Carnot Posey
Brigadier-General (CSA) | |
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Battles/wars | Mexican–American War American Civil War |
Carnot Posey (August 5, 1818 – November 13, 1863) was a Mississippi planter and lawyer, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Bristoe Station.
He was transported for care to the University of Virginia, where he had gone to law school. The residential rooms bordering the Lawn were all serving as Confederate hospital rooms. Posey was placed in Room 33 West Lawn, where he had lived as a student. He died there of his wounds one month after the battle.
Early life and family
Posey was born near Woodville, Mississippi, the fourth of eight children of planter John Brooke Posey and his wife Elizabeth (née Screven) Posey. He attended the common schools and graduated from college in Jackson, Mississippi. He studied law at the University of Virginia.
Afterward he returned to his family's
During the Mexican War, Posey was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the 1st Mississippi Rifles, a volunteer regiment commanded by future Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He fought at the Battle of Buena Vista, where he was wounded.
Returning to Woodville after the war, Posey married Jane White in February 1849. They eventually had six children together. U.S. President James Buchanan appointed Posey as the US district attorney for southern Mississippi. He was in that post when the state seceded from the Union.
Civil War
Posey recruited a local
Posey suffered a slight wound at the
Posey was promoted to brigadier general on January 18, 1863, to rank from November 2, 1862.[4] The following May, Posey's brigade saw limited action at the Battle of Chancellorsville, maintaining a reserve position at Salem Church. During the army reorganization following Stonewall Jackson's death, Posey's brigade was assigned to Major General Richard H. Anderson's division of the Third (A.P. Hill's) Corps. During the Battle of Gettysburg in July, the brigade was part of Anderson's July 2 attack on Cemetery Ridge, conducting a "feeble, disjointed attack that was repulsed."[3]
At the Battle of Bristoe Station on October 14, 1863, Posey was wounded in the thigh by a shell fragment. Although the wound was not outwardly serious, infection set in. He died a month later in November, in Room 33 West Lawn at the University of Virginia, where he had lived as a law student. He was cared for by a good friend, Dr. John Davis of Charlottesville, Virginia. Posey was buried in the Davis family plot in the University of Virginia Cemetery.[3]
In memoriam
The Carnot Posey Lodge #378 of the Masons was founded in 1875 and named in his memory.
See also
Notes
- ^ Eicher, p. 436.
- ^ Sources, such as Clement A. Evans's Confederate Military History, volume 7, and Mark Boatner's The Civil War Dictionary, place Posey at First Bull Run and Ball's Bluff, but Freeman, vol. 2, p. 419, and Wert, p. 51, note that Posey and his 16th Mississippi were unlikely to have fought in either battle.
- ^ a b c Wert, p. 51.
- ^ Eicher, p. 797. The promotion is referred to as "special" because of political maneuvering required when Featherston was on medical leave and returned unexpectedly. However, Featherston soon requested a transfer to his native Mississippi and Posey received permanent command of the brigade. See Freeman, vol. 2, pp. 263–67.
References
- Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1900). . Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- ISBN 978-0-684-85979-8.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
- ISBN 0-918678-67-6.
External links
- Biography of Posey
- Up Came Hill - bio of Posey
- "Carnot Posey". Find a Grave. Retrieved August 14, 2010.