John Wynn Davidson was an American soldier. Assigned to the Army after graduating from West point, he participated in several battles during his life and received the highest military ranks.
Background
John Wynn Davidson was born on August 18, 1823 in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. His grandfather was a general in the Revolution, and his father, William Benjamin Davidson, served in the Florida wars and died in the service in 1840.
Education
Davidson graduated from West Point in 1843.
Career
Assigned to the Army of the West at the outbreak of the Mexican War, Davidson participated in the battles of San Pasqual, Passage of the San Gabriel River, and the Plains of Mesa.
After the war, again on the frontier, he took part in the Indian fights at Clear Lake, Russian River, and Sacramento River.
In 1854 he defeated the Jicarilla Apaches at Cieneguilla, New Mexico, where he himself was wounded.
In this hard-fought engagement, the American troops surrounded and captured the Indian camp, but while plundering it were in turn surprised by the Indians, who had escaped. Davidson was taken at such a disadvantage that his command narrowly escaped annihilation.
He was promoted captain in 1855. At the beginning of the Civil War he was offered a commission in the Confederate service, but, though a Virginian by birth, family ties, and education, remained loyal to the Union.
In February 1862 he was appointed brigadier-general, United States Volunteers, and commanded a brigade in the Peninsular campaign, participated in the battles of Gaines’s Mill and Golding’s Farm, and won the brevets of lieutenant-colonel and colonel for gallant conduct. He took part in the actions at Lee’s Mills, Mechanicsville, Savage Station, and Glendale, commanded the St. Louis District in 1862, the Army of Southeast Missouri the following year, the Army of Arkansas in 1863-64, and was chief of cavalry, Division of the West Mississippi, in 1865. He participated in the Little Rock expedition, directed the movement of troops against Pilot Knob, Fredericktown, and Cape Girardeau, drove Marmaduke out of Missouri, commanded in the actions of Bayou Metre and Ashley’s Mills and received the brevets of brigadier-general and major-general for his services in the capture of Little Rock.
On January 15, 1866, he was mustered out of the volunteers and assigned to the 2nd Cavalry. He served in the Inspector-General’s Department (1866), was professor of military science and tactics at the Kansas Agricultural College (1868 - 71), and held various commands in Indian Territory and Texas during the next seven years.
On March 20, 1879, he was promoted colonel, 2nd Cavalry, and served in the District of the Yellowstone and at Fort Custer, Montana. At the latter station he received an injury when his horse fell upon him, from the effects of which he died four months later while on sick leave at St. Paul, Minnesota.
Achievements
Personality
Though a strict disciplinarian Davidson was thoughtful and considerate of his men, and a popular commander.
Connections
Davidson married the daughter of George K. McGunnegle of St. Louis.