He was one of five men tried and acquitted in Illinois of the murder in 1844 of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Davis was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of William A. Richardson.
The Smiths had been imprisoned in Carthage Jail when the prison was stormed by an armed mob that shot and killed them.
As a captain in command of the Warsaw Rifle Company of the Illinois militia, Davis was accused of having ordered his men to storm the prison.
This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress