Micah Jenkins, son of a wealthy cotton grower on Edisto Island, South Carolina, broke with family tradition to pursue a life as an educator. With a colleague he established the Kings Mountain Military School, and when war came he left the school to accept a larger responsibility.
Jenkins’s story is largely unknown, even in his native South Carolina, yet he left a wealth of letters, materials and reports written in his own hand. With these sources and the writings of Jenkins’s contemporaries, James Swisher presents a picture of a capable, intelligent and attractive young man whose leadership in the early years of the war was almost forgotten.
Jenkins entered Confederate service as a young officer, helped to organize the 5th South Carolina Infantry, and was appointed its colonel in June 1861. He saw action at First Manassas, Williamsburg, and Seven Pines, and commanded the Palmetto Sharpshooters in the Seven Days’ battle. He was a brigade commander at the time of his wounding at 2nd Manassas. After the Suffolk siege his brigade was sent to Georgia, where they arrived just after the battle of Chickamauga. He commanded Hood’s division throughout the winter and resumed command of his South Carolina brigade in the spring.
Jenkins was one of the truly outstanding regimental, brigade and divisional leaders in the Southern armies. He desired recognition and was disappointed by the lack of opportunity. He struggled through periods of controversy only to be fatally shot and killed by friendly fire at age twenty-nine while leading his brigade in the Wilderness. A stalwart son of a family used to every benefit of immense wealth, he was, above all, a brave, naive, restless and ambitious Christian Gentleman.
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James K. Swisher, of Virginia is a retired educator, having served as teacher, coach, and principal of both junior and senior high schools. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, Virginia), and his master’s and doctorate degrees are from the University of Virginia.
He is a long-term active member of the Lynchburg Civil War Round Table and is Lieutenant-Commander of the Garland-Rodes Camp, Sons of Confederate Veterans. He serves on the board of a number of local agencies including Lynchburg Social Services, Lynchburg Partnership Against Substance Abuse, The Edward Christian Glass Scholarship Foundation, and the Lynchburg Lions Club. He is a member of Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church, the University of Virginia Alumni Association, and the Virginia Student Aid Foundation. He volunteers frequently at Jones Memorial Geological Library and is the bookkeeper for the local retired teacher’s association.
He has written for America’s Civil War magazine and has had published articles on Brigadier General Samuel Garland, Major General Robert E. Rodes, and Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early. Prince of Edisto is his first book.
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