I Grieve The Loss

Confederate Brigadier General John Dunovant was killed October 1^st 1864 at the Battle of Vaughan Road, a part of the Siege of Petersburg.

John Dunovant was born 1825 in Chester, South Carolina the son of John and Margaret (Sloan Quay) Dunovant.  During the Mexican American War he was a Sergeant in a volunteer regiment and was wounded at the Battle of Chapultepec.  He joined the United State Army as a Captain in the 10^th Infantry March 1855.

Dunovant resigned on December 29^th 1860 and offered his service to the South Carolina militia.   He was present at Fort Moultrie during the bombardment of Fort Sumter.  He was stationed there when he became the Colonel of the 1^st South Carolina Infantry July 1861.  Dunovant was cashiered November 1862 for being drunk, but was back commanding July 28^th 1863 this time with the 5^th South Carolina Cavalry.  In May 1864 the 5^th with Dunovant was placed in Confederate Major General Wade Hampton’s Division a part of Jeb Stuart’s Cavalry.  They saw action at numerous engagements including the Second Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, the Battle of Cold Harbor and many of the encounters against Union General Philip Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley.  Dunovant was wounded at the Battle of Haw’s Shop May 28^th 1864.  He was appointed to Brigadier General August 22^nd 1864 and given command of a brigade.

On October 1^st 1864; while fighting north of the James River, in a part of the Battle of Peebles’ Farm known as the Battle of Vaughan Road, Dunovant was shot and killed while leading his men in a charge.  After he fell in the frontal attack his troops retreated.  General Robert E Lee said of Dunovant to Hampton, “I grieve with you at the loss of General Dunovant and Dr. Fontaine, two officers whom it will be difficult to replace."  His body was taken back to Chester, South Carolina where he was buried in a family cemetery.

Largest Group Of Confederates

Confederate General Joseph E Johnson’s army was camped at Greensboro on April 26th 1865 when he surrendered to General William Tecumseh Sherman at the Bennett Place.

After General Robert E Lee’s surrender seventeen days earlier at Appomattox Court House, Confederate General Joseph E Johnson knew it was time. Johnson with a detachment of the 5th South Carolina cavalry traveling east along the Hillsborough road toward Durham Station met Union General William Tecumseh Sherman who was riding west with an escort of the 9th and 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry at the farm of James and Nancy Bennett. The first day’s negotiations were interrupted by a telegram informing them of President Abraham Lincoln’s death. The first surrender agreement made on April 18th was rejected by the politicians in Washington, DC as being to generous. The two Generals met again on April 26th 1865  and signed papers that disbanded the largest Confederate force of the war, 98,270 soldiers.

Confederate General Richard A Taylor’s force in Alabama would surrender a week latter, and Kirby Smith would do the same with his Trans-Mississippi Army in New Orleans a month latter.