About Me
I was born at Camden, South Carolina, admitted to the bar in 1843, and was a member of the South Carolina Senate from 1852 to 1856. At the start of the Civil War I commanded the 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry regiment and took part in the First Battle of Bull Run. I was commissioned brigadier general on February 13, 1862, and commanded a brigade in Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia during the Peninsula Campaign, at the close of which I continued with Lee and took part in the Northern Virginia Campaign and Maryland Campaign. Towards the end of the Battle of Fredericksburg, I succeeded General T. R. R. Cobb, upon the latter's death, and repulsed the last two attacks made by the Federals on Marye's Heights. The next year I was engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg and then was transferred with James Longstreet's corps to the West, where I took part in the charge that destroyed the Federal right wing at Chickamauga. After the relief of Knoxville and Longstreet's return to Virginia, I commanded a division in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Court House, and Cold Harbor, and was engaged in the Shenandoah campaign of 1864 against Philip Sheridan. After the evacuation of Richmond, my troops formed part of Richard S. Ewell's corps, which was captured at the Battle of Sayler's Creek, April 6, 1865. At the close of the war I returned to South Carolina and in 1865 was chosen president of the State Senate. I was judge of the Circuit Court from 1877 to 1893. In 1894 I was appointed postmaster of Camden, an office which I held until my death in the same year.
