Joseph R. Davis

Joseph R. Davis
Portrait of Davis as Colonel and Aide to the President of the Confederate States
Birth name	Joseph Robert Davis
Born	January 12, 1825 Woodville, Mississippi
Died	September 15, 1896 (aged 71) Biloxi, Mississippi
Buried at	Biloxi, Mississippi
Allegiance	Confederate States
Service/branch	Confederate States Army
Years of service	1861-1865
Rank	Brigadier-General
Commands held	Davis' Brigade
Campaigns	Civil War Gettysburg Wilderness Spotsylvania Cold Harbor Petersburg Appomattox
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

Joseph R. Davis (January 12, 1825 – September 15, 1896) was a brigadier-general from Mississippi in the Provisional Army of the Confederate States.^[1][2]

Early life and education

Brigadier-General Joseph Robert Davis was born in Woodville, Mississippi on January 12, 1825, and was educated in Nashville and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Trained in the law, he practiced his profession in Madison County, Mississippi, and was elected to the Mississippi State Senate in 1860.^[3]

American Civil War

Entering the Confederate service as Captain of Militia from Madison County, Mississippi, Davis was soon made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tenth Regiment, Mississippi Volunteers, after which he served on his uncle's staff in Richmond as an aide de camp with the rank of Colonel of Cavalry.^[4] Commissioned a 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 Heth's Division, 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 third day), in the Wilderness Campaign, and at the siege of Petersburg.^[5][6]

Later years

Paroled at Appomattox on April 9, 1865, Brigadier-General Davis returned to Mississippi. He died September 15, 1896 and is buried at Biloxi Cemetery.^[7][8]

See also

• List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
• Gettysburg order of battle
• Wilderness order of battle
• Spotsylvania order of battle
• Cold Harbor order of battle
• Petersburg order of battle
• Appomattox order of battle

Notes

1. Biloxi Herald, 1896.
2. Warner, 1959, pp. 68-69.
3. Warner, 1959, pp. 68-69.
4. Hooker, 1899, pp. 249-50.
5. Hooker, 1899, pp. 249-50.
6. Warner, 1959, pp. 68-69.
7. Hooker, 1899, pp. 249-50.
8. Warner, 1959, pp. 68-69.

References

• “Gen. Joseph R. Davis.” Biloxi Herald. 19 September 1896.
• Warner, Ezra J. (1997), Generals in Gray: Lives of Confederate Commanders, Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5.
• Wheeler, Maj.-Gen. Joseph; Hooker, Col. Charles E. (1899). Evans, Brig.-Gen. Clement A., ed. Confederate Military History XII. Atlanta: Confederate Publishing.
• Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi II. Goodspeed Publishing Co. 1891. Retrieved September 20, 2014.

Further reading

• Gottfried, Bradley M. (2012). Brigades of Gettysburg: The Union and Confederate Brigades at the Battle of Gettysburg. New York: Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 978-1-61608-401-1.
• 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, Inc. ISBN 0-89029-335-X.

External links

• Joseph R. Davis at Find a Grave