Jefferson Davis Inauguration, Montgomery, Alabama
In Montgomery, Alabama, Jefferson Davis, former U. S. Senator from Mississippi, is installed as the first and only president of the Confederate States of America.
Southern Baptist minister Basil Manly, Sr., chaplain during the convention proceedings that in recent days birthed the Confederate States of America, opens the inauguration ceremonies in front of the capitol.
“Let thy special blessing rest on the engagements and issues of this day … thou hast provided us a man to go in and out before us, and lead thy people … vouchsafe thy blessing on this thy servant! Let his life and health be precious in thy sight. Grant him a sound mind, in a sound body. Let all his acts be done in thy fear, under thy guidance, with a single eye to thy glory; and crown them all with thy approbation and blessing … put thy good spirit into our whole people, – that they may faithfully do all thy fatherly pleasure. Let the administration of this government be the origin of truth and peace; let righteousness, which exalteth a nation, be the stability of our time.”
Sources: Manly prayer, A James. Fuller, Chaplain to the Confederacy: Basily Manly and Baptist Life in the Old South (Louisiana State University Press, 2000), pp. 294-295; description of Davis’ inauguration, Thomas M. and Marie B. Owen, History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography Volume 1 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1921), p. 330; photo courtesy of Alabama Department of Archives and History.
