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.

 

 

 

 

Courtesy of the Spruance Library of the Bucks County Historical Society, 84 South Pine Street, Doylestown, Pa. 18901, (215)345-0210


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