Laurence Massillon Keitt

Laurence Massillon Keitt

Laurence Massillon Keitt (born October 4, 1824 in Orangeburg District , South Carolina , † June 4, 1864 in Richmond , Virginia ) was an American politician who represented the state of South Carolina in the House of Representatives .

Career

Laurence Keitt studied law at South Carolina College in Columbia and graduated there in 1843. He got his license to practice law in 1845, after which he began to practice in Orangeburg . He decided to embark on a political career in 1848 by being elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives , where he remained until 1853. He was then elected for the Democrats in the 33rd and later in the 34th Congress , where he was active from March 4, 1853 until his resignation on July 16, 1856. The background to his resignation was the rebuke of the 34th Congress on July 15, 1856 for Keitts role in the assault of Preston Brooks on May 22, 1856 against US Senator Charles Sumner . Nevertheless, he was re-elected to the 34th Congress to fill the vacant mandate due to his own resignation. He was then elected to the 35th and 36th Congress, where he worked from August 6, 1856 until his resignation in December 1860. During his tenure, he was Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (35th Congress).

In the run-up to the Civil War , he attended the South Carolina Secession Convention . Moreover Keitt was also deputy to the provisional Congress of the Confederate States of America in February 1861 in Montgomery ( Alabama ), and in July 1861 in Richmond. During the war he served in the 20th South Carolina Volunteer Regiment, where he received the rank of colonel on January 11, 1862 . Shortly afterwards he was promoted to brigadier general. He was wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor , near Richmond, and died a day later, on June 4, 1864, as a result of his wounding. He was buried in the family cemetery near St. Matthews .

literature

• Holt Merchant: South Carolina Fire-Eater: The Life of Laurence Massillon Keitt, 1824-1864. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 2014, ISBN 978-1-61117-349-9 .

Web links

• Laurence Massillon Keitt in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• Laurence M. Keitt in the database of Find a Grave (English)