Brigadier-General Johnson Hagood was born in Barnwell county, February 21, 1829. His ancestors were of English extraction, and the family in America was first established in Virginia, removing thence to South Carolina before the revolution. He was graduated at the Citadel military academy in 1847, and then studying law was admitted to the bar in 1850. Throughout his subsequent career he maintained an association with the State military forces, holding the rank of brigadier-general when South Carolina seceded. He was then elected colonel of the First regiment, and after participating in the reduction of Fort Sumter was ordered to Virginia, where he was present at the first battle of Manassas. Returning to South Carolina with his regiment he was engaged in the operations about Charleston and the battle of Secessionville, June, 1862, after which he was promoted brigadier-general. Until May, 1864, he served on the coast of the State, in defense of Charleston during Gillmore's siege, and was distinguished for gallantry in the defense of Fort Wagner and the operations on James island. On May 6, 1864, part of his brigade arrived at Petersburg and immediately went into battle at Walthall Junction with the advancing forces of Butler, and a few hours later General Hagood arrived with reinforcements. With three regiments, the Twenty-first, Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh South Carolina, he repulsed Butler's advance, "at least two brigades," on the 7th; and on the 9th, the remainder of his brigade having come up, the Eleventh regiment and Seventh battalion, he was again engaged. As General Beauregard has written: "General Hagood and his command became the heroes of the day, and were justly looked upon as the saviors of Petersburg on that occasion." At the battle of Drewry's Bluff, May 16th, Hagood, with great vigor and dash, drove the enemy from the outer lines in his front, capturing a number of prisoners and three 20-pound Parrotts and two fine Napoleons. These Parrott guns were afterward used in shelling Butler's transports, causing him to set about the famous Dutch Gap canal. In June Hagood and his gallant men fought at Cold Harbor, and soon afterward were sent to meet Grant before Petersburg, the brigade being the first of Hoke's division to reach the field, June 16th, at the critical moment and save Petersburg for the second time. During the siege which followed his brigade served in the trenches at one period sixty-seven days without relief, and was reduced in numbers from 2,300 to 700 present for duty. In August, 1864, during the fighting on the Weldon railroad, 200 of his men, he accompanying them, charged into the enemy's works at a re-entering angle, and found themselves under a severe cross-fire, and about to be surrounded. A Federal officer rode up, seized the colors of the Eleventh and called upon them to surrender, when General Hagood, on foot, his horse having been killed, demanded the return of the colors, and ordered the officer back to his lines. This being refused, he shot the Federal officer from his horse, the colors were regained by Orderly Stoney, and the intrepid general mounted his antagonist's horse and brought off his men. General Beauregard warmly commended this act of gallantry of a "brave and meritorious officer," and recommended him for promotion. When Wilmington was threatened in December, Hagood was sent to the relief of Fort Fisher. Subsequently he participated in the North Carolina campaign, including the battles of Kinston and Bentonville, and was surrendered with Johnston's army, the brigade then containing less than 500 officers and men. During the exciting period of reconstruction he took a conspicuous part in the movement which finally brought about the election of General Hampton in 1876, and he was elected on the same ticket as comptroller-general, having previously rendered services of great value in investigating the financial condition of the State and the State bank. He and Gen. James Conner were the advisers and executive officers of General Hampton during the perilous period preceding the recognition by President Hayes of the Hampton government. In 1878 he was re-elected comptroller, and in 1880 he was honored with the highest office in the gift of the commonwealth. His admirable reorganization of the finances of the State was fitly complemented by his honest, business-like and common-sense administration as governor. By his marriage to Eloise, daughter of Senator A. P. Butler, he had one son, Butler Hagood. The death of General Hagood occurred at Barnwell, January 4, 1898.
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Major-General Benjamin Huger was born at Charleston in 1806, son of Francis Kinlock Huger, whose wife was a daughter of Gen. Thomas Pinckney. His father, who was aide-de-camp to General Wilkinson in 1800, and adjutant-general in the war of 1812, suffered imprisonment in Austria for assisting in the liberation of Lafayette from the fortress of Olmutz; his grandfather, Benjamin Huger, was a famous revolutionary patriot, killed before Charleston during the British occupation; and his great-great-grandfather was Daniel Huger, who fled from France before the revocation of the edict of Nantes and died in South Carolina in 1711. General Huger was graduated at West Point in 1825, with a lieutenancy in the Third artillery. He served on topographical duty until 1828, then visited Europe on leave of absence; after being on ordnance duty a year was promoted captain of ordnance in 1832, a department of the service in which he had a distinguished career. He was in command of Fortress Monroe arsenal twelve years, was member of the ordnance board seven years, and one year was on official duty in Europe. He went into the war with Mexico as chief of ordnance on the staff of General Scott, and received in quick succession the brevets of major, lieutenant-colonel and colonel, for gallant and meritorious conduct at Vera Cruz, Molino del Rey and Chapultepec. In 1852 he was presented a sword by South Carolina in recognition of the honor his career had cast upon his native State. After this war he was a member of the board which prepared a system of artillery instruction for the army, and was in command of the armories at Harper's Ferry, Charleston and Pikesville, Md., with promotion to major of ordnance, until his resignation from the old army to follow his State in her effort for independence. He was commissioned colonel of artillery in the regular army of the Confederate States, in June, brigadier-general in the provisional service, and in October, 1861, major-general. In May, 1861, he was assigned to command of the department of Southern Virginia and North Carolina, with headquarters at Norfolk, and after the evacuation of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the spring of 1862, he commanded a division of the army under General Johnston and General Lee, during the campaigns which included the battles of Seven Pines and the series of important actions ending at Malvern hill. Subsequently he was assigned as inspector of artillery and ordnance in the armies of the Confederate States, and in 1863 was appointed chief of ordnance of the Trans-Mississippi department. After the conclusion of hostilities he was engaged for several years in farming in Fauquier county, Va. His death occurred at his native city of Charleston, December 7, 1877. His son, Frank Huger, a graduate of the United States military academy, 1860, entered the Confederate service as captain of the Norfolk light artillery and had a conspicuous career with the army of Northern Virginia, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and the command of a battalion of artillery of the First corps.
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Brigadier-General Micah Jenkins was born on Edisto island in 1839. After his graduation at the South Carolina military academy, at the head of his class, he with the co-operation of his classmate, Asbury Coward, founded the King's Mountain military school in 1855. His military genius was valuable in the first organization of troops in 1861, and he was elected colonel of the Fifth regiment, with which he went to Virginia, in the brigade of Gen. D. R. Jones. In the latter part of 1861 he was in command of that brigade, and had grown greatly in favor with his division commander, General Longstreet. Longstreet proposed to begin the reorganization, a matter approached with much misgiving, in this brigade, and he declared that he hoped to hold every man in it if Jenkins could be promoted brigadier-general. "Besides being much liked by his men, Colonel Jenkins is one of the finest officers of this army," Longstreet wrote. Beauregard also added his approval to this recommendation. Still in the rank of colonel, Palmetto sharpshooters, he commanded R. H. Anderson's brigade in the battles of Williamsburg and Seven Pines, and was warmly commended by Longstreet and D. H. Hill and by J. E. B. Stuart, whom he supported at Fort Magruder. He was again distinguished at Gaines' Mill, and at Frayser's Farm, having been ordered to silence a battery, Longstreet supposing he would use his sharpshooters alone, he threw forward his brigade and captured the guns, bringing on the battle. July 22, 1862, he was promoted brigadier-general, and continuing in command of the same brigade, participated in the battles of August 29th and 30th, Second Manassas, and was severely wounded. He was on duty again at the battle of Fredericksburg and during the Suffolk campaign, his division now being commanded by General Pickett, and was on the Blackwater under Gen. D. H. Hill, during the Gettysburg campaign. When Longstreet was sent to the assistance of Bragg at Chattanooga, Jenkins' brigade was transferred to Hood's division, and reached the field of Chickamauga after the battle. During the investment of Chattanooga he commanded the attack upon the Federal reinforcements arriving under Hooker, and then accompanied Longstreet in the Knoxville campaign, commanding Hood's division. He took a conspicuous part in the operations in east Tennessee, and then, early in 1864, returned to Northern Virginia. Field was now in charge of the division, and Jenkins led his famous old brigade to battle on May 6th, the second day of the Wilderness fighting, when the splendid veterans of the First corps arrived in time to check the current of threatened disaster. As he rode by the side of Longstreet, he said to his chief, "I am happy. I have felt despair for the cause for some months, but now I am relieved, and feel assured that we will put the enemy across the Rapidan before night." Immediately afterward, by the mistaken fire of another body of Confederates, he and Longstreet were both wounded, Jenkins mortally. General Longstreet has written of him: "He was one of the most estimable characters of the army. His taste and talent were for military service. He was intelligent, quick, untiring, attentive, zealous in discharge of duty, truly faithful to official obligations, abreast with the foremost in battle, and withal a humble, noble Christian. In a moment of highest earthly hope, he was transported to serenest heavenly joy; to that life beyond that knows no bugle call, beat of drum or clash of steel. May his beautiful spirit, through the mercy of God, rest in peace! Amen!"
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Major-General David Rump Jones was born in Orangeburg county, S. C., in 1825. His family removed to Georgia in his childhood, and from that State he was appointed to the United States military academy, where he was graduated in 1846 in the class with Stonewall Jackson, McClellan and other famous commanders. As a lieutenant of the Second infantry he served in the war with Mexico, participating in the siege of Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Churubusco, Molino del Rey, and the capture of the city of Mexico, particularly being distinguished and earning promotion on the fields of Contreras and Churubusco. He subsequently served as adjutant of his regiment, made the voyage to California in 1848-49, and with promotion to first lieutenant was on duty there until the fall of 1851, after which he acted as instructor in infantry tactics at West Point. With the brevet rank of captain of staff he served from the spring of 1853, successively as adjutant-general of the Western department and the Pacific department, as acting judge-advocate of the Pacific department, and as assistant adjutant-general of the department of the West, until his resignation, February 15, 1861. He was commissioned major in the Confederate States army, and assigned to duty as chief-of-staff of General Beauregard, in which capacity he visited Fort Sumter on April 13th and offered the terms of surrender, which were accepted. On June 17, 1861, he was promoted brigadier-general. With the army under Beauregard at Manassas, Va., he had command of a brigade composed of Jenkins' Fifth South Carolina and Burt's Eighteenth and Featherston's Seventeenth Mississippi. In the original Confederate plan of battle, July 21st, he was to have taken a prominent part in the fight, but the actual events of the day confined him to demonstrations against the Federal flank. Soon afterward his brigade was composed of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Ninth South Carolina regiments, until February, 1862, when he was assigned to command of Gen. Sam Jones' Georgia brigade. He was in charge of General Magruder's first division, including the Georgia brigade of Robert Toombs and his own under George T. Anderson, during the retreat from Yorktown, and the battles of Gaines' Mill, Savage Station and Malvern Hill, and other engagements of the Seven Days before Richmond. In the Second Manassas campaign he commanded a division of Longstreet's corps, Drayton's brigade having been added to the two previously mentioned. He drove the enemy through Thoroughfare Gap, held the extreme right next day, confronting Fitz John Porter, and in the battle of the 30th actively engaged the Federal left. In the Maryland campaign his division, increased by the addition of Kemper's and Garnett's Virginia brigades and Jenkins' South Carolina brigade, had a conspicuous part, winning renown first by the heroic defense of the passes of South mountain, and at Sharpsburg fighting desperately against the advance of Burnside across the Antietam on the Confederate right. After this battle he was promoted major-general. His coolness and excellent judgment as a commanding officer would have doubtless brought still higher honors, but at this time an affection of the heart to which he had long been subject was greatly aggravated, and after a lingering illness he died at Richmond, January 19, 1863.
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Brigadier-General John D. Kennedy was born at Camden, January 5, 1840, son of a native of Scotland, who settled in Kershaw county about 1830, and married a granddaughter of Abraham Belton, a pioneer of Camden and a soldier of the revolution. He was a student at the South Carolina college, read law, and was admitted to practice in January, 1861, but at once gave himself to the military service of his State. In April, 1861, he became captain of Company E, Second South Carolina infantry, under Col. J. B. Kershaw. With this command he was in the first battle of Manassas, and was struck by a Federal ball. Upon the promotion of Kershaw to brigadier-general he became colonel of the Second regiment, and in that rank participated in the skirmish on the Nine-mile road near Richmond, in June, 1862, and the battle of Savage Station, after which he was disabled for some time by fever. During the investment of Harper's Ferry he was with Kershaw's brigade in the capture of Maryland heights, and at Sharpsburg his regiment was the first of the brigade to come to the relief of Jackson. He drove the enemy from his front, but fell painfully wounded in the first charge. At Fredericksburg he was sent with his own and the Eighth regiment to the support of General Cobb at Marye's hill, the focus of the hottest fighting of that memorable battle, and aided materially in the defeat of the Federal attacks; and at Chancellorsville he was identified with the gallant action of his brigade. During 1864 when not disabled he was either in command of his regiment or of Kershaw's old brigade, in the Richmond and Shenandoah Valley campaigns, and in December he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier-general. With his brigade in McLaws' division of Hardee's corps he took part in the final campaign in North Carolina against Sherman, including the battle of Bentonville, and surrendered with the army at Greensboro. He was six times wounded during his service, and was hit fifteen times by spent balls. After the close of hostilities he was mainly engaged in planting until 1877, when he resumed the profession of law. He was elected to Congress in 1865, but declined to take the "ironclad" oath demanded and did not take his seat. In 1878-79 he represented his county in the legislature, was elected in 1880 and served as lieutenant-governor of the State to 1882, and in the latter year was a prominent candidate for the nomination of governor. In 1884 he was presidential elector-at-large on the Democratic ticket, and in 1886 was appointed consul-general at Shanghai, China, by President Cleveland. Returning from that post in 1889, he continued the practice of law at Camden until his death in April, 1896.
