A comprehensive look at Davis families in the Civil War by state and battlefield role, along with profiles of key military leaders with the Davis surname.
Tens of thousands of people with the Davis surname, primarily from Wales, England, and Ireland, were among the earliest immigrants to America. They fought with valor and distinction in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Indian Wars, and the Mexican War. Many Davises sacrificed their lives to help build a new nation based on freedom.
By 1861, many Davis families were well-established in states and territories as far west as California. But the American Civil War was on the horizon. For the first time, Davis families in America weren’t going to war united against a common enemy. Many close and distant relatives would be pitted against each other.
In total, 34,082 Davis families fought in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865.
L to R: Confederate President Jefferson F. Davis and U.S. Army Brevet Major General Jefferson C. Davis.
Confederate Davises Versus Union Davises
Davises fought on both sides of the Civil War but favored the Union. Davis families contributed 16,081 (47%) of their husbands and sons to fight for the Confederacy. For the Union, Davis families contributed 18,001 (53%) of their husbands and sons.
Jefferson Finis Davis (1808-1889)
The highest-ranking Confederate Davis was Jefferson Finis Davis. In fact, he was president of the Confederate States.
Before the Civil War, he was a member of the House of Representatives representing Mississippi (1845-1846); served as the United States Secretary of War in the Franklin Pierce administration (1853-1857); and was both appointed and elected to the United States Senate (1857-1861).
Following Mississippi’s secession from the Union, Jefferson was elected provisional president of the Confederate States by a constitutional convention. Upon hearing the news that he had been elected president, his wife, Varina Davis, recalled that “reading that telegram he looked so grieved that I feared some evil had befallen our family.” He was inaugurated as provisional president on February 18, 1861. In February 1862, he was elected to a full six-year term.
After Robert E. Lee’s surrender at the Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865, Union forces began to search for Jefferson. He was captured, accused of treason, and imprisoned on May 10, 1865. He was released two years later without a trial because it was believed that the charge of treason would probably be unsuccessful and might slow reconciliation.
For the next 22 years of his life, Jefferson held several executive positions, participated in several failed business ventures, and co-authored a memoir that downplayed slavery as a cause of secession but encouraged southern reconciliation. He was largely viewed as a patriot and hero in the post-Reconstruction era South.
In 1835, Jefferson was briefly married to Sarah Knox Taylor, the daughter of general and future President Zachary Taylor. Sarah died of malaria three months after the marriage. He remarried Varina Anne Banks Howell (1826-1906) in 1845.
Jefferson Columbus Davis (1828-1879)
Jefferson Columbus Davis (commonly known as “JCD”) was one of two Union generals in the Civil War with the Davis surname. He was a brevet major general, which meant that he held the rank title but didn’t have the “authority, precedence, or pay of real rank.”
In September 1862, JCD was ordered to report to General William “Bull” Nelson in Louisville. Nelson, unhappy with JCD’s performance, castigated him in front of witnesses. JCD demanded a public apology, but Nelson refused. A fight ensued, and JCD shot and killed the much larger Nelson shortly afterward.
JCD was able to avoid conviction for Nelson’s murder because of a shortage of experienced field officers in the Union Army. He went on to command troops under William Tecumseh Sherman in his March to the Sea in 1864.
After the Civil War, JCD was the first commander of the Department of Alaska after its purchase by the United States. In 1872, he was named field commander of the Modoc War between the Native American Modoc tribe and the United States Army.
Despite his military accomplishments, the murder of Nelson hung over JCD’s career. Despite being a brevet major general, he was never promoted beyond his permanent rank of colonel.
Edmund Jackson Davis (1827-1883)
The second Union general with the Davis surname was Brigadier General Edmund Jackson Davis.
In 1861, Edmund was a lawyer and judge in Texas. He stood with Governor Sam Houston in the fight against secession and tried to convince Robert E. Lee to honor the oath he had made to the United States.
When Texas finally seceded, Edmund refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. He made his way to Washington, D.C., where he was given a colonel’s commission by President Abraham Lincoln and tasked with recruiting the 1st Texas Calvary Regiment for the Union. In November of 1864, he was made a brigadier general and put in charge of the volunteers. He was present when Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered in Texas on June 2, 1865.
After the Civil War, Edmund was a member of the Texas Constitutional Convention. He fought for the rights of freed slaves and advocated for Texas to be split into multiple states and governed by Republicans. In 1869, he was elected Governor of Texas.
Davis Civil War Geography
States with the most Confederate Davises:
Texas (2,863), Mississippi (2,368), and Virginia (1759).
States with the most Union Davises:
Ohio (2,037), Pennsylvania (1,983) and New York (1,715).
(1,647) Davises were members of “U.S. Colored Troops.”
Most Divided state for Davises:
Missouri – 38% Confederate Davises, 62% Union Davises.
Davis Battlefield Roles in the Civil War
Primary Sources
- Search For Soldiers – The Civil War (U.S. National Park Service). (n.d.). NPS.GOV.
- O’Neill, A. (2019, August 13). U.S Civil War Army Sizes 1861-1865 | Statista. Statista.
- Rafuse, E. S. (1808, June 3). Jefferson Davis (1808–1889) – Encyclopedia Virginia.
- Jefferson Columbus Davis (1828-1879). (n.d.).
- Moneyhon, C. H. (n.d.). TSHA | Davis, Edmund Jackson. www.tshaonline.org.
