Thomas Fenwick Drayton

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General Drayton

Thomas Fenwick Drayton (born August 24, 1808 (other sources: 1809) in Charleston , South Carolina , †  February 18, 1891 in Florence , South Carolina), was brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and president of a railroad company.

Life

Drayton was born the son of William Drayton , who would later become a prominent politician and a member of the US Congress . After graduating as the 28th of his class from the Military Academy in West Point , New York , he initially served as a lieutenant in the 6th US Infantry Regiment. His classmates included Jefferson Davis , who would later become President of the Confederation and become a lifelong friend. In 1832 he married Emma Catherine Pope and four years later he resigned. For the next several years he worked as a design engineer for a railroad company in Charleston, Louisville , Kentucky and in Cincinnati , Ohio before moving to his plantation and engaged in politics. For the next five years, Drayton was a local militia captain , elected to the South Carolina Parliament, and known as an advocate for state rights and a supporter of slavery . During his tenure as State Senator , he was also President of the Charleston & Savannah Railroad from 1853 to 1856 .

When the Civil War broke out, Drayton was promoted to brigadier general in 1861 and used Fish Haul , the plantation of his in-laws, as headquarters in the defense of Hilton Head Island on the island of the same name, which is part of Beaufort County in South Carolina. In the battle at Port Royal towards the end of the year, the troops under his command at Fort Beauregard and Fort Walker were attacked from behind and had to be evacuated. On the side of the attacking Union fleet, Drayton's brother Percival commanded the USS Pocahontas .

Drayton fought as part of the right wing of the Northern Virginia Army under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet from August 28 to 30, 1862 in the Second Battle of Bull Run , on September 14, 1862 at the Battle of South Mountain and at the Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862. In August 1863, Drayton was given command of a new brigade in the division of Major General Sterling Price . In the period that followed until the end of the war, he was mainly entrusted with administrative tasks.

After the war, Drayton first moved to Dooly County , Georgia , where he worked as a farmer, but returned to his home in Charleston in 1871, selling life insurance. Shortly before his death, he became president of the South Carolina Immigrant Society .

annotation

Founded and managed by the Drayton family in 1676, the 28 hectare Magnolia Plantation on the Ashley River , near Charleston, is now a tourist attraction as one of the oldest surviving plantations in the United States. She is now in the 15th generation of the family.

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 Drayton, Thomas Fenwick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician and Confederate general in the American Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1808
PLACE OF BIRTH Charleston , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1891
Place of death Florence , South Carolina