Henry Gassaway Davis (November 16, 1823 – March 11, 1916) was an American politician and businessman who served as a United States Senator from West Virginia from 1871 to 1883.

[1] Stage coaches stopped at Woodstock five days a week en route to Washington, D.C., and Davis later often recalled one of his earliest memories: witnessing the groundbreaking of the country's first railroad on July 4, 1828, from atop his father's shoulders in Baltimore.

His father's business prospered until he won a contract to grade a section of road between Baltimore and Frederick, Maryland, which caused heavy losses.

Davis met many statesmen, including Senators Henry Clay of Kentucky (Davis came to admire him and received invitations to visit at his home), Thomas H. Benton of Missouri, Lewis Cass of Michigan, Benjamin Wade and Thomas Corwin of Ohio, and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, all of whom embarked the B&O train in Cumberland to reach Washington, D.C. (or disembarked on the reverse route).

Davis also often stayed at a hotel in Washington between trips and conversed with other notables, including Senators William C. Rives of Virginia, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, and Daniel Webster of Massachusetts.

[5] When the B&O finally completed track to Wheeling on the navigable Ohio River, Davis was put in charge of the Piedmont station.

Until the railroad completed a house for him (so that his new wife could join him), Davis lived in a box car and also came to admire the natural landscape of the Allegheny Mountains.

After four years, his brother Thomas joined him, and they established a store, often trading farm products for manufactured goods such as jeans, shoes, calico and sugar.

He soon built sawmills to process the lumber and extended branch railroads to new coal mines, and also invested in banking in Piedmont.

When Confederate raiders attacked the B&O and destroyed track and bridges, part of Davis' job was to restore service and keep the supplies moving.

Following his service in the Senate, Davis retired to Elkins, West Virginia, where he resumed banking and coal mining.

Davis's company now controlled 135,000 acres (550 km2), employed 1,600 men of sixteen nationalities, operated two power plants, and worked over 1,000 coke ovens and 9 mines within one mile (1.6 km) of the central office at Coketon in Tucker County.