Henry Brevard Davidson

Henry Brevard Davidson (January 28, 1831 – March 4, 1899) was a United States Army officer and Confederate general during the American Civil War. At the outbreak of the war, he resigned his commission and served in various staff positions in the Confederate States Army. On August 18, 1863, he was promoted to brigadier general and first commanded brigades of cavalry in the Western Theater, particularly in Tennessee and Georgia. In 1864, he was transferred to Virginia and served in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. At the end of the war, he served under General Joseph E. Johnston in the Carolina Campaign. After the war, he became a civil engineer in California and in 1887 was deputy secretary of state in California. Later in life, he was an agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad in Danville, California.

Early life and career Davidson was born in rural Shelbyville, Tennessee, on January 28, 1831. He was educated in the common schools. Following the outbreak of the Mexican–American War, Davidson joined the 1st Tennessee Volunteer Infantry as a private in June 1846. He received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, due to his meritorious Mexican–American War service, and graduated from the academy in 1853, ranking 33rd in his class. Among his classmates were future Confederate generals John S. Bowen, John Bell Hood, and John R. Chambliss, Jr.

He subsequently received a brevet commission as a second lieutenant in the First Dragoons. He participated in several raids and mounted actions including Wheeler's October 1863 Raid. In August 1863 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He was paroled on May 1, 1865.

Postwar After the war, Davidson moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he served as a deputy sheriff until 1867. He moved to California in 1868. From 1878 to 1886, he was an inspector of United States public works at San Pedro, California. He was appointed a Deputy to William C. Hendricks, the Secretary of State of California, in 1887. He also was a civil engineer and, later in life, railroad agent for the Southern Pacific Railroad at Danville, California.

Henry Brevard Davidson died at Livermore, California, and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California.