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Cushman K. Davis
United States Senator from Minnesota
In office March 4, 1887 – November 27, 1900
Preceded by	Samuel J. R. McMillan
Succeeded by	Charles A. Towne
7th Governor of Minnesota
In office January 7, 1874 – January 7, 1876
Lieutenant	Alphonso Barto
Preceded by	Horace Austin
Succeeded by	John S. Pillsbury
Member of the Minnesota House of Representatives
In office 1867–1868
Personal details
Born	Cushman Kellogg Davis (1838-06-16)June 16, 1838 Henderson, New York, U.S.
Died	November 27, 1900(1900-11-27) (aged 62) Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Laura Bowman (1st), Anna Malcom Agnew Fox (2nd)
Parent	Horatio N. Davis (father)
Alma mater	Carroll College University of Michigan
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	Union Army
Years of service	1861–1864
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	28th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Battles/wars	American Civil War

Cushman Kellogg Davis (June 16, 1838 – November 27, 1900) was an American Republican politician who served as the seventh Governor of Minnesota and as a U.S. Senator from Minnesota.

Early life and American Civil War

Davis was born in Henderson, New York to Horatio N. Davis and Clarissa Cushman. His family moved to Wisconsin Territory before he was a year old (his father went on to serve as a member of the Wisconsin State Senate several different times). Cushman went to school at Carroll College and then the University of Michigan, graduating in 1857. Admitted to the bar in 1860, he soon after found himself serving in the American Civil War in the 28th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving first as a lieutenant in charge of Company B of this volunteer regiment. He was in action in the western campaigns, then in 1864 as an aide to General Willis A. Gorman.

Political career

Davis returned home in 1864 due to poor health. He relocated to St. Paul, Minnesota due to its reputation as a health resort and began to pursue a legal and political career. He was elected to the Minnesota State House of Representatives from 1867 to 1868 and was appointed as the United States District Attorney from 1868 to 1873. He resigned his position to run as the Republican candidate for Minnesota governor and won. During his term, he established a state board of railway commissioners, revised the state constitution to allow women to vote on school matters and hold elected office, and also provided assistance to farmers affected by a locust plague. He served one term from 1874 to 1876 and declined to be re-nominated for a second.

Return to legal career and second political career

Returning to his legal career, Davis successfully defended Judge Sherman Page in his 1878 impeachment trial. He also formed a partnership with Frank B. Kellogg and Cordenio Severance. In 1887, he was elected to the United States Senate. He would serve in the 50th, 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 55th, and 56th United States Congresses, from 1887 to 1900. He was involved with legislation related to pensions and the construction of the Soo Locks. Beginning in 1897 he was the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was closely involved with the sequence of events leading to the Spanish–American War. He was also present at the talks for the Treaty of Paris which ended the war.

Personal life

Davis married Laura Bowman in 1862. He remarried Anna Malcom Agnew Fox at some point in the 1880s.

Honors

Davis was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1894. He was elected a vice-president general of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1895.

Death

Davis died while still in office in St. Paul on November 27, 1900. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

See also

• List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)

References

1. ^ Johnson, Rossiter; Brown, John Howard, eds. (1906). The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans. Vol. III. Boston: American Biographical Society. Retrieved March 11, 2022 – via Internet Archive.
2. ^ Chisholm 1911.
3. ^ Stevens, Hiram Fairchild (1904). History of the Bench and Bar of Minnesota. Minneapolis and Saint Paul: Legal Publishing and Engraving Company. pp. 95–101.
4. ^ "Davis, Cushman Kellogg — Legislator Record". Minnesota Legislative Reference Library.
5. "Cushman Kellogg Davis". National Governors Association. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
6. American Antiquarian Society Members Directory

Attribution:

• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Davis, Cushman Kellogg" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 866.

Further reading

• Kreuter, Kent; Kreuter, Gretchen (Fall 1969). "The Presidency or Nothing: Cushman K. Davis and the Campaign of 1896" (PDF). Minnesota History. 41 (7): 301–316. JSTOR 20178039.

External links

• United States Congress. "Cushman K. Davis (id: D000095)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Memorial addresses on the life and character of Cushman Kellogg Davis, late a representative from Minnesota delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1901

v t e Governors of Minnesota
Territorial (1849–1858)	Ramsey Gorman Medary
State (since 1858)	Sibley Ramsey Swift Miller Marshall Austin Davis Pillsbury Hubbard McGill Merriam Nelson Clough Lind Van Sant Johnson Eberhart Hammond Burnquist Preus Christianson Olson Petersen Benson Stassen Thye Youngdahl E. Anderson Freeman Andersen Rolvaag LeVander W. Anderson Perpich Quie Perpich Carlson Ventura Pawlenty Dayton Walz

v t e United States senators from Minnesota
Class 1	Rice Ramsey McMillan Davis Towne Clapp Kellogg Shipstead Thye McCarthy H. Humphrey M. Humphrey Durenberger Grams Dayton Klobuchar
Class 2	Shields Wilkinson Norton Windom Stearns Windom Edgerton Windom Sabin Washburn K. Nelson Johnson Schall Benson Howard Lundeen Ball A. Nelson Ball H. Humphrey Mondale Anderson Boschwitz Wellstone Barkley Coleman Franken Smith

v t e Chairs of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Barbour Macon Brown Barbour R. King Barbour Macon Sanford Macon Tazewell Forsyth Wilkins Clay Buchanan Rives Archer Allen Sevier Hannegan Benton W. King Foote Mason Sumner Cameron Hamlin Eaton Burnside Edmunds Windom Miller Sherman Morgan Sherman Frye Davis Cullom Bacon Stone Hitchcock Lodge Borah Pittman George Connally Vandenberg Connally Wiley George Green Fulbright Sparkman Church Percy Lugar Pell Helms Biden Helms Biden Lugar Biden Kerry Menendez Corker Risch Menendez Cardin Risch (designate)

• 1838 births
• 1900 deaths
• People from Henderson, New York
• Republican Party governors of Minnesota
• Republican Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives
• People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
• University of Michigan alumni
• 19th-century American Episcopalians
• Carroll University alumni
• Republican Party United States senators from Minnesota
• Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
• 19th-century United States senators
• 19th-century members of the Minnesota Legislature