Who was the Secretary of War under President Franklin Pierce?

Question

why is it so strange?

Answer 1

~After an undistinguished and bifurcated military career which culminated in with resignation of his commission first time because the father of his bride to be, Zachary Taylor, opposed the marriage, and the second time because he denied presidential authority to grant him a generalship, and after a lackluster political career, which included submissions of several reports and resolutions against secession, Jefferson Davis was appointed as Secretary of War by Pierce as a reward for his electioneering efforts on behalf of the democrats in the campaign of 1852. He served until he backed the wrong horse in 1856 and his term ended in 1857, whereupon he resumed a nondescript political career until he accepted the office of the presidency of the Confederacy, through which he proved military incompetence and was became responsible than William Sherman for the fall of Atlanta and, ultimately, of the South.

Your teacher wants you to say it's strange because Jeff Davis became president of the CSA, but, hey, Robert E. Lee led the federal troops against John Brown at Harper's Ferry, must of the southern political leadership had served in one capacity or another in the Federal government and all the great Southern military leaders were West Point graduates. Davis' vice-president, Andrew Stephens, for example, served as a congressman from 1842 to 1859, where he opposed secession and campaigned for the preservation of the Union.

Amazing what you can find out with a little research. You really ought to try it sometime.

Answer 2

Jefferson Davis