Martin Witherspoon Gary

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Martin Witherspoon Gary

Martin Witherspoon Gary (born March 25, 1831 in Cokesbury , Greenwood County , South Carolina , † April 9, 1881 in Edgefield , South Carolina) was an American politician and brigadier general of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War .

Life

Gary was born in 1831 to Dr. Thomas Reeder Gary and Mary Ann, b. Porter was born in Cokesbury. He received his school education in Cokesbury before studying at South Carolina College in 1850 . Because of his participation in the Great Biscuit Rebellion in 1852 he was expelled from school and then studied at Harvard University in Cambridge , Massachusetts , where he graduated in 1854. In 1855, Gary was admitted to the bar, opened a law practice in Edgefield, and engaged in politics. In 1860 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives as a staunch secessionist .

Civil War

When the Civil War broke out, Gary joined the Southern Army and became a captain of the infantry . At the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, he got control of Hampton's Legion , as his unit was also called. In 1862 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel ( Lieutenant Colonel ) of an infantry battalion and a little later to Colonel ( Colonel ) with command of a regiment. In late 1863, Gary was transferred to the Tennessee Army as a support , then to the Northern Virginia Army . In 1864 he was promoted to brigadier general. He then supported General Lee in his Appomattox campaign , which lasted from March 29 to April 9, 1865 , but separated from him before his surrender at Appomattox Court House and accompanied President Davis with 200 men from his brigade on his escape from Greensboro .

After the war, Gary moved back to Edgefield, continued his legal practice, engaged in politics, ran a cotton plantation, and did several risky businesses. In 1876 and 1878 he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, in 1880 he ran unsuccessfully for the post of governor . After his political defeat he returned to Edgefield, where he died on April 9, 1881. He was buried in his native town of Cokesbury.

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 Gary, Martin Witherspoon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician and Confederate general in the American Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1831
PLACE OF BIRTH Cokesbury , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 1881
Place of death Edgefield , South Carolina