The Legacy of Twelve

PROLOUGE


Sarah_Knox_Taylor.jpg


Sarah Knox Taylor in 1830, aged 16


***


Fort Gibson, Arkansas Territory,
December 16th 1834

My Dear Sarah,

'Tis strange how superstitious intense feeling renders us, but stranger still what aids chance sometimes brings to support our superstition, dreams my...we will agree are our weakest thoughts, and yet by dreams have I been lately almost crazed, for they were of you and the sleeping imagination painted you not such as I left you, not such as I could like and see you, for you seemed a sacrifice to your parents desire the bride of a wretch that your pride and sense equally compelled you to despise...Neglected by you I should be worse than nothing and if the few good qualities I possess shall under your smiles yield a fruit it will be your's as the grain is the husbandman's.

It has been a sour productive of regret with me that our union must separate you from your earliest and best friends, a test to which the firmness of very few are equal, though giddy with passion or bound by the hope of reconciliation there be many who brave it, from you I am prepared to expect all that intellect and dignified pride brings, the question as it has occurred to you is truly startling. Your own answer is the most gratifying to me, is that which I should expected from you, for as you are the first with whom I ever ought to have one fortune so you would be the last from whom I would expect desertion. When I wrote to you I supposed you did not intend soon to return to Kentucky. I approve entirely of your preference to a meeting elsewhere than at Prarie-du-Chien and your desire to avoid any embarrassment might widen the breach made already cannot be greater than my own, did I know when you would be at St Louis I could meet you there. At all events we meet in Kentucky. Shall we not soon meet Sarah to part no more? Oh! How I long to lay my head upon that breast which beats in unison with my own, to turn from the sickening sights of worldly duplicity and look in those eyes so eloquent of purity and love.

My lines like the beggars days are dwindling to the shortest span. Write to me immediately, my dear Sarah, my betrothed. No formality is proper between us. Adieu.

Jefferson



***

L of 12.png
 
CHAPTER ONE:

Wedded Bliss


davisj.jpg


Jefferson Davis, around the time of his marriage to Sarah


***


Louisville, Kentucky, USA
June 17, 1835

Today, the 27-year-old soldier Jefferson Davis marries Sarah Knox Taylor, the 21-year-old daughter of his commanding officer Zachary Taylor. Not wanting her to be an army wife like his other daughter, Zachary along with his wife Margaret are both not present at Sarah's wedding to Jefferson.


***

In the months that follow...

Jefferson Davis resigns from the military less than two weeks after marrying Sarah. Shortly thereafter, the newlyweds travel to St. Francisville, Louisiana to visit Jefferson's sister Anna. However only a few months into their marriage both newlyweds fall severely ill with malaria.

By the end October, both Jefferson and Sarah have made small improvements but both their lives are still in jeopardy. Shortly after Christmas, the still sick couple accompanied by their only slave, James Pemberton, makes a voyage to Cuba to rest and recuperate. By early spring, both Jefferson and Taylor have completely restored their health.

Jefferson and Sarah stay in Cuba with plans to return to the United States by the next Christmas. In the time, Jefferson observes the tactics of the Spanish colonial military on the island. However, the couple's plans are interrupted when Sarah finds out that she is pregnant.

Jefferson, Sarah and Pemberton rush back to the United States after the news of Sarah's pregnancy. The couple reunites with Sarah's parents who are both extremely angry at Jefferson for placing their daughter in a life-threatening situation and overjoyed that their daughter is expecting. Jefferson and Sarah at stay with Sarah's parents' house in Kentucky for the next following months. There, on January 17, 1836, Sarah gives birth to a healthy baby boy whom she names Zachary Taylor Davis in honor of her father who still disapproves of her marriage to Jefferson.

Jefferson, Sarah and baby Zachary move to northern Louisiana in September of 1836 where Jefferson decides to continue his military career that was put on hold by his marriage, illness and birth of his son. Jefferson out with the army all day, leaves his wife Sarah at home with Pemberton to take care of the house and their son. From there begins a new chapter in the married life of Jefferson and Sarah Davis...
 
Top