JUNIUS DAVIS (1845-1916)
Civil War soldier, Lawyer, Father of 10, Lover of history, white supremacist
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UPDATE September 2021: Besides the biographical information provided below, it is important to note that Junius Davis was very involved in reasserting white supremacy after Reconstruction was phased out and white North Carolinians regained the right to vote. Junius was deeply engaged in the run up to the 1898 overthrow of the multiracial city government and its takeover by white supremacists (sometimes referred to as, “the only successful coup d’etat on U.S. soil”), and spoke in favor of the need to takeover the city government at a meeting of white supremacists (this term of “white supremacists” is what they called themselves, not a “woke” 21st century term). Two of his brothers-in-law, George Rountree and Donald MacRae, were among the most prominent leaders of the takeover, while a distant cousin, Alfred Moore Waddell, became the new mayor at the point of a gun. The events in Wilmington in 1898 and the complicity of the state of North Carolina in those events, influenced and emboldened other southern states in reasserting white control and ending civil rights for blacks. Junius was also very close to John Bellamy (another distant cousin), who became the U.S. Congressman from that district in 1900, after blacks were intimidated from voting and other instances of widespread voter fraud. Junius and Bellamy sometimes practiced law together, and he was the one who sponsored the application of Junius’s son, Louis (my grandfather), for the U.S. Naval Academy. Junius’s wife (Mary Cowan Davis) was the president of the local chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy and was instrumental in the successful campaign to erect a statue of Junius’s father, George Davis, in the center of Wilmington. All that is to say that Junius Davis, in his attitudes and actions towards black people, was not merely a “man of his times,” but rather, he actively engaged in making those times — erecting Jim Crow laws and segregation and the suppression of civil rights for black people — and thereby contributed to this great stain of American history. That should be kept in mind while reading the following biographical information, most of it written by those who believed that white supremacy was the natural and correct order of things.
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Junius Davis was born June 17, 1845 in Wilmington, North Carolina, the oldest child of the Hon. George Davis and his first wife, Mary Adelaide Polk Davis. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in "the old Davis mansion" on Second Street, built before the Revolution, the bricks for it "having been brought from England in colonial days". His early schooling was in Wilmington, but at the age of 12, he was sent to the "celebrated" Bingham School at the Oaks near Mebanville in Orange County, North Carolina, and he stayed there for four years.
Civil War, or rather, "The War Between the States"
When the Civil War broke out, Junius was just under 16, and his father moved the family, including Junius, to Charlotte. In 1863, when he was 17, he enlisted as a private in Moore's Battery (artillery), which was Company E of the 10th North Carolina Regiment. He saw action at New Bern, North Carolina, at the battle of Drury's Bluff in Virginia -- shortly after which he was promoted to corporal, at the time his battery was attached to a battalion commanded by Major Moseley -- at Bermuda Hundreds, and then around Richmond, and in the trenches at Petersburg. He also participated in the battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864 and in the assault on Fort Harrison. His only wound throughout the war was a slight one in the neck on his last day in the trenches.
Junius Davis was also present during the last of the fighting of the Civil War at Appomattox. In the Biographical History of North Carolina, Volume 2, published in 1905, pages 82-88, Samuel Ashe describes how he and his companions heard about the end of the war: "The squad of men of which Corporal Davis was a part dashed into the neighboring woods, and before going a hundred yards their own guns were turned upon them, but fortunately they escaped. They penetrated the woods about a mile, and being uncertain of the situation, remained there at night. Early in the morning they met with an officer of McGregor's Mounted Battery, who informed them that he had it from the best authority that General Lee was about to surrender. The information could not be credited, and Corporal Davis and the two men who were with him could not fully understand how such a calamity could happen; but on being assured that General Lee was about to surrender the army, they realized the terrible situation, and with heavy hearts, overwhelmed with distress, they determined to make the best of their way out."
After that, Corporal Junius Davis and some companions made their way along the Norfolk & Western Railroad until they reached Greensboro, where they had the intention of joining General Johnston's forces, but instead they learned that General Johnston had surrendered the last of the Confederate armies, and therefore in Greensboro, Junius Davis surrendered himself to the Federal provost-marshall, and he was then paroled.
He then returned to Charlotte, looking for work, which was very scarce at that time. He finally found a job accompanying carloads of cotton, which was being hauled on open flat cars, from Charlotte to New Bern, to keep it from being damaged or stolen. [Samuel Ashe reports that at that time, cotton was selling for $1 in gold per pound, and gold was worth more than 50 cents premium on the dollar.]
After several months of this work, he returned to Wilmington in the fall of 1865, and found employment as a clerk in the dry goods store of Weil & Rosenthal. After his father was released on parole and was able to resume the practice of law in Wilmington, in 1867, his business was remunerative enough for Junius, who was then 22 years old, to quit his job as a clerk and start studying law. He was able to obtain his law license the following year and then became a partner with his father, an association which lasted until the latter's death in 1896.
Besides his work as a lawyer, Junius Davis was also a businessman and held the position of president of the Wilmington Railroad Bridge Company. Although he did not seek public office, in politics he was a "zealous worker" for the Democratic party.
On January 19, 1874, when he was 28, he married Mary Orme Walker, a daughter of Thomas Davis Walker and Mary Vance Dickinson, and a granddaughter of Platt Ketchum Dickinson (often referred to as "P.K." Dickinson), a businessman and industrialist originally from Long Island, New York, who was instrumental in the establishment of the railroad in Wilmington. She was born on January 19, 1847 in Wilmington. They had seven children, two girls and five boys. She died on October 16, 1888, at the age of 41.
Five years after her death, Junius Davis got married for the second time on November 6, 1893, at the age of 48, to Mary W. Cowan, a first cousin of his first wife. She was born on September 8, 1859, and was the daughter of Col. Robert H. Cowan and Elizabeth Jane Dickinson, who was the sister of Mary Vance Dickinson. She was 34 when she married Junius Davis. They had three children, a boy and two girls, and Mary Cowan Davis also helped raise the younger children from her husband's first marriage; my grandfather, the sixth of Junius's children from his first wife, who was not quite 10 years old when his father re-married, remembered his stepmother with great fondness.
Junius Davis died in Wilmington on April 11, 1916, at the age of 75. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. Mary Cowan Davis died in 1930.
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Junius Davis was born June 17, 1845 in Wilmington, North Carolina, the oldest child of the Hon. George Davis and his first wife, Mary Adelaide Polk Davis. At the time of his birth, his parents were living in "the old Davis mansion" on Second Street, built before the Revolution, the bricks for it "having been brought from England in colonial days". His early schooling was in Wilmington, but at the age of 12, he was sent to the "celebrated" Bingham School at the Oaks near Mebanville in Orange County, North Carolina, and he stayed there for four years.
Civil War, or rather, "The War Between the States"
When the Civil War broke out, Junius was just under 16, and his father moved the family, including Junius, to Charlotte. In 1863, when he was 17, he enlisted as a private in Moore's Battery (artillery), which was Company E of the 10th North Carolina Regiment. He saw action at New Bern, North Carolina, at the battle of Drury's Bluff in Virginia -- shortly after which he was promoted to corporal, at the time his battery was attached to a battalion commanded by Major Moseley -- at Bermuda Hundreds, and then around Richmond, and in the trenches at Petersburg. He also participated in the battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864 and in the assault on Fort Harrison. His only wound throughout the war was a slight one in the neck on his last day in the trenches.
Junius Davis was also present during the last of the fighting of the Civil War at Appomattox. In the Biographical History of North Carolina, Volume 2, published in 1905, pages 82-88, Samuel Ashe describes how he and his companions heard about the end of the war: "The squad of men of which Corporal Davis was a part dashed into the neighboring woods, and before going a hundred yards their own guns were turned upon them, but fortunately they escaped. They penetrated the woods about a mile, and being uncertain of the situation, remained there at night. Early in the morning they met with an officer of McGregor's Mounted Battery, who informed them that he had it from the best authority that General Lee was about to surrender. The information could not be credited, and Corporal Davis and the two men who were with him could not fully understand how such a calamity could happen; but on being assured that General Lee was about to surrender the army, they realized the terrible situation, and with heavy hearts, overwhelmed with distress, they determined to make the best of their way out."
After that, Corporal Junius Davis and some companions made their way along the Norfolk & Western Railroad until they reached Greensboro, where they had the intention of joining General Johnston's forces, but instead they learned that General Johnston had surrendered the last of the Confederate armies, and therefore in Greensboro, Junius Davis surrendered himself to the Federal provost-marshall, and he was then paroled.
He then returned to Charlotte, looking for work, which was very scarce at that time. He finally found a job accompanying carloads of cotton, which was being hauled on open flat cars, from Charlotte to New Bern, to keep it from being damaged or stolen. [Samuel Ashe reports that at that time, cotton was selling for $1 in gold per pound, and gold was worth more than 50 cents premium on the dollar.]
After several months of this work, he returned to Wilmington in the fall of 1865, and found employment as a clerk in the dry goods store of Weil & Rosenthal. After his father was released on parole and was able to resume the practice of law in Wilmington, in 1867, his business was remunerative enough for Junius, who was then 22 years old, to quit his job as a clerk and start studying law. He was able to obtain his law license the following year and then became a partner with his father, an association which lasted until the latter's death in 1896.
Besides his work as a lawyer, Junius Davis was also a businessman and held the position of president of the Wilmington Railroad Bridge Company. Although he did not seek public office, in politics he was a "zealous worker" for the Democratic party.
On January 19, 1874, when he was 28, he married Mary Orme Walker, a daughter of Thomas Davis Walker and Mary Vance Dickinson, and a granddaughter of Platt Ketchum Dickinson (often referred to as "P.K." Dickinson), a businessman and industrialist originally from Long Island, New York, who was instrumental in the establishment of the railroad in Wilmington. She was born on January 19, 1847 in Wilmington. They had seven children, two girls and five boys. She died on October 16, 1888, at the age of 41.
Five years after her death, Junius Davis got married for the second time on November 6, 1893, at the age of 48, to Mary W. Cowan, a first cousin of his first wife. She was born on September 8, 1859, and was the daughter of Col. Robert H. Cowan and Elizabeth Jane Dickinson, who was the sister of Mary Vance Dickinson. She was 34 when she married Junius Davis. They had three children, a boy and two girls, and Mary Cowan Davis also helped raise the younger children from her husband's first marriage; my grandfather, the sixth of Junius's children from his first wife, who was not quite 10 years old when his father re-married, remembered his stepmother with great fondness.
Junius Davis died in Wilmington on April 11, 1916, at the age of 75. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. Mary Cowan Davis died in 1930.
Sons of Junius Davis
Article on John Paul Jones
For some reason, historians find the question of how the U.S. Naval hero, John Paul Jones, whose original name was just "John Paul", acquired the surname "Jones" highly interesting. This historical mystery was of great interest to Junius, who researched the issue and then wrote and published an article describing his findings. His assertion, in the ____ publication, that John Paul took the surname Jones because ________, was at the time considered definitive. Much later, however, scholars decided that a more likely theory is that _______________. Junius's article is still available, and can be found here.
A related question for the family is: was Junius's interest in John Paul Jones what inspired him to suggest to his fifth son that he attend the Naval Academy, the first of the family to go to a military university?
A related question for the family is: was Junius's interest in John Paul Jones what inspired him to suggest to his fifth son that he attend the Naval Academy, the first of the family to go to a military university?