DA'VIE, Wit.r.t.ym RICHARDSON (1756-1820). An American soldier. born in Egremont, Eng land. He came to the United States in 1763, graduated at Princeton in 1776, studied law at Salisbury, N. C., and in 1779 received the com mission of a lieutenant of dragoons. His troop was subsequently assigned to Count Pulaski's legion, in which he rose to the rank of major. He resumed the study of law at Salisbury, and in 1779 was admitted to the bar of North Caro lina. Under the authorization of that State in 1780 he raised at his own expense a troop of dragoons and two mounted infantry companies, with which to assist in the defence of the south western districts against. British attacks from South Carolina. In 1780 he was promoted to the command of the State cavalry, with the rank of colonel. At the entry of Lord Cornwallis into Charlotte, N. C., he himself by his spirited resistance to the repeated charges of Tarleton's famous legion. He was appointed in
1731 to the post of commissary-general of the American Army in the South. After the Revo lution he became a successful lawyer, was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, and for a number of years represented the borough of Halifax in the Lower House of the State Legislature. He drew up the act. passed in for the establishment of the University of North Carolina; in 1794 was commissioned major-general of militia ; in 1798 was elected Governor of North Carolina ; and in 1790 re signed that post to accept appointment to the embassy which concluded with the French Govern ment the convention of September 30. 1300. Con sult the biography by Hubbard, in vol. xxv. (Boston, 1848) of The Library of American Biography, edited by Jared Sparks.