Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-07-21
Corporal Davis.
HIS RECORD CLEARLY AND ABLY PRE>ENTEn
ny MAJOR MYRICk.


ArGrsrA. July Il. 1879.
! To the Editor heaaejee Journal.
An ANONYMOUS writer in the Lewiston Ca
zette who concesls his identity under the
signature of First Maine Cavalryman', has
propounded several inquiries Ito be answered
/ by anv person interested. With your kind
permission, | will eudeavor TO give him the
! information he seeks He asks
LIST. AT what time did Co. ID. LIST ID. c.
| Cav. leave Washington for the 'front.'"
| | submit that this correspondent, il he really
was us he claims. with the ID. {. Cavalry
/ from the start, and was transferred with it to
the glorious old LIST Me. Cavalry betrays la
mentable and utterly inexcusable ignorance
| of what should be familiar history to him. if
not a matter of personal recollection, when
he prOpounds such a question. The natural
inference would be that he was not with the
regiment himself when it went 10 the front,
| or he would not be reduced to the extremity
of asking for information on this point, and
| in that case discreet silence would have
| been more becoming. However, | will en-
| Tighten him by saying that in pursuance of
| orders to Join the forces Eat the front" Co. ID
reached Yorktown, Va, on the 18th of Jan,
! 1864.
ID. "lIow many battles-aot ski,mishes--
did Mr.. Davis participate in, and where were
they fought?'
In reply to this question, have only to say
that Corporal Davis participated, with his
company, in all the engagements in which the
! D. G.. Cav. had part during the summer of
| "a. | need not enumerate them with dates
and localities, for it is a needless waste of
your space. | may say, however, that this
! gentleman's too thinly disguised zeal in be-
| half of his employers seems to have again run
away with his Judgment and discretion II
| my memory serves me, the members of
the ID. c. Cav. have always been loud and
explicit in claiming great credit for their
brilliant career prior to consolidation with
the First Maine. That they saw hard
vice, that they performed arduous duty, that
they experienced rough, hot work with the
enemy, no one who knew those men, or who is
familiar with the history of the campaigns of
GA can question. This astute writer seems not
to realize that he gives himself away" and
his regiment AS we'll when he throws any
doubt or discredit on the record of Corporal
Davis, prior to October, "a. inasmuch as
| overwhelming testimony has already shown
that Davis was constantly on duty with his
regiment and company during all that sum
mcr. Ii was unfortunate for that gentleman
that, in his haste to prove that Davis saw no
actual service, was in no engagement what
| ever he has, SO far as his testimony has any
weight or worth, shown that the ID. c. Cav.
as an organization saw no service, till it was
merged in the LIST Me. will be more gener-
Gus, and withal more just to his comrades,
for know they performed honorable service
before they joined us. | saw them in action,
and know they did good work, and more
over, the very quality of the material of which
that regiment was composed dispels any doubt
as TO their gallantry. 1t was my good for
tune to receive some fifty members of one of
its companies, and nobler and more inteli-
gent men, trucr, drawer, better soldiers new
er commanded, nor any other officer. The
! truth is, our unknown friend is PLAYING diff
ficut role when he would palm himself off
upon the public AS a First Maine Cavalryman,
by birth or by adoption. and his letter is a
sort of boomerang, which returns to wound
the man who threw it out. But he goes on ::
| 3D.. son what date did Mr.. Davis cease
! doing duty in his company?'
If he means Co. ID, he ceased doing duty
with it on the day when he was assigned to
and became member of Co. f. LIST Me- II
he means Co. +, Corporal Davis performed
his duty with 1t faithfully until January, 1860
when he was turloughcd on account of sick
ness. And in this connection, it may be of
at least minor interest to my inquiring friend
to state. on the authority of a gentleman in
this city who has known him for many years,
that when he reached Maine, Davis was al
most literally living skeleton, so re-
duced was he by the ravages OF
disease. Possibly it may not de-
tract from the value of this testimony, to
add that the gentleman referred to made this
statement to several of us in town on the day
of the nomination at Bangor, before he ascer-
tanned that he was expected to furnish poiti-
cal capital for the opposition press, by violat-
ing the sanctity of professional confidence,
and by perversion and misrepresentation of
facts.
! 4th-"Ilow many days ddhe perform active
duty at the front?' think that, with the nu-
merous letters already published from his
comrades, showing Davis constantly on duty
with his company, and his company in active
service from Jan. 80, "a, till Jan'y, 80, it is
but fair to ask our friend il he is up in arth-
metic as far as the first of the four simple
rules, to count for himself.
jth-''Did he obtain pension! If so, how
much, and for what?" Promising only that it
is a matter which does not necessarily con-
Germ, and therefore need not interest any par
ties except the government on the one hand
and the soldier on the other, still, as there is
no desire or occasion for any concealment in
the matter, will say Corp'l Davis did receive