Joseph Robert Davis
Joseph Robert Davis (born January 12, 1825 in Woodville , Mississippi , † September 15, 1896 in Biloxi , Mississippi) was a lawyer, politician and brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War .
Life
Joseph Davis was the nephew of Jefferson Davis , President of the Confederate States of America . He studied law at Miami University in Ohio , practiced law after his admission, engaged in politics and was a member of the Mississippi Senate .
At the beginning of the war, he joined the Confederate Army as a captain with a company of volunteers from Madison County, and in April 1861 was appointed deputy commander of the 10th Mississippi Regiment and promoted to lieutenant colonel. On August 31 of the same year his uncle named him to his staff in Richmond , Virginia and promoted him to colonel. After more than a year of service on the staff, Davis was promoted to brigadier general on September 15, 1862, with no further military training or combat experience, and was given command of a Mississippi brigade. In the late spring of 1863 he was assigned to Heth's division for III. Corps of Northern Virginia Army reassigned to Lee to assist in the invasion of the North. With the brigade consisting of the 2nd, 11th and 42nd Mississippi and the 55th North Carolina Regiment, he marched into Pennsylvania .
On July 1, 1863, Heth's division encountered Northern Cavalry off Gettysburg , Pennsylvania. Davis' brigade was the second of the Confederates to be used in combat. Davis used all of his regiments except the 11th Mississippi Regiment. He led two of his regiments in an unfinished railway section that was too deep to serve as a trench. The two regiments suffered great losses; many soldiers were wounded and taken prisoner. The remainder of Davis' brigade was not involved in fighting the following day, but was reinstated on July 3. Davis led his brigade in the assault known as Pickett's Charge. The brigade suffered a loss of 289 dead, 677 injured and more than 67 missing or captured, a loss of nearly 45 percent. After the Battle of Gettysburg, Davis fell ill with a fever and did not resume active service until the following year.
In the following years he participated in the Battle of the Wilderness , from May 8 to 21, 1864 at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , from May 31 to June 12, 1864 at the Battle of Cold Harbor and from March 29 to April 9, 1865, took part in the Appomattox Campaign , which ended with the Battle of Appomattox and the surrender of the Northern Virginia Army, the main Confederate army.
After the war, Davis went back to Mississippi and resumed his practice as a lawyer in Biloxi, where he died in 1896.
See also
literature
- David J. Eicher, The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography , University of Illinois, 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4
- Richard N. Current, Encyclopedia of the Confederacy (1993) (4 vol.) ( ISBN 0132759918 )
- John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands , Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3
- Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders , Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5
Web links
- Biography at www.aphillcsa.com
- Joseph R. Davis in the database of Find a Grave (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Davis, Joseph Robert |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Davis, J. Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Confederate General in the American Civil War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 12, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Woodville , Mississippi, Mississippi |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 15, 1896 |
| Place of death | Biloxi (Mississippi) , Mississippi |