottage on her coastal Mississippi estate, Beauvoir, in 1877. It was a lovely serene spot built in 1849 in the Louisiana plantation architectural style. The main house was raised on pillars to allow for maximum air circulation and boasted tall ceilings, crushed shell floors, and refreshing breezeways.35

  Sarah, being an author herself, began to help Jefferson with his memoirs, reading his drafts, taking dictation, and helping with his research. She also organized his life for him, took care of his entertaining, and guarded his privacy fiercely.36 The widow Dorsey became the former president’s handler and manager—and perhaps something more. To many it looked as if she had taken Varina’s place as Jefferson’s wife.

  Varina was at first taken aback and then quickly became incensed to think her old school friend had taken her place at her husband’s side. She was the one who had suffered through a series of family tragedies with him and experienced the humiliating defeat of the Confederacy firsthand. Historian Carol Berkin explains: “For Varina this was a betrayal, made more painful by the fact that the history he was writing was her history as much as his, her experiences as much as those of her husband. It was as though her autobiography was being stolen from her.”37

  What was Sarah’s attraction for Jefferson? She was a well-regarded and published author, an accomplished woman whose intellect rivaled Varina’s own. She was three years younger than the former first lady of the Confederacy and had the money and time to coddle Jefferson. Sarah hero-worshipped Jefferson—he could do no wrong in her eyes. This was also a large part of her appeal to Jefferson, who could not bear any criticism and particularly not from his wife. In these respects Sarah v
ery much resembled Virginia Clay, Jefferson’s other significant female friend and admirer.

  Maggie, the Davises’ eldest daughter, was clearly appalled by the situation, taking her mother’s side: “I never liked Mrs. Dorsey. I think she is mannish and her conduct to you the very least of it. You will not go there if anything I can say will prevent it. I told Father what I thought of her when he was here, I said I did not think you would enjoy being her guest. She assumes a superiority over all other women which is very disgusting to me.”38

  Sarah apparently was immensely charming, however, and Maggie, like her father, soon fell under the widow’s spell. After Maggie lost her infant son to cholera in 1877, she needed some maternal comfort. Varina was still in Europe, and Maggie surprisingly accepted an invitation from Sarah to visit Beauvoir. Maggie and Addison stayed at the Gulf Coast estate for a month. After the vacation the couple was quite won over by their hostess’s hospitality. Maggie, like Jefferson, was captivated by Sarah’s gracious manner.39

  It is difficult to understand why Varina, after having lost three of her own sons to early deaths, did not come back immediately to help Maggie. Even more difficult to fathom is why she would let her supposed archenemy, Sarah Dorsey, take her place yet again. Sarah had become a pseudo-wife to Jefferson and now a replacement mother to Maggie. And yet Varina was slow to return home to reestablish her place within the family.

  Despite her generosity toward Jefferson, Maggie, and Addison, Sarah’s usurpation of Varina’s role was gossiped about widely both in England and the United States and was considered unseemly by most observers. “The situation, so odd and titillating, became the subject of gossip all over the region,” writes Joan Cashin in her biography of Varina, adding, “Dorsey’s own family was aghast.”40

  The biggest shock came in 1878, when Sarah created her will. Any doubts about her close relationship with Jefferson were dispelled immediately. In this document she left Jefferson her entire estate, effectively disinheriting all of her family members. Jefferson was also given Sarah’s power of attorney. Winnie unknowingly became Sarah’s heir as well. If her father predeceased her, she, not her mother, would become the mistress of Beauvoir.41 Sarah wrote Jefferson in March 1879 urging him to make a will and leave all he inherited from her to Winnie, even though the widow and the young girl had never met. “I should prefer her to have it after you are done with it.”42 Sarah also left Winnie her portrait.43 It seems odd, if the relationship with Jefferson was in fact strictly platonic, that Sarah would leave the estate to Jefferson and then Winnie, leaving her old “friend” and schoolmate Varina completely out of the picture. Other accounts claim, however, that Winnie was given a reversionary interest in order to prevent Jefferson from refusing the gift.44

  Jefferson’s own comments toward the end of his life regarding his relationships also provide some evidence that Sarah Dorsey may have ranked above Varina in his estimation. In a brief autobiography dictated in 1889, only a week before his death, according to historian Carol Bleser, he “recalled his first marriage in 1835, commented most favorably on Sarah Dorsey … and only in the final paragraph did he mention his second wife. He did not state her first name and about her he commented only, ‘she has borne me six children—four sons and two daughters.’”45

  Although Winnie was far removed from the situation at Beauvoir, she heard whispers of the Dorsey drama while still in boarding school. She wrote Varina, saying, “Motherly do tell me I heard from Pin [Winnie’s friend Pinnie Meredith] that Mrs. Dorsey had left Father three plantations and also all her money but I heard the other day that there is still a lawsuite [sic] pending about the will.” Winnie’s main concern in this missive is that the will and lawsuit might deter her parents from visiting her in Germany—she still missed them both intensely. She seemed not to know that she, too, would eventually become Sarah’s heir.46

  In her own memoir of Jefferson, Varina glosses over the entire furor, noting that Sarah was an old school friend and a literary person of note. She also takes pains to assert that there was no impropriety taken between Jefferson and Sarah in her absence. She states that Jefferson had rented a cottage from Sarah on the property and that Sarah also had several female relatives and her brother living with her on the plantation.47 Her rationalization of such an odd and inappropriate relationship reads as a thinly veiled statement of denial. Varina’s memoirs were created with the public in mind. This particular passage is one of emotional fiction disguised as fact.

  The situation was extremely upsetting for Varina, a fact that she confirmed many other times in her private correspondence with relatives and friends. She wrote to her husband on September 9, 1877, from London apologizing for not writing to Sarah. The thought of any interaction with her rival clearly made Varina furious, and she let Jefferson know she was humiliated by the situation: “I do not desire ever to see her house … Nothing on earth would pain me like living in that kind of community in her house—or in that of another—I am grateful for her kindness to you and my children, but I do not desire to be under any more obligation to her.” Varina continued, clearly referring to the rumors about the widow Dorsey and Jefferson that were swirling around her in England: “When people here ask me what part of your work she is writing, and such like things, I feel aggravated nearly to death.”48 The arrangement may have suited Jefferson and Sarah perfectly, but it humiliated Varina and alienated her even further from her husband.

  The former first lady of the Confederacy lived with her oldest daughter and son-in-law in Memphis for eight months upon her return from Europe, from the fall of 1877 until May 1878.49 Maggie had considerately offered her mother a safe haven from the Dorsey drama: “Your room is ready and waiting to receive you,” she had written to Varina. “It was built for you and so you will have to take it … I have made my house look as near like the Court Street House [the Davis home in Memphis] as I can so that you will feel at home.”50 This deed was brave of Maggie, as she adored her father. Yet she may have felt he had seriously wronged her mother with his impropriety. Appearances were extremely important to Maggie, and the gossip about her father must have upset her.

  Still furious at Jefferson for humiliating her by choosing to live with Sarah at Beauvoir, Varina would not be easily persuaded to join them. The gossip she had had to endure both at home and abroad could not have been easy to bear. Eventually, however, Varina conceded to Jefferson’s wishes, as she always did. Varina arrived at the estate in May 1878 in the midst of preparations for a garden party Sarah had arranged either in her honor or in the honor of the absent Winnie—sources differ on this point. Varina had barely unpacked when “she flared up in a temper, denounced the widow for alienating her husband, and flew off into the woods.” Somehow Sarah managed to calm Varina down in time for the party, allowing both herself and her guest to save face. The former first lady of the Confederacy rose to the occasion, acting cool and collected in front of her guests.51

  Another development may have also helped Varina to feel more at home in Biloxi. In 1879 Sarah arranged for Jefferson to buy Beauvoir from her. Soon the Davises would finally be able to own a permanent home. True to his nature, Jefferson immediately paid Sarah the first of three installments for the property in February 1879.52

  One of Varina’s great strengths was her ability to cope and to adapt to difficult circumstances. This skill she again put to use while living with Jefferson and Sarah in an uncomfortable ménage. Yet fate arranged things so that Varina did not have to remain long in this awkward position. By June 1879 Sarah Dorsey was dead from breast cancer.53 When she died, Jefferson insisted on fulfilling his last two payments on Beauvoir, which were then applied to the estate’s debts. Ultimately, the proud former president of the Confederacy paid in full for his dream home.54 Varina paid a high price emotionally for Beauvoir. As a consequence, she would never feel quite at home there. For Varina the estate was always another woman’s domain.

  Oblivious to most of these events in Mississippi, Winnie blossomed at s
chool. She showed a marked aptitude for artistic pursuits such as drawing, painting, music, and writing. Her parents and her teachers at the Misses Friedlanders’ School encouraged all these interests as both appropriate and desirable. Such talents were seen as both ladylike and befitting of a young woman of her social class in the nineteenth century.

  When a visitor to Beauvoir commented on one of Winnie’s paintings displayed there, Varina seized the opportunity to boast about her daughter’s talent: “That is my daughter’s work. She has been in Germany being educated and is now in Paris for music. She has a natural taste for drawing, and no matter what studies her teachers impose upon her, she goes back to art for recreation.”55 Jefferson was so pleased with Winnie’s progress in this area that he eventually converted a room at Beauvoir into an art studio for her use when she returned home.56 Winnie’s work can still be seen today displayed throughout Beauvoir.

  The young girl became more confident and sure of herself and her place at school. She wrote her mother that “the new girls are all fond of me but I am not so fond of them as I ought to be because I cannot agree with their way of thinking.”57 Winnie was on her way to becoming thoroughly European—German in fact. She assimilated almost completely into the culture she had been thrust into by her parents, despite her severe homesickness. Her hot temper had been cooled by Teutonic discipline.

  In October 1879 headmistress Rosalie Friedlander wrote to Jefferson that Winnie’s disposition had entirely changed since she had enrolled at the school: “Her stay with me … has made a different girl of her altogether. I cannot tell you how wonderfully she has improved. Her hot temper is there, but she bravely fights against it. She is not only a general favorite, she is a pattern girl for all the new girls.”58

  Winnie would become known as one of the most educated women of her generation when she returned to the South. Ironically, years later she would write strongly against foreign education for American girls. The crushing homesickness Winnie experienced while living at the German boarding school, the primitive living conditions there, which she would describe later, and above all the sense of “otherness,” of being set apart and isolated from the rest of her peers by her European education, made a deep impression on the sensitive young woman.59