The Life And Death of Brigadier General Micah Jenkins C.S.A. (1835 - 1864)

Confederate Brigadier General Micah Jenkins
(December 1, 1835 - May 6, 1864).

 

(This article was re-posted from an earlier date in memory of the 160th anniversary of the death of General Micah Jenkins on May 6, 1864 at the Battle of the Wilderness, Virginia.)

Micah John Jenkins was born on Tuesday, December 1, 1835 the third son (and fourth of five children) of Captain John Jenkins (1794-1854) and his wife Elizabeth Clark Jenkins (1803-1864), on Edisto Island, Charleston County, South Carolina. The Jenkinses belonged to an ancient Welsh family, claiming descent from Prince Llewelyn ap Gruffudd (1223-1282).

Micah Jenkins came from a long and proud line of American military servicemen from the State of South Carolina. His Grandfather, Joseph Jenkins (1762-1828), was a Patriot veteran of the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and served in the 20th Regiment South Carolina Militia during the War of 1812 (1812-1815). His father, Captain John Jenkins, served as an officer in the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). His uncle, Joseph Evan Jenkins (1793-1874), also served in the War of 1812 but never saw any combat action and would later be a Signer of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession in December of 1860. 

At the age of 15, Micah Jenkins entered the South Carolina Military Academy -- later name The Citadel -- near Charleston in 1851, later graduating in 1854 top of his class at the age of 19.

It was at the military academy that Jenkins met his classmate and life-long friend, Asbury Coward from York County, South Carolina. Later Jenkins and Coward would become the co-founders of the Kings Mountain Military Academy in Yorkville (York, South Carolina) in January of 1855.

It was during his time as a cadet at The Citadel in 1853 that Micah Jenkins met his future wife, then 16 year old Caroline "Carrie" Harper Jamison (1837-1902) of Orangeburg, South Carolina. Caroline was the daughter of General David Flavel Jamison (1810-1864), one of the founders of The Citadel and later president of South Carolina's Secession Convention in December of 1860.

Micah and Carrie would marry on Thursday, July 3, 1856 and move to York where they would raise their family. The couple would have five male children: Micah John Jr. (1857-1912), Robert Flavel (1858-1936), William Edward (1860-1930), Whitemarsh LaRoush (1861-1863), and John Murray (1863-1958); all born in York County. 

In 1855 at the age 20, Micah Jenkins was confirmed at the York Episcopal Church. He was a devout Protestant Christian and remained so for his whole life.

Colonel Micah Jenkins just before the war
as Colonel of the 5th South Carolina
Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Shortly before the war, in 1859 following the aftermath of John Brown's failed raid on Harpers Ferry, Micah Jenkins raised a volunteer militia company at Yorkville -- the Jasper Guards or Jasper Rifle Guards -- and was elected company Captain. In 1860 they were to become the Jasper Light Infantry, or Company I of the 5th South Carolina Volunteer Infantry, a regiment raised largely from the upper Piedmont districts of York, Union and Spartanburg Counties. Jenkins was elected the first Colonel of the regiment on Saturday, April 13, 1861 -- the day before the War Between The States began.

Though a strict drill master from his years as founder of the Kings Mountain Military Academy, Jenkins was generally well liked by the men under his command. With his experience and their trust in him, they formed a superb unit.

Not long after they were sent north to Virginia, the 5th South Carolina Infantry saw its first action during the Battle of First Manassas on Sunday, July 21, 1861. They were not engaged on the main field of battle, but rather in a separate action to the east at McLean's Ford.

Serving as a part of Brigadier General David R. Jones' brigade, the 5th South Carolina along with the 17th and 18th Mississippi Infantry Regiments were sent across McLean's Ford at noon during the battle in order to silence an eight-gun Federal artillery battery. The battery was positioned on a hill just across the ford and was supported by four New York regiments. In the advance up the slope, the two Mississippi regiments halted and began to withdraw, leaving Jenkins and his Carolinians unsupported. Despite this, Jenkins managed to drive back the artillerymen and their infantry supports, holding his position for nearly an hour. He then sent three messages back to Jones requesting for further orders but, according to his report, received no reply and, being outnumbered and unsupported, eventually decided to unwillingly withdraw. Jones himself states that he sent Jenkins three orders to withdraw, the 5th South Carolina eventually retiring "well formed and in good order from the field."

The 5th South Carolina suffered 3 killed and 23 wounded during the battle. They had fought well for their first battle. As General Jones later wrote in his official report, "Too much cannot be said in praise of the gallantry displayed by Colonel Jenkins and his regiment of South Carolinians."

Later that fall, the 5th South Carolina was placed in a division under Major General James Longstreet. Longstreet's aide, Major Thomas J. Goree, would write in a letter home that the general thought Jenkins was the best Colonel in the army and that the 5th South Carolina Infantry was "one of the finest, if not the finest, regiments in the army." Colonel Jenkins and the 5th South Carolina Infantry was put in a brigade under General Richard H. Anderson.

In a review of Longstreet's division at Centreville, Virginia, on Thursday, November 28, 1861, General P.G.T. Beauregard presented each regiment with the first patterns of the new Confederate Battle Flag made of silk for the army. 

As reported by the hometown newspaper, the Yorkville (S.C.) Inquirer on Thursday, December 12, 1861, upon receiving his, Jenkins gave a short speech:

"As Colonel of the 5th S.C. Regiment, I accept this as our battle-flag. Our native soil is now oppressed with the footsteps of the fell invader; his beacon fires are lighted upon our headlands. To us a battle flag can only be one under which we must conquer or die. As such, I accept this."

Upon the expiration of its one-year term of service, the 5th South Carolina regiment was then reorganized in April 1862 from re-enlistees and new recruits. Jenkins retained his command as Colonel of the regiment. Five companies of the 5th South Carolina were detached to form part of Micah Jenkins' newly organized regiment, the Palmetto Sharpshooters, which also consisted of companies from the 4th and 9th South Carolina Infantry Regiments. The Palmetto Sharpshooters would be placed under the command of Colonel John R. R. Giles from Union County.

A man of great Christian faith in God, Jenkins always took his Bible and prayer book with him, and at any quite moments on the battlefield was to be found reading it. By contrast, he was fearlessly brave under fire he was always front and center leading his men into battle, sometimes recklessly so.

At the Battle of Williamsburg (Fort Magurder) on Monday, May 5, 1862, when someone told him he was unnecessarily exposing himself to danger, Jenkins was reported to have (quite prophetically) said, "I feel the (Yankee) bullet has not been molded that is to kill me."

At Williamsburg, General  Anderson was temporarily put in division command while Jenkins, who was still a Colonel, was put in command of his brigade (Jenkins' 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, the 6th South Carolina Infantry Regiment, and the Palmetto Sharpshooters), all regiments made up of men from York, Union, Spartanburg, Chester, Fairfield, and Lancaster counties in upstate South Carolina. 

At the Battle of Seven Pines on Saturday, May 31, 1862,  he led Anderson's brigade with distinction in that battle. It was during this action that Colonel Giles of the Palmetto Sharpshooters was unfortunately killed during the battle and would be replaced by Colonel Joseph A. Walker of Spartanburg County, South Carolina.

Captain W. B. Smith, Company G, Palmetto Sharpshooters wrote in his report after Seven Pines:

"After we had driven back four fresh lines of battle General Jenkins drew his lines back a short way and formed a new line, someone said to him 'just look at them coming at the double quick.' Jenkins replied: 'We shall meet them at the double quick.' 'He straightened himself up in his stirrups and gave the command to charge front on twelfth company at the double quick, and I never saw on parade a prettier maneuver, General Jenkins was magic. He could come nearer to making his men work like machinery than any other man I saw. That was the last charge at Seven Pines at which ended the battle. We fought five fresh lines that evening and whipped every one. Jenkins was on his horse all through the battle."

 

In a letter to his sister written not long after the battle, Longstreet's aide, Major Thomas J. Goree, sums up Jenkins' performance rather accurately:

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"Col. Jenkins carried the brigade into action about 3 O'clock P.M., a little further to the left of where Genl. D.H. Hill was engaged. From this time until night he fought unsupported and alone, and advancing all the time. He fought 5 separate & distinct lines of the enemy, whipping each one. He whipped the whole of Genl. Couch's Division, consisting of 12 or 15 regiments, with a little brigade of 1900 men. He passed over several abattis of felled timber, two lines of breastworks, captured three pieces of artillery, 250 prisoners, & several stands of colors.​

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He whipped the fifth lines of the enemy about 8 O'clock P.M. At that time he was near two miles in advance of anyone else. His brigade rested that night in a Massachusetts camp, and had every luxury nearly that you can imagine: a plenty of brandy, lemons, & preserved fruits of all sorts, oil clothes, boots and shoes, opera glasses, etc. etc. etc.​

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The Yankee prisoners were perfectly surprised when they found he had accomplished so much with only one little brigade. They told him that every line he met was composed of fresh troops, and that they thought he was receiving reinforcements all the time.​

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Genl. Longstreet was very much surprised, too, when Col. Jenkins came in at night, and reported where his brigade was. ​

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The battle flag of Colonel Jenkins' Palmetto Sharpshooters.
It was reported that during the battle of Seven Pines,
out of 12 men in the color guard 10 were shot down, the flag
was passed to four men, and was pierced by nine musket balls,
but never once touched the ground during the heavy fighting.
Image courtesy South Carolina Confederate Relic Room,
State Museum, Columbia, SC.

This brigade went into action with 1900 men. It lost 700 killed & wounded, & among this number were more than half of its field officers, and near one third of the line officers. But, it never faltered, nor even stopped. It advanced slowly but steadily for more than two miles, all the time in the face of a galling fire, and nearly all the way over felled timber & the enemy's breastworks....

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A few days previous to the battle, Genl. Longstreet presented to Col. Jenkins' Regt. ("Palmetto Sharpshooters") a battle flag. A noble, manly fellow was the color bearer. In the fight he was shot down; as Col. Jenkins rode by where he was lying he raised himself on his elbow & exclaimed: "For God's sake, Colonel, take care of my flag!" ​

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This flag has 9 bullet holes in it. It had a guard of 12 men, 10 of them were killed & wounded. This flag, at one time, changed hands 4 times in 3 minutes without falling to the ground. It now has inscribed on it "Williamsburg" & "Seven Pines."
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Jenkins, though technically still a Colonel, would maintain command of this brigade during the Peninsula Campaign and Seven Days Battles.

At the Battle of Gaines Mill on Friday, June 27, 1862, Colonel Jenkins led the brigade in a sweep around the Federal flank as dusk fell and engaged in heavy fighting with the 16th Michigan Infantry Regiment capturing their regimental colors along with the regiment's Colonel Thomas B.W. Stockton, another officer and 53 of the Union regiment's enlisted men. For this feat Jenkins was given consent by the Confederate Secretary of War, Judah P. Benjamin, to retain the regimental standard of the 16th Michigan for presentation to the Governor of South Carolina.

Major Thomas Goree, this time in a letter to his mother, describes the attack of Colonel Micah Jenkins' brigade at the Battle of Frayser's Farm (White Oak Swamp) on Monday, June 30, 1862:

The So. Ca. Brigade under the gallant Col. Jenkins commenced the attack. Kemper was on the right of Jenkins, Wilcox on the left, & Pickett's, Pryor, & Featherston still to the left. One of A.P. Hill's (Branch's Brigade) was ordered as a support to Kemper & Jenkins.​

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Kemper's (which used to be Genl. Longstreet's old brigade) charged & took a battery. The enemy then brought up reinforcements and Branch failing to support Kemper, the battery was retaken and many of the old brigade captured with it. Jenkins in the meantime had taken a battery and still kept forward. His advance at this time was the most desperate I ever knew. A few hundred yards to the left of the battery he took was one that Wilcox was trying to take. Just in Jenkins' front was a very large force of the enemy's infantry which he immediately engaged, when this battery on his left commenced on him with grape and canister. Thus he advanced in the face of a terrible musketry fire at the same time enfiladed by artillery. Notwithstanding, he pushed on, charged the enemy and drove them from their position with terrible slaughter. He then brought up Branch's Brigade to hold the position. But as soon as they reached the place and saw how far in advance it was & the number of the enemy a half mile farther on, they turned & fled. Being left so far in advance unsupported, Jenkins fell back from position & went to the assistance of Wilcox. The enemy did not return to the position he left. Wilcox during this time had been fighting desperately. He had taken a battery, but it had been retaken, but when Jenkins came in, they made another charge and held it. . . .​

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The So. Carolina Brigade (Jenkins') lost more than half & the Ala. Brigade (Wilcox) lost at least one half. The 11th Ala. (Col. Syd Moore's Reg.) out of 10 officers commanding companies lost 8 killed & two wounded. The Palmetto Sharpshooters (Col. Jenkins' Regt.) out of 375 men, lost 44 killed & 210 wounded.​

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His own escape was almost miraculous. His horse was shot twice. A hole was shot through his saddle blanket, his bridle reins cut in two near his hand. An India rubber overcoat tied on behind his saddle had 15 holes through it made by a musket ball & piece of shell. His sword was shot off at the point, & shot half in two near the hilt, & his sword knob was also shot off. Besides all this he was struck on the shoulder with grape shot (which bruised it severely) and was also struck on the breast & leg with fragments of spent shell.​

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I met him just as he was coming out of the fight and he was weeping like a child at the destruction of his brave, noble men. He told me at one time when he saw how fast they were falling around him, he stopped and prayed to God to send a bullet through his heart. He says, too, that at times as he would ride up and down the line, his men would turn and give him a look as much as to say, "We can go no further," when he would wave his hand to them and they would again dash forward.​

His brother-in-law, Lieutenant John Wilson Jamison (1839-1886) who served with Jenkins as his Aide-de-Camp, was hit in the chest and nearly killed at Frayser's Farm where Jenkins was wounded. Jamison had also served as a French language teacher at Jenkins' Kings Mountain Military Academy prior to the war.

In addition to his brother-in-law, other members of Micah Jenkins' immediate family also served with him during the war.

His brother, John Jenkins (1824-1905) served in Company I, 3rd South Carolina Cavalry as a Major. His cousin, John Micah Jenkins (1827-1915) also served in the same company as a 2nd Lieutenant.

His other brother, Dr. Edward Ephraim Jenkins (1831-1904) served in the 5th South Carolina Regiment with Micah as a Staff Surgeon and later as the Brigade's Surgeon.

Another brother-in-law, David Rumph Jamison (1834-1908) served as the regimental quartermaster of the Palmetto Sharpshooters.

All of these men would survive the war and be present at Appomattox during the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia in April 1865.

For his gallant actions throughout the campaign, Micah Jenkins was officially promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on Tuesday, July 22, 1862, becoming one of the youngest generals in the American Civil War at the age of 26.

A month after his promotion, General Jenkins would again lead his brigade on the second day of the Battle of 2nd Manassas (Saturday, August 30, 1862) where he would be severely wounded in the left abdomen and would be out of action for the next two months, missing General Lee's first invasion of the North and the ensuing battles.

The 5th South Carolina's officer corps had been left in poor shape after the battles of 1862. There were even thoughts of disbanding the regiment. That fall, Jenkins offered the command of his old regiment to his old friend, Colonel Asbury Coward, who'd previously served on the staff of Brigadier General D. R. Jones. Coward accepted the offer and was approved by the War Department. Coward would serve as the Colonel of the 5th South Carolina Infantry for the remainder of the war.

General Jenkins was back on duty, this time with his new Divisional commander Major General George E. Pickett during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 11-15, 1862, but Jenkins' Brigade was not engaged during the battle.

In 1863, Pickett's division participated in General James Longstreet's Siege of Suffolk, Virginia (April 16 - May 3, 1863), but Jenkins' Brigade was retained near Richmond, Virginia, under the command of Major General Daniel Harvey Hill, thus missing General Lee's second invasion of the North and the fateful Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) where Pickett's division was smashed during the final day of the battle.

Jenkins' Brigade went with Major General John B. Hood's Division of General Longstreet's First Corps to the war's Western Theater three months later where they participated in the second day's fighting of the Battle of Chickamauga, Georgia on Sunday, September 20, 1863.

When Hood was promoted to lead a new army Corps, Jenkins was placed in command of his Division, which would result in a bitter rivalry with another South Carolinian, Brigadier General Evander M. Law, who'd been with the Division longer, but lost out because of Jenkins' seniority in rank. The tensions this caused would severely hinder the efficiency of the Division largely because of Law's resentment. Jenkins' Brigade would be put in the temporary charge of Colonel John Bratton of the 6th South Carolina Infantry.

General Jenkins, now commanding Hood's former Division, led his Confederates at the Battle of Brown's Ferry (Tuesday, October 27, 1863) along the Tennessee River, and again a day later at the Battle of Wauhatchie (October 28-29, 1863).

Sent into combat against superior numbers, General Jenkins was successfully leading the attack when they were attacked in the rear by greatly superior numbers. Even then he succeeded in withdrawing his troops.

Again with Longstreet he went to East Tennessee playing a conspicuous part in the proceedings, commanding the right wing at the Battle of Campbell's Station on November 16, 1863, and finally participated in the Siege of Knoxville (November 19 - December 4, 1863) and all the hardships these battles entailed.

Micah Jenkins went home to York on leave in late 1863 to spend some quality time with his family. While Jenkins had been at Chickamauga months before, his then two-year-old son, Whitemarsh LaRoche Jenkins, had died from a disease while his wife and children were visiting family in Summerville, South Carolina.

So he tried to be involved with his wife, Caroline, and surviving children as much as he could during that time. Right before he departed at the train station, Micah Jenkins looked at his friends and family and declared that he was going to fight his last battle. This would be the last time his wife and children would see him alive.

On Saturday, January 16, 1864, Jenkins led his brigade to victory in the Battle of Dandridge (Kimbrough's Crossroads), Tennessee against Federal cavalry.

When Longstreet's Corps returned to the Eastern Theater and the Army of Northern Virginia in early 1864, the contentious issue of command over Hood's Division command was at last resolved when Brigadier General Charles W. Field, who was senior to both Jenkins and Law, was promoted to Major General and assigned Division command. Jenkins resumed the command of his South Carolina Brigade.

General Jenkins was apparently suffering from ill health and malnutrition by the time the spring campaigning began, but insisted on playing his part in the upcoming second day of the Battle of the Wilderness on Friday, May 6, 1864. He was transported to the battlefield by field ambulance and mounted onto his horse still suffering. According to some accounts early in the morning as the battle began, the sweet notes of the Palmetto Sharpshooters band could be heard playing for their old commanding officer trying to cheer him up.

At around 11 P.M. part of Longstreet's Corps, on the Confederate right, had launched a flank attack from an unused railroad cutting onto Union General Winfield Scott Hancock's Corps. The Federal troops, and their pursuers, proceeded to flee across the front of the remainder of Longstreet's Corps with the resulting disorganization to both sides.

At about 1300 hours having forsaking his ambulance Jenkins was with his Brigade, which had been in reserve until this time, down the Orange Plank Road for it to spearhead the renewed Confederate attack this time upon the Brock Road trenches.

Riding at the head of the column with General Longstreet, and other staff officers, and in discussion with Longstreet when they came opposite the Confederate Brigades which had just made the successful flank attack, specifically that of William Mahone. The 12th Virginia mistook them for Federal troops and opened fire. When they firing stopped there were dead and wounded men and horses in the road.

Among the possible reasons for this friendly fire incident was the fact the Jenkins Brigade were wearing new uniforms of dark gray wool that appeared almost black. Along with the smokey conditions of the battlefield in the dense trees of the Wilderness (some of which was on fire) Mahone's men mistook the oncoming troops as Union soldiers. One of the Brigade was to later say that: "when a staff member, upon Longstreet's order, picked up and unfurled a Union flag that the General spotted on the roadway, approaching Virginians fired upon it."

Among the wounded were Longstreet and Jenkins -- Longstreet would survive the war. Jenkins had been shot in the forehead with the Minne Ball lodged in his brain near his left temple.

Jenkins' best friend, Colonel Asbury Coward, was there when Micah was shot, and desperately trying to comfort him before was sent for Medical attention. While dying, along with delirium as a Minnie Ball lodged in his brain, he was still urging his men onward. Colonel Bratton of the 6th South Carolina Infantry took charge of the Brigade.

Colonel Coward recalls the friendly fire incident at the Wilderness, in which Jenkins was killed and Longstreet wounded in his memoirs:

"After we had marched in line about 100 yards through brush and woods, we came upon a line of men, about two small regiments, lying down or kneeling directly in the path of our march. I had to halt my men and on inquiry found it was General Mahone's Brigade, who had just halted there. Seeing at the time a flag passing along the tunpike, I ran toward it through the intermediate thicket to inquire what troops they were. It was the Second South Carolina, one of the regiments of Jenkins' Brigade. I could not understand why they were marching in columns of fours, while I was marching in line of battle.​

As I turned, I saw that Mahone's men had commenced, on the right, to fire by file. Thinking only of the danger to the Second Regiment, I rushed back to stop the firing by voice and gesture. But not until I reached the line was the firing stopped. At that moment Mahone walked up and inquired why the firing had stopped. I explained why I had stopped it. He then asked me who had started it. I told him the firing had begun in his right company. I went on to say that they might be able to explain how it started there. He went off in the direction of his right company in a very agitated state.​

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The incident had just taken place when Major R. M. Sims came to me and said: "That firing has wounded both General Longstreet and General Jenkins, one in the throat and the other in the temple... and I fear both are fatally wounded." I ran toward the group of trees that he indicated and found men lifting General Longstreet, litter and all, into an ambulance. Jenkins had just been placed on a litter. General Kershaw, who had remounted his horse, was urging haste; for the enemy's cannon was throwing shells at the cluster of trees. Fortunately, the shots were passing high but were nevertheless dangerous.​

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I knelt by the friend of my life since I entered The Citadel, my alter ego. Taking his hand in mine, I said 'Jenkins... Mike, do you know me?' I felt a convulsive pressure of my hand. Then I noticed that his features, in fact his whole body, was convulsed. The haste urged by General Kershaw prevented any further stay at his side. He was lifted into an ambulance and carried to the rear. Dazed, I returned to my regiment."

With the musket ball where it was little could be done for Micah Jenkins. Only semi-conscious, and not recognizing those around him, he died about six hours later around sunset.

According to one of his surgeons present, at the moment Micah Jenkins breathed his last, "a bright, happy, trusting smile lit up his face. Those around watched, we thought, we felt he was with his God."

Micah Jenkins was just 28 years old when he was killed. His 26 year old devoted widow, Caroline Jenkins, would never remarry as she was left alone to raise their four remaining boys.

The following excerpt from the article in the Charleston Courier (Charleston, SC) recounts his funeral:

"The remains of the lamented General Micah Jenkins were interred in Summerville in the graveyard of the Episcopal Church of that place where his mother was buried. The body arrived at Summerville a quarter past three o’clock under the escort of the cadets of the Arsenal Academy in Columbia. The coffin with a Confederate flag laid upon it was placed upon a carriage, and a procession was formed from all of the inhabitants of the village and the convalescent solders in the hospital that were able to attend.
Before the procession began the ladies of the village brought in beautiful wreaths and numerous bouquets of flowers and strewed them with profusion upon the coffin.The coffin was followed by several members of the deceased’s family, including his widow, his father in law, General D. F. Jamison, Major John Jenkins and Dr. Edward Jenkins[his brothers].

Upon the arrival of the remains at the village and during the passing of the processions,the church bells were tolled and every expression of grief and sympathy was exhibited by the inhabitants of the village. The ladies present at the interment bedecked the grave with flowers and gave vent to their heartfelt sorrow in the tears which were freely shared of over the mortal remains of the departed hero."

The body of Micah Jenkins was brought back to South Carolina, accompanied by Caroline’s brother, Lieutenant John Jamison. His body first laid in state at the Arsenal Military Academy in Columbia and then was removed to the graveyard of the Episcopal Church in Summerville, South Carolina, where he was buried until 1881 when his body was moved to historic Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston. The Citadel Military Academy erected a grave monument in his honor.  The graves of General Jenkins and his wife, Caroline, are buried beneath the 12 foot monument.

Jenkins Hall at The Citadel is named in his honor.

General James Longstreet wrote of him after the war: "He was one of the most estimable characters of the army. His taste and talent were for military service. He was intelligent, quick, untiring, attentive, zealous in discharge of duty, truly faithful to official obligations, abreast with the foremost in battle, and withal a humble, noble Christian. In a moment of highest earthly hope, he was transported to serenest heavenly joy; to that life beyond that knows no bugle call, beat of drum or clash of steel. May his beautiful spirit, through the mercy of God, rest in peace! Amen!"

Two of General Micah Jenkins' sons would go on to continue the family tradition of American military service.

His oldest son, Micah John Jenkins Jr. (1857-1912) graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in the Class of 1879 and would serve in the Spanish-American War (1898) where he was enrolled as Captain of Troop K, 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry Regiment "The Rough Riders" under Colonels Leonard Wood and Theodore Roosevelt. Captain Jenkins fought with the Regiment in Cuba and was present during the attack on San Juan Heights near Santiago de Cuba on Friday, July 1, 1898. He was promoted to Major on Thursday, August 11, 1898 and was mustered out of service with the Regiment at Montauck Point, Long Island, New York. He is buried at St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery on Yonges Island, Charleston County, South Carolina.

His youngest son, John Murray Jenkins (1863-1958) also attended West Point and graduated in the Class of 1887. John served as a Colonel of the 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in France on the European Western Front during World War I (1917-1918) and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1919. John Jenkins retired a Major General in the United States Army in 1927. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

The grave of Brigadier General Micah Jenkins and his wife
at historic Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.

Sources for this article include:

The Civil War Letters of Major Thomas J. Goree edited by Thomas W. Cutrer (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1995), pp. 87, 94-95.
The South Carolinians: Colonel Asbury Coward's Memoirs edited by Natalie Jenkins Bond and Osmun Latrobe Coward (New York: Vantage Press, 1968).
The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Vol. 1 of 2.
Also a special thanks to the people at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room & Military Museum in Columbia, South Carolina, The South Carolina Division Sons of Confederate Veterans, and the South Carolina Historical Society Archives and Museum.

The Life Of Colonel Asbury Coward C.S.A. (1835 - 1925) & The Kings Mountain Military Academy

Colonel Asbury Coward (1835 - 1925).

 

Asbury Coward was born on Saturday, September 19, 1835 on the Quenby Plantation in Berkeley County, South Carolina to Mr. Jesse Coward (1805-1850) and Mrs. Keziah Ann Dubois Coward (1807-1835). The couple were lowcountry rice planters who lived in Charleston County.

At age 19 Coward graduated from The Citadel Military College in Charleston, South Carolina in 1854. At the Citadel he was classmates with future Confederate Brigadier General Micah Jenkins (1835-1864).

He moved to Yorkville, South Carolina (modern-day York) in 1854 to study law under the direction of Mr. William Blackburn Wilson, one of the leading lawyers of his day. After only a couple of months, however, young Coward -- who reportedly liked to sign his name "A. Coward" -- decided against the law as his line of work. He much preferred outdoor activities and military life to working in some law office.

Coward persuaded his old classmate, Micah Jenkins, to come to Yorkville and together the two young men founded the Kings Mountain Military Academy in January of 1855.

Named for the nearby site of a major battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1780, the Kings Mountain Military Academy was a sort of prep school for the Citadel in the upcountry. The school's first class had 12 male students ranging from ages 11 to 16.

The school would quickly gain an outstanding reputation for its academics, as well as its strict discipline.  The five-year curriculum included classes in mathematics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, physiology, history, grammar, English literature, foreign languages (French and German), Latin, and philosophy.

The Kings Mountain Military Academy thrived in those first years and by 1860, the academy had 10 instructors and nearly 200 student cadets.

Boasting a large campus building and dorms, the Kings Mountain Military Academy in York, South Carolina
had nearly 200 students and 11 instructors at its height, including Asbury Coward and Micah Jenkins.
The school operated from 1855 till 1861 when the American Civil War began. The academy would reopen
following the war, but never again achieved its initial success.
Photo courtesy of the SC Department of Archives & History.

On Christmas Day, Thursday, December 25, 1856, Coward married Elise Corbett Blum of Yorkville. Eventually the couple would have 17 children and would sadly outlive all but one.

When South Carolina seceded from the Union on Thursday, December 20, 1860, and the War Between The States broke out on Friday, April 12, 1861, both Coward and Jenkins immediately enlisted in the South Carolina military forces, and the school closed its doors for the duration of the war.

Asbury Coward entered the Confederate Army as captain in the adjutant general's department under Brigadier General David R. Jones. Later he was transferred to the field along with General Jones, who now commanded a brigade in the division of Major General John B. Magruder in the Peninsula Campaign where he was given a promotion to major following the Battle of Malvern Hill on Tuesday, July 1, 1862.

A few months later, on Tuesday, August 12, 1862 Coward was promoted to colonel and not long after given command of the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment. The regiment was attached to a brigade commanded by his old friend -- now Brigadier General -- Micah Jenkins under the command of Lieutenant General James Longstreet.

The following is an excerpt from Reminiscences of a Private by Frank M. Mixson, Company E, 1st South Carolina Volunteers (also assigned to Jenkins' Brigade) recalling when Coward first took command of the 5th South Carolina in late 1862:

It was here that Col. Coward took command of the Fifth South Carolina. I recollect how game he looked. He had the regiment formed for dress parade. He was dressed in a brand new suit, polished high top boots, shining spurs and bright sword. He did not weigh over one hundred and twenty pounds, but he looked game. He had the orders read appointing him colonel, and then he told the men that he was now their colonel and would be respected as such; he would not tell them to go only as he led them. When he got through his talk the Fifth knew they had a colonel, and after-events proved it, for from then on the Fifth was one of the best regiments in our brigade.

As a military academy teacher, Colonel Coward was said to have been a very strict, but excellent field officer.

The 5th South Carolina Infantry saw action with General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 29-30th), and during Lee's first invasion of the North at Turner's Gap at the Battle of South Mountain (Sunday, September 14th) and the Battle of Sharpsburg, Maryland (Friday, September 19th).

Jenkins' brigade now served in the division of Major General George Pickett and was present at the Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15th) although it was not engaged.

Brigadier General Micah Jenkins CSA
(1835 - 1864) was Coward's best friend
and commanding officer both before
and during the War Between the States.

Through the first half of 1863, the 5th South Carolina would be detached from the Army of Northern Virginia. Jenkins' brigade was retained to defend Richmond, Virginia in June of that year missing Lee's second invasion of the North and the subsequent Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863).

Coward's 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment and Jenkins brigade went with Major General John Bell Hood's Division to Georgia in the autumn of 1863 and participated in the second day's fighting at the Battle of Chickamauga on Sunday, September 20th with the Confederate Army of Tennessee under General Braxton Bragg.

Later that same year, the 5th South Carolina fought with Bragg's army during the disastrous Chattanooga Campaign at the Battle of Wauhatchie (October 28-29th) and the Knoxville Campaign.

On Saturday, January 16, 1864, General Micah Jenkins led his brigade to victory in the small Battle of Kimbrough's Crossroads (Dandridge) against Federal cavalry, which Colonel Coward's regiment took part in. Not long after Longstreet's Corps would return to Virginia and Lee's Army in time for the new spring campaign.

Tragically, during the Battle of the Wilderness (May 5-7, 1864), Brigadier General Micah Jenkins was riding ahead with General Longstreet when both men were accidentally struck down by friendly fire on Friday, May 6, 1864. Although Longstreet survived his neck wound, Jenkins -- along with two of Longstreet's aides -- died a few hours later. Colonel Coward witnessed his longtime friend and commanding officer's death.

That same afternoon Coward led his regiment in an attack through the now burning wilderness and, when the colors of the 5th South Carolina Regiment fell, Coward himself picked them up and led the charge over the Union earthworks along the Brock Road in the thick of the battle where he was wounded for the first time in the war. He would be back in command a week later, but was wounded again at the Battle of Chaffin's Farm on Friday, September 30, 1864.

The regiment's final engagement was at the Battle of Cumberland Church (Farmville, Virginia) on Friday, April 7, 1865.

Colonel Asbury Coward during his service
as Superintendent of The Citadel
(1890-1908).

Coward was still in command of the 5th South Carolina Infantry Regiment when it, along with the rest of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, surrendered two days later at Appomattox Court House, Virginia on Sunday, April 9, 1865.  The regiment surrendered and subsequently paroled its remaining 19 officers and 263 men.

Following the surrender and end of the war, Asbury Coward returned to Yorkville to his wife and family. He would go on to have a very productive life beyond his service to the Confederate army.

Colonel Coward reopened the Kings Mountain Military Academy in 1866, but things were not the same as they were before. His friend, and former commanding officer, General Micah Jenkins, was dead. In the decades following the end of the war, not many families could afford to send their kids to boarding school. South Carolina was also under Federal military occupation until 1876 and the end of the Reconstruction Era and the school's cadets were not allowed the use of military rifles for their drills.

In spite of this, Coward kept the school going and maintained its usefulness and prestige, despite the extreme poverty in the State.

Colonel Coward also served as the chairman of the Kings Mountain Centennial Committee in 1880 and helped commemorate the Centennial Monument at the site of the Revolutionary War battlefield in Blacksburg, South Carolina.

His dedication to education would be well rewarded.

From 1884-1886, Colonel Coward would hold the office of South Carolina Superintendent of Education, and in 1890 would become Superintendent of The Citadel in Charleston and served at that post until 1908 when he was awarded a Carnegie Pension for his service to mankind. The Citadel made great strides under the leadership of Coward who gained the respect and affection of every student body he ever commanded.

The University of South Carolina in Columbia awarded him the honorary degree of doctor of laws in 1896 and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Coward to the prestigious West Point Board of Visitors in the early 1900s.

After briefly living in Johnson County, Tennessee with one of their adult children, both Colonel Coward and his wife (now 89 and 87 respectively) returned to York to live out the remainder of their lives.

Colonel Asbury Coward and his wife, Elise Corbett Blum Coward, taken in 1923, nearly 67 years after
the couple were married on Christmas Day in 1856.

Colonel Asbury Coward died on Tuesday, April 28, 1925 at the age of 89. He is buried in historic Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina next to his wife, Eliza, underneath a beautiful granite monument.

On Wednesday, October 7, 1931, the Kings Mountain Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a small monument honoring Colonel Coward near the Centennial Monument at Kings Mountain National Military Park in recognition for his work in helping to preserve the battlefield site for future generations.

Colonel Coward's marker near the Centennial
Monument at the Kings Mountain National
Military Park in Blacksburg, South Carolina.

The Kings Mountain Military Academy would close down permanently in 1908. A year later the property the academy stood on was sold to the York Episcopal Church. Today the York Place Episcopal Church Home For Children sits on the site of the former military school. A historical marker notes both the site of the academy and its first commandant, Brigadier General Micah Jenkins, who is buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

The marker is located on Kings Mountain Road (SC Highway 321) in York, South Carolina.

Both the Citadel and Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina have collections of Colonel Asbury Coward's personal letters during and after the war. His memoir was published in 1968.

One of Asbury and Elise Coward's sons, Dr. Francis Asbury Coward (1877-1922) would serve in the American Expeditionary Forces A.E.F. as a 1st Lieutenant and doctor in the Medical Corps on the Western Front in France in 1918 -- the last year of the First World War. He's buried in the family plot near his parents at Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina.

The grave of Colonel Asbury Coward and his wife Elise at
Rose Hill Cemetery in York, South Carolina.

This blogger would like to thank the good folks at the South Carolina State Department of Archives and Winthrop College in Rock Hill, South Carolina for providing the information for this article.