Dear Sir,

I have just come across your web site regarding the KY 39th Mounted Infantry Unit. I am reading the information with great excitement.

I am including some information about my GGGrandfather, Henry Davis, who was a fifer in Company I. He and his brothers and their father Henry Davis, Sr -who died at Camp Nelson of illness, lived in what is now W. Virginia though at the time of their enlistment was still Virginia. They left or were chased out of VA due to their beliefs, and hid out in caves on their way to Peach Orchard KY to enlist in the Union Army. Henry Davis' uniform was donated by his daughter-in-law Mable Moore Davis to the Elkhart County Historical Museum in Bristol IN and can be seen there today.

Sincerely,

Mike Eger

Found in Elkhart Truth, Elkhart, Elkhart Co, IN newspaper, Death: January 21, 1920:

SERVED NATION IN UNION FORCES WITH SIX BROTHERS Henry Davis, Venerable Fighter And Worker, Dies Here At Age Of 72.

In the death today of Henry Davis, 72, well known civil war veteran, the city loses a citizen whose furtune it was not only to have been one of the pioneer harness makers who worked with the Elkhart Carriage& Harness company until it became the Elkhart Carriage & Motor Car company, leaving its employ about five years ago, but who also was one of the veteran road builders who assisted in solidifying the roadbed in the Kankakee region of the old L.S&M.S. railroad, a task that was performed under the personal supervision of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Mr. Davis died it 10 o'clock this morning at his home, 501 Sherman street. Two years ago he was stricken with a complication of diseases. A year ago he suffered a stroke of paralysis and about week ago suffered another strike which hastened the end.

Mr. Davis was born in Buchanan county, VA, April 10, 1847. During the civil war he served with his father and six brothers as a member of Company I of the 39th regiment of Kenucky mountain infantry volunteers. Because of his youth, 15 years of age, at the time of his enlistment, January 28 1863, he was compelled to enter the army as a fifer but so determined was his regiment to fight that they did not know the war was over until three months after peace had been declared. In the meanwhile the soldiers were engaged in guerrila warfare in the south. He was wounded twice, and was finally honorably discharged September 15, 1865.

Mr Davis came to Elkhart from Monroe Mich., in 1881, and prior to entering upon his work as a harnessmaker for the Elkhart Carriage & Harness company, he assisted in the memorable building of the Kankakee right of way. He liked to relate how enthusiastic Mr. Vanderbilt was over the result of a thorough scraping and of how the famous financier entertained his workers in his private car. Mr. Davis sat across from Mr. Vanerbilt in a friendly game of pedro.

His career as an employe of the Elkhart Carriage and Harness company is a most noteworthy one in view of the fact that he was with the company through its early days and through the time when the automobile practically revolutionized the business. In spote of his intiring devotion to his daily toil he found time to fish and this was truly his favorite sport.

Mr. Davis married Miss Anna Groll of Monroe July 4, 1879 and she and the following children survive: Jarry L and Jesse W. Davis of this city; Mrs. H.E.Carr, Mrs A.G.Roberts and Mrs Clyde Lehman of Detoit. There also survive seven grandchildren.

Mr. Davis was a charter member of the old Conn battery and at the time of his death was affiliated with the Frank Baldwin post of the G.A.R.

Henry Jr. 18yrs (untrue). 5'8", fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair. Born McDowel Co VA/Highland Co?. Enlisted 1-28-1863 in Lawrence Co. Muster in as fifer boy 1-28. Lost one long enfield rifle musket calibre 58. Served detached from unit at Greenville KY Jan/Feb 1864. April 1864 absent. Wounded in foot Oct 14. Dec 1864 sick at Camp Nelson.

Davis, Henry, Private, Company I. Age 18. B. McDowell Co., WV., s/o Henry Davis, Sr., Co. I. Poss. prev. serv. with Capt. Sampson Kirk's Co. of Militia (Wayne County 167th Militia West Virginia State Troops). Appd. for and recd. a pension in 1877. D. Jan. 6 (or 21?), 1920, in Elkhart, In. Widow, Anna M., appd. for and recd. a pension in 1920 as a res. of IN.