Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/123

Rh 20th army corps into the fight at Stone river, and for his bravery was recommended by Gen. Rosecrans for major-general. In 1864 he commanded the 14th corps of Sherman's army in the Atlanta campaign and in the march through Georgia. In 1865 a brevet major-generalship was given him, and he was made colonel of the 23d infantry, 23 July, 1866. He afterward went to the Pacific coast, and commanded the U. S. troops in Alaska, and in 1873, after the murder of Gen. Canby by the Modoc Indians in northern California, took command of the forces operating against them, and compelled them to surrender.

'''DAVIS. John''', navigator, b. in Sandridge, Eng- land, about 1550 ; d. at sea. near the coast of Ma- laccji, in December, 1605. He went to sea at an early age, and in 1585 was given command of an expedi- tion for the discovery of a northwest passage to India. He sailed from Dartmouth on 7 June, 1585, with the " Sunshine," of fifty tons, and the " Moon- shine," of thirty-five, manned by twenty-three arui seventeen men respectively. He sailed as far north as 66° 40', entering the strait that has since borne his name, and, finding no hindrance to his progress, concluded that he had discovered the northwest passage, but was obliged by stress of weather to return, arriving at Dartmouth on 30 Sept. On 7 IMay, 1586, he sailed again from Dart- mouth with the " Sunshine," the " Moonshine," the " Mermaid," of 100 tons, and the " North Star," a pinnace of ten tons. At the end of July the crew of the '• Mermaid " became discontented and put back for England, after the " Sunshine " and the pinnace had been sent to explore eastward of Greenland. Capt. Davis pursued the voyage alone, and, after reaching a point not as far north as in his first voyage, but about as far west, returned to England, arriving early in October. On 19 May, 1587, he sailed again from Dartmouth with the " Elizabeth," the " Sunshine," and the " Helen," a smaller vessel. He took the same course as before, and was con- firmed in his belief that he had found the passage : but, not having provisions for a long voyage, he was obliged to return to England. Notwithstand- ing his discovery of the entrance to Baffin bay, there was no new expedition in qtiest of the north- west passage till that of Waymouth, fifteen years later. In 1591 Davis accompanied Cavendish on his second and very disastrous voyage to the South sea. He afterward made five voyages to the East Indies as a pilot, and in the last was killed, while serving under Sir Edmund Michelbourne, in an engagement with the Japanese in the straits of Malacca. He is said to have been the inventor of a quadrant for taking the sun's altitude at sea, which preceded Hadley's sextant. He published " Seaman's Secrets," a treatise on navigation (Lon- flon, 1594), and "The World's Hydrographical Descriptions " (1595), in which the arguments of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, showing the probability of a northwest passage to China, are in part repeated. See " Voyages and Works of John Davis, the Navi- gator," by Capt. Albert A. Markham, published by the Hakluyt society (London, 1880).

DAVIS, John, clergyman, b. in Pennepek, Pa., 10 Sept., 1721 ; d. in Harford county, Md., in 1809. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1756, went to Maryland the same year, and became pastor of Winter Run church in Harford county, the first permanently established church of his denomina- tion in the state. His labors extended into Balti- more and Frederick counties, and into the city of Baltimore. Notwithstanding the constitutional guarantees and the tradition of religious freedom in Maryland, his zeal in spreading a form of faith that was new in the community subjected him to intimidation and violence, but before his death he had established fiourishing churches in Baltimore, Frederick City, and elsewhere.

DAVIS, John, clergyman, b. in Newcastle coun- ty. Del., in 1737; d. in Ohio. 13 Dec, 1772. His father came from Wales in 1710, and was made pas- tor of the Baptist church in Welsh Tract. New- castle CO. The son was graduated at Philadel- phia college, and, while supplying his_father's pul- pit after the death of the latter, attracted attention • by his eloquence, and was called to the pastorate of the 2d Baptist church in Boston, Mass. He was appointed agent of the Baptists of the colony, to represent their grievances under the exclusive "laws then in force in Massachusetts, and took the ground that the charter granted religious equality, and that Congregationalism was not the established re- ligion of the commonwealth. When, after reeeiv- ■ ing the representations of the grievance committee, the general court passed a new certificate law, re- quiring that certificates issued to Baptists should state that they were " conscientiously " of that faith, the committee, of which he was the head, decided not to accept the act in that form. In 1772 his health failed, and he returned in July to Delaware, then undertook a journey for his health down the Ohio, and died in the wilderness below the present site of tlie city of Wheeling, W. Va.

'''DAVIS. John''', jurist, b. in Plvmouth, Mass., 25 Jan., 171 : d. in Boston, Mass., 14 Jan., 1847. He was graduated at Harvard in 1781, and for a time was a tutor in the family of Gen. Joseph Otis at Barn- stable, studied law, and began practice at Plymouth in 1786. At the convention of 1789, which adopted the Federal constitution, he was the youngest dele- gate, and he survived all the others. He was for several years a member of the Massachusetts legisla- ture, and in 1795 was elected to the state senate. On 26 June of the same year he entered on the office of comptroller of the U. S. treasury, and served till 1 July, 1796. He was then appointed district attor- ney for Massachusetts, and in 1801 U. S. district judge in the same state, in which office he re- mained to the end of his life. He was a scholar in various departments of knowledge, and especial- ly eminent' for his ac(|uaiutaiice with the history and antiquities of New England. In 1813 he de- livered an address on the " Landing of the Pil- grims " before the Massachusetts historical society, of which he was president from 1818 till 1843. He published an edition of Morton's ''New England Memorial," with copious and valuable notes (Bos- ton, 1826) ; a " Eulogy on George Washington " ; and " An Attempt to Explain the Inscription on Dighton Rock." See a memoir by Thomas Kinni- cittt in " ArchfBologia Americana."

'''DAVIS. John''', statesman, b. in Northborough, Mass., 13 Jan., 1787 ; d. in Worcester, Mass., 19 April, 1854. He was graduated at Yale with honor in 1812, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1815, and practised with success in Worcester. Pie was elected to congress as a whig in 1824, and re- elected for the four sticceeding terms, sitting from December, 1825, till January, 1834, and taking a leading part as a protectionist in opposing Henry Clay's compromise tariff bill of 1833, and in all transactions relating to finance and commerce. He resigned his seat on being elected governor of Massachusetts. At the conclusion of his term as governor he was sent to the U. S. senate, and served from 7 Dec, 1835, till January, 1841, when he re- signed to accept the governorship a second time. In the senate he was a strong opponent of the ad- ministrations of Jackson and Van Buren, and took