Partly-printed DS as president, one page, 17.75 x 16, July 28, 1898. President McKinley appoints Wirt Davis as a “Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry in the service of the United States.” Signed boldly at the conclusion by William McKinley and countersigned by Secretary of War Russel A. Alger. The blue War Office seal remains affixed to the lower left. In fine condition, with some light toning and a trimmed right edge.
Wray Wirt Davis (1839-1914) was a career military officer from Richmond, Virginia, who joined the Union when the Civil War erupted, a decision that severed his relationship with his family for the next forty years; at least three of Davis’s brothers enlisted in the Confederate army.
Davis participated in the Battle of Fort Donelson in February 1862 and the Battle of Shiloh in April. He was promoted to 2nd lieutenant in May 1863 and to brevet 1st lieutenant in September for his ‘gallant conduct’ during the Battle of Chickamauga. He suffered a fractured thigh during the battle after a Confederate soldier shot his horse out from under him. Davis had recovered by early 1864 and during General William T. Sherman’s Meridian Campaign earned promotion to brevet captain. In the war’s final months, his ‘gallant and meritorious’ service earned him promotions to regimental adjutant, first lieutenant, and finally brevet major.
He remained in the army after the war, serving primarily in the American Southwest. He officially became a captain on August 1, 1868. He performed ‘gallant service’ in action against the Comanches in 1872, served in the Great Sioux War of 1876, and fought against the Apaches in the Battle of Horseshoe Canyon in 1882.
During the Spanish-American War, Davis became a lieutenant colonel in the 8th US Cavalry and spent several months as the commander of a military district in Cuba. He was promoted to colonel of the 3rd US Cavalry on January 19, 1900, and spent the next eighteen months stationed in the Philippines. In July 1900, the army ordered him to China to help suppress the Boxer Rebellion.
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