Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/173

 DAVIS

DAVIS

DAVIS, Charles Henry, naval officer, was born in Boston, Mass., Jan. 16, lyOT; son of Daniel Davis (1763-1835). U.S. attorney for Maine, 1796-1801, solicitor-general of Massachusetts, 1800-32, and author of " Criminal Justice " (1828) and " Precedents of Indictment " (1831) ; and descended from Dolor Davis of Cambridge, 1630, and Barnstable, 1638. Charles entered Harvard in the class of 1825, and left col- lege to become mid- shipman in the U.S. navy Aug. 12, 1823, making his first cruise on board the U.S. frig- ate United States in the Pacific, 1827-28. With his promotion to the rank of passed midshipman, received in Mai'ch, 1829, were orders to join the Ontario of the Mediterranean squadron. In March, 1831, he was made lieutenant and was on board the Vincennes of the Pacific squadron, 1833-35, and in the Independence of the Brazil squadron, 1837-41. He then served on the U.S. coast survey, 1842-49. While engaged in the survey of the waters between Massachusetts and Long Island, forming the gate to Long Island sound, 1846-49, he discovered the *' New South " and several minor slioals before unmarked, and his services in behalf of coastwise navigation was specially acknowledged by marine insurance companies and merchants and boards of trade in Boston and New York. He was the founder of the American Exthemeris and Nautical Almanac and superintended its publication, 1849-56, and again 1859-61. He commanded the St. Mary's of the Pacific squadron, 1856-59. He was a member of the naval board in* 1861, having in charge the inspection of the southern Atlantic ports and coast with a view to offensive operations against the seceding states, and he was made captain and chief of staff of the Port Eoyal expedition of 1861. He succeeded Commodore Foote as flag- officer of the Mississippi flotilla, May 9. 1862, and on May 10 fought the naval battle of Fort Pillow, forcing eight well-eqviipped Confederate iron-clads to seek the protection of the guns of the fort. On June 5, upon the evacuation of Fort Pillow, he again engaged the fleet in front of Memphis and succeeded in capturing or sinking seven of the eight iron-clads, the Van Darn alone escaping. He tlien received the sur- render of Memphis and joined with the victorious flotilla the fleet of Farragut, operating against

Vicksburg. In July, 1862, he was commissioned commodore and ordered to Washington as chief of the bureau of navigation, but did not leave the Mississippi until November. His commission as rear-admiral was given to him Feb. 7. 1863, and he received with it the thanks of congress for the victories of Fort Pillow and Memphis. He was appointed superintendent of the naval observatory, Washington, in 1865, and 1867-69 commanded the South Atlantic squadron. He returned to Washington as a member of the light- house board, next was commandant of the Nor- folk navy yard, and in 1874 returned to the naval observatory as superintendent, retaining the position up to the time of his death. He was elected a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences and a member of the Ameri- can philosophical society and was one of the incorporators of the National academy of sciences. He received from Harvard the degrees of A.B. and A.M. in 1841, and that of LL.D. in 1868. He published : The Law of Deposit at the Flood Tide : Its Geological Action and Office (1852) ; Memoir Upon the Geological Action of Tidal and Other Currents of the Ocean (1849) ; translated Gauss's Theoria Motus Corporum Ca'lestiicm (1858) ; and was a constant contributor to scientific publications and rcA^iews. He died in Washington. D.C., Feb. 18, 1877.

DAVIS, Charles Henry, naval officer, was born in Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 28, 1845; son of Rear- Admiral Cliarles Henry and Harriette Blake (Mills) Davis; and grandson of the Hon. Elijah Hunt Mills, U.S. senator from Massachusetts. He was graduated from the U.S. naval academy at Newport, R.I., in 1864, and served in the Med- iterranean squadron, 1864-67, being promoted ensign Nov. 1, 1866, and master, Dec. 1, 1866. He was on board the Guerriere and Portsmouth of tlie South Atlantic squadron, 1867-70, and in the Pacific squadron, 1872-74. He was made lieuten- ant March 12, 1868, and lieutenant-commander, June 30, 1869. He was married in March, 1875, to Louisa, daughter of John Van Pelt Quacken- bush, M.D., of Albany, N.Y. He was engaged in astronomical and geodetical work, first at the naval observatory and subsequently in the north Atlantic ocean, on the eastern coast of South America, 1877-79, in China, Japan and India. 1881-82, and on the western coast of South and Central America, 1883-84. He was pro- moted commander Oct. 30, 1885, and commanded the training ship Saratoga, and the cruising training squadron, 1886-88; the Quinnebaug in the Mediterranean, 1888-89; was chief intelli- gence officer, navy department, 1889-92; com- manded the Montgomery, 1894-96; and represented the President of the United States in the recep- tion accorded the Infanta Eulalia of Spain as guest of the nation in May and June, 1893. He