DOC Winnie Davis: Daughter of the Lost Cause by Heath Hardage Lee in History

Review

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Intimate look at Winnie Davis; Daughter of the ConfederacyBy w d novakThis book is a riveting read; not only for those interested in the Civil War and what followed; but also for those interested in feminist studies and those who are simply curious about human nature. WINNIE DAVIS: DAUGHTER OF THE LOST CAUSE is a sympathetic; psychological study of a relatively minor figure of the Confederacy; Jeff Davis’s daughter Winnie. In this book Heath Lee has done an excellent job of researching and then turning her found facts into an intimate look at a young woman doomed by her important role in the Lost Cause; a cause dedicated to elevating and thus making bearable what otherwise might have been viewed only as wasted sacrifice.Winnie’s own tragic; personal losses echo in some ways those of the doomed Confederacy. For the sake of the Cause; Winnie sacrificed the man she loved; her passion for writing; and—it seems—even her own young life. Lee makes clear that the difference for Winnie Davis was that these losses stem directly not from the role she played during the Civil War; but in in the one she was required; by parental authority and “popular demand;” to play in its aftermath.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. "The last casualty of the lost cause" Robert Penn WarrenBy Loves the ViewShe was born Varina (“Winnie) Anne Davis in the White House of the Confederate States shortly after her 5 year old brother died of a fall. A year later her mother and namesake gathered her and her siblings to flee their home as Richmond fell to the Union. As a toddler; she was the only child allowed to see her father; the former CSA President; in his post-war incarceration. They bonded.Too young to know the war but shaped by its aftermath; Winnie aimed to please her parents who were finding their way after the defeat of the CSA. Winnie’s father was humiliated not only for the loss of the war; but also for how he was caught; perhaps as the legend goes; wearing women’s clothes. Losing their plantation meant that they relied on the kindness of others (perhaps a mistress to her father).Heath Hardage Lee has been considering and researching her subject for over 20 years. She has thought about the expectations for women (pious; obedient; self-sacrificing) that were embedded in southern culture and how they impacted Winnie. Lee has considered Winnie’s parents’ marriage: A rigid micro-manager husband and a wife who fought for control. Neither could manage nor control life: Jefferson Davis lost his first wife (the unfair standard by which he would measure Varina) within months of the wedding; by the time of Winnie’s birth they had lost two sons.There is little in this book on Winnie’s childhood; although it says that her parents feel she can be stubborn. There is a hint of competition with her older sister. When she was told she would go to convent boarding school in Germany; Winnie complied. While it was harsh; disciplened and cold; but it appears that she got a good education and learned to paint and appreciate art.Upon her return she helped her father with his memoirs and traveled to veteran’s meetings and memorials with him. It is from those travels that the role “The Daughter of the Confederacy” was thrust upon her. She obediently complied; dressing in queen-like gowns; smiling and waving in parades and giving ceremonial thank yous.After Jefferson’s death; his wife and daughter moved to New York City. They vacationed in Rhode Island. They traveled with the Pulitzers (of newspaper fame) who were Davis shirt tail relatives through marriage. They wrote for magazines. Winnie wrote novels. They led the lives of northerners; not southerners in this very polarized time in the South.Three questions regarding Winnie’s role; engagement and health may never be answered. Lee gives no evidence that she wanted or enjoyed her role; or even that she bought into the idea of a Confederacy. Next is why did she end her engagement to Alfred Wilkerson. Wilkerson was not just any northerner; he was the grandson of noted abolitionist Samuel Joseph May (brother to the Mother of Louisa May Alcott). Her father went out on a limb to support her (did he change his mind?) and her and her mother connived to stop it by finding a problem in his background. By the time it was called off; the damage was done; both to Winnie and her suitor. Regarding Winnie’s health: Why can’t she eat? The situation and her actions suggest she is anorexic. All three of these stresses in her life twined together and are likely responsible for her early death at age 34.It stays with the subject and the marriage that produced her. It steers clear of the war and slavery. The Index was not always helpful. The b w photos are great and there are many. It is well footnoted. This is an engaging micro-history.10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. A sad story and a great readBy E. BowenThis is quite a story. Even in 1864 as Yankee gunfire pounded Richmond; the birth of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' daughter Winnie was hailed as a good omen. On her tiny frame a desperate South hung its hope that the noble cause would prevail. That she would embody the four ideals of Southern womanhood: Piety; Purity; Submissiveness; and Domesticity. Well; the South did not prevail; and there ensued a tense psychological drama for the soul of one very fragile young lady. In the end; Winnie; for reasons only a biographer's empathy could untangle; sidestepped her best hope for happiness and died at age 33; in the words of Robert Penn Warren; "The Last Casualty of the Lost Cause." It took a poet to coin that apt phrase; but a biographer to piece together on the page how such stark tragic irony could come about. The suffering of the Davis family during and after the war was immense. Varina Davis; Winnie's mother; fled with the children; and Jefferson Davis was reviled and imprisoned. Most of their property; in Mississippi family plantations; was lost. The family was together briefly after the war; long enough for Winnie to learn to love her adoring father and submit to her domineering mother. But very soon she was sent away to boarding school in Germany; an expense the family could ill afford yet undertook so that her character might be "properly shaped;" particularly in "submissiveness." It was.Winnie returned an intellectual though not a belle; with a predisposition to worry herself sick; completely unprepared to withstand the powerful forces that would be unleashed upon her. An embittered south; its ex-soldiers determined to elevate Southern womanhood to the height handed down from their chivalric ancestors; anointed Winnie Davis; virginal and dressed always in white; the "Daughter of the Confederacy;" projecting onto her their Lost Cause nostalgia and the hope that; through union with a fine son of; perhaps; a Confederate general; Southern nobility's finest bloodline would flow into the future; surviving outward defeat.. . Lovely; smiling graciously to all; she would ennoble Confederate events with her very presence. The dream would thus continue. The search for a suitable husband began; aided by the fabulously wealthy Joseph Pulitzers; who provided introductions to; of all places; New York society. There were many suitors; but Winnie found herself in love with one Fred Wilkinson; a handsome; eligible lawyer from Syracuse NY. Winnie said nothing to her parents; who were shocked to receive his visit asking for her hand. But wait. Unbeknownst to her (but later to be discovered); he just happened to be the grandson of a noted "Abominable Abolitionist!" As yet unaware of that; nonetheless he was a Northerner. So when a stranger from the North arrived at the Davis plantation in coastal Mississippi seeking their permission to marry their daughter; the Davis's were not sympathetic; to say the least. Nonetheless; after many ups and downs; Varina announced the engagement. The press waded into it. All hell broke loose. Fred received death threats from Confederates. He would be "lain in the dust;" shot with a thousand [musket] balls. Varina began questioning his financial prospects. Winnie's health declined. Fred had tolerated the extended engagement; especially given the family's grief over Jefferson Davis's death in 1889. But finally he travelled back to Beauvoir; the Mississippi estate given to Jefferson by a female admirer. Varina received him but declared that she was terminating the engagement for Winnie's sake. Winnie; in truth; had given him up for Varina's sake. Varina had been the one to insist the engagement end. Winnie and Fred parted; then he left. Their goodbyes were tender and very sad; but she was wasting away and melancholic; she "could never love anyone else." And so; she caved in. She gave him up because her mother insisted. Writes Lee; "Duty; family ties; they all bound her up more tightly than true love ever could. She could not break from the familiar; even if it made her miserable. She lived in a gilded cage of sentimental memories crafted by her family; Confederate veterans; and Lost Cause supporters." Fred returned to Syracuse broken hearted. Winnie; 8 years later; died in New York City; where she had been living with her mother and having some success with her novels. Only through her fictional characters was she able to express her increasingly cynical views of Victorian domestic and social life. Decades later; Heath Lee; gazing at Winnie's portrait in various Richmond clubs and museums; from a similar family with similar values; determined to unravel Winnie's mystery. "Working on her life story was like seeing what my life could have been if I had been raised in the late nineteenth century South;" she writes. Raised in the North by a Yankee mother most definitely not to be submissive; after finishing the book; I went in search of the reaction of a real Southerner. My friend loved the book. It could have been her story too. She'd married a Northerner; come to live in Maine; and promptly begun receiving condolence cards from her mother. But good news! She escaped! And so did Heath Lee!