Bruce V. Sones - Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis: Civil War General

This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHINGwww.picklepartnerspublishing.com

To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books picklepublishing@gmail.com

Or on Facebook

Text originally published in 2000 under the same title.

Pickle Partners Publishing 2014, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

Publishers Note

Although in most cases we have retained the Authors original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern readers benefit.

We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

BRIGADIER GENERAL JEFFERSON C. DAVIS: CIVIL WAR GENERAL

By

Major Bruce V. Sones, USA.

Contents

BRIGADIER GENERAL JEFFERSON C. DAVIS: CIVIL WAR GENERAL by Major Bruce V. Sones, USA.

This thesis is a historical analysis and an assessment of Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis life with special emphasis on his divisions performance during the Civil War.

The thesis will discuss Davis quick rise through the military ranks, which led to his eventual assumption of a corps command by the end of the Civil War. Davis career was not without controversy. He was a nontraditional soldier in an army that was very traditional. He was a tough disciplinarian and took training of soldiers seriously. He was also aggressive, feisty, and confrontational. It was these later characteristics that on occasion led him into trouble with his superiors and may have been determiners in his nonselection for promotions and specific assignments.

The thesis begins with an examination of Davis background and life from his birth through his participation in the Mexican War and the initiation of hostilities at Fort Sumter. Next, Davis Civil War experiences to include the Battles of Pea Ridge and Murfreesboro and details of Davis performance at the Battle of Chickamauga will be discussed. Thereafter, Davis march through the South with General Sherman and the remainder of his military career and life will be discussed. Finally, an analysis will be presented of who Davis was and why he did or did not achieve the potential that he thought he deserved.

This work would not have been completed without the continuous encouragement that I received from my parents, Vernon and Helga Sones. They, through their lives, have been wonderful examples for my brothers and me. They have lived their lives unselfishly and have provided an abundance of wise counsel over the years. They have modeled integrity, discipline, patience, and unconditional love.

My son, keep your fathers commands and do not forsake your mothers teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you. For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life. Proverbs 6:20-23

When the name of Jefferson Davis is mentioned in the context of the Civil War, memory calls to mind Jefferson Davis who was the president of the Confederacy. Unbeknownst to many, there was another man with a similar name who was also involved in the Civil War. This man was Jefferson Columbus Davis, a general in the Union Army. Jefferson Columbus Davis was born in Clark County, Indiana, on the second of March 1828. His family, originally from Kentucky, had settled some years before his birth on a farm in Clark County, Indiana, near the town of Charleston. Davis was the oldest child of William and Mary Davis and to include Jefferson Davis the family had eight children, seven boys and one girl. Davis spent his formative years playing on the farm and on occasion listening to his father tell stories about his forefathers who had fought in the Indian Wars in Kentucky.

Davis was rather small in size when compared to the others that he played and grew up with. He was active and was always fond of the outdoors and was at ease both on the farm and in the woods. Even from his youth he seemed to know that he would somehow be in the military. A lifetime friend and fellow soldier, Brigadier General James B. Fry would write after the Civil War, He felt he was a born military chieftain.

As Davis grew, his interest in the military continued. In April 1846, General Zachary Taylor, who was in Texas, was fired upon by Mexican troops. Shortly thereafter, President Polk presented a speech to Congress at which he announced that it was time to engage in conflict with the Mexicans over the Texas territory. Shortly after this, Davis, who had just turned eighteen and was attending school in Charleston, heard a reading of President Polks address to Congress in one of his classes.

By June 1846, the Indiana Volunteers had filled their requirements for enlistments and soon began their training at Camp Whitcomb in New Albany, Indiana. Jefferson Columbus Davis and his company, Company I, joined nine other companies to form the Third Regiment. The commander for the regiment was Colonel James H. Lane. All told, there were 869 soldiers in the regiment. It was in this unit that Davis began what would turn out to be a thirty-three year military career that would see him involved in many famous historical events and see him rise from the ranks of the enlisted to the rank of general.

Military life for Davis did not start out easy. As a soldier he received $10.00 per month and a $3.50 clothing allowance. There was little time for any in the unit to tour New Orleans. The Third Regiment set up camp south of the city in a marsh area where most of their belongings and equipment became soaked with water. They waited four days before boarding three ships and continuing down to the mouth of the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico with a destination of Brazos Santiago.

The experience of sailing on the Gulf proved to be a miserable experience for most of the men of the Third Regiment. Few if any had experienced the open seas. The men of the regiment were crowded into the hulls of the ships. The combination of close quarters, poor rations, seasickness, and the incessant pounding of the waves against the hull of the ship made for a miserable journey.

As was expected, the members of the Third Regiment found military life in Mexico to be a little different compared to the training that they had completed in Indiana, before their deployment. Camp Belknap was a pleasant location at first but that changed as bushes were cut away to leave only a few to protect the soldier from the burning sun.

The Third Regiment continued to train and drill, with no hint of seeing any combat. Rumors began to move throughout the unit. These rumors covered the full spectrum as to what was to happen to the Third Regiment. Some rumors said that the regiment would move into combat soon and that at a moments notice they needed to be prepared to move. There were also rumors reported that the regiment was not going to see combat but was going to redeploy back to the United States. This had a major psychological effect on the men and many of them were losing their desire to get into the war.

In October 1846, General Taylor was in Monterey, Mexico, and requested reinforcements to take the place of the soldiers that had been lost in the war that had been part of the main body. The Third Regiment was designated as a replacement unit and by the end of October 1846 it arrived in Matamoros. The Regiment remained in Camp Clark, Matamoros, till December at which time the Third Regiment moved across eighty miles of hot, dusty, earth to the town of Camargo.