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Confederate (CSA)

Colonel

James Lucius Davis

(1813 - 1871)

Home State: Virginia

Education: US Military Academy, West Point, NY, Class of 1833;Class Rank: 16

Command Billet: Commanding Regiment

Branch of Service: Cavalry

Unit: 10th Virginia Cavalry

Before Sharpsburg

From Henrico, and a graduate of West Point, he served in the US Army as a Lieutenant in the 4th US Artillery from 1833 - 36. By 1850 he was a man of some means in Henrico County, and he was Lt Colonel of the 4th Virginia Cavalry Militia (1858-60). In April 1861 he was Captain of the Henrico Troop - a company of cavalry. In 1861 he also published a book called The Trooper's Manual: or, Tactics for light dragoons and mounted riflemen (A. Morris, Richmond) - being credited as a man who was "for many years commander and instructor of volunteer cavalry"

The rest of the War

He was captured at Hagerstown, on the return leg of the Gettysburg Campaign, by Federal Cavalry in July 1863.

References & notes

Sources: Heitman, Francis Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, Washington, US Government Printing Office, 1903.,
The Imprints Index of the Rosanna A Blake Library of Confederate History, Marshall University; and
Memoirs of Confederate Doctor Archibald Atkinson, Jr. of the 10th Virginia Cavalry - online from the University Libraries at Virginia Tech.

Notes: He was a cousin of Confederate States President Jefferson Davis, though they may have had a difficult relationship. His son Mervyn was later a journalist and Texas Ranger - according to an article with some additional references to the Colonel.

More on the Web

He may have been part of a plot to free John Brown in 1859.

Birth

1813 in VA

Death

5/11/1871