Nicholas Davis Jr.

Background

Nicholas was born on January 14, 1825, in Athens, Georgia, United States. He was the son of Nicholas and Martha Hargrave Davis.

Education

Nicholas attended the University of Virginia before becoming a planter like his father.

Career

Davis served under Colonel Jere Clemens in the Mexican War. He was a conservative delegate to the Nashville Convention of 1850. In 1851, he represented Limestone County in the Lower House of the Alabama legislature. He was a presidential elector on the Winfield Scott ticket in 1852 and on the Stephen Douglas ticket in 1860.

In 1855, Nicholas became a solicitor for the city of Huntsville. Davis was a cooperation delegate and an ally of Jere Clemens in the Alabama secession convention in 1861. When he was certain that other Southern states would follow Alabama, he supported secession.

Later, he completed Thomas Fearn’s term in the provisional Congress, where he served on the Public Lands, Territories, and Pay and Mileage Committees. He also commanded a battalion in the Confederate Army during 1862, as lieutenant colonel of the 19th Alabama Infantry. He became dissatisfied with the war and fled behind the Union lines into north Alabama, but in no way assisted the Union cause.

Davis held no further duties in the Confederacy, devoting himself to farming. He practiced criminal law in Huntsville, Alabama.

Achievements

• Nicholas Davis Jr. is known for his service as a member of the Alabama State legislature in 1851 and as a delegate to Alabama secession convention in 1861. He also served in the Confederate Army as the Lieutenant Colonel of the 5th Alabama Battalion.

Politics

Nicholas served in the Lower House of the Alabama legislature as a Whig. After the war, Davis joined the Union party in hopes of being a leader in Alabama's reconstruction but soon left the party because of his opposition to carpetbaggers and Negro politicians.

Connections

Davis had four children by his marriage to Sophia Lowe in 1854.

Father:

Nicholas Davis

1781-1856

Mother:

Martha Hargrave Davis

1791-1853

Sister:

Ann Maria Davis Richardson

1810-1861

Sister:

Martha Nichols Davis Lane

1814-1896

Brother:

Zebulon Pike Davis

1816-1882

Brother:

Dewitt Clinton Davis

1830-1904

Brother:

Lawrence Ripley Davis

1831-1892

Wife:

Sophie Lowe Davis

Son:

Lowe Davis

1861-1882

References

• Biographical Dictionary of the Confederacy
  1977