James L. Kemper
James L. Kemper | |
---|---|
Hugh W. Sheffey | |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Madison County | |
In office December 5, 1853 – September 7, 1863 | |
Preceded by | Morris D. Newman |
Succeeded by | William O. Fry |
Personal details | |
Born | James Lawson Kemper June 11, 1823 7th Virginia Infantry Kemper's Brigade Kemper's Division Virginia Reserve Forces |
Battles/wars | |
James Lawson Kemper (June 11, 1823 – April 7, 1895) was a lawyer, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, and the 37th Governor of Virginia. He was the youngest brigade commander and only non-professional general officer in the division that led Pickett's Charge, during which he was severely wounded.
Early and family life
Kemper was born at Mountain Prospect
father had moved to the new town of Madison Court House in the 1790s after his father had died falling from a horse in 1783, leaving his widow to take care of five daughters and a son. By the time young James was born, his paternal grandmother and four aunts also lived at the plantation William Kemper had bought for $5,541.40 in 1800.His maternal great-grandfather, Col. John Jasper Stadler, had served on George Washington's staff as a civil engineer and planned fortifications in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina during the American Revolutionary War, and his grandfather John Stadler Allison served as an officer in the War of 1812 but died when his daughter Maria was very young.[3] Although several of his paternal ancestors were involved in the German Reformed Church, William Kemper was an elder in the local Presbyterian church. His mother was devout but also hosted dances and parties that lasted several days. His brother, Frederick T. Kemper, later founded Kemper Military School.
James Kemper had virtually no military training as a boy. Still, his father and a neighboring planter, Henry Hill of Culpeper, founded Old Field School on the plantation to educate local children, including
Military and early political career
After Congress had declared war on Mexico in 1846, President James K. Polk called for nine regiments of volunteers. Kemper and his friend Birkett D. Fry of Kanawha County traveled to the national capital on December 15, 1846, hoping to secure commissions in the First Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. After traveling to Richmond and returning to Washington for more networking, Kemper learned he had been appointed the unit's quartermaster and captain. During the Mexican–American War, Kemper received favorable reviews and met many future military leaders, but his unit arrived just after the Battle of Buena Vista and mainly maintained a defensive perimeter in Coahuila province.[6]
Honorably discharged from the U.S. Army on August 3, 1848, Kemper returned to practice law in Madison County and neighboring Orange and Culpeper Counties. He represented many fellow veterans making land claims, as well as speculated in real estate and helped form the Blue Ridge Turnpike Company (between Gordonsville and the Shenandoah Valley.[7]
Interested in politics, Kemper first campaigned for office in 1850 but lost the contest to become clerk of the Commonwealth's constitutional convention. Promoting himself as
In late 1861, Kemper became
Civil War
After the start of the Civil War, Kemper served as a brigadier general in the
At the
Another army reorganization after Antietam led to Kemper's brigade being placed in a division commanded by Brigadier General George Pickett, who had been on medical leave since being wounded at Gaines Mill. The division was held in reserve at Fredericksburg, and during the spring of 1863, was on detached duty in the Richmond area. As a result, Kemper also missed the Chancellorsville Campaign.
At the Battle of Gettysburg, Kemper arrived with Pickett's division late on the second day of battle, July 2, 1863. His brigade was one of the central assault units in Pickett's Charge, advancing on the right flank of Pickett's line. After crossing Emmitsburg Road, the brigade was hit by flanking fire from two Vermont regiments, driving it to the left and disrupting the cohesion of the assault. Despite the danger, Kemper rose in his stirrups to urge his men forwards, shouting, "There are the guns, boys, go for them!"
This act of bravado made Kemper an obvious target, and he was wounded by a bullet in the abdomen and thigh before being captured by U.S. soldiers. However, he was rescued shortly after that by Sgt. Leigh Blanton of the First Virginia Infantry Regiment
Postbellum career
Kemper was paroled in May 1865. Since his previous house had been destroyed in a raid led by U.S. Army officer George Armstrong Custer, his mother-in-law purchased a house for the family in Madison County. Kemper then resumed his legal career. However, the bullet that had wounded him at Gettysburg had lodged close to a major artery and could not be removed without risking his life, so he suffered groin pain for the rest of his life. Nonetheless, he tried to attract northern capital to rebuild the devastated local economy. He and former classmate and Confederate general John D. Imboden also maintained a general legal practice, which included much bankruptcy law.
Beginning in 1867, Kemper helped found Virginia's Conservative Party, initially to oppose the new state constitution adopted by a convention chaired by
After his wife Bella[12] died in September 1870 of complications from the birth of their seventh child, Kemper's political activities increased. Distraught from the loss, he no longer slept in the house they had shared but in his law office.[12] Kemper ran for Congress in the 7th Congressional District (after the redistricting caused by the 1870 census) but lost to incumbent John T. Harris of Harrisonburg.
In the 1873 election for
Kemper served as Virginia's Governor from January 1, 1874, to January 1, 1878. He lived frugally, using his son Meade (d. 1886) as his secretary. Kemper trimmed the state budget where possible and, late in his term, advocated taxing alcohol. One major political controversy involved whether to repay the state's war debt. Kemper allied with the Funder Party to pay it off; the Readjuster Party (which Mahone came to lead) opposed him. Gov. Kemper also enforced the civil rights provisions in the new state constitution, despite having opposed it originally. His February 1874 veto of a new law passed by the General Assembly that attempted to transfer control in Petersburg from elected officials (including African Americans) to a board of commissioners appointed by a judge was sustained by Virginia's Senate, although the law's proponents hanged him in effigy. General Early also vehemently disagreed with Kemper's 1875 decision to allow a militia unit of African Americans to participate in the dedication of a statue of General Stonewall Jackson. Gov. Kemper also attempted prison reform and built public schools despite budget shortages. His last major public reception, in October 1877, hosted President Rutherford B. Hayes, who opened the state fair in Richmond.[11] One modern historian analogized Kemper's Conservative philosophy (and that of other Virginia Redeemers) to that of Gov. Wade Hampton of South Carolina.[13]
Death and legacy
As his term of office ended (the state Constitution forbidding his re-election), Kemper (with his six surviving children and various domestic animals) returned to farming and his legal practice. He sold the Madison County home and purchased a house known as Walnut Hills, which overlooked the Rapidan River and Blue Ridge Mountains and was near the Orange County courthouse.[11] However, complications from the inoperable bullet worsened, and eventually paralyzed his left side. Kemper died on April 7, 1895, and was buried in the family cemetery.
Virginia erected a historical marker at Kemper's former home,[14] which has now been restored by the Madison County Historical Society and other organizations, and is available for receptions and other activities.[15] It is part of the Madison Courthouse historic district.[16] His papers are held by the Library of Virginia.[17]
Because Kemper (like Mahone) supported the education of African-Americans, some schools for African-Americans founded during his governorship were named after him, including Kemper School No. 4 in the Arlington District of
Also, the Kemper Street Industrial Historic District in
In popular media
Actor Royce D. Applegate portrayed Kemper in two films, Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003).
See also
- List of American Civil War generals (Confederate)
- German-Americans in the Civil War
Notes
- ^ Woodward, Harold R. (1990). "For Home and Honor: The Story of Madison County, Virginia, During the War Between the States, 1861-1865".
- ^ John W. Wayland, Germanna at page 13
- ^ Harold R. Woodward, Jr., The Confederacy's Forgotten Son (Rockbridge Publishing Company, 1993) at pp. 1–3.
- ^ Woodward at pp. 4–5.
- ^ Woodward at pp. 6–8.
- ^ Woodward at pp. 9–15.
- ^ a b Woodward at pp. 16–18.
- ^ Gallagher, p. 61.
- ^ Freeman, vol. 3, p. 130.
- ^ Eicher, p. 330.
- ^ a b c Contributed by Ruth Ann Coski. "Kemper, James Lawson (1823–1895)". Encyclopediavirginia.org. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ a b Maggie MacLean (February 28, 2009). "Cremora (Belle) Cave Kemper – Civil War Women". Civilwarwomenblog.com. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ Robert R. Jones, "James L. Kemper and the Virginia Redeemers Face the Race Question: A Reconsideration." Journal of Southern History 1972 38(3): 393–414.
- ^ "Contact Support". Markerhistory.com. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ "Facilities". Madisonvahistoricalsociety.org. Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ "National Register Inventory : Nomination Form" (PDF). Dhr.virginia.gov. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ "A Guide to the James Lawson Kemper Papers, 1804-1951 Kemper, James Lawson, Papers, 1804-1951 24692". Ead.lib.virginia.edu. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
- ^ Arlington Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development Historic Preservation Program, A Guide to the African American Heritage of Arlington County, Virginia (Arlington, 2016) 2d Ed. p. 32
- ^ "Kemper School · Built by the People Themselves". Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
- ^ "National Register Inventory : Nomination Form" (PDF). Dhr.virginia.gov. Retrieved May 28, 2017.
References
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- OCLC 166632575.
- ISBN 978-0-8078-4753-4.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
- Tagg, Larry. The Generals of Gettysburg. Campbell, CA: Savas Publishing, 1998. ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
- ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
Further reading
- Hess, Earl J. Pickett's Charge–The Last Attack at Gettysburg. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-8078-2648-5.
- Jamerson, Bruce F. Speakers and Clerks of the Virginia House of Delegates, 1776–2007. Richmond: Virginia House of Delegates, 1996. OCLC 182976627. Revised version of work by E. Griffith Dodson, first published in 1956.
- Stewart, George R. Pickett's Charge: A Microhistory of the Final Attack at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1959. ISBN 0-395-59772-2.
- ISBN 0-684-85914-9.