Edmund J. Davis

Edmund Jackson Davis was an American lawyer, soldier, and politician. Davis was a Southern Unionist and a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He also served as the 14th governor of Texas from 1870 to 1874, during the Reconstruction era. Davis supported civil rights and voting rights for African Americans. Reviled by many former Confederate Texans and white supremacists during and after the Civil War as a traitor for his open support for the North and his attempts to break up Texas into several Northern-controlled states, Davis leased prisoners to private corporations to alleviate state budget shortfalls. Davis was the only Republican to serve as governor between statehood and the election of Bill Clements in 1978.