Joseph R. Davis: Difference between revisions

|caption = Official portrait, {{Circacirca|1888|lk=yes}} 1888

|birth_place = [[Wilkinson County, MississippiLouisiana]], U.S.

|allegiance = {{unbulleted list|{{flag[[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]]|1865}}|{{flag|[[United States|1891}}]]}}

|branch = {{unbulleted list|{{army|CSA}}|{{Nowrap|{{flagdeco|Mississippi|1894}}[[Confederate States Army]]|[[Mississippi National Guard]]}}}}

|branch_label = Service[[Military branch|Branch]]

|rank = {{unbulleted list|[[File:Confederate States of America General-collar.svg|23px]] [[Brigadier general|Brigadier-General]] (C.S.)|[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|23px]] [[Major general (United States)|Major-General]] (Miss.)}}

|commands = {{unbulleted list|Company I, [[10th Mississippi Infantry Regiment|10th Mississippi Infantry]] (1861)|Davis' Brigade (1862–1865)|Mississippi National Guard {{nowrap|(1888–1895)}}}}

|battles = {{tree list}}
* [[American Civil War]]<br />

**[[Siege of Suffolk]]

**[[Gettysburg Campaign]]{{WIA}}

**[[Overland Campaign|Wilderness Campaign]]

**[[Siege of Petersburg]]

**[[Appomattox Campaign]]{{POW}}

| battles_label = Battles

|spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{Marriage|Frances H. D. Peyton|1848August 29, 1842|1878|reason=divorced}}|{{Marriage|Margaret C. Green|March 1817, 1879}}}}

[[Major general (United States)|Major-General]] '''Joseph Robert Davis''' (January 12, 1825{{spaced ndash}}September 15, 1896) was aan seniorAmerican [[Officerpolitician (armedand forces)|officer]]lawyer who served as the commanding general of the [[Mississippi National Guard]] who served as the commanding general from 1888 to 1895.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Gen. Ricks' Successor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/263871005/ |work=Daily Commercial Herald |volume=XIX |number=97 |date=April 22, 1888 |location=Vicksburg, Mississippi |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 25, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Around the City |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/235800556/ |work=[[The Clarion-Ledger]] |volume=7 |number=90 |date=April 22, 1895 |location=Jackson, Mississippi |page=4 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 25, 2021}}</ref> During the [[American Civil War]], he served as [[Aide-de-camp|aide-de-camp]] to the [[President of the Confederate States of America|President of the Confederate States]] and commanded a [[brigade]] ofin the [[Army of Northern Virginia]]. He is best known for his role at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]].<ref name="Evans1899">{{cite book |last1=Curry |first1=J. L. M. |author-link1=Jabez Lamar Monroe Curry |last2=Garrett |first2=William R. |last3=Evans |first3=Clement A. |author-link3=Clement A. Evans |date=1899 |editor-last=Evans |editor-first=Clement A. |title=Confederate Military History. Volume I |url=https://archive.org/details/confedmilhist01evanrich/page/624/mode/2up |location=Atlanta |publisher=Confederate Publishing Company |pages=624-625624–625 |oclc=1042405334 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> A member of the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]],<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=Democratic Meeting |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/214043006/ |work=Semi-Weekly Mississippian |volume=2 |number=45 |date=January 1, 1856 |location=Jackson, Mississippi |page=2 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] |url-access=subscription |access-date=May 30, 2021}}</ref> he represented [[Madison County, Mississippi|Madison]] and [[Scott County, Mississippi|Scott]] counties in the [[Mississippi State Senate|Mississippi Senate]] from 1860 to 1861.

Joseph Robert Davis was born on January 12, 1825, in [[Wilkinson County, Mississippi|Wilkinson County]], [[MississippiLouisiana]], to Isaac and Susan ({{née}} Hartley) Davis, who were of [[Wales|Welsh]] and [[Ireland|Irish]] origin, respectively. He attended [[Miami University]] of [[Ohio]]. HeDavis engaged in private law practice untilin 1860[[Madison County, whenMississippi|Madison he was elected to theCounty]], [[Mississippi]] Senate.until 1860,<ref name="Goodspeed1891">{{cite book |year=1891 |title=Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Mississippi. Vol. I |url=https://archive.org/details/biographicalhist11good/page/n1315/mode/2up |publisher=[[Goodspeed Publishing|The Goodspeed Publishing Company]] |pages=626-627626–627 |ol=24157166M |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> when he was elected to the state senate.<ref name="Evans1899" />

[[File:JRDavis.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Davis inas uniform,an {{Circa}} 1861aide-de-camp]]

Entering the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[Military service|service]] as [[Captain (land)|Captain]] of [[Militia]] from Madison County, Mississippi, Davis had no formal military training. He was soon made [[Lieutenant colonel|Lieutenant-Colonel]] of the [[10th Mississippi Infantry Regiment|10th Mississippi Infantry]], after which he served on the personal staff of his uncle, President [[Jefferson Davis]], in [[Richmond, Virginia]], as an aide-de-camp with the [[Military rank|rank]] of [[Colonel]] of [[Cavalry]].<ref name="Evans1899" /> [[Commission (document)|Commissioned]] a [[Brigadier general|brigadier-general]] for the provisional army of the Confederate States to rank from September 15, 1862,<ref name="GPO1908">{{cite book |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Memorandum Relative to the General Officers Appointed by the President in the Armies of the Confederate States--1861-1865 |url=https://archive.org/details/memorandumrelati01unit/page/22/mode/2up |location=Washington |publisher=[[United States Government Publishing Office|Government Printing Office]] |date=1908 |page=23 |lccn=war08000049 |oclc=1048814672 |ol=23318774M |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> and [[Advice and consent|confirmed]] by the [[Confederate States Congress|Confederate States Senate]] only after charges of [[nepotism]] were freely aired and his [[nomination]] once rejected, he was assigned a brigade in [[Henry Heth|Heth]]'s Division, [[Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia|3d (Hill's) Corps]], Army of Northern Virginia, which he led through some of the most bitter battles of the war. He fought at Gettysburg (where his brigade suffered heavily in the railroad cut on the [[Battle of Gettysburg, first day|first day of the battle]] and participated in [[Pickett's Charge]] on the third day), in the [[Overland Campaign|Wilderness Campaign]], and at the [[Siege of Petersburg]].<ref name="Warner1959">{{cite book |last=Warner |first=Ezra J. |author-link=Ezra J. Warner (historian) |date=1959 |title=Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders |location=Baton Rouge |publisher=[[Louisiana State University Press]] |pages=68–69 |isbn=978-0-8071-0823-9}}</ref>

Paroled at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court-House]] on April 9, 1865,<ref name="GPO1908" /> Davis returned to Mississippi. After the war he resided in [[Harrison County, Mississippi|Harrison County]], his home most of the time being at [[Biloxi, Mississippi|Biloxi]].<ref name="Goodspeed1891" /> He died on September 15, 1896,<ref name="Evans1899" /> and is buried at Biloxi Cemetery.<ref name="Warner1959" />

Davis was married in 1848 to Frances H. D. Peyton, and secondly, in 1870, to Margaret C. Green. He had two daughters.<ref name="Goodspeed1891" />

|[[Captain (armed forces)|Captain]] || JanuaryOctober 281, 18611860 || Mississippi Volunteers

|[[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] || August 31, 1861 || Confederate States Army

* {{Find a Grave|10851}}

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