Rufus Barringer

General Barringer

Rufus Barringer (born December 2, 1821 in Cabarrus County , North Carolina , † February 3, 1895 in Charlotte , North Carolina) was a lawyer, politician and Brigadier General of the Confederate in the American Civil War .

Life

Born the ninth of ten children, Barringer studied law at Chapel Hill and Concord Universities . In 1843 he was admitted to the bar and opened a law firm in Concord with his brother Daniel. Daniel was a prominent member of the Whig Party and served in the United States House of Representatives from 1842 to 1848 , where he made the acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln . Following the example of his brother, Rufus was also elected as Whig in the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1848 , but soon afterwards lost interest in political business and returned to his legal practice. His first wife, Eugenia Morrison Barringer, died of typhus in 1858 just four years after their marriage. From this marriage a son and a daughter were born. Two of Eugenia's sisters were also married to future Civil War generals, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson and Daniel Harvey Hill . In 1861 Barringer married Rosalie Chunn of Asheville a second time , who gave birth to a son but also died after a few years.

As a staunch unionist, Barringer had always spoken out against secession in the southern states. Nevertheless, he was convinced that in the event of war he would have to follow the attitude of his home state. When North Carolina left the Union in May 1861, he therefore set up a cavalry squadron, which was incorporated under his leadership into the 1st North Carolina Volunteer Cavalry . With this unit, Captain Barringer served in the cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of the famous Equestrian General "Jeb" Stuart , including in the Seven Day Battle of Richmond and in the Second Battle of Bull Run . In the equestrian battle at Brandy Station on June 9, 1863, Barringer was seriously wounded by a sniper's bullet and was only able to resume his service four months later. In the meantime he was promoted first to major and only a few weeks later to lieutenant colonel and charged with leading the 4th North Carolina Cavalry .

When the North Carolina Brigade commander, Brigadier General James Byron Gordon , and the senior colonel were fatally wounded in May 1864, Barringer was promoted from lieutenant colonel to brigadier general over the heads of several senior officers and assumed command of his brigade. In this capacity he served at Namozine Church in Virginia until his capture on April 3, 1865 . Barringer was the first Confederate general to fall into the hands of Union forces after Robert E. Lee's escape from Richmond and Petersburg , and was taken to General Grant's headquarters at City Point. President Lincoln, who was visiting City Point on a front-line visit, invited his ex-MP's brother for a meeting and instructed Secretary of War Stanton to give Barringer preferential treatment. After several weeks of imprisonment in Fort Delaware, he was finally released in late July 1865. During the war, Barringer had participated in 76 skirmishes and was wounded three times.

After his release, Barringer returned to North Carolina in August 1865 and opened a law firm in Charlotte. He married again and campaigned for the expansion of the railway network. Politically, he now supported the Republican Party , for which he ran unsuccessfully as Lieutenant Governor in 1880. As a result, and through his advocacy of granting the right to vote to the colored population, he made himself unpopular with many southerners and, for example, had to allow himself to be accused of betraying his former comrade by his former brother-in-law Hill. Unimpressed by this, Barringer gave up his practice in 1884 and worked as a writer. As such he published u. a. a story of the 9th North Carolina Cavalry . In 1895 he died of stomach cancer and was buried in Charlotte.

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War

Web links

• Rufus Barringer in the database of Find a Grave (English)