Winnie Davis: 

Daughter of the Lost Cause

By Heath Hardage Lee

Varina Anne “Winnie” Davis was born into war-ravaged Richmond, Virginia, in June of 1864.  She was the youngest daughter of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his second wife, Varina Howell Davis. The baby arrived on the scene just a month after the death of the beloved Confederate hero J. E. B. Stuart during a string of Confederate military victories.  Winnie was hailed as a blessing by war-weary Southerners, her birth considered a good omen signifying future victory. But after the Confederacy’s surrender, Winnie spent much of her early life as a genteel refugee and an expatriate abroad. The young woman finally returned to the South after years away at German boarding school.  In 1886, Winnie was named the “Daughter of the Confederacy,” rapidly emerging as a superstar of the “Lost Cause” memorial movement.  On the surface Winnie seemed a perfect fit for her role.   However, her designated title reflected only her public persona.  Her earlier education in Germany and extensive travels in Europe had created a woman who was curious, artistic, and far more sophisticated intellectually than most of her peers. When Winnie fell in love with the grandson of a famous Northern abolitionist, all hell broke loose in the South.  The Davises were shocked and dismayed when their youngest daughter’s romance attracted national attention and the disapproval of Confederate veterans and friends.  What happened next set Winnie on an unconventional and ultimately tragic path. Based upon years of archival research, newly discovered primary source materials, and interviews with descendants of the Davis family, some current United Daughters of the Confederacy members, and other prominent Confederate descendants, Daughter of the Lost Cause provides readers with an insider’s view of Winnie’s late nineteenth-century world and the expectations that haunted and ultimately controlled her life.

Author Heath Hardage Lee’s debut biography, Winnie Davis:  Daughter of the Lost Cause, is the first published biography to illuminate the life of the youngest daughter of Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his second wife, Varina Howell Davis.  Lee has written for numerous newspapers and magazines including the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Charlotte Magazine, Charlotte Home Design, Charlotte Place, and Charlotte Business.  She contributes regularly to several blogs on art and design.   Check out her website and “A Woman’s Place” her blog, at www.heathleeauthor.com. You can grab a copy of the book on Amazon and potomacbooksinc.com