Henry Winter DAVIS, Congress, MD (1817-1865)

DAVIS Henry Winter , a Representative from Maryland; born in Annapolis, Md., August 16, 1817; was tutored privately; lived in Alexandria, Va. and Wilmington; returned to Maryland in 1827 with his father, who settled in Anne Arundel County; attended Wilmington College in 1826 and 1827; St. John's College, Annapolis, Md., and Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia; was graduated from Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, in 1837; studied law at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.; was admitted to the bar and commenced practice in Alexandria, Va.; in 1850 moved to Baltimore, Md., where he continued the practice of law and also engaged in literary pursuits; elected as the candidate of the American Party to the Thirty-fourth through Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1855-March 3, 1861); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1860 to the Thirty-seventh Congress; elected as an Unconditional Unionist to the Thirty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1863-March 3, 1865); chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs (Thirty-eighth Congress); co-sponsor of the Wade-Davis bill of 1864; was not a candidate for renomination in 1864; died in Baltimore, Md., on December 30, 1865; interment in Greenmount Cemetery.

Bibliography

Belz, Herman. ``Henry Winter Davis and the Origins of Congressional Reconstruction.'' Maryland Historical Magazine 67 (Summer 1972): 129-43; Henig, Gerald S. Henry Winter Davis; Antebellum and Civil War Congressman From Maryland. New York: Twayne, 1973.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present