John A. G. Davis was a law professor at the University of Virginia who was murdered there by a student. Born in Middlesex County, Davis attended the College of William and Mary and then, after marrying a grandniece of Thomas Jefferson, the recently founded University of Virginia. He established a law practice in Albemarle County, helped found a newspaper, and then, in 1830, joined the University of Virginia’s faculty as a professor of law. In his publications, Davis defended states’ rights and limited government, supporting nullification in 1832. A popular but strict professor, he used his role as faculty chairman in 1836 to help expel about seventy student-militia members, leading to a riot. Four years later, on the anniversary of that riot, two students in masks shot off their weapons outside Davis’s residence, Pavilion X. When Davis confronted them, one of the students, Joseph G. Semmes, shot the professor dead. Semmes fled the state and later committed suicide. Davis died two days later, and his murder helped finally to calm years of misbehavior among the university’s students.
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