Thomas Alfred Davies

Davies was born in 1809 near Black Lake, located in St. Lawrence County, New York.{{cite news|title=New York Times obituary of Thomas Alfred Davies|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D01E5D61430E132A25753C2A96E9C94689ED7CF|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 20, 1899|access-date=January 7, 2009}} He spent his childhood and early youth in his father's farm and received common education from the local schools.Warner (1964), p. 113 He entered the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1825, and graduated on July 1, 1829, ranked twenty-fifth.Warner (1964), p. 114 Future high-ranking Confederates in the class of 1829 were Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston, and Theophilus H. Holmes. Davies was commissioned in the 1st U.S. Infantry on the Wisconsin frontier and as quartermaster at the Military Academy. In 1831 he resigned his commission to practice civil engineering in New York City.Hubbell, Geary & Wakelyn (1995), p. 130 He was a merchant in New York from 1841 to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

File:T A Davies Staff UA ACW.jpg

When the American Civil War began in 1861, Davies chose to follow his native state and the Union cause. He was elected colonel of the 16th New York Infantry Regiment on May 15.Eicher, p. 200. Davies led a brigade during the First Battle of Bull Run that July.Eicher, p. 200; 2nd B, 5th D, Army of Northeast Virginia, July 8–15, 1861. He then commanded the 10th Brigade in the defenses of Washington, D.C., until March 7, 1862. On that date Davies was promoted to brigadier general in the Union Army, and he was transferred to the Army of the Tennessee in the Western Theater.

In April and May 1862 Davies was engaged in the Siege of Corinth as a division commander. He took part in the Second Battle of Corinth on October 3–4, 1862, also in division command. Davies was assigned to command the Districts of Columbus, Kentucky, in 1862–63, Rolla, Missouri, in 1863–64, and North Kansas in 1864–65. While in command at Columbus, Davies issued orders that the fortified Union post at Island No. 10 be disarmed with all ammunition destroyed, cannon spiked, and gun carriages burned, directives that seemed so nonsensical to the post commander that they had to be repeated several times before they were obeyed. One military investigator looking into the matter reported to headquarters that Davies' conduct should result in his dismissal from the army "the better for our country, its cause and its treasury."National Archives RG 108, E22, M1635, Thomas A. Davies to R. B. Jones, December 24/25, 1862; George P. Ihrie to John Rawlins, February 3, 1863 Davies, however, was not dismissed.

On January 13, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Davies for appointment to the grade of brevet major general of volunteers, to rank from July 11, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on March 12, 1866.Eicher, 2001, p. 711. Davies was mustered out of the Union Army on August 24, 1865.Eicher, pp. 200-1.

After the war, Davies returned to New York. He made a substantial fortune in the real estate, and also devoted himself to the philosophic and theological speculation. He published a number of books supporting the divine inspiration of the Bible, and rebutting materialistic philosophy. His books on theology were Cosmogony; or, Mysteries of Creation, Adam and Ha-Adam, Genesis Disclosed, and Answer to Hugh Miller and Theoretical Geologists. Davies was an Episcopalian, and was one of the oldest and influential members of St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, New York. He also published How to Make Money, and How to Keep It, which was later revised and reissued by Henry Ford.

Davies died in Ogdensburg, New York, in the fall of 1899, and was buried in the family cemetery in nearby Oswegatchie.Eicher, p. 2001.

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• {{cite book|title=Civil War High Commands|last=Eicher|first=John H.|author2=David J. Eicher|author2-link=David J. Eicher|year=2001|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=978-0-8047-3641-1}}
• {{cite book |title=Biographical Dictionary of the Union: Northern Leaders of the Civil War |last=Hubbell |first=John T. |author2=James W. Geary |author3=Jon L. Wakelyn |year=1995 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=0-313-20920-0}}
• {{cite book |title=Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders |url=https://archive.org/details/generalsinblueli0000warn |url-access=registration |last=Warner |first=Ezra J. |year=1964|publisher=Louisiana State University Press |isbn=0-8071-0822-7}}

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Category:1809 births

Category:1899 deaths

Category:19th-century American Episcopalians

Category:People of New York (state) in the American Civil War

Category:United States Military Academy alumni

Category:Union army generals

Category:People from St. Lawrence County, New York