General Joseph Brevard Kershaw: A different kind of cavalier

Camden was the hometown of some of the best-known South Carolinians during the Civil War. There was Richard Rowland Kirkland, the hero known as the Angel of Marye’s Heights; Maxcy Gregg, the Fire-Eater who was mortally wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg; and James Chesnut, who governed South Carolina as a member of the Executive Council.

Then there was General Joseph Brevard Kershaw, the grandson of the Revolutionary War soldier and merchant known as “the Father of Camden.” But the grandson wasn’t a merchant. He was an attorney, a legislator and later a judge, and he is possibly best remembered as a soldier. He fought in practically every major battle that involved the Army of Northern Virginia, and some that did not.

At noon on Friday, Nov. 20, at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum, historian Philip C. Cockrell will deliver a lecture about General Kershaw, whom he terms “A Different Kind of Cavalier.” The free program is part of the Relic Room’s regular Noon Debrief program, and the public is invited.

Kershaw’s military career started as a militia officer fighting for the United States. As a first lieutenant, he saw action during the Mexican War, but became seriously ill and had to return home.

His attention turned to politics, and after several years in the state Senate, he represented Kershaw District as a delegate to the South Carolina Secession Convention in December 1860. He voted for and signed the Ordinance of Secession. The inevitable call to arms that followed led to his becoming the colonel of the 2nd South Carolina Infantry Regiment in April 1861. That same month found him at Fort Sumter.

From that point, he was involved in the following battles on the eastern and western fronts:

• First Manassas
• Fredericksburg
• Gettysburg
• Chickamauga
• The Wilderness
• Spotsylvania Court House
• Cold Harbor
• The Shenandoah campaign

Promoted to major general in 1864, he was later captured by George Armstrong Custer’s cavalry at the Battle of Sayler’s Creek in Virginia, just three days before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox. After the war he returned home to his law practice, and to politics. In 1865 he returned to the State House and was chosen president of the Senate.

“Kershaw was somebody who lived a very fascinating life,” said Dr. Cockrell. And he played many roles. Having retired from the bench, the former general was named Camden’s postmaster shortly before his death in 1894. He is buried in Camden’s Quaker Cemetery.

Philip Cockrell is the chief operations officer of the South Carolina Department of Administration. He earned his doctorate in history from the University of South Carolina in 1991, and taught history for some time before joining state government service.

About the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum

Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is an accredited museum focusing on South Carolina’s distinguished martial tradition through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the War on Terror, and other American conflicts. It serves as the state’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military heritage from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. It recently opened a major new exhibit, “A War With No Front Lines: South Carolina and the Vietnam War, 1965-1973.” The museum is located at 301 Gervais St. in Columbia, sharing the Columbia Mills building with the State Museum. For more information, go to https://crr.sc.gov/.