William Richardson Davie - Revolutionary War

Revolutionary War

After leaving New Jersey, Davie began to study law in Salisbury, North Carolina, under Spruce Macay (pronounced "Muh-coy"), who would later provide Andrew Jackson with his own legal training. In December 1778, Davie left Salisbury to join 1,200 militiamen led by Brigadier General Allen Jones of Northampton County, NC. Jones's force advanced toward Charleston, South Carolina, with intentions to aid the port city as it prepared its defenses against possible British assault. That threat receded, so Davie and the rest of Jones's men returned to North Carolina after marching as far south as Camden, South Carolina.

Davie resumed his studies in Salisbury, but in the spring of 1779, he closed his law books again to reenter military service. This time, though, Davie did not volunteer for an existing force; he helped to raise and train a local cavalry troop. For his work in forming "a Company of Horse in the District of Salisbury," he received a lieutenant's commission in April from North Carolina Governor Richard Caswell. Davie did not remain in that junior rank for long. In May 1779, he and his company were attached to the legion of General Casimir Pułaski, who earlier in the year had moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina to help bolster American positions in and around Charleston. Promoted to the rank of major under Pulaski, Davie assumed command of a brigade of cavalry. On June 20, 1779, just two days shy of his twenty-third birthday, Davie led a charge against British forces at the Battle of Stono Ferry outside Charleston. He suffered a serious wound to his thigh in that engagement, fell from his horse, and narrowly escaped capture. While convalescing from his injuries, Davie resumed his legal studies back in Salisbury. Soon he completed or "stood" his examinations and in November 1779 obtained a license to practice law in South Carolina. In the late spring and summer of the following year, Davie, now fully recovered, again formed an independent company of cavalry. He led that mounted force in several actions during the summer of 1780.

Shortly after the Battle of Hanging Rock, Davie received word of a new army moving into South Carolina under General Horatio Gates. At the Battle of Camden on August 16, 1780 Gates was soundly defeated. While the Continentals fought hard, his militia largely fled without much if any of a fight. Gates and what remained of his army fell back into North Carolina. Davie narrowly missed the battle. Instead of retreating north along with Gates and the remnants of the American army, Davie moved south towards the enemy and Camden to recover supply wagons and gather intelligence on enemy movements. In the time between Camden and the Battle of Kings Mountain, in October 1780, Davie's cavalry was the only unbroken corps between the British army and what was left of the Continental forces.

Davie's most audacious action as a cavalry officer came at the Battle of Charlotte on September, 26, 1780. Ordered to cover the American army retreat and hinder the British invasion of North Carolina, Davie, now a colonel, and 150 of his mounted militia set up defense in what was then the small village of Charlotte, North Carolina. He dismounted several of his men and had them take station behind a stone wall at the summit of a hill in the center of town. Other dismounted soldiers where scattered on the flanks with a reserve of cavalry. At about noon, the British army under General Lord Cornwallis appeared. Cornwallis' forces numbered at least 2,000 Redcoats and loyalists. After three charges of British cavalry and infantry moving on his right flank, Davie and his men retreated northward. Cornwallis subsequently occupied Charlotte, but he remained there less than two weeks, withdrawing his forces from the "hornets nest" after receiving news of the defeat of Loyalist forces by backcountry militia at the Battle of Kings Mountain on October 7, 1780. As Cornwallis's army marched back toward South Carolina, Davie directed his men to shadow and skirmish with enemy units and to disrupt and intercept their communications.

Davie's military service in the Revolution changed dramatically after December 1780, when General Nathanael Greene arrived in North Carolina to take command of the American army in the "Southern Department." Headquartered in Charlotte, Greene desperately needed more provisions and equipment for his soldiers as he prepared to counter the certain return of Cornwallis to North Carolina. Davie's leadership skills and knowledge of the region's terrain and inhabitants impressed Greene, who in January 1781 persuaded the experienced cavalry officer to relinquish his field command so that he could serve as the army's commissary-general. In that position Davie spent the final stages of the war carrying out the crucial but often thankless tasks of locating, organizing, and transporting supplies for General Greene's ever-needy troops, as well as for North Carolina's militia.