Lieutenant Colonel Tamerlane William Whiting Davies, II USNA - CSA - CSN Attorney at Law 1838 - 1883 ~~~~ United States Naval Academy T.W.W. Davies was born c. 1838 at Bedford County, Virginia, son of Henry Landon Davies, II & Mary Adaline Cobbs. At age 15 yrs and 10 months, he was admitted to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, his residence given as Jonesborough, Tennessee. He was a member of the "Class of 1858", but did not graduate, resigning from the Academy in 1857. However, Davies was described by his professor as having "no superior in his class". The Southern Military Academy The Southern Military Academy was chartered at Wetumpka in 1860 by the State of Alabama. The governor was authorized to issue commissions of Colonel to the Superintendent and Lt. Colonel to the "Commandant of Cadets". The two men assigned to these positions were Henry Davies and his son, T.W.W. Davies. 1860 Census Wetumpka, Autauga County, Alabama (household of N.B. Williams, a Wetumpka Merchant) Davies, H.L. - age 52, male, white, Military Teacher, born in Va. Davies, T.W.W. - age 22, male, white, Asst. Mil. Teac., born in Va. In a March 11, 1861 letter from the Commandant's Office at the Southern Military Academy addressed to General Curry, T.W.W. Davies asks for a Lieutenant's place in the Artillery, stating that soon after leaving the U.S. service, he had been elected to the Chair of Mathematics & Military Engineering at the North Carolina Miltary Institute in Henderson, which he had continued to fill until the winter of 1859, when he had been given the rank of Lt. Colonel & Professorship in Pure Mathematics at the Southern Military Academy in Wetumpka, Alabama, where he remained. Confederate States Army During April of 1861, as Alabama seceeded from the Union, T.W.W. Davies, age 25, began the task of raising a company for the war. This company was personally armed & uniformed by Davies, enlisting in May 1861 at Wetumpka as Company B of the 8th Alabama Infantry Regiment, known as "The Governor's Guards". Many of the enlisted were his former students at the Southern Military Academy, and they were the first command from the State of Alabama to arrive at Richmond, Virginia. At the end of his first year of service in Virginia, Davies was granted an extended leave by the Secretary of War to return to Alabama and raise a regiment for the war. On March 29, 1862, Davies was performing the duties of "Mustering Officer" with the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment. The regiment was 1200 strong and reported to Corinth, Mississippi. Davies took advantage of this time at home in Alabama, marrying on March 11, 1862 in Montogmery to Miss Sue E. Clayton, the daughter of P.H. Hal Clayton. Returning to the 8th Alabama Infantry Regiment, Davies was promoted to Major at Yorktown on May 20, 1862, and in the same month, transferred to the 28th Alabama Infantry Regiment as Major. He was later promoted to Lt. Colonel, serving as such through August 1862 when he was detached from field service and placed on special service by General Bragg. On January 31, 1863, Davies is shown as "Post Commandant" at Bristol, Tennessee, "left out" of the consolidation of regiments of Anderson's Brigade. He is found as "Post Commandant" at Cleveland, Tennessee during the month of August 1863. The following month, Davies resigned from the 28th Regiment with the rank of Lt. Colonel, "being physically unable for field service in consequence of chronic disease contracted while serving in the Army of the Peninsula". Confederate States Navy Davies gave his reasons to enter the Navy of the Confederate States as poor health which had prohibited field service and kept him on post for twelve months, as well as the fact that he had been educated at the U.S. Naval Academy, and could be of use to that branch of service. His application to the C.S. Navy was accepted and he served as 1st Lieutenant aboard the C.S.S. Patrick Henry in 1863-64, and aboard the C.S.S. Virginia in Virginia waters as part of the James River Squadron during 1864. He also served at the same rank aboard the C.S.S. Torpedoes in that same year. Davies resigned from the Navy and returned home to Wetumpka before the war's end. He requested in a letter to General Samuel Cooper, Richmond, Virginia, to be reappointed under the terms of General Order dated February 16, 1865 which offered to reappoint all meritorious resigned officers desiring it. Circumstances are not clear as to whether Davies received any reappointment before the end of hostilities. Carson City, Nevada Two years after the war, Davies has moved his family west and is residing in Carson City, Ormsby County, Nevada where he opened a law practice. Davies formed a partnership with his father-in-law, P. H. Clayton, and M.S. Bonnifield. In 1868 he was admitted to practice in the Nevada Supreme Court. 1870 Census Carson City, Ormsby County, Nevada Davies, T.W.W. - age 32, male, white, Attorney, born in Virginia S.E. - age 22, female, white, keeping house, born in Alabama H.A. - age 6, male, white, born in Alabama N.C. - age 4, male, white, born in Alabama H.C. - age 2, male, white, born in Nevada J.?. - age 3/12, male white, born in Nevada Continue_to_Page_2
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