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|branch = [[District of Columbia National Guard]]<br/>[[United States Army]]
|serviceyears = 1898 (National Guard)<br/>1898–1948 (Army)
|rank = [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier
|servicenumber = O1217
|unit = [[United States Cavalry|U.S. Army Cavalry Branch]]
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While in high school, Davis received his commission as a [[Second lieutenant (United States)|second lieutenant]] in the [[District of Columbia National Guard]]'s Company D, 1st Separate Battalion.<ref>{{cite news |date=April 11, 1898 |title=District National Guard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121353648/guard/ |work=[[The Washington Times (1894–1939)|The Washington Times]] |location=Washington, DC |page=8 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> After graduating from high school in 1898, Davis planned to enter full-time military service.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Jones |first=Jeffrey L. |date=2018 |title=Benjamin O. Davis Sr., America's First Black General |url=https://digitalcommons.memphis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3714&context=etd |type=Dissertation |publisher=University of Memphis |location=Memphis, TN |access-date=March 23, 2023 |page=32 |ref={{sfnRef|Jones}}}}</ref> He applied for admission to the [[United States Military Academy]], and his father hoped the contacts he had made in his government position would enable him to secure an appointment through President [[William McKinley]]'s administration, but the senior Davis was informed that appointing a black cadet was not feasible at that time.{{sfn|Jones|page=7}}
In June 1898, Captain [[Jesse M. Lee]] of the 9th United States Volunteer Infantry Regiment, an African American unit raised for the [[Spanish–American War]], recruited Davis and considered him for an officer's commission.{{sfn|Jones|page=33}} Davis passed the required physical exam, but Lee withdrew his offer because of Davis's youth.{{sfn|Jones|page=33}} He subsequently offered Davis a [[Non-commissioned_officer#United_States|non-commissioned officer]]'s appointment, which Davis rejected.{{sfn|Jones|page=33}} Captain Robertson Palmer, a white officer in the African American 8th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, subsequently offered Davis a commission if Davis helped him recruit the sixty soldiers necessary to man the company Palmer was slated to command.{{sfn|Jones|page=33}} Palmer and Davis quickly recruited their company, and on July 13, 1898, Davis was commissioned as a [[First lieutenant (United States)|first lieutenant]] in the 8th U.S. Volunteer Infantry's Company G.<ref>{{cite news |date=July 18, 1898 |title=Filling Vacancies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121353305/vacancies/ |work=[[The Washington Star|The Evening Star]] |location=Washington, DC |page=11 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> He was soon appointed as his battalion's [[Adjutant#United States|adjutant]], in addition to duty as officer in charge of prisoners awaiting court-martial, and was stationed at [[Fort Thomas, Kentucky]], and [[Chickamauga Park, Georgia]], from October 1898 until the regiment was disbanded in March 1899.<ref name="Ranks"/>
Davis was mustered out of the [[United States Volunteers]] on March 6, 1899.<ref name="Ranks"/> His parents hoped he would attend college, but on June 18, 1899, he enlisted as a [[Private (United States)|private]] in Troop I, [[9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|9th Cavalry Regiment]].<ref name="Ranks"/> Assigned to [[Fort Duchesne, Utah]], he served first as the troop's clerk and later as the 3rd Squadron's [[Sergeant major (United States)|sergeant major]].<ref name="Ranks"/> Davis later recounted that among his reading was ''Three Roads to a Commission in the U.S. Army'' by [[William P. Burnham]], which included details on being commissioned from the ranks, so he continued to pursue his ambition of becoming a [[regular army]] officer.{{sfn|Jones|pages=40–41}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Burnham |first=William P. |author-link=William P. Burnham |date=1893 |title=Three Roads to a Commission in the U.S. Army |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9REAAAAIAAJ |location=New York, NY |publisher=D. Appleton and Company |page=1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In late 1900, Davis's unit was commanded by Lieutenant [[Charles Young (United States Army)|Charles Young]], one of a handful of African American officers serving in the U.S. military at that time.<ref name=Gates>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3dXw6gR2GgkC&pg=PA211 |page=211 |title=African American Lives |editor-last1=Gates |editor-first1=Henry Louis Jr. |editor-link=Henry Louis Gates |editor-last2=Higginbotham |editor-first2=Evelyn Brooks |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-516024-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Young encouraged Davis and tutored him in the subjects covered on the officer candidate test, especially mathematics, which had been Young's weakest subject while a student at the [[United States Military Academy]].<ref name="Ranks"/><ref name="Kilroy">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4IkEJc_xslMC&pg=PA48 |pages=48–50 |title=For Race and Country: The Life and Career of Colonel Charles Young |last=Kilroy |first=David P. |publisher=Greenwood |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-275-98005-4 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> In early 1901 Davis passed the physical exam and the battery of tests that were administered at [[Fort Leavenworth]].<ref name="Kilroy"/>{{efn|Davis ranked third of the 12 soldiers in his testing group who received commissions, which included one other black candidate, John E. Green.{{sfn|Jones|page=44}} Green retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1929.<ref>{{cite news |date=March 8, 1930 |title=Promotion Makes Lieut. Col. Davis First Negro Colonel On Active List In The United States Army |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/121488479/colonel/ |work=[[The New York Age]] |location=New York, NY |page=1 |via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref>}} On February 2, 1901, Davis was commissioned a [[Second lieutenant (United States)|second lieutenant]] of [[United States Cavalry|Cavalry]].<ref name="Ranks"/>
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After completing his Wilberforce assignment, Davis served briefly with the 9th Cavalry until November 1909, when he was posted as U.S. [[military attaché]] in [[Liberia]].{{sfn|Jones|page=92}} Recommended for the post by U.S. ambassador [[Ernest A. Lyon]], on whom Davis had previously made a favorable impression, in Liberia Davis was responsible for training [[Armed Forces of Liberia|Liberia's military forces]] as part of a larger U.S. effort to prevent invasion by the European powers during the period of African colonization.{{sfn|Jones|pages=92–93}} Davis's judgment was that Liberia's military was inept, and that it lacked a coherent command and control structure.{{sfn|Jones|page=96}} Among the events he witnessed was a mutiny in which soldiers threatened Liberia's Secretary of War over nonpayment of wages.{{sfn|Jones|pages=96–97}} He also observed Liberia's military employ unconventional methods, including subduing a rebellious tribe by starving it into submission.{{sfn|Jones|pages=96–97}} Davis suggested reorganizing Liberia's military under an American cadre of two officers and three noncommissioned officers.{{sfn|Jones|page=97}} The proposal was not accepted, but Liberia's government subsequently offered Davis an appointment in their military.{{sfn|Jones|page=97}} Davis declined after obtaining a U.S. Department of War opinion that he could not constitutionally serve both countries.{{sfn|Jones|page=97}}
The country's climate and the food and water that were then available in Liberia caused Davis to become ill, and in 1911 he requested reassignment.{{sfn|Jones|page=97}} He returned to the United States in November 1911, and in January 1912 was assigned to Troop I, 9th Cavalry, stationed at [[Fort D.A. Russell (Wyoming)|Fort D. A. Russell]], Wyoming.{{sfn|Jones|page=98}} In 1913, the 9th Cavalry was assigned to patrol the Mexican-United States border between [[Hachita, New Mexico]], and [[Nogales, Arizona]], to prevent the cross-border raids that were taking place during the [[Mexican Revolution]], and Davis was assigned to command the regiment's Troop B.{{sfn|Jones|page=98}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Weir |first=William |date=2004 |title=The Encyclopedia of African American Military History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WEXj4gHHARgC&pg=PA246 |location=Amherst, NY |publisher=Prometheus Books |page=246 |isbn=978-1-6159-2831-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
In February 1915, Davis was again assigned to Wilberforce College as professor of military science and tactics, and he was promoted to [[Captain (United States)|captain]] in December 1915.{{sfn|Jones|page=100}} In early 1917, Davis requested reassignment to a troop unit, arguing that the circumstances at the college, chiefly friction between its president and him over issues including student discipline, left him unable to perform his duties effectively.{{sfn|Jones|page=101–102}} The War Department reassigned Davis, but also made its displeasure with Wilberforce's president known by not assigning a replacement.{{sfn|Jones|page=102}}
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In 2003, the [[Ohio Historical Society]] emplaced a marker at [[Wilberforce University]] to commemorate Davis's career.<ref name="HMdb">{{cite web |url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=14054 |title=Historical Marker Database: Brigadier General Benjamin Oliver Davis, Sr. |date=2006 |website=Wilberforce in Greene County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes) |publisher=HMdb.org |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref> The plaque's front and back detail several of his accomplishments, including his service at Wilberforce, regimental command, and promotion to brigadier general.<ref name="HMdb"/>
Benjamin O. Davis [[Veterans of Foreign Wars]] Post 311 in [[Richton Park, Illinois]], is named for both the senior and junior Davises.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://vfwpost311.com/ |title=Benjamin O. Davis Post 311: Who We Are |last=Spurlock |first=Aretha |date=2015 |website=VFW Post 311.com |publisher=Benjamin O. Davis VFW Post 311 |location=Richton Park, IL |access-date=April 1, 2023}}</ref>
Davis served at [[Fort D. A. Russell (Wyoming)|Fort D. A. Russell]], Wyoming (now [[Francis E. Warren Air Force Base]]) early in his career.<ref name="Robertson">{{cite news |last=Robertson |first=Glenn S. |date=July 26, 2022 |title=Mighty Ninety dedicates Quarters 64 to General Benjamin Davis |url=https://www.warren.af.mil/News/Article/3106391/mighty-ninety-dedicates-quarters-64-to-general-benjamin-davis/ |work=Warren.af.mil |publisher=90th Missile Wing Public Affairs |location=F. E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming |access-date=March 25, 2023}}</ref> In 2022, the base's [[90th Missile Wing]] dedicated the officer's housing in which Davis resided, Quarters 64, to Davis's memory and conducted a ceremony including the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.<ref name="Robertson"/>
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