 In October, 1861, Harrison County voters elected Vance and J.J. Davis as their two delegates to the General Assembly at Wheeling which met from December 2, 1861 – February 13, 1862, and from May 6–15, 1862, and from December 4, 1862-February 5, 1863 (although Vance resigned on January 2, 1862).Despite Davis' Unionist advocacy, his father remained a Confederate sympathizer and his brother Rezin enlisted in the Confederate army.As the war ended, Davis continued his legal practice in Clarksburg, and voters elected him to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1869.