Maj. Gen. Evander McIver Law | |
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| Birth name | Evander McIver Law |
| Born | (1836-08-07)August 7, 1836 |
| Died | October 31, 1920(1920-10-31) (aged 84) Bartow, Florida, U.S. |
| Buried | Oak Hill Cemetery Bartow, Florida |
| Allegiance |  Confederate States of America |
| Branch |  Confederate States Army |
| Service years | 1861–1865 |
| Rank | Brigadier General Major General (unconfirmed)[1] |
| Commands | 4th Alabama Infantry Regiment Alabama Brigade Hood's Division (temporary) Butler's Cavalry Brigade Butler's Cavalry Division |
| Conflicts | American Civil War |
| Other work | college professor, founder of the South Florida Military College |
Evander McIver Law (August 7, 1836 – October 31, 1920) was an author, teacher, and aConfederate general in theAmerican Civil War.
Law was born inDarlington, South Carolina. His grandfather and his two great-grandfathers had fought in theAmerican Revolutionary War underFrancis Marion, the "Swamp Fox"guerrilla leader. He graduated from theSouth Carolina Military Academy (nowThe Citadel) in 1856 and was a professor of history at Kings Mountain Military Academy from 1858 to 1860, when he moved toAlabama to form his own Military High School inTuskegee, Alabama.[2]
Immediately following Alabama'ssecession from theUnion, Law joined the Alabama Militia as a captain. In April 1861 he transferred to theConfederate States Army as a captain in the4th Alabama Infantry, a unit he helped recruit from students at his high school. The 4th Alabama was also known as the "AlabamaZouaves". The following month he was promoted tolieutenant colonel. At theFirst Battle of Bull Run he was inBrig. Gen.Barnard E. Bee's brigade. The colonel of his regiment was killed in action and Law was wounded in the arm. Law recovered, although his left arm was stiff and almost useless, and returned to the regiment. He was promoted to colonel on October 28, 1861, and assumed command of what would become known as the "Alabama Brigade"[3] under Maj. Gen.James Longstreet in theArmy of Northern Virginia in May 1862.
Law led his brigade through thePeninsula Campaign and theSeven Days Battles. AtGaines' Mill, he and fellow brigade commander Brig. Gen.John Bell Hood achieved fame by breaking the center of theUnion line. They attacked in tandem again at theBattle of Malvern Hill four days later, but were defeated decisively. In theNorthern Virginia Campaign, at theSecond Battle of Bull Run, Law and Hood were used again as the primary assaulting force in Longstreet's surprise attack against the Union left flank, almost destroying Maj. Gen.John Pope'sArmy of Virginia.[4]
In theMaryland Campaign, at theBattle of Antietam, Law's Brigade defended against the Union attack through the Cornfield at high cost—454 killed and wounded. Law was promoted tobrigadier general on October 3, 1862. At theBattle of Fredericksburg in December, he saw little action.
In 1863, Law accompanied Longstreet's Corps toSuffolk, Virginia, which prevented his participation in theBattle of Chancellorsville. However, the corps returned to the Army of Northern Virginia in time for theGettysburg campaign. At theBattle of Gettysburg, Law's brigade fought in the unsuccessful assault on the Union left on July 2, 1863, onLittle Round Top and theDevil's Den. He assumed temporary division command after John Bell Hood was wounded. Some historians have criticized Law for the lack of coordination that existed in Hood's division while he served as a temporary commander. Gettysburg historianHarry W. Pfanz suggested that Law's "control of the division as a whole that afternoon was not very active and strong."[5] He did not appoint his own successor at brigade command until after the fighting was over for the day, leaving his regiments without direction.[5] None of Hood's other brigade commanders reported receiving any commands from Law during the battle.[6]
On July 3, Law's men were at the extreme right of the Confederate line and defended against a suicidal cavalry attack made by Union troops of Brig. Gen.Judson Kilpatrick's division, led by their brigade commander Brig. Gen.Elon J. Farnsworth.
Law did not write an official report on the battle.[7] Years later, he published his own account of the fighting on July 2, "The Struggle For 'Round Top'", inBattles and Leaders of the Civil War.[8]
After Gettysburg, Longstreet's Corps was transported to theWestern Theater to join GeneralBraxton Bragg and theArmy of Tennessee for victory at theBattle of Chickamauga. While Hood was present at Chickamauga, he served as a corps commander under Longstreet, who was acting as commander of a "wing" of the Army of Tennessee. As senior brigade commander, Law again acted as commander of Hood's division. On September 20, Hood's division, under Law, struck a gap in the Federal line and captured at least fifteen pieces of enemy artillery. Hood was severely wounded again that day, which should have left Law in command of Hood's division.
Despite Longstreet's praise for Law's performances in previous battles, the two became involved in bitter disputes, some of which involved professional jealousy between Law and Brig. Gen.Micah Jenkins, a favorite of Longstreet's. At different times and places, Longstreet had promised both Law and Jenkins command of Hood's division, should that command billet ever open. Law had served in Hood's division since its organization and had commanded it successfully at Gettysburg and Chickamauga. Jenkins was new to the division and had never commanded it, but his commission as a brigadier general pre-dated Law's, and when Jenkins's brigade was attached to Hood's division in September 1863, shortly after Chickamauga, with Hood absent due to wounds, Law had to turn command of Hood's division over to Jenkins.[9]
Hood's division accompanied Bragg's army to the siege of Chattanooga. By late October 1863, Law's brigade was detached from Hood's division and the army, guarding Brown's Ferry over the Tennessee River in what is known as Lookout Valley. While Law was on leave, visiting the wounded Hood, division commander Jenkins stripped the defenses at Brown Ferry of over half the units, despite intelligence of enemy activity and pleas for reinforcements from Col.William C. Oates, commanding the 15th Alabama Regiment, one of the two regiments still posted near Brown's Ferry. On October 24, 1863, Union troops forced a passage of Brown's Ferry and overwhelmed its defenders. A few days later, Federal reinforcements— theXI andXII Corps from the Army of the Potomac— arrived at the other end of Lookout Valley, at Wauhatchie Station. The arrival of these fresh Federal troops, combined with the Federal possession of Brown's Ferry, enabled U.S. Maj. Gen.Ulysses S. Grant to open his "cracker line" and feed his starving troops in Chattanooga.[10]
Confederate Gen. Bragg recognized that the "cracker line" would spell the end of the siege of Chattanooga, and on October 28, ordered Longstreet to take his corps and seize control of Lookout Valley. Longstreet decided to send only Hood's division to deal with the two enemy corps. Gen. Jenkins quickly planned a night attack on the railhead at Wauhatchie, to be made by two brigades, his own under Col. John Bratton, and Brig. Gen.Henry L. Benning's. Simultaneous to the attack at Wauhatchie, and over a mile distant, a holding action near Brown's Ferry was to be made by the Texas brigade and Law's brigade. Already outnumbered, Jenkins further aggravated his situation by failing to utilize Brig. Gen.George T. Anderson's brigade, also of Hood's division, and a sizable portion of the Hampton Legion Infantry, of his own brigade. As the battle broke out, division commander Jenkins rode to Wauhatchie, on the extreme left of his widely dispersed division, instead of placing himself in a position where he could attempt to coordinate all of his troops. The ensuing engagement was a Confederate defeat. Jenkins later claimed that Law quit his holding mission prematurely; Law and Brig. Gen. Robertson, commanding the Texas brigade, claimed they acted in accordance with orders. This controversy brought tensions between Jenkins and Law to the boiling point, and has never been settled.[11]
Jenkins continued in command of Hood's division through Longstreet'sEast Tennessee campaign of November– December 1863. Jenkins again blamed Law for the poor performance of the division, particularly atCampbell's Station. The command situation in Hood's division and Longstreet's Corps deteriorated markedly through March 1864, with Law, Maj. Gen.Lafayette McLaws, and at least one other brigadier general arrested andcourt-martialed by Longstreet; Longstreet's charges against his subordinates were not sustained by the Confederate War Department.[12]
The continued stress resulted in Law's request for resignation, which he offered to deliver toRichmond in person. While there, he visited Hood, who talked Law out of resigning and used his influence to keep the War Department from accepting it. On Law's return to his brigade, still in East Tennessee, Longstreet ordered Law's arrest for insubordination. The men of Law's brigade had by this time had enough, and all but one of the colonels requested their regiments' transfer, with the whole brigade, to Alabama. Longstreet attempted to retaliate by leaving them in Tennessee when the rest of his corps rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia. GeneralRobert E. Lee, however, ordered Law and the Alabamians back to his army. Hood had been promoted, and a new commander,Charles W. Field, was assigned to command Hood's old division, after which the division made a remarkable turn around, regaining in a month the efficiency it had last shown at Chickamauga.[13]
In theOverland Campaign, on May 6, 1864, at theWilderness, Law was under arrest in the rear, while his brigade participated in Longstreet's morning counterattack along the Orange Plank Road. The brigade continued toSpotsylvania Court House, but Law did not resume command until theBattle of Cold Harbor, where he received a gunshot wound that fractured his skull and injured his left eye.
While his brigade fought in theSiege of Petersburg, Law was transferred to brigade command in Lt. Gen.Wade Hampton's Cavalry Corps. It was stationed inSouth Carolina, where he finished the war. When Maj. Gen.Matthew Butler was wounded at theBattle of Bentonville, Law exercised command of Butler's division until its commander returned to active duty. On March 20, 1865, he was promoted to the rank of Major General; but the promotion was too late to be confirmed by theConfederate Congress.[1]
After the war, Law administered the extensive agricultural holdings and railroad interests in his father-in-law's estate; he had married Jane Elizabeth Latta on March 9, 1863. He returned to Tuskegee in the late 1860s and organized the Alabama Grange in 1872. Law moved toFlorida in 1881, planning to found a military academy that would be modeled after The Citadel. He opened theSouth Florida Military College atBartow, Florida, in 1895 and administered it until 1903. There, and as a trustee of theSummerlin Institute from 1905 to 1912, and as a member of thePolk County Board of Education from 1912 until his death, he played a key role in the foundation of public education in Florida. He was the editor of the BartowCourier Informant newspaper until 1915. He died in Bartow as the longest surviving Confederate major general, and is buried there in Oak Hill Cemetery. One of the barracks for the Cadets at The Citadel is named Law Barracks[14] in his honor.[15]
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