Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Hasbrouck Davis: Grimes Davis's Partner in Escaping Harpers Ferry, September 14, 1862

Hasbrouck Davis was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, April 23, 1827 the third son of  "Honorable" John Davis, a US Senator and Governor of Massachusetts and Elizabeth Bancroft Davis.  After obtaining a primary education in his hometown schools Davis matriculated to Williams College in 1841. He graduated from Williams in 1845.

After graduation Hasbrouck taught school for a year and then went to Germany to continue his studies in preparation to joining the ministry.  On his return to the United States he because a Minister  of the Unitarian Society in Watertown, Massachusetts about 1849.  In 1850 he would marry Martha W. Stickney whom would bear him 4 children between 1851 and 1859. Davis did not stay with the ministry long, abandoning that profession to study law.  By 1854 he had been admitted to the Bar and opened an office in Boston.  In 1855 Davis made a permanent move to Chicago, Illinois where he renewed the practice of law.



                                          Hasbrouck Davis


According to an excerpt in a book "In Memoriam" published after his death Davis was "tall, over 6 feet, well proportioned, far in complexion with light brown or perhaps auburn hair and blue eyes with a tinge of grey in them - he might be said to possess a more than common share of physical beauty.  Naturally impulsive, he gave his soul to every act; and to this ardent nature he added a persistency of purpose rarely found in unison with it."

When the civil war broke out Hasbrouck Davis turned his law practice over to his partner and helped recruit the 12th Illinois Cavalry.  He was commissioned Lt. Colonel of the 12th November 18, 1861 serving under German born Colonel Arno Voss.

The 12th Illinois Cavalry Regiment was organized at Camp Butler in February 1862.  They would remain there until June 1862 training and guarding Confederate prisoners of war captured at Fort Donelson.  After receiving their mounts on June 25, 1862 the 12th Illinois left Camp Butler for Martinsburg, Virginia.

Lt. Colonel Hasbrouck Davis and the 12th Illinois Cavalry saw action in and around Martinsburg, Bunker Hill, and Darkesville, Virginia in early September 1862.  They were briefly in Williamsport, Maryland on September 11  before returning to Martinsburg.  On the 12th they vacated Martinsburg with Brigadier General Julius White's command and headed southward to Harpers Ferry to join Colonel Dixon Miles Union garrison there.  They were engaged in the defenses of Harpers Ferry on September 13 and 14th, 1862.

By September 13, 1862 the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry was surrounded by Confederate forces under the command of Stonewall Jackson.  Confederate artillery shelled the town on the 14th and things look bleak for the Union forces.  It was inevitable the garrison would have to surrender.

The leaders of the Union Cavalry at Harpers Ferry, predominately Colonel Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis of the 8th New York Cavalry and Lt. Colonel Hasbrouck Davis of the 12th Illinois consulted with Julius White about the possibility of escaping the doomed town.  They went to Colonel Dixon Miles who reluctantly gave his consent for the breakout.  Miles in Special Order #120 put Colonel Arno Voss of the 12th Illinois in overall command of the expedition because he was the ranking officer.

About 8:00 pm on September 14, 1862 about 1500 Union cavalry, led by Grimes and Hasbrouck Davis and a local guide left Harpers Ferry via the pontoon bridge that spanned the Potomac to the base of Maryland Heights in Maryland.  The men would follow the line of the Potomac to near Williamsport, MD., where they would go cross country, finally winding up in Greencastle Pennsylvania along with part of Confederate General James Longstreet's supply train.  The escape ranks as one of the most daring events in civil war history.

Hasbrouck Davis would be promoted Colonel of the 12th Illinois Cavalry on August 11, 1863 and Brevet Brigadier General March 13, 1865.  He would lead the regiment throughout the remainder of the civil war resigning his commission in August 1865. After leaving the army Davis resumed his law practice in Chicago.


                           
                                Find A Grave photo by Merry Hill

On October 19, 1870 Hasbrouck Davis would be lost at sea of the coast of Ireland aboard the steamer Cambria.  His body was never recovered.




Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis: Some Family Secrets Revealed

It has been common knowledge for years that renowned 1st U. S. Cavalry Captain and Colonel of the 8th New York Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis, who lost his life to a rebel bullet on June 9, 1863 at Beverly Ford, Virginia was born in Alabama and appointed to West Point from Mississippi.  Little else was known about his youth or his family until recently.  With  modern technology and internet access to historic records at the click of a mouse long lost secrets about Davis's family have come to light.


                               Benjamin Franklin "Grimes" Davis


A review of papers supporting Davis's application to the United States Military Academy note he was the grandson of Captain Benjamin W. Holladay and a nephew of Captain John Abbott and William Taylor.  All three men lived in Monroe County, Mississippi in 1850.  William Taylor and John Abbott both wrote letters supporting young Davis's application to West Point.

Benjamin Holladay, the son of John Marshall Holladay III who died August 16, 1780 at the Revolutionary War Battle of Camden in South Carolina, was born in Spottsylvania, Virginia April 11, 1777.  He moved to Wilkes County, Georgia,  Perry County, Alabama and later Mississippi where he died on October 15, 1850.

Many of Benjamin Holladay and his wife Elizabeth numerous daughters were born in Wilkes County, Georgia before the family moved to Perry County, Alabama in late 1819 or early 1820. Holladay purchased public lands that were opened to entry after the Treaty of Fort Jackson was signed August 9, 1814.  Three of these daughters, Nancy, Agnes Portatier, and Matilda are important to our story.

Agnes, who is often referred to in the census records as Portatier, was born in Wilkes County, Georgia about 1806.  She married William Taylor September 18, 1828 in Perry County, Alabama.  By 1850 the family was living in Monroe County, Mississippi where Taylor was a planter.  According to a descendent, Elaine Coffman, he also operated a Stagecoach Inn in the Southern Crossroads Area south of Aberdeen on the Aberdeen-Columbus stage route.

Nancy M. Holladay was born in Wilkes County about 1808.  She married Wiley Howell, April 3, 1823 in Perry County, Alabama.  By 1850 the Howell family was also living in Monroe County, Mississippi where Wiley was a planter.

Matilda is the most illusive of the Holladay daughter but also the most important.  According to family trees and census records she was born in Georgia sometime before 1813.  On January 1, 1831 Matilda and Benjamin E. Davis were married in Perry County, Alabama.  Benjamin purchased 79.81 acres of public land in Perry County as a cash sale on February 4, 1832  according to Government Land Office records.  Benjamin E. and Matilda E. Davis would have 6 sons before leaving Alabama in late 1840.

Benjamin Franklin Davis was born to this union on October 24, 1831.  Next in line was William Owen Davis (born about 1833), followed by Thomas Jefferson, (born about 1834) Francis Marion (born about 1837) Christopher Columbus (born about 1839) and finally Augustus Romalus Davis (born about 1840).

The October 1840 Perry County, Alabama Census records show Benjamin E. Davis as head of household with 3 free white males under 5, 3 free white males age 5-9, 3 free white males age 30-39, 1 free white female age 20-29 and 5 slaves.

In the fall of 1840 the Davis family left Perry County, Alabama  and headed to northern Louisiana where they settled in eastern Union Parish, probably on a 317 acre tract purchased by Benjamin on November 12, 1839.  Benjamin E. Davis purchased several other parcels of public land and opened a store near his home.   Matilda Davis passed away in early 1843.  On May 2, 1843 Benjamin E. Davis married Malinda Kelly. Benjamin and Malinda added two more sons to the family, Walter and John, before Benjamin E's untimely death on or about June 26, 1846.

After their fathers death the 6 boys from Benjamin E. Davis's 1st marriage went to live with relatives of their mother in Monroe County, Mississippi.  Walter Taylor became the boys guardian.  Union Parish probate court records indicate they were in Mississippi  in 1847.   By 1850, according to the  federal census records and the letters mentioned above, the brothers were all still living in Monroe County, Mississippi.

In December 1849 Benjamin Franklin was a ward of William Taylor.   He was described as being "about 18 years of age, 5' 9 or 10" high and will weigh about 130 lbs., a fine looking fellow" "of unblemished reputation" and  "of very superior mental endowment". He had served in the 1st Battalion Mississippi Rifle Volunteers commanded by Lt. Colonel James Patton Anderson, at Tampico in the Mexican War and was "one of its best soldiers".

In 1850 William, Francis Marion and Augustus were living with Taylor and his wife Portatier, an older sister of Matilda Holladay Davis.  Thomas Jefferson Davis lived with another sister Nancy Holladay and her husband Wiley Howell. Christopher Columbus lived with his cousin Sarah Elizabeth Abbott Clopton and her husband Dr. John Hales Clopton in Monroe County.  In a letter written by E. Abbott supporting Benjamin's West Point application Abbott notes:  "Mr Davis has lost both his father and mother and has 5 brothers, all fine, strong, well behaved boys".

 Benjamin Franklin Davis was admitted to West Point July 1, 1850 and graduated in 1854 ranking 32nd out of 46 cadets.  Upon graduation he was assigned to the 5th U. S. Infantry. He transferred to the 1st U. S. Dragoons March 3, 1855.  Davis spent time in Texas and New Mexico, where he distinguished himself and was wounded fighting Coyotero and Mogollon Apache on the Gila River, June 27, 1857.  By 1858 he was in California  where he would be commissioned a Captain in the 1st U. S. Dragoons (renamed the 1st U. S. Cavalry August 3, 1861) and a Lt. Colonel of the 1st California Cavalry Volunteers.  He came east in 1861 to join the Union War effort.  Davis is best known for advocating and leading a daring escape of Union cavalry from Harpers Ferry on September 14, 1862 in conjunction with  Lt. Colonel Hasbrouck Davis of the 12th Illinois Cavalry.  He would be breveted Major in the regular army, September 15, 1862 for "Meritorious Service in the Withdrawal of the Cavalry Forces from Harpers Ferry, VA., at the Surrender of the Place", on the recommendation of Major General George B. McClellan.  On November 14, 1862  Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton recommended John Farnsworth, David Gregg and  Davis for promotion to Brigadier General noting "their judgement, experience and energy fully entitled them to the position of Brigadier General."  This request was not acted upon prior to Davis's untimely death.

As noted in Half Century Record of the Class at West Point 1850-1854, written by Henry L. Abbott, Davis "served in the battles and skirmishes of the Army of the Potomac, after that of South Mountain always with so much credit to himself as to be regarded as having very few equals and no superiors in the cavalry branch of the service".

At least 3 of Benjamin's brothers, Francis Marion, Christopher Columbus and Augustus fought for the Confederacy. Marion and Augustus were with Company I,  11th Mississippi Infantry Regiment.   Marion would be missing on June 27, 1862 at Gaines Mill, Virginia during the Peninsula Campaign and Augustus would be killed  at Weldon Railroad August 18, 1864.  Christopher served with Company D, 2nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment. He was wounded at Sharpsburg, Maryland on September 17, 1862 and at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863.  He would spend time as a POW at Point Lookout, Maryland.  He galvanized and later deserted to rejoin the 2nd Mississippi.  Christopher survived the civil war, returned to Mississippi and became a teacher but died by suicide several years after returning home.

A cousin of the Davis brothers James H. Taylor, son of William Taylor and his wife Agnes enlisted with the 20th Mississippi Infantry Regiment on June 25, 1861.  He was captured at Fort Donelson in February 1862 and later exchanged.  Taylor was captured again on May 16, 1863 at Edward's Station (Brownsville) during the Vicksburg Campaign.  James Taylor was sent to Fort Delaware and later Point Lookout, Maryland where he died on August 22, 1864.  He is buried at the Confederate Cemetery associated with the Point Lookout Prison Camp.

Update:  If you are interested in seeing a family tree of Benjamin Franklin Davis and his immediate family go to this link:  https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/157816700/person/322071946456/facts  All the information in the tree is tied to extant public records.