A Love Story: Jefferson Davis and Sarah Knox Taylor

Don't  you love a love story? Well here is one for you although it did not end well. Jefferson Davis, fresh out of West Point and a US Army Officer was sent to the Wisconsin and Arkansas Territories in the Black Hawk War. While there he met Sarah Knox Taylor the beautiful young daughter of General Zachary Taylor and the two fell madly in love.

Davis proposed and she accepted but General Taylor opposed the marriage, saying he did not want his daughter to marry a military man. Davis resigned his commission to become a planter, and the General relented and  allowed the two to marry.

Sadly, three months after the wedding they both contracted malarial fever and he recovered but Sarah died in his arms, singing a little tune, popular in that day, Fairy Bells. Davis was heartbroken and became a recluse for almost ten years. William C. Davis' biography, Jefferson Davis: The Man and His Hour tells much more.

Another true love story I understand, is the one of John Bell Hood and his wife Anna Marie by Robert Hicks called A Separate Country. It is set in New Orleans after The War. Hicks is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book The Widow of The South. If any of you have read either of these please comment as I have not.