Edwin Davenport, son of Levi and Susan Davenport, was born on December 2, 1839, in Catamount (now Colrain), Massachusetts. In 1861, Edwin Davenport ventured west, first to western New York, and then south to Pennsylvania, to work as a laborer on farms and oil fields. In the autumn of 1861, he moved further west to Lakeview, Wisconsin, to go to school, after which he worked briefly as a teacher in Camp Point, Illinois. In September 1862, Davenport returned east and enlisted as a private with the Massachusetts 52nd Infantry, Co. B. On October 28, 1862, he was promoted to corporal. In late November, Davenport's regiment sailed from New York City for New Orleans on board the Steamship Illinois . He engaged in some battles in the New Orleans area that spring, but died of fever in a hospital near Brashear City, Louisiana, on May 25, 1865.
From the guide to the Edwin Davenport papers, Davenport, Edwin papers, 1861-1863, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
