Benjamin Franklin Davis Benjamin Franklin " Grimes " Davis ( 1832 – June 9 , 1863 ) was an American military officer who served in Indian wars , and then led Union cavalry in the American Civil War before dying in combat . He led a daring escape from the Confederate - encircled Union garrison at Harpers Ferry . Biography . Born in Alabama , Davis was appointed from Mississippi to the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York , graduating in 1854 . Wounded while fighting the Apache in frontier New Mexico , at the outbreak of war Davis decided to stay with the Union , and was promoted to captain , 1st U . S . Cavalry Regiment , July 30 , 1861 . Davis had two brothers who served in the Confederate States Army in the 11th Mississippi Infantry ; neither survived the war . Davis served as lieutenant colonel , 1st California Cavalry , in the fall of that year , first in Washington , D . C . , then in the Peninsula and Rappahannock campaigns . Commissioned colonel of the newly formed 8th New York Cavalry on June 25 , 1862 , Davis was leading that unit on September 14 , stationed with the defending force at Harpers Ferry , after the town had been invested by troops under Stonewall Jackson . Finding his commanding officer Col . Dixon S . Miles unable to protect the force from bombardment and ready to surrender his troops , Davis and fellow officer Lt . Col . Hasbrouck Davis with his 12th Illinois Cavalry determined to fight their way out northward out of the encirclement . Crossing the Potomac River on a pontoon bridge under cover of night , 1 , 300 Union cavalrymen quietly escaped , overwhelming or avoiding Confederate pickets assigned to cover the winding road north . While moving in pitch black darkness , Davis came across an artillery wagon train belonging to Confederate Maj . Gen . James Longstreet , and using his deep Mississippi - accented voice , ordered their unsuspecting commander to change direction and accept his unit as cavalry escort . As sunlight broke , the wagon drivers were startled to discover drawn pistols from their blue - clad escort , and as a result Davis ' s command not only escaped to Union lines at Greencastle , Pennsylvania , by morning September 15 , but also captured Longstreet ' s forty - wagon reserve ordnance train with no losses . Davis was promoted to major , U . S . Army , for his exploit . Davis led the 1st Brigade of Brig . Gen . Alfred Pleasonton ' s cavalry division through the ineffectual " Stoneman Raid " in the Chancellorsville Campaign . In the Gettysburg Campaign , Davis led the brigade in the Battle of Brandy Station . In the early hours of June 9 , 1863 , Davis ' s men charged a South Carolina artillery battery near Beverly ' s Ford and were met by a strong cavalry counterattack , which sent most of the brigade reeling . Davis himself refused to fall back and challenged all comers to combat . He twirled his saber with one hand , firing his Colt revolver with the other until he ran out of ammunition . Confederate Lt . O . R . Allen of Major Caball E . Flournoy ' s regiment charged at Davis , hugging his horse ' s neck to evade Davis ' s saber slashing , then fired his pistol three times at point - blank range . The third shot struck Davis in the forehead , killing him instantly . Davis was a man of rough manners and a stern disciplinarian . One of his troopers described him as " a proud tyrannical devil " as likely to be killed by his own soldiers as by the Confederates . The Provost Marshal General of the Army of the Potomac , Marsena R . Patrick , described him as " our best cavalry officer " . He was buried in the West Point cemetery .