Editing Jefferson Davis (section)

===Author===
[[File:Jefferson Davis, seated, facing front, during portrait session at Davis' home Beauvoir, near Biloxi, Mississippi LCCN2009633710.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Photograph of Jefferson Davis at his home in [[Beauvoir (Biloxi, Mississippi)|Beauvoir]] by [[Edward Livingston Wilson|Edward Wilson]] ({{circa|1885}})|alt=bearded man looking forward with shuttered window in background]]
In January 1877, the author [[Sarah Dorsey]] invited him to live on her estate at [[Beauvoir (Biloxi, Mississippi)|Beauvoir]], Mississippi, and to begin writing his memoirs. He agreed, but insisted on paying board.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=669}} At the time, Davis and Varina lived separately. When Varina came back to the United States, she initially refused to come to Beauvoir because she did not like Davis's close relationship with Dorsey, who was serving as his [[amanuensis]]. In the summer of 1878, Varina relented, moving to Beauvoir and taking over the role of Davis's assistant.{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=612–613}} Dorsey died in July 1879, and left Beauvoir to Davis in her will, and he lived there for most of his remaining years.{{sfn|Muldowny|1969|p=23}}

Davis's first book, ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government]]'', was published in 1881.{{sfn|Davis|1991|pp=673–676}} The book was intended as a vindication of Davis's actions during the war{{sfn|Cooper|2000|pp=619–621}} and an argument for the righteousness of secession,{{sfn|Foster|1987|pp=72–73}} though it downplayed slavery's role as a cause of the war.{{sfnm|Cooper|2008|1pp=98–100|Nolan|2000|2p=15}} [[James Redpath]], editor of the ''[[North American Review]]'', encouraged him to write a series of articles for the magazine{{sfnm|Collins|2005|1p=49|Cooper|2000|2p=644}} and to complete his final book ''[[A Short History of the Confederate States of America]]''.{{sfn|Davis|1991|p=682}} He also began dictating his memoirs, although they were never finished.{{sfnm|Cooper|2000|1p=645|Davis|1991|2p=683}}

In 1886, [[Henry W. Grady]], an advocate for the [[New South]], convinced Davis to lay the cornerstone for a monument to the Confederate dead in Montgomery, Alabama, and to attend the unveilings of statues memorializing Davis's friend [[Benjamin H. Hill]] in Savannah and the Revolutionary War hero [[Nathanael Greene]] in Atlanta.{{sfn|Collins|2005|pp=26–27}} The tour was a triumph for Davis and got extensive newspaper coverage, which emphasized national unity and the South's role as a permanent part of the United States. At each stop along the way, large crowds came out to cheer Davis, solidifying his image as an icon of the South and the Confederacy.{{sfn|Muldowny|1969|p=31}} In October 1887, Davis held his last tour, traveling to the Georgia State Fair in [[Macon, Georgia]], for a grand reunion with Confederate veterans.{{sfn|Collins|2005|p=40}}