Joseph Brevard Kershaw (January 5, 1822 – April 13, 1894) was a prominent

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

planter and slaveholder. He was also a lawyer, judge, and a Confederate general in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

Early life

Kershaw was born on January 5, 1822, at his family's plantation in Camden,

Kershaw County, South Carolina Kershaw County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 65,403. The county seat and largest city is Camden. The county was created in 1791 from parts of Claremont, Lancaster, Fairfie ...

. Admitted to the

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in 1843, he married Lucretia Ann Douglas in Camden in 1844, and was a member of the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the s ...

in 1852–1856. Kershaw saw battle during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the ...

, but fell deathly ill and was given leave to return home.

Civil War

At the start of the Civil War, Kershaw commanded the

2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment The 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment, also known as 2nd Palmetto Regiment, was a Confederate States Army regiment in the American Civil War. History Formation The 2nd Palmetto Regiment was formed for state service on April 9, 1861 under th ...

. He was present at Morris Island in April 1861 during the

Battle of Fort Sumter The Battle of Fort Sumter (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender by the United States Army, beginning the American Civil War. Fol ...

, and then in July 1861 at the

First Battle of Manassas The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

in Virginia as part of Brig. Gen.

Milledge Bonham Milledge Luke Bonham (December 25, 1813August 27, 1890) was an American politician and Congressman. He was later the 70th Governor of South Carolina from 1862 until 1864, and a Confederate General during the American Civil War. Early life an ...

's brigade. During the battle, Kershaw's regiment along with the 8th South Carolina was detached from Bonham and sent to help drive back the Union assault on Henry House Hill. Afterwards, Kershaw gained the ire of Confederate general

P.G.T. Beauregard Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (May 28, 1818 - February 20, 1893) was a Confederate general officer of Louisiana Creole descent who started the American Civil War by leading the attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Today, he is common ...

by failing to file a proper report of the battle and instead writing a lengthy article in a Charleston newspaper which gave the impression that he and the 2nd South Carolina singlehandedly defeated the Union army. Beauregard, who had difficult professional relationships with many military and political officials, called him "that militia idiot". The disparaging remarks of Beauregard toward him and other officers were duly noted. Due in part to his military success, Kershaw was transferred to the West in the fall. In December, when Milledge Bonham resigned his commission to take a seat in the Confederate Congress, Kershaw was honored with command of Bonham's former brigade. He was commissioned

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on 13 February 1862 and commanded a brigade in

Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...

Army of Northern Virginia The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was also the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most oft ...

during the Peninsula Campaign, at the close of which he continued with Lee and took part in the Northern Virginia Campaign and Maryland Campaign. During the

Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose Bur ...

, on December 13, 1862, he commanded his South Carolina Brigade and was stationed behind Ransom's North Carolina Brigade and Cobb's Georgia brigade on Marye's Heights, and helped repulse several attacks made by the

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. The following year he was engaged in the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the ...

and then was transferred with

Lt. Gen. Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

James Longstreet James Longstreet (January 8, 1821January 2, 1904) was one of the foremost General officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate generals of the American Civil War and the principal subordinate to General Robert E. Lee, who called him his ...

's corps to the

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, where he took part in the charge that destroyed the Federal right wing at

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. After the relief of McLaws following the battle of

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

Kershaw was given the command of the division and promoted to major general on 2 June 1864. When Longstreet returned to Virginia, he commanded a division in the battles of the

Wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

Spotsylvania Court House The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania (or the 19th-century spelling Spottsylvania), was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's 186 ...

, and Cold Harbor, and was engaged in the Shenandoah campaign of 1864 against Maj. Gen.

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close a ...

. After the evacuation of

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, his troops formed part of Lt. Gen.

Richard S. Ewell Richard Stoddert Ewell (February 8, 1817 – January 25, 1872) was a career United States Army officer and a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He achieved fame as a senior commander under Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Le ...

's corps, which was captured on 6 April 1865 at the

Battle of Sayler's Creek The Battle of Sailor's Creek was fought on April 6, 1865, near Farmville, Virginia, as part of the Appomattox Campaign, near the end of the American Civil War. It was the last major engagement between the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, ...

Postbellum career

At the close of the war he returned to South Carolina and in 1865 was chosen president of the State Senate. He was judge of the Circuit Court from 1877 to 1893, when he stepped down for health reasons. In 1894, he was appointed

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of Camden, an office that he held until his death in the same year. Joseph B. Kershaw was also Grand Master of the Freemasons of South Carolina. He died in Camden and is buried there in the Quaker Cemetery.

Ancestry

Children

Joseph Brevard Kershaw (5 January 1822 Camden – 13 April 1894 Camden) married in 1844 in Camden to Lucretia Ann Douglas (27 August 1825 Camden, Kershaw County, South Carolina, USA - 28 April 1902 Camden), youngest of the four surviving daughters of the esteemed James Kennedy Douglas (23 October 1780 Minnigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland - 13 November 1860 Camden) by his wife Mary Lucretia Martin (21 February 1785 - 29 March 1852 Camden). James, son of William Douglas and his wife Sarah Kennedy, had emigrated in 1800/1804 to join John Kirkpatrick, an established merchant in Charleston, South Carolina.Kirkland & Kennedy, Historic Camden Joseph and Lucretia's children included: *Rev. John Kershaw (3 January 1847 Camden - 6 April 1921 North Augusta, Aiken County, South Carolina), married Susan B. DeSaussure (8 June 1847 Charleston, Charleston County, South Carolina - 26 December 1924 Charleston) and had issue; *Mary Martin Kershaw (23 April 1848 Camden - 14 April 1934 Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina), married Charles John Shannon (1846–1933) and had issue; *Harriet DuBose Kershaw (14 October 1850 Camden - 5 May 1930 Columbia, Richland County, South Carolina), married Thomas Whitmill Lang (10 January 1848 Dallas County, Alabama - 9 September 1915 Columbia) without surviving issue; *Charlotte Douglas Kershaw (17 April 1851 Camden - 8 March 1923 Camden), never married, no issue; *Josephine Serre Kershaw (8 April 1867 Camden - 10 September 1938 Pawleys Island, Georgetown County, South Carolina), married William Bratton deLoach (18 May 1866 - 5 February 1929) and had issue.

Notes

References

* This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Thurston, H. T.; Moore, F., eds. (1905). "Kershaw, Joseph Brevard (1822–1894)", Volume 11, p. 462. ''

New International Encyclopedia ''The New International Encyclopedia'' was an American encyclopedia first published in 1902 by Dodd, Mead and Company. It descended from the ''International Cyclopaedia'' (1884) and was updated in 1906, 1914 and 1926. History ''The New Inter ...

'' (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead. * Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . * Sifakis, Stewart. ''Who Was Who in the Civil War''. New York: Facts On File, 1988. . * Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1959. .

External links

Archives and Museum - Camden, S.C.
*
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
Joseph Brevard Kershaw papers, 1852-1894
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kershaw, Joseph B. Confederate States Army major generals People from Camden, South Carolina South Carolina postmasters 1822 births 1894 deaths People of South Carolina in the American Civil War South Carolina state senators 19th-century American politicians American military personnel of the Mexican–American War