United States Navy admiral
Charles Henry Davis
(
(
1807-01-16
)
January 16, 1807 –
(
1877-02-18
)
February 18, 1877) was a
self-educated
[1]
American
astronomer
[2]
and
rear admiral
of the
United States Navy
.
[3]
[4]
While working for the
United States Coast Survey
, he researched tides and currents, and located an uncharted
shoal
that had caused wrecks off of the coast of
New York
. During the
American Civil War
, he commanded the
Western Gunboat Flotilla
, where he won an important engagement in the
First Battle of Memphis
before capturing enemy supplies on a successful expedition up the
Yazoo River
. Davis was also one of the founders of the
National Academy of Sciences
in 1863 and he wrote several scientific books.
[5]
[6]
[
page needed
]
[7]
Early life
[
edit
]
Davis was born in
Boston
,
Massachusetts
.
[8]
He attended the
Boston Latin School
and entered
Harvard College
in 1821, where he studied
mathematics
.
[9]
[10]
But left after two years when he was appointed as a
midshipman
in the
United States Navy
on August 12, 1823.
[11]
Between 1827 and 1828, he served on board the
frigate
United States
in the
Pacific
. In 1829, he was promoted to
passed midshipman
. From 1830 to 1833, he served on the
sloop
Ontario
. In 1834, he was promoted to
lieutenant
and assigned to the
Vincennes
. In 1840 to 1841, he served on board the ship
Independence
.
In 1841, he received an honorary
Bachelor of Arts
degree from Harvard; in 1868, he received an honorary
LL.D.
from the same institution.
[12]
Career
[
edit
]
From 1846 to 1849, he worked in the
United States Coast Survey
on board the
Nantucket
, where he discovered a previously unknown
shoal
that had caused shipwrecks off the coast of New York. During his service to the Survey, he was also responsible for researching tides and currents and acted as an inspector on a number of naval
shipyards
. From 1849 to 1855 he was the first superintendent of American Nautical Almanac Office and produced the
American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac
.
[13]
In 1854, he was promoted to
commander
and given the command of the
St. Mary's
. On April 30, 1857, he mediated with the Central American forces at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the capitulation of filibuster
William Walker
and some 300 men, who departed in the St. Mary's for Panama the next day. In 1859, while commanding the
St. Mary's
, Davis was ordered to go to
Baker Island
to obtain samples of
guano
, becoming perhaps the first American to set foot there since it was annexed by the United States in 1857. The guano was necessary as fertilizer. Commodore
William Mervine
had previously been sent, but he did not land and believed the island to be inaccessible. (From evidence that was later found on the island, it had been visited prior to 1857 by whalers).
Civil War service
[
edit
]
In the
American Civil War
, Davis was appointed to
Blockade Strategy Board
in June 1861. On 15 November 1861, he was promoted to
captain
.
[14]
He was made acting
flag officer
, in command of the
Western Gunboat Flotilla
. A day after he took command, the flotilla fought a short battle with Confederate ships on the
Mississippi River
at
Plum Point Bend
on May 10, 1862. Caught unready for battle, two of the Union ships were badly damaged and had to be run into shoal water to keep from sinking. The Confederate vessels escaped with only minor damage. On June 6, his ships fought in the
First Battle of Memphis
, which resulted in the sinking or capture of seven of the eight Confederate ships, compared with damage to only one of the Union vessels. In July, he cooperated with Flag Officer
David G. Farragut
in an attack on
Vicksburg, Mississippi
, but they were forced to withdraw. In August, he proceeded up the Yazoo River and successfully seized Confederate supplies and munitions there. After this excursion, he was made Chief of the
Bureau of Navigation
and returned to Washington, D.C..
On February 7, 1863, he was promoted to
rear admiral
.
Post-war service
[
edit
]
After the war he joined the
Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States
(MOLLUS). He was a member of the New York Commandery and received insignia number 1022.
Published 1857, Davis translated to English a copy of Carl Friedrich Gauss's
Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies Moving about the Sun in Conic Sections
.
[15]
From 1865 to 1867, he was the Superintendent of the
United States Naval Observatory
. In 1867, he was given command of the
South Atlantic Squadron
and was given the
Guerriere
as his flagship. In 1869, he returned home and served both on the
Lighthouse Board
as well as in the
Naval Observatory
. Davis died in Washington, D.C., and is buried in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
.
[8]
Personal life
[
edit
]
He married Harriette Blake Mills, the daughter of
U.S. Senator
Elijah Hunt Mills
. Together, they were the parents of:
During his travels, Davis wrote about his experiences in his journal about
London
[17]
and
Copenhagen
.
[18]
In 1843, he became a member of the Massachusetts
Society of the Cincinnati
in succession to his grandfather Colonel
Constant Freeman
(1757?1824).
[12]
Davis was elected as a member of the
American Philosophical Society
in 1852.
[19]
Davis died in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 1877.
Namesake
[
edit
]
Several ships of the United States Navy are also named in his honor: the torpedo boat
USS
Davis
(TB-12)
, the destroyers
USS
Davis
(DD-65)
and
USS
Davis
(DD-395)
, and the oceanographic research ship
USNS
Charles H. Davis
(T-AGOR-5)
A species of
sea anemone
native to the coasts of
New England
and
Nova Scotia
, the
Rhodactis davisii
, is named for Davis.
Books By Charles Henry Davis
[
edit
]
- The Coast Survey of the United States
, Metcalf, 1849.
[20]
- Remarks Upon the Establishment of an American Prime Meridian
, Metcalf, 1849.
[21]
- Report on the Harbor of Charleston
, From the printing office of Councell & Daggett, 1852.
[22]
- Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies moving about the Sun in Conic Sections a translation of Gauss's "Theoria Motus." With an Appendix
. Little, Brown, 1857.
[23]
- Tables of Melpomene
. Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, 1860.
[24]
- General Examination of the Pacific Ocean
, E & G.W. Blunt, 1861.
[25]
- Communicates and Reports in Relation to Surveys of Boston Harbor
. J.E. Farwell and Company, 1862.
[26]
- Report on interoceanic Canals and railroads between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
, G.P.O., 1867.
[27]
- General Examination of the Pacific Ocean
, G.P.O., 1869.
[28]
- Narrative of the North Polar Expedition, U.S. Ship Polaris, Captain Charles Francis Hall Commanding
, G. P. O., 1876.
[29]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Notes
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1899).
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877
. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 95.
ISBN
978-0-598-62841-1
.
- ^
Jansen, Axel (2011-02-14).
Alexander Dallas Bache: Building the American Nation Through Science and Education in the Nineteenth Century
. Campus Verlag. p. 249.
ISBN
978-3-593-39355-1
.
- ^
"Commander Charles Henry Davis"
.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA
. Retrieved
2023-08-03
.
- ^
"Charles Henry Davis | U.S. Navy, Hydrography, Cartography | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. Retrieved
2023-10-31
.
- ^
"Charles Henry Davis | American naval officer and scientist | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. Retrieved
2023-03-10
.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (2019-03-08).
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877
. Creative Media Partners, LLC.
ISBN
978-0-530-69890-8
.
- ^
"Charles Henry Davis (Davis, Charles Henry, 1807-1877) | The Online Books Page"
.
onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu
. Retrieved
2023-08-03
.
- ^
a
b
Eicher, p. 201.
- ^
"Charles Henry Davis | U.S. Navy, Hydrography, Cartography | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. Retrieved
2023-10-31
.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1899).
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877
. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 63.
ISBN
978-0-598-62841-1
.
- ^
Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, 1890. pg. 192.
- ^
a
b
Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, 1890. pg. 193.
- ^
Hockey, Thomas (2009).
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
.
Springer Publishing
.
ISBN
978-0-387-31022-0
. Retrieved
August 22,
2012
.
- ^
"US Navy Officers: 1778?1900"
.
history.navy.mil
. Retrieved
9 August
2010
.
- ^
"AIP Niels Bohr Library"
.
libserv.aip.org
. Retrieved
2023-02-10
.
- ^
Adams, Henry.
The Life of George Cabot Lodge
. pg. 4-5. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1911
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1899).
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877
. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 65.
ISBN
978-0-598-62841-1
.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1899).
Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877
. Houghton, Mifflin. p. 71.
ISBN
978-0-598-62841-1
.
- ^
"APS Member History"
.
search.amphilsoc.org
. Retrieved
2021-04-16
.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1849).
The Coast Survey of the United States
. Metcalf.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1849).
Remarks Upon the Establishment of an American Prime Meridian
. Metcalf.
- ^
Bache, Alexander Dallas; Davis, Charles Henry; Maffitt, John Newland; Maury, Matthew Fontaine; Kurtz, John D. (1852).
Report on the Harbor of Charleston
. From the printing office of Councell & Daggett.
- ^
Gauss, Carl Friedrich; Davis, Charles Henry (1857).
Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies Moving about the Sun in Conic Sections: A Translation of Gauss's "Theoria Motus." With an Appendix
. Little, Brown.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry; Schubert, Ernst (1860).
Tables of Melpomene
. Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry; Kerhallet, Charles Philippe de (1861).
General Examination of the Pacific Ocean
. E. & G.W. Blunt.
- ^
Harbor, 1859, United States Commission on Boston; Totten, Joseph Gilbert; Bache, Alexander Dallas; Davis, Charles Henry (1862).
Communications and Reports in Relation to the Surveys of Boston Harbor
. J.E. Farwell and Company.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1867).
Report on interoceanic canals and railroads between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans
. Government Printing Office.
- ^
Kerhallet, Charles Philippe de; Davis, Charles Henry (1869).
General Examination of the Pacific Ocean, by Capt. Charles Philippe de Kerhallet ... Followed by Nautical Directions for Avoiding Hurricanes. Tr. from the 2d French Ed., Under the Direction of Commander Charles Henry Davis, U.S.N., by Authority of the Author. Bureau of Navigation
. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ^
Davis, Charles Henry (1876).
Narrative of the North Polar Expedition: U.S. Ship Polaris, Captain Charles Francis Hall Commanding
. Government Printing Office.
- Bibliography
- Eicher, John H., and
Eicher, David J.
,
Civil War High Commands
, Stanford University Press, 2001,
ISBN
0-8047-3641-3
.
- "Navy."
The Military and Naval Magazine of the United States
. Washington: Mar 1835. Vol.5, Iss. 1; pg. 78, 3 pgs
- "The
Independence
."
The Naval Magazine
. New York: May 1837. Vol.2, Iss. 3; pg. 290, 2 pgs
- "American Guano."
The New England Farmer; a Monthly Journal
. Boston: Jun 1859. Vol.11, Iss. 6; pg. 265, 2 pgs
- "The American Guano Islands."
National Era
. Washington: Jun 16, 1859. Vol.VOL. XIII., Iss. No. 650.; pg. 94, 1 pgs
- "The Aquarial Gardens."
Friends' Intelligencer
. Philadelphia: Aug 6, 1859. Vol.16, Iss. 21; pg. 333, 3 pgs
- "Another Naval Victory."
New York Times
. New York, N.Y.: May 12, 1862. pg. 8, 1 pgs
- "Current Events."
The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register
. Boston: 1862. pg. 299, 3 pgs
- "Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis."
New York Times
. New York, N.Y.: Feb 19, 1877. pg. 5, 1 pgs
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
International
| |
---|
National
| |
---|
People
| |
---|
Other
| |
---|