Davis, Martin K. 1843-1936, Medal of Honor Recipient

Medal of Honor 1862According to available records, Martin K. Davis was born in Marion, Illinois on March 12, 1843. It is believed that Davis was orphaned at an early age. At age 19, he joined the 116th Illinois Infantry in August 1862 at Stonington, Christian Co., Illinois as a Private.

On May 22, 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant ordered an assault on the Confederate heights at Vicksburg, Mississippi. The plan called for a storming party of volunteers to build a bridge across a moat and plant scaling ladders against the enemy embankment in advance of the main attack.

The volunteers knew the odds were against survival and the mission was called, in nineteenth century vernacular, a “forlorn hope”. Only single men were accepted as volunteers and even then, twice as many men as needed came forward and were turned away. The assault began in the early morning following a naval bombardment.

The Union soldiers came under enemy fire immediately and were pinned down in the ditch they were to cross. Despite repeated attacks by the main Union body, the men of the forlorn hope were unable to retreat until nightfall. Of the 150 men in the storming party, nearly half were killed.

Davis was mustered out in June 1865 as a Sergeant and returned to Illinois after the Civil War. He married before June 1867 to a Sarah E., whose maiden name is unknown. He and Sarah had 9 children, 7 of whom were still alive in 1900.

He was a house plasterer by profession and was living in Midland City, Illinois in August 1890 when the state legislature increased his pension. He was awarded an invalid’s pension under certificate number 484,616.

His Medal of Honor was issued on July 26, 1894. The Citation reads, “The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pleasure in presenting the Medal of Honor to Sergeant Martin K. Davis, United States Army, for gallantry in the charge of the volunteer storming party on 22 May 1863, while serving with Company H, 116th Illinois Infantry, in action at Vicksburg, Mississippi.”

By June 5, 1900 he had moved his family to the Cornelia area of Habersham County, Georgia and was working as a plasterer. In the census that year he reported that he was born in March 1843 in Illinois and that Sarah was born in December 1852 in Illinois. Children still in his household in 1900 were Clara, an artist born in Illinois in November 1868; Bell, a seamstress born in Illinois in July 1876; Jesse, attending school, who was born in Illinois in September 1887; and Winnie, attending school, who was born in Illinois in July 1890.

 By January 1920 the family lived in the Demorest area of Habersham County on a farm, but Martin reported he was without occupation. Clara and Jesse were still single and in the household.

 The 1930 census of the Clarkesville area showed that 87 year old martin K. Davis was a widower living on Lake Burton Road. His son, Jesse, still lived with him and worked as a plasterer.

Martin died December 14, 1936 and is buried in Demorest, Georgia.

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(Wikipedia; Ancestry.com; Findagrave.com; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 12/23/2013)

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