Specializing in the American Civil War, Davis has written more than 40 books on that subject and other aspects of early southern U.S. history, such as the Texas Revolution.

[2] His book Lone Star Rising has been called "the best one-volume history of the Texas revolution yet written".

For many years, he was editor and publisher of Civil War Times Illustrated and lived in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

Davis's expertise on Confederate and Southern U.S. history has made him a valued consultant for newspaper articles[4] as well as television productions, including the Arts & Entertainment Network/History Channel series Civil War Journal.

Their letters and diaries, in the tens of thousands, reveal again and again that they fought and died because their Southern homeland was invaded and their natural instinct was to protect home and hearth.