Brigadier-General Samuel W. Ferguson was born and reared at Charleston, and was graduated at the United States military academy in 1857. As a lieutenant of dragoons he participated in the Utah expedition under Albert Sidney Johnston, and in 1859-60 was on duty at Fort Walla Walla, Washington. When informed of the result of the presidential election of 1860, he resigned his commission and returned to Charleston, and on March 1, 1861, entered the service of his native State with the rank of captain. Being appointed aide-de-camp to General Beauregard, he received the formal surrender of Major Anderson, raised the first Confederate flag and posted the first guards at Fort Sumter. He was then sent to deliver to the Congress at Montgomery the flag used at Fort Moultrie, the first standard of the Confederacy struck by a hostile shot. He remained on Beauregard's staff and took an active part in the battle of Shiloh, on the second day being assigned to command a brigade of the Second corps. At the battle of Farmington he was also on duty with General Beauregard. At the same time he held the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-eighth Mississippi regiment cavalry, and subsequently, stationed at Vicksburg, he had command of cavalry and outlying pickets until detailed for special duty along the Yazoo delta, opposing with cavalry and artillery the advance of the Federal transports. During Grant's preliminary movements against Vicksburg he thwarted the attempt of Sherman and Porter to reach the city in the rear by way of Deer creek. In 1863 he was promoted to brigadier-general. He was active in command of cavalry in harassing Sherman's movement to Chattanooga, and during the Georgia campaign of 1864 his brigade of Alabamians and Mississippians, with Armstrong's and Ross' brigades, formed the cavalry of the army of Mississippi, under command of Gen. W. H. Jackson, operating on the left wing of Johnston's army. He defeated Wilder's "lightning brigade," and displayed gallantry on every field. When Sherman began his march to Savannah, he harassed the Federal flank until within a few miles of Savannah, when he left his horses on the South Carolina side of the river, after swimming it, and entering Savannah with his men as infantry, covered the rear of Hardee's army at the evacuation. He subsequently operated in southern Georgia until ordered to Danville, Va., but on reaching Greensboro was ordered back, escorting President Davis from Charlotte to Abbeville, and as far as Washington, Ga., where his command was disbanded. He then made his home in Mississippi, and practiced law at Greenville. In 1876 he was made president of the board of Mississippi levee commission for several counties, and in 1883 became a member of the United States river commission. In 1894 he returned to his native city of Charleston, and devoted himself to the profession of civil engineering. In 1898 he offered his services for the war with Spain.
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Brigadier-General Martin Witherspoon Gary was born in 1831 at Cokesbury, Abbeville county, the third son of Dr. Thomas Reeder Gary. He was educated at the South Carolina college and Harvard college, graduating at the latter institution in 1854. Then studying law he was admitted to the bar in 1855, and soon acquired distinction in both law and politics. As a member of the South Carolina legislature in 1860 and 1861, he advocated secession, and when the ordinance was enacted, at once went into the military service as captain of the Watson Guards, which became Company B of the Hampton legion. At First Manassas the command of the legion devolved upon him after Colonel Hampton was wounded, Lieutenant-Colonel Johnson killed and Captain Conner disabled. At the reorganization in 1862 he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the infantry of the legion, a battalion of eight companies, and after it was filled to a regiment, he was promoted colonel. He participated in the battles around Richmond, at Second Manassas, Boonsboro and Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and with Longstreet at Suffolk, Chickamauga, Bean's Station, Campbell's Station and Knoxville. His command was subsequently mounted as cavalry, and served on the north side of the James before Richmond. After the fight at Riddle's Shop, in June, 1864, he was promoted brigadier-general, his cavalry brigade including the Hampton legion, Seventh South Carolina, Seventh Georgia and Twenty-fourth Virginia regiments, and Harkerson's artillery. He led the brigade in all the heavy fighting north of the James during the siege, and was the last to leave Richmond. Capt. Clement Sulivane, left behind to destroy the bridge after Gary had crossed, relates that at daylight April 3d, when the Union troops were in sight advancing, and a mob was ravaging the storehouses, "a long line of cavalry in gray turned into Fourteenth street, and sword in hand galloped straight down to the river; Gary had come. The mob scattered right and left before the armed horsemen, who reined up at the canal. Presently a single company of cavalry appeared in sight, and rode at headlong speed to the bridge. 'My rear guard!' exclaimed Gary. Touching his hat to me, he called out, 'All over, good-bye!' and trotted over the bridge." Joining Lee's rear guard he was one of the heroes of Fitzhugh Lee's command, engaged in incessant fighting until Appomattox Court House was reached. There he did not surrender, but cut his way through the Federal lines, and rode to Greensboro, where he took command of about 200 men of his brigade on their way to Virginia, and escorted the President and his cabinet to Cokesbury, S. C. The cabinet held one of their last meetings in his mother's house at that place. Then resuming the practice of law, he continued in that profession until his death at Edgefield, April 9, 1881. He was a noted figure in the exciting political campaign of 1876, and for four years thereafter held a seat in the State senate.
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Brigadier-General States R. Gist was a descendant of that gallant Marylander, Gen. Mordecai Gist, who distinguished himself at the battle of Camden in 1780, and at the Combahee in 1782, and subsequently resided at Charleston, at his death leaving two sons who bore the names of Independent and States. At the organization of the army of South Carolina early in 1861, States R. Gist was assigned to the position of adjutant and inspector general, in which capacity he rendered valuable service in the preparation for the occupation of Charleston harbor and the reduction of Fort Sumter. He went to Virginia as a volunteer aide to General Bee, and at the critical moment in the first battle of Manassas, when Gen. J. E. Johnston rode to the front with the colors of the Fourth Alabama at his side, Beauregard relates that "noticing Col. S. R. Gist, an aide to General Bee, a young man whom I had known as adjutant-general of South Carolina, and whom I greatly esteemed, I presented him as an able and brave commander to the stricken regiment, who cheered their new leader, and maintained under him to the end of the day, their previous gallant behavior." Subsequently he resumed his duties as adjutant-general, organizing South Carolina troops for the war, until in March, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general in the Confederate service, and ordered to report to General Pemberton, then in command of the department. He was after this on duty on the South Carolina coast, in command east of James island in June, on that island from July; temporarily in command of the first district, and in December, 1862, in command of the troops ordered to the relief of Wilmington, until May, 1863, when he was ordered to take command of a brigade and go to the assistance of General Pemberton in Mississippi. Reaching Jackson his command formed part of the troops under J. E. Johnston, took part in the engagement of May 14th at Jackson, marched to the Big Black river just before the surrender of Vicksburg, and then returning to Jackson was besieged by Sherman. His brigade comprised the Forty-sixth Georgia, Fourteenth Mississippi and Twenty-fourth South Carolina, the Sixteenth South Carolina soon afterward being substituted for the Mississippi regiment, and was assigned to the division of Gen. W. H. T. Walker. He fought gallantly at Chickamauga, commanding during part of the battle Ector's and Wilson's brigades, his own brigade being led by Colonel Colquitt, and on Sunday commanding Walker's division. At an important stage of the fight Gen. D. H. Hill called for Gist's brigade for dangerous duty, in the performance of which it suffered severely. He continued in conspicuous and valuable service; during the battle of Missionary Ridge commanded Walker's division, and throughout the Atlanta campaign of 1864 was identified with that division. After the fall of General Walker he was transferred to Cheatham's division, which he commanded for some time during the fall campaign of that year. At the terribly destructive battle of Franklin, Tenn., he was one of the noblest of the brave men whose lives were sacrificed. Attended by Capt. H. D. Garden and Lieut. Frank Trenholm, of his staff, he rode down the front, and after ordering the charge and waving his hat to the Twenty-fourth, rode away in the smoke of battle, never more to be seen by the men he had commanded on so many fields. His horse was shot, and he was leading the right of the brigade on foot when he fell, pierced through the heart.
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Brigadier-General Maxcy Gregg was born in Columbia, S. C, the son of Col. James Gregg, a distinguished lawyer of that city, and was educated at the South Carolina college, where he graduated with the first honors of his class. He then entered upon the practice of law as a partner of his father. In 1846 he had his first military experience as major of a regiment of the second levy of volunteers sent to Mexico, but did not arrive at the scene of conflict in time to share in any of the famous battles. He was a member of the convention of 1860 which determined upon the secession of the State, and then became colonel of the First North Carolina regiment, enlisted for six months' service, with which he was on duty on Sullivan's and Morris islands during the reduction of Fort Sumter, and afterward in Virginia. Previous to the battle of Manassas he was stationed at Centreville, and then near Fairfax Court House, and commanded the infantry in the action at Vienna. At the expiration of the term of enlistment he reorganized his regiment in South Carolina, and returning to Virginia was stationed at Suffolk. In December, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier-general and ordered to South Carolina, where he took command of a brigade composed of the First, Twelfth, Thirteenth and Fourteenth regiments. With this brigade he was attached to the famous light division of A. P. Hill for the Seven Days' campaign before Richmond. He led the advance of the division at Cold Harbor, crossing the creek under fire made what Hill pronounced "the handsomest charge in line I have seen during the war," and during the remainder of the battle displayed undaunted bravery. At Frayser's Farm he charged and captured a Federal battery. At the battle of August 29th, on the plains of Manassas, he with his comrades of the division, fought "with a heroic courage and obstinacy almost beyond parallel," repelling six determined assaults of the enemy, who sought to overwhelm Jackson's corps before Longstreet could arrive. Hill reported: "The reply of the gallant Gregg to a message of mine is worthy of note: 'Tell General Hill that my ammunition is exhausted, but that I will hold my position with the bayonet.'" In the battle of the 30th and at Ox Hill on September 1st, he was again distinguished. He participated in the capture of Harper's Ferry, at Sharpsburg shared with distinguished gallantry in the heroic work of the Light division, which reached the field in time to save the Confederate right, and was wounded in the fight; and at Shepherdstown, after the crossing of the Potomac by the army, commanded the line of three brigades which drove back and terribly punished the enemy's forces, which had the temerity to pursue the lion-hearted veterans of Lee's army. His part in the battle of Fredericksburg we may best describe in the words of the immortal Lee. After describing the momentary success of the Federals on the right, he wrote: "In the meantime a large force had penetrated the wood so far as Hill's reserve, and encountered Gregg's brigade. The attack was so sudden and unexpected that Orr's Rifles, mistaking the enemy for our own troops retiring, were thrown into confusion. While in the act of rallying them, that brave soldier and true patriot, Brig.-Gen. Maxcy Gregg, fell mortally wounded." Again, "In Brigadier-Generals Gregg and Cobb the Confederacy has lost two of its noblest citizens and the army two of its bravest and most distinguished officers. The country consents to the loss of such as these, and the gallant soldiers who fell with them, only to secure the inestimable blessing they died to obtain."
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