Cumberland county, in the north of England, on June 20, 1756. He was
brought over to this country by his father, Archibald Davie, who,
upon the peace of 1763, made a visit to America, and was left in the
care of his maternal uncle, Rev. William Richardson, a Presbyterian
clergyman residing in the Waxhaw settlement on the Catawba river,
in South Carolina. Having no children, Mr. Richardson adopted his
nephew and namesake, who became heir to his estate. At the usual age
young Davie was sent to the "Queen's Museum," the well-known academy
and high school in Charlotte. From thence he entered at Nassau Hall,
Princeton College, New Jersey, of which the famous Dr. Witherspoon
was then President. In the summer of 1776, with the consent of
the President, a party of students, among whom Davie was one, was
raised and served as volunteers in the patriot army. In the fall of
that year he returned to college, and, passing his examinations,
took his college degree of Bachelor of Arts with the first honors
of the institution. His uncle died before his return home. Davie
selected the profession of law and began his studies at Salisbury.
In 1777 he joined a detachment of twelve hundred men under General
Jones, ordered to be raised for the defense of Charleston, then
threatened with another attack, but on reaching Camden it was found
that the design was abandoned by the enemy, and the detachment
returned home after a service of three months. In 1779 a troop
of cavalry was raised in the Salisbury district. Of this William
Barnett, of Mecklenburg, was chosen captain and Davie lieutenant.
His commission, signed by Governor Caswell, is dated 5 April, 1779.
With two hundred horse he was immediately sent into the back country
to suppress a Tory rising, but it was quelled before their arrival.
Soon afterward the troop joined the Southern Army and was attached
to Pulaski's Legion.
Captain Barnett having resigned, Davie was promoted to captain, and
shortly thereafter was made major. On June 20th of that year Davie
took part in the battle of Stono, near Charleston. In this battle
the North Carolina brigade was commanded by General Jethro Sumner.
In a cavalry charge on that day Davie was wounded and fell from his
horse, but retained hold of the bridle. The cavalry, dispirited by
his fall, were in full retreat when a private in another company,
whose horse had been shot under him and was carrying off his saddle,
saw Major Davie standing by his horse unable to mount him, his thigh
being disabled by his wound. Though the enemy were in a few yards,
this man deliberately placed him on his horse and led him from the
field. His deliverer then disappeared and resumed his place in the
ranks, and Davie could find no trace of him. The wound was a severe
one and kept Davie long in the hospital at Charleston, rendering him
incapable of further service that year. At the siege of Ninety-Six,
two years later, when Davie was present as Commissary-General of
the Southern Army, on the morning of the attack a stranger came to
his tent and introduced himself as the man who had saved his life
at Stono. He promised to visit him again, but when the troops were
recalled from the fruitless attempt to storm the fort the body of
the gallant unknown was found among the dead. On his return from
the Charleston hospital in September, 1779, Davie being unfit for
service, applied for and received his County Court license and was
sent by the Governor to attend the courts on the Holston river,
then in North Carolina, that he might ascertain public sentiment
in that section. In the spring of 1780 he received his Superior
Court license. About the same time he obtained authority from the
Legislature of North Carolina to raise a troop of cavalry and two
companies of mounted infantry. The authority was all that the State
could give, its funds being too low to provide the means. Major
Davie, with a patriotism worthy of perpetual remembrance, disposed
of the estate inherited from his uncle and thus raised the funds to
equip his command.
The surrender of Charleston, 12th May, 1780, and the surprise and
butchery of Buford's men by Colonel Tarleton on the 29th of the same
month, completed the subjugation of South Carolina. Colonel Moore,
with eleven hundred Tories, having collected at Ramsour's Mills, in
the edge of the present town of Lincolnton, Colonel Francis Locke
with three hundred militia of Burke, Lincoln, and Rowan, crossed
the Catawba at Beattie's Ford, while General Rutherford, acting in
concert with him with seven hundred troops, among whom was Davie
and his command, crossed at Tuckaseege Ford. The two divisions were
to meet in the night near the enemy and attack at break of day.
Rutherford's march being circuitous, was delayed, but Colonel Locke,
notwithstanding the disparity of force, attacked alone and won a
complete victory. Rutherford arrived about an hour after the action
and dispatched Major Davie in pursuit of the fugitives. Shortly
after Major Davie was ordered to take post near the South Carolina
line, opposite Hanging Rock, to prevent the enemy from foraging and
to check the depredations of the Tories who infested that section.
He was reenforced by some South Carolinians under Major Crawford,
by thirty-five Catawba Indians under their chief, New River, and
by part of the Mecklenburg militia. With part of his dragoons and
some volunteers he left camp 20th July, 1780, to intercept a convoy
of provisions and clothing destined for the enemy at Hanging Rock,
eighteen miles distant. Marching all night, he turned the enemy's
flank and fell into the Camden road five miles below Hanging Rock.
Here he awaited the convoy, which appeared in the afternoon, and it
was surprised and completely captured, with all the stores.
About the last of July, Colonel Sumter, with the South Carolina
refugees, and Colonel Irwin, with the North Carolina troops,
advanced to the attack of Rocky Mount, while Major Davie was to
make a diversion to engage the attention of the enemy at Hanging
Rock. His detachment consisted of eighty mounted men. In sight of
the enemy's camp, he fell upon three companies of their mounted
infantry returning from an excursion. Taken by surprise, they
were literally cut to pieces almost before they were aware of his
presence. Sixty valuable horses, with their furniture, and one
hundred rifles and muskets, were carried off by Davie in safety
without the loss of a man. On August 5th an attack was ordered upon
Hanging Rock by Colonel Sumter, who commanded in person the eight
hundred troops engaged in the expedition. Of these five hundred
were North Carolinians, commanded by Colonel Irwin and Major Davie.
The troops halted at midnight within two miles of the enemy's camp,
which they attacked next morning at daylight. The British regulars
were commanded by Major Carden, while among the auxiliaries were
several Tory regiments. One was composed of Tories from the upper
Yadkin, commanded by Colonel Bryan (whom Davie afterwards defended
when tried for treason at Salisbury), and another, mostly of South
Carolinians, was led by Colonel John Hamilton, of Halifax, who for
many years after the war was British Consul at Norfolk. The attack
at first was completely successful, but from lack of discipline
many of the troops plundered the camps and became intoxicated. A
part of the British troops remaining intact, formed a hollow square
and necessitated a retreat, which, however, was made in good order,
Davie's corps covering the rear. The wounded were safely convoyed
by him to Charlotte, where, by his foresight, a hospital had been
established. It is worthy of note that on this march to the attack
at Hanging Rock, by Davie's side rode, as guides conversant with the
roads and of undoubted courage and patriotism, two country lads,
brothers, respectively aged thirteen and fifteen years. The younger
of the two was destined to see many another field of carnage, and
his name has filled long and well the sounding trump of fame--Andrew
Jackson. Long years after, in the retirement of the Hermitage, he
said that Davie was the best soldier he had ever known and that his
best lessons in the art of war had been learned from him.
On Davie's return from Charlotte he hastened to the general
rendezvous of Gates' army at Rugely's Mills. On August 16th, while
proceeding to join General Gates at Camden, and ten miles from the
battle-field, Major Davie met the defeated army with the General
leading the retreat. He ordered Davie to fall back on Charlotte, but
he replied that his men had formed the acquaintance of Tarleton's
Legion and did not fear to meet them again. He continued his
course towards the battle-ground, meeting the flying fragments of
the routed army. He secured several wagons loaded with clothing
and medicine, which had been abandoned. With characteristic
thoughtfulness he immediately sent an officer to notify Colonel
Sumter of the great disaster which had befallen our arms. He reached
Sumter that evening, who at once began his retreat along the west
bank of the Catawba, towards the up-country. Not taking sufficient
precaution, however, Sumter was surprised on the 18th by Tarleton
at Fishing Creek, and his entire command of eight hundred men was
captured or put to flight with the loss of all his artillery, arms,
and baggage. Colonel Sumter himself, who was asleep under a wagon
when the attack was made, barely escaped, and the next day reached
Davie's camp at Charlotte alone, riding on horseback, without saddle
or bridle. The tidings carried consternation into the fragments of
Gates' army which had rallied there, and in a few moments Davie and
his command were the only force left in front of the enemy. Instead
of retiring, he boldly advanced to the Waxhaws, and found that the
enemy had fallen back to Camden.
On the 5th of September, 1780, Davie was appointed by Governor
Nash Colonel Commandant of Cavalry in the Western District of
North Carolina, with instructions to raise a regiment. When he
had collected only about seventy men, with that force and two
small companies of riflemen, commanded by Major George Davidson,
he took post at Providence, twenty-five miles from the British
camp. Cornwallis, after resting at Camden till the first week in
September, had advanced to the Waxhaws, forty miles below Charlotte,
while the fragments of the American army were slowly gathering at
Hillsborough, two hundred miles distant. South Carolina was wholly
subjugated, and North Carolina had not recovered from the shock
of Gates' defeat. Under these circumstances, Colonel Davie, with
unprecedented boldness, with a command not exceeding one hundred
and fifty men all told, on the 20th of September, turning the right
flank of the British army by a circuitous march, fell upon three or
four hundred of the enemy at Wahab's plantation. The attack was made
at daylight. The surprise was complete.
The enemy left fifteen or twenty dead on the field and had some
forty wounded. Davie got off safely with the captured horses and had
only one man wounded. The enemy at once caused the farm buildings
which belonged to Captain Wahab, then a volunteer with Davie, to
be laid in ashes. Davie brought off ninety-six horses and their
furniture and one hundred and twenty stand of arms, and arrived
in camp the same afternoon, having marched sixty miles in less
than twenty-four hours, including the time employed in seeking and
beating the enemy. That evening Generals Sumner and Davidson arrived
at his camp with their force of one thousand badly equipped militia.
On the 24th of September the American patrols gave notice that the
force of the enemy was in motion on the Steele Creek road, leading
to Charlotte. Generals Sumner and Davidson retreated by Phifer's on
the nearest road to Salisbury. Colonel Davie, with one hundred and
fifty mounted men and some volunteers under Major Joseph Graham,
was left alone in front of the British army, and he was ordered to
observe the enemy and skirmish with his advance. On the afternoon
and night of the 25th he took a number of prisoners, and at midnight
took up his position at Charlotte, seven miles from the spot where
Earl Cornwallis had encamped. Early on the 26th his patrols were
driven in by the enemy's light troops, and in a few moments the
Legion and light infantry were seen advancing, followed by the whole
army. Charlotte was then a village of about twenty houses, built
on two streets which crossed each other at right angles. At their
intersection stood the court-house. Colonel Davie dismounted one
company and stationed it under the court-house, where they were
protected by a stone wall. The other two companies were advanced
about eighty yards and posted behind some houses and gardens. The
Legion formed at a distance of three hundred yards with a front
to fill the street. On sounding the charge the enemy's cavalry
advanced at full gallop, but at sixty yards from the court-house the
Americans opened fire and drove them back with great precipitation.
A second and third charge had the same result, but being outflanked
by the Legion infantry, Davie withdrew his companies in good
order, they successively covering each other, and retreated on the
Salisbury road. The enemy followed with great caution and respect
for some distance, when they at length ventured to charge the small
rear guard. In this charge Lieutenant Locks and four privates were
killed and Major Graham and five privates wounded. The coolness and
skill of Davie in this ever-memorable combat, in which, with a mere
handful of men, he held the whole British army for hours at bay and
drove back repeatedly its best troops and finally brought off his
command unbroken and in good order, stamp him as a soldier of no
ordinary capacity. He was at this time twenty-four years of age.
Governor Graham says of him: "He was prudent, vigilant, intrepid,
and skillful in his movements against the enemy, and with a charming
presence, a ready eloquence, and an undaunted spirit, he was among
the young men of the day as was Harry Percy to the chivalry of
England." He also terms him "one of the most accomplished and
elegant gentlemen of the Revolutionary race." Besides his abilities
as a leader he was an expert swordsman. It is said in _Garden's
Anecdotes of the Revolutionary War_, that he had slain more men in
personal encounters in battle than any man in the army.
The next day, after the brilliant affair at Charlotte, Colonel
Davie joined the army at Salisbury, where, recruits having come
in and Colonel Taylor from Granville having joined him, his force
consisted of three hundred mounted infantry and a few dragoons.
Generals Sumner and Davidson continued their retreat across the
Yadkin, while Davie returned towards Charlotte, where he so vexed
the British by cutting off the foraging parties and beating up
their advanced posts that Cornwallis began to feel great distress
for want of forage and supplies. (_Tarleton's Campaigns_, p. 184).
The British officer declared he had "found a rebel in every bush
outside his encampment." On October 7th occurred the disastrous
defeat of Ferguson at King's Mountain, and on the night of October
14th, Cornwallis began his retreat to South Carolina, followed by
Davie, who harassed his rear and captured part of his baggage.
On the 19th the British crossed the Catawba at Land's Ford and
completely evacuated the State of North Carolina. When General
Greene took command of the Southern Army in December, 1780, he and
Colonel Davie met for the first time. The commissary department
became vacant by the resignation of Colonel Thomas Polk. The
subsistence of the army had become very difficult, and Colonel
Polk declared that it had become impossible. General Greene having
formed a high estimate of Colonel Davie's abilities, earnestly, and
in most flattering terms, solicited him to relinquish his hopes of
brilliant service in the field and accept the vacant office. At
the call of patriotism he abandoned the tempting career which lay
before him and assumed the not less important but more unpleasant
and arduous duties of a station which offered no distinctions.
General Greene had himself set the example, having relinquished a
brilliant career in the field to assume for years the duties of
Quartermaster-General of the army. Colonel Davie assumed the duties
of his new post in January, 1781, and continued with the army for
the next five months. Hardly any combination of circumstances could
exist presenting greater difficulties to the commissary of an
army than those under which he began. With a depreciated, almost
worthless, currency and an exhausted country, his only resource was
to receive from the willing and extort from the reluctant such means
of subsistence as they possessed, a service requiring promptness
and vigor among the disaffected and skill and discretion among
the friendly. These duties were well performed, and, while they
make no display on the page of history, their efficient discharge
was more really useful to the cause and contributed more to the
success of the army than the most brilliant services of the most
brilliant officer in the field. In that capacity he was present in
the memorable battle at Guilford Court House. Though he had, of
course, no command, he was a watchful observer of all the movements
of the fight and distinguished himself by his efforts to rally
the broken ranks and bring them again into the field. After Judge
Schenck's vivid description of this battle it would be a twice-told
tale to recount its incidents. It may be well to recall, however,
that Eaton's Brigade was composed of men from Warren, Franklin,
Nash, Halifax, and Northampton counties, while Butler's men were
from the present counties of Wake, Durham, Orange, Alamance, Vance,
Granville, Person, and Caswell. No race of people has changed less
by infiltration of foreign immigration. It is in warp and woof the
same it was a hundred years ago. Those who know them well, know that
they are "the blue hen's own chickens," and it is not to be believed
(if all other proof was wanting) that men of that stock ever left
any fair field of fight in a body save in honor.
It was here that Colonel Davie, seeing the veteran First Maryland
permit the enemy to approach to close quarters while it remained
apparently inert and impassive, exclaimed with great emotion, "Great
God! is it possible Colonel Gunby will surrender himself and his
whole regiment to the British?" He had scarce spoken when, the
command having been given, their fire, like a sheet of flame, swept
off the enemy's first line. This was followed up by a bayonet charge
from Gunby. The hostile lines became so intermingled and the moment
so critical that Cornwallis, to save himself, caused his cannon
to open upon the mass of struggling men and swept off friend and
foe alike. This he did against the remonstrance of General O'Hara,
who was lying wounded on the ground, and whose men were thus being
destroyed at short range by the cannon of their own army.
Colonel Davie continued with the army and was present at Hobkirk's
Hill on April 25th, and also at the evacuation of Camden and the
siege of Ninety-Six. While the army lay before Ninety-Six, General
Greene found it necessary to send him as a confidential messenger
to the Legislature of North Carolina to represent to that body the
wants of his army, and that his almost sole reliance for assistance
was on them. Colonel Davie's knowledge of the members and his tact
were such that he procured a most generous contribution from
the General Assembly of men and supplies. The exigencies of the
service and the equipment of the new levies required him to remain
in North Carolina, and in July, 1781, he entered on his duties as
Commissary-General of this State, which post he filled till the end
of the war. The finances of the State were in a desperate condition,
and the country was well-nigh exhausted by the requisitions of
both hostile and friendly armies, and, besides, supplies had to be
dispatched to our troops operating in South Carolina. No duties
could be more arduous or more admirably performed than those which
fell to Colonel Davie's lot at this stage of the war. Transportation
was lacking even for the supplies which could be obtained. The
future seemed uncertain as to everything. No post could more sorely
have tried the patience of any man. It argues great versatility
of talents that the brilliant cavalry officer should execute with
patience the duties of such a station, and it required a rare
self-denial to lay aside the opportunities of distinction for the
humdrum exactions of his wearying post. To add to other troubles, he
had to deal, during the year 1781, with three different Governors
of entirely different views and dispositions. Governor Nash had
resigned in disgust at the proceedings of the Legislature; Governor
Burke had been taken prisoner, and Governor Martin completed the
year. So feeble at times was the support of the government that
some of the most pressing supplies were procured by Davie on his
own credit. Complex and numerous as were his accounts, when he laid
down his office he invited the severest legislative scrutiny, but no
objection to them could be found.
The war being over, Colonel Davie resumed the practice of his
profession in February, 1783. About the same time he married Miss
Sarah Jones, the daughter of General Allen Jones, of Northampton,
a niece of Willie Jones, and settled in the town of Halifax,
which place he made his future residence. It was at that time
practically the capital of the State. The sessions of the General
Assembly had been frequently held at that place, and it was there
that most of the executive business of the State was transacted.
He was a brilliant advocate and possessed a natural aptitude
for the practice of law. The State at that time was divided into
seven judicial districts: Halifax, New Bern, Wilmington, Edenton,
Hillsboro, Salisbury, and Morganton. To these, in 1787, Fayetteville
was added. The Superior Courts were held only at these places, and
not as now at a court-house in each county. Colonel Davie took the
circuit and attended in turn all the Superior Courts of the State,
except that held at Morganton. He soon commanded a leading practice
in all these courts. At some places and at some terms the dockets
show that he appeared without exception on one side or the other of
every civil case. His practice was very lucrative and he quickly
accumulated a large estate. An examination of our published Reports
shows numerous cases of importance in which he was counsel. Probably
the most important were _Hamilton_ vs. _Eaton_, 1 N. C., 84, which
held the State Confiscation Act repealed by the United States treaty
of peace with England, and _Bayard_ vs. _Singleton_, 1 N. C., 42,
the first case in America which asserted the power and duty of the
courts to declare an act of the Legislature unconstitutional. It
also held the confiscation acts against the late Tories invalid.
Iredell, Johnston, and Davie appeared for the successful plaintiff
and Moore and Nash for the defendant.