1 Bucks County Intelligencer, Davis Civil War Hero, A Legend Page B-SIX Col. 7 1
Davis, Civil
War Hero,
A
Legend
Impressions of a fashionable
home, a Sunday School teacher
and a ping pong table:
The kids were always wel-
come at the home of W.W.H.
Davis, 62 East Court St.,
Doylestown. Especially on Sun-
days.
They gathered in the base-
ment, after lessons at St. Paul’s
Episcopal Church and decided
who was champ of the short-
pants set in this community.
Dan Atkinson, an ageless rac-
onteur of Doylestown, was one
of them.
“That house,” he recalled,
“was the only one in Doylestown
with a ping pong table. The gen-
eral’s daughter, I can’t think of
her name, was our Sunday
School teacher.
“She always invited us over
to her father’s house to play
ping pong after school.”
During the era, Atkinson not-
ed, homes had a cellar kitchen
and a dining room upstairs.
We never thought they’d have
us back after the first time,”
said Atkinson, “but they did.
And we loved it.”
“But, we were noisy.”
When not occupied with play-
ing ping pong, some of the
youngsters were swept into a
world of fantasy by a dumb
waiter.
“It kept floating from the
basement to the dining room up-
stairs,” he explained. “That was
a sight. It kept us busy.”
Stern Countenance
Davis was a man of stern
countenance, according to Atkin-
son, but a good host.
“He was a small man with a
goatee,” Atkinson said. “He was
never too busy to entertain the
kids. Whenever we went up to
see him at his court house of-
fice, he showed us everything.
“Of course I knew him when
he was close to ninety years
old. But, even at that age he
was a sharp talker and very
keen.”
Davis was a veteran of the
Mexican War, fifteen years be-
fore the Civil War conflict. He
was promoted from captain to
colonel when he organized the
104th Pennsylvania Regiment.
“He was active in community
affairs,” Atkinson observed.
“When they laid the cornerstone
at the old court house, he con-
tributed a lot of items to it.
Was Editor
“He was also editor and pub-
lisher of the old Democrat news-
paper, now the Intelligencer.”
Davis was organizer of the
Bucks County Historical Society.
After the Civil War, he worked
out of a small office in the court
house.
“He always wore a small,
round cap without a visor,” not-
ed Atkinson. “It was about two
inches high and he wore it while
he worked.
“The kids always remembered
that and his left hand. He had
about half of his fingers left on
that hand after the war.”
The Civil War hero who be-
came a legend in his own time,
died in 1910.
“He had two daughters and a
son,” Atkinson said. “One
grandson, Walter Paterson, is
now living in Vermont.”
The others, according to the
Doylestown resident, have gone
the way of all descendants of
heroes.