West Point, and he afterwards learned the practical duties of a
soldier in the Black Hawk war. On the return of peace, he resigned
and sought distinction in political life. He had succeeded in
reaching the House of Representatives when the war with Mexico broke
out, and he resigned and again went to the field. And,
notwithstanding what has been said to the contrary, he won great
distinction in this war. Military men everywhere did him justice.
The "Mississippi Rifles" will be remembered as long as the battle of
Buena Vista.

At the close of the war he again relinquished the sword, and was
sent to the United States Senate, where he was made chairman of the
Committee on Military Affairs. His highest ambition was to shine as
a statesman. He afterwards served four years as Secretary of War,
and then returned to the Senate, where the rebellion found him
elevated to the chairmanship of the Committee of Military Affairs.
His education, his services in the army, his position as Secretary
of War, and in the Senate, enabled him to become thoroughly
acquainted with our army, with its customs, its laws, its material,
its wants, and, above all, the character of its officers. He was,
perhaps, better acquainted with these things than any other man in
the United States. Nor was he deficient in knowledge of the
character of leading, public men at the North and West. What he had
not studied well, however, was the character and the patriotism of
the people of those sections of our country.

It was the ripe fruit of this knowledge, then, that Mr. Davis
applied in each department of the rebel government; and it was this
that made him of such incalculable value to the rebellion. We have
seen and even admired the power with which he wielded the scanty