Thursday, December 15, 2011

Robert Beale Davis, student 1848-1849

Robert Beale Davis, older half-brother of Wilbur Fisk Davis and John Williams Corbin Davis, studied law and attended the University of Virginia after leaving Randolph-Macon. He was practicing law in Westmoreland County, VA, when he enlisted on May 25, 1861 as 1st lieutenant in the 40th VA Infantry, Co. K, the "Potomac Rifles." He was promoted to captain on April 23, 1862.

He was killed leading his men in battle October 1, 1864, near Peebles' Farm in Dinwiddie County, part of the Siege of Petersburg, VA, and buried by the Union Army. According to correspondence from General U.S. Grant to General Robert E. Lee and from General Lee to the captain's mother, his body was disinterred in January 1865 and returned to his family under a flag of truce, and was ultimately buried in Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg.

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