Davis, George Breckenridge

Davis, George Breckenridge, 1847–1914, American army officer and jurist, b. Ware, Mass., grad. West Point, 1871. His early military service was divided between duty on the Western frontier and teaching at West Point. Davis joined the judge advocate general's department in 1888 and was graduated in 1891 from the Columbian Univ. (now George Washington Univ.) law school. He became judge advocate general in 1901. He edited The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (4 series, 70 vol. in 128 vol., 1880–1901). In 1896 he returned to West Point and taught law and history until 1901. Davis was an American delegate (1907) to the Second Hague Conference. His other writings include The Elements of Law (1897) and A Treatise on the Military Law of the United States (1898). He retired as major general in 1911.