Lafayette McLaws

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Lafayette McLaws
Major general
Battles/warsMexican–American War
American Civil War
Other workinsurance business, tax collector, postmaster, author

Lafayette McLaws (

Carolinas, losing many men through desertion, and was presumed to have surrendered with Joseph E. Johnston
in April 1865.

McLaws remained bitter about his court-martial, especially since the charges had been filed by James Longstreet, his friend and classmate at West Point, with whom he had served for years. Although he defended Longstreet against Lost Cause proponents who blamed him for losing the war, McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions.

Early life

Lafayette McLaws was born in

Mormon uprising.[3] While at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, he married Emily Allison Taylor, the niece of Zachary Taylor, making him a cousin-in-law of future Confederates Richard Taylor and Jefferson Davis.[2]

Civil War

1861–62

At the start of the Civil War, resigning as a U.S. Army captain, McLaws was commissioned a

Northern Virginia Campaign
.

During

Maryland Campaign, McLaws's Division was split from the rest of the corps, operated in conjunction with Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, and captured Maryland Heights at Harpers Ferry. He marched his division to Sharpsburg, Maryland, and defended the West Woods in the Battle of Antietam. Lee was disappointed in McLaws's slow arrival on the battlefield. At the Battle of Fredericksburg
, McLaws's Division was one of the defenders of Marye's Heights, and he satisfied Lee with his ferocious defensive performance.

1863–65

At Chancellorsville, while the rest of Longstreet's corps was detached for duty near Suffolk, Virginia, McLaws fought directly under Lee's command. On May 3, 1863, Lee sent McLaws's Division to stop the Union VI Corps under Maj. Gen. John Sedgwick marching toward Lee's rear. He did accomplish this, but Lee was disappointed that McLaws had not attacked more aggressively and caused more harm to Sedgwick's corps instead of letting him escape across the Rappahannock River. When Lee reorganized his army to compensate for Jackson's mortal wounding at Chancellorsville, Longstreet recommended his subordinate for one of the two new corps commands. Still, both men were disappointed when Lee chose Richard S. Ewell and A. P. Hill instead. McLaws requested a transfer, but it was denied.

On the second day of the

Peach Orchard, but the army as a whole was unable to dislodge the Union forces from their positions on Cemetery Ridge. His division did not participate in Pickett's Charge
the next day, despite Longstreet's command of that assault.

McLaws accompanied Longstreet's corps to

Knoxville Campaign later in 1863, Longstreet relieved McLaws due to the failure of the attack on Fort Sanders, citing "a want of confidence in the efforts and plans which the Cmdg Genl has thought proper to adopt."[5] In a letter addressed to Confederate Adjutant and Inspector General Samuel Cooper on December 30, Longstreet submitted three charges of "neglect of duty"; however, he did not request a court-martial because McLaws's "services might be important to the Government in some other position." (In that same letter, he requested a court-martial for Brig. Gen. Jerome B. Robertson, who had been charged with "incompetency" by his division commander.) McLaws also wrote to Cooper on December 30, disputing Longstreet's charges and requesting a court-martial to clear his name. Cooper forwarded Longstreet's letter to Secretary of War James Seddon and Confederate President Jefferson Davis, with the annotation that Longstreet was not authorized to relieve and reassign officers under his command without a formal court-martial.[6]
Davis ordered the court-martial of both generals, although he opposed relieving McLaws until a successor could be appointed.

The courts-martial of Robertson and McLaws convened in

Simon B. Buckner serving as president of the court. The proceedings suffered delays as witnesses—including Longstreet—were not available to appear as scheduled, in some cases because Longstreet granted them leaves of absence. Cooper's office published the court's findings on May 5, exonerating him on the first two specifications of neglect of duty but finding him guilty of the third—"failing in the details of his attack to make arrangements essential to his success." McLaws was sentenced to 60 days without rank or command, but Cooper overturned the verdict and sentence, citing fatal flaws in the court's procedures and ordering McLaws to return to duty with his division. However, on May 18, McLaws was assigned by the War Department to the Defenses of Savannah in the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.[7]

McLaws was bitter about his fate, claiming Longstreet had used him as a scapegoat for the failed Knoxville Campaign. In his memoirs many years after the war, Longstreet expressed regret that he had filed charges against McLaws, which he described as happening "in an unguarded moment." In time, the animosity healed between the two Confederate veterans, but McLaws never fully forgave Longstreet for his actions.[8]

McLaws left the First Corps, and since Lee would not accept him for command in Virginia, he proceeded to Savannah, which he could not defend successfully against Maj. Gen.

William T. Sherman's March to the Sea
in late 1864.

McLaws next saw active service opposing Sherman's advance into the Carolinas. At the Battle of Rivers' Bridge on February 2, 1865, his command resisted the advance of the Army of the Tennessee into South Carolina. His forces delayed the Federal crossing of the Salkehatchie River until they found other crossings and turned his right flank. McLaws led a division under Lt. Gen. William J. Hardee at the Battle of Averasborough, commanding the Confederate third line of defense, and at the Battle of Bentonville. His division was little engaged at Bentonville because of vague orders. In the aftermath of these battles, McLaws had problems with the discipline of his division, holding multiple roll calls daily to prevent desertion and looting. When Gen. Joseph E. Johnston reorganized the army, McLaws lost his command assignment.[9] He was assigned command of the District of Georgia after Bentonville.[10] He may have surrendered with Johnston's army in North Carolina on April 26, 1865; however, there is no record of his parole. On October 18, 1865, McLaws was pardoned by the U.S. government.[2]

Postbellum career

McLaws in later years

After the war, McLaws worked in the insurance business, was a tax collector for the

Jubal Early
and others to smear his reputation. McLaws was a part owner of the
St. Marys River in Georgia to connect with the Gulf of Mexico on the coast of Florida.[11]

Lafayette McLaws died in Savannah and is buried there in Laurel Grove Cemetery. A collection of his letters, A Soldier's General: The Civil War Letters of Major General Lafayette McLaws (2002), was published posthumously.

Memorials

Peninsula Campaign.[12]

A bust of McLaws stands in Savannah's Forsyth Park, near the city's Civil War Memorial.[13]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Quigley, p. 94.
  2. ^ a b c d e Eicher, p. 381.
  3. ^ "A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians Volume VI" Page 2796, 1917
  4. ^ Wert, p. 209.
  5. ^ Wert, p. 358.
  6. ^ Wert, pp. 360–62.
  7. ^ Wert, pp. 362–64.
  8. ^ Wert, pp. 364–65.
  9. ^ Bradley, pp. 16, 21-22, 61-62, 80.
  10. ^ Official Records, series 1, vol. 47, part 1, p. 1016.
  11. ISBN 0807860476
    .
  12. ^ Historical Marker Database
  13. ^ "Descendant of Lafayette McLaws offers to buy bust from City of Savannah". WTOC-TV. June 17, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2021.

References

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lafayette McLaws.
Preceded by
(none)
10th Georgia Regiment

June 17, 1861 – September 25, 1861 		Succeeded by
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