Background
Charles Henry Davis was born on January 16, 1807 in Boston, Massachusetts . He was the youngest of the thirteen children of Daniel Davis, solicitor general of Massachusetts, and Lois (Freeman) Davis, came of pure New England stock.
(Excerpted from Davis' History of Wallingford, Conn., this...)
Excerpted from Davis' History of Wallingford, Conn., this work treats some seventy early Wallingford families. Each family history commences with a paragraph on the origins and background of the earliest known settler and proceeds from there with a recitation of descents until all available data are either brought up to date or exhausted. The families treated in the work are as follows: Abernathy, Alling/Allen, Andrews, Atwater, Bartholomew, Beach, Beadles, Bellamy, Benham, Blakeslee, Bristol, Brockett, Bunnel, Carrington, Clark, Cook, Cowles/Coles, Culver, Curtis, Doolittle, Dutton, Fenn, Foot, Gaylord, Hall, Hart, Hitchcock, Holt, Hotchkiss, Hough, How, Hull, Humiston, Ives, Johnson, Jones, Kirkland, Lewis, Martin, Mattoon, Merriman, Miles, Mix, Moss, Munson, Noyes, Parker, Preston, Reynolds, Royce, Stanley, Street, Thompson, Thorp, Tuttle, Tyler, Whittelsey, and Wilcox. With a new index of 7,500 names.
https://www.amazon.com/Early-Families-Wallingford-Connecticut-Index/dp/0806308346?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0806308346
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.
https://www.amazon.com/Greek-Roman-Stoicism-Some-Disciples/dp/0548213739?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0548213739
Charles Henry Davis was born on January 16, 1807 in Boston, Massachusetts . He was the youngest of the thirteen children of Daniel Davis, solicitor general of Massachusetts, and Lois (Freeman) Davis, came of pure New England stock.
Davis studied at the Boston Latin School and two years at Harvard.
After preparation in the Boston Latin School and two years at Harvard, Davis was appointed midshipman, and sailed in January 1824 in the frigate United States for the west coast of South America. There transferred to the schooner Dolphin, he had the novel experience of a year's cruise in the South Seas. After his return in 1827 he took his examination for lieutenant, standing sixth of the thirty-nine who passed, and was then in the Mediterranean in the Ontario, 1829-32, flag lieutenant in the Vincennes, 1833-35, and in the Independence on a voyage to Russia and thence to Brazil, 1837-41. Between cruises he studied mathematics at Harvard, and after this last cruise took his degree.
The next fifteen years were taken up with scientific work connected with the navy. In charge of the coast survey from Rhode Island north, Davis made the first thorough study of the dangerous waters around Nantucket; served on numerous harbor commissions; and published two notable scientific articles, "A Memoir upon the Geological Action of the Tidal and Other Currents of the Ocean" and "The Law of Deposit of the Flood Tide".
He was a prime mover in establishing the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac in 1849, and supervised its publication at Cambridge until 1855 and again 1859-62. Enlisting the aid of scientific leaders in this work, he brought the navy into profitable cooperation with scientific progress. He was one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences in 1863.
Promoted to commander in 1854, he resumed sea duty in command of the St. Mary's in the Pacific, 1856-59, during which service he secured the release of the filibuster William Walker and his followers besieged at Rivas, Nicaragua. At the outbreak of the Civil War he became practically executive head of the new Bureau of Detail for selecting and assigning officers; and his alert mind, facility in writing, and great capacity for work led to his appointment on several important commissions engaged in planning and organizing the naval war. The active board for consideration of measures for effectually blockading the South Atlantic Coast, of which he was a member and secretary, planned the expeditions against Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal and was in no small measure responsible for the earlier naval strategy of the war.
Appointed Du Pont's fleet captain in the latter expedition, Davis organized the immense flotilla, took charge of sounding and buoying Port Royal Channel, and, with Du Pont, should be given considerable credit for the admirable plan of attack (Nov. 7, 1861), which was later imitated by Dewey at Manila. Recalled to Washington in February 1862, Davis in May assumed command of the Upper Mississippi gunboat flotilla above Fort Pillow. His position was singularly difficult and required generosity and tact as well as leadership, for Foote, on sick leave, was left in titular command until June 17, and the rams under Ellet, though operating with Davis, were under the War Department and outside his control.
On May 10, the day after his arrival, the Confederate flotilla delivered a sharp attack which was repulsed, several vessels on both sides being disabled. When the Confederate army evacuated Fort Pillow, Davis moved down to Memphis, where on June 6 his five gunboats, with Ellet's rams, destroyed or captured seven of the eight Confederate vessels. He joined Farragut before Vicksburg. In discussing plans for destroying the ram Arkansas, which had run through the whole Union fleet and taken refuge under the guns of Vicksburg, Davis's judgment came in sharp though friendly conflict with the impetuosity of Farragut. This spirit of discretion, remarked upon by Secretary Welles as a reason for the later appointment of Porter to the flotilla, was perhaps a weakness in Davis since recklessness was warranted by the Northern superiority of means; and, rightly or wrongly, it operated against his selection for high sea-command later in the war.
Commissioned chief of the Bureau of Navigation in July 1862, Davis did not turn over his command until September. In his Washington post, which included the old Bureau of Detail and supervision of all scientific activities of the navy, he did important administrative work until 1865.
Thereafter he was superintendent of the Naval Observatory for two years, and following command on the Brazilian station, 1867-69, and at the Norfolk Navy Yard, 1870-73, was again at the Observatory until his death.
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
(Excerpted from Davis' History of Wallingford, Conn., this...)
In 1843 he became a member of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati in succession to his grandfather Colonel Constant Freeman (1757 - 1824).
He was a member of the New York Commandery and received insignia number 1022.
He was accurately described by his friend, Admiral Samuel F. Du Pont, as "a man of science and a practical officer, keeping the love of science subordinate to the regular duties of his profession. "
A lover of literature as well as science, he combined intellectual distinction with well-proved capacity for active administration and command.
Quotes from others about the person
Senator Lodge describes his father-in-law (Davis) as a most charming and lovable man, "handsome and distinguished looking, " with perfect manners.
Davis was married in 1842 to Harriette Blake Mills, daughter of Elijah Hunt Mills, and maintained his home at Cambridge, Massachussets, until after the Civil War.
Of his three sons, Charles Henry became a rear admiral, the others dying young; of his three daughters, one married Brooks Adams and another, Henry Cabot Lodge.
