Joseph R. Davis
| Major-General Joseph R. Davis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Joseph Robert Davis |
| Nickname | Joe |
| Born |
January 12, 1825 Woodville, Mississippi |
| Died |
September 15, 1896 (aged 71) Biloxi, Mississippi |
| Place of burial | Biloxi City Cemetery |
| Allegiance |
 Republic of Mississippi Confederate States United States |
| Rank |
 Captain (Militia) Brigadier-General (CSA) |
| Commands held |
Madison Rifles Davis' Brigade |
| Civil War | Gettysburg |
| Spouse(s) |
Frances Peyton (m. 1848, div. 1878) Margaret Green (m. 1879) |
| Relations |
Isaac Davis (father) Susannah Gartley (mother) Varina Davis (daughter) Edith Davis (daughter) Jefferson Davis (uncle) |
| Other work | Lawyer, Politician |
Joseph Robert Davis (January 12, 1825 – September 15, 1896) was a lawyer, Mississippi Senator, and a Brigadier-General in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[1] He was a nephew of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis.
Early years
Davis was born in Woodville, Mississippi, January 12, 1825, and was educated in Nashville and at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Trained in the law, he practiced his profession in Madison County, Mississippi, and was elected to the Mississippi Senate in 1860.[2]
The Civil War
Entering Confederate service as Captain of Militia from Madison County, he was soon made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tenth Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, after which he served on his uncle's staff in Richmond with the rank of colonel. Commissioned brigadier-general to rank from September 15, 1862, and confirmed by the Senate only after charges of nepotism were freely aired and his nomination once rejected, Davis was assigned a brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia, which he led through some of the bitterest battles of the war. He fought at Gettysburg (where his command formed a support to Pickett in the celebrated charge of the third day), in the Wilderness Campaign, and the siege of Petersburg.[3]
Post-war activities
Paroled at Appomattox Court-House in April 1865, he returned to Mississippi and resumed his law practice, spending the remainder of his life at Biloxi, where he died, September 15, 1896, and where he is buried at Biloxi City Cemetery.[4]
See also
Notes
References
- Warner, Ezra J. (1959). Generals in Gray – Lives of the Confederate Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
Further reading
- Chesnut, Mary (1905). A Diary from Dixie. Ed. Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary. New York: Appleton.
- Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher (2001). Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- “Gen. Joseph R. Davis.” Biloxi Herald. 19 September 1896.
- Jones, J. B. (1866). Vol. I of A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Lippincott.
- Pfanz, Harry W (2001). Gettysburg – The First Day. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN 0-8078-2624-3.
- Roberts, Bobby and Carl Moneyhon (1993). Portraits of Conflict – A Photographic History of Mississippi in the Civil War. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press. ISBN 1-55728-260-9.
- United Confederate Veterans. Miss. Div. (1892). Proceedings of the Second Annual Grand Camp of Confederate Veterans of Mississippi, at Natchez, October 7 – 8, 1891. Jackson: Clarion Printing Establishment.
- Vol. II of Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi (1891). 2 vols. Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing.
- Wheeler, Joseph Lt. Gen., and Col. Charles E. Hooker (1899). Vol. XII of Confederate Military History. 12 vols. Ed. Brig. Gen. Clement A. Evans. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing.
- Williams, T. P. (1999) The Mississippi Brigade of Brig. Gen. Joseph R. Davis – A Geographical Account of Its Campaigns and a Biographical Account of Its Personalities, 1861-1865. Dayton, Ohio: Morningside House. ISBN 0-89029-335-X.
External links
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