Background
Wlliam George Mackey Davis was born on May 9, 1812 in Portsmouth, Virginia.
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William Mackey
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He was a lawyer and cotton speculator before the war and a lawyer in Washington, District of Columbia after the war. At age 17, he became a sailor. Later he lived in Alabama and then moved to Apalachicola, Florida where he became a lawyer and cotton speculator.
When the started, Davis donated $50,000 to the Confederate States and raised the 1st Florida Cavalry Regiment for the Confederate States Army.
He was elected colonel and given command of the Confederate provisional forces in eastern Florida. On March 25, 1862, he was sent to join General Joseph East. Johnston in Tennessee.
There, he commanded the 2d brigade in the 2d division (Heth"s) from about July 3, 1862 to October 31, 1862, then the 1st brigade of the 3rd division (Heth"s) of the Department of East Tennessee until December 1862. During the later period, on November 6, 1862, he was promoted to brigadier general.
He commanded the 1st brigade of the District, Department of East Tennessee from December 1862 to early 1863.
He then served as commander of the Department of East Tennessee until he resigned his commission on May 6, 1863. Soon after his resignation from the Confederate States army, Davis lived in Richmond, Virginia and Wilmington, North Carolina where he ran a fleet of blockade runners between Wilmington and Nassau. After a brief period of residence in Jacksonville, Florida after the war, Davis was pardoned on June 9, 1866.
He then moved to Washington, District of Columbia and resumed the practice of law.
Davis died at Alexandria, Virginia, March 11, 1898. He is buried in Tacket-Burroughs-Davis Cemetery, Remington, Virginia.
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Born
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Died
March 11, 1898 (aged 86) -
Nationality
United States