Evander M. Law
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Evander McIvor Law (August 7, 1836 – October 31, 1920) was an author, teacher, and a Confederate general in the American Civil War.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Law was born in Darlington, South Carolina. His grandfather and his two great-grandfathers had fought in the American Revolutionary War under Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" guerrilla leader. He attended the South Carolina Military Academy (now the Citadel) in 1856 and was a professor of history at Kings Mountain Military Academy from 1858 to 1860, when he moved to Alabama to form his own Military High School in Tuskegee.
[edit] Civil War
Immediately following Alabama's secession from the Union, Law joined the Alabama Militia as a captain. In April 1861 he transferred to the Confederate States Army as a captain in the 4th Alabama Infantry, a unit he helped recruit from students at his high school. The 4th Alabama was also known as the "Alabama Zouaves". The following month he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. At the First Battle of Bull Run he was in Brig. Gen. Barnard E. Bee's brigade, which later became known as the "Alabama Brigade". The colonel of his regiment was killed in action and Law was wounded in the arm. Law recovered, although his left arm was stiff and almost useless, and returned to the regiment. He was promoted to colonel on October 28, 1861, and assumed command of the Alabama Brigade under Maj. Gen. James Longstreet in the Army of Northern Virginia in May 1862.
Law led the Alabama Brigade through the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. At Gaines' Mill, he and fellow brigade commander Brig. Gen. John Bell Hood achieved fame by breaking the center of the Union line. They attacked in tandem again at the Battle of Malvern Hill four days later, but were defeated decisively. In the Northern Virginia Campaign, at the Second Battle of Bull Run, Law and Hood were used again as the primary assaulting force in Longstreet's surprise attack against the Union left flank, almost destroying Maj. Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia.
In the Maryland Campaign, at the Battle of Antietam, the Alabama Brigade defended against the Union attack through the Cornfield at high cost—454 killed and wounded. Law was promoted to brigadier general on October 3, 1862. At the Battle of Fredericksburg in December, he saw little action.
In 1863, Law accompanied Longstreet's Corps to Suffolk, Virginia, which prevented his participation in the Battle of Chancellorsville. However, the corps returned to the Army of Northern Virginia in time for the Gettysburg Campaign. At the Battle of Gettysburg, Law's brigade participated in the unsuccessful assault on the Union left on July 2, 1863, on Little Round Top and the Devil's Den. He temporarily assumed division command when John Bell Hood was wounded during the assault and was criticized by the other brigade commanders in Hood's division for the lack of coordination that he imposed as a temporary commander. On July 3, Law's men were at the extreme right of the Confederate line and defended against a suicidal cavalry attack by the Union troops of Brig. Gens. Judson Kilpatrick and Wesley Merritt.
After Gettysburg, Longstreet's Corps was transported to the Western Theater to join General Braxton Bragg and the Army of Tennessee for victory at the Battle of Chickamauga. Law's brigade charged through the massive gap in the Union center and captured six cannon. Despite Longstreet's praise for Law's performances in previous battles, the two became involved in bitter disputes, some of which involved political jealousy between Law and Brig. Gen. Micah Jenkins, which resulted in Law's request for resignation and then his arrest for insubordination. Law requested a transfer with his brigade to Alabama, but Longstreet retaliated by leaving them in Tennessee when the rest of his corps rejoined the Army of Northern Virginia. General Robert E. Lee, however, ordered Law and the Alabamians back to his army.
In the Overland Campaign, at the Wilderness, Law, under arrest in the rear, watched his brigade defend against attacks from 13 Union brigades. The brigade continued to Spotsylvania Court House, but Law did not resume command of the brigade until the Battle of Cold Harbor. (Law's return was influenced by the loss of Longstreet to a severe wound in the Wilderness.) Law was wounded during the bloody Cold Harbor fighting when a gunshot fractured his skull and injured his left eye. While his brigade fought in the Siege of Petersburg, Law was transferred to brigade command in Wade Hampton's Cavalry Corps, stationed in South Carolina, where he finished the war.
[edit] Postbellum
After the war, Law worked as a teacher and moved to South Carolina in 1881, and then to Florida in 1893. He became a professor at the Southern Florida Military Institute until 1903. He was the editor of the Bartow Courier Informant newspaper until 1915. He died in Bartow, Florida, and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Bartow.
[edit] References
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Tagg, Larry, The Generals of Gettysburg, Savas Publishing, 1998, ISBN 1-882810-30-9.
