James Cantey

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James Cantey

James Cantey (born December 30, 1818 in Camden , South Carolina , † June 30, 1874 in Fort Mitchell , Alabama ) was a Confederate brigadier general in the Civil War .

Life

Cantey was born in Camden to a plantation owner. After graduating from South Carolina College , he practiced law in his hometown before participating in the 1846 Mexican-American War . Allegedly, he was so badly wounded in battle that he was believed dead and left on the battlefield. It was only when his slave, who accompanied him on this campaign, wanted to take the supposed corpse home with him that he realized that he was still alive. Cantey then gave the servant freedom, but this is said to have refused. In 1849 Cantey moved to Russell County , Alabama, where he ran his father's plantation. In 1858 he married Mary Elizabeth Benton, a niece of John Crowell, the first member of Congress from Alabama.

After Alabama seceded from the Union in 1861, Cantey formed an infantry regiment, the Cantey Rifles , which was inducted into the Confederate Army as the 15th Alabama Volunteer Regiment in July 1861 , with Cantey as regimental commander with the rank of colonel . The following spring, during the Shenandoah campaign of Major General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson , the regiment denied the first fighting. A little later, Cantey took part with his regiment in the Seven Day Battle of Richmond , Virginia . Promoted to brigadier general in early 1863, Cantey returned to Alabama and commanded a brigade initially stationed in Mobile , Alabama. In May 1864, Cantey's brigade, which belonged to the Mississippi Army of Bishop and Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk , was transferred to Georgia to take part in the defense of the United advance into Atlanta. Cantey defended the village of Resaca, Georgia against overwhelming odds and was then given command of a newly formed division , but was replaced in June by General Walthall . After the end of the war, Cantey returned to his plantation in Alabama, rebuilt it and managed it until his death in 1874.

See also

literature

  • David J. Eicher, The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography , University of Illinois, 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4 .
  • Richard N. Current, Encyclopedia of the Confederacy (1993) (4 vol.) ( ISBN 0132759918 )
  • John H. Eicher & David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands , Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
  • Ezra J. Warner, Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders , Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cantey, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General of the Confederate States of America in the American Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH December 30, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Camden, South Carolina , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH June 30, 1874
Place of death Fort Mitchell , Alabama