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DAVIS TIT by Frank H. Alfriend (1868), and " The Life of Jefferson Davis," by Edward A. Pollard (1869). Both of these works are by southern writers, the first being friendly to Mr. Davis, the second inimical. See also Craven's "Prison Life of Jefferson Davis " (1866). DAVIS, Jefferson C., an American soldier, born in Clark co., Indiana, March 2, 1828. At the beginning of the Mexican war he enlisted in Col. Lane's Indiana regiment, and was pro- moted in 1848 to second lieutenant in the first United States artillery for gallant conduct at Buena Vista. He became first lieutenant in 1852, and in April, 1861, was one of the gar- rison of Fort Sumter during the bombardment. In May of the same year he was promoted to captain, and given leave of absence to raise the 22d Indiana volunteers, of which he became colonel. For gallant conduct at Milford, Mis- souri, where he captured a superior force, he was made brigadier general of volunteers, Dec. 18, 1861. At the battle of Pea Ridge in March, 1862, he commanded a division. In April he participated in the battle of Corinth, and after the evacuation of that place by the con- federates was assigned to the army of the Ten- nessee. On Sept. 29, 1862, he killed Gen. Nelson after an altercation in a hotel in Louis- ville ; he was arrested, but was never tried, and was soon restored to duty. He command- ed a division in the battles around Murfrees- borough and at Chickamauga in 1862-'3. In 1864 he commanded the 14th corps of Sher- man's army in the Atlanta campaign and in the march through Georgia. He received the brevet of major general in 1865, and was made colonel of the 23d infantry, July 28, 1866. He was subsequently stationed on the Pacific coast, commanding for some time the troops in Alaska. In 1873, after the murder of Gen. Canby by the Modoc Indians in south- ern Oregon, he took command of the forces operating against them, and compelled them to surrender. DAVIS, John, an English navigator, born at Sandridge, Devonshire, died Dec. 27, 1605. He distinguished himself by three voyages be- tween 1585 and 1587 for the discovery of the northwest passage. In 1585 he discovered the strait which bears his name, and in the follow- ing year sailed along the coast of Greenland as far northward as lat. 72 12'. In 1591 he went as second in command with Cavendish in his un- fortunate voyage to the South sea. He after- ward made five voyages to the East Indies, and was killed in the strait of Malacca by Japanese pirates. He invented a quadrant which was in use for taking the sun's altitude at sea till it was superseded by Hadley's sextant, and pub- lished accounts of two of his voyages, and curious works entitled "The World's Hydro- graphical Description " (1595), and " The Sea- man's Secrets " (1595). DAVIS, John, an American jurist, born at Plymouth, Mass., Jan. 25, 1761, died in Boston, Jan. 14, 1847. He graduated at Harvard col- lege in 1781, and began the practice of law in Plymouth in 1786. He was the youngest mem- ber of the state convention on the question of adopting the federal constitution. For several years he was a member of the state legislature, and in 1795 was appointed by Washington comptroller of the treasury of the United States. In 1796 he was appointed United States attorney for Massachusetts, and remov- ed to Boston. In 1801 he became judge of the district court, and served for more than 40 years. He was learned in many departments, and especially interested in the history and an- tiquities of New England, and was president of the historical society of Massachusetts from 1818 to 1843. Among his publications are a " Eulogy on George Washington," an " At- tempt to Explain the Inscription on Dighton Rock," and an edition of Morton's " New England Memorial," to which he added copious marginal notes, and an appendix replete with curious information. DAVIS, Sir John Francis, an English diploma- tist and orientalist, born in London in 1795. He entered the public service at an early age, in 1816 was attached to Lord Amherst's em- * bassy to China, and in 1834 was joint com- missioner with Lord Napier for arranging com- mercial and other matters with the Chinese government. From 1843 to 1848 he was Brit- ish plenipotentiary and chief superintendent of British trade in China, and governor of Hong Kong. He was created a baronet in 1845, and, after his return to England, a knight comman- der of the bath in 1854, and subsequently be- came deputy lord lieutenant of Gloucester- shire. His works relating to China are con- sidered of high authority. Among them are : " The Chinese : a general Description of China and its Inhabitants " (2 vols., 1836) ; " Sketches of China " (2 vols., 1841) ; " China during the War and since the Peace" (2 vols., 1852); "Chinese Moral Maxims," "Chinese Novels," "Chinese Plays," and Poeseos Sinica Com- mentarii. He has also written " The Massacre of Benares." DAVIS, Matthew L., an American writer, born in 1766, died at Manhattan ville, N. Y., June 21, 1850. Originally a printer, he early at- tached himself in politics to the fortunes of Aaron Burr, and advocated his elevation to the presidency at the time when the balance hung so long undecided between him and Jefferson. For many years he was a news- paper correspondent in Yashington. He wrote "Memoirs of Aaron Burr" (2 vols., 1836), and edited "The Private Journal of Aaron Burr, with Selections from his Correspon- dence " (2 vols., 1838). DAVIS, Thomas, an Irish poet, born at Mallow, county Cork, in 1814, died in Dublin, Sept. 16, 1845. He was educated at Trinity college, Dublin, and on the establishment of the "Na- tion" newspaper in 1842 became one of its principal writers. A conviction of the im- portance of stirring national ballads in the