July 2009 - Scvportland.org

In the Winter of 1860-61, shortly after the election of Abraham Lincoln as the 16th President ofthe United States, seven Southern states seceded from the Union and formed the ConfederateStates of America. On February 8, 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress met in Montgomery,Alabama for the purpose of choosing their first president. Their unanimous selection was JeffersonDavis, a man who was highly regarded by the North and South alike as a distinguished warhero, statesman, and patriot. Later that month, the Congress authorized the leasing of an executivemansion. An offer came from Colonel Edmund S. Harrison of nearby Prattville, Alabamawho had recently purchased a newly renovated house in Montgomery. He offered to rent thehouse fully furnished and staffed for the lofty sum of $5,000 per year.The house, built in the 1830's by a well known contractor and owned by a series of prominentMontgomerians, served as the first White House of the Confederacy from February, 1861 untillate May, 1861 when the Confederate Capital was permanently moved to Richmond, Virginia.During that time, the White House was the setting for many lavish parties and receptions hostedby Mrs. Davis.Following the Civil War, the house passed through the hands of several owners before April of1897, when the newly organized United Daughters of the Confederacy proposed that the State ofAlabama should preserve the house. On July 1, 1900, 27 ladies dedicated to the cause formed theWhite House Association of Alabama and took over the project. During the next 20 years, theWhite House Association worked to raise the funds necessary to purchase the house. Finally in1919, Governor Thomas E. Kilby appropriated $25,000 for the purchase and relocation of thehouse. On June 3, 1921, the restored First White House of the Confederacy was reopened in a lavishceremony in which the White House Association gave the house to the people of the State ofAlabama. Today, the First White House of the Confederacy is maintained jointly by the WhiteHouse Association and the State of Alabama and is open year-round for public view.