Davis, Richard Harding (1864-1916), was an American writer best known as a war correspondent. His exciting, colorful style of reporting earned him a reputation as one of the leading journalists of his time.
Between 1897 and 1916, Davis reported on six major conflicts for New York and London newspapers. He dramatically described events in the Cuban revolution against Spanish rule (1895-1898), including the fighting that occurred after the United States entered the conflict, in what is known in U.S. history as the Spanish-American War (1898). Davis also covered the war between Greece and the Ottoman Empire (1897-1898), the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 in South Africa, the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), and the early years of World War I (1914-1918). His vivid accounts of Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War helped make Roosevelt famous.
Davis was born in Philadelphia on April 18, 1864. He began his journalistic career in 1886 with the Philadelphia Record, and he served as managing editor of Harper’s Weekly magazine in the early 1890’s. Davis completed seven volumes of his observations as a war correspondent. He also wrote novels, plays, and short stories. He died on April 11, 1916, in Mount Kisco, New York.
