William Richardson Davie (June 20, 1756 – November 29, 1820) was an American statesman, politician, military general, Founding Father of the United States[1] who served as the 10th Governor of North Carolina from 1798 to 1799.

In December 1778, Davie left Salisbury to join 1,200 militiamen led by Brigadier General Allen Jones of Northampton County, NC.

Jones's force advanced toward Charleston, South Carolina, intending to aid the port city as it prepared its defenses against possible British assault.

For his work in forming "a Company of Horses in the District of Salisbury," he received a lieutenant's commission in April from North Carolina Governor Richard Caswell.

In May 1779, he and his company were attached to the legion of General Casimir Pułaski, who moved from Pennsylvania to South Carolina earlier in the year to help bolster American positions in and around Charleston.

On June 20, 1779, just two days shy of his twenty-third birthday, Davie led a charge against British forces at the Battle of Stono Ferry outside Charleston.

Shortly after the Battle of Hanging Rock, Davie received word of a new army moving into South Carolina under General Horatio Gates.

In the time between Camden and the Battle of Kings Mountain, in October 1780, Davie's cavalry was the only unbroken corps between the British army and what was left of the Continental forces.

As Cornwallis's army marched back toward South Carolina, Davie directed his men to shadow and skirmish with enemy units and to disrupt and intercept their communications.

Davie's military service in the Revolution changed dramatically after December 1780, when General Nathanael Greene arrived in North Carolina to take command of the American army in the "Southern Department".

Headquartered in Charlotte, Greene desperately needed more provisions and equipment for his soldiers as he prepared to counter the inevitable return of Cornwallis to North Carolina.

In that position, Davie spent the final stages of the war carrying out the crucial but often thankless tasks of locating, organizing, and transporting supplies, often using his funds for General Greene's ever-needy troops and North Carolina's militia.

On January 16, 1781, he was appointed by the Board of War as Commissary General for the State per request of Maj. Gen. Nathanael Greene, replacing Col. Thomas Polk, who had resigned.

He served as a delegate to the 1787 Constitutional Convention, where he was instrumental in breaking the deadlock over state representation in Congress in what is known as the Great Compromise, brokered by Connecticut's Oliver Ellsworth.

Davie strongly supported the Three-fifths Compromise, because it benefited him, Goudy, and Jones, who relied on the people they enslaved to work their fields and maintain their homes.

He resigned as the state's chief executive when President John Adams enlisted him in 1799 to serve on a peace commission to France, where bilateral negotiations resulted in the Convention of 1800.

He served in the state militia during the 1797 crisis with France (immediately preceding the Quasi-War) and was appointed brigadier general in the Army by President Adams.

Nearly a century and a half later, in 1955, the stallion was among the first class of horses inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York.