George W. Davis

As printed in 1901

GEORGE W. DAVIS.

egal, Ireland, December 23, 1843, son of George and Susannah (Fisher) Davis, natives of the same county, where they continued to make their home until their emigration to America in October, 1854. The family took passage at Londonderry, Ireland, on the sailing vessel Creole, and were upon the water for twelve weeks, during which time they encountered some terrific storms and it was supposed that the vessel would go down. In fact the vessel was reported lost. They lost two passengers, but the others landed safely in Philadelphia. The Davis family settled in that city, where the father of our subject died in April, 1856. In the fall of the same year the mother and children came to Iowa and took up their residence in Jones county, where she made her home for many 3-ears, dying there in 1895, aged eighty-six years. Her remains were interred in the Linn Grove cemetery. She was a devout member of the Presbyterian church, to which her husband also belonged.

Of the eleven children born to this worthy couple nine are still living, namely: James, a retired farmer and veteran of the Civil war, wedded Mary Ann Clark and resides in Mt. Vernon, Iowa; Thomas F. married Jane Kepler, and is also a retired farmer of Mt. Vernon; William married Ruth Fisher and is living retired in Cedar Rapids; Martha was the wife of John McPherson, of Jones county, Iowa, who is now deceased; Ruth is the wife of John W. Fink, of Lisbon; George W., our subject, is next in order of birth; Belle is the wife of Daniel Connor, who lives near Mechanicsville, Cedar county, Iowa; Jane is the wife of John F. Oldham, of Pierre, Oklahoma; and John wedded Jude Chapman, who was born in the old court house at Marion, and resides in Dorchester, Nebraska.

Mr. Davis of this review attended the national schools of Ireland until the family came to the United States, and for one year pursued his studies in the schools of Philadelphia. He then worked in a cotton and woolen factory for the same length of time. When the family came to Iowa in 1856, he found employment with Samuel Pfoutz, two and one-half miles north of Lisbon, where he worked for his board and clothes until the following spring, and then went to Linn Grove, where he worked for Abner Lacock for forty dollars per year and his clothes, remaining with him two years. The following year he was in the employ of Ed Clark, and then returned to his former employer, for whom he worked until the Civil war broke out.

In July, 1 86 1, at the age of seventeen years, Mr. Davis offered his services to the government, joining the boys in blue of Company I, Second Iowa Veteran Volunteer Cavalry, under command of Captain D. E. Coon, of Mason City, Iowa. Owing to the age of our subject he was obliged to tell a patriotic fib in order to be mustered in. After being mustered into the United States service at Davenport, the regiment was sent to Benton Barrack, St. Louis, in December,

1 86 1, where they remained until February,

1862. While here they were on scout duty and sixty of the members tlie from measles. They were then ordered to Island No. 10, under command of General John Pope, which they assisted in capturing and they were the first troops on the Kentucky side of the river. There were captured six thousand prisoners, one million five hundred thousand dollars worth of stores, and the Second Iowa captured a rebel flag on which was the inscription "Mississippi Devils, presented by the ladies." After dye defeat at Shiloli they were sent up the Tennessee river to Pittsburg Landing, where they were placed under the command of General Hallick, who was advancing on Corinth, anil they made the charge on the rebel army at that place under General Hatch, Z\Iay 9, 1862. The opposing force was so great that they were driven back, but saved Paine's division. They were the first troops to enter Corinth after the evacuation of the city. May 29..\t twelve o'clock one night that summer they made the first cavalry raid of the war, under Colonel Washington L. Elli(Jtt, who was a graduate of West Point and had served seventeen years in the regular army. They also took part in the battle of Booneville, where Sheridan with the Second Iowa and Second Michigan Cavalry defeated eight thousand rebels, and was there made brigadier-general. After this engagement the Second Iowa Cavalry moved back to Rienzi, and our subject was detailed as orderly for General Sheridan, having previously been messenger boy for General Elliott and General Granger, being chosen out of twenty-seven hundred men in his command, which was quite an honor. Three months later he rejoined his command, and on the 5th of September they broke camp a* Rienza and returned to Corinth, where General Rosecrans was then in command. They next went to Payton's Mills in pursuit of General Faulkner, where they participated in the battle at that place, and then moved back to Iuka. to support the Fifth Iowa Infantry. There they stood to horse all night in a drenching rain. About midnight General Rosecrans called a council of brigade commanders, and gave the command to move at daybreak, the infantry with bayonets fi.xed and the cavalry with drawn sabers, not a shot to be fired. It was expected that

General Grant would support them. The rebels retreated during the night, and the Union troops followed them twenty miles and made a stand at two o'clock next day. After this engagement Generals Price and Wan Dorn united their armies and moved north. The result was the two days' battle at Corinth on October 1 and 2, 1862, and the rebels were defeated. Here Mr. Davis was wounded in the ankle and sent to the Keokuk, Iowa, hospital, where he remained thirty days. Deserting the hospital, he went down the Mississippi river on a steamer to Wicksburg, and rejoined his regiment, which formed Grant's advance guard cm Wicksburg at Grant Junction. They were next in an engagement with Colonel Faulkner at Holly Springs, November 29, and captured thirty horses and sixty men. On the 2d of December they crossed the Tallahatchee river and moved on Springdale, Mississippi, and from there went to 'ater Valley, where they lost three men and six horses. They next proceeded to Oxford, Mississippi. After landing at Ponnetock they went back to Holly Springs, and retreated northward December 22, as Colonel Van Dorn had burned the supplies. The brigade to which our subject belonged returned to Coffeeville, participating in the battle there, after which the)- commenced destroying the Mississippi Central Railroad, being the rear guard of General Grant's army. They retreated as far as the Tallahatchee river and then went into winter quarters at La Grange, Tennessee, where they built log houses. In the spring of 1863 they went to Waterford, Mississippi, where they were surrounded by the Texas Legion, but were rescued by citizens who notified the brigade and they escaped back to La Grange. In March our subject's regiment marched three hundred and sixty miles, and were placed under the command of General B. H. Grierson, who started to cut the railroad communication of the rebels. On the 2 1 St of April they went to Palalto, and from there to Columbus. Mv. Davis" regiment returned to La Grange, where they remained all summer. On the 5th of June they went on a raid down the Mississippi river, and nine days later marched into Panola, mississippi, where they burned fifteen million dollars worth of property. On the ist of July they were ordered to Jackson, and after taking part in the battle at that place returned to La Grange. Later they captured six locomotives and twenty-five cars at Granada, which town the rebels surrendered August 2/, 1863. Two months were then spent in camp at Memphis, Tennessee, and in November went to Colliersville, taking part in an engagement at that place, defeating the rebels under General Gorge. They went to Oxford, Mississippi, December 4, and subsequently took part in the battle at Moscow, where their commander. General Hatch, was shot through the right lung. Here the rebels numbered five thousand, and the Union forces only thirteen hundred. Marching back to La Grange, a distance of about thirty-five miles, they broke camp January 1, 1864, and two days later reached Memphis, where they slept that night on the frozen ground. The_\' remained there till February 5, when they joined General \V. S. Smith at Germantown. Tenne. see, and started to join General Sherman's command at Aleridian. it being their intention to form a large cavalry force to march through the Confederacy, but they were met and defeated by the rebels. They were soon in a part of the Confederacy which was still rich with provisions. At West Point, Mississippi, February 21, General Smith ordered a retreat to Okolona, and the fighting became severe, the rebels having eight thousand soldiers and the Union troops numbering only four thousand. As Mr. Davis' time had expired he re-enlisted in the same regiment at Germantown, being determined to see the end of the war. He then returned to Davenport by-ay of St. Louis and was given a thirty-day furlough. He rejoined his command May 15 at Davenport, Iowa, and returned to St. Louis, where they received a new equipment. whence they went to Memphis. They were then armed with the Spencer seven-shot carbines. They took part in the Iwttle of Tupalo under General A. J. Smith and Brigadier-General B. H. Grierson and several skirmishes, and then returned to Memphis, where they remained until the 2d of August, and from there went to Clrand Junction and Waterford to rebuild the railroad to Oxford, Mississippi. After their return to Memphis they were ordered to join General Sherman on his march to the sea. At Clifton, however, the order was countermanded, and they were ordered to report to General Thomas, who was sent to repeal General Hood, and joined his forces near Columbia. Tennessee. General Hood advanced on Nashville with forty-five thousand infantry, fifteen thousand cavalry and ninety pieces of artillery, while the Union forces had nul_\- four thousand cavalry in his front, and a small army of infantry and artillery. Our subject's regiment on its retreat to Nashxille too part in the engagements at Campbellville. Linnvillle, Mt. Carmel, Duck River, Shelby ville. Pike, and Franklin, on the 29th of November, when the rebels lost five general and six thousand troops. The cavalry forces retreated across the Cumberland river to Edgefield, where the mercury was ten degrees below zero, with no wood. On December 2 they recrossed to Nashville, and for three days camped in two feet of mud. On the morning of December 15 the battle of Xashville was opened and our subject's regiment captured a fort which Hood had left fifteen minutes previous with the instructions to hold the fort at all hazards, and later captured another fort. On the 25th of December General Spaulding, of the Twelfth Tennessee, called for two hundred volunteers to follow Hood and harass the rear of his army, and Mr. Davis was among the number to respond and go with Major Horton, of the Second Iowa Cavalry. On the ist of January 1865, the regiment was ordered to Huntsville, and later to Eastport, yilississippi. It was very cold fording the rivers and the troops suffered severely. They went into winter quarters at Gravelly Springs, Alabama. On the nth of April they received news of General Lee's surrender, and five days later came the sad news of President Lincoln's assassination. Mr. Davis was finally mustered out September 17, 1865, at Selma, Alabama, and returned to Davenport, where he was honorably discharged October 9, 1865. During the entire time he was in the service he was never reprimanded by an officer, and was offered a commission in a colored regiment at Mem[)his. Tennessee, but declined, as he did Udt want to leave his comrades.

In October, of the same year, we again find Iiim a resident nf Linn county, where he worked by the month one year. In 1867 he bought the farm which he now occupies, it being at that time, however, an eighty-acre tract of luibriiken prairie land in Greenfield township] Jones county, which he at once proceeded to place under cultivation.

He has added to his landed possessions until he now lias three hundred and sixty-five acres of very valuable and productive land, on which he has erected two good houses and three immense Ijarns, together with other outbuildings. He raises Durham cattle and Poland China hogs, and also a high grade of horses. He not only feeds all of the grain raised on his own land ti) his stock, but one year was forced to buy ten thousand bushels for the same purpose.

[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born six children, as follows: (i) Thomas U., born Se)tember 13, 1869, assists his father in the o])eration of the home farm. (2) Harry E., horn Xnvem])er 14, 1870, in Jones county, was educated in the district schools, and now conducts a part of the old homestead farm. He was married, at Climax. Michigan, December 19, 1900, to Hattie E. Card, whij was born at that place Decemlier 13, 1871, and is the oldest in a family- of four children, her parents being" Daniel '. and Rose (Eldred) Card, natives of New York. Harry E. and his wife attend the Reformed church of Lisbon. (3) Lottie Jane, born September 20, 1872, is the wife of Philip Mohn. a farmer of Greenfield township, Jones county, Iowa, and they have two children, Ora R. and Conrad D. (4) George, born December 20, 1874, married Mina Weston and lives in Greenfield township, Jones county. (5) Ira L., born November 3, 1876, is also a resident of that township on a part of our subject's farm. He married Ida Abel and they have one son, Harold. (6) Ora May, born August 29, 1883, is at home with her father. The mother of these children, who was a most estimable woman,' died September 4, 1898, and was laid to rest in the Lisbon cemetery.

Religiously Mr. Davis holds membership in the Reformed church, and socially is a member of John A. Buck Post, No. 140, G.

As printed in Biographical records of Linn County, Iowa .. (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.