John Davis, Private - Denver, CO
Posted by: 
Outspoken1
N 39° 38.934 W 105° 03.149
13S E 495497 N 4388791
Private John Davis distinguished himself during the Civil War by capturing the Confederate Flag during battle. He is not buried here. He was originally buried in Cotopaxi, Colorado, which no longer exists.
Waymark Code: WMME5C
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 09/07/2014
Views: 9
"Rank and organization: Private, Company F, 17th Indiana Mounted Infantry
Place and date: At Culloden, Ga., April 1865
Entered service at: Indianapolis, Ind.
Date of issue: 17 June 1865
Citation: Capture of flag of Worrill Grays (C.S.A.)." (from (
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He received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle of Culloden, GA. There is a Georgia Historic Marker denoting the battle as (
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"On Memorial Day weekend the Rocky Mountain News ran an article about a Medal of Honor winner (First Sergeant Maximo Yabes for actions Feb 26, 1967 in Vietnam) buried in Fort Logan National Cemetery, the closest national cemetery to my house. A sidebar said that 2 other Medal of Honor winners were buried in the cemetery; Major William E. Adams for actions May 25, 1971 in Vietnam, and Private John Davis of the 17th Indiana Mounted Infantry for the tiny battle of Culloden, Georgia in April 1865.
This last one especially intrigued me and wasn't until today that I was able to get out there to see the headstone. In truth Davis is not buried there, his headstone is "In Memory." Apparently Davis's original burial site near Cotopaxi, Colorado, is no longer in existence and at some point someone placed this memorial stone to honor a Medal of Honor winner.
In the meantime I've also done a bit of research on the battle of Culloden. Amazingly the date of the battle in unknown. I've seen three different dates given in late April 1865 but from other evidence it seems to me that April 19 was the most likely date of the battle. The battle itself was a minor event. A part of James Wilson's force, on its way to Macon, encountered the Worrill Grays near Culloden. The Worrill Grays numbered less than 200 men, but held off a superior force for about two hours. Near the close of the engagement two men in the 17th Indiana Mounted Infantry captured the Worrill Grays' flag. Aaron R. Hudson of Company C and John Davis of Company F were both awarded Medals of Honor for this capture.
The Worrill Grays was a company of old men and boys in 1865 though it had earlier been Company D of the 6th Georgia State Troops. They disbanded in April 1862 and the men mostly went into the 32nd Georgia's Co. B. Their flag would have been retired but somehow it ended up back in service in 1865. [Most of the info in this paragraph came from Greg Biggs, he also provided the picture of the flag shown below]
Another unique aspect of Davis' memorial is that the lettering is gold while the standard is black. It turned out okay in the picture, the gold should be visible. {Note: All Medal of Honor recipients headstone have gold lettering]. (from (
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See also (
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His headstone also notes that he was a Prisoner of War. I have not been able to find any further information about this fact.