Samuel W. Ferguson
Samuel W. Ferguson | |
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Second Lieutenant (U.S.) | |
Commands held | |
Battles |
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Alma mater | United States Military Academy |
Spouse(s) | |
Children | 4 |
Early life and education
Samuel Wragg Ferguson was born in
American Civil War
In March 1861, Ferguson was commissioned a captain in the South Carolina militia, afterwards being appointed Lieutenant and aide-de-camp to C.S. Army Brigadier-General P. G. T. Beauregard. He was one of the officers who received the formal surrender of U.S. Army Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter, raised the first Confederate States flag, and posted the first guards at Fort Sumter. After the siege, he was sent to present the first Confederate flag struck by enemy shot to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States.[3] He was a lieutenant-colonel and aide-de-camp to General Beauregard during the Battle of Shiloh. During the Battle of Farmington, he was in the 28th Mississippi Cavalry Regiment. He commanded the unit while defending Vicksburg, and helped stop attacks made by U.S. Major-General William T. Sherman and U.S. Commodore David Porter.
On July 28, 1863, Ferguson was promoted to brigadier-general. He was subsequently recommended for promotion to Major-General, but Joseph Wheeler quickly objected.[4] During Sherman's March to the Sea, Ferguson and his cavalrymen harassed the flank of the United States Army. When Sherman got close to Savannah, Ferguson's men left their horses and covered the Confederate retreat. He was then ordered to Danville, Virginia, but before arriving was ordered to go to Charlotte, North Carolina. From Charlotte he escorted Jefferson Davis into Georgia, where his unit was disbanded.[5]
Later life
After the war Ferguson moved to
Selected works
- Personal Memoirs of S. W. Ferguson (1900)
See also
References
- ^ "The Cavalry Reunion". Weekly Democrat-Times. Vol. 20, no. 31. Greenville, Miss. February 18, 1888. p. 1.
- ^ Losson, Christopher T. (2017). "Samuel Wragg Ferguson". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Center for Study of Southern Culture. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
- ^ a b c Kansas State Historical Society's Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society (1912) pg. 303.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8071-0823-9.
- ^ a b Wyatt-Brown, Betram, The Literary Percys: Family History, Gender & the Southern Imagination (1994) pg. 107.
- ^ a b c Black, Patti Carr and Marion Barnwell, Touring Literary Mississippi (2002) pg. 9–10.
- ^ Wyatt-Brown, Betram, The Literary Percys: Family History, Gender & the Southern Imagination (1994) pg. 46–47.
Further reading
- Allison, David (2018). "Chapter III: The Confederates". Attacked On All Sides: The Civil War Battle of Decatur, Georgia, the Untold Story of the Battle of Atlanta. With chapters by Lisa Rickey and Blaise J. Arena. North Charleston, South Carolina: OL 39611957M.
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 978-0-8047-3641-1.
- Sifakis, Stewart. Who Was Who in the Civil War. New York: Facts On File, 1988. ISBN 978-0-8160-1055-4.
External links
- Official
- Heyward and Ferguson Family Papers at the College of Charleston
- Heyward and Ferguson Family Papers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Samuel Wragg Ferguson Papers at the Louisiana State University
- General information