Augustus P. Davis

Brevet Major Augustus Plummer Davis (May 10, 1835 – May 21, 1899) was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He is best known as the founder of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

Early life Davis was born in Gardiner, Maine and was the son of Anthony and Mary Davis. His father was of Welsh extraction. He had ancestors who served in the American Revolution and the War of 1812. At the age of 14 Davis left home and travelled to San Francisco as part of the 1849 California Gold Rush. His dreams of finding a fortune did not come to pass and he returned his career as a sailor in 1850. He worked on various ships over the next five years. He enlisted in the Royal Navy for four years during the Crimean War. He was discharged from the Royal Navy in 1860 and returned to his family in Maine later that year. On June 22, 1867 Davis received a brevet (i.e. honorary promotion) to the rank of major to date from March 15, 1865. Davis died in Pittsburgh in 1899. He was buried at Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh.