Another Death From Gettysburg

Confederate General Paul Jones Semmes died from wounds he received at the Battle of Gettysburg on July 10^th 1863.

Paul Jones Semmes was born June 4^th 1815 at Montford’s Plantation in Wilkes County, Georgia.  He attended the University of Virginia, becoming a banker and the owner of a plantation in Columbus, Georgia.  Semmes was a Captain in the Columbus Guards and in 1855 he wrote a guide to Infantry Tactics.  Georgia Governor Joseph E Brown made Semmes the Quartermaster General of the state in 1860, allowing him to make all the states military purchases.

After the Civil War started Semmes became a Colonel in the 2^nd Georgia Infantry.  He was promoted on March 11^th 1862 to Brigadier General.  He saw action in the Peninsula Campaign and at Crampton’s Gap during the Battle of South Mountain.  At the Battle of Antietam Semmes’ Brigade was a part of Confederate General Lafayette McLaws’ counterattack on the Union Second Corps.  His brigade was also active at Chancellorsville.

During the Battle of Gettysburg Semmes led his men in a charge into the Wheatfield, where on July 2^nd 1863 he was wounded in the thigh.  He was taken by ambulance to Martinsburg, West Virginia where he died July 10^th 1863.  Semmes is buried in the Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia.