Rice Evan Graves Jr. (June 23, 1838 September 20, 1863) was an artillery officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was killed in the Battle of Chickamauga.

Early years

Graves was born in Rockbridge, Virginia but grew up near Yelvington, Daviess County, Kentucky (12 miles east of Owensboro, Kentucky) after a near tragedy in 1844 interrupted his family's planned move to St. Louis. His parents, wealthy planter Rice E. Graves Sr. and his wife Amelia Rucker Gregory (widowed daughter of American Revolutionary War Patriot Cpt. Jesee Richeson), had booked passage on the riverboat "Star of the West". With their family and all their worldly possessions on board, they began the journey down the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

to Missouri and a new life. Just below Breckinridge County, Kentucky, the "Star of the West" collided with the "Hark-Away" and sank. The frantic parents saved themselves and their eight children. However, everything they owned was lost. They decided to remain in Cloverport, where the father rented a farm. When they were financially able, the family moved to Daviess County where they to purchased land and improved it. By that time, the number of children in the household had increased to eleven and with so large a family, education opportunities were limited. All of the children were expected to help out with the farm work, so their schooling was done locally. The young Graves spent three semesters at the Owensboro Academy.

West Point cadet

MajGravesd7A-ltr_accepting_WP_appointment_1859

MajGravesd8Altr_accepting_WP_appointment_1859_pg2_with_Rice_Srs_Sig

Rice E. Graves was a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York through a scholarship presented by

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Samuel O. Peyton Samuel Oldham Peyton (January 8, 1804 – January 4, 1870) was a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative from Kentucky. Born in Bullitt County, Kentucky, Peyton completed preparatory studies. He was graduated from the medica ...

representing the second Congressional district of Kentucky. A member of the class of 1863, he resigned his presidential appointment in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America Army. The two years he spent in West Point set the standard for his later military career.

Confederate States Army

Graves enlistment in the

2nd Kentucky Infantry The 2nd Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It was part of the First Kentucky Brigade. Service The 2nd Kentucky Infantry was organized in August 1861, at ...

Camp Boone Camp Boone, Tennessee was located on Guthrie Road/ ( Wilma Rudolph Boulevard) U.S. Route 79 near the Kentucky - Tennessee border at Clarksville, Montgomery County, Tennessee (in the area formerly known as Saint Bethlehem, Tennessee before annexat ...

, Tennessee, quickly becoming the regimental adjutant. In November 1861 he was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and appointed to command

Graves' Battery Graves' Artillery Battery, also known as entuckyIssaquena Artillery Battery, was organized as a Confederate States Army artillery battery from Mississippi and Kentucky (mainly Kentucky) on November 8, 1861. During its formation, as a still unders ...

, an artillery unit attached to the regiment. Gaining a reputation as skillful artillery leader he was promoted to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

in October 1862. He served as the divisional chief of artillery under the command of General John C. Breckinridge. Graves served in many civil war battles and campaigns to include the battle at Fort Donelson, TN,

Battle of Shiloh The Battle of Shiloh (also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing) was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield i ...

; Siege of Vicksburg; Battle of Stones River at Murfreesboro, TN (where he was twice wounded) and the Battle of Jackson, MS.

Death

Graves was mortally wounded in action at the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863. He was taken to the hospital, about one-half acre of open ground, and then moved to a house near Reed's Creek with other severely wounded men. He was dead the next morning. He was buried in the Citizen's Cemetery in Ringgold. The exact burial location of Maj. Graves was lost. General John C. Breckinridge wrote of Major Graves in his official report of the battle: "One member of my staff I cannot thank; Major Rice Graves received a mortal wound on the (Sunday morning)(September) 20th (1863). Although a very young man he gave promise of the highest distinction. A truer friend, a purer patriot, a better soldier, never lived".Glenn Hodges, "An Officer and a Gentleman", Owensboro (KY) Messenger-Inquirer, May 14, 1996.

Tribute

On September 21, 1900, the Breckinridge Chapter of the Owensboro, KY UDC unveiled the first Confederate monument by the organization in Kentucky. C.H. Todd, Commander of the ''Rice E. Graves United Confederate Veterans Camp #1121'' said that he "could recall no other soldier that he met during the war who so impressed him and so rapidly won his confidence and friendship." A military grave marker for Major Graves was erected on the anniversary of his death in 1996 by members of the General Ben Hardin Helm Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp in the center of the Ringgold cemetery.

References