Who was the President of the Confederate States?

Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. He was the Confederacy’s only president, serving first as provisional president from February 18, 1861, and then as president of its permanent government from February 22, 1862, until 1865.

Before becoming Confederate leader, Davis represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate and served as secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce. Confederate delegates selected him partly because of his political experience and military reputation. Alexander H. Stephens served as his vice president.

Davis led the Confederate government as it organized its army, administration, and war effort. The Confederate capital moved from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virginia, in 1861. Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were prominent Confederate commanders, not presidents. Abraham Lincoln held the presidency of the United States, the Union’s opposing government.