View source for Charles Henry Davis

{{short description|United States Navy admiral}}
{{for|the American businessman and civil engineer|Charles Henry Davis (businessman)}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Charles Henry Davis
| image         = Charles H. Davis.jpg
| caption       = 
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1807|1|16}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1877|2|18|1807|1|16}}
| placeofburial_label = Place of burial
| placeofburial = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]
| birth_place   = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], U.S.
| death_place   = [[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} -->
| allegiance    = {{flag|United States|1867}}<!-- 1867 is the variant that was in use at the time of his death in February 1877 -->
| branch        = {{flagicon image|Naval jack of the United States (1867–1877).svg|23px}} [[United States Navy]]
| serviceyears  = 1823&ndash;1877
| rank          = [[File:USN Rear Admiral rank insignia.jpg|35px]] [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear admiral]]
| unit          = 
| commands      = {{USS|St. Mary's|1844|2}}<br/>[[Western Gunboat Flotilla]]<br/>[[South Atlantic Squadron]]
| battles       = [[Filibuster War]]
*[[Second Battle of Rivas]]
[[American Civil War]]
*[[First Battle of Memphis]]
| awards        = 
| relations     = [[Davis political family]]
| laterwork     = 
| spouse        = Harriette Blake Mills
}}
'''Charles Henry Davis''' ({{Birth date|1807|1|16}} &ndash; {{Death date|1877|2|18}}) was a [[Autodidacticism|self-educated]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877 |date=1899 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |isbn=978-0-598-62841-1 |pages=95 |language=en}}</ref> American [[astronomer]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jansen |first=Axel |url= |title=Alexander Dallas Bache: Building the American Nation Through Science and Education in the Nineteenth Century |date=2011-02-14 |publisher=Campus Verlag |isbn=978-3-593-39355-1 |pages=249 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]] of the [[United States Navy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Commander Charles Henry Davis. |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2021669444/ |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}</ref><ref name="britannica.com">{{Cite web |title=Charles Henry Davis {{!}} U.S. Navy, Hydrography, Cartography {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Henry-Davis |access-date=2023-10-31 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> While working for the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|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 (state)|New York]]. During the [[American Civil War]], he commanded the [[Mississippi River Squadron|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Henry Davis {{!}} American naval officer and scientist {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Henry-Davis |access-date=2023-03-10 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ub7WwwEACAAJ |title=Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877 |date=2019-03-08 |publisher=Creative Media Partners, LLC |isbn=978-0-530-69890-8 |language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=July 2023}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Charles Henry Davis (Davis, Charles Henry, 1807-1877) {{!}} The Online Books Page |url=https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Davis,%20Charles%20Henry,%201807-1877 |access-date=2023-08-03 |website=onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu}}</ref>

Historian [[Donald L. Miller]] describes Davis during the time of the Civil War as "tall, solemn-looking and contemplative, with a drooping mustache that hung over his mouth."<ref name=miller />

==Early life ==
Davis was born in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], the son of [[Daniel Davis (Massachusetts lawyer)|Daniel Davis]].<ref name=Eicher>Eicher, p. 201.</ref> He attended the [[Boston Latin School]] and entered [[Harvard College]] in 1821, where he studied [[mathematics]].<ref name="britannica.com"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877 |date=1899 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |isbn=978-0-598-62841-1 |pages=63 |language=en}}</ref> But left after two years when he was appointed as a [[midshipman]] in the [[United States Navy]] on August 12, 1823.<ref>Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, 1890. pg. 192.</ref>

Between 1827 and 1828, he served on board the [[frigate]] {{USS|United States|1797|2}} in the [[Pacific Ocean|Pacific]]. In 1829, he was promoted to [[passed midshipman]]. From 1830 to 1833, he served on the [[sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{USS|Ontario|1813|2}}. In 1834, he was promoted to [[Lieutenant (United States)|lieutenant]] and assigned to the {{USS|Vincennes|1826|2}}. In 1840 to 1841, he served on board the ship {{USS|Independence|1814|2}}.

In 1841, he received an honorary [[Bachelor of Arts]] degree from Harvard; in 1868, he received an honorary [[Legum Doctor|LL.D.]] from the same institution.<ref name="Cincinnati 1890. pg. 193">Memorials of the Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati, 1890. pg. 193.</ref>

==Career==
[[File:Coat of Arms of Charles H. Davis.svg|175px|thumb|left|Coat of Arms of Charles Henry Davis]]
From 1846 to 1849, he worked in the [[United States Coast and Geodetic Survey|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 [[shipyard]]s.  From 1849 to 1855 he was the first superintendent of American Nautical Almanac Office and produced the [[American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers |last=Hockey |first=Thomas |year=2009 |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-387-31022-0 |accessdate=August 22, 2012 |url=http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/58342.html}}</ref>

In 1854, he was promoted to [[commander]] and given the command of the {{USS|St. Mary's|1844|2}}. On April 30, 1857, he mediated with the Central American forces at San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, the capitulation of filibuster [[William Walker (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===
In the [[American Civil War]], Davis was appointed to [[Blockade Strategy Board]] in June 1861. On 15 November 1861, he was promoted to [[Captain (United States O-6)|captain]].<ref>{{Cite web |url= http://www.history.navy.mil/books/callahan/reg-usn-d.htm
 |title=US Navy Officers: 1778–1900  |work=history.navy.mil |accessdate=9 August 2010}}</ref> He was made acting [[Flag officer#United States|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 [[Battle of Plum Point Bend|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 came downriver from [[Memphis, Tennessee]] to cooperate with the New Orleans–based fleet of his close friend Flag Officer [[David G. Farragut]] in a failed attack on the Confederate citadel of [[Vicksburg, Mississippi]], part of the 14-month long [[Vicksburg campaign]]. Afterwards, because of a severe outbreak of malaria among his crew which left his ships undermanned, he withdrew 160 miles north to [[Helena, Arkansas]], which had recently been occupied by the Union Army. The withdrawal was on Davis' own authority and not under orders from Washington; this decision may have contributed to his later removal from command of the gunboats.<ref name=miller>[[Donald L. Miller|Miller, Donald L.]] (2019) ''Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy''.  New York: Simon & Schuster. pp.158, 164, 178 {{isbn|1451641370}}</ref> In August, he successfully seized Confederate supplies and munitions from up the [[Yazoo River]].

After his removal from command of the gunboat flotilla in September &ndash; Secretary of the Navy [[Gideon Welles]] admired Davis and liked him personally, but said of him that he was "more of a scholar than [a] sailor... not an energetic, driving, fighting officer, such as is wanted for rough work on the Mississippi" &ndash; he was made Chief of the Navy's  [[Bureau of Navigation (United States Navy)|Bureau of Navigation]] and returned to Washington, D.C..

On February 7, 1863, he was promoted to [[Rear admiral (United States)|rear admiral]].

===Post-war service===
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]] with the USS {{USS|Guerriere|1865|2}} as his flagship. In 1869, he returned home and served both on the [[United States Lighthouse Board|Lighthouse Board]] as well as in the [[United States Naval Observatory|Naval Observatory]].<ref name=Eicher/>

==Personal life and death==
Davis married Harriette Blake Mills, the daughter of [[U.S. Senator]] [[Elijah Hunt Mills]]. Together, they were the parents of:

* Constant Davis, an 1864 graduate of Harvard who died of tuberculosis in 1869.
* Anna Cabot Mills Davis, who married U.S. Senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge]].<ref>Adams, Henry. ''The Life of George Cabot Lodge''. pg. 4-5. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1911</ref> 
* Evelyn Davis, who married [[Brooks Adams]], son of [[Charles Francis Adams Sr.]], grandson of President [[John Quincy Adams]], and great-grandson of President [[John Adams]]. Brooks and Evelyn were the last of the Adams families to live at [[Peacefield]], which was home to three previous generations of Adamses.
* Charles Henry Davis Jr., a Commander of the [[U.S. Navy]] served as Chief Intelligence Officer of the [[Office of Naval Intelligence]] from September 1889 to August 1892.
During his travels, Davis wrote about his experiences in his journal about [[London]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877 |date=1899 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |isbn=978-0-598-62841-1 |pages=65 |language=en}}</ref> and [[Copenhagen]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Life of Charles Henry Davis, Rear Admiral, 1807-1877 |date=1899 |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin |isbn=978-0-598-62841-1 |pages=71 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1843, he became a member of the Massachusetts [[Society of the Cincinnati]] in succession to his grandfather Colonel [[Constant Freeman]] (1757–1824).<ref name="Cincinnati 1890. pg. 193"/> Davis was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1852.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1852&year-max=1852&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-04-16|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref>

[[File:Gauss-9.jpg|alt=Title page to Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies Moving about the Sun in Conic Sections: A Translation of Gauss's "Theoria Motus by Carl Friedrich Gauss, translated to English by Davis (1857)|thumb|242x242px|Title page to ''Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies Moving about the Sun in Conic Sections: A Translation of Gauss's "Theoria Motus'' by [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]], translated to English by Davis (1857)]]

Davis translated into English [[Carl Friedrich Gauss]]'s ''Theory of the Motion of the Heavenly Bodies Moving about the Sun in Conic Sections'' (1809), which was published in 1857.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AIP Niels Bohr Library |url=https://libserv.aip.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=16D596817O2Y2.2020460&menu=search&aspect=power&npp=10&ipp=20&spp=20&profile=rev-all&ri=&index=.GW&term=Theory+of+the+Motion+of+the+Heavenly+Bodies+Moving+about+the+Sun+in+Conic+Sections:+A+Translation+of+Gauss%27s+%22Theoria+Motus&oper=AND&x=7&y=11&aspect=power&index=.TW&term=&oper=AND&index=.AW&term=&oper=AND&index=.SW&term=&ultype=&uloper==&ullimit=&ultype=&uloper==&ullimit=&sort= |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=libserv.aip.org}}</ref>

After the Civil War, Davis 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.

Davis died in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 1877,  and is buried in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]].<ref name=Eicher/>

==Namesakes==
Several ships of the United States Navy are 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.

==Works==
*''The Coast Survey of the United States'', Metcalf, 1849.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=The Coast Survey of the United States |date=1849 |publisher=Metcalf |language=en}}</ref>
*''Remarks Upon the Establishment of an American Prime Meridian'', Metcalf, 1849.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Remarks Upon the Establishment of an American Prime Meridian |date=1849 |publisher=Metcalf |language=en}}</ref>
*''Report on the Harbor of Charleston'', From the printing office of Councell & Daggett, 1852.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bache |first=Alexander Dallas |url= |title=Report on the Harbor of Charleston |last2=Davis |first2=Charles Henry |last3=Maffitt |first3=John Newland |last4=Maury |first4=Matthew Fontaine |last5=Kurtz |first5=John D. |date=1852 |publisher=From the printing office of Councell & Daggett |language=en}}</ref>
*''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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gauss |first=Carl Friedrich |url= |title=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 |last2=Davis |first2=Charles Henry |date=1857 |publisher=Little, Brown |language=en}}</ref>
*''Tables of Melpomene''. Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography, 1860.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Tables of Melpomene |last2=Schubert |first2=Ernst |date=1860 |publisher=Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography |language=en}}</ref>
*''General Examination of the Pacific Ocean'', E & G.W. Blunt, 1861.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=General Examination of the Pacific Ocean |last2=Kerhallet |first2=Charles Philippe de |date=1861 |publisher=E. & G.W. Blunt |language=en}}</ref>
*''Communicates and Reports in Relation to Surveys of Boston Harbor''. J.E. Farwell and Company, 1862.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harbor, 1859 |first=United States Commission on Boston |url= |title=Communications and Reports in Relation to the Surveys of Boston Harbor |last2=Totten |first2=Joseph Gilbert |last3=Bache |first3=Alexander Dallas |last4=Davis |first4=Charles Henry |date=1862 |publisher=J.E. Farwell and Company |language=en}}</ref>
*''Report on interoceanic Canals and railroads between Atlantic and Pacific Oceans'', G.P.O., 1867.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Report on interoceanic canals and railroads between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans |date=1867 |publisher=Government Printing Office}}</ref>
*''General Examination of the Pacific Ocean'', G.P.O., 1869.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kerhallet |first=Charles Philippe de |url= |title=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 |last2=Davis |first2=Charles Henry |date=1869 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |language=en}}</ref>
*''Narrative of the North Polar Expedition, U.S. Ship Polaris, Captain Charles Francis Hall Commanding'', G. P. O., 1876.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Charles Henry |url= |title=Narrative of the North Polar Expedition: U.S. Ship Polaris, Captain Charles Francis Hall Commanding |date=1876 |publisher=Government Printing Office|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}
* [[Seth Ledyard Phelps]] (Lieutenant-Commander who served under Davis)
* [[Bibliography of the American Civil War]]
* [[List of United States Navy four-star admirals]]

==References==
;Notes
{{Reflist}}
;Bibliography
* Eicher, John H., and [[David J. Eicher|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==
* [http://books.nap.edu/html/biomems/cdavis04.pdf Memoir of Charles Henry Davis (1807–1877)]
* {{Find a Grave|12922|Charles Henry Davis}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Charles Henry}}
[[Category:1807 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:United States Navy rear admirals (upper half)]]
[[Category:Union Navy admirals]]
[[Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Scientists from Boston]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Boston Latin School alumni]]