Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/200

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

part in almost every engagement on Vir- ginia soil. At Lee's surrender he was in- spector-general of the horse artillery of the Army of Xorthern \'irginia. After the war he wrote a "Life of General Lee," a "Life of Stonewall Jackson," and over twenty novels. His publications not already men- tioned include "Henry St. John, Gentleman," a sequel to the "Comedians;" "Surrey of Eagle's Xest." which is an autobiography depicting military incidents in the Confed- erate cavalry: "Hilt to Hilt," "Out of the Foam :" "Hammer and Rapier," and ".Stories of the Old Dominion," from the settlement until the end of the revolution. Nearly all his writings relate to Virginia life, past and present. Besides he wrote a vast number of sketches, stories, poems, etc., for period- icals, which have never been collected in permanent form. He died at his home, The Briars, near Boyce, Clark county, Virginia, September 20, 1886.

Uavis, Noah Knowles, born at Philadel- phia, Alay 15, 1830, son of Rev. Noah Davis, of Salisbury, Maryland, and Mary Young, cf Alexandria, Virginia, his wife. He is of Welsh descent, his American ancestor and great-great-grandfather being John Davis, a native of South Wales, who settled near Salisbury, Maryland. Daniel Davis, grand- son of John Davis, was elder of the Salis- bury Baptist church forty years, and died in 1856. His son, Rev. Noah Davis, was pastor of the Baptist church in Norfolk, later removing to Philadelphia, where he was given charge of the publication inter- ests of the Baptists of the United States. Il was due to his efforts that tlie American Baptist Publication Society was established, and while in its service he died at the age

of twenty-seven years, leaving a widow and infant. Some years later his widow married Rev. John L. Dagg, of Virginia, and the family removed to Alabama. Noah Knowles Davis commenced his education in schools of Alabama, where the early years of his life were spent, and after proper preparation matriculated at Mercer University in Georgia, from which he was graduated in 1849, the degree of Bachelor of Arts being conferred upon him. Later the same insti- tution conferred the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, while Bay- lor University bestowed the degree of Doc- tor of Laws. He prepared in the north for his career as an instructor, accepted a chair in Howard College. Alabama, and was sub- sequently appointed to the principalship of the Judson Institute. In 1868 he accepted the appointment as president of Bethel Col- lege, Kentucky, and while actively dis- charging the duties of this ofifice, was ap- pointed to the chair of moral philosophy in the University of \'irginia in 1873. Upon the completion of his thirty-third year at the university, he was invited to accept a life annuity on the Carnegie foundation, and retired from active duties, July i, 1906, be- coming professor emeritus of philosophy in the University of Virginia. He gained emi- nence in his career as an instructor. His teachings were not altogether oral, his facile pen being also in evidence. More than fifty schools and colleges in the United States adopted his treatises on logic, ethics and psy- chology as text books, and he was a liberal contributor to periodical literature. For more than a quarter of a century he has de- livered I'liljlical lectures on .Sunday after- noons at the LIniversity of \'irginia, and tliese have been published in book form