SUBMITTED BY: Lisa Jillani
My aunt, Esta Davis Serber, was born in 1900 and alive when her grandfather, Simon D. Davis,talked to her about his time in the Sandy Run Yellow Jackets out of Cleveland Co. She passed the statement on to me that Simon told her. He said, “I didn’t believe in slavery. I fought because they were invading my home.” [picture of Simon Davis attached]
Below are excerpts of letters mentioning Simon Davis from Dear Companion…: The Civil War Letters of Private Thomas Allen Davis, translated by Shirley Gibby McHan Boykin; compiled by Linda Brooks Banwarth; published by Linda Brooks Banwarth, 1997:
[letter from Thomas Allen Davis to his wife Margaret] “‘…while I was at the Bluff and I seen Simon Davis and he is getting along very well He wants to go home the worst sort But I persuaded him he had better stay there two or three weaks longer he was the Proudest man to see me I ever saw Lawson Bridges went with me to see him…'”
[letter from Thomas Allen Davis to his children] “‘Camp near Richmon July the 8th 1863: my der children I will write you a Short leter this morning to let you no I have not forgotten you I am well today and gone to Richmond to Se your Onkel Simon Davis…'”
[from Dear Companion…] “Margaret may have migrated to Macon County with others of the Davis and Barnett families who went to that area. Elizabeth Barnett Davis, widow of Philip Pinkney Davis (who also died in the war in 1864) and Simon Drury Davis, who lost a leg in battle, both settled in the Macon/Swain County area (Swain County formed out of Macon in 1871). Perhaps they sold their land in Cleveland (or lost it if unable to pay the taxes) and migrated to the western part of the state where land was cheaper. Whatever the reason, Margaret moved her family of four children to what would become Swain County.”
