Lafayette McLaws

Maj. General Lafayette McLaws

Lafayette McLaws (born January 15, 1821 in Augusta , Georgia , † July 24, 1897 in Savannah , Georgia) was an officer in the US Army and General of the Confederate Army in the American Civil War .

Life until 1861

McLaws was trained as an officer at the Military Academy at West Point , New York . He completed his training at the academy in 1842 as the 48th of his class and then served as an officer in the infantry . As such, he took part in the Mexican-American War and was involved in suppressing the Mormon uprising in the Utah War . While serving in Missouri , he married Emily Allison Taylor, a niece of US President Zachary Taylor .

During the Civil War

At the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, he quit his service with the US Army with the rank of captain and joined the Confederate Army, where he initially served as a major . He was promoted to major general in a short time and commanded from May 1862 in the Northern Virginia Army a division in the corps of General James Longstreet , under whose command he was to remain for most of the war.

During the Maryland campaign in 1862, General Robert E. Lee separated McLaws' division from the rest of the corps. McLaws' division took part in the Battle of Harpers Ferry together with General Thomas J. Jackson's troops . From there the division marched to Sharpsburg and intervened in the battle of Antietam . However, Lee was disappointed with what he believed to be a belated arrival of McLaws' division on the battlefield. At the Battle of Fredericksburg , McLaws' division and others defended a position on Marye's Heights. This time he managed to convince Lee with a great defensive performance.

In the Battle of Chancellorsville, McLaws was under Lee's direct command, as the rest of Longstreets Corps was posted near Suffolk . On May 3, 1863, Lee McLaws' division charged with the attack of the VI. Union Corps that attacked the Northern Virginia Army in the rear under the command of General John Sedgwick . McLaws fulfilled the order, but could not satisfy Lee again, as he was of the opinion that McLaws had not operated offensively enough and so Sedgwick's corps could escape via the Rappahannock . When Lee undertook a reorganization of his troops after the Battle of Chancellorsville and the death of "Stonewall" Jackson, he ignored McLaws in the selection of the two new commanding generals , although Longstreet had made a recommendation for McLaws. To the disappointment of McLaws and Longstreets, Lee filled the two posts with Richard S. Ewell and AP Hill . A transfer request submitted by McLaws was rejected by Lee.

At the Battle of Gettysburg on July 2, 1863, McLaws' division attacked the left flank of the Potomac Army . He achieved great success at the “Wheatfield” and “Peach Orchard” sections of the terrain, which, however, were bought with high losses. The next day, McLaws' division was not involved in Longstreet's attack on the center of Union forces ( "Pickett's Charge" ) at Lee's behest .

As part of Longstreets Corps, McLaws' division was sent to Tennessee after the Battle of Gettysburg to relieve the Tennessee Army led by General Braxton Bragg . McLaws' division reached the new area of ​​operations too late to participate in the Battle of Chickamauga and the Battle of Chattanooga . During the Knoxville campaign , McLaws was relieved of his command by Longstreet, who blamed McLaws for the failed attack on Fort Sanders for inadequate preparation . A committee of inquiry acquitted McLaws of most of the allegations. Still, Jefferson Davis's intervention was required before McLaws, whose relationship with Longstreet was now terminally broken, could return to his command. Since neither Longstreet nor Lee had any further use for McLaws, he was entrusted with the defense of Savannah against the Union armies of General William T. Sherman . McLaws did not succeed in stopping Sherman's march towards the sea . On April 26, 1865, McLaws surrendered along with General Joseph E. Johnston's forces in North Carolina .

After the Civil War

After the war, McLaws worked in the insurance business and as a postal clerk in Savannah. He was also involved in organizations of the Confederate veterans. Despite his previous differences with General Longstreet, he initially defended this against verbal attacks by General Jubal Earlys and others who criticized Longstreet's behavior in the war. It was only shortly before his death that he himself voiced doubts about General Longstreet's behavior at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Lafayette McLaws died on July 24, 1897 in Savannah and was buried there in Laurel Grove Cemetery. His personal letters from the Civil War era were published after his death under the title A Soldier's General: The Civil War Letters of Major General Lafayette McLaws .

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War
• List of generals of the Union in the Civil War

swell

• John H. Eicher, David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands , Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
• Larry Tagg: The Generals of Gettysburg , Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9 .

Web links

Commons : Lafayette McLaws  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• Lafayette McLaws in the database of Find a Grave (English)